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Buddha's footprints (
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
: )( Tibetan: སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ཞབས་རྗེས། )are Buddhist icons shaped like an imprint of
Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...
's foot or both feet. There are two forms: natural, as found in stone or rock, and those made artificially. Many of the "natural" ones are acknowledged not to be genuine footprints of the Buddha, but rather replicas or representations of them, which can be considered '' cetiya'' (
Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains or personal effects of a saint or other person preserved for the purpose of veneration as a tangible memorial. Reli ...
s) and also an early aniconic and symbolic representation of the Buddha.


Symbolism

Footprints of the Buddha abound throughout Asia, dating from various periods. Japanese author , who spent years tracking down the footprints in many Asian countries, estimates that he found more than 3,000 such footprints, among them about 300 in
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
and more than 1,000 in
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
. They often bear distinguishing marks, such as a
Dharmachakra The dharmachakra (Sanskrit: धर्मचक्र, ) or wheel of dharma is a symbol used in the Dharmic religions. It has a widespread use in Buddhism.John C. Huntington, Dina Bangdel, ''The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art,'' p. ...
at the centre of the sole, or the 32, 108 or 132 auspicious signs of the Buddha, engraved or painted on the sole. A depression atop Sri padaya in Sri Lanka is among the largest and most famous footprints. Buddhist legend holds that during his lifetime the Buddha flew to Sri Lanka and left his footprint on Sri padaya to indicate the importance of Sri Lanka as the perpetuator of his teachings, and also left footprints in all lands where his teachings would be acknowledged. In
Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
, the most important of these "natural" footprints embedded in rock is at Phra Phutthabat in central Thailand. In
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, during the
Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...
, the discovery of a large footprint of the Buddha in Chengzhou caused Empress
Wu Zetian Wu Zetian (624 – 16 December 705), personal name Wu Zhao, was List of rulers of China#Tang dynasty, Empress of China from 660 to 705, ruling first through others and later in her own right. She ruled as queen consort , empress consort th ...
to inaugurate a new reign name in that year, 701 CE, starting the Dazu (Big Foot) era. The footprint as a sculptural object has a long history stemming from the first examples made in India. These were made during the pre-
Greco-Buddhist Greco-Buddhism or Graeco-Buddhism was a cultural syncretism between Hellenistic period, Hellenistic culture and Buddhism developed between the 4th century BC and the 5th century AD in Gandhara, which was in present-day Pakistan and parts of ...
phase of
Buddhist art Buddhist art is visual art produced in the context of Buddhism. It includes Buddha in art, depictions of Gautama Buddha and other Buddhas and bodhisattvas in art, Buddhas and bodhisattvas, notable Buddhist figures both historical and mythical, ...
at
Sanchi Sanchi Stupa is a Buddhist art, Buddhist complex, famous for its Great Stupa, on a hilltop at Sanchi Town in Raisen District of the States and territories of India, State of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is located, about 23 kilometers from Raisen ...
, Bharhut, and other places in India, along with the Bo-Tree and the
Dharmachakra The dharmachakra (Sanskrit: धर्मचक्र, ) or wheel of dharma is a symbol used in the Dharmic religions. It has a widespread use in Buddhism.John C. Huntington, Dina Bangdel, ''The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art,'' p. ...
. Later, the footprint-making tradition became prominent in Sri Lanka, Cambodia,
Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...
, and Thailand.


History

The veneration of the feet of
guru Guru ( ; International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''guru'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian religions, Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: tr ...
s or
deities A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...
was commonplace in
ancient India Anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. The earliest known human remains in South Asia date to 30,000 years ago. Sedentism, Sedentariness began in South Asia around 7000 BCE; ...
, placing one's head at or under their feet being a ritual gesture signifying a hierarchy. As ''cetiya'', the Buddha's footprint was classified in a variety of ways. Some were ''uddesika'', representational relics, and others were ''paribhogika'', relics of use or of contact, and occasionally ''saririka'', as though they were not just footprints but the Buddha's actual feet. Some of the depictions of the footprints may signify events in the life of the Buddha, but others may have been depictions of people worshipping at footprint shrines. To clarify: a footprint of the Buddha is a concave image of his foot (or feet), supposed to have been left by him on earth to purposefully mark his passage over a particular spot. The images of the Buddha's feet are convex images which represent the actual soles of his feet, with all their characteristics. Following the traditional triple division of the ''cetiya'', we can assume that the first form of the image of the Buddha's feet – the concave one – is a sort of ''pāribhogika'' element, since it is indissolubly connected with the Tathāgata himself. The second one can be thought as an ''uddissaka'' element, since it was created by a devoted artist (or artists) to commemorate the Buddha, taking as its model a genuine footprint. But we can think of this second group, too, as a "''pāribhogika'' by supposition", as noted by Chutiwongs.See Nandana Chutiwongs, "The Buddha’s Footprints", Ancient Ceylon 10 (1990), p. 60. According to French scholar
Paul Mus Paul Mus (1902–1969) was a French writer and scholar. His studies focused on Vietnam and other Southeast Asian cultures. He was born in Bourges to an academic family, and grew up in northern Vietnam ( Tonkin). In 1907 his father opened the Coll ...
, the footprints were the type of magical objects which "enables one to act at a distance on people related to it."


See also

* Petrosomatoglyph


References


Further reading

*Cicuzza, Claudio, ''A Mirror Reflecting the Entire World. The Pāli Buddhapādamaṅgala or 'Auspicious signs on the Buddha's feet. Critical edition with English translation. Materials for the Study of the Tripiṭaka, vol. VI, Lumbini International Research Institute, Bangkok and Lumbini 2011. *de Guerny, Jacques (2012). ''Buddhapada: L’odyssée des empreintes de Bouddha''. édition privée. *de Guerny, Jacques (2014). ''Buddhapada: Following The Buddha's Footprints''. Orchid Press Publishing Limited.


External links


Triratana on the footprints of the Buddha
{{Authority control Footprint Buddhist relics Buddhist artifacts Legendary footprints