Lotus
The lotus flower, one of the eight auspicious symbols. Rooted in mud but flowering clean above the water, it stands for the purity of the awakened mind.
Meaning
The lotus grows in muddy water, and Lion's Roar explains the reading: the flower is the purity of the enlightened mind arising amid the suffering of samsara, and it stands for nonattachment, rooted in the mud of attachment and desire while its flowers open on long stalks, clean of it. Colour changes the meaning. A white lotus is mental purity, a red one love and compassion, a blue one wisdom, always shown partly open, and a gold one complete enlightenment. A closed bud is the time before enlightenment and a full bloom is enlightenment itself. According to the Tibetan Language Institute's guide, every important deity in Buddhist art sits on a lotus or holds one.
Origin and history
The comparison is an old one. The Lalitavistara says that "the spirit of the best of men is spotless, like the lotus in the muddy water which does not adhere to it". It is also one of the oldest Buddhist signs. Among the symbols on ancient Indian coins, Foucher (1917) read the lotus, in its best-known form with eight petals on the coins of Eran, as the sign of the Bodhisattva's miraculous birth. Alice Getty's book of 1914 glosses the lotus among the eight as the "pledge of salvation or Nirvana".
The lotus in stories and prayer
According to legend, a lotus bloomed wherever the baby Buddha stepped. The Tibetan mantra Om mani padme hum, "Om the jewel in the lotus hum", calls on Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara), the bodhisattva of compassion.
A flower Tibet doesn't grow
The lotus does not grow in Tibet, so Tibetan artists paint only stylised versions of it, according to the Tibetan Language Institute's guide.
Shared with Hinduism
The lotus and the conch are sacred in Hinduism too: Manitoba's schools guide to Hinduism notes that both are similar to Buddhist symbols. The Victoria and Albert Museum holds a figure of Vishnu whose upper hands carry a lotus and a conch. See the Hindu padma.
See also
Padma, Dharmachakra, Bodhi leaf, Triratna, Stupa, Parasol.
Sources
- What is the Meaning of the Lotus in Buddhism?, Lion’s Roar
- The Eight Auspicious Symbols, Tibetan Language Institute, quoting Robert Beer, The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs, Lotus Flower
- The Eight Auspicious Signs, Lama Zopa Rinpoche (translator), Mandala, Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, no. 4
- The Eight Auspicious Symbols, Tibetan Monks’ Residency, Office of Cultural Affairs, Salisbury University
- Eight Auspicious Symbols (gallery text, illustration after Terese Tse Bartholomew, Hidden Meanings), Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
- The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays in Indian and Central-Asian Archaeology, A. Foucher, 1917, Paul Geuthner, Paris; Humphrey Milford, London (Internet Archive)
- The Gods of Northern Buddhism, Alice Getty, with an introduction by J. Deniker, 1914, Clarendon Press, Oxford (Internet Archive)
- Hinduism: A Supplemental Resource for Grade 12 World of Religions: A Canadian Perspective. Practices, Rituals, Symbols, and Special Days/Celebrations, Manitoba Education, Government of Manitoba
- Vishnu Chaturanama, Victoria and Albert Museum
Last reviewed September 24, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research