From:
http://www.killerplants.com/whats-in-a-name/20020830.asp "The Salisbury University Arboretum has beautiful photographs of the sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) of the Hindu."
To view the photographs, click on the link:
http://www.salisbury.edu/arboretum/Perennia/NeNu/NeNuHM.html "This species is intimately linked with the Buddhist religion, symbolizing vitality and purity."
and from
http://www.newint.org/issue155/guide.htm :
"BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS Many Hindu stories attempt to explain symbolically the creation of the earth. In one, Vishnu, the controller of human fate and one of the three key Hindu gods, sleeps on a serpent floating in the sea of eternity. The Lord Brahma, the Creator who is beyond worship, emerges from a lotus flower in Vishnu's navel and creates the world. Vishnu then awakes to reign over it. Hinduism is a religion of cycles, timeless movement and regeneration. At its core is a belief in a primary essence that precedes the gods. Basic to Hinduism (as to Buddhism) is the cycle of birth, death and rebirth."
(Not claiming these sources as proof of anything but the misleading nature of the author's claim that the lotus doesn't denote a particular religion.)
the lotus doesn't denote a particular religion.I think the author means that the lotus doesn't necessarily denote a particular religion as the theme is used in decoration in other religions also, including in some Moslem decorations in India. (Not all Moslems always adhered strictly to the ban on depicting living figures.) Almost all uses of the lotus before the last couple of centuries, however are derivative of Hindu/Buddhist use.