The lotus flower are the one most popular flower tattoos. The lotus flower has a story to tell - a flower that grows in mud and emerges pristine and pure, to bloom in perfect beauty, floating sublimely on the surface of the water. It closes its petals each night and, like humans, awakes from sleep and like humans, opens to the sunshine, to the new day. Some people prefer to think, like humans, it opens its soul to God. This ability to bloom on the surface and float above the mud symbolizes detachment from this world - it is in the world but not of the world. Poets and artists have struggled to describe and depict its beauty and mystery. Lotus flower tattoos symbolize these two characteristics.