‘Testimony of Mamiko Horita, a YWD District Leader My father let out a loud groan when he saw the image of my MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) last June. ‘The doctor said that my illness is called “intramedullary spinal cord tumour’ (IMSCT). As my father was working in the medical field, he knew instantly that if the tumour was malignant, I would have no chance of survival. | resigned from my job and was hospitalized. When | was allowed to go home temporarily, | walked slowly to my father’s room with the help of my mother and asked him: “Would you allow me to chant daimoku?” It was the first time in my life that | uttered these words to my father. ‘All along, my father, who is a non-member, was not in favour of my mother's practice of faith. Whenever the topic of faith or the Soka Gakkai came up, he became cranky and moody. Therefore, | did not dare tell him that | was also practising faith. But my illness gave me the ‘opportunity and courage to do so. “You can do anything you want as long as you can get well.” was his reply. That was the instant when | felt from the depths of my life, “My karma has changed into mission!” | felt so good to the extent that | felt guilty for feeling so happy despite my grave illness. With my Ife overflowing with joy, | immediately sat before the Gohonzon and chanted one hour of daimoku. Several days later, it was diagnosed that the tumour was non-malignant. However, the surgeon continued, “With this surgery, you will lose the mobility of your right half of your body. As for the left half, we are not too sure how much of its function we can retain.” But my mother’s assuring words, "No, everything will be fine” served as a source of great encouragement for me. The following month in July, | received a message from Ikeda Sensei and a gift with the words, “Hope” and “Victory” sealed on. Sensel assured me in his message that he will also be sending daimoku to me and asked me to take good care of myself. Deeply touched by Sensei’s wholehearted encouragement for a person like myself, I was ‘overwhelmed by profound emotions and resolved, "I must report my victory to my mentor who is so concern about me!” | turned on my lap-top because my right hand could no longer hold a pencil as it was completely numb. Using my feeble left hand, | began typing on my lap-top slowly one word at a time ~ | typed out 39 pravers for myself including these 3 prayers: "I'm going to walk out of the hospital on my two feet. No after-effects from the surgery. To be able to find a job as a full-time permanent staff.” The day of my surgery came, It lasted only three-and-a-half hours even though I was told it would last at least 8 hours. Two days later, | was already walking around. My surgeon was shocked at the rate of my recovery that he “flew" to my ward and said, “The speed of your recovery is so amazing that itis now the hot topic of our neurological department.” On top of this, | was discharged after one week even though | was initially told that | had to be hospitalized for a month or two.Upon reaching home, | sat before the Gohonzon and chanted daimoku three times with deep gratitude. | was so overwhelmed by emotions that immediately after that I hugged my mother and we both cried our hearts out. My father, who was sitting beside us was also shedding tears of joy. ‘This April, |was employed by a leading mobile phone company as a full-time permanent staff. All my 39 prayers have been answered without a single exception. My father now reads the Seikyo Shimbun, the daily organ paper of the Soka Gakkai and happily sends me off to Gakkai activities. | turned on my lap-top again. Using both hands now, | began typing. This time, | typed out 86 prayers ~ not a single one for myself but all for the people around me. What We Can Learn From this Experience 1 ‘No matter bow harsh our karma, there is meaning behind its manifestation, For one, we are able to deepen our faith through overcoming our karma. Secondly, we can enange ourselves: ‘Asa result, we can change our karma into mission. 2 One's commitment as a disciple in resolving to report one’s victory to one’s mentor gives rise to courage necessary to battle one’s karma 3. It's important to offer specific prayers. Ifit’s possible, wrife down the’prayers in a note bok. Refer to these prayers when chanting daimoku. (When you have many prayers, tet's cnant abundant aaimoku. It's just like going for shopping in a departmental store. Even if you want to buy many things, if you don’t have enough money you will not be able to do so. 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