The mirror is a reflection of the
soul; it does not lie, it is absolute truth. It is "man's knowledge of himself,
the clear shining surface of divine truth, the gateway to the realm of inversion"
(Cooper, 106). Taoists regard the mirror as the mechanism of self-realization,
and Christians view a spotless mirror as an image of the Virgin Mary. For the
Chinese, it is sincerity, and for the Buddhists it is the soul in a state of purity.