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A stylised open flower on a stem, the commonest devotional plant symbol in Asia.
Also known as: Padma, Lotus flower symbol
Sometimes confused with: Water lily symbol
The lotus, or padma, is drawn as an open flower seen from above or in profile and is among the most widely used symbols in Buddhist, Hindu and Jain art. The reading usually given turns on how the plant grows: rooted in mud, rising through water and opening clean above it. Both the number of petals and the colour carry meaning in the traditions that use it — an eight-petalled lotus, a thousand-petalled lotus and a white or blue or red lotus are not interchangeable — so a reader looking at a carving can often narrow it down by counting.
Is read through the way the plant grows — rooted in mud, rising through water, opening unstained above it — which is the reason it is used for purity and for awakening in the traditions that share it.
Contexts: Religion
Carries meaning in its petal count and its colour. Eight petals answer to the eight directions and to the eightfold path; a thousand-petalled lotus is a distinct figure again; and white, blue, red and pink lotuses are associated with different figures and qualities rather than being colour choices.
Contexts: Religion
An open flower with pointed petals radiating from a small round centre, drawn either flat from above or in profile on a curving stem.
One of the eight auspicious symbols.