Lotus Flower: The Ultimate Guide to its Meaning for Your Awakening

Thus, the Buddha is sometimes depicted seated on a lotus flower , symbolizing one who has overcome the pain of the material world. He has thereby become enlightened, just like the lotus flower that grew in mud but managed to break through the water's surface and produce a magnificent bloom. This reminds us that we, too, can rise from any difficult situation and reconnect with the light that surrounds us. Anyone who has ever observed a lotus flower emerging from a murky pond cannot fail to see the beauty of this exquisite plant.

Because Buddhism originated in a different part of the world than Egyptology, lotus flowers come in a much wider variety of colors. It's therefore not surprising that these many different colors are associated with different aspects of Buddhism. The main symbolism and meanings of the various lotus flower colors are explored in our section on colors later in this article.

Many Hindu gods and goddesses are associated with this flower; for example, the goddess of prosperity, Lakshmi , is usually depicted sitting on a fully open lotus flower.

Because the lotus is able to emerge from muddy waters intact and pure, it is considered to represent a wise and spiritually enlightened quality in a person; it is representative of someone who performs their tasks without worrying about any reward and with total liberation from attachment.

It is very interesting to see how the open flower and the forms of unopened lotus buds are associated with human traits. The unopened bud represents a withdrawn soul that has the capacity to unfold and open itself to divine truth.

These profound spiritual meanings gave rise to a way of sitting known as the lotus position . The legs are crossed and folded so that the bent knees resemble the petals of a lotus. This is an important position in Buddhist meditation and Hindu yoga practices. The soles of the feet are folded under, making it a respectful position when visiting a temple, where exposing the soles of the feet is considered impolite. Another example is the use of the lotus in mandalas, which are spiritual and artistic representations of divine energies and aids to meditation in Buddhist traditions.

We now know that the plant simply sheds its old flowers and grows new ones in a daily cycle, but it remains a powerful reminder of reincarnation and the mysteries of the afterlife . Priests and other religious leaders also brewed the flowers into a tea with mild sedative and psychotropic effects , which reinforced their sense of ritual work.

The Egyptians associated the lotus flower with the sun, which also disappeared during the night, only to reappear in the morning. The lotus thus became a symbol of the sun and of creation . In many hieroglyphs, the lotus is depicted emerging from the nun (primordial water) bearing the Sun God.

As an element associated with rebirth, it is not surprising that the lotus flower is also associated with death , and the famous Egyptian Book of the Dead is known to include spells that are capable of transforming a person into a lotus, thus enabling resurrection.

Another interesting fact about the significance of the lotus flower for the Egyptians is its use as a symbol for the unification of the two Egyptian kingdoms —that is, the joining of Upper and Lower Egypt. For a long time, the lotus was used in the hieroglyphs and art of Upper Egypt, while in Lower Egypt, the papyrus plant was particularly abundant. Therefore, images of lotus and papyrus plants growing together and intertwined became a symbol of the union of the two kingdoms.