E Lotus Flower (Nelumbo Nucifera, Nelumbonaceae) Lends Its Symbolic

Puja is a Hindu and Buddhist ceremony of oerings and worship in homage to a god. During the ceremony, the ociant oers food, owers and symbolic objects to the representative of the god. He tries to provoke the arrival of a god inside its depiction as an image or statue. e invocation by the pujari (the ociant) begins with ringing a small bell to call the divine. It is followed by oering fresh owers, food and incense accompanied by music and repetitive recitation of mantras (sacred words).

e lotus ower (Nelumbo nucifera, Nelumbonaceae) lends its symbolic purity and perfection to Buddhism and Taoism. It’s an aquatic plant which represents the birth of the Buddha. With its roots thrust into the mud and its owers open to the sky, on a stalk emerging from the water and the mire, it is an allegory of the life of the Buddha. During his life on earth the Buddha rose above the beliefs of the animists and Hindus to achieve supreme knowledge. He is oen depicted seated or even standing on a lotus ower which, in Buddhism, recalls the three stages of existence: the past, present and future. e lotus bud is thus one of the most common plant oerings in Buddhist temples.

e pujari anoints the object of worship, a statue or a lingam (a stone carved in the shape of a phallus), with oil of camphor or sandal paste then covers it with garlands of owers. Puja is celebrated by Brahmins in the temple and by the head of the family in the home. For Hindus it is a central act of daily life. In Buddhism, puja is an expression of gratitude to the Buddha or to a god, who personies compassion, wisdom, etc.

e lotus is one of the attributes of He Xiangu, one of the Eight Immortals of Taoism, who can also take a female form. It is very easy to bend a lotus stalk but very dicult to break it because of the many bres which run through it and which keep it upright. is morphological characteristic also symbolises relations between couples, or the links which unite families.

Lotus owers (Nelumbo nucifera, Nelumbonaceae), jasmine buds (Jasminum sp., Oleaceae) and marigolds (Tagetes sp., Asteraceae) are popular oral oerings. Plaited palms and banana leaves oen serve as containers for them. e majority of Balinese follow a local version of Hinduism called Agama Hindu Dharma in contrast to most Indonesians who are Muslim. Balinese Hinduism is a mixture of local beliefs, and Buddhism and Shivaism of Indian origin. Indian philosophy provides the theological framework while indigenous beliefs underlie the rites and oerings. e cult of natural objects is universal. Each element of nature is the expression of one or several spirits who have their shrines and are honoured. Followers thus keep contact with the gods and are reunited with their ancestors through oerings, music and dance during temple festivals.

ere has been a link between plants and spirituality throughout history and in all civilisations. Plants act as messengers, symbols, channels for good or evil, they make manifest our relation to the spiritual and to the divine. ey are at the origin of beliefs, they feature in prayers and worship and both poly- and monotheist pagan ceremonies. eir medicinal or deadly powers reinforce the symbolic beliefs which underlie our use of them. ese powers and the technical and aesthetic complexity of plants, coupled with their longevity, resistance and adaptation, are oen dicult to explain scientically simply by evolution. is may be why they oer unparalleled spiritual enlightenment. eir roles in the landscape and the perfect functional beauty of wild nature have oen reinforced and transcended the sense of a founding divine presence behind the creative forces of nature.

Ritual and daily oerings, called canang sari, in the temple or at home, are composed of two small baskets made of banana (Musa sp., Musaceae) or palm leaves (coconut palm, Cocos nucifera; borasse, Borassus abellifer; Arecaceae): - the rst, which contains lime, areca nut (Areca catechu, Arecaceae) and betel leaves (Piper betle, Piperaceae) is called the porosan and symbolises the gods of the Hindu trinity or Trimurti (Brahma, creation; Vishnu, preservation and Shiva, destruction); - the second, the vrassari, is full of owers (marigolds, jasmine, various petals including blue hortensia (Hydrangea macrophylla, Hydrangeaceae)) and rice.

We have set out to tell you about the place of plants in our world in relation to the divine, sacred and spiritual in whatever form or of whatever importance. We do this with respect even if certain beliefs and rites oend our social, scientic and ethnobotanical sensitivities. Our account is not exhaustive and undoubtedly contains assumptions and choices based on our own encounters and voyages. e line between science and parascience uctuates through the history and geography of our civilisations and societies. is is clear with regard to the spiritual component of our lives. Fear of life, or of death, introduces distortions, obsessions and neuroses which oen obscure a scientic explanation of ritual and its primarily utilitarian function. e oerings, a daily activity of the Balinese, demonstrate the people’s gratitude for the daily blessings bestowed by the gods on the living. More important oerings, the banten tegeh, are made for an odalan, an anniversary ceremony for a temple. ey are paraded in the streets by women carrying towers of fruit, eggs and cakes on their heads. Aer being blessed by the gods, the oerings are taken back home and eaten by the family, the gods having taken only the invisible and spiritual essence. During the ritual prayer, the ociants give some grains of rice, bija, to the faithful who stick them onto their foreheads. Bija symbo- lises ere the has blessing been a link of between Sang Hyang plants and Widhi, spirituality the supreme throughout god history of Balineseand in all Hinduism.civilisations. Plants act as messengers, symbols, channels for good or evil, they make manifest our relation to the spiritual and to the divine. ey are at the origin of beliefs, they feature in prayers and worship and both poly- and monotheist pagan ceremonies. eir medicinal or deadly powers reinforce the symbolic beliefs which underlie our use of them. ese powers and the technical and aesthetic complexity of plants, coupled with their longevity, resistance and adaptation, are oen dicult to explain scientically simply by evolution. is may be why they oer unparalleled spiritual enlightenment. eir roles in the landscape and the perfect functional beauty of wild nature have oen reinforced and transcended the sense of a founding divine presence behind the creative forces of nature.

Marigolds (Tagetes sp. , Asteraceae), jasmine (bud of Jasminum grandi orum, Oleaceae), frangipani (Plumeria sp., Apocynaceae), etc. are used in large quantities during prayer. ey are specially cultivated and sold in markets near temples in bulk or already prepared. Aer prayer, the Balinese divide a ower in two and slip one half into each ear. For couples, they signify protection of a wife by her husband, and the wife’s faithfulness. For unmarried people, they represent solidarity guaranteed by the gods. e oerings are usually accompanied by a stick of incense because, according to Balinese belief, smoke allows the oerings to rise to the sky and reach their destination.

We have set out to tell you about the place of plants in our world in relation to the divine, sacred and spiritual in whatever form or of whatever importance. We do this with respect even if certain beliefs and rites oend our social, scientic and ethnobotanical sensitivities. Our account is not exhaustive and undoubtedly contains assumptions and choices based on our own encounters and voyages. e line between science and parascience uctuates through the history and geography of our civilisations and societies. is is clear with regard to the spiritual component of our lives. Fear of life, or of death, introduces distortions, obsessions and neuroses which oen obscure a scientic explanation of ritual and its primarily utilitarian function.