by Beverly Berman
Westlake Village, Calif.
All my life I’ve struggled with fear and sometimes terror, rooted in the many frightening and negative things that happened to me in childhood. This in turn caused me to doubt myself and my prayers. No matter how many breakthroughs I had in faith, I couldn’t shake this nagging fear that, next time, my prayers would go unanswered. But by the spring of 2023, at 53 years of Buddhist practice, I really believed I’d changed that for good. Little did I know, I hadn’t yet gotten to the root of this suffering. I was about to, though, and in the most unexpected way. Together with thousands of Americans, I was about to get swept up in a massive, sophisticated crime the likes of which I could have never imagined falling victim to.
It began in the winter of 2022, when I received a letter from my medical company informing me they’d been hacked, likely exposing the social security and phone numbers, names and addresses of a million patients. For our protection, the company offered a free subscription to a well-known security company. I signed up right away, grateful that I could rest easy—that I was protected.
A representative of the security company called in spring. All my credit cards had been compromised, she said, and my bank accounts, too. She told me to take a cashier’s check to another bank for safekeeping. She told me to send her my credit cards, and she would supply me with new ones. Overwhelmed with fear, I took leave of my senses. I did everything she said without pause. Within days, I began to break down from stress and shared what was happening with a few close friends, who were the first to voice suspicion. I ran to the Gohonzon and chanted fiercely, confused and scared. Fortunately, this charade came to an end on May 5 when the woman tried to get me to take another check to a different bank and the bank immediately recognized it as fraud. It was then that the woman who I’d been talking to admitted that she was a scammer and threatened to take everything I owned if I did not cooperate.
Needless to say, I was in shock. I felt like I’d been under hypnosis for a week.
I called a good friend and fellow district member, who is a retired police officer. She instantly took on the role of a great protective force in my life. She had me call the Sheriff’s department and file a report.
I went to the bank that deposited the fraudulent check and reported the scam and was told the check was on hold for investigation, that I’d get my money back and that I’d hear from them soon. However, they never called, and I had to go in a second and third time to confirm the issue was being investigated. On the third visit, the same manager who’d assured me that I would get the money back said the account was closed and denied having said I’d get my funds. More stress, doubt and fear for me. I chanted intensely for hours and hours.
The next five months were very difficult and included making what seemed like hundreds of repeated phone calls to creditors to explain and straighten out my credit accounts. For the first two months, I could barely eat, sleep or even drive, waking every night with my heart pounding.
Feeling as though the world were crashing in, I asked one of my women’s leaders how something like this could happen to me. “Why not you?” she asked, and went on to encourage me to view this as my mission to show actual proof of changing poison into medicine. I chanted every moment I had while visiting, greeting and driving members—supporting the SGI in every way I could. One evening when I was really feeling low, I just happened to turn the channel to a piece from “60 Minutes.” It was covering the very scam I’d been a victim of, one that was becoming increasingly frequent, affecting all ages and socioeconomic groups. The piece was pivotal for me—I realized it was my mission to change this situation to give others hope.
In October 2023, my friend and I went to the Ventura County FBI field office to refile a full report. From there, I retained two attorneys specializing in the representation of defrauded seniors. It was just about this time that I really felt my life state elevate. I started to feel happy and light, the fear melting away. I went on vacation to see some good friends and had a wonderful time. What amazed me was that there was still no resolution to my problem, but I felt so happy because I’d been fighting through my fear with prayer.
In November 2023, I received a call from an agent at an FBI field office saying that they had seized the fraudulent account my money was in. Unlike most scam accounts, mine had never been closed and all the money was still there. Soon after, I received a kind letter from the FBI, thanking me for my patience and saying that they would keep me informed of the progress of my claim. The money was refunded—every penny—this January.
Ikeda Sensei says: “When we awaken to our mission as Bodhisattvas of the Earth, incredible strength wells forth from within; all obstacles we encounter become obstacles we have voluntarily chosen to take on so that we can help lead others to enlightenment. And by overcoming those obstacles, we fulfill our bodhisattva vow to help others become happy. Obstacles exist so that we can achieve our mission.
“Nichiren teaches us to fundamentally transform our attitude toward adversity—from a self-pitying, Why me? to a proud and confident, Yes, me!” (December 2016 Living Buddhism, p. 40).
Looking back over the last 20 months, I can say that this describes precisely the transformation I was able to undergo.
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