Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World

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Lotus

The lotus rises through the murky waters of ponds and lakes yet, when it blooms, it floats upon the surface, its petals shining and untainted by the mud from which it emerged. In the scriptural language and sacred poetry of Hinduism and Buddhism, the lotus perfectly embodies the soul, rising up through the murkiness of worldly experience until it reaches the surface of the spiritual realm and blooms, vibrant and pure, free from all taint and attachment.

The lotus is so fundamental to the spiritual language of Yoga that it has become a technical term. The word "lotus" is used interchangeably with the word chakra referring to the spinning wheels of spiritual energy located along the spinal axis. While the lotus can refer to any of the chakras, it is most especially associated with the radiant white-gold crown chakra.

More than metaphor, referring to the crown chakra as a white lotus is a good description. It is a variation of the experience that I have called the Golden Ocean. The experience is of a shining golden-whiteness, radiating outward from a living central point. It seems to flow outward, like water, or like a thousand white petals surging with life and renewing themselves while, at the same time, remaining utterly self-contained and at rest.

See also

	Rose
	Spring Blossom

Poems with the theme of Lotus

	Andal Fair mothers, my sweet ambrosia (from Nacciyar Tirumoli)
	Andal The lotus is greeting the rising sun and the lily has closed its petals; (from Tiruppavai)
	Avaiyar Vinayagar Agaval
	Basho, Matsuo Temple bell
	Battacharya, Mahendranath Screening its face amongst lotus stalks
	Beni Raga Ramkali
	Catherine of Siena We were enclosed (from Prayer 20)
	Coleridge, Samuel Taylor To Nature
	Dariya Without love there can be no devotion and wisdom (from Love Chapter)
	Dasimayya, Devara Whatever It was
	Dogen One of fifteen verses on Dogen's mountain retreat:
	Dogen Wondrous nirvana-mind
	Francis of Assisi The Canticle of Brother Sun
	Ghalib, Mirza The Rose with its redolent petals
	Gibran, Kahlil Self-Knowledge (from The Prophet)
	Granger, Ivan M. white world
	Gyatso, Kelsang Little Tiger
	Hafiz Spring and all its flowers
	Hanh, Thich Nhat Contemplation
	Hanh, Thich Nhat Padmapani
	Hanh, Thich Nhat Interrelationship
	Hanh, Thich Nhat Please Call Me by My True Names
	Hao-jan, Meng Master I's Chamber in the Ta-yu Temple
	Herbert, George The Flower
	Hildegard of Bingen O virga mediatrix / Alleluia-verse for the Virgin
	Iqbal, Allama Muhammad To the Saqi (from Baal-i-Jibreel)
	Islam, Nazrul Come silently like the Moon
	Islam, Nazrul O Nightingale!
	Islam, Nazrul Song of Dawn
	Islam, Nazrul Talk to me, javas, talk to me
	Jayadeva When he quickens all things (from The Gitagovinda)
	Jayadeva When spring came, tender-limbed Radha wandered (from The Gitagovinda)
	Jayadeva [6] My heart values his vulgar ways (from The Gitagovinda)
	Kabir I burst into laughter
	Kabir [XVII] The light of the sun, the moon, and the stars shines bright:
	Kabir (4) Do not go to the garden of flowers!
	Kabir (6) The moon shines in my body
	Kalidas (Edwards, Lawrence) What mind can possibly approach you
	Kamalakanta Mother
	Kamalakanta The black bee of my mind is drawn in sheer delight
	Kerouac, Jack The Scripture of the Golden Eternity
	Khayyam, Omar [26] Oh, come with old Khayyam, and leave the Wise
	Ko Un In a Temple's Main Hall
	Ko Un Indangsu sea, shine dark blue
	Lalan As the man and the woman in me
	Lalla (Ded, Lal) What is worship? Who are this man
	Lawrence, D. H. And Oh--That The Man I Am Might Cease To Be--
	Leon, Luis de The Life Removed
	Lu Tung Pin Sojourning in Ta-yu mountains
	Machado, Antonio Proverbs and Songs
	Machado, Antonio Songs
	Mahadevi, Akka Would a circling surface vulture
	Maharshi, Ramana The Marital Garland of Letters
	Maharshi, Ramana The Necklet of Nine Gems
	Mechthild of Magdeburg Of the voices of the Godhead
	Merton, Thomas Aubade -- The City
	Merton, Thomas Song for Nobody
	Merton, Thomas The Fall
	Mirabai O my friends
	Mirabai Unbreakable, O Lord
	Mistral, Gabriela Song of Death
	Neruda, Pablo Too Many Names
	Nurbakhsh, Javad Desiring You
	O'Donohue, John On the death of the Beloved
	Oliver, Colin Here I see no-one
	Oliver, Mary Have You Ever Tried to Enter the Long Black Branches?
	Oliver, Mary This World
	Pampattic Cittar Like the drops of water that will not adhere to the leaf of the lotus
	Po, Li Alone and Drinking Under the Moon
	Po, Li Clearing at Dawn
	Po, Li Self-Abandonment
	Rahman Baba Sow Flowers
	Ramakrishna Is there anyone in the universe
	Ramprasad (Sen, Ramprasad) Conquer Death with the drumbeat Ma! Ma! Ma!
	Ramprasad (Sen, Ramprasad) Kulakundalini, Goddess Full of Brahman, Tara
	Ramprasad (Sen, Ramprasad) Meditate on Kali! Why be anxious?
	Ramprasad (Sen, Ramprasad) Mother, am I Thine eight-months child?
	Ramprasad (Sen, Ramprasad) O Death! Get away; what canst thou do?
	Ramprasad (Sen, Ramprasad) Who in this world
	Ramprasad (Sen, Ramprasad) Why disappear into formless trance?
	Rasakhan Winter Lotus
	Reninger, Elizabeth Deer
	Reninger, Elizabeth Deluge
	Rilke, Rainer Maria We are the driving ones
	Rosenstock, Gabriel (1) You are in me (from Year of the Goddess)
	Rosenstock, Gabriel (4) A daisy picked (from Year of the Goddess)
	Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin Seizing my life in your hands, you thrashed me clean
	Ryokan The Lotus
	Ryokan The plants and flowers
	Ryokan The winds have died, but flowers go on falling;
	Sanai, Hakim Bloom Like a Rose
	Sandeep Beyond Consciousness
	Saraha The Royal Song of Saraha (Dohakosa)
	Sarmad He and I are one
	Sarmad My heart searched for your fragrance
	Solovyov, Vladimir Three Meetings
	Soseki, Muso No End Point
	Soseki, Muso Snow Garden
	Soseki, Natsume Plum flower temple:
	Soseki, Natsume Watch birth and death:
	Sun Buer Cut brambles long enough
	Surdas Krishna Awakes
	Symeon the New Theologian The Light of Your Way
	Tagore, Rabindranath He's there among the scented trees (from The Lover of God)
	Tagore, Rabindranath Who are You, who keeps my heart awake? (from The Lover of God)
	Tagore, Rabindranath Your flute plays the exact notes of my pain. (from The Lover of God)
	Tagore, Rabindranath (75) Thy gifts to us mortals fulfil all our needs (from Gitanjali)
	Tagore, Rabindranath (81) On many an idle day have I grieved over lost time (from Gitanjali)
	Teasdale, Sara Two Songs for Solitude
	Therese of Lisieux The Divine Dew
	Thompson, Francis The Hound of Heaven
	Trungpa, Chogyam A flower is always happy
	Trungpa, Chogyam A Heart Lost and Discovered
	Tung-Shan (Tozan) Verses on the Five Ranks
	Valad, Sultan The Soul That Does not Live in God is not Alive
	Vaughan, Henry The Morning Watch
	Vidyapati All my inhibition left me in a flash
	Vidyapati As the mirror to my hand
	Vivekananda, Swami In dense darkness, O Mother
	Walters, Dorothy Don't Make Lists
	Walters, Dorothy Still Life
	Wei, Wang Cooling Off
	Wei, Wang Living in the Mountain on an Autumn Night
	Wei, Wang Stone Gate Temple in the Blue Field Mountains
	Wordsworth, William "To every Form of being is assigned," (from The Excursion, Book 9)
	Wu Men (Hui-k'ai) Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn
	Yoka Genkaku (Xuanjue, Yongjia) [56] The hungry are served a king's repast (from The Shodoka)

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Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Lotus

Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World