FROM THE GARDEN OF ZEN: August 2025

August 4, 2025

Ooshiokara-tonbo (Orthetrum triangulare melania) dragenflies and sacred lotus flowers: Ofuna Flower Center

In the radiant sunlight, I found a beautiful pair of dragonflies clinging to the lotus flower bud on the verge of blooming to rest their wings for a moment. Probably they were briefly resting on their way in flight before performing their ceremony of mating somewhere in a swamp.

Rising up out of the muddy water, graceful lotus flowers are fully blooming one after the other to prepare for precious reproduction. Various summer insects are magically attracted by the inviting colors and aromas of the flowers for serving the ritual of pollination.

In the scorching sunlight of the high summer, the elegant dance of life has just begun silently everywhere in sight.

Sacred lotus flower: Ofuna Flower Center

The lotus is one of the oldest plants in existence on the earth and deserves to be called the “ancient flower.”

According to the fossil record, the ancestors of the lotus were already present about 100 million years ago (the Cretaceous period), when dinosaurs ruled the world, the ancestors of modern birds and mammals appeared, and the first flowering plants emerged.

The present-day lotus genus is also called “a living fossil,” morphologically almost unchanged since ancient times.

The life span of a lotus flower is short, usually 3-4 days after flowering.

The process is as follows.

Day 1: The flower opens early in the morning and closes in the morning. Days 2 and 3: The same flowers open again in the morning and close around midday. Day 4: The petals remain open and begin to slowly scatter one by one.

Then, after the dropping of the petals, the central receptacle (the beehive-shaped part) remains to nurture the seeds.

The flowers are short-lived, but the plant itself can live for decades in the form of the lotus roots in the mud of the swamp. Their seeds and roots are valued as the delicacies of summer.

Sacred lotus flower: Ofuna Flower Center

The lotus grows in the mud, but produces beautiful flowers without being stained by the mud. From this, it represents the ideal of living a pure life in the earthy world full of stupidities and sufferings.

The blossoming of a lotus flower from a bud can be likened to the process of awakening from delusion and attaining enlightenment. In particular, in the scriptures of Mahayana Buddhism, the flower seat of lotus, on which the Buddha and Bodhisattva sit, symbolizes the state of profound spiritual enlightenment.

The appearance of the lotus flower, with its stem growing straight out of muddy water and blossoming nobly under the bright sunlight, symbolizes the way of entering into nirvana.

Sacred lotus flower: Ofuna Flower Center

In Buddhist, Hindu, Chinese and Japanese cultures, the lotus is not just a flower, but the beautiful symbol that reflects an “ideal way of life” in this earthy world.

The main virtues that are embodied in the lotus flower may be summarized as follows.

Cleanliness and purity:

A metaphor for a mind that is never tainted by dirt, no matter what the environment.

Spiritual dignity:

The flower blooms higher than the surface of the water and does not come into direct contact with muddy water. This represents the spiritual growth beyond worldly ignorance and suffering.

Perseverance and growth:

The process of sprouting out of the mud and growing to the surface of the muddy water in search of sunlight is likened to the process of training and effort.

Rebirth and liberation from Samsara (the endless circle of birth, death, and rebirth):

The lotus is a flower that opens in the morning and closes in the evening, and its daily activity shows the cycle of life. In the Buddhist Pure Land, deceased persons are believed to be reborn in lotus buds.

Harmony and peace:

The multiple evenly spaced, overlapping circle of the flower petals looks like a planetary nebula, which symbolizes the harmony and peace of the universe and the Dharma (the absolute principle of the universe).

Sacred lotus flowers: Ofuna Flower Center

Sacred lotus flower: Ofuna Flower Center

Sacred Lotus flowers: Tsurugaoka-hachimangu

The round and massive leaves of lotus also show unique fineness and traditionally have been incorporated into Japanese and Chinese fine arts, designs, and poetry.

In Japanese Buddhist paintings (Muromachi-Edo period) related to Zen Buddhism culture and Pure Land beliefs, the large, splendid leaves of lotus are always drawn in the scenery of the sacred lotus pond of nirvana. The Kano and Rimpa schools of painting (17th-19th century) often used the motifs of blue-green lotus leaves on the gilded backgrounds of folding screens to create a sense of solemnity and purity.

In Chinese paintings (Southern Song and Yuan dynasty), lotus leaves are depicted in large sizes along with the flowers, and the contrast between the fresh blue-green of the leaves and the red and white of the flowers expressed the untaintedness and stillness of the world. In the Southern Song dynasty, the veins of the leaves were finely drawn in paintings, which emphasized the exquisite beauty of nature.