Bamboo

I thought I would add a little bit on why I choose bamboo as the symbol for this blog. First it is a iconic symbol in Asia, and if you have seen pictures of a bamboo grove it is a beautiful sight. Also, throughout my training I have always kept the ideas that bamboo has symbolized to temper my own progress. These symbols being growth, flexibility (ideas and physical), and overall strength.

Here are some other definitions that are on the web that I found interesting:

It represents resistance to hardship, and the smooth expanse between its nodes symbolizes virtue or a long distance between faults. The hollow interior is a sign of modesty signifying the inner emptiness which is the characteristic of the scholar-gentleman who is upright in bearing but humble. Because of these venerable associations, the bamboo is the emblem of the Buddha.

And another:

The bamboo’s gracefulness and constant growth exemplify a yielding but enduring strength and pliability which the Japanese take as the symbol of good breeding, lasting friendship, and longevity. The long canes reaching ever upwards represent truthfulness, while the curved branchlets and trembling leaves express a beauteous devotion. So auspicious and beauteous are the symbolic characteristics of bamboo that it has served as the most enduring motif in oriental art, and many a family in feudal Japan proclaimed at least a partial exemplification of them by adopting a bamboo design as its identifying crest.

— Andrew