The Buddhist flag is a

flag A flag is a piece of textile, fabric (most often rectangular) with distinctive colours and design. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and fla ...

designed in the late 19th century as a universal symbol of

Buddhism 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 ...

. The flag's five vertical bands represent the five colors of the aura which Buddhists believe emanated from the body of the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

when he attained enlightenment.

History

The flag was originally designed in 1885 by the Colombo Committee, in

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

Ceylon 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, ...

(''now

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, ...

''). The committee consisted of Ven.

Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala Thera Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala Thera (; 20 January 1827 – 29 April 1911) was a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk, who was one of the pioneers of Sri Lankan Buddhist revivalist movement in the 19th century. He did a great service to improve the Buddhist Educatio ...

(chairman), Ven.

Migettuwatte Gunananda Thera Ven. Migettuwatte Gunananda Thera or Mohottiwatte Gunananda Thera () (9 February 1823 – 21 September 1890) was a Sri Lankan Sinhala Buddhist orator. He is known for leading the Buddhist side in debates between Buddhists and Christians in ...

, Don Carolis Hewavitharana (father of Anagarika Dharmapala), Andiris Perera Dharmagunawardhana (maternal grandfather of Anagarika Dharmapala), Charles A. de Silva, Peter De Abrew, William De Abrew (father of Peter), H. William Fernando, N. S. Fernando and Carolis Pujitha Gunawardena (secretary). It was first publicly hoisted on

Vesak Vesak (; Sanskrit: '), also known as Buddha Jayanti, Buddha Purnima, Visak Bochea and Buddha Day, is a holiday traditionally observed by Buddhism, Buddhists in South Asia and Southeast Asia, as well as in Tibet and Mongolia. It is among the ...

day, 28 May 1885 at the Dipaduttamarama,

Kotahena Kotahena is a suburb of Colombo, Sri Lanka, and is known as ''Colombo 13''. Places of worship Local houses of worship include: * St. Lucia's Cathedral (1881), Catholic * St. Anthony's Shrine, Kochchikade, St. Anthony's Shrine, Catholic *St. ...

, by Ven. Migettuwatte Gunananda Thera. This was the first Vesak public holiday under

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

rule. Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, an American journalist, founder and first president of the

Theosophical Society The Theosophical Society is the organizational body of Theosophy, an esoteric new religious movement. It was founded in New York City, U.S.A. in 1875. Among its founders were Helena Blavatsky, a Russian mystic and the principal thinker of the ...

, felt that its long streaming shape made it inconvenient for general use. He therefore suggested modifying it so that it was the size and shape of

national flags A national flag is a flag that represents and symbolizes a given nation. It is flown by the government of that nation, but can also be flown by its citizens. A national flag is typically designed with specific meanings for its colors and symbo ...

. In 1889, the modified flag was introduced to Japan by Anagarika Dharmapala and Olcott—who presented it to

Emperor Meiji , posthumously honored as , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the List of emperors of Japan, traditional order of succession, reigning from 1867 until his death in 1912. His reign is associated with the Meiji Restoration of 1868, which ...

—and subsequently to

Myanmar 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 has ...

. At the 1950

World Fellowship of Buddhists The World Fellowship of Buddhists (WFB) is an international Buddhist organization. Initiated by Gunapala Piyasena Malalasekera, it was founded in 1950 in Colombo, Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka), by representatives from 27 nations. Although Therav ...

, the flag of Buddhists was adopted as the International Buddhist Flag.

Colors

The flag's five vertical bands represent the five colors of the aura which Buddhists believe emanated from the body of the

when he attained Enlightenment: * Blue (Pāli and Sanskrit: ''nīla''): The Spirit of Universal Compassion * Yellow (Pāli and Sanskrit: ''pīta''): The

Middle Way The Middle Way (; ) as well as "teaching the Dharma by the middle" (''majjhena dhammaṃ deseti'') are common Buddhist terms used to refer to two major aspects of the Dharma, that is, the teaching of the Buddha. The first phrasing, the Middle ...

* Red (Pāli and Sanskrit: ''lohitaka''): The Blessings of Practice – achievement, wisdom, virtue, fortune and dignity * White (; ): The Purity of

Dhamma Dharma (; , ) is a key concept in various Indian religions. The term ''dharma'' does not have a single, clear translation and conveys a multifaceted idea. Etymologically, it comes from the Sanskrit ''dhr-'', meaning ''to hold'' or ''to support' ...

– leading to liberation, timeless * Orange (; ), alternatively scarlet: The Wisdom of the Buddha's teachings The sixth vertical band, on the fly, is made up of a combination of the five other colors' rectangular bands, and represents a compound of said colors in the aura's

spectrum A spectrum (: spectra or spectrums) is a set of related ideas, objects, or properties whose features overlap such that they blend to form a continuum. The word ''spectrum'' was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of co ...

. This new, compound color is referred to as the Truth of the Buddha's teaching or '' Pabbhassara ''().

Variants

* The colour ''mañjeṭṭha'' is interpreted as pink in

, a Theravāda Buddhist country. * In Japan, there is a traditional Buddhist flag ( 五色幕 — ''goshikimaku'') which has different colors but is sometimes merged with the design of the international flag to represent international cooperation. * In

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

, the stripes' colors represent the different colors of Buddhist robes comprehensively united in one banner. Tibetan monastic robes are maroon, so the orange stripes in the original design are often replaced with maroon. * Tibetan Buddhists in

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

replace the orange stripes with plum stripes. * Theravāda Buddhists 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 ...

opt for the usage of a yellow flag with a red dhammacakka (ธงธรรมจักร – ''thong thammajak''); it is sometimes paired with the international Buddhist flag. It was officially adopted in 1958 by Buddhist monks, and flown outside temples alongside the national flag and on important events. *

Soka Gakkai is a Japanese new religions, Japanese new religion led by Minoru Harada since December 2023 based on the teachings of the 13th-century Buddhist priest Nichiren. It claims the largest membership among Nichiren Buddhism, Nichiren Buddhist group ...

uses a tricolor of blue, yellow, and red. It is often mistaken for the flags of

Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...

and

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. File:Sasana Flag – Buddhist flag in Myanmar.png, Burmese Buddhist flag File:Tibetan buddhist flag.svg, Tibetan Buddhist flag File:Nepal Buddhist flag.svg, Nepalese Buddhist flag File:Japanese Buddhist flag.svg, File:Buddhist flag with Dharma wheel.svg, A common variant with 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. ...

File:Lao buddhist flag.svg, Laotian Buddhist flag File:Dharmacakra flag (Thailand).svg, Thai Buddhist flag (i.e. the dhammacakka flag, , ) File:Red swastika flag.svg, Korean Buddhist

swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few Indigenous peoples of Africa, African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely rec ...

flag File:Flagkarmapa.svg,

Karma Kagyu Karma Kagyu (), or Kamtsang Kagyu (), is a widely practiced and probably the second-largest lineage within the Kagyu school, one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The lineage has long-standing monasteries in Tibet, China, Russia, M ...

flag ( Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, 16th Karmapa's "dream flag"). File:Sanshokuki.svg, The flag of the

movement File:Soka_Gakkai_International_Flag.gif, The flag of Soka Gakkai International File:Army Chapel Flag Buddhist.jpg, US Army chapel flag File:Flag of various Republican Parties of India.svg, A Dharmawheel flag used by the Dalit Buddhist movement

Bans

In 1963, the Catholic President of

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered Diplomatic recognition, international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the ...

Ngo Dinh Diem Ngô Đình Diệm ( , or ; ; 3 January 1901 – 2 November 1963) was a South Vietnamese politician who was the final prime minister of the State of Vietnam (1954–1955) and later the first president of South Vietnam (Republic of V ...

invoked a law prohibiting flags other than that of the nation, to ban the Buddhist flag from being flown on

, when Vatican flags had habitually flown at government events. This led to protests, which were ended by lethal firing of weapons, starting the Buddhist crisis.

References

External links