Every Life has the Potential to Bloom like a Lotus.
When we see a lotus in bloom, it should stir a sense of humility within us. The lotus has blossomed, yet the flower of our own life remains unopened. The lotus is so radiant, while our hearts remain cloaked in darkness, devoid of color. Thus, we must learn from the lotus. To have the heart bloom like a lotus—this is the true aspiration of our lives.
The lotus possesses a quality of self-protection. Even when doused with filthy water, it remains unstained; though it grows in mud, it never becomes mud. As the saying goes, “It emerges from the mud unsullied.” Not only does it remain pure, it takes root in the mud and flourishes.
In Buddhism, the lotus is often used as a metaphor for the awakened state. In our daily practice, we too can visualize ourselves as a lotus, rooted in the mire. The mud represents our afflictions and the many imperfections of the world. Our lives take root amidst this imperfection, free from greed and attachment. Not only do we remain unsullied by the afflictions of this muddy world, we transform these very trials into acts of spiritual cultivation.
Thus, a practitioner is like a lotus among people. To remain pure and untainted is a guiding principle both for being human and for walking the path of practice.
The lotus does not bloom without cause. Each of us is ensnared by the forces of greed, anger, and ignorance, can you truly see them for what they are? If we come to recognize them as evil, as suffering, and give rise to the heart of renunciation, transforming our past bad habits and subduing the afflictions that once ruled us, no longer greedy, no longer angry, no longer deluded, then purity will follow. When the heart is pure, from that purity arises loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and giving—the most beautiful states of being in life.
“Paying homage to the wondrous lotus of the world, May it ever remain pure, rising above the mire.” Our lives must not be lived without clarity or reason. We must not drift aimlessly, merely surviving from day to day. The Buddha-nature resides within each of us. Through practice—repenting our karmic transgressions, refraining from evil and cultivating goodnes, by following the Buddha’s guidance, every person has the potential to attain sainthood. In this journey, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas serve as our exemplars. The noble qualities they embody can also take root in our own hearts.
Cultivation and practice are not superstition—it is a rational, conscious path. When guided by wisdom and discernment, life becomes like the lotus: pure and undefiled. Without the Dharma, the heart remains narrow, and blessings few. But with the Dharma, the heart expands, wisdom deepens, and abundant blessings naturally follow.
In an age so consumed by material pursuits, we must strive to be like the lotus. Not only should we devote ourselves to learning and chanting the Buddha’s name, we must also uphold the true Dharma so that others, too, may come to respect and encounter it, gaining the opportunity to hear and learn the teachings. From this, they may generate even the smallest seed of merit. This benefit is not worldly gain, but a sacred state of the soul, such a state brings liberation to both our ancestors and parents, as well as to all suffering sentient beings.
If our hearts can truly be thus, if our actions can truly be thus, if our speech can truly be thus—pure and untainted day by day—then our Buddha-nature will surely awaken.
