The enlightenment of Buddha is symbolized by the sacred lotus.
Like the flower of the sacred lotus rising and blooming from the dirty mud, the awakened mind grows from our worldly desire, anger, and stupidity. The deeper and dirtier the mud, the more beautifully the flower and our mind bloom by absorbing muddy water as a precious nutrient source.
In Buddhism, the mud represents our foolishness, namely, delusion, attachment, ignorance (a state of not knowing impermanence of this world), lust, and anger. Because the sacred lotus appears and grows from a muddy swamp, it does not avoid the mud nor distance itself from it. But instead, it absorbs necessary nourishment from the mud to grow nobly and beautifully in the dirty water under the blazing sun.
This is understood as the teaching that true wisdom is realized by conquering human ignorance and transforming it into an enlightened mind as beautiful as a lotus flower.
No comments:
Post a Comment