The Lotus, food for the spirit and the stomach

I can't resist taking photographs of lotus flowers. They are not usually very successful, which may explain why I stop the car or jump off my bicycle to take yet more pictures of colourful ponds. This example of red lotus growing in a field pond was taken recently, but doubtless it won't be the last.

 

In Buddhism, the lotus flower symbolises purity and divine birth. One of the signs of Buddhahood is the ability to walk immediately following birth. This representation and all those like it, show the Buddha's mother holding the branch of a Bodhi tree and the Buddha himself taking seven steps across lotus pads. 

The Buddha is most often represented as seated or standing on a lotus and as a symbol it is found in and around temples in a huge variety of stylised forms. Here we see the Buddha in the meditating position, sitting on a stylised lotus pad. Behind the image you can see clusters of lamps which are also in the form of white lotus buds.

  In the next picure the symbolic lotus bud is forming the cornerstone on the outer wall of a monastery:

The colour of the lotus flower also has symbolic significance.  White represents spiritual perfection and purity and it is the preferred colour to offer to a Buddha image.

 

The beautiful pink lotus is associated with the Buddha:

 

... and red  represents love and compassion, the qualities associated with the heart.

 

The blue lotus represents wisdom and victory over the senses. It is most often found in ornamental tubs in private gardens and the grounds of temples. Both the red and the blue lotus would be called lillies in most western languages. The leaves usually float just beneath the surface of the water and unlike the leaves of the 'true' lotus, they are not water-repellent.  Another difference is that these two lilly/lotus close at night and open again in the morning. The white and pink lotus never open as fully except when they are withering. In Thai, however, all these are known as lotus ( bua / บัว ).

 

People who keep changing their minds are said in Thai to be like the drops of water rolling on the lotus leaf ( muen naam gling bon bai bua / เหมือนน้ำกลิ้งบนใบบัว ).

The Thai people are nothing if not practical, especially when it comes to food. There is not much that they do not regard as potential food. And the lotus certainly falls into that category. These roots of the 'true' lotus are used as a sweet and also as a medicine. They are steamed or boiled for about twenty minutes, until soft and tender. When boiled, sugar is usually added to the water so that the root absorbs some sweetness and to provide a thin syrup as accompaniment.

Medicinally, they are used as a mild laxative (they are very fibrous) and also to cool unhealthy inner heat, of the sort that produces mouth-ulcers, for instance. The Thais call this 'cool medicine' ( yaa yen / ยาเย็น ).

The seed-pods of the 'true' lotus are also collected:

 

 

The soft, green nut-shells are  removed and opened to reveal a small white seed which can be eaten raw, although they become hard with age. The Chinese sell dried lotus seeds which must be soaked before being made into a sweet.  The Thais cook the young seeds in a syrup of sugar and water and serve hot in cool weather and with crushed ice in the hotter seasons.

I must not forget to mention Ubon Ratchathani, the Royal City of the Lotus. And then, perhaps going from the sublime to the ridiculous, there is Tesco Lotus, always referred to by Thais in English just as Lotus.

 

Comments

[Martyn]

Lawrence last week Wilai bought a handful of those strange green pods and when I asked what they were the translation wasn't too clear cut. Thanks for clearing that one up for me.

You missed some great weather in Phu Rua this week. Fog, intense heat and cold evenings. the perfect flower growing weather.

Happy New Year to you and Pensri.

[Lawrence]

Glad to be of help, Martyn.

You are making me envious about Phu Rua. If someone could just beam me up there I'd be happy.

Thanks for your new year wishes. The same to you and Wilai. Don't hurry back to UK.

[John Shoane]

Lotus flowers are actually a form of lilies. They can be seen growing all over Thailand. I wasnt aware of the the Thai buddhist attachment though I thought lotus flowers were more of a Chinese thing.