Page 27 - Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Symbols

Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Sy 9/1/10 11:29 AM Page 9

The Eight Auspicious Symbols 9

penis, which is hard and penetrative. The THE RIGHT-TURNING CONCH
union of vajra and padma is a sexual symbol SHELL
for the union of form and emptiness, or skil- (Skt. dakshinavarta-shankha; Tib. dung
ful means and wisdom. On an inner level gyas-’khyil)
this union symbolizes the penetration and
ascent of the psychic winds into the subtle The white conch shell, which spirals to-
body’s central channel, which pierces and wards the right in a clockwise direction, is
opens the ‘lotuses’ of the channel-wheels or an ancient Indian attribute of the heroic
chakras (see Appendix 3). gods, whose mighty conch shell horns pro-
The lotus is the emblem of Amitabha, the claimed their valor and victories in war.
red Buddha of the west and the ‘Lord of the
Padma or Lotus Family’. Amitabha’s quali-
ties are indicative of the redness of fire, vital
fluids, evening twilight, the summer season,
and the transmutation of passion into dis-
criminating awareness. Amitabha’s consort
is Pandara, whose attribute is also a red
lotus. Amitabha’s presiding Bodhisattva is
Padmapani Avalokiteshvara, the ‘Holder of
the Lotus’, and the Bodhisattva of great
compassion.
The Buddhist lotus is described as having
four, eight, sixteen, twenty-four, thirty-two,
sixty-four, a hundred, or a thousand petals.
These numbers symbolically correspond to
the internal lotuses or chakras of the subtle-
body, and to the numerical components of
the mandala. As a hand-held attribute the
lotus is usually colored pink or light red,
with eight or sixteen petals. Lotus blossoms
may also be colored white, yellow, golden,
blue, and black. The white or ‘edible lotus’
(Skt. pundarika; Tib. pad-ma dkar-po) is an
attribute of the Buddha Sikhin, and a six-
teen-petaled white utpala lotus is held by
White Tara. The yellow lotus (Tib. pad-ma
ser-po) and the golden lotus (Tib. gser-gyi
pad-ma) are generally known as padma, and
the more common red or pink lotus is usu-
ally identified as the kamala. The Sanskrit
term utpala is specifically identified with the
blue or black ‘night lotus’, but its transliter- Four examples of white conch shells, with the
ated Tibetan equivalent (Tib. ut-pa-la) may upper left conch turning toward the left, and the
be applied to any color of lotus. upper right turning toward the right.