This week I was fascinated by the Book of Symbol. There were so many symbols that I was curious about, and I found that the symbols that I was interested in were very similar, all having the meaning of transformation.
First, the moon, as mentioned in class, is symbolized as the spiritual transformation. For me, it was indeed the moment that I found the moon strike my heart on the morning that I left the Buddha temple in Beijing that I authentically started my spiritual journey. Specially I am fond of the new moon, which is symbolized as the transformation from death to rebirth. This corresponds with my view on life and death. In my life, I regard lots of things as the cycle of birth and death. Therefore, there is not only one kind of birth and death. A thought that comes to our mind/consciousness is birth, and that it’s gone is death. Meeting with someone is birth, and separating is death.
I had two tattoos on my back, one of which is a new moon, the other is the lotus. With these two symbols carved just on the middle line of my back, I felt secure. Therefore, I checked the meaning of the lotus on the Book of Symbol. The Buddha was enlightened on a seat of lotus. Hence, the lotus is symbolized as a medium of spiritual transformation as well. It grows from the dusty water, where the roots cannot be seen, towards the surface with its beautiful shape. Broadly, all flowers have their roots in the invisible and grow to be seen. They have two directions of growth, towards the visible, the other the invisible.
Then I checked another image that is symbolized as where the transformation happens, the window. Originally the window meant the wind eye in the ancient language, and is where the light and air that can come in from. I have said that I enjoy sitting by the window but do not care about the view on the other side. This might corresponds with my open-mindedness to whatever comes to my life. I do not deny anything that has not happened to me. I am happy and satisfied that the change, or transformation is coming to me.
Another image that I researched on this week was bed, which I dreamed of last week. I was confused about this dream, because something just happened before that night, and in the dream the guy and the situation were weird. Moreover, I had not dreamed for a long time before that night and I have not dream again ever since that night. It was amazing to know that the bed was also a lunar or maternal symbol, just like the moon. It is symbolized as stillness and secrecy. On bed we fall asleep, and start to dream, going on the journey from the conscious to the unconscious. Something repressed in reality shows up in the dream when we are in the bed.
It was interesting that the first two symbols being together make the perfect sacred view for me. The new moon in the sky, and the lotus in the water, probably a pond, gazing silently at each other, with my silent witness from a distance. The truth lies in this silence among us three. And there is even an ancient poem line for this scene.
The other two symbols, the window and the bed, also make another picture. It was an empty room that I promise to get myself one day when I have my own apartment. I plan to have this empty room where I can just lie and think of nothing. I can have this space that is excluded from the reality, where I can take a break from my life.
Below are the other symbols that I looked up on the Book of Symbol this week, and the pictures I took at the ARAS last Friday. Sitting by the window really comforted me.
- The moon is everywhere -
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