Clear Mirror (Part 2)

In honor of Women's Month, we will include excerpts this month from SGI President Ikeda's seminal Feb. 27, 1990, guidance to the SGI-USA Women "Buddhism is the Mirror That Perfectly Reflects Our Lives." For a book of his 1990–1996 speeches that includes the full text of this speech, click here.

The British author Oscar Wilde (1856-1900) wrote a novel titled The Picture of Dorian Gray. To offer a very brief explanation, the novel’s protagonist is a youth named Dorian Gray who is so handsome that he is called a "young Adonis."

An artist who wished to preserve his beauty for eternity painted Dorian’s portrait. It was a brilliant work, an embodiment of his youthfulness and beauty. But something incredible occurred as Dorian was gradually tempted by a friend into a life of hedonism and immorality. His beauty did not fade. Although he advanced in years, he remained as youthful and radiant as ever. Miraculously, however, the portrait began to turn ugly and lusterless, reflecting the condition of Dorian’s life.

At length, making sport of a young woman’s affections, Dorian drove her to commit suicide. At that time there appeared on the face of the portrait an expression—wicked, savage and frightening. Dorian was filled with horror. This portrait of his soul would remain for eons in this ugly form. Even if he died, the portrait would continue to eloquently tell the truth.

He determined to obliterate the portrait, believing that if only he could do away with it, he could part with his past and be free. Dorian plunged a knife into the painting. At that moment, hearing screams, his neighbors rushed over to find a portrait of the handsome and young Dorian and, collapsed before it, an aged, repulsive-looking man, Dorian, with a knife sticking in his chest.

The portrait, in other words, had expressed the semblance of his existence, the face of his soul, into which the effects of his actions were etched, without the slightest omission.

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 two-faced or to try to put on airs.

The "face of the soul" that is carved out by the good and evil causes one makes is to an extent reflected in ones appearance. There is also a saying, "The face is the mirror of the mind." It is, however, at the moment of death that one’s past causes show most plainly in one’s appearance.

Just as Dorian in the end revealed his own inner ugliness, so the “face of one’s life’ is fully expressed at the time of one’s death. At that time there is no way to conceal the truth of your soul. We carry out our Buddhist practice now so that we will not have to experience any regret or torment on our deathbed.