Fractal Symbols
As the five elements as symbols reflect all phenomena, so they function as supersymbols that unite concepts instead of breeding more ideas of separateness. In his book, Magic Dance, Thinley Norbu Rinpoche has left us an enigma that describes how a supersymbol could function to heal the proliferation of divisive meanings:
"There is a syllable called Palace of the Deity's Letter which contains countless letters coming from unobstructed, mirror-like awareness mind. Whether created or not created, deluded or undeluded, because this syllable is unobstructed, countless letters still come from it, so it is called Emanation of Letters. Whether circumstances are gathered or not, if we examine deeply and still cannot find any sound, this is called Great Meaningful Unborn Letter, the source of all endless letters." (pp. 112-3 )
The "Palace of the Deity's Letter," Thinley Norbu Rinpoche tells us, is a syllable. And he goes on to describe how this palace is but one of a tripartate expression of the essence of meaning, a palace that is composed of meaning itself. The threefold description corresponds to the essential threefold expression of being in Buddhist thought: form (The Palace of the Deity's Letter), radiance (Emanation of Letters), and utterly open awareness (the Great Unborn Letter).
Thinley Norbu Rinpoche has written a window into existence that opens to its own inquiry, and so this palace has the shape of a fractal. It is a single passage in the book, but somehow it says all that can ever be said. The ideas expressed enfold themselves, leaving no trace, no aftertaste, disappearing as quickly as they are formed. His words go as far as describing a possible way in which the shape of sounds might transcend themselves into expressing the silence within the source of all meaning. Within this palace we encounter the silent mother of speech who gives birth to all meaningful sounds.
Like any fractal image looked at by human eyes, it seems to have a finite border: a picture of a fractal has a finite outer edge, but a picture of a fractal also somehow appears infinite within its contours. Similarly, this paragraph in the book Magic Dance appears as its own paragraph after another paragraph, but somehow attains infinite depth within its symbolic form and content.