Hi. That is a bud bloom. It should open in another week or two. Sue, you should have blooms by now. I will chat with you one night about things you may need to do to get it blooming. I think it needs more fertilizer.
Alan, does the pot that the plant is in have holes, or does it hole water and is therefore a small pond by itself? Lotuses need to be in wet mud, preferably with water above the soil. Your plant looks like a standard sized lotus, which means it really needs a pot that has a mouth opening of 24-28 inches in diameter. You cannot repot the plant until it goes into hibernation at the end of the season or you will kill it, but after it has stopped all growing for this year, you might want to consider repotting the plant. By that, I mean you will take the tuber out early next spring before new growth starts, and plant the tuber in a new pot. In the meantime, over the winter, the plant needs to be moved to a place where it will not freeze. this can be done by moving it to deeper water, or by moving the plant into a place where it will stay between 40 and 50 degrees for the winter.
Lotus reproduce by seeds and by tubers. Their tubers are extremely delicate, and if the growing tip is broken, the plant will most likely die. Because of this, lotus should be grown in round pots, allowing the tuber to continue to grow unimpeded. Division of tubers should only be done during the hibernating period when the leaves have died and before new growth begins. Due to their size, standard sized lotus need to be planted in round containers that are at least 2' in diameter and 10" deep. The smaller, or dwarf-sized (bowl) lotus, can be grown in 18” containers. Because these large pots are difficult to handle in a pond, many gardeners grow the lotus in watertight pots or containers as a small water garden themselves.
Tubers should be planted in shallow (10-12 inches deep) round containers. Square pots will cause the growing tips o get broken and your plant will not survive. Place 5 or 6 aquatic plant fertilizer tabs in the bottom and around the edges of the container and cover with 6" of soil or more. Place your tuber about two inches from the side and running parallel with the sides so that the growing tip will grow around the edges of the pot. Place a small flat stone on the tuber if necessary to hold the tuber in place so that the roots stay in contact with the soil. Cover the tuber with 1” inch of soil, but do not cover the leaf part of the leaf stem, or the growth tip. You can add more soil when the leaf stem is taller, if needed. Be careful for new growth if you do add soil, however. Add water slowly and cover the soil with approx. 2"-3" of warm water, or place in pond with preferably no more than 5-6 inches of water over the top of the soil..
Hope this helps.