FROM THE GARDEN OF ZEN: August 2024

August 17, 2024

Sacred lotus flower: Ofuna Flower Center (Kamakura)

In Buddhism, the lotus flower, which grows up from swamp and keeps clean and untainted by mud, has been used in its various symbolisms according to the Buddhist goal of liberating from our worldly desires and ignorance and entering into the pure state of Nirvana.

The purity and beauty of the lotus flowers, which sublimely bloom above the surface of the sacred lotus pond, are typical and essential elements in the Pure Land Sutra and other Mahayana Buddhist scriptures.

In the Pure Land Sect of Buddhism, it is said that a holy person who has left this earthly world to be born in the land of utmost bliss will incarnate on the center of the flower in the pure land.

Sacred lotus flower: Kencho-ji

In the glaring sunlight of high summer, in front of the black-lacquered Chokusi-mon gate (imperial envoy gate), which is elaborately decorated with numerous gilded ornamental fittings in the motif of peony flowers, a red lotus bud is nobly rising from the lotus pot and quietly preparing for its blooming.

In India, the land of scorching heat, the cool waterside is traditionally considered to be an ideal place to live. The lotus flower blooming magnificently above the water surface has been respected and cherished by Indian people since ancient times, as the symbol of the paradise where they can be released from the painful reality of living.

Such respect and admiration to the lotus flower have been represented in various ways to adorn every god in Indian mythology and are inherited by Buddhism as the essential emblem of the Land of Happiness.

Sacred lotus flower: Ofuna Flower Center (Kamakura)

In the Pure Land of Perfect Bliss, the countless lotus flowers of various colors are blooming splendidly in the boundless pond, and each of them has the immeasurable petals of its own color.

These petals are shining with the light of their own colors, and each light preaches the wisdom teachings of Buddha to those who have passed away into the Pure Land so that their minds can be absolutely at peace on the path to becoming a Buddha (enlightened person).

(The foregoing translated passage is quoted from the Sutra of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life with addition of my interpretation.)