The Enlightened One gave his first public sermon in the Deer Park at Sarnath, near Benares, setting in motion the wheel of the Dharma (or spiritual law) as he expounded the doctrine of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. This first sermon is represented by the Dharmachakra Mudra, a two-handed gesture symbolizing the setting in motion of a wheel. This mudra is also used to show the Buddha in his role as a teacher.

In Mahayana Buddhist art, the Buddha is typically represented as a young, ideally proportioned man dressed in simple monk's robes. But he is distinguished from ordinary humans by thirty-two sacred identifying features, or Lakshana. Among the most frequently observed are: the Ushnisha, a cranial bump on the head of the Buddha symbolizing wisdom; the Urna, an auspicious tuft of hair between the eyebrows of the Buddha which looks very much like a third eye on his forehead, and which represents his power to illuminate the world.

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