bodhimaṇḍa

(Sanskrit, awakening seat). The place where a Buddha becomes enlightened, such as the site of the Buddha's enlightenment (bodhi) under the Bodhi Tree. Sometimes used to refer only to the spot on which the Buddha actually sat and other times to the surrounding area of land with the tree at its centre. Mythologically this spot becomes the site of the enlightenment of all Buddhas, past, present, and future, with the bodhimaṇḍa conceived of as the centre or navel of the world, and the Bodhi Tree as the axis mundi. In iconography the Buddha is depicted as seated on the bodhimaṇḍa with his right hand touching the earth to call it to witness his enlightenment (see bhūmi-sparśa-mudrā).

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