A Guide to the - Rissho Kosei-kai

Be True to YourselfA Buddha's Countenance Shines ThroughThe face is a fascinating part of the body. Most people, when they are born and when they die,have a serene, buddhalike expression. The problem is the interval between these two events.There are great differences among people. The faces of those who have done many good deedslook cheerful and refreshing; the faces of those who have done one bad deed after another aredarkened by some sort of shadow.One of the many reasons I enjoy watching television is that I can see so many different faces; itis as if the people were standing right in front of me. I sense that a scholar looks like a scholar, ateacher like a teacher, a doctor like a doctor. If the doctor is a pediatrician, it is obvious at aglance. The face is always gentle and kind. Long years of medical practice have given that faceits special features.In the world of sumo wrestling, most young men join a training organization when they arefifteen or sixteen, and live with and train under a master. The trainees seem to develop acertain resemblance to their master. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, youngmaidservants employed in wealthy households came to resemble the lady of the house afterliving so many years with her.The attractiveness of someone's face is not determined by their features but by their heart,their character, and their experience. Everyone has seen that even a pedigreed dog can lookstupid, and that a well‐trained sheep dog may look clever. This is even truer of people. A wellknownepisode in the life of Abraham Lincoln illustrates his awareness of how a face reflectscharacter. When Lincoln became president a friend proposed a middle‐aged acquaintance for apost in the government, and Lincoln agreed to interview him. After the interview Lincoln toldhis friend he would not be able to employ the man. When asked why, Lincoln replied that hehad been put off by the man's looks. When asked how even a president could judge someoneby his looks, Lincoln replied that a man who has reached the age of forty is responsible for hislooks. A Japanese master of aphorisms, Soichi Oya (1900‐‐1979), wrote in much the same vein,"A man's face is his resume."Moreover, I believe that the face is the window of the soul. My respected mentor, the formerchief priest of the temple Kiyomizu‐dera in Kyoto, Rev. Ryokei Onishi (1875‐‐1983), wrote inZazen Wasan Kowa (Discourses on the Hymns in Praise of Zazen) that no one looks like anaristocrat or daimyo (feudal baron) at birth. Babies tend to look alike. But a boy brought up asan artistocrat or daimyo acquires something of a natural dignity, whatever his features. Hewent on:So someone like me does not count for anything. I am poor, so sometimes I eat and sometimesI do not. I am always thinking about what the day will bring, so my face has come to look thisway. Whether a man has really eaten or not, if he always tries to look like he has, keeps hisdignity, and wears an expression like the richest man in town, it will leave permanent traces inhis face. And if a man thinks he is essentially a buddha, he will come to look like one.Buddhist scriptures offer another example. There was once a somewhat dimwitted young mannamed Chulapanthaka who, with his more intelligent brother, went to the Jetavana Monasteryto join the Buddhist Order. During his training, however, he could not memorize even a singleverse of a sutra and was driven out by the older followers of the Buddha. As he stood sobbing43