A captivating history of one of the world's most iconic and mysterious flowers Bewitched by a lotus which flowered from three-thousandyear- old seeds in his English garden, Mark Griffiths set out to track the origins and significance of this sublime plant in this beautifully-illustrated book. The Lotus Quest takes Griffiths from the headquarters of the Linnaean Society in London to a mountain top in northern Japan. As he travels in search of this ancient flower, Griffiths looks at the lotus's significance in ancient Egypt and India, the plant's medicinal uses and the inspiration it has provided to Western artists. As he tracks the plant, its story unveils a stunning vision of Japan's feudal era with visits to shrines, ruins, gardens and wild landscapes as well as meetings with priests and archaeologists, philosophers and anthropologists, gardeners and botanists, poets and artists. He even dines on the lotus in a Tokyo cafe. By the end of Griffiths' journey, when he reaches the hauntingly beautiful Japanese temple of Chuson-ji, readers will finally understand why the lotus has obsessed people throughout the ages.

The Lotus Flower is a collection of poetry about healing; mother nature; love; relationships; spirituality; religion; depression amongst many other subjects. The Lotus Flower stays close to mother nature throughout. The poems were written in order to heal from mental health illness and gain a new life of spirituality and wisdom. The poetry depicts life in its minute form and brings small things to life. The poetry is written from a feminist point of view covering many areas of femininity and mother nature. Beginning with the poem 'My Brand New Book, ' shows my second chance in life of writing and living, still staying natural to my environment and my experiences. As the poems develop and come out of their shell I write about depresssion and relationships, asking the question: Who am I ? continuously. The title is inspired from the poem 'About Ancestor Voices' and it was after this poem my poetry was growing into another dimension, especially the lines: ' The lakes are laid with the Lotus, As they have fought from the depths of waters', Carrying hope, light and purity in their shield like petals.'The poetry develops into 'My World' and 'A Poetess Grows' showing the development in the poetry reflecting life. As it develops I express the importance of childhood and religion. As identity in finding life back is explored I return to religion and back to nature. After writing 'The Phoenix' the poetry expresses love and resurrection and how much we can learn from mother nature.

Join our little plant as she goes on a journey of discovery. With a little help from some new friends she will find out she knows quite a lot.

A reissuing of The Lotus Flowers, poetry by Ellen Bryant Voigt.

With more than 200 colour plates, and for the first time available as a study in English, this volume explores the vast heritage of Korean ink brush painting, providing a rich panorama of information that stretches across the entire spectrum of Korean art – including painting, pottery, calligraphy and literature, which will have wide appeal, not least to art lovers and students of Korean Studies. Part I presents the material in essay form; Part II, which uses a dictionary format, summarizes the information in Part I and highlights the hidden messages and symbolism inherent in literati ink brush painting in Korea. When China and Japan opened up to outside influence in the nineteenth century, Korea maintained a closed-door policy, becoming known as the ‘hermit kingdom’, only to be swallowed up in the struggle for hegemony between the Great Powers. Annexation by Japan in 1910 threatened Korea’s language and culture with extinction. Liberation in 1945 was followed by the tragedy of the Korean War in 1950. In the period of reconstruction after the Korean War, artists and scholars faced the task of retrieving Korea’s endangered cultural tradition. Ink brush painting is a unique part of this tradition; its history stretches back through the Choson dynasty when Chinese influences were assimilated and absorbed and made into Korea’s distinctive tradition.