History of Lotus

Legendary Tales

The lotus is said to be the incarnation of Yuji, a beautiful maid beside the Queen Mother. At first, the Jade Lady saw two pairs on earth, men plowing and women weaving, very envious, and therefore moved the mortal heart, in the company of the River God's daughter stole out of the Palace of Heaven, to Hangzhou's Xizi Lake. The beautiful scenery of the West Lake is Yu Ji linger, forget to play in the lake, to the dawn also can not leave. Queen Mother knew with a lotus throne will be hit into the lake, and let her "into the mud, never again in the southern sky". From then on, the heavenly palace less a beautiful maid of honor, and the earth more a kind of jade muscle watery flowers.

The lotus is China's traditional flowers. Flowers and leaves, flowers and leaves, the fragrance of the lungs. Welcome the sun and not afraid, out of the mud and not stained temperament. So the lotus in people's minds is the embodiment of truth, goodness and beauty, the omen of good fortune and prosperity, is the name of the sacred purity of Buddhism, but also the seeds of friendship.

In the classical literary masterpiece "Dream of Red Mansions", it is said that after the death of Qingwen, she became a hibiscus fairy, and Jia Baoyu said in his septuagenarian eulogy for Qingwen, "Eulogy for the Daughter of Hibiscus," "The quality of the flower is not enough to describe it as noble; the nature of the flower is not enough to describe it as clean; the flower is not enough to describe it as a god, but it is not enough to describe it as a spirit, but it is not enough to describe it as a star; and it is not enough to describe it as a flower and a moon, but it is not enough to describe it as a color. " Although later generations of red experts believe that this is not over the author of the name of Qingwen and praise Daiyu's clean, but in any case the lotus is always associated with the daughter-like ice and jade clean.

Because "lotus" and "pity" sound the same, so there are a lot of ancient poems written in the lotus, to express love. For example, in the southern dynasty, the music of "Xizhou Qu": "picking lotus in the south pond in the fall, the lotus flower over the head of the people; head down to get the lotus seed, the lotus seed is as green as water." "Lotus seed" means "pity", and "green" means "clear". This is both real and imaginary writing, with double entendres and the use of harmonic double entendres, expressing a woman's deep longing for the man she loves and the purity of her love. Jin's "Forty-two Songs of the Son and the Night", No. 35: "The mist and dew conceal the hibiscus, and the lotus is not distinguishable when I see it." Mist dew hides the true face of the lotus, lotus leaves are visible but not quite distinct, which is also the use of harmonic puns to write that a woman vaguely feels that the man is in love with her.

The lotus flower is the representative of holiness, but also the symbol of Buddhism sacred purity. Lotus out of the dust from the dye, clean and flawless, so the Chinese people and the vast number of Buddhist culprits are to lotus "out of the silt and not dye, the Maundy League and not demon" noble qualities as a motto to inspire their own self-cleansing. Lotus is a symbol of friendship and messenger. Ancient Chinese folk have spring plum gift far, picking lotus in the fall to cherish the tradition.