
Prabhashvara is the
color
Color (or colour in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though co ...
of the
aura 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 ...
which was seen radiating from his body according to Buddhist traditions and is depicted on the
Buddhist flag.
Description
''Prabhashvara'' means "brilliant" or "shining". The ''prabhashvara'' is considered be the
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 ...
of Buddha's aura and consists of five colors, in
Pāli
Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a classical Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Therav� ...
:
* ''nīla'' (
sapphire blue)
* ''pīta'' (
golden yellow)
* ''lohitaka'' (
crimson
Crimson is a rich, deep red color, inclining to purple.
It originally meant the color of the kermes dye produced from a scale insect, '' Kermes vermilio'', but the name is now sometimes also used as a generic term for slightly bluish-red col ...
)
* ''odāta'' (
white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
)
* ''mañjeṭṭha'' (
orange or
scarlet)
Interpretation
Racist interpretation
According to Purana Kassapa and Makkali Gosala, these six colors could also be interpreted a six species, races, or categories of human beings distinguished by genetic, physical, moral or psychological traits, which no individual can change or influence through his own will. The black color included butchers, hunters, fishers, thieves, and all those who practise cruel deeds. The other five categories are on placed on a decreasing scale of perversity and increasing holiness. The white is for the absolutely pure, whose holiness is innate. However, Gautama Buddha opposed this racist classification as according to his teaching, men should not be judged by their birth but rather by their own deeds.
Use: the aureola and the flag
The mixture of those five colors is believed to be Prabhashvara but it is depicted as separate strips of the five colors.
The flag was originally designed in 1885 by the Colombo Committee, in Colombo, Ceylon, in modern day Sri Lanka. The ''prabashvara'' was suggested by
Henry Steel Olcott to give the Buddhist flag a strong identity more than two thousand years after Buddha's "parinirvana" to represent the Buddhism as a religion.
See also
*
Buddhist flag
*
Five Pure Lights
*
Parinirvana
In Buddhism, ''Parinirvana'' (Sanskrit: '; Pali: ') describes the state entered after death by someone who has attained '' nirvana'' during their lifetime. It implies a release from '' '', karma and rebirth as well as the dissolution of the '' ...
*
Rainbow body
References
Gautama Buddha
Color
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