By means of microscopic observation and astronomical projection the lotus flower can become the foundation for an entire theory of the universe and an agent whereby we may perceive the Truth. And first we must know that each of the petals has eighty-four thousand veins and that each vein gives eighty-four thousand lights.

"The Priest of Shiga Temple and His Love" in Death in Midsummer, and Other Stories (1966), p. 61.