Buddhism

In Buddhism, incessant water is a symbol of the unceasing flow of being. The ceremony of sprinkling the monk’s head with water, has a sacred meaning. The water symbolized the wisdom of Buddha, and the monk who passed the ceremony gained a high status of “acarya” – a teacher. The expression “to cross a stream” meant in Buddhism to go through a world of illusions and gain enlightenment.

In Taoism, it is a symbol of the triumph of evident weakness over power, because water always finds a way, bypassing all barriers. But the quiet transparent water is a symbol of contemplation.

Laozi uncouraged to be like water. Soft and weak, the Tao Te Ching teaches, defeats firm and strong. Water is soft and weak, but in terms of overcoming the hard and strong there is no no equal. Its principle – to win by yilding.

Adherents of Hinduism envisage each river as a sacred and eternal element having an unchanging force in which one can be purified internally and externally by drinking its water or bathing in the waves of this fluid goddess.