by Masuo Nezu

Beads of Perspiration

In 1983, on a trip to Chicago, Rev. Niwano was asked by Rissho Kosei-kai local leaders to give a lecture on Buddhism. It was delivered in a hotel ballroom, which was full of people interested in Buddhism as such, as well as of members of Rissho Kosei-kai and other Buddhist groups. Among the members were many who had flown for hours to reach Chicago and meet their revered teacher.

After the lecture, members formed a long line to talk personally with Rev. Niwano. They wanted him to know they had become happier by receiving guidance on the Lotus Sutra and to hear from him directly even a word or two. Listening attentively to them, Founder Niwano gave each person warm encouragement and guidance. Though the large hall was well air-conditioned, beads of perspiration could be seen on the back of his neck.

Medical Treatment on the Plane

In 1991, when the fourth assembly of the Asian Conference on Religion and Peace (ACRP IV) was held in Nepal, where Shakyamuni Buddha was born, Rev. Niwano flew first from Japan's New Tokyo International Airport at Narita to Bangkok. When he was waiting to change planes to fly on to Katmandu, many local members were present in the airport lobby. While the luggage was being transferred, he spoke enthusiastically to those members, as they seldom had any such opportunity to meet with the founder.

In October 1991, Founder Nikkyo Niwano gives guidance to local members from the Bangkok liaison office of Rissho Kosei-kai at the Thai capital's Don Muang International Airport.

The week-long visit in Katmandu was filled with the conference program, private meetings with the king (who was an ardent Buddhist), and with the prime minister, interviews by the mass media, and other activities. The visit took place from late October into early November, so the weather in Japan may well have been that of a cool autumn, but in Katmandu it was scorching hot every day. Rev. Niwano was to be 85 years old in about a week, but he stuck vigorously to such a hard schedule, even while suffering from the stomach trouble common to travelers in that part of the world.

After his stay in Katmandu, when Rev. Niwano was on the way back to Japan, at the Katmandu airport, just as in Bangkok, many local members of Rissho Kosei-kai and Japanese members who had attended the assembly came up to him one after another. Nevertheless, he smiled and tried to talk with all of them, even if only saying a word or two. In the plane his personal physician, who was accompanying him from Japan, quietly gave him some medication that greatly helped his condition. It happened that the secretary general of the Japanese Committee of the World Conference on Religion and Peace, a Shinto priest, was sitting in a nearby seat, saw this, and was surprised, as he had no idea that Rev. Niwano was feeling unwell. He apologized to Founder Niwano for the hard schedule, and at the same time admired him for his untiring enthusiasm and devotion.

This series of articles was originally published in Japanese in 2000 under the title Kaiso Zuimonki: Egao no Ushirosugata.