Good morning, and it’s been a week. This is Yukihiro Shima of Oubaitori.com.
On Saturday, October 31, I broadcast YouTube Live #164. I had two stories to share: what is happening with my new venture, AIyo, and a phone call from a member in Okinawa that filled me with joy.
AI Has Become Someone You Can Talk To
AI has entered our society quietly, without most of us noticing. Before I knew it, I was facing AI every single day. It does for me what I cannot do myself, and it has become essential to my work.
And it is no longer just a tool. It is something I can have a conversation with. I don’t type. I speak, and I give instructions by voice. When I say, “This is what I’d like to do,” it answers, “Do you mean this?”
Only two things really matter. Can I put into words what I want to do? And can I notice? If I can, AI takes it in and gives it shape. That very morning, I replaced a banner on our website just by speaking.
Starting From Zero Yen
AIyo’s “Ume” course starts at zero yen. You connect a free AI to a free calendar and Google Drive. As you put in notes, journal entries, work and personal matters, your data grows every day. Then your phone begins to tell you, “You were going to call this person today.”
An app is convenient, but it stops there. With free AI and free tools, you can ask, “I’m struggling with this. Could I use it this way?” That question is what lets you step up to the next stage. AIyo is not a finished app. It is a school, where you find what you want to do and build your small dreams one at a time.
A Voice of Great Joy From Okinawa
The second story is about a member in Okinawa whom I have known for years. Seven or eight years ago, this member purchased a butsudan from us, and the member’s mother did too. We talked about faith for hours.
Then came COVID, and we lost touch for a while. This spring, a LINE message arrived: “Mr. Shima, I’ve received so many benefits.” As a result, the family was building a new home, and they wanted a new butsudan from us.
When I said their current butsudan could still be used, the answer came back: “No, I see this as the right timing, a chance.” After seeing Kokū Zushi on our website and YouTube, the couple was moved: “This is a butsudan that makes you want to chant daimoku.” They chose it.
I don’t usually bring this up, but I also told them about remounting the Gohonzon. So many people who have done it are deeply moved and chant with fresh determination. “Then, by all means,” they said. A pure family with a seeking spirit, they told me a great transformation began within the family.
The butsudan arrived on Thursday evening. They had been waiting with excitement since the day they decided, and their daimoku was already soaring. When the husband came home and set it up, he said, “Amazing. Perfect. Beyond what I imagined.” Even the color of the walls in the new home matched what they had pictured.
The next day I called, because a LINE message cannot carry feelings the way a voice can. I may never have received such an expression of joy in my life. A remounted Gohonzon, enshrined in Kokū Zushi, with a family chanting joyfully every day. To me, there is nothing stronger.
Even When the Storm Comes
Left alone, deep emotion fades into the past. But our faith is different. This family made this fresh start in 2026, and now we approach November 18.
Karma will still come, even when we live in joy. Okinawa was hit by a severe storm this year. Outside, there may be a storm. But inside a sturdy home, a family burning with faith, shoulder to shoulder, lives in a completely different world. Wait together for the storm to pass, step outside, or prepare for the next one: everything is decided by the single-minded resolve of one’s own faith.
A friend’s joy is my joy. As a fellow member and as a specialist in Soka Gakkai butsudan, I want to chant to the fullest myself and face each person, one by one.
Nothing Is Wasted in Faith
My book in progress, Human × Daimoku × AI = LB³ (Limit Break), is now in its final stretch. Six months have passed since I published Let’s Daimoku! on Kindle in May. My morning daimoku reached its 1,207th session that day, and in the meantime I have chanted more than 12 million daimoku and launched a new business, with AI. The final chapter will be this story from Okinawa, and the launch of that new venture.
Nothing is wasted in faith. Many things don’t go well. Perhaps most things don’t. But if we give up after one or two failures, the bridge to the next stage is never built. Lift the lid a little, keep going, and the bridge appears. That is what it means to chant daimoku, transform karma, and carry out human revolution.
Let’s Daimoku. First of all, daimoku. It is your right. Decide for yourself and keep going, a little every day. Most important is to grasp experience with your own life and show actual proof in reality. When you show actual proof, it becomes certain, for yourself and for others.
Today’s Question
What did you give up on after one or two tries? Where will you build your bridge?
Bloom your own way, at your very best.
Oubaitori.com — Japan’s specialist in Soka Gakkai Buddhist altars
📱 Talk directly with us (LINE)
Comments