Kazue Elliot came to America in 1958 with $25 in her pocket and an incurable illness. Her challenges in those early years are too numerous to count. So when Mrs. Elliot retired four decades later—in 1999—having surmounted tremendous difficulties, she made a firm determination to give to the annual S G I - U S A May Commemorative Contribution activity in a way she had never done before. “Without the Gohonzon, without the SGI and SGI President Ikeda,” she says, “I could not be here today. So with that appreciation, I wanted to give from my heart.”
Almsgiving is considered the first of the six paramitas, or practices, required of bodhisattvas to attain enlightenment. For longtime Buddhist practitioners such as Mrs. Elliot, the essence of contribution is not the amount, but the spirit to live with a heart of appreciation. “When you can bring out your appreciation,” she says, “your happiness gets deeper and deeper. But without appreciation, your world gets so small.”
The May Commemorative Contribution activity is a means, she says, to learn how to expand one’s heart. One year, for instance, Mrs. Elliot found it hard to meet her contribution goal. When she chanted Nam-myoho-renge-kyo about it, she realized that she had to fight against her own tendency to lose her sense of appreciation, even after years of Buddhist practice. “President Ikeda teaches us that every day is a battle between the negative functions in our heart and our Buddhahood,” she says. When we make a determination to change our lives, our negativity is bound to come up, trying to close off our heart, she explains. When she felt her heart close, she urged herself to think about others. When she shifted her focus to supporting others, she broke through her impasse and accomplished her goal. Mrs. Elliot came to the United States in 1958. Two years later, she was present when President Ikeda made his first visit to Los Angeles. She saw how he took great care to encourage the Japanese members living there. “He knew we were so poor,” says Mrs. Elliot, “but he encouraged us to learn English, get a driver’s license and become good American citizens.”
Those words gave her hope that she could build a meaningful life in the states, so she wholeheartedly followed his guidance. “When I think about how little I had when I arrived and how I was able to work for kosen-rufu in America for all these years,” she says, “I have so much appreciation for the Gohonzon and President Ikeda. Life is so different now.” For nearly 50 years, Mrs. Elliot has lived a fulfilling life in this country—an accomplishment she attributes to her Buddhist practice, her involvement in the SGI and learning from her mentor, President Ikeda. This deep sense of gratitude is what characterizes Mrs. Elliot’s approach to life. “Without appreciation, I cannot live,” she says. “And for as long as I am alive, I want to keep showing my appreciation and keep contributing to the SGI.”
