|
|
 |
Worship the Lotus
Buy Egyptian Lotus
HERE
Worship the Lotus
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 southeastern North America to northern South America,
the American lotus Nelumbo lutea has pale yellow scented
blossoms smaller than those of the sacred lotus:
It's 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 meters 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
indicates the age of the plant in years.
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 rumoured to contain apomorphine a drug that is said to have
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 it symbolizes that which urges us to seek new
experiences. The poem refers to an episode in The Odyssey of
Homer.
The common water lily (Nymphaeae) of North America, usually
white in colour and bearing a distinctive scent, resembles the
larger lotus but belongs to a different species. Its split disc
leaves or pads tend to lie on the surface of calm ponds and
lakes
Iconographic Types:
Buddhist iconography distinguishes among the white, the pink and
the blue lotus. The blue ones are shown as double flowers with
curly petals, somewhat resembling the Chinese peony.
Lotuses white, pink or blue represent human beings of 3 varying
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 thought to parallel a person's
progress towards enlightenment. That is, they stand for
renunciation of the entanglements of samsara and for the pure
aspiration that is the desire for enlightenment for the sake of
others.
Two other flowers are prominent in Tibetan painted scrolls [tangkas],
the utpala or nilopala which may appear in the form of a
multi-bloomed flower like the anemone, and the ashok which is
the rose. The nomenclature is somewhat confusing since the
flowers held by the Taras [see below] and the one supporting the
book in the iconography of Manjushri is often referred to as
utpala which usually denotes the blue lotus.
Other Plants in Buddhist Iconography:
The so-called naga (serpent or water spirit) tree is depicted in
a way that recalls a succulent such as the 'pencil plant', jade
plant or the aloe.
The Medicine Buddha, Sangye Menla [Bhaisajyaguru], is usually
depicted holding a sprig of the arura or myrobalan plant,
believed to be a panacea [cure-all] in the Ayurvedic (Indian
traditional medical college) tradition.
Visit 'All About the Eclipse' for the tale of how Vajrapani
tried to murder Rahu and created medicinal plants as a
consequence of his actions.
Deities associated with the lotus:
The origin of the association with divinity seems to originate
in ancient Egypt. The lotus seat is that of Horus, associated
with the silence of divinity, depicted in the corolla of the
flower with his fingers pressed to his lips.
Osiris, culture hero and god of the underworld is depicted
crowned with lotus buds. Isis is sometimes portrayed emerging
from a lotus as a sign of resurrection. Lotus buds are
therefore, associated with funerary rites, and held in the hands
of mummified bodies. They are depicted, presumably to
commemorate a time of mourning, tied to the pillars of shrines
and homes. The lotus emblem was also used as a frequent
architectural motif especially as the capital decoration of
columns.
The lotus is also identified with Nefertem, a sun god of
Heliopolis who was believed to spring up each morning from a
lotus flower. He bears a lotus sceptre surrounded by plumes.
Hapi, son of Horus, is considered the father of all creatures.
He is depicted as a mummified man with a baboon's head and the
breasts of a woman. He may hold both a lotus, symbol of Upper
[southern] Egypt, and a papyrus plant [Lower Egypt] to signify
the union of the two lands.
Classical [Greek and Roman] Mythology:
The Roman poet Ovid, from whom we get much of our ideas of Greek
mythology, tells in his Metamorphoses that there was once a
nymph in Oecalia or Arcadia called Lotis. She was a daughter of
Poseidon who passed out, along with many other party-goers,
after drinking wine.
Priapus, the deity who proudly displays his enormous genitals,
tried to creep up on her, but a donkey alerted her with its
bray, and she managed to flee. She metamorphosed into the lotus
flower when it seemed he would finally gain on her.
Dryope was another unfortunate nymph. She was raped by Apollo in
disguise. [Did you think Apollo was the god of reason, healing
and the arts?] The god then returned in his true form, seduced
her, and she eventually gave birth to a child called Amphissus.
While at a spring one day with her sister, Iole, and her baby in
her arms, she plucked some blossoms from a lotus tree to make a
garland. The tree was really Lotis, the poor nymph, and from
where the flowers had been taken, blood flowed.
Lotis, angry and in pain, changed Dryope into a poplar tree.
Since lotuses do not grow on trees, one wonders to which flower
these myths refer!
Indian mythology:
In ancient Egyptian cosmogony, the lotus represents the
newly-formed earth, just as it does in India. In Indian
mythology, the lotus emerges from primeval slime to bloom and
provide the foundation of the physical world which takes form
through the agency of Vishnu, also known as Narayan, the
Creator. As he reclines in the coils of the cosmic serpent
Ananta, on the surface of the deep, a lotus stem emerges from
his navel which blossoms into the flower that is the created
earth-as-we-know-it.
This lotus becomes the foundation of the goddess Lakshmi (Laxmi
cf. the English word luxury) called Shri, but also Padma or
Kamala (Sanskrit: lotus) who is the consort of Lord Vishnu. She
is the bearer of prosperity and success, spiritual as well as
material, and is depicted sitting or standing, holding lotuses
in opposing hands. She is depicted having only two, or as many
as eight, upper limbs.
In the Hindu saint Markandeya's version of the cosmogony, it is
four-faced Brahma who is seated in this lotus. It is his day and
night which are the kalpas, the eons of time. Each kalpa is
divided into a series of yugas usually translated 'ages'. We are
currently thought to be in a yuga that precedes the dissolution
of the universe, the Kali yuga.
Surya, the sun god, is depicted with a lotus in each hand.
Indeed lotuses, and flowers in general, symbolize the sun
because of its form with rays or petals around the yellow
centre.
Saraswati, Hindu goddess of learning and music, usually shown on
a swan holding her lute or sarangi, often has a lotus as her
cushion. She is venerated in Tibetan Buddhism*, too, as the
consort of Manjushri, bodhisattva and emanation of Vairocana,
considered the solar buddha of the five primal or adi-buddhas.
(These five used to be referred to as dhyani or
contemplative-wisdom buddhas which is not an accurate way of
regarding them.)
Each represents a form of buddha-activity in the multiverse; one
family is called the lotus or padma family of buddhas. (The
others are activity (karma), enlightened (buddha), jewel (ratna),
adamantine (dorje), ethereal or space.) Each type is associated
with a traditional Asian element as well as a skandha or
component of phenomenal reality.
Laxmi, bearing lotuses, appears in Tibetan Buddhism as Kurukula,
goddess of love and wealth.
Janguli, with 3 faces and 6 arms, is another Buddhist deity
associated with this flower; she is the protector against
poisoning and snakebite. Besides the lotus, she has a white
snake and a peacock with her.
The best-known figure in Tibetan Buddhism associated with the
lotus flower is of course, Chenrezi, whose name in Sanskrit is
Avalokiteshvara, but whose epithet is Padmapani; that is,
Lotus-bearer. The well-known mantra, Om mani padme hum is used
to evoke his presence: It calls on the one known as
Jewel-in-the-lotus. Each syllable stands for one of the six
realms of existence; note that these syllables pad-me (lotus)
represent the animal and the spirit realms.
Tara the Saviour (Green Tara) is shown to be so eager to help in
any situation that she is depicted not only on a lotus seat, but
with her right foot on a small lotus cushion, as if she were in
the process of standing up.
White Tara is often shown holding a spray of three lotuses in
varied stages of bloom. They may be interpreted as past, present
and future, or as the various stages of progress towards the
goal of enlightenment.
In the description of the Pure Land of Amitabha, beings are
reborn in lotus buds that open after a certain time measured in
ages, depending on the individual's karma.
Symbolic of Divine Manifestation:
Legend has it that the divine white elephant that, in her dream
entered the side of Maya, Shakyamuni Buddha's mother, was
holding a spray of lotuses.
Immediately after Buddha Shakyamuni's birth, he stood and walked
seven steps and lotuses sprang from his footprints. Indeed, in
the years immediately following his death, he was symbolically
depicted as a pair of footprints within a lotus-petalled wheel.
The legend of Guru Rinpoche tells how he manifested in this
world, in the Tibetan borderlands, as an 8-year old boy sitting
in the calyx of a great lotus. It is for this reason he is
called Padmasambhava.
Thus the stylized lotus seat of buddhas and bodhisattvas, as
they are depicted in Tibetan painted scrolls or tangkas, and in
other ritual art, is an indicator of their dharmakaya origins.
It shows that the figure is not being presented as a person, but
as a timeless manifestation. The style and colour of the petals
of this lotus corresponds to and hence, reveals certain
characteristics of, the being depicted in it.
Wrathful deities are supported by petals that are flame-like in
appearance. Notice the jagged form of the lotus of the
intimidating dakini.
In tangka images, there is also a certain correspondence of
style with time and place, as in any other form of artistic
expression. For example, the Nyingma teacher on the January 2000
page of the Tibetan Art Calendar published by Wisdom, is
supported by petals of a distinctly 18th century rococo
appearance.
The Lotus In Yoga
The chakras (wheels) or energy vortices of the body are depicted
as various lotuses. Their petals range in number from two to a
thousand, like the one at the crown of the head.
The number of these chakras varies according to the tantric/yogic
system; five are referred to in Tibetan Buddhism but there are
said to be seven in the Hindu* version. On a torma, a ritual
offering cake, we often see represented only two wheels.
The seated meditation posture [asana] in which the legs are
crossed and locked is called padm'asana.
The Lotus Sutra
The image of a lotus also acts as a metonymy [figure of speech
in which the part stands for the whole: the Crown ruled that ...
] of buddha-dharma.
This came to fruition in 6th century China and later in Japan.
In the Tendai sect of Buddhism, the Lotus Sutra (saddharmapundarika:
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
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)..
The lotus is one of the 8 glorious or auspicious emblems [Pa
Hsi-hsiang] to the Chinese.
*There is a somewhat similar relation in the pairs
Judaism/Christianity and Hinduism/Buddhism in that the newer
belief system is seen to be a completion or fulfillment of the
old...
|
|
|
