….. (the blooms
of lotus) are the token for all that is best in man and woman; for because the
plant thrives best when growing in the foulest mud, and raises its great pink
blooms high above the poisonous slime below to open petals surpassing
loveliness to the morning sun, they typify a chaste and noble heart –
unstained, unsullied, and untouched by the insidious breath of evil with which
life is permeated – opening to the light of truth and knowledge.
Herbert G Ponting (1870-1935), In Lotus-Land Japan, 1911
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| "3 girls by a lotus pond" by Herbert G Ponting, circa 1907 |
