.jpg/:/rs=w:1359,h:1500,cg:true,m/cr=w:1359,h:1500)
Anamnesis Sophia: The Unforgetting of Wisdom
1/12/26
Added More Photos today!
This painting traces my journey to enlightenment through six Buddhist symbols. The endless knot sits at the center, surrounded by a lotus. Four auspicious symbols occupy the corners: the parasol (upper left), the victory banner (upper right), the treasure vase (lower left), and the double vajra (lower right). Together they form a map of my spiritual path.
THE ENDLESS KNOT
The endless knot—shrivatsa in Sanskrit—is a single line that weaves over and under itself with no beginning and no end. It represents pratītyasamutpāda—dependent origination, Buddhism's central insight that all phenomena arise in dependence upon multiple causes and conditions. Nothing exists independently. Everything is connected in an infinite web of causation.
The knot also represents the inseparable union of wisdom and compassion—prajna and karuna. Understanding interconnection naturally gives rise to compassion. Compassion deepens wisdom by motivating closer examination of how suffering arises. These qualities cannot exist separately—they arise together and strengthen each other.
The endless knot demonstrates the inseparability of emptiness and form. Emptiness does not mean nothingness—it means empty of inherent, independent existence. The pattern appears solid (form), but examination reveals it is entirely made of relationships (emptiness). Both are simultaneously true.
I placed the endless knot at the center because dependent origination is the foundation of everything that follows. Every other symbol, every stage of the path, every realization emerges from this central truth. All Buddhist teachings are elaborations of this single insight.
THE LOTUS
Surrounding the endless knot are layers of lotus petals radiating outward, creating a mandala—"circle" or "completion" in Sanskrit. The lotus grows in muddy water yet emerges at the surface completely clean, unstained by the mud it grew through. This is Buddhism's central metaphor for enlightenment arising from ordinary suffering. The mud is not an obstacle—it is the necessary foundation from which the lotus draws its life.
In Buddhist iconography, enlightened beings sit or stand on lotus thrones. The lotus elevates the awakened being above samsara while acknowledging that enlightenment grows from those very conditions. The mandala creates sacred space—a protected environment where spiritual work occurs. The circular form represents completeness and wholeness.
The lotus surrounds the endless knot, creating a throne for the central teaching. Dependent origination sits elevated and honored as the source from which all understanding flows. The petals open outward from this center, showing how all Buddhist teachings radiate from the single truth of interconnection.
The tassels hanging from the bottom represent the overflow of blessings and teachings. They symbolize that spiritual wealth flows downward to benefit all beings. The tassels move and sway, showing that the dharma is alive and responsive. They connect the sacred space of the mandala to the ordinary world below—the teachings descend to meet practitioners wherever they are.
THE PARASOL (Upper Left)
The parasol appears in the upper left corner. In ancient India, parasols were symbols of royalty and spiritual authority. Buddhism internalized this—the parasol represents protection from the three fires burning within every unenlightened being: desire, hatred, and ignorance.
Desire manifests as craving and restlessness. Hatred manifests as anger and aversion. Ignorance is fundamental confusion about the nature of reality, not understanding how suffering arises, searching for permanence in what is impermanent.
The parasol is the dharma itself—the teachings, the practice, the community. It provides shelter while one develops the capacity to stand in the fires without being burned. The tiered structure represents different levels of protection: protection of body, speech, and mind.
The parasol represents my recognition that protection was always present. The dharma has been sheltering me even before I knew to seek it. The teachings were there, the Buddha nature was intact, the path was available. The shelter was never something external that I needed to find—it was the nature of reality itself, always present, waiting to be recognized.
THE VICTORY BANNER (Upper Right)
The victory banner stands in the upper right corner. In ancient Indian warfare, victory banners—dhvaja—were planted at the highest point after battle. It was a declaration visible for miles: we fought here, and we won.
In Buddhist tradition, the victory banner commemorates the Buddha's enlightenment. On the night of his awakening, the Buddha faced Mara—the personification of death and delusion. The Buddha remained present, clear, unshakeable. He touched the earth, calling it to witness his preparation for this moment. Mara was defeated, and by dawn the Buddha had achieved complete enlightenment.
The banner is typically cylindrical with multiple tiers, with silk ribbons flowing from it, mounted on a pole firmly planted in the ground. The pole's stability indicates this victory is not temporary. The banner flies high enough to be seen from all directions.
The tiered structure represents progressive victories—first against obvious obstacles, then subtler patterns, finally against fundamental delusions about self and reality.
The victory banner marks my enlightenment—the moment of complete breakthrough where all delusions are exhausted and the true nature of reality is directly perceived. Victory over ignorance. The banner is planted permanently because this realization is irreversible. Once one directly perceives the nature of reality, that perception cannot be undone.
THE TREASURE VASE (Lower Left)
The treasure vase sits in the lower left corner. The vase—kalasha in Sanskrit—has a round, full belly that tapers to a narrower neck, then opens at the mouth. The belly holds substantial contents. The narrow neck creates a seal, preventing spillage. Buddhism transformed what "wealth" meant—the vase represents spiritual wealth, the inexhaustible treasures of the dharma.
The narrow neck represents that once these treasures enter one's being, they cannot easily escape. Once one has truly understood something about reality, that understanding persists.
In Tibetan art, the vase often overflows—jewels spilling out, streams pouring down the sides. Spiritual abundance cannot be contained. It spills over naturally, benefiting everyone it touches.
The full belly represents completeness—having nothing lacking. The fullness one seeks is already present.
The treasure vase represents what follows enlightenment: the discovery that spiritual wealth is inexhaustible. Merit, wisdom, peace, and the dharma itself overflow naturally. There is nothing to hoard, nothing to protect, because the source cannot be depleted. The vase is always full because it draws from the nature of reality itself.
THE DOUBLE VAJRA (Lower Right)
The double vajra sits in the lower right corner. The vajra originated as the thunderbolt weapon of Indra in Hindu mythology. The word means both "thunderbolt" and "diamond"—capturing both its destructive power and its unbreakable nature.
When Buddhism adopted the vajra, it transformed Indra's weapon into a symbol of indestructible enlightened consciousness. The hardness that once shattered demons now represents the diamond-like clarity of awakened mind—luminous, unbreakable, incapable of being corrupted by ignorance. The vajra's indestructible nature symbolizes the fundamental nature of mind itself, which cannot be harmed or destroyed by confusion or suffering. Buddha nature—the capacity for awakening—remains intact, waiting to be recognized.
In Vajrayana Buddhism, the vajra is held during ceremonies, often in the right hand, paired with a bell in the left. The vajra represents skillful means and compassion. The bell represents wisdom and emptiness. Together they symbolize the union of these qualities that constitutes enlightenment.
The single vajra represents individual realization. The double vajra—vishvavajra—is formed when two vajras cross at right angles, creating four-directional symmetry, extending in all directions at once. It represents the universal structure of enlightened reality itself.
As practice deepens, the boundary between inner and outer dissolves. In profound meditation or spontaneous moments of clarity, there is no separate "self" observing "reality"—just awareness knowing itself, without subject or object. The seer and the seen are one process.
The double vajra points equally in all directions with no hierarchy, no privileged center. Subject and object were never truly separate. The observer and observed arise together.
The double vajra represents the final understanding—that the one who sought enlightenment and enlightenment itself were never two separate things. The journey was real, the stages were genuine, but they were always occurring within the indestructible nature of awakened consciousness. Subject and object, seeker and sought, practitioner and Buddha—these distinctions dissolve into the direct recognition of what has always been true.
The progression from parasol to victory banner to treasure vase to double vajra traces the path to enlightenment: from realizing protection was always present, to enlightenment itself, to discovering the inexhaustible wealth that comes with that realization, to understanding that the seeker and what is sought were never separate.
