Daruma Doll

The daruma has no eyes until you give it one. It arrives blank-eyed, you paint the left eye when you set a goal, and it sits on the shelf looking at you with one eye until you reach the goal and paint the other. It is modelled on Bodhidharma, the monk who brought Zen to China and meditated so long his limbs fell away, which is why it is round and legless and rights itself when pushed over: seven times down, eight times up. Twelve here in ceramic, matte or glossy, in the colour of the wish, and this page is about which eye, which colour, and what to do with a daruma when the goal is met.

The eye, and the ritual

Paint the left eye, the daruma's left and your right as you face it, when you set the goal, and say the goal aloud or write it on the base. Put the daruma where you will see it every day. Paint the right eye when the goal is reached. A daruma with one eye is a goal in progress and that is how it is meant to look; a daruma with two eyes is a goal met and goes back to the temple in Japan to be burned at the new year, with thanks, or stays on the shelf as a record. Politicians paint the first eye when they declare and the second on election night, in front of the cameras. The glossy ones here come with both eyes already painted, for the people who want the object without the contract; the matte ones come blank.

The colours

Red is the classic, the colour of the monk's robe and the wish for good fortune in general. Black keeps bad luck out. Gold or yellow is wealth. Green is health. Blue is success in work and study. White is a clean start, and purple is fortune to come. The two characters brushed on the belly in a circle, kaiun, mean the opening of luck; the gold character on the matte ones says the wish in one word. Ours are ceramic rather than the traditional papier-mâché, which is why they can be glossy, and why the money box of three daruma stacked, a large red, a white and a small black, holds coins.

Where a daruma goes

On a shelf at eye height, where you see it when you sit down to work; facing you, not the door, because it is talking to you and not to visitors, which is the difference between it and the maneki neko. One daruma per goal. A red one on the desk for the year's project, a green one in the kitchen for the diet, a blue one on the bookshelf for the exam. The stacked money box goes by the front door and takes the coins.

Care

Ceramic: dust, or wipe with a damp cloth. Paint the eyes with a black marker or a brush and ink; the matte glaze takes either. Made to Japanese designs in Asia, and every page says so.

Daruma: the questions we are asked

Which eye do I paint first?

The left eye, its left, your right as you face it, when you set the goal. The right eye when you reach it.

What do I paint it with?

A black marker or a brush and ink. The matte glaze takes both.

What if I never reach the goal?

The daruma keeps looking at you with one eye. That is the mechanism. In Japan, an unfinished daruma goes back to the temple at the new year and you start again with a new one.

Why does it have no arms or legs?

Bodhidharma is said to have meditated for nine years until his limbs withered. The round shape also means it rights itself when knocked over, which is the other lesson.