The Symbolism of the Lotus and the Lily

Blavatsky's very first writing about esoteric symbolism was about the lotus. Quite originally, she compares the lotus with the lily in Judeo-Christian symbolism. She went on to give the subject a full treatment in The Secret Doctrine, I, 2, 8- The Lotus, as a universal symbol. She mainly references The Heathen Religion in Its Popular and Symbolical Development, Joseph B. Gross, 1856, which is not bad, but she does not deal with the major iconographic examples of Hinduism, Buddhism and Egypt here. A very original observation is her connecting the rather obscure lotus reference from Buddha's birth story, which does not seem to have an important iconographic history (although imagery does exist, mainly in Southeast Asia) and the Christian Annunciation scene, which only introduced the lily iconography around the 15th century. This is by no means an obvious comparison, although the similarity is intriguing, and gives an interesting hint about Renaissance Christian esotericism. Note also that this text from Isis Unveiled, was re-used almost verbatim in the Lotus chapter in the Secret Doctrine.

 

Lakshmi

'The lotus, the sacred flower of the Egyptians, as well as the Hindus, is the symbol of Horus as it is that of Brahma. No temples in Thibet or Nepaul are found without it; and the meaning of this symbol is extremely suggestive. The sprig of lilies placed in the hand of the archangel, who offers them to the Virgin Mary, in the pictures of the "Annunciation," have in their esoteric symbolism precisely the same meaning. We refer the reader to Sir William Jones ("Dissertations Relatingto Asia." Dissertations and Miscellaneous Pieces Relating to the History and Antiquities, the Arts, Sciences, and Literature, of Asia, Volume 1, p.60, 'On the Gods of Greece')

 

With the Hindus, the lotus is the emblem of the productive power of nature, through the agency of fire and water (spirit and matter). "Eternal!" says a verse in the Bhagavad Gita, "I see Brahma the creator enthroned in thee above the lotus!" (11, 15) and Sir W. Jones shows that the seeds of the lotus contain — even before they germinate — perfectly-formed leaves, the miniature shapes of what one day, as perfected plants, they will become; or, as the author of The Heathen Religion, has it — "nature thus giving us a specimen of the preformation of its productions"; adding further that "the seed of all phoenogamous plants bearing proper flowers, contain an embryo plantlet ready formed." (The Heathen Religion in Its Popular and Symbolical Development, Joseph B. Gross, 1856, p. 195)

 

With the Buddhists, it has the same signification. Maha-Maya, or Maha-Deva, the mother of Gautama Buddha, had the birth of her son announced to her by Bhodisat (the spirit of Buddha), who appeared beside her couch with a lotus in his hand. (Note 1) Thus, also, Osiris and Horus are represented by the Egyptians constantly in association with the lotus-flower.

 

These facts all go to show the identical parentage of this idea in the three religious systems, Hindu, Egyptian and Judaico-Christian. Wherever the mystic water-lily (lotus) is employed, it signifies the emanation of the objective from the concealed, or subjective — the eternal thought of the ever-invisible Deity passing from the abstract into the concrete or visible form. For as soon as darkness was dispersed and "there was light," Brahma's understanding was opened, and he saw in the ideal world (which had hitherto lain eternally concealed in the Divine thought) the archetypal forms of all the infinite future things that would be called into existence, and hence become visible. At this first stage of action, Brahma had not yet become the architect, the builder of the universe, for he had, like the architect, to first acquaint himself with the plan, and realize the ideal forms which were buried in the bosom of the Eternal One, as the future lotus-leaves are concealed within the seed of that plant. 

 

And it is in this idea that we must look for the origin and explanation of the verse in the Jewish cosmogony, which reads: "And God said, Let the earth bring forth . . . the fruit-tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself." (Genesis 1:11) In all the primitive religions, the "Son of the Father" is the creative God — i.e., His thought made visible; and before the Christian era, from the Trimurti of the Hindus down to the three kabalistic heads of the Jewish-explained scriptures, the triune godhead of each nation was fully defined and substantiated in its allegories. In the Christian creed we see but the artificial engrafting of a new branch upon the old trunk; and the adoption by the Greek and Roman churches of the lily-symbol held by the archangel at the moment of the Annunciation, shows a thought of precisely the same metaphysical significance.

Tinh Xa Ngoc Chau Buddhist temple, Vietnam

The lotus is the product of fire (heat) and water, hence the dual symbol of spirit and matter. The God Brahma is the second person of the Trinity, as are Jehovah (Adam-Kadmon) and Osiris, or rather Pimander, or the Power of the Thought Divine, of Hermes; for it is Pimander who represents the root of all the Egyptian Sun-gods. The Eternal is the Spirit of Fire, which stirs up and fructifies and develops into a concrete form everything that is born of water or the primordial earth, evolved out of Brahma; but the universe is itself Brahma, and he is the universe. This is the philosophy of Spinoza, which he derived from that of Pythagoras; and it is the same for which Bruno died a martyr. How much Christian theology has gone astray from its point of departure, is demonstrated in this historical fact. Bruno was slaughtered for the exegesis of a symbol that was adopted by the earliest Christians, and expounded by the apostles! (Note 2) The sprig of water-lilies of Bhodisat, and later of Gabriel, typifying fire and water, or the idea of creation and generation, is worked into the earliest dogma of the baptismal sacrament.

(Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled I, 91-93)

 

For more on the Egyptian symbolism of the annunciation, see Notes on Abbé Roca’s ‘Esotericism of Christian Dogma’

[Le Lotus, Paris, Vol. II, No. 9, December, 1887, pp. 160-173] Collected Writings, Vol. 8, pp. 375-78]

http://www.katinkahesselink.net/blavatsky/articles/v8/y1887_048.htm although there is no lotus in evidence, but the image is very damaged. Toth, pictured in the role of Gabriel in the Christian annunciation, is however associated with the Lotus. 

'In all ages and among all peoples, the Myth-Messiah is born of a Virgin-Mother. Witness Krishna and Devakî; see the Buddhist legend grafted upon the historical Gautama the Buddha and his Mother Maya; notice that which was added to the biography of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, born of a Virgin-Mother, Queen Mut-em-ua, during the XVIIth Dynasty.' (p. 376)

 

Note 1: 

'Then their wives came and bathed her in the Anotatta Lake and clad her in divine robes. They then led her into a golden palace and laid her on a divine couch; there the Bodhisatta, in the form of a white elephant, holding a white lotus in his gleaming trunk, entered into her right side. This was on the day of the Uttarāsālhanakkhatta, after a festival lasting seven days, in which she had already taken part.'

http://www.palikanon.com/.../pali_names/maha/mahamaayaa.htm

 

Note 2:

Bruno’s book On the Shadows of Ideas: One of the seven images of the Moon: A horned woman riding a dolphin; in her right hand a chameleon; in her left a lily. (Giordano Bruno, De Umbris Idearum, The Shadows of Ideas, Paris, 1582)

 

Note 3: It might be interesting to note that the first four images included here all depict a divine virgin with a lotus flower as well as a bird, a dove in three cases. Lakshmi is depicted with a swan, more usually an owl. Note the traditional symbols of Guanyin: 'Guan Yin is usually shown in a white flowing robe - white being the symbol of purity -, and usually wearing necklaces of Indian/Chinese royalty. In the right hand is a water jar (as the Sacred Vase the water jar also one of the Eight Buddhist Symbols of good Fortune) containing pure water, the divine nectar of life, compassion and wisdom, and in the left, a willow branch to sprinkle the divine nectar of life upon the devotees as to bless them with physical and spiritual peace. The willow branch is also a symbol of being able to bend (or adapt) but not break. The willow is also used in shamanistic rituals and has had medicinal purposes as well.
The crown usually depicts the image of Amitabha Buddha (Fully Conscious Infinite Light), Guan Yin's spiritual teacher before she became a Bodhisattva.
A bird, mostly a dove, representing fecundity is flying toward her.
A necklace or rosary is associated with her calls upon Buddha for succor, each bead of it representing all living beings and the turning of the beads symbolizes that Guan Yin is leading them out of their state of misery and repeated rounds of rebirth into nirvana, hence the beads represent enlightenment.
Should a book or scroll of papers be within the portrayal, it is representing the Dharma, the teaching of Buddha or the sutra, the Buddhist text, Guan Yin is said to have constantly recited from.
Guan Yin is often depicted either alone, standing atop a dragon, accompanied by a bird, flanked by two children, or flanked by two warriors. The two children are called Long Nue and Shan Tsai (see below). The two warriors are the historical character Guan Yu who comes from the ‘Three Kingdoms’ period and the mythological character Wei Tuo who features in the Chinese classic 'Canonisation of the Gods'. The Buddhist tradition also displays Guan Yin, or other Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, flanked with the two said warriors, but as Bodhisattvas who protect the temple and the faith itself.
Guan Yin sitting on a pink lotus is a sign for peace and harmony.' https://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/Chinese_Customs/Guan_Yin.htm