Iconography

The top drawer has a red lotus kamala on the left & an ashoka blossom on the right. The lotus (padma, 1st of the trinity flowers), represents the path that leads from ignorance to knowledge; the Ashoka, the second of the  trinity of holy flowers, sprouts from the holy water-font of the Amitayus, one of the forms in which the Buddha Amitabha appeared (symbolizing the transformation from greed to discriminating wisdom).   

The two doors have twin golden dragons, each looking at the believer from cloudy mists.  Unlike its demonic European counterpart, the Tibetan dragon is a creature of great creative power & a positive icon, representing the strong male yang principle of heaven, change, energy, wealth & creativity. Dragons are shape-shifters, able to transform at will, from as small as the silkworm to a giant that fills the entire sky. Dragons are usually depicted in one of two colors, green or brown.  The green, or azure, dragon of Buddhism ascends into the sky at the spring equinox; it represents the light's increasing power in springtime & the easterly direction of the sunrise. The brown dragon is the autumn equinox, descending into a deep pool, encasing itself in mud until the next spring, but its spirit is still with the practitioner bringing wealth & health.  In this case, the golden dragon represents the purity of Buddha -- thought that is maintained year-round.

Each side's top-panel has the 4-petaled flower, symbolic of the 4 Noble truths, the middle way & the first teaching of Buddha: 1. Life is suffering. 2. Ignorance is the cause of suffering.  3. The cessation of suffering is the goal of life because it transcends pain & pleasure.  4. The way to the cessation of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path, which aligns with the eight spokes of the Dharma Wheel. Durva grass is a symbol of long life.  Because grass is highly resilient, it is believed to be immortal.  Therefore, it proclaims the end of samsara, the successive death & rebirth of all beings  It usually takes a long time to overcome samsara, & a longer life span will allow greater progress in moving towards enlightenment within a given cycle.

The center-panel on each side has a frontal view of the golden dragon with Mahamudra instead of clouds.  Mahamudra is the mist or billowing clouds which represent the union of compassion & wisdom -- the ultimate realization of one’s true nature.  They are represented as the transformation of our vices into the 4 powers of regret, vow, reliance, & remedy, so the practitioner will realize purification & enlightenment.   A great master who has attained Mahamudra no longer perceives the world as a conceptual, concrete dimension; rather, he now permeates space as mist, also known as the ultimate form of reality. The self is now permeating space with luminescence transparency, with nothing solid or any sharp lines of separation.  This is also the basic meaning of the "Heart Sutra."

The lower-panels on both the right & left side have a tricolored lotus surrounded by durva grass & Mahamudra.  The growth of the lotus, its roots in mud, growing through water, & emerging as a wonderful plant above the surface, is seen as an analogy of the soul’s path from the mud of materialism to the air of enlightenment.  Just as the lotus blossom rises above the mud & is beautiful, so must you raise your thinking with pure thoughts that are noble & praiseworthy; then, you also will be beautiful. The lotus in mid-blossom represents the present time; a bud represents the past, while the full-bloom represents the future.