Buddha footprint

[1]: 301  In China, during the Tang dynasty, the discovery of a large footprint of the Buddha in Chengzhou caused Empress Wu Zetian to inaugurate a new reign name in that year, 701 CE, starting the Dazu (Big Foot) era.

[1]: 302  These were made during the pre-Greco-Buddhist phase of Buddhist art at Sanchi, Bharhut, and other places in India,[2]: 85  along with the Bo-Tree and the Dharmachakra.

[2]: 86 To clarify:[7] a footprint of the Buddha is a concave image of his foot (or feet), supposed to have been left by him on earth to purposefully mark his passage over a particular spot.

Following the traditional triple division of the cetiya,[8] we can assume that the first form of the image of the Buddha's feet – the concave one – is a sort of pāribhogika element, since it is indissolubly connected with the Tathāgata himself.

[9] According to French scholar Paul Mus, the footprints were the type of magical objects which "enables one to act at a distance on people related to it.

Icon of Buddha's footprints
Footprint of Buddha with Dharmacakra and Triratna , 1st century, Gandhāra
Buddhapada, Teak wood decorated with mother of pearl and glass. Lanna art, late 15th – early 16th centuries. Wat Phra Singh Woramahaviharn
Buddha footprint at entrance of the Seema Malaka temple
A stone depiction of ancient worship of Buddhapada