STUDENT. Let us first interpret its symbolism; The bulb is the earth, resting on the water or buried in the soil. From that the stalk rises, straight as the axis of the universe. At its upper end appear the six-pointed, starlike flowers.
YOUNG LADY. Above the earth—the stars! What lofty thought! Where did you find it? How did you discover it?
STUDENT. Let me think.... In your eyes!—It is, therefore, an image of the Cosmos. And that is the reason why Buddha is holding the earth-bulb in his lap, brooding on it with a steady gaze, in order that he may behold it spread outward and upward as it becomes transformed into a heaven.... This poor earth must turn into a heaven! That is what Buddha is waiting for!
YOUNG LADY. I see now.... Are not the snow crystals six-pointed, too, like the hyacinth-lily?
STUDENT. You are right! Thus the snow crystal is a falling star....
YOUNG LADY. And the snowdrop is a star of snow—grown out of the snow.
STUDENT. But the largest and most beautiful of all the stars in the firmament, the red and yellow Sirius, is the narcissus, with its yellow-and-red cup and its six white rays....
YOUNG LADY. Have you seen the shallot bloom?
STUDENT. Indeed, I have! It hides its flowers within a ball, a globe resembling the celestial one, and strewn, like that, with white stars....
YOUNG LADY. What a tremendous thought! Whose was it?