In Chinese culture, fish are symbolic of water, fertility and regeneration and are sometimes used as a charm to avert evil. Fish are said to swim in pairs emblematic of the joys of union, generally taken to be sexual union. As fish are happy in their own element they have come to signify harmony and marital bliss. In Buddhism, the fortune of the lotus flower is derived from its environment. Its growth begins in muddy water. The lotus flower must rise from the murk to bloom. This is also the path of enlightenment. The path of purification requires faith to resist temptation. Human beings are born in a world where there is suffering. This suffering is essential to the human experience; strife makes us stronger and teaches us to resist the temptation of evil. When we expel evil thoughts from our mind we can stand above the muddy water and become one with the Buddha. Each phase of the lotus flower’s development represents a different stage of enlightenment. The closed flower signifies the time before enlightenment and a fully blooming flower represents full enlightenment and self-awareness. In Buddhism fish symbolize freedom from all restraints. In the water a fish moves easily in any direction, so in the enlightened state of mind the fully-emancipated knows no restraint or obstruction. In this digital painting, “Two Carp in Lily Pond,” two favorite elements in Chinese culture merge; the harmony of the fish and the path of enlightenment signified by the lotus flower.