1 Lotus
In Buddhism, it is considered a symbol of the Western Pure Land, where the soul is nurtured. The Buddha's body is often placed on a lotus, so the Buddha's seat is also called a lotus seat. Poets of the past dynasties praised the lotus for coming out of the mud but not staining, being clear but not evil, and straight from the inside to the outside. They compared the lotus to a gentleman and gave it a holy image. Lotus is also called lotus. Its double-flowered lotus is a harbinger of longevity and a symbol of pure love. Among all flowers, it is the only one that can coexist with flowers, fruits (lotus roots) and seeds (lotus seeds). The lotus mainly symbolizes beauty, love, longevity and holiness.
2 The lotus, the Chinese flower goddess in June, is showing off her peerless beauty in the scorching summer sun. "It is also pitiful to decorate the garden": "Lotus on four walls and willows on three sides" of the Humble Administrator's Garden, the fragrance is dark in the art garden pool, the green and fragrant red dancing in the Yiyuan Garden are supported by three thousand lotus flowers, and there is also cold fragrance flying in the retreat garden. ...On a sunny day, it looks like a green cover on the water, covered with red makeup and blooming with colorful lotus. After the rain, you can see the crystal in the jasper plate... The ancients said: "There is no beauty in spring terrace, and no flowers bloom in hibiscus." Sincerity Not empty.
Lotus, also known as lotus, hibiscus, water fungus, water hibiscus, lotus, etc., is a perennial aquatic plant. The rhizome (lotus root) is fat and multi-nodal, growing horizontally in the mud at the bottom of the water. There are many varieties of flower colors, including red, white, green, purple and variegated flowers. There are varieties of double-peduncle lotus with one stem and two flowers, four-faced lotus with one stem and four flowers, and even the "Ten-faced Guanyin" with ten flowers, as well as small-flowered lotus. Lotus bowls like jujubes are in various shapes and forms.
Li Yu said that lotus has "three qualities", one of which is eye-catching: on the day it emerges from the water, it is dotted with green waves, and its stems and leaves are swaying and graceful as the sun rises. The lotus blooms into flowers, which are charming and graceful. The flowers wither soon, and a pod grows under the complex pedicle. The pod is strong and independent, standing side by side with the green leaves. The second one is Kebi: the fragrance of the lotus leaves, the unique fragrance of the lotus, escape from the summer heat and the heat will retreat, enjoy the coolness and the coolness will drive away the life. Third, it is delicious. Lotus seeds and lotus roots are placed side by side on the dinner plate, and they are mutually delicious. Even if the leaves are lost in the frost, you can still pick them and hide them for wrapping all year round. Therefore, it is said that "there is not a moment that is not suitable for the eyes and ears; there is not a single thing that is not suitable for home use" ("Xian Qing Ou Ji").
Lotus, in Chinese culture, is also an object of appreciation among the three religions. "Qun Fang Pu - Lotus" says: "Peanuts are the most beautiful in the pond. All things are blooming first and then solid. This is the only one where all the flowers and solids grow together. Hundreds of knots are smooth, and all the orifices are exquisite. Pavilions and pavilions emerge from the mud but are not stained. In the flowers A gentleman." Become a representative of beauty, purity and steadfastness. "The Book of Songs" has "scorching hibiscus", which is beautiful for its shape. Qu Yuan "made hibiscus for clothes, and gathered hibiscus for clothes", which is clean.
Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, lotus has been infiltrated into Buddhist connotations. Buddhism was founded in India, a land of drought and scorching heat. Indians are born with a love for green shade and clear water, and they naturally love the hibiscus with disk-like green leaves. According to legend, Brahma of Brahmanism was born sitting on a lotus. Buddhism caters to the public's love for lotus and promotes Buddhism. Buddhism believes that the real world is a piece of filthy mud, but Buddhism makes people unpolluted, transcendent, and reach a pure and unimpeded state. Therefore, the lotus flower that emerges from the mud but remains unstained is used as a metaphor.
It is said that Lady Maya gave birth to Buddha Sakyamuni while sitting on a lotus throne. When Sakyamuni was born, a thousand-leaf lotus flower grew in the pond. Therefore, the lotus became the bed on which the Buddha sat, called the "Lotus Seat", and the sitting position was called the "Lotus Seat Posture". According to the Prophecy Sutra of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, both Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva and Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva were born from lotus flowers. The eminent monk Hui Yuan of the Eastern Jin Dynasty founded the White Lotus Society, and later the Pure Land Sect was also called the "Lian Sect". The lotus became a symbol of Buddhism.
Buddhism has a legend about lotuses growing step by step. According to "Buddha's Collection of Sutras: Birth under the Tree", Sakyamuni "was born in Lumbini Garden without anyone to support him, so he walked around in all directions." , with seven steps on each side, raising their feet step by step, a big lotus flower appeared." There is also a legend about the deer girl growing lotuses every step of the way. "Miscellaneous Treasure Sutra: Lotus Lady's Fate" records that Devayan, a Brahmin who studied immortality on the edge of the snow-capped mountains, "often urinates on a stone, and there is a flow of essence flowing down the stone. A female deer comes to lick the place where he urinates, even if he is pregnant." Full term. Later, she gave birth to a daughter, who was so upright and wonderful that she was called the "Deer Girl". When she grew up, she was "able to walk, and lotus flowers sprouted from wherever her feet touched the ground." Queen Deer Girl became King Utiyan and gave birth to five hundred sons, all of whom became "Pratyekabuddhas". The lotus flowers growing step by step contain the sacred meaning of the path to purity and liberation. This should be the sacred meaning of the lotus paving the garden.
Lotus has become a magical weapon in the hands of He Xiangu, one of the Eight Immortals in Taoism. Zhu Da, who is both a monk and a Taoist, chose the living environment of "thatched cottage outside the bamboo pavilion under the oak, half a pond of lotus leaves and half a pond of water chestnuts" ("Inscribed on Lotus").
China has loved lotus since ancient times. As early as the Zhou Dynasty, there were decorative patterns of lotus on bronzes and pottery. It is also the most commonly used and beautiful pattern and shape on various architectural decorations, sculpture crafts and daily utensils. .
Zhang Chao of the Qing Dynasty said that "Lianxi is a confidant of Lianxi" ("Youmengying"), which refers to Zhou Dunyi, an acting scholar of the Song Dynasty who named himself "Lianxi", who built a small house under Lianhua Peak in Lushan Mountain. On the stream, he wrote "The Story of Love Lotus", which blends emotion and reason, and is charming and handsome. Zhou made a detailed and vivid description of the lotus, praising its fragrance, cleanliness, erectness, and trim characteristics as well as its elegant and refined look, which is a metaphor for the perfection, purity, and purity of human nature. The characteristics of the lotus and the character of the gentleman are seamlessly blended, and in fact it also integrates the origins of Buddhism, forming the artistic conception of Suzhou garden attractions such as the "Yuanxiang Hall" and "Lotus Pavilion" in the Humble Administrator's Garden. Zhou Dunyi's "Shuo on Love of the Lotus" is like an immortal "Ode to the Lotus", "winning a reputation that will be passed down for generations".
The elegance and purity of the lotus flower has become a symbol of conveying love. There is an ancient tradition of picking lotus flowers in autumn to cherish your loved ones. The famous love poem "Xizhou Song" in the Southern Dynasties uses "lotus" to pun on "even" and "lotus" to pun on "pity". It is meaningful and expresses the deep longing for your lover. .
The delicacy of lotus is as mentioned above, but Chinese literati also ate it elegantly when using lotus in their dishes. During the Three Kingdoms period, some people used lotus leaves to make wine cups, so that "the wine tastes mixed with lotus spirit". Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty used morning dew on lotus leaves to make tea, which was called Lotus Dew Qingming. The wife of Shen Fu, a native of Suzhou, held the lotus in the evening and bloomed in the morning when the lotus flowers first bloomed in the summer. She used a small gauze bag to pick up a few tea leaves and placed them in the center of the flower. This is the elegance of drinking, the aesthetic of "turning the mundane into the extraordinary". Shen Fu also interestingly described the process of cultivating bowl lotus: "Tear the two ends of old lotus seeds thinly, put them into eggshells to make chicken wings, take them out when they are ready, add two-tenths of Asparagus asparagus with old bird's nest mud, Mash it and mix well, plant it in a small vessel, fill it with river water, and expose it to the morning sun; the flowers will be as big as a wine glass, and the leaves will be as small as the mouth of a bowl, and they will be graceful and cute." ("Six Chapters of a Floating Life") The profoundness of aesthetic philosophy and intellectuals. The spirit of spiritual elegance in spiritual life is naturally revealed in this eloquent narrative.
The lotus "has the essence of five grains, but does not have its name; it has the strengths of hundreds of flowers, but eliminates its shortcomings" (Li Yu's "Xian Qing Ou Ji"), it is not publicity, it is honest, respectable and lovely . June 24th of the lunar calendar is the birthday of Lotus, let us celebrate it beautifully. (Cao Lindi)