Urna

In Buddhist art and culture, the Urna (more correctly ūrṇā or ūrṇākośa[1] (Pāli uṇṇa), and
known as báiháo ( ⽩毫) in Chinese) 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.
 Translations of
Urna

Sanskrit ऊणा
(IAST: ūrṇā)

Pali उ ण
(uṇṇa)

Chinese ⽩毫
(Pinyin: Báiháo)

Japanese ⽩毫
(Rōmaji: byakugō)

Korean 백호
(RR: baekho)

Tibetan མཛད་ ས་
(Wylie: mdzod spu)

Vietnamese Bạch mao tướng

Glossary of Buddhism

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.

Gallery
Buddha with urna depicted as a circular dot.

The unalome (อุณาโลม) yantra is a stylised representation of the urna.

See also

Bindi (decoration)

Bindu (symbol)

Yantra tattooing

References

1. "The Lost Buddhas: Chinese Buddhist Sculpture from Qingzhou" (https://web.archive.org/web/2015

0624115810/http://asianartnewspaper.com/article/lost-buddhas-chinese-buddhist-sculpture-qing
 zhou) . Asian Art. April 14, 2012. Archived from the original (http://www.asianartnewspaper.com/ar
ticle/lost-buddhas-chinese-buddhist-sculpture-qingzhou) 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.

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