1.  A Sanskrit term meaning lotus flower. In Tantra, a word often used to mean the Yoni.

2.  Sanskrit. "Lotus." An alternate name for the psychic centers. Padma refers to their potential growth and development, just as a lotus (flower) bulb is capable of development into a lotus in full bloom. The lotus root is embedded in mud (the unconsciousness, inertia, blind instinct, darkness, and ignorance), with the stem immersed in water (emotions, subconsciousness, sentient awareness through feeling), and the bloom floating above the water in the full sunlight, i.e. the "Light" of "self-real-ization."