Color Symbolism in Buddhism

Color symbolism is used in a wide variety of fascinating ways in Buddhist art and ritual. In Buddhism, especially in Tibetan Buddhism, each of five colors (pancha-varna) symbolizes a state of mind, a celestial buddha, a part of the body, a part of the mantra word Hum, or a natural element. (Blue and black are sometimes interchangeable.)

ollowing is a table summarizing the meaning of the main color symbols in Buddhism. Click on the color name for a full article and examples of that color. (This article on general color symbolism continues below.)

Color	Blue	Black	White	Red	Green	Yellow
General Meanings	coolness, infinity, ascension, purity, healing	primordial darkness, hate	learning, knowledge, purity, longevity	life force, preservation, the sacred, blood, fire	balance, harmony, vigor, youth, action	rootedness, renunciation, earth
Seen In:	turquoise, lapis lazuli	black thangkas	White Tara, white elephant	coral, red thangkas	Green Tara	saffron robes of monks
Emotion, Action	killing, anger	killing, hatred	rest and thinking	subjugation and summoning	exorcism	restraining and nourishing
Transforms:	anger into mirror-like wisdom	hate into compassion	delusion of ignorance into wisdom of reality	delusion of attachment into the wisdom of discernment	jealousy into the wisdom of accomplishment	pride into wisdom of sameness
Buddha	Akshobhya	n/a	Vairocana	Amitabha	Amoghasiddhi	Ratna-sambhava
Part of Hum	the dot (drop) on the crescent	n/a	the crescent	syllable 'ha'	vowel 'u'	the head
Body Part	ears	n/a	eyes	tongue	head	nose
Element	air	air	water	fire	n/a	earth