"So then what does this symbol represent for us Buddhists? Some people say it stands for good luck—that’s how ordinary people interpret it. I’ll tell you, the symbol marks a Buddha’s level, and only those who reach the level of a Buddha have it. Bodhisattvas and Arhats don’t have it, but Great Bodhisattvas, like the Four Great Bodhisattvas, all have it. We can tell that those Great Bodhisattvas have gone far beyond the levels of common Buddhas, they’re even higher than Tathagatas. The Buddhas beyond the level of Tathagata are so many they’re countless. Tathagatas have only one symbol, but when someone reaches the levels higher than Tathagata he’ll begin to have more symbols. At a level twice as high as Tathagata you have two symbols, and at even higher levels you have three, four, or five… and some will have so many their bodies will be covered in them. They’ll appear on the head, the shoulders, the knees, and when they get to be too many to fit, they’ll even appear on the palms, the fingers, the soles of the feet, the pads of the toes, and so on. As the level gets higher and higher, the number of symbols keeps rising, and that’s why the symbol indicates a Buddha’s level. The higher a Buddha’s level, the more symbols he has."

from Zhuan Falun
Li Hongzhi
(founder of Falun Dafa)