In our last Japanese lesson, we learned the word だるま (the dictionary thankfully tells us that this word is 'usually written using kana alone'!), the thing you see pictured here. The daruma is a representation of Bodhidharma, the Indian Buddhist who is said to be the founder of Zen. Some stories say that the daruma doll has no hands and feet because Bodhidharma spent many years staring at a wall in meditation, causing his limbs to atrophy.
The Japanese use the daruma to express a wish, and also to set themselves a challenge: they paint a pupil in the right eye when they decide to accomplish some goal. The daruma is there to remind us of our goal. When we have accomplished it, we paint the other pupil black, and then dispose of the daruma (there should not be more than one in a home at any time).
So, what challenge should we set ourselves?
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