After visiting pagodas, churches, synagogues and mosques in five continents seeking the holiness humanity holds in common, in Jogjakarta, Indonesia, I saw one of the most elegant spiritual symbols of my life: a green elephant foot flower pot.
The icon in question, a green pillar emerging from a lotus flower blooming out of an elephant foot, was situated in Jogja's kraton, the palace of the city's sultan. The foot represents the island's base of Hinduism, the flower the coming of Buddhism, and from these two stem the modern Indonesian religion of Islam; the green pillar symbolizes the Islamic Five Pillars of Faith.
Full Lonely Planet article by Adam Karlin
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
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