Chapter I
What it means
Bodhi means “awakening”. The bodhi leaf is the leaf of the fig tree under which Siddhartha Gautama sat in meditation until he understood the nature of suffering and its end, and so became the Buddha, “the awakened one”.
The leaf therefore stands for the moment of awakening and for the possibility of awakening in every person. Its heart shape and long tip, which lets rain drip away, made it an easy and graceful sign to draw.
Chapter II
Where it comes from
Like the wheel, the tree was one of the signs that stood for the Buddha in the earliest Buddhist art, before he was shown in human form. Carvings at Bharhut and Sanchi show people worshipping a tree within a railing.
Buddhist tradition says Ashoka’s daughter Sanghamitta carried a cutting of the tree to Sri Lanka, where it was planted at Anuradhapura. Cuttings of these trees have since been planted at temples across Asia and beyond.
Chapter III
Where you see it today
Pilgrims visit the Mahabodhi temple at Bodh Gaya to sit beneath the tree. Fallen leaves are kept as keepsakes, and the leaf shape appears on temple walls, in jewellery and on the logos of Buddhist organisations.