近日王菲演唱会都将一首《彼岸花》设定为最后压轴的曲目。你有没有想过彼岸花是一种真实存在的花么？它究竟长什么样？它的英文名是什么？它看似充满玄机的名字背后又有哪些故事和缘由呢？


红色彼岸花的学名叫做红花石蒜，盛产于亚洲地区。在英文中，它俗名为飓风百合或蜘蛛百合。

因为这种鲜红色的花往往在秋分之时盛开，在《妙法莲华经》的中文和日文译本中，它被描述成为开放在地狱黄泉路上的不祥之花，指引着死者投胎转世。

彼岸花开花时叶子凋零，而长叶时花儿枯萎，这又带来了另一个传说，其中一个是关于守护花的精灵曼珠，和守护叶的精灵沙华，他们出于好奇他们打破各自守护的命运设法相见，不想一见钟情坠入爱河。神为了惩戒他们的肆意妄为，把这对不幸的恋人分开，从此曼珠沙华花叶永不相见。因此曼珠沙华也是彼岸花的一个别名。它也象征着人与人之间相遇之后便成诀别，常用于葬礼仪式。

还有一种说法是彼岸花代表着恋人死后在黄泉路上相约来世再见，但经过轮回转世，再世的他们却都不记得曾经的誓言。


Lycoris is a genus of 13–20 species of flowering plants in the family Amaryllidaceae, formerly often treated in the family Liliaceae. In English they are also called hurricane lilies or cluster amaryllis. The genus shares the English name spider lily with two other related genera.

Since these scarlet flowers usually bloom near cemeteries around the autumnal equinox, they are described in Chinese and Japanese translations of the Lotus Sutra as ominous flowers that grow in Diyu (also known as Hell), or Huángquán (Simplified Chinese: 黄泉; Traditional Chinese: 黃泉), and guide the dead into the next reincarnation.

When the flowers of lycoris bloom, their leaves would have fallen; when their leaves grow, the flowers would have wilted. This habit gave rise to various legends. A famous one is the legend of two elves: Mañju (Simplified Chinese: 曼珠; Traditional Chinese: 曼珠), who guarded the flower, and Saka (Simplified Chinese: 沙华; Traditional Chinese: 沙華), who guarded the leaves. Out of curiosity, they defied their fate of guarding the herb alone, and managed to meet each other. At first sight, they fell in love with each other. God, exasperated by their waywardness, separated the miserable couple, and laid a curse on them as a punishment: the flowers of Mañju shall never meet the leaves of Saka again.

It was said that when the couple met after death in Diyu, they vowed to meet each other after reincarnation. However, neither of them could keep their words.

In commemoration of the couple, some call the herbs "Mañjusaka" (Simplified Chinese: 曼珠沙华; Traditional Chinese: 曼珠沙華), a mixture of "Mañju" and "Saka", instead of their scientific name. The same name is used in Japanese, in which it is pronounced manju-shage.

Some other legends have it that when a person sees someone that they may never meet again, these flowers, also called red spider lilies, would bloom along the path. Perhaps because of these sorrowful legends, Japanese people often used these flowers in funerals. Popular name Higanbana (彼岸花, Higan bana) of Japanese for lycoris is literally higan (the other or that shore of sanzu river) flower means, decorate and enjoyable, flower of afterlife in gokuraku jyōdo (極楽浄土, gokuraku jyōdo).