File:Mahayana flag.png

English: A flag created to represent all of Mahayana Buddhism.

The symbolism can be broken down as follows:

̈Bottom half - dark green color represents the conditioned world, samsara (the world of rebirth), and the earth, and thus growth and decay, the relative truth

Upper half - represents ultimate truth, the sky (a common symbol for the ultimate reality), emptiness, Dharmakaya (the Dharma body), nirvana

Wavy white line - the ekayana - the one vehicle - which leads all to Buddhahood

The sun represents the Buddha, who shines his light on all, the sun being an ancient common symbol for the Buddha. In Mahayana, the symbol of the sun retains its importance and is a common metaphor for Buddhahood, which, even though it may be covered by clouds (the negative mental afflictions), is always shining.

21 Rays - This part was unplanned by me, it just happened that the sun image I used in this flag has twenty one rays, and it also just happens that there is a set of twenty one immaculate qualities attributed to the Ultimate Buddha in a classic Indian Mahayana text called Abhisamayalamkara... I only discovered this after I had finished this design.

The white lotus (Sanskrit: pundarika) represents the bodhisattvas, who do not abandon sentient beings and continue to take rebirth in the conditioned world again and again for the sake of all. The white lotus is perhaps the most important symbol in Mahayana.

The white color symbolizes purity, and the yellow Carpellary receptacle, being also yellow like the sun, can symbolize Buddha-nature (the fact that all beings have buddhahood within - a key teaching in Mahayana).

The petals of the lotus: the eight outer petals symbolize the eighth-fold path, and the eleven inner petals symbolize two things: (1)the eleven bhumis (ten bhumis plus the buddha-bhumi, a set taught in the Saṃdhinirmocana-sūtra), and also (2) the eleven beautiful mental factors taught in the northern Abhidharma