Prabhashvara is the color of the aura of Gautama Buddha which was seen radiating from his body according to Buddhist traditions and is depicted on the Buddhist flag.[1]
Description
The prabhashvara means pure or nothingness which cannot be explained in normal languages but there is no other way to convey the message. While it is often referred a six colors, the prahbashvara is the actual spectrum of Buddha's aura consisting of five colors, in Pāli:
- nīla (sapphire blue)
- pīta (golden yellow)
- lohitaka (crimson)
- odāta (white)
- mañjeṭṭha (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 distinguised 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 curel 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 holinness 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.[2]
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.[3]
See also
References
- ^ The Buddhist Channel (D.C. Ranatunga, Sunday Times), April 29, 2007[1]
- ^ Jayatilleke, Kulatissa Nanda; Malalasekera, Gunapala Piyasena (1958-01-01). Le bouddhisme et la question raciale (in French). ISBN 978-2-307-21115-0.
- ^ Steel Olcott, Henry (1888). The Theosophist: A Monthly Journal, Devoted to Oriental Philosophy, Art, Literature and Occultism. Theosophical Publishing House. p. 622.
 | This Buddhism-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This colour-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
This page was last edited on 21 May 2024, at 06:40