Why ‘Lotus Pollen Heart’?

KYE HO! Wonderful!

Lotus pollen wakes up in the heart’s center —

The bright flower is free from mud.

Where do the colour and fragrance come from?

What reason now to accept them or turn away?

• Kambala, “Three Tantric Buddhist Women’s Songs (8th - 11th Century)” in Jane Hirschfield’s Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women.”

“Upon coming into a state of awakened mind (often after years of disciplined practice), many women practicioners of Tantric Buddhism in India would spontaneously speak or sing of their experience. These poems were recorded by others present at the time, and some have been preserved in volumes assembled by later Tibetan-speaking women — a rare example of women prior to our own time deliberately collecting the poetry and teaching of other women explicity because they were women.”

I fell in love with the image of lotus pollen stirring within my heart center. It carries the flavours of three of my favourite things: flowers and pollen, an awakening within the heart, and poetry. It evokes the power of nature and nature’s symbols to transform our bodies and minds. The poem is representative of the lineage of the teachings of mindfulness, meditation, and spiritual awakenings, which continue to touch our hearts centuries later.

Welcome to Lotus Pollen Heart. I am so happy you and I are here together taking the steps towards transforming our suffering, and walking the path of true freedom, peace, and awareness.