Elements of Buddhist Iconography c4.87

c4.87

We have seen that the lotus represents that wherein existence comes to be and passes away, the seat of pravṛtti and nivṛtti, of Him who starts and stays the revolution of the Wheels of Time, but have alluded only in passing to what is ultimately the most significant aspect of the lotus symbolism, i. e. the identification of the lotus with the "heart" or "mind" of man. Again and again in the Upaniṣads that elemental Space (ākāśa, kha, nabha, antarikṣa, etc.77) in which the Principial Being is manifested as all the forms of natured being is located in the cave or secret chamber (guhā), dwelling (veśma), hollow (kha),78 temple (āyatana), abode (ālaya), coffer or calyx (kośa), or nesting-place (nīḍa)79 in the Lotus of the Heart (hṛt-puṣkara) or inward man (antar-bhūta), i. e. "in the innermost." There in a universal mode abides the Self (ātman), the Lord (īśa), Person (puruṣa), indefinitely dimensioned, "smaller than an atom and surpassing magnitude," aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān, Śvetāśvatara Up., III, 20, etc. "This space-within-the-heart (antarhṛdaya ākāśa), therein is the Person (puruṣa) in the mode of Intellect (mano-maya) . . . there he becomes as Brahman in a spatial embodiment, as very Self, as the playground of the Spirit (prāṇārāma), as Intellect and Bliss, Peace uttermost and everlasting," Taittirīya Up., I, 6, 1, "who is the Logos (dharma)," Bṛhadāraṇyaka Up., II, 5, 11. Are we not