Jump to content

Urna

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Monkbot (talk | contribs) at 04:29, 30 January 2021 (Task 18 (cosmetic): eval 3 templates: hyphenate params (3×);). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Buddha with urna
Translations of
Urna
Sanskritऊर्णा
(IAST: ūrṇā)
Paliउण्ण
(uṇṇa)
Chinese白毫
(Pinyin: Báiháo)
Japanese白毫
(Rōmaji: byakugō)
Korean백호
(RR: baekho)
Tibetanམཛོད་སྦུས་
Wylie: mdzod spu
VietnameseBạch mao tướng
Glossary of Buddhism

In Buddhist art and culture, the Urna (more correctly ūrṇā or ūrṇākośa[1] (Pāli uṇṇa), and known as byakugō (白毫) in Japan) is a spiral or circular dot placed on the forehead of Buddhist images as an auspicious mark.[1][2] It symbolizes a third eye, which in turn symbolizes vision into the divine world; a sort of ability to see past our mundane universe of suffering.

As set out in the Lakkhana Sutta or 'Discourse on Marks', the ūrṇā is the thirty-first physical characteristic of Buddha.[3] It is generally thought to be a whorl of hair and be a mark or sign of the Buddha as a mahāpuruṣa or great being. The device is often seen on sculptures from the 2nd century CE.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "The Lost Buddhas: Chinese Buddhist Sculpture from Qingzhou". Asian Art. April 14, 2012. Archived from the original on June 24, 2015. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
  2. ^ Stratton, Carol (2004). Buddhist Sculpture of Northern Thailand. Serindia Publications. p. 50. ISBN 9781932476095.
  3. ^ Holt, John Clifford; Kinnard, Jacob N.; Walters, Jonathan S. (2012). Constituting Communities: Theravada Buddhism and the Religious Cultures of South and Southeast Asia. SUNY Press. p. 191. ISBN 9780791487051.