Transforming Fear into My Great Vow

I am from Italy and encountered Nichiren Buddhism 14 years back as a YWD. When my partner Alex’s job brought us to Delhi in August 2016, I immediately connected with BSG. This was my immense good fortune!

Meeting Alex, my schoolmate, again after many years, falling in love, and deciding to spend our lives together were the answers from the Gohonzon to my heartfelt prayer for a kosen-rufu family. A life partner and three stepchildren came all at once. While I cherished this wonderful benefit, I also struggled to balance family responsibilities. There were times when I wondered whether I was truly happy or appreciated.

Through chanting, I realized that the spirit of offering means giving without expectation. I based my prayer on the Soka Gakkai’s first eternal guideline, Faith for a Harmonious Family , and determined to create a home where everyone could feel happy and at ease.

Serving joyfully as a block leader and White Lily transformed my own heart. Supporting activities behind the scenes, cleaning the culture center, and dedicating myself to members polished my life from within. Just as the principle of the oneness of self and environment teaches, our family gradually became filled with warmth, trust, and mutual respect. Today, I enjoy a loving relationship with my husband and my three teenage children.

Breaking Through the Lesser Self

During the global pandemic, Italy was severely affected. Living thousands of miles away from my father in Rome while he battled one health problem after another filled me with fear and anxiety.

Nichiren states, “If you care anything about your personal security, you should first of all pray for order and tranquillity throughout the four quarters of the land, should you not?” (‘On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land’, WND-1, 24).

Instead of being consumed by fear, I aligned my prayers with BSG's determination to transform fear into our Great Vow. I challenged myself to develop the stand-alone spirit and the life condition of Nichiren Daishonin and our three eternal mentors. Rather than praying only for my personal concerns, I prayed for humanity and the peace of the world.

Chanting between three and six hours every day, studying consistently, and encouraging members, relatives, and friends brought forth tremendous courage and life force from within. Fear gradually transformed into deep joy derived from dedicating my life to kosen-rufu.

Together with district members, we created a new wave of dialogue and encouragement. During this period, my study revolution deepened more than ever before. We studied Making the Impossible Possible and The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin and the Mentor-Disciple Relationship , while sharing Sensei’s messages and learnings from leaders' training courses.

Our district expanded steadily as members developed into capable block leaders.

Toward BSG’s November 18, 2020 Ever-victorious Campaign, I devoted myself wholeheartedly to the three Ds—daimoku, daily home visits, and dialogues. I completed two personal victory daimoku charts, conducted 60 dialogues, carried out 440 e-visits, held five weekly study sessions, encouraged Future Division members, fostered youth and women successors, and united closely with district leaders through daily alliance daimoku. Together, our district achieved its target of nine million daimoku.

Embracing My Mission in Turbulent Times

While fighting campaign after campaign, my father gradually began chanting and studying Buddhism with me. He overcame several health problems. However, recurring pain eventually led doctors to suspect pancreatic cancer.

Instead of giving in to fear, I based myself completely on faith.

Sensei says that “the Daishonin notes three characteristics that define the faith and practice of practitioners of the Lotus Sutra that lead to absolute victory” and that “[t]he first is ‘remaining unwavering and resolute in faith’ (cf. ‘Letter Sent with the Prayer Sutra’, WND-2, 460). It is the great vow to live one’s life solidly based on the Mystic Law. It means not having the slightest doubt, hesitation or fear in one’s heart” (‘Faith for Absolute Victory’, The Five Eternal Guidelines of the Soka Gakkai , 81).

I determined to transform this situation into my mission, praying to elevate my father's life condition through the power of the Mystic Law.

Although the consultation with one of Europe's leading pancreatic specialists seemed impossible because of the holiday season, protective functions emerged one after another. The doctor agreed to examine my father the very next day.

Sensei also says, “By making kosen-rufu the guiding purpose of all our prayers and actions, we can tap the limitless wisdom, courage and strength of the Buddha that are inherent in our lives. This is what allows us to make the impossible possible” (ibid., 83).

I encouraged my father to chant while traveling to the hospital and to transform this moment into an opportunity to give dignity to his sister's life. Chanting with complete conviction, I entrusted everything to the Mystic Law.

After nearly two hours, my father called with joyful news: there was no cancer. Witnessing his transformed life condition despite being separated by nearly 4,000 miles became my own profound experience of the principle of three thousand realms in a single moment of life.

To celebrate, we began studying the Gosho Happiness in This World together.

Soon afterward, I developed dengue while living alone in India. Doctors advised immediate hospitalization.

Recalling Nichiren Daishonin’s words, “Not once have I thought of retreat” (‘The Great Battle’, WND-2, 465), I refused to be defeated by illness, loneliness, or fear.

From my hospital bed, I shared my experience during the district discussion meeting, transforming my place of suffering into the Buddha land.

Later, while expecting our assignment in India to conclude, another unexpected benefit emerged. My husband was appointed as the Consul General of Italy in Mumbai, allowing us to continue our mission in India.

Victory Through Study

Keeping in my heart what Ikeda Sensei says — “However much we may speak of the wonderful innate power of life, or of people’s limitless potential, that alone amounts to no more than an abstraction. Rather, it is when we strive to develop ourselves in the midst of the greatest adversity that our innate power as human beings reveals itself. Our true self, of which we were not even aware, comes to the fore” (VC, Aug 2016, 27).

Today, I am determined to cast off the transient and reveal my true identity as a Bodhisattva of the Earth at every crucial moment, enabling many others to awaken to their own limitless potential.

I vow to remain a joyful sun, regardless of circumstances—a shining Bodhisattva of the Earth who “performs a dance of hope and victory in our kosen-rufu movement as well as in [my] own life” (Sensei’s message to the 8th BSG General Meeting, VC, Jan 2021, 12).