Padma-aja: The allegory of the lotus and its sensory experience as a cultural expression of Hindu and Buddhist traditions

Abstract

Padma-aja (born from a lotus), a dance presentation focuses on the imagery of the lotus as it unravels the philosophy of Hinduism and Buddhism and draws the senses into historical conversations. The sense-impressions of the lotus allegory is presented in three segments as a choreography of sensations: Motif in representing the sensual experience of being in love/ The psychological impact of the physiological experience of love/ Symbol of the symbiotic process that links humans’ relation with the Universe. Presented as a phenomenological study of lived body experiences through an aesthetic theory of sense perception, the dance confronts the similarities in the Hindu and Buddhist traditions. Placing sensation in the forefront of aesthetic theory this exploration of sense (as the medium) and sensation (as bodily response) engages: Sound, through mantras and chants/ Touch, through mudras and movement/ Smell, as Breath through pranayama/ Vision, in the imagery of the lotus as ‘unfolding of the self and expanding consciousness.