Ananyareddy at 13:04, 14 September 2025

2025-09-14T13:04:39Z

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{{Short description|Monument marking or symbolizing an imprint of Gautama Buddha's foot or both feet}}
[[File:Buddha-Footprint.jpeg|thumb|Footprint of [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]] with [[Dharmacakra]] and [[Three Jewels|Triratna]], 1st century, [[Gandhara|Gandhāra]]]]
[[File:The Buddha's Footprint.jpg|thumb|Buddhapada, Teak wood decorated with mother of pearl and glass. Lanna art, late 15th – early 16th centuries. [[Wat Phra Singh|Wat Phra Singh Woramahaviharn]]]]
[[File:Seema Malaka - Buddha footprint.jpg|thumb|right|Buddha footprint at entrance of the [[Seema Malaka]] temple]]
'''Buddha's footprints''' ([[Sanskrit]]: {{Transliteration|sa|Buddhapada}})( Tibetan: སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ཞབས་རྗེས། ) is an important [[Buddhist symbolism|Buddhist symbol]] which is commonly depicted as [[Icon|icons]] shaped like an imprint of [[Gautama Buddha]]'s foot or both feet. There are two forms: natural, as found in stone or rock, and those made artificially.<ref name=Stratton-2003>{{cite book | title = Buddhist Sculpture of Northern Thailand | first = Carol | last = Stratton | isbn = 1-932476-09-1 | year = 2003 | publisher = Serindia Publications }}</ref>{{RP|301}} Many of the "natural" ones are acknowledged not to be genuine footprints of the Buddha, but rather replicas or representations of them, which can be considered ''[[cetiya]]'' ([[Buddhist]] [[relic]]s) and also an early [[aniconic]] and symbolic representation of the Buddha.<ref name=Strong-2004>{{cite book | title = Relics of the Buddha (Buddhisms: A Princeton University Press Series) | first = John S. | last = Strong | isbn = 0-691-11764-0 | publisher = [[Princeton University Press]] | year = 2004}}{{RP|87}}</ref>

==Symbolism==

Footprints of the Buddha abound throughout Asia, dating from various periods.<ref name=Strong-2004/>{{RP|86}} Japanese author {{nihongo|Motoji Niwa|丹羽基二|Niwa Motoji}}, who spent years tracking down the footprints in many Asian countries, estimates that he found more than 3,000 such footprints, among them about 300 in [[Japan]] and more than 1,000 in [[Sri Lanka]].<ref name=Niwa_009>{{cite book |title=Zusetsu sekai no bussokuseki: bussokuseki kara mita Bukkyō |script-title=ja:図説世界の仏足石: 仏足石から見た仏教 |trans-title=Buddha's footprints, pictures and explanations: Buddhism as seen through the footprints of Buddha | publisher = Meicho Shuppan | language = ja, en | year = 1992 | page= 5 | first = Motoji | last = Niwa | isbn = 4-626-01432-1 }}</ref> They often bear distinguishing marks, such as a [[Dharmachakra]] at the centre of the sole, or the 32, 108 or 132 auspicious signs of the Buddha, engraved or painted on the sole.<ref>{{cite web | title = Footprints of the Buddha | publisher = Buddha Dharma Education Association Inc | url = http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/history/b_feet.htm | access-date = 2008-05-11 | year = 2008}}</ref>

A depression atop [[Sri padaya]] in Sri Lanka is among the largest and most famous footprints.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = History and Cultural Heritage: Past and Future|last = Prasopchingchana|first = Sarunya|date = 2013|journal = International Journal on Humanistic Ideology}}</ref> Buddhist legend holds that during his lifetime the Buddha flew to Sri Lanka and left his footprint on Sri padaya to indicate the importance of Sri Lanka as the perpetuator of his teachings, and also left footprints in all lands where his teachings would be acknowledged.<ref name=Stratton-2003/>{{RP|301}} In [[Thailand]], the most important of these "natural" footprints embedded in rock is at [[Wat Phra Phutthabat|Phra Phutthabat]] in central Thailand.<ref name=Stratton-2003/>{{RP|301}} In [[China]], during the [[Tang dynasty]], the discovery of a large footprint of the Buddha in [[Chengzhou]] caused Empress [[Wu Zetian]] to inaugurate a new reign name in that year, 701 CE, starting the Dazu (Big Foot) era.<ref name=Strong-2004/>{{RP|86}}

The footprint as a sculptural object has a long history stemming from the first examples made in India.<ref name=Stratton-2003/>{{RP|302}} These were made during the pre-[[Greco-Buddhist]] phase of [[Buddhist art]] at [[Sanchi]], [[Bharhut]], and other places in India,<ref name=Strong-2004/>{{RP|85}} along with the [[Bo-Tree]] and the [[Dharmachakra]].<ref>{{cite web | title = A 'Buddhapada' stone, 1st / 2nd c. CE, Gandhara: Commentary by John Eskenazi Ltd. | url = http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00routesdata/0100_0199/kushanart/buddhapada/buddhapada.html | access-date = 2008-05-10 | publisher = Columbia University }}</ref> Later, the footprint-making tradition became prominent in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, [[Burma]], and Thailand.<ref name=Stratton-2003/>{{RP|302}}

==History==
[[File:Worship scenes stone at ASI Museum, Amaravathi.jpg|thumb|A stone depiction of ancient worship of Buddhapada]]

The veneration of the feet of [[guru]]s or [[deities]] was commonplace in [[History of India|ancient India]], placing one's head at or under their feet being a ritual gesture signifying a hierarchy.<ref name=Strong-2004/>{{RP|85}} As ''cetiya'', the Buddha's footprint was classified in a variety of ways. Some were ''uddesika'', representational relics, and others were ''paribhogika'', relics of use or of contact, and occasionally ''saririka'', as though they were not just footprints but the Buddha's actual feet. Some of the depictions of the footprints may signify events in the life of the Buddha, but others may have been depictions of people worshipping at footprint shrines.<ref name=Strong-2004/>{{RP|86}}

To clarify:<ref>Cicuzza, Claudio, ''A Mirror Reflecting the Entire World. The Pāli Buddhapādamaṅgala or “Auspicious signs on the Buddha’s feet”. Critical edition with English Translation'', Materials for the Study of the Tripiṭaka, vol. VI, Lumbini International Research Institute, Bangkok and Lumbini 2011, p. xxi.</ref> a footprint of the Buddha is a concave image of his foot (or feet), supposed to have been left by him on earth to purposefully mark his passage over a particular spot. The images of the Buddha's feet are convex images which represent the actual soles of his feet, with all their characteristics. Following the traditional triple division of the ''cetiya'',<ref>For the late triple division of the cetiya, see for example Pj 8.7 (PTS 222): ''taṃ panetaṃ cetiyaṃ tividhaṃ hoti paribhogacetiyaṃ, uddissakacetiyaṃ, dhātukacetiyanti. tattha bodhirukkho paribhogacetiyaṃ, buddhapaṭimā uddissakacetiyaṃ, dhātugabbhathūpā sadhātukā dhātukacetiyaṃ''. See also Ja 479 (PTS IV, 228) and ''Kassapadasabalassa suvaṇṇacetiyavatthu'' in Dhp-a 14.9 (PTS III, 251).</ref> we can assume that the first form of the image of the Buddha's feet – the concave one – is a sort of ''pāribhogika'' element, since it is indissolubly connected with the [[Tathāgata]] himself. The second one can be thought as an ''uddissaka'' element, since it was created by a devoted artist (or artists) to commemorate the Buddha, taking as its model a genuine footprint. But we can think of this second group, too, as a "''pāribhogika'' by supposition", as noted by Chutiwongs.<ref>See Nandana Chutiwongs, "The Buddha’s Footprints", Ancient Ceylon 10 (1990), p. 60.</ref>
According to French scholar [[Paul Mus]], the footprints were the type of magical objects which "enables one to act at a distance on people related to it."<ref name=Mus_067>{{cite book | title = Barabudur (Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts) | first = Paul | last = Mus | author-link = Paul Mus | translator= Alexander McDonald| isbn = 81-207-1784-8 | publisher = Sterling Publishers, India | year = 2002 | page = 67 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Petrosomatoglyph]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Cicuzza, Claudio, ''A Mirror Reflecting the Entire World. The Pāli Buddhapādamaṅgala or 'Auspicious signs on the Buddha's feet'''. Critical edition with English translation. Materials for the Study of the Tripiṭaka, vol. VI, Lumbini International Research Institute, Bangkok and Lumbini 2011. {{ISBN|978-974-496-525-7}}
*de Guerny, Jacques (2012). ''Buddhapada: L’odyssée des empreintes de Bouddha''. édition privée. {{ISBN|978-2-9542966-1-6}}
*de Guerny, Jacques (2014). ''Buddhapada: Following The Buddha's Footprints''. Orchid Press Publishing Limited. {{ISBN|978-974-524-163-3}}

==External links==
*[http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/footprints-bussokuseki.html Triratana on the footprints of the Buddha]

{{Gautama Buddha}}
{{Buddhism topics}}
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[[Category:Gautama Buddha|Footprint]]
[[Category:Buddhist relics]]
[[Category:Buddhist artifacts]]
[[Category:Legendary footprints]]

Buddha footprint - Revision history

Ananyareddy at 13:04, 14 September 2025