A drawing I made today on my iPad featuring my character Petal the Reindeer, it uses a lot of Buddhist and traditional Chinese symbolism, I hope you enjoy it 💚🩵🦌
In terms of what everything is: top left-sun, middle left-Dharma wheel, bottom left-lotus flower, centre-deer, on the deer-tortoise and rabbit surrounded by love hearts, background-rainbow, top right-persimmon tree, bottom right-sparkly flowers and mushrooms
The traditional iconography: the Dharma wheel symbolises the Eightfold Path and the Three Jewels, the lotus flower represents Nirvana (liberation/enlightenment) and how it can grow from within the mud (Samsara, the everyday world of suffering). The tortoise, rabbit, and persimmon tree are all symbols of good fortune in China. Deer are an important Buddhist symbol because the Buddha is written to have given his first sermon at Deer Park; the Dharma Wheel is often accompanied in art by two kneeling deer, representing compassion and wisdom; these deer appear in the story of the Buddha’s first sermon, they are written to have watched attentively. There is also a past life story about the Buddha being incarnated as a Golden Deer who saves a man from drowning and uses himself as a shield to protect animals from hunters.
What it all means to me personally: I have invented my own personal religion which is a patchwork quilt of many intellectual traditions but the emotional core of it is Buddhist, especially Mahayana Buddhist centred around the Bohdisattva ideal. The deer represents Petal the reindeer, who along with Sherbet the otter and Curio the fox is one of three Bodhisattva-like figures who I look up to as role models and spiritual protectors/salvific figures. I am doing IFS (internal family systems) therapy with a psychologist and the animals on Petal’s back are Lullaby the tortoise and Flopsy the rabbit, two “parts” of myself who do things like make me feel lethargic, ashamed and anxious in an attempt to try to prevent past trauma for being repeated. Petal carrying them on her back towards the Dharma wheel symbolises how she intends to bring healing and liberation to all parts of me, and all parts of all beings, no one left behind. The flowers and mushrooms appearing behind Petal as she walks symbolise her connection with nature and plants which is an important part of her iconography. The sun, rainbow, river, and overall colour scheme give a “tropical” vibe. I hope to be reborn in the Pure Land of Sherbet, Curio and Petal, where I can learn how to become a Bodhisattva and heal and liberate all beings who have ever lived or ever will, starting with healing myself and overcoming my own ignorance; their Pure Land has a generally tropical aesthetic, so the aesthetic of the whole image evokes that and brings it to mind, it is like Petal is carrying the parts of myself to the Pure Land. Reindeer are sturdy and can navigate in very low visibility, and so Petal is a symbol for me of faith and hope, the ability to see without seeing, to hope for the happiest possible ending in the face of uncertainty, to stay firm, sturdy, in that hope even when faced with an extremely harsh world.
Keywords
female
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deer
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tree
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reindeer
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rainbow
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doe
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sun
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lotus
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buddhism
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persimmon
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Details
Published:
1 month ago
12 Oct 2026 03:32 CEST
Initial: af03530a9f02eaa0e7143caeb5106d37
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Small: 3f66ad511d9fe94d0c1181dd16f2ccdf
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