The lotus appears here in two forms that are easy to confuse: the flower, which is the symbol, and the root, which is a material. Both are in this collection, and they do different jobs.
The flower
The lotus opens above the water and roots in the mud below it. In Buddhist reading that is the whole point of it — coming up clean out of something that is not — and it is why the flower is used on pieces about rising rather than about rest.
Three pieces here carry the flower: an om lotus mandala pendant, a seven-chakra strand built around a lotus focal, and a rosewood wrist mala ending in a lotus tassel.
The root
Lotus root is carved rather than grown. The pieces here are cut from yak bone into the shape of a root with its holes, in yellow and in brown, and worn as a pendant or a bracelet. It is the plainer reading of the two — no petals and no color, just the form and the holes through it.
Choosing
Take the flower if you want the symbol. Take the root if you want the shape without the ornament. The two do not appear together on any piece here.
The chakra pieces use the lotus as a focal rather than as the subject.
