A tad past her prime, I liked the way this lotus blossom fit in with the surrounding leaves, that seem as though they are protecting or comforting her.
The day after I posted this image, I was reading the sixth case, or koan, in a zen volume often called The Gateless Gate, a collection of 50 koan with commentary. In one translation, it is said that, at an assembly at Spiritual Mountain, Buddha picked up a flower and showed it to the crowd. All were silent, except for Kashyapa, who broke out in a smile. Buddha then said that he had the treasury of the eye of truth, the ineffable mind of nirvana, that it is not defined in words, but specially transmitted outside of doctrine, and that he had transmitted it to Kashyapa.
This case is often understood to illustrate the unity of all things (I am insufficiently advanced to explain that), and it occurred to me that this image illustrates that idea of unity. The blossom didn't actually touch any of the leaves, although the slightly telephoto focal length used suggests that it might. However, the leaves are essential to the existence of the blossom, since only they carry out the photosynthesis necessary for the blossom's existence. And they require the nutrients in the pond, and the aeration of the water provided by the waterfall, fed by my pump, run in turn by my solar electricity, etc., etc. All connected in one unity.
Loading contexts...