“One who performs his duty without attachment, surrendering the results unto the Supreme Lord, is unaffected by sinful action, as the lotus leaf is untouched by water.”
-Bhagavad-Gita
Awakening is likened to a lotus rising from the muddy waters, flowering in consciousness.
I’d never really considered, though, where does the mud come from?
Wake Up and Laugh! 
Good question!
And, as your image shows, lotus leaves and flowers return to the water and mud in the end.
Perhaps the lotus returns to the water and the mud as one’s mind returns to become a part of the whole. Everything has always been one, it’s humans who compartmentalize the world into mud and flowers.
I guess that’s what the buddha would say?
Thank you!
That’s pretty much how I (try to) see it~
The lotus and the mud really are one…
Maybe the question should have been, “What came first, the lotus or the mud?” (^_^)