Buddhism Is The Clear Mirror That Reflects Our Lives

Pablo Picasso, Girl before a Mirror (1932)

by D. Ikeda 

A Japanese proverb has it that the mirror is a women's soul. It is said that, just as warriors will never part with their swords, women will never part with their mirrors. The oldest metallic mirrors to be unearthed were found in China and Egypt. Older still are mirrors made of polished stone surfaces. Suffice it to say that the history of mirrors is as old as that of the human race.

"A bronze mirror may reflect the body, but not the mind. The Lotus Sutra reflects not only our physical form, but out inner being as well. Furthermore, the sutra mirrors, with complete clarity, one's past Karma and it's future effect." [Gosho Zenshu, p.1521]

Even though people may make up their faces, they tend to neglect to polish their lives. Though cosmetics can be applied to the face, one cannot gloss over the face of his soul. The law of cause and effect functioning in the depths of life is strict and impartial. 

Buddhism teaches that unseen virtue brings about visible reward. In the world of Buddhism, one never fails to receive an effect for his actions-whether for good or bad; therefore, it is meaningless to be twofaced, or to try to put on airs.

"A mind which presently is clouded by illusions originating from the innate darkness of life is like a tarnished mirror, but once it is polished it will become clear, reflecting the enlightenment of immutable truth."[On Attaining Buddhahood]. In this well-known passage, the Daishonin draws parallels between the tradition of mirror polishing and the process of attaining enlightenment. 

Observing one's life means to perceive that one's life contains the Ten Worlds and, in particular, the world of Buddhahood. The Gohonzon is a clear mirror. If you practice faith while doubting its effects, you will get results that are at best, unsatisfactory. This is the reflection of your own weak faith on the mirror of the cosmos. On the other hand, when you stand up with strong confidence, you will accrue limitless blessings. Understanding the subtle workings of one's mind is the key to faith and to attaining Buddhahood in this lifetime.

There is a Russian proverb that says, "It is no use to blame the looking glass if your face is awry." Likewise, your happiness or unhappiness is entirely the reflection of the balance of good and bad causes accumulated in your life. 

People Who Do Not Know About Mirrors
Many people become angry or grieve over phenomena that are actually nothing but a reflection of their own lives-their state of mind and the causes that they have created. Because they are ignorant of Buddhism's mirror of life, such people cannot see themselves as they truly are. This being the case, they cannot guide others along the correct path of life, nor can they discern the true nature of occurrences in society.

With the thought that we are addressing a person's Buddha Nature, we should politely and calmly carry out a dialogue-sometimes, depending on the situation, mercifully correcting him with fatherly strictness. In the course of such human interaction, the Buddha nature in his or her life functions to protect us. On the other hand, if we belittle or regard that person with contempt, as though gazing into our own image reflected in a mirror, we will be disparaged in return. 

In General, the people around us reflect our state of life. Our personal preferences, for example, are mirrored in their attitudes. To the extent that you praise, respect, protect and care for SGI members, who are all children of the Buddha, you will in turn be protected by the Buddhas, and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions and by all heavenly deities. If, on the other hand, you are arrogant or condescending toward members, you will be scolded by the Buddhas in like measures. Leaders, in particular, should be clear on this point and take it deeply to heart. 

We are a gathering of the Buddha's children. Therefore if we respect one another, our good fortune will multiply infinitely, like an image reflected back and forth among mirrors. A person who practices alone cannot experience this tremendous multiplication of benefit. In short, the environment that you find yourself in, whether favorable or not, is the product of your own life. Most people, however, fail to understand this and tend to blame others for their trouble. To a greater or lesser extent, all people tend to see their own reflection in others. 

Say What Must Be Said
We must gain decisive victory over the harsh realities of society and lead a correct and vibrant life. This is the purpose of our faith. We have to become wise and strong. Also, in the organization for Kosen-Rufu, we have to clearly say what must be said. The purpose of Buddhism is not to produce dupes who blindly follow their leaders. Rather, it is to produce people of wisdom who can judge right from wrong on their own in the clear mirror of Buddhism.

The purpose of Buddhism is to attain Buddhahood. In modern terms, this could be explained as realizing absolute happiness - a state of happiness that can never be destroyed or defeated. 

"There is no greater happiness for human beings than chanting Nam-Myoho-renge-kyo"
[The Major Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Vol. 1, p. 161] 

Edit from a 6 page speech given by President Daisaku Ikeda, June 1981 Summer Course

The Invisible Reflection

From, "Buddhism in New Light": Chapter 8: The Invisible Reflection;

                     by Shin Yatomi - SGI-USA Study Department Leader


Soren Kierkegaard, a Danish religious philosopher,knew the importance of seeing oneself in order tobuild a secure foundation for authentic happiness. So he suggested three requirements for his fellow Christians to see themselves in the "mirror" of "God's Word" (For Self-Examination and Judge for Yourself!, Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong, trans., p. 25).

Kierkegaard's insight into how to gain self-knowledge may be valuable not only for Christians but also for the practitioners of Nichiren Buddhism, since Nichiren Daishonin also stressed the importance of self-knowledge and inscribed the Gohonzon-the object of devotion in Nichiren Buddhism-as a mirror to reflect our true self, our innate Buddhahood.

Nichiren, for example, states: "The five characters Myoho-renge-kyo similarly reflect the ten thousand phenomena, not overlooking a single one of them.... A mirror that allows us to see our own image and reflection-such is Nam-myoho-renge-kyo" (ott, 51-52). The "five characters Myoho-renge-kyo" and "Nam-myoho-renge-kyo" in this passage are synonymous with the Gohonzon, which embodies Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, or the essential Law of life and the universe.

A profound awareness that our lives are originally endowed with the Buddha's infinite wisdom and compassion is so crucial for our happiness that Nichiren goes so far as to say, "No other knowledge is purposeful."

The philosophical distance between Kierkegaard and Nichiren, therefore, is closer in their emphasis on self knowledge than one might expect from their religious difference. The following are Kierkegaard's three requirements as applied to how we may better see ourselves in the mirror of the Gohonzon.

Why Don't We See Ourselves in the Mirror?

"The first requirement is that you must not look at the mirror, observe the mirror, but must see yourself in the mirror" (For Self-Examination, p. 25).

Here, Kierkegaard warns us against "the error of observing the mirror instead of seeing oneself in the mirror" (ibid, 25). One may ask how this could be possible. How can we look at the mirror and not see ourselves?

Kierkegaard's first requirement, however, points to the subtlety of self-awareness.

Self-awareness is said to develop during the early years of life. In one psychological study, infants who had had a red spot applied to their nose were held up to a mirror. Those who recognized their own reflection and so reached for their own nose rather than the nose in the mirror were said to show at least some self-awareness. In this study, practically no infants in the first year of life showed clear evidence of self-awareness, whereas about 70 percent of infants between twenty-one and twenty-four months did so (see Simply Psychology, Michael W. Eysenck, p. 278).

Clearly those infants under one year observed the mirror but failed to see themselves. Their failure to see themselves in the mirror is their failure to connect what is reflected on the mirror to themselves. For those babies, the mirror served no purpose and became useless. This illustrates what essentially makes a mirror so valuable that we use it everyday; it is our self-awareness or our ability to understand that what is reflected in the mirror is our own image.

Any adult of sound mind would not make the same mistake as those babies. When it comes to the Gohonzon, however, Kierkegaard's concern often becomes our reality. Although we revere the Gohonzon as Nichiren's enlightened life, we often fail to reflect the same respect back to our own lives. Or worse-some people may disparage their lives while admiring the Gohonzon's beneficial power.

They might glorify the Gohonzon to the extent that they humble themselves. Still others may see the Gohonzon as life's mysterious truth beyond their grasp, accessible only for select priests. Those who view the Gohonzon as an external deity or someone else's enlightenment may be compared to those infants reaching for the mirror instead of their own nose.

When we pray to the Gohonzon, we must reach into our own lives for the hidden gem of Buddhahood rather than reach out to the Gohonzon as an external source of salvation.

Our Invisible Self

"The second requirement is that in order to see yourself in the mirror...you must...remember to say to yourself incessantly: It is I to whom it is speaking; it is I about whom it is speaking" (For Self-Examination, p. 35).

Down the center of the Gohonzon is inscribed "Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, Nichiren," indicating that the potential for absolute happiness exists within the lives of all people as represented by Nichiren, who was born to a fisherman's family, the lowest class in Japan's feudal society. So the
Gohonzon speaks to each of us: "It is you who embodies the wonderful Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo just as Nichiren did!"

In this sense, our chanting of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo becomes our repeated affirmation of this message from the Gohonzon. As Kierkegaard's statement suggests, when we pray to the Gohonzon, we must remind ourselves that with each invocation we are manifesting our highest potential, full of strength and hope, no matter how our lives may appear on the surface.

Believing Is Seeing

"Finally, if you want to look at yourself in the mirror. you must not promptly forget how you looked" (ibid., 44).

Kierkegaard's final advice is his warning against our forgetfulness. When we study Nichiren's writings, we may intellectually understand that we are potentially Buddhas full of courage and compassion. While chanting, we may feel confident that our lives are essentially no different from
that of Nichiren.

But minutes after we leave our homes for work or school, we often start acting in a manner unbefitting Buddhas. In the course of a day, we may also face one situation after another in which others disregard us as if we had not even an iota of Buddhahood.

This is why our consistent Buddhist practice and study become important as powerful reminders of our innate Buddhahood, especially when our environment seems to suggest its non-existence. Our diligent, conscious efforts steadily transform our intellectual idea of Buddhahood into our action as Buddhas and our fleeting awareness of Buddhahood into our unmovable conviction in the face of great hardship. In this sense, seeing ourselves in the Gohonzon is often a process of gradual transformation rather than an epiphany to attain once and for all.

Kierkegaard's vision of an ideal Christian was a "doer of the Word" (ibid, 25). To this end, he set down those three requirements for Christians to see themselves in the "mirror of God's Word." By the same token, genuine Nichiren Buddhists must not simply be admirers of the Gohonzon who see it with awe yet fail to see themselves in it. Indeed, what those admirers think of as their pious respect for the Gohonzon is a kind of fundamental disrespect that perverts its purpose.

Nichiren wished us to become practitioners of the Gohonzon who uphold this mirror of ultimate self-knowledge and appreciate our reflections. To this end, he stressed the importance of faith, urging us "to summon up deep faith that Myoho-renge-kyo is your life itself."  So the true value of this wonderful mirror lies in the heart of the beholder-the heart that knows believing is seeing.

Image sources: Deviantart