We finally did our Tokyo holidays in 2014 and visited the Hall of Great Vow!
Although it was a very enjoyable trip, the entire
process of planning and execution was not as easy and there were several
obstacles which we had overcome before going too.
Early in 2014, we had planned to go Japan with a
tour agent. However the December holidays travel advertisements would
only be out in May for us to book the holidays. When they were finally
published, we immediately went to check out
a few reputable tour agents. Unfortunately, the outcome was
disappointing as most of them were either pricey or inflexible in their
offers. Ruling the tour package out eventually, It left us to decide if
we would still want to continue with our Japan trip
ourselves. After a good discussion, Shin Yang and myself decided we
should go ahead and bring the family to Japan (especially Papa and Mama)
and visit the Hall of Great Vow. Once we had made that decision, I
started to source for our flight and hotel and
settled down with ANA and Keio Plaza Tokyo.
After these confirmation, we were hit with several challenges in the next few months before our trip.
First, Xuan contacted these hives or rash all over
her body which refused to go away for months, both Eastern and Western
medicine could not help her recover and the hives kept returning. The
only way to relieve Xuan from the itch was
the Western pills which would subside the rash a while before it
returned. When chanting, I was praying that that this misery must
leave Xuan before our holidays. I could not remember how long this
stubborn situation lasted, but Xuan actually recovered
before our trip!
Then came Shin Yang’s problem where she was having
some abnormal and prolonged bleeding. After visiting the genealogy, the
scan revealed that there were cysts discovered in her. Luckily, the
bleeding stopped shortly but she was asked
to return for another check up after a couple of months. With much
determination to win over this illness, she was also cleared from the
cysts during the next consultation, they were no longer found anywhere!
Papa was next in the queue, where he had been
complaining about his consistent dryness in his throat for several
months. Despite visiting several doctors, his situation did not
improve. In September, the polyclinic referred him to the
‘mouth, nose and throat’ specialist in Tan Tock Seng Hospital for a
through checkup. Two specialists attended to him and after the
examination, they decided to retrieve some tissues from his throat for a
biopsy. Whenever a biopsy was recommended, the situation
would not look pretty. The result would only come out in a month time
but Papa and the family anxiety and nervousness were raising day by
day. I believed many of us have chanted for Papa wellness and good
outcome and I had also applied leave to accompany
him to ‘face the music’. During consultation on that particular day in
October, the doctor told Papa that his tissues were perfectly fine and
encouraged him to reduce smoking as a preventive measure. Another
wonderful victory!
The final ‘episode’ was myself. Shortly after
Papa’s incident, I was down with a high fever and was later diagnosed to
have blood in my urine. On a Sunday
evening, our family doctor advised that in worst case scenario, there
could be
some stones in my kidney which caused the inflammation and fever, if
the inflammation entered into my blood, then it could be fatal. To rule
out the worst case, he urged me to visit the A&E at the hospital
immediately and wrote me a reference memo. At the
same time he prescribed some anti-biotic and asked me to take them if I
had chosen not to visit the hospital. I made the decision to take the
anti-biotic first and observed my situation. I was also determined and
focused on my prayers to get well with this
medicine. The medicine did work for me! And in a week’s time, I was
fully recovered.
In his Gosho, Nichiren always mentioned that if we
were advancing in our faith, the three devil and four obstacles will
definitely emerged and tried to stop us. Our role was to continue in
our faith, identify these obstacles, challenge
and overcome them bravely. I was pleased that we were able to overcome
these challenges before our trip and they had indeed made us stronger
to front any future hurdles in life.
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