Written by Nichiren
Chapter17(Describing the practices intended for the instruction and conversion of others and those pertaining to the Buddha’s enlightenment)
In effect, then, we may say that when one comes to see that one’s own mind is one with the body of the Buddha, then one quickly attains the state of Buddhahood.
Hence On “Great Concentration and Insight” says, “Because all the various Buddhas have come to see that their own minds are no different from the Buddha mind, they have therefore been able to attain Buddhahood.”
This is what is known as observation of the mind. When one truly awakens to the fact that one’s own mind and the Buddha mind are in fact one mind, then no evil karma can obstruct one when one’s life comes to a close, and there will be no more deluded thoughts to detain one in the realm of birth and death.
When one understands that all phenomena whatsoever are manifestations of the Buddhist Law, then one does not need any “good friends” to teach and instruct one. One thinks as one thinks, speaks as one speaks, acts as one acts, behaves as one behaves, and all one’s four types of activity, walking, standing, sitting, lying down, all that one does, is one with and in harmonious accord with the mind of the Buddha. One becomes a person who can act freely, without error or obstacle. This is what is known as practice based on the Buddha’s teaching that pertains to enlightenment.
If one should discard this freely exercised practice and instead allow one’s mind to dwell in a state of distorted thinking marked by ignorance and delusion, thoughts without substance, turning one’s back on the teaching and instruction handed down from the Buddhas of the three existences, then for all time one will merely move from darkness into darkness, always, alas, alas, at variance with the Law of the Buddha!
But now if one will only cast aside such thinking, correct one’s outlook, and return to a state of enlightenment, then one will realize that the attainment of Buddhahood in one’s present form is to be found nowhere outside one’s own body. The mirror that is one’s own mind is none other than the same mirror that is the mirror of the Buddha’s mind. But we are looking at the back side of the mirror, and therefore we cannot see the truth or principle that underlies our nature, and so we are said to be in a state of ignorance. The Thus Come One, however, looks at the front side of the mirror and can see and understand the principle underlying our nature. For this reason, enlightenment and ignorance may be said to constitute a single entity.
The mirror is a single mirror, but depending upon whether one is looking at the front or the back of it, the distinction between enlightenment and darkness arises. The fact that the mirror has a back side does not constitute any interference to the front side, but, depending upon which side of the mirror one is viewing, the distinction between enlightenment and darkness is produced. This is known as the identity or the fusing and penetrating of two aspects of a single phenomenon.
The doctrines intended for the instruction and conversion of others are comparable to the back side of the mirror, while the observation of the mind that marks the teaching that pertains to the Buddha’s enlightenment is comparable to the front side of the mirror. But the mirror representative of the time when one is practicing the doctrines intended for the instruction and conversion of others and the mirror representative of the time when one is practicing the doctrines pertaining to the Buddha’s enlightenment are one and the same mirror in either case, the mirror of the nature of one’s own mind.
If we apply the mirror analogy to the process of attainment of Buddhahood in one’s present form, then looking at the front of the mirror is comparable to attaining Buddhahood, while looking at the back of the mirror is comparable to being an ordinary living being.
The fact that the mirror has a back side illustrates the point that there is no cutting off or elimination of the element of evil that is inherent in the nature of the individual. And the fact that, when one faces the back side of the mirror, the power to reflect an image that is a virtue of the front side is inactive, illustrates the limited type of blessings obtained through the doctrines intended for the instruction and conversion of others. That is, at such a time the Buddha nature inherent in living beings is not in a manifest state.