‘Rejoice When You Encounter Hardships’

What is the poison? It is the three paths of earthly desires, karma, and suffering that are our lot. What is the medicine? It is the Dharma body, wisdom, and emancipation. And what does it mean to change poison into medicine? It means to transform the three paths into the three virtues.^[3]

Here, poison refers to the three paths:

• “earthly desires,” fueled by the deluded impulses of greed, anger and foolishness;
• “karma,” negative actions driven by desires; and
• “suffering,” arising from earthly desires and karma.

They are known as “paths” because one leads to another. When earthly desires, or deluded impulses, motivate our actions, those actions become negative karma that brings about suffering. Suffering leads to further deluded impulses, which give rise to actions that create negative karma and lead to further suffering. This negative cycle gives rise to lives shackled in misery, despite our best efforts to improve. 

Unlike other Buddhist teachings that emphasize eliminating desires or suffering, Nichiren Daishonin teaches that, by chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, we transform the poison of our desires into the positive benefit of the three virtues: the “Dharma body,” “wisdom” and “emancipation,” which indicate ultimate truth, pure wisdom and a life state of infinite inner freedom, unencumbered by the sufferings of birth and death. 

In other words, we can reveal our Buddhahood not by escaping our current reality but by viewing it as part of our unique mission for kosen-rufu and challenging it head on.

Ikeda Sensei explains:

To simply view your sufferings as “karma” is backward-looking. We should have the attitude: “These are sufferings I took on for the sake of my mission. I vowed to overcome these problems through faith.”

When we understand this principle of “deliberately creating the appropriate karma,” our frame of mind is transformed; what we had previously viewed as destiny, we come to see as mission. There is absolutely no way we cannot overcome sufferings that are the result of a vow that we ourselves made.^[4]

Hardships are inevitable. But by activating our inherent Buddha nature, we can resolve any and all obstacles. We can view difficulties as opportunities to tap the inner reserves of hope, courage, compassion and wisdom that lay dormant within. 

How Do We Transform Poison Into Medicine?

In the context of our daily lives, the process of changing poison into medicine begins with prayer—by placing our vow for kosen-rufu at the center of our lives and by resolving not to be defeated. Sensei writes the following about putting all our energy into the present moment in this way:

Faith in the Mystic Law is a source of infinite hope. No matter how adverse your present circumstances may be, even if it seems you have been defeated, it’s important that you stand up with strong resolve to turn your situation around and demonstrate the limitless transformative potential of the Mystic Law.

Only with all-out effort, with the determination to create something from nothing, can we understand genuine faith. The intense, arduous struggle of creating value—turning loss into benefit, evil into good, baseness into beauty—is the Soka Gakkai spirit and the essence of our practice of Nichiren Buddhism.^[5]

Sensei explains that to change poison into medicine is “to create something from nothing,” thereby demonstrating the power of our own lives. In the process, as Nichiren writes, “Poison turns into sweet dew [amrita], the finest of all flavors.”^[6]

What’s more, we can amplify our conviction in faith by reading the Daishonin’s writings and Sensei’s guidance and striving to put them into practice. The training ground for our efforts is our SGI activities, where we can deepen our hearts and polish our humanity.

Second Soka Gakkai President Josei Toda went so far as to say:

Rejoice when you encounter hardships. This is the time to demonstrate the power of faith. It’s an opportunity to change your karma. Buddhism teaches the infallible Law of “changing poison into medicine.” You can regain any losses tenfold or a hundredfold in the form of great benefit.^[7]

Such faith makes it possible for us to turn even the most intractable problems into opportunities to realize a limitless state of life. 

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‘I Am Fully Endowed’

Abhijeet Jhaveri / Jersey City, New Jersey

Living Buddhism: Thank you, Abhijeet, for talking to us about your experience of transforming poison into medicine. Your story begins with a work struggle. Can you tell us about that?

Abhijeet Jhaveri: In 2019, nine years into my Buddhist practice, I found myself unhappy at work. I had been with the same firm for over 16 years and had experienced many challenging and fulfilling opportunities, but I felt discontent. As the firm had grown over time, I felt ill-equipped to manage expectations, and I found myself becoming contentious and defensive when colleagues shared critical feedback about my work. I felt stuck and resentful. I also noticed others experiencing similar discontent.

What happened?

Abhijeet: I sought guidance from a senior in faith. They told me to win where I was and become the protagonist of my story. I was encouraged to chant to see the Buddha nature in everyone around me and to chant for their happiness and success. 

Is this the guidance you expected?

Abhijeet: Not quite! Because I felt like a victim, I thought I would be encouraged to speak up and stand up for justice. However, I was encouraged to win where I was, which for me meant to take full responsibility for the situation. As I chanted to see the Buddha nature in others, it occurred to me that I had to see my own. This had been a lifelong challenge for me and my greatest fundamental ignorance. I had always struggled with believing in myself.

Ikeda Sensei says this in volume 2 of The New Human Revolution: 

Our true worth is determined by how we proceed with our lives in the most painful of times. Moreover, the presence of people filled with courage and hope will cheer and hearten everyone around them. As Soka Gakkai members, all of you have a mission to encourage and inspire hope and confidence in your families and fellow members, as well as in your friends and local communities.

Please use everything in your lives as a springboard for deepening your faith, brilliantly transforming the negative into something of positive value and benefit. I also hope you will show splendid actual proof of victory through faith. (NHR-2, revised edition, pp. 141–42)

I chanted to make my colleagues allies for kosen-rufu and to become a person of courage and hope who could unite everyone. 

In hindsight, I felt helpless to transform the situation, which was why I felt miserable. But as I chanted to bring forth my own Buddhahood, I felt a surge of confidence within me and the conviction that I could win where I was. Chanting for my colleagues softened the hard exterior shell I had put up, and I started listening to others more. Revealing my Buddha nature quieted the tendency to feel contentious or be defensive when things didn’t sit well with me. As they saw me change, many at work noticed this shift and sought from me how they too could contend with their challenges. 

That’s incredible. What did you learn in the process?

Abhijeet: I think it was easy to feel like my environment was causing me to be unhappy. But as I look back on that time, I must have not been a pleasant person to be around. The guidance was exactly what I needed to become the protagonist of my situation and believe that I could transform it. 

What happened next?

Abhijeet: At a company leadership retreat, a colleague stood up and announced how his department and mine had the strongest partnership and credited my team for our joint success. I was blown away. 

Then, as I continued to chant, I was asked to join my company’s COVID-19 task force in 2020, which was created to ensure that all of the employees were safe. I worked 12-to-14-hour days and used my spare time to support SGI members by Zoom, studying guidance from Sensei together during that challenging time. As we turned the corner from the initial bleak days of the pandemic, I was informed that I was being awarded a special bonus for my selfless contribution. I received a hefty bonus at a time when many were taking pay cuts. They said they were impressed by how I selflessly cared for others—something that my leadership in the SGI has trained me to do. That year, I made my largest May Commemorative Contribution to date, with deep gratitude.

It had become clear how much I had transformed my situation. I went from being discontent at my job, to committing myself to changing, to becoming a contributor at my workplace. 

Something happened around that time that really shook you up. Can you tell us about that?

Abhijeet: Yes, my older brother passed away suddenly due to cardiac arrest. I was overcome with unimaginable grief. My brother lived with my aging parents in India, with his wife and daughter. He also worked with my father, who was semiretired. I doubted that I had the capacity to step up and support them, while being destroyed with grief from my brother’s passing. There was much to do to get my brother’s affairs in order and to assure their collective future. That’s when I sought guidance again.

The leader shared his own experience and encouraged me to become the pillar in my family, my community, in society and in my workplace. It propelled me to think beyond my grief. Unexpected tragedies like this can tear families apart, but because I practice Buddhism, I could bring my family together. I was able to conquer my self-doubt and decided: I’m going to step up and support my family as a pillar with Sensei’s example in my heart. 

My wife and I chanted abundant daimoku, and I stayed in India for several months to organize the family’s affairs, such that my sister-in-law and parents felt secure about their future. I did activities with my niece, making tie-dyed T-shirts, listening to her favorite music and more. 

Somehow this got back to your workplace. 

Abhijeet: One day, a colleague called and said that he was blown away by a heartfelt social post by my sister-in-law about how I had been a rock for the family while contending with my own grief. 

Shortly after, I was asked to take on a new role as executive vice president for the firm.

This April, I was appointed as president of my company. I felt I had transformed the poison of disunity and discord into the medicine of unity and growth. 

Wow! What an incredible transformation. For you, what does it mean to transform poison into medicine?

Abhijeet: When I see a problem or encounter a difficulty—what I perceive as an insurmountable obstacle—I now have the confidence that I’m fully endowed to not only overcome whatever I’m dealing with but to grow and help others along the way. I can transform everything into medicine by using my experiences to encourage others. I have internalized the concept that any challenge can be transformed into something used for good. 

What would you say to those who are in the middle of a challenge?

Abhijeet: I would say that this is an opportunity even if it may not appear so. It’s an opportunity to transform something into much greater good than the struggle you are dealing with. To do that, I would say chant and win where you are and live by Sensei’s guidance. 

Thank you for sharing, Abhijeet. What are your determinations or goals for the future?

Abhijeet: At the men’s division conference at the Florida Nature and Culture Center, I made a vow—to support one youth to receive the Gohonzon this year and uphold our new motto “Creating a District With Many Youth Is Up to Me!” 

I will undoubtedly have new obstacles in the future, and from time to time, my lack of belief in myself will resurface. However, with the spirit of the oneness of mentor and disciple, I have supreme confidence that I will overcome everything and win.

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‘Finding Deeper Meaning to Life’

Arisa Miller Mullins  / West Des Moines, Iowa 

Living Buddhism:Thank you, Arisa, for sharing your story with us. You’ve dealt with health challenges for the better part of your life. Can you tell us about that?

Arisa Miller Mullins: In this lifetime, I believe that I chose health karma to prove the validity of the Lotus Sutra. As a child, I battled chronic bronchitis, which developed into asthma, as well as chronic allergies to the environment, which exacerbated my asthma. While these conditions kept me physically frail, I grew up practicing Buddhism and doing SGI activities. I learned from a young age that through Buddhist practice we can use human afflictions as fuel for growth and happiness. Knowing this from a young age was truly a benefit as I could face my illnesses with a fighting spirit. 

You mentioned having multiple illnesses; what other health challenges did you have?

Arisa: In my 20s, I started experiencing extreme pain in my sacroiliac (SI) joint, which affected movement in my legs as well as other joints. At the same time, I got a rare eye condition called uveitis, a form of eye inflammation that can lead to vision loss. I almost lost my eyesight, but with fierce daimoku, it was restored without surgery. 

I dealt with both SI joint pain and uveitis for 12 years before I was finally diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease called ankylosing spondylitis. 

What did it look like to live undiagnosed with it for 12 years? 

Arisa: I was a nurse, but I remember many days when I had a bad flare up, and my friends would have to wheel me out of work at the end of the day. Then I would go home and try to lie down for a while. As a single parent, I had to work, so it was out of the question for me to stop. Once I got a proper diagnosis, the painful episodes diminished over time. 

It was tough, but these illnesses helped me develop my determination and tenacity to continue to chant no matter what. I also believe that it made me a better nurse. Often when a really challenging patient came into the ER, the other nurses would send them to me, because they said I knew how to have compassion toward those patients who were going through a lot. 

I also learned as a youth that the way to conquer these illnesses was to share Buddhism. So that’s what I did. Whenever I was faced with illness, my formula was: chant, study and share Buddhism with others. I always felt protected and never felt that these illnesses were hindrances. 

What happened as a result?

Arisa: I got diagnosed with another autoimmune disease at the end of 2022, psoriatic arthritis. The only thing that was discouraging about this diagnosis was that I had two sons getting married in the fall of 2023, and I didn’t want my skin to have eruptions. However, I continued to chant, study and take part in SGI activities with joy and appreciation, confident that this illness would not interfere with my sons’ weddings. 

I picked up Toward a Century of Health, in which Ikeda Sensei says:

[Second Soka Gakkai President Josei] Toda said, when we are ill, we are playing the role of “Bodhisattva Sickness”—assuming the form of a person struggling with illness to fulfill our mission as a Bodhisattvas of the Earth.

Upholding the Mystic Law, which has the power to change poison into medicine, we have nothing to fear from illness. (p. 29)

After reading this, I was even more determined to change the poison of my health karma into medicine. I again found the right doctor, treatment regimen and medication, and my skin healed before the weddings. I felt totally triumphant! But the hardest challenge was yet to come. 

Please tell us about that. 

Arisa: In the spring of last year, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I know many of my Soka sisters and brothers have battled cancer and won. But for me, this felt like the gravest health challenge so far. In my mind, all my other illnesses were not life-and-death struggles, but this was. The “C” word just took my breath away. 

Initially, I had gratitude that my cancer was found early, and I felt determined to conquer it like I had every other health challenge by chanting and striving for others with a fighting spirit. But as the treatment progressed with surgery, there was talk about radiation, chemo and a second surgery. 

I began to spiral. Defeat and self-loathing creeped into my mind. I thought, How can I find joy and appreciation now? I felt ashamed that my gratitude was gone and that my health karma was beating me down. 

How did you pick yourself up?

Arisa: My Soka family—the SGI community united and encouraged me not to give in. I sought guidance from a senior in faith who reminded me of what I thought I already knew—that I was capable of transforming my suffering into joy, and to chant for the right doctors, the right treatment, the right medication and, no matter what, to never stop chanting. 

How did I forget this? She reminded me that I already knew how to fight this, that this diagnosis was not any different from what I had battled thus far. I renewed my vow to win without fail. Now I had a plan. 

Can you explain what it meant to renew your vow?

Arisa: I read and reread The Immeasurable Power of Prayer from Sensei.  I chanted, then I read from Sensei, then chanted some more, then read it again, then chanted some more. As I continued that process, Sensei’s words began to really penetrate my life. I started to understand what Sensei was trying to say to me. I had let the devilish functions use my illness to cause me great sorrow and despair. As long as I dedicated my life, whatever time I have left on this Earth, to upholding my vow to Sensei to become happy and help others become happy as well, I would have no regrets. I had to face my fear of death head on. 

As I chanted, I felt hope in my heart. I started to believe in myself again and decided that the cancer would not bring me down, no matter what the prognosis. 

When I started feeling hope well up inside me, I knew that while the battle was just starting, I had already won regardless of the outcome. 

What happened next? 

Arisa: I had a second surgery to remove more cancer tissue and some lymph nodes. It was determined after the second surgery that I didn’t need chemotherapy. I needed only radiation therapy and they recommended just half the course. My only side effect was sunburned-looking skin and a little nausea. I couldn’t take my autoimmune disease medications during the surgery and treatment. I was worried they would resurface, but my daimoku abated all of these diseases and let me concentrate on the cancer at hand. I’m still cancer-free today. 

Wow, incredible! What did transforming poison into medicine ultimately look like for you in this situation?

Arisa: This journey has strengthened my faith and gratitude enormously. My husband and I also united more than ever, and he’s been more consistent in his Buddhist practice. 

I have found deeper meaning in life. I have unshakable conviction in the power of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. I found joy amid hell and realized on a deeper level the power of my life. Now I know without a shadow of a doubt, with faith and prayer to the Gohonzon, that there is nothing I can’t do, there is nothing I should fear. 

I truly feel that I don’t fear even death. No matter how much time I have left, I will fight until the end for my own and other’s happiness. That’s how I will fulfill my vow. 

From the July 2025 Living Buddhism