It was first publicly hoisted on Vesak day, 28 May 1885[1] at the Dipaduttamarama, Kotahena, by Ven. Migettuwatte Gunananda Thera.[3] This was the first Vesak public holiday under British rule.[3]
Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, an American journalist, founder and first president of the Theosophical Society, felt that its long streaming shape made it inconvenient for general use. He therefore suggested modifying it so that it was the size and shape of national flags.[1]
In 1889, the modified flag was introduced to Japan by Anagarika Dharmapala and Olcott—who presented it to Emperor Meiji—and subsequently to Burma.[4]
The flag's six vertical bands represent the six colors of the aura which Buddhists believe emanated from the body of the Buddha when he attained Enlightenment:[6][1]
Blue (Pāli and Sanskrit: nīla): The Spirit of Universal Compassion
Red (Pāli and Sanskrit: lohitaka): The Blessings of Practice – achievement, wisdom, virtue, fortune and dignity
White (Pali: odāta; Sanskrit: avadāta): The Purity of Dhamma – leading to liberation, timeless
Orange (Pali: mañjeṭṭha; Sanskrit: mañjiṣṭhā), alternatively scarlet: The Wisdom of the Buddha's teachings
The sixth vertical band, on the fly, is made up of a combination of the five other colors' rectangular bands, and represents a compound of said colors in the aura's spectrum. This new, compound color is referred to as the Truth of the Buddha's teaching or Pabbhassara(lit.'essence of light').
Variantsedit
The variant Japanese flag in Kyoto[citation needed]
The Dharmacakra flag, symbol of Buddhism in Thailand[citation needed]
In Japan, there is a traditional Buddhist flag (五色幕 — goshikimaku) which has different colors but is sometimes merged with the design of the international flag to represent international cooperation.[citation needed]
In Tibet, the stripes' colors represent the different colors of Buddhist robes comprehensively united in one banner. Tibetan monastic robes are maroon, so the orange stripes in the original design are often replaced with maroon.[citation needed]
Tibetan Buddhists in Nepal replace the orange stripes with plum stripes.[citation needed]
Theravāda Buddhists in Thailand opt for the usage of a yellow flag with a red dhammacakka (ธงธรรมจักร - thong thammajak); it is sometimes paired with the international Buddhist flag. It was officially adopted in 1958 by Buddhist monks, and flown outside temples alongside the national flag and on important events.[citation needed]
Soka Gakkai uses a tricolor of blue, yellow, and red.[8] It is often mistaken for the flags of Chad and Romania.
In 1963, the Catholic President of South VietnamNgo Dinh Diem invoked a law prohibiting flags other than that of the nation, to ban the Buddhist flag from being flown on Vesak, when Vatican flags had habitually flown at government events. This led to protests, which were ended by lethal firing of weapons, starting the Buddhist crisis.[9]