“Wow!” When I try to take a picture of something, and my smartphone shows my face instead. Somehow I am surprised each time it happens!
We all use smartphones everyday and look at it so many times.
In Mahayana Buddhism, especially in the Yogachara, the doctrine of consciousness, and Saint Bennei’s teachings, it says “whatever you recognize in the world, it is a projection of your consciousness.” This is a very difficult and deep teaching. It took me a while to understand this and many years to feel it.
A couple of days ago, when I was using my smartphone, I just realized, “This is it! My subconsciousness appears in front of me as an external world!” Whatever I watch on the SNS, on the news feed, on the timeline, on the chat, on the picture, it shows what I wanted to see, consciously or subconsciously. It doesn’t matter whether I like it or not, somehow I am attracted to it and repeating it. This is karma.
In Mahayana Buddhist practice, we harmonize three things: action, words, and image. They are called the three karmas because karma was created through all three, And when you keep repeating them, then it’s called a habit, a tendency, an attachment, a personality characteristic, or karma.
I just realized that if I started to use my smartphone as a mirror to show my karma and keep checking my action/word/image, this would be a very great tool. And also, it could be a very dangerous tool when we follow our ego, we could easily stay stuck in our ego world. That’s why we need the right compass for our life.
In Tao Sangha, you can feel what kind of action/word/image makes you feel better, more relaxed, lighter, and warmer, and what kind does not. It’s called Ki Work. Through this experience, you can get your own compass for your life. Then you can choose and create your good karma and happy life.
We all use smartphones everyday and look at it so many times.
What do you see in your mirror?
Kenchi Mogi
