Buddhist symbols
Symbols of the Buddha and his teaching, including the eight auspicious symbols.
Many Buddhist symbols stand for the Buddha, his teaching (the dharma) or the community that follows it (the sangha): the three jewels in which Buddhists take refuge. The oldest began as a way of showing the Buddha without showing him.
The best known today are the eight auspicious symbols of the Buddhism of East Asia and the Himalayan region: the Parasol, the two fish, the vase, the Lotus, the conch, the endless knot, the victory banner and the wheel.
Emblems of the teaching
- DharmachakraThe wheel of the Buddha's teaching, the Dharma. Its eight spokes are usually read as the Noble Eightfold Path.
- Bodhi leafThe leaf of the Bodhi tree, the sacred fig under which, Buddhists believe, the Buddha attained enlightenment.
- TriratnaThe symbol of the Three Jewels of Buddhism: the Buddha, the Dharma (his teaching) and the Sangha (the community).
- StupaA domed monument built over relics of the Buddha or his disciples. Its shape is read as the Buddha seated in meditation.
The eight auspicious symbols
- ParasolOne of the eight auspicious symbols of Tibetan Buddhism: a royal parasol, for protection from harm and from the heat of suffering.
- Pair of golden fishA pair of fish, one of the eight auspicious symbols. They stand for moving freely and without fear through the ocean of suffering.
- Treasure vaseA round-bellied vase with a lid, one of the eight auspicious symbols. It stands for riches that never run out: long life, wealth and the wealth of the teaching.
- LotusThe lotus flower, one of the eight auspicious symbols. Rooted in mud but flowering clean above the water, it stands for the purity of the awakened mind.
- Right-turning conchA white conch shell spiralling to the right, one of the eight auspicious symbols. Its sound is the Buddha's teaching, carrying in every direction.
- Endless knotA knot of interlaced lines with no beginning or end, one of the eight auspicious symbols. Tibetan teachers read it as the union of wisdom and compassion.
- Victory bannerA cylindrical banner on a pole, one of the eight auspicious symbols. It stands for the victory of the Buddha's teaching over ignorance, death and every obstacle.
Signs instead of the Buddha
The earliest Indian sculptors did not show the Buddha at all. Albert Grünwedel, in Buddhist Art in India (1901), found no picture of him on the older reliefs: only signs of his activity, such as his footprints, the tree under which he reached enlightenment, and a Stupa raised in his memory. Alfred Foucher (1917) explains the wheel the same way. His teaching at Benares, in the Gazelle-park, was described as putting the wheel of the law in motion, and sculptors showed it as a wheel, usually with two gazelles.
The eight in use
The eight signs are also part of practice. The Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, publishing Lama Zopa Rinpoche's translation of them, notes that it is common for them to be painted on the ground when lamas come to visit. Their order varies: in the image it shows, the banner comes first and the umbrella seventh.
Sources
- What Are the Three Jewels of Buddhism?, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review
- Eight Auspicious Symbols (gallery text, illustration after Terese Tse Bartholomew, Hidden Meanings), Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
- Buddhist Art in India, Albert Grünwedel, trans. Agnes C. Gibson, rev. James Burgess, 1901, Bernard Quaritch, London (Internet Archive)
- The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays in Indian and Central-Asian Archaeology, A. Foucher, 1917, Paul Geuthner, Paris; Humphrey Milford, London (Internet Archive)
- The Eight Auspicious Signs, Lama Zopa Rinpoche (translator), Mandala, Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, introduction; no. 1
Last reviewed September 25, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research