Sandakada Pahana

Excited to have finished this piece to be tattooed onto a great dude!

This is an interpretation of the Sandakada Pahana or Buddhist Moonstone which resides at the base steps of many temples and from what little i know from the extensive research I did, basically (and apologies for my butchering)

Animal ring, foliage ring, lotus / nirvana

The Moonstone symbolises Samsara, the cycle of birth, death and rebirth that arises out of avidya (ignorance), which causes dukkha (suffering, anxiety, dissatisfaction). Which is displayed by a series of circles or rings. Basically the outer representing things like birth, death, disease, distraction etc and going inward with these things until the middle lotus which symbolizes nirvana.

We've taken some liberties with the piece to strip it down to the essentials. The goal here was to represent a very important piece to him and a reminder of it all, more than a verbatim translation.

The tattoo is done but healing up so once it's healed I'll have him send over a few photos to show you guys :)

Thanks for listening