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| Testimonials | |||||||||
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Journeying with the Divine Light My encounter with Shumei started with a friendship way back in 1997. I was then working with a private voluntary organization based in Quezon City that dealt with social and environmental issues. One of my jobs in this organization was to organize a social exposure program for both Filipinos and non–Filipinos. One of those who participated in this social immersion activity that I coordinated was Neil Fukui, a Japanese gentleman who had just arrived from Tokyo and was looking for ways to integrate himself into the social environment of Metro Manila. The social exposure program fit his personal need to know our Filipino ways of living and the social environment in which he wanted to put down roots. It was also an appropriate opportunity for him to learn both Tagalog and English. I accompanied Neil to a rather congested community in Quezon City where my organization at the time, Green Forum Philippines, was coordinating a program on Solid Waste Management. Here Neil stayed for three days with one of the families I contacted as hosts for the social exposure program. Those three days turned out to be the beginning of a sustained friendship between Neil and the community members. Those important three days were also the starting period of my friendship with Neil and his Japanese companions, and eventually my getting to know about Shumei. Not long after his social exposure, Neil and I started to exchange calls and visits. At that time, Shumei had no Center yet. Neil was staying in the house of Mrs. Ruby Orendain in Quezon City. Ruby, I later learned, was a long–standing member of Shumei. My friendship with Neil developed further when we started tagging along with each other. I brought him to my friends and introduced him to my family. At that time, I was renting a house in a middle–class subdivision in Bulacan. He, in turn, brought me to the homes where he and his Japanese friends were staying in Quezon City. In many instances when we were together, Neil tried his best to explain to me what Shumei is all about. Because he was not yet so eloquent in both English and Tagalog, I just had to content myself with knowing more about the Shumei philosophy, doctrines, and practices through the literature that Neil shared with me. I learned about the three mandates of Shumei: teaching people how to develop their inner beauty through the appreciation of art and beauty, promoting health among people through Natural Agriculture, and promoting the health of people through the purification technique called Jyorei. Jyorei and Me I must confess that I did not yet fully understood what Jyorei really meant, and it was simply because I trusted Neil so much as a friend that I agreed to receive Jyorei from him. I trusted that he, as a friend, would not give me something that would damage me physically or spiritually. The deepest reason, however, why I agreed to receive Jyorei through Neil was that, at that time, I badly needed physical healing. When I met Neil in 1997, I was silently suffering from severe back pains. Earlier on, I had visited a medical doctor and had my back X–rayed. The diagnosis was that I had a mild case of scoliosis. Since I was with NGO workers who were strongly promoting alternative modalities of healing, I underwent a regimen of acupuncture healing. The back pain would stop shortly after the acupuncture sessions. But after some time it would recur. When Neil shared with me his stories about Jyorei and its physical and spiritual effects on the recipient, I gathered all the trusting and humble attitudes that I had and asked Neil to do Jyorei for me. My Jyorei sessions with Neil took place almost on a daily basis. We would have Jyorei sessions in my office, and on many occasions I received Jyorei in public places like McDonald's and Jollibee. Now I can testify that after about one month of such healing sessions, I was completely healed of my severe back pains. Ever since I have been completely free of pain! Jyorei and My Child My friendship with Neil expanded into friendship with the other members of Shumei. Neil and the others also became friends of my wife and children. In 1999, Shumei Philippines inaugurated its first Center, located at Barangay Del Monte in Quezon City. It was in this Center that I participated, for the first time and then regularly, in the Monthly Sampai of the organization. Monthly Sampai is a regular celebration of fellowship. The fellowship is defined by chanting, offering, and sharing from the deep thoughts and golden teachings of Mokichi Okada, now revered as Meishusama (Master of Light). The times that I participated in the Monthly Sampai were always opportunities for me to gain more insights into the mind, heart, and soul inherent in Shumei members. There were times that I brought my wife and children to Shumei gatherings, which included the celebration of Christmas. At Christmas 2000, another blessing came to me through Jyorei. Some weeks before December of 2000, my oldest child, Agnes, was complaining of pains in her right leg. During those days of pain, some marks of blood clots would manifest in her leg. We were told that it was because of a certain vitamin deficiency. We gave the child the prescribed vitamins. But the pain kept returning. Towards the end of that Shumei Christmas celebration in 2000, I asked Tommy, one of Neil's pioneering companions, to give Jyorei to my daughter. Tommy spent some thirty minutes giving my child Jyorei. Afterward, we went home feeling warmhearted because of the Christmas greetings we had exchanged with the other members and friends of Shumei. Early the next morning, Agnes was the first among my children to wake up. She jumped up out of bed, happy to find that her leg pains were gone. Ever since then, Agnes has been free of those leg pains. Jyorei and My Wife Health and healing are continuing needs for everyone. After my problems and then my oldest child's, it was my wife's turn to be a recipient of God's healing energy. In the middle of 2001, my wife, Cynthia, contracted pneumonia while serving as a teacher of an improvised nursery school in a remote coastal barangay in Infanta, Quezon. The disease weakened her so much that she had to be confined in a hospital in Metro Manila. We were on the brink of giving her up to God because apparently her body was already surrendering to the attacks of the disease. That was when I asked Neil, Tommy and the other Shumei friends to visit her at the hospital and appeal for God's healing power. Tommy did Jyorei for my wife for almost two full hours! While he was doing this, I was also fervently praying for God's intervention. Now, with full faith and sincere gratitude, I can affirm that Cynthia recovered that very night. A few days later, the doctors advised us that we could bring her home to complete her recovery. Continuing the Journey with Love and Light It's obvious that Neil and his companions are determined to carve a place for Shumei in our country. After the celebration of the First Anniversary of the Shumei Center in 2000, the first Shumei “board” was formed. Neil, Tommy, and Mrs. Ruby Orendain were at the center of this group. We met once a week at the house of Mrs. Orendain. The meeting was always focused on how to improve the Center and its services, how to inform and educate the members, and how to increase the number of people visiting the Center and getting to know the Shumei spirituality. My modest contribution in this regard was to connect Shumei with the NGOs with whom I was working. First, I was able to introduce Shumei to the network of NGOs that have been celebrating “Earth Day” every April 22 at the Quezon Memorial Park in Quezon City. Since 2000, Shumei has been giving more variety to the activities of Earth Day celebrations with its Shumei chanting, Jyorei, and lectures about Art and Beauty and Natural Agriculture. Then, I introduced Shumei to the Peacemakers' Circle (a group that advocates Peace by “drinking” from the Well of Spiritual Traditions of different Faiths and Persuasions and initiating dialogue with one another). No doubt, the Shumei philosophy and teachings have also enriched this circle of peacemaking persons. At the moment, Cathy Oida, a member of Shumei, serves as Board Member of the Peacemakers' Circle. In May this year, Neil and his wife, Sarah, visited
me in Baguio. My family and I moved to Baguio in 2001 because, by
God's grace, I have been employed there by St. Louis University
as professor of Religious Studies. From May to July this year, Neil
and Sarah have already visited me three times. So far, I have introduced
them to many different sorts of people representing different walks
of life: from mainstream medical doctors to Pranic Healing practitioners
to businessmen and artists to Catholic priests and Muslim Imam.
Where we are leading from here, I have no clear idea at the moment.
What is clear to me now is that my journey with Shumei continues.
And with all the blessings that I have received from God through
our friends from Shumei, I am definitely excited with this continuing
journey. I am ready for more delightful surprises from Meishusama.
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Journeying
with Divine Light