Elements of Buddhist Iconography c4.49

c4.49

flower (or leaf, as in Taittirīya Saṃhitā, V, 1, 3) merely enunciates in other terms the epithets constantly applied to him as “born from the lap or navel of the Earth” and “kinsman of the Waters.”³² All birth, all coming into existence, is in fact a “being established in the Waters,” and to be “established” is to stand on any ground (pṛthivī) or platform of existence; he who stands or sits upon the Lotus “lives.”³³ The Vedic passages cited above are thus valid prototypes of the “late” Epic legend of the Birth of Brahmā; the birth of Vasiṣṭha or of Agni is virtually the birth of Brahmā-Prajāpati or of Buddha.³⁴