# A Lotus Blooming in the Fire

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/earth-dreams-zen-buddhism-and-the-soul-of-the-world-6415534/a-lotus-blooming-in-the-fire
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/earth-dreams-zen-buddhism-and-the-soul-of-the-world-6415534/a-lotus-blooming-in-the-fire.md
Podcast: [Earth Dreams: Zen Buddhism and the Soul of the World](https://stenobird.com/podcast/earth-dreams-zen-buddhism-and-the-soul-of-the-world-6415534)
Published: 2026-02-15T18:20:00+00:00
Episode link: https://amykisei.substack.com/p/a-lotus-blooming-in-the-fire
Audio file: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/187754299/936c2c096a48a32615cb346eee447f8c.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/earth-dreams-zen-buddhism-and-the-soul-of-the-world-6415534/episodes/a-lotus-blooming-in-the-fire
Duration seconds: 2346

## Resource

A lotus blooming in the fire is an image that comes from the Zen tradition. And before I write further on the symbolism of the image or the dharma teachings it evokes—I would like to invite us to just sit with the image of a lotus blooming in the fire. For a moment, let yourself sense, imagine or feel into this image. Notice what you see, feel, hear, experience as you attempt to connect with the image of a lotus blooming in the fire. Now, if you haven’t already bring the image closer in. Sit as, be a lotus blooming in the fire. And stay with it for some time allowing associations, feelings, meanings, sensations to come and go. Returning simply to being a lotus in the fire. When you are ready, you can let the image dissolve. I am curious to hear what you noticed, what happened as you sat with or as a lotus blooming in the fire? The Power of Embodied Imagination To meditate with an image like this, is one form that koan practice can take in the Zen tradition. You sit with an image, becoming the image and learning about it through your direct experience. Notice how an image can contain seeming paradoxes. How can a lotus bloom in fire? Wouldn’t it burn? And yet, here it is. On Wednesday, in Columbus we did this practice with my local sangha Mud Lotus. We sat as lotuses blooming in the fire. People noticed different things about this dynamic of fire and blooming. Someone pointed out that a lotus isn’t trying to stop the fire, yet it is blooming there. Another said that it seemed like the lotus bloomed because of the fire. Others saw the lotus as a reminder of their own nature that isn’t burned in the fires of life. This image was popularized by the great Chan teacher of 11th Century China, Yuan-Wu. He used it to refer to the practice of what he called, Householder Bodhisatt…

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