Gosho: On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime
"Even a tarnished mirror will shine like a jewel if it is polished. 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. Arouse deep faith and polish your mirror night and day. How should you polish it? Only by chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo."
The innate darkness of life is the fundamental source of human suffering. It gives rise to all deluded workings of the mind, such as greed, anger, stupidity, arrogance, doubt and false views. The Daishonin compares it here to tarnish on a mirror. When a mirror is tarnished, its images will be blurred and distorted, so that one cannot see an accurate reflection in it at all. Similarly, the "innate darkness" clouds our life and prevents us from seeing that we are entities of the Mystic Law. By chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, we are, so to speak, "polishing" the mirror of our life, allowing our pure Buddha nature to shine forth.
At the very moment of chanting daimoku with faith in the Gohonzon, we activate our buddha nature. But polishing takes some effort. In other words, we need to continue chanting daimoku throughout life to make Buddhahood our basic life-condition. From day to day we may not always be able to see the results of this effort clearly, but we can be confident that, over the months and years, we are gradually establishing the joyous and indestructive state of Buddhahood, as our basic condition.
Source: George M Williams, Vice President SGI
"Even a tarnished mirror will shine like a jewel if it is polished. 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. Arouse deep faith and polish your mirror night and day. How should you polish it? Only by chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo."
The innate darkness of life is the fundamental source of human suffering. It gives rise to all deluded workings of the mind, such as greed, anger, stupidity, arrogance, doubt and false views. The Daishonin compares it here to tarnish on a mirror. When a mirror is tarnished, its images will be blurred and distorted, so that one cannot see an accurate reflection in it at all. Similarly, the "innate darkness" clouds our life and prevents us from seeing that we are entities of the Mystic Law. By chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, we are, so to speak, "polishing" the mirror of our life, allowing our pure Buddha nature to shine forth.
At the very moment of chanting daimoku with faith in the Gohonzon, we activate our buddha nature. But polishing takes some effort. In other words, we need to continue chanting daimoku throughout life to make Buddhahood our basic life-condition. From day to day we may not always be able to see the results of this effort clearly, but we can be confident that, over the months and years, we are gradually establishing the joyous and indestructive state of Buddhahood, as our basic condition.
Source: George M Williams, Vice President SGI
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