When his disciples asked him what kind of images they should use to represent him, Siddharta Guatama, the Buddha, replied that it was best not to, but if it was absolutely necessary they should use an image of a tree, or of a set of footprints. In my own study of the XXIst trump - the World - I have found that the most profound interpretation is to treat it as referring to the path itself - as it stands beneath our feet. For this reason, we are in essence a trace left upon the world, upon the universal Way. The Buddha's footsteps are a profound symbol of this fact - and of our responsibility to walk a Way such that the mark we leave on the world creates less, rather than more suffering. Minimize confusion. Minimize strife. In my meditations on this card, I have come to call it "The Path", and have come to see it distilled into the image of two footprints of a person standing in one spot. The potential for these two feet to begin oscillating back and forth - walking - exists, but in the purest expression that I know - they are still, as if the person were a tree - watching and observing in their brief time in the world - only to pass on eventually, and leave the mark of their presence in their deeds and impact on the people around them. So stand where you are and appreciate the World. One day, you will no longer be in it.
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