Well, it was not originally intended to be attention-grabbing; but it is undoubtedly conspicuous and eye-catching! You see, the Flag was designed way back in 1885 in Sri Lanka. Back then, the emerging modern Buddhist movement needed a peaceful yet potent symbol to rally followers around.
Hence they created the iconic ‘Buddhist Flag’ which consists of six vertical coloured stripes of Blue (Pāli, “Nīla”), Yellow (“Pīta”), Red (“Lohitaka”), White (“Odāta”), Orange (“Mañjettha”), and a combination of five colours as the sixth stripe, called “Pabhassara” – the resplendent glory.
According to Buddhist legend, rays of these six colours emanated from the Buddha’s body when he attained Enlightenment and pondered upon the ‘Law of Dependent Arising’ (“Paticca-Samuppada”) – which is the apex of Buddhist wisdom. Hence, the committee which designed the Flag thought that it was the ideal theme to base upon.
So, that was how we got this colourful emblem today.