figurative lotus ［譬喩蓮華］ ( hiyu-renge): Also, figurative renge or lotus as a metaphor. According to T’ien-t’ai’s Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra, the lotus used as a metaphor to explain the essence of the Lotus Sutra. Since the principle expounded in the sutra simultaneously possesses both cause and effect, it is difficult to explain. Therefore the lotus plant, which blooms (cause) and produces fruit (effect) at the same time, is employed as a metaphor to describe this principle of simultaneous causality. The term figurative lotus stands in contrast with the lotus as the entity of the Law, the latter meaning the lotus that is not a metaphor, but an expression of the Law itself. See also renge.