The lotus symbolizes the Buddha’s awakening and shows us that all beings have the same potential for enlightenment. It emerges from the mud, rises above the water’s surface, and blooms in beauty. Thich Nhat Hahn tells us: "no mud, no lotus." Without the desire and attachment of Samsara, there will be no true nature of enlightenment.
The Decor Committee has long wanted to have the iconic lotus image on our walls to complement the equally iconic Enso scroll, hanging to the right of the altar. They both so uniquely represent the White Heron Sangha, which follows no specific Buddhist lineage, but honors each of them. And with a recent anonymous donation of money for the purchase of original art for our walls, and the discovery of a local artist at a recent art exposition, our wish has come true. The artist James Dietz has produced the lovely, framed lotus. He was so generous that he gifted the Sangha with his beautiful artwork.
Please take a moment to look at the lotus, risen out of the water. You might also take another look at the Enso scroll and its accompanying poem by the 13th-century Japanese Zen Buddhist monk, writer, and poet Dogen. About the poem, Dogen wrote: No one on the ground can see any kind of path that the birds follow. Yet birds see traces in the air of all the birds that have gone before, which they can follow.
Like the lotus, which emerges in mud, yet somehow finds the way to Enlightenment.