The Lotus
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To the ancient Egyptians, a lotus bud or sesen was a symbol of rebirth. It
closes in the evening and falls to the water; in the morning it opens and is
lifted above the surface. Its behaviour emulates that of the sun. Because
of this rising and setting, it is also a symbol of death and rebirth.
According to one creation myth, a giant lotus emerged from the watery chaos
at the beginning of time. Out of its centre, the sun itself rose on the
first morning.
According to the prevalent creation myth of India, there emanated out of the
primeval waters due to the mind-activity of the Supreme Being, a
thousand-petaled golden Lotus. It is presided over by the god Brahma whose
four (or at the very beginning of Time, five) faces oversee its quarters.
This Lotus (Sanskrit padma, pundarika) whose petals are each marked with the
square symbol of the earth element is the earth-as-goddess, source of the
essence of Life which is thought of as Moisture. The sacred mountains Meru
[a.k.a. Sumeru,] Himalaya, Kailash and the Vindhya rise from that
Earth-Lotus.
This is the location of the continent of which India is a part. The
filaments rising from the pericarp, the central organ that resembles the
pierced sprinkling cap on the spout or tip of a watering can, are the lesser
mountains of the world filled with precious metals and other riches. The
various other nations and peoples of the world reside on the outer petals of
the Lotus where, on the underside of those petals dwell rakshas or demonic
beings, and also the nagas, serpentine beings.
Tibetan Buddhists have inherited this world view, and the symbolic mandala
that is offered to the Three Jewels is a representation of this Lotus.
About the Flower
Nelumbo, sole member of botanical species Nelumbonaceae, consists of only
two kinds.
The sacred lotus, Nelumbo nucifera is the Indian or Oriental lotus. Native
to southern Asia, it is found at altitudes of up to 1,600 metres. Found from
south eastern North America to northern South America, the American lotus
Nelumbo lutea has pale yellow scented blossoms smaller than those of the
sacred lotus:
".... a perennial plant growing from a thick rhizome. Its rounded leaves can
reach up to 50 cm. in diameter. The first leaves that appear, few in number,
are flat and float on the surface. They are followed by thicker,
funnel-shaped leaves with slightly wavy edges that may stand from 50 cm to 2
metres above the water. The leaves are coated with a film, upon which water
forms magnificent, glittering droplets. The flower stalk rises above the
leaves, ending in large, sweet-smelling, white or pink blooms which appear
one at a time. Each flower lasts from 2 to 5 days and darkens with age.
Ranging in diameter from 15 to 25 cm, lotus flowers are termed single when
they have fewer than 25 petals, semi-double if they have 25 to 50 petals,
and double if they have more. After blooming, the petals fall, leaving a
cone-shaped seed head that resembles the rose of a watering can. Each of its
15 to 20 openings contains a fruit." ~ Montreal Botanical Garden.
It is interesting that the number of round scars on the rhizome corresponds
to the age of the plant in years. Available either fresh or canned, it may
be sliced longitudinally and served as refreshing vegetable.
Growing lotus in zone 4.
Dividing lotus rhizomes. Step-by-step with images.
The Lotus Foot
The bound and painfully mutilated feet of Chinese women of the upper classes
were referred to as lotus feet because of their resemblance to the rhizomes
or root-like structures of the flowers.
The Blue Lotus
The "lotus" depicted in the tomb paintings of ancient Egypt and found
scattered upon the corpse of Tutankhamen when the tomb was opened in 1922 is
also known as the 'lily of the Nile', and it is not a true lotus, but a blue
water lily Nymphaea caerulea. It is thought to contain apomorphine, a drug
with psychoactive properties.
It is this flower which lent its name to Alfred, Lord Tennyson's (fl. 1850)
poem, Song of the Lotos-eaters in which that blue flower symbolizes whatever
urges us to seek new experiences. The poem refers to the episode in The
Odyssey of Homer in which Odysseus' gets sidetracked on his way home from
the Trojan war.
Pictured above is the blue star water lily referred to as a lotus that is
the national flower of Shri Lanka, Nymphaea stellata. This may be what is
meant by the Sanskrit designation, utpala.
The common water lily (Nymphaeae) of North America, usually white in colour
and giving off its distinctive scent, has spiky petals and resembles the
larger lotus, but it belongs to a different species entirely. Its split disc
leaves or pads tend to lie flat on the surface of calm ponds and lakes.
Variety
Buddhist iconography distinguishes among the white, the pink and the blue
lotus. The blue ones are depicted as double flowers with curly petals,
resemble a Chinese peony. There are red ones, too.
Lotuses white, pink or blue can represent human beings of 3 varied types
since they either stand on the surface, slightly above, or up and out of the
water.
Because they emerge from slime and corruption, then grow up through the
purifying water to emerge into the sunlight, they are seen as metaphors for
the development of the individual being towards enlightenment. That is, the
flower stands for renunciation of the entanglements of samsara, and for the
pure aspiration that is the desire for enlightenment for the sake of others.
The Lotus In Yoga
The chakras (wheels) or energy vortices of the body are depicted as various
lotuses. There are over 80 thousand chakras according to one tradition, and
108 according to another. Only the main, spinal ones are popularly
depicted.
The petals of these chakra-lotuses range in number from two at the forehead,
to a thousand -- the one at the crown of the head.
The number of the central chakras varies according to the particular
tantric/yogic system. Five are usually mentioned in Vajrayana Buddhism, but
there are seven or eight shown in the Hindu* version. On a torma, a ritual
offering cake, we usually see represented only two wheels.
The seated posture (Skt. asana) in which the legs are crossed and locked is
called lotus pose or padma'sana. The figure above is not quite seated in a
half-lotus.
The crown lotus has 1,000 petals -- it is identical to the seat of Brahma,
and Kabir the 15th-century Indian mystic says:
Do not go to the garden of flowers!
O friend! go not there;
In your body is the garden of flowers.
Take your seat on the thousand petals of the lotus, and there gaze on the
infinite beauty.
The Lotus Sutra
The image of a lotus blossom (Pundarika, Lien-hua, Renge) also acts as a
metonymy [a figure of speech in which the part stands for the whole, eg. the
Crown ruled that ... ] of buddha-dharma. See a mandala thangka of the
Buddha and the 16 arhats.
This came to fruition in 6th-century China and later in Japan. In the
Tendai [Tien T'ai] sect of Buddhism, the Lotus Sutra (satdharmapundarika:
The Lotus of the True Law) written about the first century of the
contemporary era) is thought to encapsulate all the teachings of the Buddha
so that no other is necessary.
Here, the Lotus stands for the essence of Buddhism. The Sokka Gakai movement
of contemporary Japan is centred on this teaching, partly for that reason.
Recitation of Om Namu-myoho-renge-kyo, the mantra associated with the Lotus
Sutra, is alone considered a complete form of Buddhist practice by followers
of Nichiren (13th-century Japanese teacher.)
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The lotus is one of the 8 glorious or auspicious emblems not only to
Tibetans, but also to the Chinese where they are called pa hsi-hsiang.
Cairn T is a roofed burial/ceremonial site at Loughcrewe, Ireland dating
from 7,000 years ago, and it includes superb symbolic engravings of spirals,
circles and other figures usually interpreted as solar symbols. These
engraved figures in the vertical rock surface are of a familiar
continuous-line eight-lobed figure inside a circle with a dot at the very
centre. There are a few with more than 8 'petals' but the majority do not
much differ from the simplest depictions of the lotus like the pink button
used before this paragraph.
~ link ^ is to M. Byrne's excellent site
*There is a somewhat similar relation in the pairs Judaism/Christianity and
Hinduism/Buddhism in that the newer belief system can be viewed (by the new
group) as a completion or fulfillment of the old.
Deities of the Lotus
atheramari
That paganism stuff....awwww gees, that occult stuff again!...(hides) LOL
D
C
"my experimentation with Psychedelics is the 60's was a
profound thing. Your butt-fucking into viral-bunghole colonies was serious
abuse."
Dave Cole July 2002
"THE HIGH PRIEST OF NICHIREN SHOSHU IS A LIAR. SO IS IKEDA THEY BOTH LIE.
THEY ARE BOTH LYING WHORE CHASING OLD EVIL SLOBS. AND YOU IMBECILES FROM
HELL ARE SO STUPID AND BRAINWASHED AND IGNORANT YOU CANT SEE WHAT IS SO
FUCKING OBVIOUS THAT IF IT WERE ANY MORE OBVIOUS YOU YOURSELF WOULD HAVE
THEIR GISM FORCED INTO ALL YOUR OWN ORIFICES!"
"You imbeciles are all arguing over which one gets your dick in the ass"
David Cole, August 2002
"receptivity is the key to propagation, Now use your head. How do you increase
receptivity with these people who are all blocked and who's minds are like dried cement?
There must be a powerful disruptive force and unlike Japan I hope this doesn't have to
happen with event like the Kanto Earthquake or having atomic bombs dropped in the cities."
David Cole, July 2002
"Furthermore the content of the Mahayana, especially the Lotus
Sutra was distinctly and directly, Upanishadic in nature.
One thing for sure is they were all on drugs."
David Cole, July 2002
"What part of : "dependent extinction of all phenomena," do you not
understand? the part where you get erect?"
David Cole July 2002
"I spent many decades understanding and integrating this
understanding and it is based on my OWN experience of awakening which is the
primordial experience---the very basis of religion in everyone's life. My
experience is the same as that of Gautama or Nichiren or Tien-t'ai or
Nagarjuna or a number of people in other religions or throughout history who
experienced the same thing."
Copyright © David Cole 2002
" I exaggeratingthe pissingnow as anyone with any sense can see, inan
attempttoshow you and Michaelthat this passive aggressive, non-buddhist
bullshit has to stop." [sic]
Copyright © David Cole 2002
"I tell the truth to Paul in E-mail, that the Uk and LA Kots are gay and that an
inordinate amount of gays left SGI and went to NST temple or to Nichiren Shu"
Copyright © David Cole 2002
"The Nips still haven't apologized for the war to the US and or the Rape of
Nanking. They need their fairy butts kicked too."
David Cole 2002
"Look at your UK group Funny most every Koto is a
fag--in US too---just like Nichiren Shu."
Copyright © David Cole 2002
"I am distressed like the Daishonin was distressed
about the sick behavior of humankind. I am as solid as a rock."
David Cole 2002
"This faggot version of true buddhism is history, the Daishonin would kick
your fairy little asses and the gakkai as well.... and the Priesthood is
corrupted into habits and monstrous passivity.."
David Cole 2002
"Of course this is the typical hypocritical crap coming from human beings
that are just dumb. Sorry boys, maybe you and Una should all have an orgy
at taisekiji.......bring Reggie to referee."
David Cole 2002
"I think you need a stiff stick inserted deeply into your ass and wiggled
around to break up the congestion in there."
David Cole 2002
"I never cheated on either of my wifes.
Althoug As I said before there were some episodes years ago where a wife
brought a female into our bed"
David Cole 2002
"No one will follow wimps and people with psychological
problems and weird perverse habits and behaviors based in unresolved
childhood conflicts and altar--boy consciousness. Tell me
butt-fucking and perversity is cool in our buddhism."
David Cole 2002
"Slippery but transparent. i never suggested you held his cock while he got
his blow job"
Copyright © David Cole 2002
"Oh Craig, don't make it bad
Buy a hooker and get your raa-oocks off.
Remember to let her suck on your dick"
"Don't carry the lie upon your scrotum
Remember, they spit out that cum
in a container and later insert it."
David Cole 2002
"Yes I had a few threesomes in my day"
David Cole 2002