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By Takashi Ishigami
English version: Eduardo Lima,
Charles Jones and Leila Carvalho
A RIGOROUS WINTER
By Takashi Ishigami
Index
Preface
Introduction
Good times, bad times
Searching for a way out
A new hope
Manifesting our karma
New challenges
Defeating the impossible
Crucial moment
Changing the karma
Beginning of spring
The great victory
Perceptions
The actual proof
Consistency from beginning to end
Another great obstacle
To beginners
About the author
My professional life
Letter from Satiko to Renato
Message
Epilogue 1
Epilogue 2
Epilogue
Acknowledgements 3
Appendix
3
Preface
Introduction
Since
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12
13
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A new hope
From
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27
New challenges
I was at home. After accomplishing my daily
asked him.
but I had a
was sitting
in the air.
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38
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Crucial moment
I could see, after the hospital scene that
Renato was getting worse and worse. His body was
being dominated by the illness, and his strength was
fading away. He was very skinny and his head
protruded. His eyes were lifeless and bulged, his
skin colorless and dull. I felt his end was very close.
In a rainy day, I left home without saying a
word to Satiko. Before going to work, I stopped at
Morumbi cemetery and bought a vault for my family.
'Daddy, don't worry, one day, I am going to bury you',
Renato told me as soon as I got back home in the
evening. His eyes gazed on me.
I was shocked. I felt a shiver all around my
body. His words left me down. Did he follow me?
How did he know? I haven't shared what I had done
that morning with anyone. I looked on his face
attentively. I concluded that my son was really a very
special person. For some reason, I was staring at
him. I felt ashamed and I could not speak with him
about his words. His behavior was unbelievable.
'When a person attains Buddhahood, he or
she gets a very acute perception of people and the
things around', Luzia explained to me when I told her
about what happened. It was then that I could
perceive what happened to my son, who was able to
'guess' what I did. And Renato was not the only one
with this gift. That very week Luzia had a great
perception, when she decided to bring Mr. Eduardo
Taguchi, then vice-president of BSGI, to my home to
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encourage me.
'I learned that Nichiren Daishonin Buddhism is
winning or losing. I feel that my defeat is too close,
because my son is going to die. Even though, I want
to turn this defeat into a victory, I told him, as soon
as we started to talk.
He looked at me scared. 'What do you mean
by this?' he asked.
'I love Renato so much that I cannot stand the
idea of living without him. After his death, I will have
another baby with my wife and vow to chant daimoku
to bring him back in a healthy and perfect body. This
will be my victory.'
'This is an illusion', he replied. 'Who do you
think you are to decide on your son's life? While
there is life, so there is hope. Therefore you should
pray with all your strength to save your son and don't
bury him alive the way you are doing with your words
and determination.'
Stunned and ashamed, and believing I had
found a way out to my suffering, I was told to do the
opposite. The way I was thinking was absurd.
'You must have more faith in the Gohonzon.
You should seek an unshakable faith at the bottom of
your heart, seek as hard as you can, as if you were
trying to find water in the desert, or trying to light up
fire from wet wood, ', he said full of conviction.
Those words touched deep in my heart. I
wanted to say something, but it was not possible. It
hurt in my soul to realize what I was doing.
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Blood test
The medical exams always indicated absurd results,
with leukocytes (white blood cells) reaching rates as
high as 20,000, and erythrocytes (red blood cells) at
very low rates. This test, made on May 3, 1973,
strangely resulted as normal, and the specialist
suspended the chemotherapy.
When hearing about the treatment, my
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60
Beginning of spring
We had started the treatment. With the same
68
Perceptions
Renato was very healthy. He didn't show any
73
evening,
Satiko
proposed
me
unexpectedly to go back to the hospital and show the
doctors the results of our determination to save the
life of our son. I totally disagreed because I thought
the behavior of the doctors was correct and that they
acted according to their beliefs; thus there was no
need for this.
Renato was actually cured; he wasn't taking
any kind of medicine, just vitamins to help him
improve his immune system. We didn't have to prove
this to anyone else; it was enough that our son could
continue healthy and that we could be happy. Satiko
tried to argue, but I didn't let her.
We heard that in July 1975 there was going to
be an SGI course in Japan for Brazilian members.
We decided that Renato and Satiko would go. We
had a lot to thank for our good fortune and would like
to express it in person to president Ikeda, since he
founded the SGI Brazil. He made possible for us to
practice Nichiren Daishonin Buddhism and thus,
defeat the most difficult phase in our lives.
There were about 375 members from several
Brazilian regions divided into three distinct groups
going to Japan. During the training course, Renato
and Satiko had the opportunity to meet members
from several other countries and together they
shared the joy of being members of SGI as well as
being responsible for the happiness of other people.
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To beginners
Human
poor, she cut her long hair and sold it to get enough
money to buy some oil, make a lamp and give it to
the Buddha. Her lamp was insignificant compared to
the others given to the king.
The night Sakyamuni arrived in the town, all
lamps were lit not only to lighten up the place, but
also to pay tribute to the Buddha. Nonetheless, a
sudden strong wind began to blow, and extinguished
all lamps, except the one given by the woman.
President Ikeda states that a person's social
class or economic situation is not the main criterion
to evaluate happiness.
Quantity or quality of daimoku, what is the best?
About the question above, president Ikeda
makes a comparison with the value, or if you prefer,
the quality between a hundred dollar and a ten dollar
bill. Naturally, most people would rather have a
hundred dollar than a ten dollar bill. And, certainly,
having too many one hundred bills is even better.
The same happens to faith: strong and sincere
prayers are important. Both quality and quantity are
good. President Ikeda said once that chanting one
hour of daimoku isn't too little, and that chanting ten
million of daimoku isn't enough.
In December of 1957, Josei Toda, as Soka
Gakkai's second president had the goal of converting
750,000 families to Nichiren Daishonin Buddhism
and announced the three eternal guidelines of faith:
1) Practice of faith to create family harmony;
2) Practice of faith to achieve happiness;
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My professional life
As I stated in the beginning of this book, I
word?
'Darling, what is the word?'
Unconstitutionally she answered.
In 1981, I accomplished my most precious
dream to travel to Japan and meet Mr. Daisaku
Ikeda. Together with Brazilian colleagues, we all
enjoyed unforgettable moments, full of gratitude and
desire to help people attain happiness.
Our group stayed in a hotel in Tokyo, which
offered two types of breakfast, Eastern and Western
styles. My curiosity to know eastern breakfast was
so great that I showed up alone for breakfast very
early. I ran into Ms. Silvia Saito and we sat together
to chat during the meal:
'Ishigami-san, I have to share with you a wish
that I have for a long time: in my next life, I want to
be born in the Japanese imperial family, so I will
able to broadly spread the Buddhist philosophy to
most people'.
I felt her strong determination in every word
she said. I always admired her faith and realized at
that moment her strong desire to spread the
Buddhist philosophy.
I chant one hour of daimoku daily, because I
don't want my strength to diminish. This is just like a
savings account at the bank; one day you should
need it.
According to my experience, one should
chant as much daimoku as possible, with or without
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daimoku
is
actually
an
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Message
I dedicate this book to my dear wife Satiko,
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Epilogue 1
After
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Epilogue 2
A
Final Epilogue
On May 12th, 2005, the newspaper O Estado
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Acknowledgements
Many people are involved in the process of
Appendix
This is the story of strong people for strong
people. These are strong people who take all of their
strength from the power of Gohonzon and share it
with us.
To me, it was such an honor to read again this
book. I would like to thank all people who made this
translation possible, including people from the SGI in
California like Leila Carvalho, Charles Jones, Pete
Peterson and Mara Ornellas Tisi. I want to express
my gratitude to Renato and his father, Takashi, for
their support, even when things got harder, and I
almost gave up. I said to myself especially in the
beginning of this work: it is very hard, I won't make
it. But then, with Renato's warm words of care, I
thought: no, I have to continue. And, then, I could
translate some more words.
I would like to thank every one at the Lapa
community who gave their support and friendship.
And, last but not least, I would like to thank
the Mystic Law contained in the Gohonzon, which
brings a lot of benefits to those who believe in it.
The translator
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