Teruko Harada
(member of Butsuryūji temple in Kobe, Hyogo Pref., Japan)
I inherited HBS faith from my father and have been a follower all my life. Today I would like to tell you the stories of the two most wonderful blessings that I received. The first one is about my husband.
When I was 57, my husband Yoshio’s health started deteriorating. He liked going everywhere by bicycle, but it gradually became difficult for him, because his hands and feet were going numb.
One day soon after the new year, I came back from the morning service at the temple and found him lying unconscious on the floor. He was immediately taken to hospital, but the accident left him with full-body paralysis. I felt really sorry for him and kept wondering how we were going to continue our life, but at the same time, I was really worried about what neighbors thought of me. I was sure they were secretly wondering what I had done to deserve such misfortune and probably thought that my faith couldn’t have any merit if something like that happened to my family, even though I went to the temple to pray every morning. Therefore, I decided I had to overcome that adversity and do everything I could to get Yoshio back on his feet to prove the power of Odaimoku to everyone!
I started visiting the temple every morning to pray for his recovery. I also brought a lot of Okōzui (the sacred water offered to the temple altar and filled with the power of Odaimoku) back to my husband and wiped his whole body with it everyday, chanting, “Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō…” Thanks to the merit of the Odaimoku and Okōzui, he began to recover from paralysis. If you met him now, you wouldn’t realize that he had suffered from such a serious disease. Before that, he did not believe in HBS faith at all, but now that he received such an unbelievable blessing, he goes to the temple to pray and help clean the premises with me every day.
The other story is about me. In spring of 2008 when I was sixty-five years old, my physical condition was gradually getting worse, so I went to consult a doctor. He told me that I should do some tests so I went to hospital for further investigation. They found that I had stage IV ovarian cancer and uterine cancer. The doctor in charge informed me that as cancer already spread to lymph nodes, it could be too late to do anything.
On April 1st, I had surgery. It took over eight hours, and during that time the chief priest and a lot of followers of Butsuryūji temple kept chanting the Odaimoku at the temple, praying for my operation’s success. The surgery itself was concluded without any trouble, but the surgeon told my husband and brother that cancer had already spread all over my body, so it was too late. I was given only a few years to live.
After the operation, I had six-month chemotherapy treatment. The doctor said it would probably cause lots of fallen hair, high fever, and other serious side effects. I was really scared, so I started chanting the Odaimoku for five hours and drinking four litters of Okōzui every day. Again, I realized that the power of the Odaimoku would never let me down. I received an immediate blessing – my hair didn’t fall off, and I didn’t even have nausea or fever. Actually, there were no side effects at all.
Shortly after having left the hospital, I visited the temple and discussed my disease with the chief priest’s wife. “You recovered from such a serious illness and could come to the temple on your own! You received a great Goriyaku (blessing).” She told me, “When your body receives such a blessing, you should repay for it by serving the Buddha and the temple.” Therefore, while receiving anticancer treatment twice a week, I attended the morning service everyday and chanted the Odaimoku full of gratitude and prayed that a lot of other people would be saved with its power just like me.
Three months after the surgery, I had the first post-operative examination and the result was amazing. The cancer that had previously spread not only to the lymph nodes but also to my whole body was gone! The doctor said it was incredible and was very happy for me, but he also said we should check again half a year later to make sure. He couldn’t believe it, but during my next visit, no cancer was found again. It was so unbelievable that the doctor decided to give me a few PET-CT scans, but the result was the same every time.
After receiving this amazing blessing and recovering from terminal cancer, I thought I should have repaid the Buddha by serving at the temple as the wife of the chief priest said, so I volunteered to clean the temple. I started to wake up at four and cleaned the temple altar and compound before and after the morning service everyday.
Thanks to the protection of the Buddha, even today, eight years since becoming ill, there is no cancer recurrence. I am still active and dedicating myself to the temple. As I get old, my body won’t move in the way I want it to, but I will dedicate myself to the temple and Honmon Butsuryū Shū for the rest of my life.
Interviewed and Written by
Ryosetsu Ikemoto
Edited by
Katarzyna Ikemoto
