Calling Forth Spring

My mother was visiting me in California, when on Jan. 1 we made the joint determination to chant two hours a day until we reached 1 million daimoku—for me to deliver a healthy baby in June and for both of us to change the areas of our lives where we felt most stuck.

A day later, I received notice by mail that I had to set up a follow-up doctor’s visit, because they found abnormalities in my first trimester screening. My husband and I chanted through the weekend.

A genetics specialist told me on Monday that preliminary tests showed that I had a one in 10 chance of having a baby with Down Syndrome. The hospital scheduled an amniocentisis the following week. While the test carried its own risks, it would tell us with 99 percent certainty the health of our child.

I received guidance from Linda, our SGI-USA Women’s Leader, and she told me that this was precisely the moment for me to put my faith on the line—that I had to decide that the baby would be 100 percent healthy for kosen-rufu. If Nichiren Daishonin says you can change any karma, she asked me, why can’t you change karma in the womb?

While there is no formula for the amount one should chant, I asked Linda how many hours of chanting each day constituted putting my faith on the line. She encouraged me to chant the amount of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo each day that enabled me to be stronger than my fear. She encouraged me to chant the amount of daimoku that allowed me to maintain that state of life every single day.

My husband and I wrote a determination to our mentor, SGI President Ikeda, the same day, promising him that we would not allow the baby to lose its first battle as a disciple.

We each started chanting two hours a day and reading Sensei’s lecture series from the January-February Living Buddhism, “Winter Always Turns to Spring” out loud each night to the baby.

The more I chanted, the deeper appreciation I had for this obstacle. The baby was trying to make my husband and me stand up and fight. I realized that I was waiting for the doctor to tell me whether my baby was healthy or not, but that was not the point. I had to make the baby healthy through the power of my prayer; I had the power to determine when winter turned to spring.

I started chanting that we receive positive news by Jan. 23, the day of our district discussion meeting, so I could share my victory as encouragement toward February Women’s Month. On Jan. 22, we received news that the baby is 100 percent healthy and a girl!

I will not relax my prayer or determination. Even more so, I am determined that each beautiful Bodhisattva in our district sees the power of prayer through reaching one goal on her “bucket list” by our February district discussion meeting. The following encouragement from President Ikeda has become my rallying cry toward that end:

Victory is not easily won. If it is, it will not be a source of pride. What gratification, for instance, could a sumo wrestler derive from defeating a child? Only when one fights and wins over dire circumstances will one’s victory shine brilliantly in history (To My Dear American Friends, p. 13).

Thank you!

Name: Monica Soto Ouchi
Length of Practice: 35 years
Region/District: L.A. Beach Cities/Rolling Hills