What Are All Those Symbols About?
Lama Surya Das sets the record straight on golden fishes, parasols, vases, and other auspicious signs.
BY: Lama Surya Das
In Buddhism, the Eight Auspicious Symbols, also known as the Eight Signs of Good Fortune, are the following: the parasol, the golden fishes, the treasure vase, the lotus, the conch shell, the endless knot, the victory banner, and the wheel (click here to see what they look like).
The Eight Auspicious Symbols are inscribed everywhere in Tibetan Buddhist temples and architecture, art and iconography, and on amulets and reliquaries, jewelry, carpets, offering scarves, prayer flags, and banners--wherever Tibetans are found. In brief, these are their significance: The parasol, which provides shade and shelter, was a symbol of personal rank or power in ancient India and signifies protection from suffering and the enjoyment of many benefits in its shade. The golden fishes suggest life through the life-giving waters of spirit.
The treasure vase is a sign of supernatural powers, inexhaustible abundance, and the fulfillment of spiritual and material wishes.
The lotus symbolizes inner purity, as it grows out of the mud and blossoms above the water's surface and raises its face to the sunlight. The right-turning conch--originally a symbol of the sacred feminine principle among the Hindu gods--in Buddhism symbolizes the sounds of Buddhist teachings being heard far and wide. The endless knot, an intricately intertwined yet simply designed graphic ornament, symbolizes truth's wholeness and consistency and the infinite interconnectedness of all things in the web of karma.
The victory banner stands for the supremacy of knowledge and wisdom over ignorance and confusion--the ascendance of spiritual light over darkness and the ultimate triumph of spirit. The eight-spoked wheel represents the Buddhist dharma (wisdom or teachings) and the Noble Eightfold Path of enlightenment taught by the Buddha when he first set the dharma in motion--rolling, as it were--in his original teachings in the Deer Park outside Benares some 2,500 hundred years ago; thus we often see a deer on either side of the eight-spoked wheel atop the roof of temples and monasteries, representing the teachings of the Buddha.
The Eight Auspicious Symbols are inscribed everywhere in Tibetan Buddhist temples and architecture, art and iconography, and on amulets and reliquaries, jewelry, carpets, offering scarves, prayer flags, and banners--wherever Tibetans are found. In brief, these are their significance: The parasol, which provides shade and shelter, was a symbol of personal rank or power in ancient India and signifies protection from suffering and the enjoyment of many benefits in its shade. The golden fishes suggest life through the life-giving waters of spirit.
The treasure vase is a sign of supernatural powers, inexhaustible abundance, and the fulfillment of spiritual and material wishes.
The lotus symbolizes inner purity, as it grows out of the mud and blossoms above the water's surface and raises its face to the sunlight. The right-turning conch--originally a symbol of the sacred feminine principle among the Hindu gods--in Buddhism symbolizes the sounds of Buddhist teachings being heard far and wide. The endless knot, an intricately intertwined yet simply designed graphic ornament, symbolizes truth's wholeness and consistency and the infinite interconnectedness of all things in the web of karma.
The victory banner stands for the supremacy of knowledge and wisdom over ignorance and confusion--the ascendance of spiritual light over darkness and the ultimate triumph of spirit. The eight-spoked wheel represents the Buddhist dharma (wisdom or teachings) and the Noble Eightfold Path of enlightenment taught by the Buddha when he first set the dharma in motion--rolling, as it were--in his original teachings in the Deer Park outside Benares some 2,500 hundred years ago; thus we often see a deer on either side of the eight-spoked wheel atop the roof of temples and monasteries, representing the teachings of the Buddha.
Advertisement
Related Features
Top Features
Advertisement
Comments
Add Comment »To comment on this content you must be a registered user:
Sign-Up or Log-In