Yes. That is right, Buddha did said this.
http://ias.berkeley.edu/orias/visuals/buddha/life.htmlFigure 4 depicts the Bodhisattva almost diving from his mother into the swaddle held by a maidservant. It is said that this kind of birth didn’t hurt his mother at all. As soon as the Bodhisattva was born he took seven steps to the north and proclaimed: "I am chief in the world, I am best in the world, I am first in the world. This is my last birth. There will be no further rebirth." Because no child can immediately walk or talk, let alone make proclamations at birth, it is by these acts that the Buddha’s prodigious nature, even as an infant, is revealed. We are told that he was already the size of a six-month-old child and had the "thirty-two marks of a great man." The Bodhisattva was thus born among the Shakya people into a khsatriya family whose name was Gautama. Seven days after his birth his mother died and was born in the Tushita heaven. The child was named Siddhartha—"he whose purpose is accomplished."[/quote]
However, the Buddha also taught no-self and therefore his 'I am chief in the world' is not the self that sentient beings know, but rather refering to the TRUE NATURE of the Buddha - that of Pure Awareness. I remembered a dharma talk by my dharma teacher on this topic. This 'self' here means Awareness, and is refering to the Buddha's true nature:
A priest asked the Buddha:
Is your honour a god?
He replied:
No,indeed,i am not a god.
Then a heavenly spirit?
No,indeed.
Then a demigod?
No,indeed.
Then is your honour a human being?
No,i am not a human being.
You answer No to all my questions.What then are you?
The Buddha replied:All those defilements by which, if they had not been extinguished, i might have been a god,a heavenly spirit,a demigod or a human being,have been extinguished in me.Just as a blue,red or white lotus,although it has grown up in the water is unsoiled by the water when it reaches the surface,so although i was born in the world i have overcome the world and i abide unsoiled in the world.Take it that i am Buddha,the Awakened One.Another similar post written by Sinweiy:
Cease your False Self and your True Self lives![quote]Originally posted by sinweiy:
Buddha at the very begining did show/perform abit of True Self in the idea of Hua Yen Sutra (All-in One, One-in-All) and the walking of 7 steps, one finger pointing the sky and one finger pointing the ground and said, "Heaven and Earth, Wei2 Wo3 Du2 Zhun1" (Under "My" Submit). if people don't know it can be very arrogant.
Although Buddha in the begining taught non-self for 22years, generally tell us to be selfless and be more considerate. But at the end of this preaching period of 8 years, He did taught the Lotus sutra and Nirvana Sutra that taught about the Da Wo(Biggest 'Self'). But the whole idea is that without firstly understood non-self, it's misunderstanding to precieve the True Self.
But this True Self does not contradict the non-self, it's not two, like all sentient beings are part of you, then helping them is as good as helping ourself so to speak.
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. A small shrine, known as the hanamidou 花御堂 is set up and decorated with flowers. A small image of the Buddha in the form of a child as he appeared at birth (tanjoubutsu 誕生仏