Up From the Mud

It’s encouraging to know that despite all our faults and limitations, despite our many blunders and failures, we have the potential to rise above them all. This is the message of the lotus flower parable, which I consider among the most beautiful and inspirational of all the parables I’ve heard.

In Buddhism, the lotus flower symbolizes our journey toward the spiritual summit of enlightenment. The flower begins as a seed buried in the mud at the bottom of the pond, which is a metaphor for the earliest stages of our spiritual journey. Over time, the lotus grows upward and breaks through the surface of the water, where it unfurls with lovely cup-shaped petals that are unsoiled by the mud.

We can make that same transformation, the parable teaches us.

Just as the lotus emerges from the muck to rise above the water in its full splendor, we’re told that each of us has the innate potential to transcend our shortcomings and the sufferings of this world, enabling us to break through and bask in the pure sunlight of enlightenment. The seeds of this potential have been within us from the very beginning and they never leave us. (If you can’t relate to Buddhism, consider these words from Jesus: “The kingdom of God is within you.”)

That’s an uplifting message to reflect on.

And here’s something else to think about. In my mind, the lotus flower also serves as a reminder to have compassion and empathy for everyone we meet – including those who are poorest and who may come from the most destitute places on earth.

Each one of them is a lotus flower, too.

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Photographer’s Footnote: The flower shown above (which I photographed in our backyard koi pond) is actually a water lily, not a lotus flower. Water lilies and lotus flowers are closely related; both rise up from the mud to blossom above the surface.