Exerting oneself for kosen-rufu and zaimu donation with a heart of gratitude
Transforming one’s financial situation and family’s health karma
Lan Xue Feng
Taiwan
I got married at 23 years old, and my marriage was pre-arranged by a matchmaker. One year after I got married, I gave birth to my elder daughter. As an inexperience first -time mum, I was at a loss of how to handle her as she was a colicky baby and would cry non-stop.2 years later, my younger daughter was born. She was detectedwith a rare form of congenital disorder, known as Ectrodactyly, whereby it involved a deficiency of one or more central digits of the hands and feet and is also known as split hand/ split foot malformation. My family was worried that I would suffer from post-natal depression and thus tried to hide the facts from me. I only got to hold her in my arm one week after she was born. It was only when I tried to remove her swaddling cloth to feed her milk that I found out about the abnormalities at her hand and foot. Out of her 10 fingers, only 3 were normal and the rest were all deformed. I started asking why? Why did this happen to me? How was I going to cope with this baby in the future? As a result, my confinement period was spent in the midst of gloom and despair.
Confronting the karma of sickness of my child, the entire family plunged into suffering
As my younger daughter slowly grew up and attended school, she was frequently teased by her classmates for her deformed hands. Hence, she would always come back home crying.My heart was filled with remorse and sadness. During 1979, another shock came to us, my elder daughter who was then 7 years old began to suffer from physical anomalies. She complained of frequent headaches, pain in the eyes, and also started to experience tripping and falling whenever she walked. Out of desperation and being clueless about what was happening to her, we went around seeking for divine help. We spent almost all our savings but to no avail. We even sought medical advice from both Western and Chinese doctors but they were all in futile. It was only later on, through the recommendation of a relative that we traveled to a hospital in Taipei which specialized in neurology to seek professional treatment. After thorough checkup, my elder daughter was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor. This bad news was indeed unbearable and it came as an overwhelming blow to us as our younger daughter was already suffering from her handicap and now even my elder daughter had contracted a life-threatening illness.At the later stage, the tumor in my elder daughter slowly developed to a state whereby it had pressed onto the nervous system in her brain, and henceforth resulting in her loss of speech and the ability to walk. She would experience frequent bouts of fever in the middle of the night and also had fits and seizure attacks. She became totally dependent and needy and therefore I had to stay by her side 24 hours a day without leaving her alone for a single moment.
Husband faced crisis at work, fortune to have met the great Mystic Law
This dragged on until 1992 when my younger sister, Xue Hui, first knew about Daishonin Buddhism and took up faith. Due to my elder daughter’s sickness, my sister and her husband would often visit us and encouraged us to take up faith but both my husband and I reacted indifferently.
Throughout 20 years, I was unable to go out and work as I had to attend to the needs of my elder daughter. Finally in 1999, my husband’s company made the decision to shift to the north and as a result,all the workers including him were terminated.Facing the midlife crisis of losing his job and income, my husband felt as if his whole world was crashing. At this time, my sister and her husband immediately came to our house to offer sincere encouragement to him. He said these exact words to my husband, “If you set concrete prayer and chant seriously to the Gohonzon, while actively involving yourself in Soka Gakkai activities, you will definitely have your prayer answered and find a job that will allow you to realize your fullest potential.” Since my husband and I were at our wit’s end, we finally chanted Nam-myho-renge-kyo for the first time. True to our prayers, my husband quickly found a job at a bento lunch shop and our financial issues were resolved. This conspicuous benefit became the prime point of my faith.
After taking up faith, my husband and I went all out for kosen-rufu and attended all the activities faithfully. Every year during the zaimu collection month, we would make it a point to make zaimu donation with whatever humble savings we had. Though we wished we could do more each time, we had financial constraint. Before my husband left his previous company, he was actually selling tea leaves to earn extra income. Using the sale of these tea leaves, we decided to set a zaimu target, which was to donate $100 for every catty (1 Taiwan catty = 600g) of tea leaves sold. Once we set forth this ichinen, the results turned out unexpectedly well. Every day or every other day, there would be customers buying tea leaves from us. Sometimes the order would go as high as 10 to 20 catties. Even old customers who used to patronize us had come back to us to buy tea leaves as festive gifts for their relatives and friends. As a result, the profit that we earned for just one year during that year was far better than the income we earned for the past few years combined. Our faith grew tremendously from then on and we became even more convicted in the power of the Gohonzon. I was able to joyously make my zaimu donation that year with deep and heartfelt gratitude.
In order to repay our debts of gratitude towards the Gohonzon, I told my husband that we should continue to set concrete target based on prayer to make sincere zaimu contribution every year even though we had done our part this year. When our ichinen was set in this direction, our business started to prosper, and we had customers streaming in to order tea leaves from us. In the end, the family was finally able to transform our financial karma through our faithful zaimu contribution every year as well as by strengthening our faith day by day through faith, practice and belief. I had also accepted greater kosen-rufu responsibilities to serve the members.
Younger daughter grew with self-confidence, husband found a good job
Right after we took up faith, my younger daughter also followed suit. She had the good fortune to join the Youth Peace and Cultural Festival during year 2000, together with 10,000 other youth members and leaders in the mass word display item. On the actual day of the performance, right before they were about to enter the hall to perform, I saw her with the other youths standing in a line to do welcoming. Her face was brimming with the kind of self-confidence and joy she never used to have and she was radiating youthfulness and enthusiasm through her every actions. Deep down, I was so thankful to the Gohonzon in letting my younger daughter become a more joyful person through her faith practice. At the same time, I was even more convinced that this was the path towards absolute victory and happiness in my lives.
After my younger daughter got married, she overcame through her ceaseless prayers to the Gohonzon, the challenge whereby her husband and mother in-law objected to her faith in the beginning phase to the later part whereby they were able to fully support her and even allowed her to freely attend all activities.Through her determination and undefeated spirit, she even managed to shakubuku her husband to take up faith and practise alongside her. This was truly magnificent! Every time, when my younger daughter and my son in-law came to back home, we were able to chant together as a family. It was truly great to have a harmonious family practicing together!
During 2003, my husband accepted the mission to become a district leader. Shortly after he took up this mission, he received another conspicuous benefit. There was once he took up a temporary odd job and he managed to earn $6000. Without a moment of hesitation, I delightedly took this money to make our yearly zaimu contribution to meet our zaimu target. Then, one day, a special guest made a surprise visit at our house. It was the son of my husband’s ex-boss. He had personally made this trip just so to invite my husband to work as his personal assistant. It was truly amazing! At that time, my husband was already 58 years old and it was truly a good fortune for him to be head-hunted by the boss of the company. From then, he served the company loyally for almost 10 years. We felt deeply gratified as deep down, we knew this could never have had happened without the compassion of the Gohonzon.
Once at work, my husband discovered during a conversation with his boss that his mother was once encouraged by a member to chant. At that time, his boss was still a University student. There was a period he also chanted for the success of his results and he managed to see actual proof through his prayers. His boss must indeed have a deep karmic bond with the Mystic Law to meet with my husband once again. It was not long before that his boss started to actively engage himself in Gakkai meetings and activities. He even set aside a sum of money every year without fail and passed it to my husband so that he could help him to make zaimu contribution.
Exerting the utmost to provide a place of gathering for kosen-rufu, pledging to continue donating to the fullest
2 years ago, my husband wrote down as prayer, the wish to provide a venue for people to gather for kosen-rufu. Feeling doubtful, I asked him if it was a wishful thinking on his part to chant for an impossible. To my surprise, the reply he gave me was that he wanted to pray to have the financial means to renovate the entire house such that the wall between the living room and study room could be demolished to create a more spacious environment for the members to have an alternative meeting venue. He also prayed for the impossible to become possible so that our elder daughter would be able to start practising at home. Witnessing the conviction and resolve that my husband held, I had also included in my prayer to chant in itai doshin spirit with my husband to achieve this goal.
Through our concerted prayers and after chanting abundant daimoku, we brought this idea up to our younger daughter during our conversation one day and she immediately offered to sell off all her jewelry in exchange for hard cash so that it could be used to pay for the renovation fees. She believed that the money could be put into better use this way and thus creates more values in the process. Indeed, all prayers will never go unanswered! Once again, we realized the prayer to have a kosen-rufu gathering place. After the renovation was completed, our elder daughter was able to join in the meetings at the comfort of her own house. Through the training she received during the faith and study meetings held at home, she was able to challenge her health karma. Instead of being bedridden, she was now able to sit on a wheelchair while she participated in the discussion and study meetings or any other activities held at home. She also conquered the fit and seizure attacks that she used to have last time due to the brain tumour. As a result, she did not have to be hospitalized for emergency treatments so often anymore. Till now almost coming to 3 to 4 years, my elder daughter had not have relapse, much to her doctor’s disbelief. We had absolute faith that this was made possible through the power of Gohonzon. We had actualized through our lives the famous gosho passage, “If you light a lantern for another, it will also brighten your own way.”
The whole family had taken up faith through challenging our children’s health karma. After 14 years of faith, we were deeply indebted to the Gohonzon as well as Taiwan Soka Association (TSA) for being such a wonderful and humanistic organization so that we had gained total and absolute victories in our lives! Currently, I am actively striving in the path for kosen-rufu by taking up the roles as an assistant district Women Division leader, a Chapter leader for the Cultural group, as well as an assistant Chapter leader in charge of the Future Division. To repay my debt of gratitude to the Gohonzon, I had also made the vow to foster as many capable successors for kosen-rufu as possible with all my heart, to expand friendship through heart-to heart dialogues and through this, let more people have the opportunity to encounter this great Buddhism and to walk the great path of happiness in the Soka Gakkai.
Right now, the Taiwan SGI is embarking on the project to build a new physical infrastructure as well as fostering capable people, which includes the building of a Kaohsiung Culture Centre in the southern part of Taiwan. My entire family is determined to contribute to this great cause through our zaimu contributions to repay our debts of gratitude.
[Source: He Le, Mar 2014 issue]
Translation Disclaimer: The original testimonial is in the Chinese Language. It has been translated to the English Language for our readers’ convenience. Reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate translation, however the editorial team acknowledged that the translation may not be perfect to the author’s original and seeks our readers understanding. Please note that all guidance and quotes are loosely translated.
(编辑注释: 以上是中英翻译,原版如下.)
懷抱感恩之心投入廣布及供养
轉換經濟苦及家人病業
藍雪凰
台灣
23歲時,我經媒妁之言結婚。1年後大女兒出生,因哭鬧不停相當難帶,讓我這個新手媽媽不知所措。2年後小女兒接著出生,因為手腳不正常,家人怕我擔心就刻意隱瞞,一星期後才抱到孩子。當我打開包巾要餵奶時才發現她是一個手腳不健全的孩子,尤其除了有三隻手指頭正常外,其他都殘缺不全,怎麼會這樣?將來要怎麼辦?坐月子時就在一片愁雲慘霧中度過。
面臨孩子病業挑戰 全家陷入苦惱
隨著小女兒慢慢長大,到學校上課常常有人欺負、笑她有怪手,因而經常哭著回家,我內心感到不捨與難過。沒想到,1979年,大女兒7歲時身體開始出現異常,毎天說她頭痛、眼睛痛,走路常常跌倒,我們像無頭蒼蠅四處求神問卜,用盡所有積蓄都沒有效,看遍中西醫都沒好轉。後來親戚介紹我們前往台北榮總腦神經科就診,才知道大女兒長了腦瘤,醫生對我們說這無法醫治。想到小女兒已是雙手殘障,現在大女兒又得了無法醫治的病,真是晴天霹靂!之後,大女兒因腦瘤慢慢增長壓迫到腦部神經,導致不會說話也不會走路,時常半夜發燒、癲癇發作,變成完全需要別人照顧,從此我就與她形影不離,一步也不能離開。
先生面臨失業危機 幸逢偉大妙法
直到1992年,小妹雪惠信受妙法,為了大女兒的病,他們夫妻常來家鼓勵我們入信,但夫妻倆仍然不為所動。
二十幾年來我因為要照顧大女兒,都無法外出工作。1999年因先生公司搬至北部,員工全部解散,面臨中年失業,突然間沒有工作,沒有經濟來源,簡直就像是世界末日來臨。這時雪惠與妹婿敏琪立即來到家裡,妹婿鼓勵先生說:「認真唱題祈求、參加創價活動,一定會達成你的祈求目標,找到能發揮專長的工作。」在走投無路下,我們夫婦開口唱題,經過一個月我就找到便當店的工作,暫時解決了經濟問題,這是我初信的功德。
信仰後,夫妻俩認真參加活動,值逢供養月期問,雖然家中經濟尚在挑戰,還是很希望能夠為財供養盡一點心力。先生之前上班曾兼賣茶葉,於是我們訂定供養目標:每賣一斤茶就供養100元。結果,不可思議地,每天或兩、三天就有人來買茶,甚至有的一買就十斤、二十斤,連久未聯絡的茶客都前來購買茶葉 作年節贈禮。一年後,竟然達到好幾年都未曾有的業績,我與先生更加確信御本尊及題目的偉人力量,於是我懷著感恩的心歡喜做出財供養。
為了感謝御本尊賜予的功德,我就跟先生說,供養月雖然過了,仍然可以延續這種方式繼續做供養,想不到這一念轉變,生意越來越好,新的茶客一直增加,全家也透過一次次供養及努力實踐信行學、接任使命,逐漸轉換了經濟苦的宿命。
小女兒充滿自信地成長 先生獲得一份好工作
我們入信後,小女兒也跟著入信,小女兒很有福運地參加2000年萬人青年和平文化節,擔任人文字的使命。當天全體人員進場時,我看到女兒與一群青年部站 成一排迎賓,看她滿臉紅通通散發出從沒見過的歡喜自信,燃燒著青春熱情的模樣,讓我非常感動。感謝御本尊,小女兒透過活動更加開朗,也對自己能獲得絕對幸福的勝利人生懷抱滿滿的確信。
小女兒結婚後透過不斷祈求,先生與公婆對信仰的態度從不諒解到支持,到能讓她自由參加活動,甚至女婿也主動加入創價學會,實在太棒了!每次他們倆回娘家,全家一起唱題的感覺真的很幸福,有信心真的太好了!
2003年,先生接下地區部長使命,有一次他去打工賺了6000元工錢,為能達成供養目標,我滿心歡喜地將6000元拿去供養。有一天,家裡來了一位稀客,他是先生過去老闆的兒子,專程來訪要請先生到公司擔任他的特別助理,真是太棒了!當時先生已年屆58歲,還能找到工作且是老闆親自登門求才,就職後至今已10年,實在衷心感謝御本尊。
先生上班後有一次與老闆聊天才知道,老闆的母親曾受友人鼓勵唱題,老閲在讀大學時,也為課業成績唱題,創造過勝利實證,老閲與妙法真是宿緣深厚啊!沒多久老闆也主動加入創價行列,每年都請先生幫他做供養。
拚命努力提供緊點 決意持續全力供養
2年前,先生寫下希望提供聚點的祈求目標,我感到很納悶,就問先生:你是乞丐許大願(台語)?想不到他回答我說,我們可以將家中客廳與書房打通,整修後讓地區會員多一個活動場所,同時大女兒也可以在家活動。現在沒有錢,只要好好祈求,一定會有結果。看先生信心如此堅定,我也為此目標認真祈求。
在強盛祈求下,有一天向小女兒提到想提供聚點的事,小女兒立刻說她可以將手邊的金飾賣掉,把錢用在整修聚點上,發揮它最大價值,御本尊真是祈無不驗,裝修費用有了著落。聚點落成後,大女兒也能在家裡參加活動,透過一次次活動及學習,身體從常病懨懨躺在床上變成能坐在輪椅上,跟著我參加座談會、學習會等活動,同時也轉換了因腦瘤引起的癲癇,須經常掛急診及住院的宿命。女兒的癲癇至今3、4年未再發作,醫生直呼太不可思議!我們深深感受御本尊的偉大,更證明御金言:「為人點火,明在我前」的道理。
因為孩子的病業,全家來信受妙法,信心14年以來,感謝御本尊、感謝創價,我們全家獲得勝利了! 目前我擔任地區副婦人部長、支部文化長及育才部支部助理,我決意用心培育出更多優秀後繼,擴大与友人對話,讓更多人走向創價幸福大道,以報答御本尊的守護與功德。現今,創價正在進行許多硬體及軟體建設,更要興建作為南部辦公室的「高雄文化會館」,我們全家人也決意要加倍供養,以報答佛恩。
[和樂新闻,2014年3月号]
Transforming one’s financial situation and family’s health karma
Lan Xue Feng
Taiwan
I got married at 23 years old, and my marriage was pre-arranged by a matchmaker. One year after I got married, I gave birth to my elder daughter. As an inexperience first -time mum, I was at a loss of how to handle her as she was a colicky baby and would cry non-stop.2 years later, my younger daughter was born. She was detectedwith a rare form of congenital disorder, known as Ectrodactyly, whereby it involved a deficiency of one or more central digits of the hands and feet and is also known as split hand/ split foot malformation. My family was worried that I would suffer from post-natal depression and thus tried to hide the facts from me. I only got to hold her in my arm one week after she was born. It was only when I tried to remove her swaddling cloth to feed her milk that I found out about the abnormalities at her hand and foot. Out of her 10 fingers, only 3 were normal and the rest were all deformed. I started asking why? Why did this happen to me? How was I going to cope with this baby in the future? As a result, my confinement period was spent in the midst of gloom and despair.
Confronting the karma of sickness of my child, the entire family plunged into suffering
As my younger daughter slowly grew up and attended school, she was frequently teased by her classmates for her deformed hands. Hence, she would always come back home crying.My heart was filled with remorse and sadness. During 1979, another shock came to us, my elder daughter who was then 7 years old began to suffer from physical anomalies. She complained of frequent headaches, pain in the eyes, and also started to experience tripping and falling whenever she walked. Out of desperation and being clueless about what was happening to her, we went around seeking for divine help. We spent almost all our savings but to no avail. We even sought medical advice from both Western and Chinese doctors but they were all in futile. It was only later on, through the recommendation of a relative that we traveled to a hospital in Taipei which specialized in neurology to seek professional treatment. After thorough checkup, my elder daughter was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor. This bad news was indeed unbearable and it came as an overwhelming blow to us as our younger daughter was already suffering from her handicap and now even my elder daughter had contracted a life-threatening illness.At the later stage, the tumor in my elder daughter slowly developed to a state whereby it had pressed onto the nervous system in her brain, and henceforth resulting in her loss of speech and the ability to walk. She would experience frequent bouts of fever in the middle of the night and also had fits and seizure attacks. She became totally dependent and needy and therefore I had to stay by her side 24 hours a day without leaving her alone for a single moment.
Husband faced crisis at work, fortune to have met the great Mystic Law
This dragged on until 1992 when my younger sister, Xue Hui, first knew about Daishonin Buddhism and took up faith. Due to my elder daughter’s sickness, my sister and her husband would often visit us and encouraged us to take up faith but both my husband and I reacted indifferently.
Throughout 20 years, I was unable to go out and work as I had to attend to the needs of my elder daughter. Finally in 1999, my husband’s company made the decision to shift to the north and as a result,all the workers including him were terminated.Facing the midlife crisis of losing his job and income, my husband felt as if his whole world was crashing. At this time, my sister and her husband immediately came to our house to offer sincere encouragement to him. He said these exact words to my husband, “If you set concrete prayer and chant seriously to the Gohonzon, while actively involving yourself in Soka Gakkai activities, you will definitely have your prayer answered and find a job that will allow you to realize your fullest potential.” Since my husband and I were at our wit’s end, we finally chanted Nam-myho-renge-kyo for the first time. True to our prayers, my husband quickly found a job at a bento lunch shop and our financial issues were resolved. This conspicuous benefit became the prime point of my faith.
After taking up faith, my husband and I went all out for kosen-rufu and attended all the activities faithfully. Every year during the zaimu collection month, we would make it a point to make zaimu donation with whatever humble savings we had. Though we wished we could do more each time, we had financial constraint. Before my husband left his previous company, he was actually selling tea leaves to earn extra income. Using the sale of these tea leaves, we decided to set a zaimu target, which was to donate $100 for every catty (1 Taiwan catty = 600g) of tea leaves sold. Once we set forth this ichinen, the results turned out unexpectedly well. Every day or every other day, there would be customers buying tea leaves from us. Sometimes the order would go as high as 10 to 20 catties. Even old customers who used to patronize us had come back to us to buy tea leaves as festive gifts for their relatives and friends. As a result, the profit that we earned for just one year during that year was far better than the income we earned for the past few years combined. Our faith grew tremendously from then on and we became even more convicted in the power of the Gohonzon. I was able to joyously make my zaimu donation that year with deep and heartfelt gratitude.
In order to repay our debts of gratitude towards the Gohonzon, I told my husband that we should continue to set concrete target based on prayer to make sincere zaimu contribution every year even though we had done our part this year. When our ichinen was set in this direction, our business started to prosper, and we had customers streaming in to order tea leaves from us. In the end, the family was finally able to transform our financial karma through our faithful zaimu contribution every year as well as by strengthening our faith day by day through faith, practice and belief. I had also accepted greater kosen-rufu responsibilities to serve the members.
Younger daughter grew with self-confidence, husband found a good job
Right after we took up faith, my younger daughter also followed suit. She had the good fortune to join the Youth Peace and Cultural Festival during year 2000, together with 10,000 other youth members and leaders in the mass word display item. On the actual day of the performance, right before they were about to enter the hall to perform, I saw her with the other youths standing in a line to do welcoming. Her face was brimming with the kind of self-confidence and joy she never used to have and she was radiating youthfulness and enthusiasm through her every actions. Deep down, I was so thankful to the Gohonzon in letting my younger daughter become a more joyful person through her faith practice. At the same time, I was even more convinced that this was the path towards absolute victory and happiness in my lives.
After my younger daughter got married, she overcame through her ceaseless prayers to the Gohonzon, the challenge whereby her husband and mother in-law objected to her faith in the beginning phase to the later part whereby they were able to fully support her and even allowed her to freely attend all activities.Through her determination and undefeated spirit, she even managed to shakubuku her husband to take up faith and practise alongside her. This was truly magnificent! Every time, when my younger daughter and my son in-law came to back home, we were able to chant together as a family. It was truly great to have a harmonious family practicing together!
During 2003, my husband accepted the mission to become a district leader. Shortly after he took up this mission, he received another conspicuous benefit. There was once he took up a temporary odd job and he managed to earn $6000. Without a moment of hesitation, I delightedly took this money to make our yearly zaimu contribution to meet our zaimu target. Then, one day, a special guest made a surprise visit at our house. It was the son of my husband’s ex-boss. He had personally made this trip just so to invite my husband to work as his personal assistant. It was truly amazing! At that time, my husband was already 58 years old and it was truly a good fortune for him to be head-hunted by the boss of the company. From then, he served the company loyally for almost 10 years. We felt deeply gratified as deep down, we knew this could never have had happened without the compassion of the Gohonzon.
Once at work, my husband discovered during a conversation with his boss that his mother was once encouraged by a member to chant. At that time, his boss was still a University student. There was a period he also chanted for the success of his results and he managed to see actual proof through his prayers. His boss must indeed have a deep karmic bond with the Mystic Law to meet with my husband once again. It was not long before that his boss started to actively engage himself in Gakkai meetings and activities. He even set aside a sum of money every year without fail and passed it to my husband so that he could help him to make zaimu contribution.
Exerting the utmost to provide a place of gathering for kosen-rufu, pledging to continue donating to the fullest
2 years ago, my husband wrote down as prayer, the wish to provide a venue for people to gather for kosen-rufu. Feeling doubtful, I asked him if it was a wishful thinking on his part to chant for an impossible. To my surprise, the reply he gave me was that he wanted to pray to have the financial means to renovate the entire house such that the wall between the living room and study room could be demolished to create a more spacious environment for the members to have an alternative meeting venue. He also prayed for the impossible to become possible so that our elder daughter would be able to start practising at home. Witnessing the conviction and resolve that my husband held, I had also included in my prayer to chant in itai doshin spirit with my husband to achieve this goal.
Through our concerted prayers and after chanting abundant daimoku, we brought this idea up to our younger daughter during our conversation one day and she immediately offered to sell off all her jewelry in exchange for hard cash so that it could be used to pay for the renovation fees. She believed that the money could be put into better use this way and thus creates more values in the process. Indeed, all prayers will never go unanswered! Once again, we realized the prayer to have a kosen-rufu gathering place. After the renovation was completed, our elder daughter was able to join in the meetings at the comfort of her own house. Through the training she received during the faith and study meetings held at home, she was able to challenge her health karma. Instead of being bedridden, she was now able to sit on a wheelchair while she participated in the discussion and study meetings or any other activities held at home. She also conquered the fit and seizure attacks that she used to have last time due to the brain tumour. As a result, she did not have to be hospitalized for emergency treatments so often anymore. Till now almost coming to 3 to 4 years, my elder daughter had not have relapse, much to her doctor’s disbelief. We had absolute faith that this was made possible through the power of Gohonzon. We had actualized through our lives the famous gosho passage, “If you light a lantern for another, it will also brighten your own way.”
The whole family had taken up faith through challenging our children’s health karma. After 14 years of faith, we were deeply indebted to the Gohonzon as well as Taiwan Soka Association (TSA) for being such a wonderful and humanistic organization so that we had gained total and absolute victories in our lives! Currently, I am actively striving in the path for kosen-rufu by taking up the roles as an assistant district Women Division leader, a Chapter leader for the Cultural group, as well as an assistant Chapter leader in charge of the Future Division. To repay my debt of gratitude to the Gohonzon, I had also made the vow to foster as many capable successors for kosen-rufu as possible with all my heart, to expand friendship through heart-to heart dialogues and through this, let more people have the opportunity to encounter this great Buddhism and to walk the great path of happiness in the Soka Gakkai.
Right now, the Taiwan SGI is embarking on the project to build a new physical infrastructure as well as fostering capable people, which includes the building of a Kaohsiung Culture Centre in the southern part of Taiwan. My entire family is determined to contribute to this great cause through our zaimu contributions to repay our debts of gratitude.
[Source: He Le, Mar 2014 issue]
Translation Disclaimer: The original testimonial is in the Chinese Language. It has been translated to the English Language for our readers’ convenience. Reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate translation, however the editorial team acknowledged that the translation may not be perfect to the author’s original and seeks our readers understanding. Please note that all guidance and quotes are loosely translated.
(编辑注释: 以上是中英翻译,原版如下.)
懷抱感恩之心投入廣布及供养
轉換經濟苦及家人病業
藍雪凰
台灣
23歲時,我經媒妁之言結婚。1年後大女兒出生,因哭鬧不停相當難帶,讓我這個新手媽媽不知所措。2年後小女兒接著出生,因為手腳不正常,家人怕我擔心就刻意隱瞞,一星期後才抱到孩子。當我打開包巾要餵奶時才發現她是一個手腳不健全的孩子,尤其除了有三隻手指頭正常外,其他都殘缺不全,怎麼會這樣?將來要怎麼辦?坐月子時就在一片愁雲慘霧中度過。
面臨孩子病業挑戰 全家陷入苦惱
隨著小女兒慢慢長大,到學校上課常常有人欺負、笑她有怪手,因而經常哭著回家,我內心感到不捨與難過。沒想到,1979年,大女兒7歲時身體開始出現異常,毎天說她頭痛、眼睛痛,走路常常跌倒,我們像無頭蒼蠅四處求神問卜,用盡所有積蓄都沒有效,看遍中西醫都沒好轉。後來親戚介紹我們前往台北榮總腦神經科就診,才知道大女兒長了腦瘤,醫生對我們說這無法醫治。想到小女兒已是雙手殘障,現在大女兒又得了無法醫治的病,真是晴天霹靂!之後,大女兒因腦瘤慢慢增長壓迫到腦部神經,導致不會說話也不會走路,時常半夜發燒、癲癇發作,變成完全需要別人照顧,從此我就與她形影不離,一步也不能離開。
先生面臨失業危機 幸逢偉大妙法
直到1992年,小妹雪惠信受妙法,為了大女兒的病,他們夫妻常來家鼓勵我們入信,但夫妻倆仍然不為所動。
二十幾年來我因為要照顧大女兒,都無法外出工作。1999年因先生公司搬至北部,員工全部解散,面臨中年失業,突然間沒有工作,沒有經濟來源,簡直就像是世界末日來臨。這時雪惠與妹婿敏琪立即來到家裡,妹婿鼓勵先生說:「認真唱題祈求、參加創價活動,一定會達成你的祈求目標,找到能發揮專長的工作。」在走投無路下,我們夫婦開口唱題,經過一個月我就找到便當店的工作,暫時解決了經濟問題,這是我初信的功德。
信仰後,夫妻俩認真參加活動,值逢供養月期問,雖然家中經濟尚在挑戰,還是很希望能夠為財供養盡一點心力。先生之前上班曾兼賣茶葉,於是我們訂定供養目標:每賣一斤茶就供養100元。結果,不可思議地,每天或兩、三天就有人來買茶,甚至有的一買就十斤、二十斤,連久未聯絡的茶客都前來購買茶葉 作年節贈禮。一年後,竟然達到好幾年都未曾有的業績,我與先生更加確信御本尊及題目的偉人力量,於是我懷著感恩的心歡喜做出財供養。
為了感謝御本尊賜予的功德,我就跟先生說,供養月雖然過了,仍然可以延續這種方式繼續做供養,想不到這一念轉變,生意越來越好,新的茶客一直增加,全家也透過一次次供養及努力實踐信行學、接任使命,逐漸轉換了經濟苦的宿命。
小女兒充滿自信地成長 先生獲得一份好工作
我們入信後,小女兒也跟著入信,小女兒很有福運地參加2000年萬人青年和平文化節,擔任人文字的使命。當天全體人員進場時,我看到女兒與一群青年部站 成一排迎賓,看她滿臉紅通通散發出從沒見過的歡喜自信,燃燒著青春熱情的模樣,讓我非常感動。感謝御本尊,小女兒透過活動更加開朗,也對自己能獲得絕對幸福的勝利人生懷抱滿滿的確信。
小女兒結婚後透過不斷祈求,先生與公婆對信仰的態度從不諒解到支持,到能讓她自由參加活動,甚至女婿也主動加入創價學會,實在太棒了!每次他們倆回娘家,全家一起唱題的感覺真的很幸福,有信心真的太好了!
2003年,先生接下地區部長使命,有一次他去打工賺了6000元工錢,為能達成供養目標,我滿心歡喜地將6000元拿去供養。有一天,家裡來了一位稀客,他是先生過去老闆的兒子,專程來訪要請先生到公司擔任他的特別助理,真是太棒了!當時先生已年屆58歲,還能找到工作且是老闆親自登門求才,就職後至今已10年,實在衷心感謝御本尊。
先生上班後有一次與老闆聊天才知道,老闆的母親曾受友人鼓勵唱題,老閲在讀大學時,也為課業成績唱題,創造過勝利實證,老閲與妙法真是宿緣深厚啊!沒多久老闆也主動加入創價行列,每年都請先生幫他做供養。
拚命努力提供緊點 決意持續全力供養
2年前,先生寫下希望提供聚點的祈求目標,我感到很納悶,就問先生:你是乞丐許大願(台語)?想不到他回答我說,我們可以將家中客廳與書房打通,整修後讓地區會員多一個活動場所,同時大女兒也可以在家活動。現在沒有錢,只要好好祈求,一定會有結果。看先生信心如此堅定,我也為此目標認真祈求。
在強盛祈求下,有一天向小女兒提到想提供聚點的事,小女兒立刻說她可以將手邊的金飾賣掉,把錢用在整修聚點上,發揮它最大價值,御本尊真是祈無不驗,裝修費用有了著落。聚點落成後,大女兒也能在家裡參加活動,透過一次次活動及學習,身體從常病懨懨躺在床上變成能坐在輪椅上,跟著我參加座談會、學習會等活動,同時也轉換了因腦瘤引起的癲癇,須經常掛急診及住院的宿命。女兒的癲癇至今3、4年未再發作,醫生直呼太不可思議!我們深深感受御本尊的偉大,更證明御金言:「為人點火,明在我前」的道理。
因為孩子的病業,全家來信受妙法,信心14年以來,感謝御本尊、感謝創價,我們全家獲得勝利了! 目前我擔任地區副婦人部長、支部文化長及育才部支部助理,我決意用心培育出更多優秀後繼,擴大与友人對話,讓更多人走向創價幸福大道,以報答御本尊的守護與功德。現今,創價正在進行許多硬體及軟體建設,更要興建作為南部辦公室的「高雄文化會館」,我們全家人也決意要加倍供養,以報答佛恩。
[和樂新闻,2014年3月号]