From the Vimalakirtinirdesa Sutra--"on a high plateau, on the dry ground, no lotus grows. It is only in the muddy water that it blooms." In like manner, ordinary beings are living mostly in the mud of evil passions. But owing to the instruction and guidance of the bodhisattva, they are able to bloom out as the flowers of the Supreme Enlightenment.
From Kyogyoshinsho The True Realization