A Lotus Grows in the Mud she calls her "Gifts". This spiritual quote, which led to the title of the book, Hawn received from the Venerable Thupten Ngodrup. He is the Nechung Oracle of the Nechung Dorje Drayang Ling Monastery in Dharamsala, India. "The lotus is the most beautiful flower, whose petals open one by one. But it will only grow in the mud. In order to grow and gain wisdom, first you must have the mud --- the obstacles of life and its suffering. ... The mud speaks of the common ground that humans share, no matter what our stations in life. ... Whether we
Flower bouquet The arrangement of flowers for home or building decor has a long history throughout the world. The oldest evidence of formal arranging of bouquets in vases comes from ancient Egypt, and depictions of flower arrangements date to the Old Kingdom (~2500 BCE). The sacred lotus was often used, as were herbs, palms, irises, anemones, and narcissus. In some cultures, ancient practises still survive today, for example in ikebana, the art of flower-arranging that comes from Japan. The oldest known book on flower-arranging is Japanese and dates from 1445. Simplicity and linear form are core features of ikebana, which has had