Lotus & Symmetry

[Guest guest]

Dear Devotees,

 

The posting on Lotus and Symmetry reminded me of another article by

Alan Watts (the well-known Zen scholar) on the Lotus Flower which is

considered all over the East as a symbol. I am attaching the web-file

of Watts' essay and also adding it in the Files section of the

Oppiliappan List for the information of Members. An extract:

"The realization of the truth contained in this symbol is the central

problem of human life—the equal acceptance of both earth and heaven.

Yet remember it is the roots which accept the slime—not the flower,

and the flower which opens itself to the sun—not the roots."

 

"... we cannot deny that we came into the world with blood and pain,

that the powerful reproductive urge symbolized by the reptile stirs

within us, that we have bowels as well as brains, that our life

depends alike on growth and decay, and that what we have been

accustomed to regard as dirt, violence and pain is an essential part

of our nature."

Dasan

Krishnaswamy MK