THE LOTUS

  The lotus symbolizes the Buddhist ideal of transcendence of the world. The lotus petal and the lotus leaf both have a striking quality of aloofness. They do not get smeared or stained by the water and mud around them. When, for instance, a drop of water falls on a lotus leaf, it receives it as a ‘drop’ until it rolls away and drops with a pearly grace.

The released mind has a similar quality of aloofness towards the sensory data that normally tend to smear and stain it. It receives the data ‘as-they-are’ with a full awareness that insulates against shocks. It follows the dictum:

‘In the seen, just the seen
In the heard, just the heard
In the smelt, just the smelt
In the tasted, just the tasted
In the touched, just the touched
In the thought, just the thought.

The mind is not swept away by them. It remains uninfluenced by the signs and significances of the sensory data which infiltrate and condition the undeveloped worldly mind. With an equanimity born of a penetrative insight into the law of impermanence, it sees the sense data as such and `not-otherwise’.

The distance, then, between the worldly and the transcendental, is the same distance between the lotus leaf and the drop of water on it. So near-and yet-so far!