The Buddhist Flag, bài số 4 bậc Kiên

The Buddhist Flag

I. History of the Buddhist Flag:

From ancient times until the mid-19th century, Buddhism had no symbolic flag. The Buddhist flag appeared for the first time in 1885 in Sri Lanka. The Buddhist flag was the initiative of a devout Buddhist American colonel named Henry Steele Olcott.

The flag was designed with six colors which represent the aura that shone around the head of the Buddha. Colonel Olcott sketched the size, color and layout, and then presented it to the Sri Lankan Buddhist Congress, who recognized and raised the flag. Since then, the Buddhist flag has fluttered with solemn celebration in the skies of Sri Lanka.

Sixty-five years later, the inaugural conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists was held in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, on May 25th, 1950. There, twenty-six Buddhist delegates from twenty-six countries decided to adopt the six-colored flag as an International Buddhist flag.

From then on, the Buddhist flag appeared across the world wherever the Buddhism seed germinated.

II. The meaning of the Buddhist Flag:

1. Firstly, the Buddhist flag is a symbol of the spiritual unity of Buddhists worldwide, the right faith, and the love for peace.
2. The Buddhist flag also serves a purpose: to remove bigotry, flatten global boundaries, spread determination and enthusiasm, and unite the Buddhist family.

• The Buddhist flag was presented with 5 distinguished colors and 1 synthetic color.
• The distinguishing colors are: dark blue, pale yellow, red, white and orange.
• A synthetic color: the color conglomeration of the 5 above colors.

• a. The Dark Blue symbolizes concentration: loving kindness, peace, and universal compassion for all beings. Those who achieve the realization of concentration will be able to understand the truth about the human universe.
• b. The Yellow symbolizes wisdom: the Middle Path which avoids extremes, emptiness, balance, and liberation. Wisdom is a crystallization of faith, diligence, mindfulness, and concentration.
• c. The Red symbolizes effort (diligence) and the blessings that practicing Buddha's Teachings brings: achievement, wisdom, virtue, fortune and dignity.
• d. The White symbolizes faith: the purity of Dharma, leading us to liberation, outside of time or space.
• e. The Orange symbolizes Mindfulness: the unshakable Wisdom of the Buddha's Teaching.
• f. The Combination Color: The combination of the above 5 colors symbolize the universality of the Truth of the Buddha's Teaching: concentration, wisdom, effort, faith, and mindfulness coming together, unseparated. This combination color also symbolize the bravery of Buddhism’s compassion and forgiveness.

The above explanation of the Buddhist flag is Dharma-based, but when explained by world law, the flag still stands for the ideals of nations—indiscriminate of skin color, politics, and race—and for the eternal truths of the infinite universe. The flags of world countries use colors to distinguish their nations’ own personality and race. In contrast, the Buddhist flag colors represent the shining aura of the Buddha which brought about equality, compassion, forgiveness, harmony, joy and blessings to all beings—a source of everlasting happiness in the realm of peace. The Buddhist flag is a great treasure of the world: Buddhism’s past and present have come together in this flag as the colors of the aura emanating from our Buddha: our harmony with the endless stream of eternal truth.

III. The appearance of the Buddhist flag in Vietnam:

On February 24, 1951, Venerable To Lien, representing the executive board of the World Buddhist Sangha in Vietnam, came to Sri Lanka for the second time and brought back a treasure from the Buddhist World Administrative Conference in Colombo: the International Buddhist flag. Since then, the Buddhist flag has flown all over Vietnam.

Because the flag is a priceless treasure, we the people come together to protect it in the spirit of Buddhism, whatever the sacrifice, circumstance, or difficulty. So, millions of Buddhists resented the Ngo Dinh Diem government when, during the events of 1963, it undermined the Buddhist flag on Buddhists’ most important holiday: the Vesak celebrations.

IV. Buddhists for the Buddhist flag:

By its stated noble meaning, and by the sacrifice of the martyr Buddha to protect the Buddhist flag, we pray to bravely keep our flag always flying.