TOTAL HONESTY

If you have even a single person whom you can trust completely, can’t you consider your life a success? I think it’s safe to say that faith is the reason for this, because I believe that the foremost merit of having faith is the conviction that the Buddha sees all.

In the normal scheme of things, some people might get by with concealing as much as half of themselves from others, but those who embrace the Buddha within their hearts go with only 100 percent total honesty.

Their reward for being unable to comfortably deceive people or take advantage of situations is having the inspiration to persevere—whether or not people see or know about the good they do, all the buddhas and heavenly deities are their witnesses. These people are stouthearted and can leave the outcome of everything up to the Buddha.

Looking back on my entire life, I can say with confidence that my greatest joy is that I have come this far having had complete faith in the Buddha, with no doubts. I am reminded once again that, thanks to this faith, I have been able to trust every person I have met, in encounter after encounter, without any worries at all.

Nikkyo Niwano, Kaiso zuikan 9

(Kosei Publishing, 1997), pp. 190–191