The meaning and symbolism of lotus

1. Meaning

The lotus is our traditional famous flower with majestic leaves, straight stems and delicate and gorgeous flowers. In people's hearts, the lotus symbolizes truth, goodness and beauty. It symbolizes a pure and beautiful woman, and also represents the pure and beautiful love that goes like “holding flowers together and keeping the lotus roots connected”. In ancient times, people would make wishes to the lotus, praying that they could be given a happy marriage.

2. Symbolism

1. Integrity: In ancient poetry, the lotus has always been a symbol of the noble qualities of perseverance and self-discipline. There is a sentence like "growing out of the mud without being stained, and washing in the clear water without being coquettish." It means that the lotus grows out of the mud but is not stained by the filth, and grows out of the clear water without being coquettish at all. This symbolizes honest officials, praising them for their incorruptibility and serving the people. Lotus is also known as "Qinglian", which is homophonic with "Qinglian" (clean and honest), so when visiting officials, bringing a bouquet of lotus flowers is a way of expressing high respect for them.

2. Deep friendship: China has always had the custom of giving flowers to friends. Plum blossoms are mostly given to proud and upright gentlemen, peonies are mostly given to confidants, and lotus can be given to friends with whom one has a deep relationship. It can symbolize the deep friendship between people.

3. Holiness: The lotus is the seat of the Buddha and Bodhisattva. For Buddhists, it represents holiness. They strongly promote the pure and noble spirit of the lotus, which grows out of the mud but has no dirt on its body, and take this spirit as their life creed. Therefore, lotus also symbolizes holiness.