Lotus Hunt

The lotus is a symbol of purity but it also has many associations as a representation of death and rebirth in eastern iconography. Above is a picture taken of the lotus garden, located right next to Anapji Pond in Gyeongju. We visited here several weeks ago and found that the lotus had bloomed earlier in the summer and all that was left on the stem were the flower's pods.

These brown "pods" seen hanging downwards contain the lotus seed and will eventually fall off of the stem, returning the seeds to the mucky water from whence they came. After sinking into the mud, the seed will germinate underneath the water. A new sprout will emerge in the spring and the lifecycle of the lotus continues.

My friend, Matt Hayden Raue, and I perfected the "grab n' lean" technique that must be demonstrated properly in order to snag a few of these precious seeds. It happens like this: the Grabber (A) reaches out into the lotus patch as the Leaner (B) grasps his opposing forearm. In an attempt to attain the precious lotus seeds (C), there must be a perfect balance of weight between the Grabber and the Leaner so as to prevent falling into the muddy shallows (D). The perfected equation, where m=mass, should look something like this: mA ∝ mB=C. The failure to complete this equation properly will yield results that look something like this (mA>mB=D).

Here are some photos of the pods and seeds we managed to collect:


If you want to see more pictures of a delicate lotus flower, you should click here.

(THE MORE YOU KNOW - the lotus ranks second in the running as the oldest successful human-assisted seed germination - 1300 year old seeds. First place goes to the 2,000 year old Judean Date Palm)