Something about Buddhist symbolism

Buddha's head covered by roots of a banyan tree at Wat Maha That temple in Ayutthaya

Friends sometimes ask me “Lung Jan, tell me about the Buddhist symbols and rituals” and usually I don't take too long to put up a tree about this... Although I'm no expert, I've learned a few things over the years that I'm happy to share.

The rituals and symbols of Buddhism in Southeast Asia are as rich and diverse as the region itself. Nevertheless, there are a number of common features. For example, we know that it took more than five centuries after the death of the Buddha before his followers began to portray him physically. Until then, the stupa in which, according to tradition, his ashes or bones were kept, was the center of worship and associated rituals. Until then, the depiction of the tree under which he acquired his highest insights, the throne on which he took his place under that tree, the footprints he left behind, and the Wheel of the Law that he set in motion at his first preaching in the Deer Park of Benares sufficed to evoke his symbolic presence in places of worship and contemplation.

Dharmachakra

Some of the aforementioned symbols, incidentally, demonstrably date from pre-Buddhist times. The ancient Vedic symbol of the wheel, for example, is originally a sun wheel, a symbol found throughout the Eurasian continent and adapted by the Buddhists as dharma chakra, the Wheel of the Law. In the earliest phase of Buddhist iconography, this wheel, perched atop a pillar, not only symbolizes the first public preaching of the Buddha at Benares, but is also one of the regalia of Chakravartin, the World Ruler, the only mortal equal in status to the Buddha. The wheel as depicted today has eight spokes representing the Noble Eightfold Path, namely, Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration.

The Indian custom of placing this symbol on pillars near the temple square was adopted by the Mon who inhabited a large part of what is now Thailand and Burma in the early Middle Ages. In recent decades, many of these Wheels of the Law have been excavated in Thailand. The first find of such a wheel happened more than 150 years ago during the reign of Rama IV, who ruled Siam between 1851 and 1868. It was excavated at the Phra Pathom Chedi in Nakhon Pathom but people were completely in the dark about the meaning to be given to it. For example, it was long believed that these wheels were in fact the wheels of the chariots of the gods…

banyan tree

Another symbol that can be encountered very often is the bodhi tree or banyan (Religious ficus), the tree under which the Buddha, according to tradition, came to the Supreme Insight. This 'tree of awakening' is considered sacred within Buddhism and represents the attainment of enlightenment. As a matter of fact, the followers of Buddha quickly believed that every Buddha who had manifested himself and also the Maitreya, or the Buddha of the Future, each their own bodhiruma had a specific tree, which eventually led to a cult of its own around the bodhi tree. Until the nineteenth century, in Bodh Gaya (Bihar), according to legend, the original bodhi tree under which the Buddha had attained enlightenment was visited and revered by pilgrims from all over Asia. When this tree finally died – to the horror of the believers – a few months later, to the astonishment of the same believers, a new shoot sprouted from the stump.

This miraculous resurrection confirmed in the eyes of many the incorruptibility of the bodhi tree. Cuttings and seeds from the tree were taken and planted everywhere. In most monasteries and temples we find bodhi trees in a central place within the building complex. Most of the cuttings of the bodhi trees planted near monasteries and temples in Thailand come from the tree found in Anuradhapura, the capital of the North Central Province in Sri Lanka, a tree directly descended from the one in Bodh Gaya. This had everything to do with the simple fact that Theravada Buddhism in the area we know today as Thailand had been introduced mainly from Sri Lanka. Notable grafts that ended up in Thailand include the one planted in 1455 by the monarch Tiloka of Lanna at the construction of Wat Ched Yot in Chiang Mai and the graft planted in 1507 at the dedication of the Brah Sri Mahabodhi Monastery in Thailand. Sukhothai.

At least as old as the worship of the bodhi tree is that of the so-called footprints of the Buddha. They should remind the followers that the Buddha once physically walked this earth and paved a spiritual path that can be followed by anyone interested in his teachings. Feet of gods and gurus were already worshiped in pre-Buddhist times in what was then India. One put the head on or under the feet as a sign of hierarchical recognition.

Footprint of Buddha at the Wat Phra Phutthabat in Saraburi (ultrapok / Shutterstock.com)

One of the most famous footprints of the Buddha is the strange geological formation found on top of Sri Lanka's Adam's Peak mountain. But in addition to this lump of stone, interpreted as a footprint, impressions made by stonemasons and bronze casters soon emerged that were regarded as paribhogacetiyabecame sacred memorials through their association with the Buddha. The custom to depict these footprints seems to stem mainly from Sri Lanka and it is therefore not surprising that especially in countries such as Burma, Cambodia and Thailand, which were converted from Sri Lanka, many of these prints can be found. Although the footprints of the Buddha that we find in Korea, Tibet, China and Japan, and especially the symbols depicted on them, often differ from those we find in countries with a Theravada tradition, they do have their exceptional size in common, which far exceeds the foot size of a mere mortal.... Moreover, with the exception of the round heel shape, they have a more or less rectangular appearance with five toes of equal length. One of the most revered of these footprints in Thailand can be found in Saraburi at Wat Phra Phutthabat. This is a 'natural' print that, according to tradition, was discovered by chance in 1606 by a hunter…

For those interested, I would like to conclude by referring to a special statue that is located in the National Museum at Sanam Luang in Bangkok. This bronze gem, less than half a meter high, comes from Lanna and is said to have been cast in 1481. It depicts the Buddha in the process of placing his own footprint in three other and considerably larger prints. These impressions are said to belong to three of the 27 Buddhas that, according to Theravada tradition, preceded Sakyamuni, the historical Buddha, in the mists of time. They firmly believed that every Buddha, after descending from the vault of heaven, placed his footprint at the city gate of Sankasya. The idea that each Buddha could not only literally but also figuratively follow in the footsteps of his predecessor was facilitated by the widespread belief that each Buddha in this long historical line of succession was slightly smaller in stature….