CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER ONE

THE GREATEST CHANGE IN MY LIFE
I should really start with my first communication with “the other side.” It was sometime in 1998, and I was doing my morning prayers. My partner was asleep at the time, but I did tell him what happened. His grandmother, who had died 2 years before, came to me to ask me to do something for her.

This was my first telepathic communication. What she asked me to do would have required a lot of money to do, but she said that someday I will have more money than I know with what to do. I am still waiting; when the money does come the very first expense will be to fulfill her request of me. When my partner awoke and I told him that his grandmother spoke to me, he was angry because she communicated with me and not with him. He believed that she spoke to me. That first communication opened a new world to me - the world on “the other side.” Thereafter, all I had to do was to think of someone and I was communicating with that person. I remember that for those first few weeks I was spending more time talking to “the dead” than to the living. It was as if the wall dividing both dimensions did not exist anymore for me. This one incident changed the course of my life, and once again, I knew it was a signpost.

Now, we all have “spirit guides.” Unfortunately, most of us cannot communicate with them, but that does not mean that they are not with us all the time. I have discovered that instinct is the way they communicate with those who are unable to telepathically do this. If you “feel” something is right to do, then do it, for that feeling is given to you by your spirit guides. It is when we agonize before we make a decision than the result is usually unsuccessful.

My very first guide was my dad, who had died in 1966. When I told a close friend of mine about this, a woman who is psychic and a medium, she said that my father must love me very much to want to be my guide. I remember crying when she said this, for all those years of hatred for him disappeared and the love I felt for him I will never forget.

I remember once tutoring a young woman who was preparing to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language, for she wanted to get her Masters Degree from an American university. As she was doing the part of the test which requires reading a passage and selecting an answer from multiple choice, my dad told me how many she would get wrong, so I graded the testeven before she finished it. When I gave her the total score she asked me how I did that since she had just finished the test. I did not explain that the answer was given to me by my spirit guide.

My dad was my guide for a very short period of time, for he said that another will come very soon and will be the only guide I will ever have until the day I pass on to “the other side.” My guide is the Creator of this Universe, commonly referred to as “God.” Of course, this was difficult for me to accept for what made Blake Cooper so special that he became one whose guide is God? A few days after the initial conversation with Him/Her, I received a telephone call from my friend, the medium, who told me that my guide had given her special prayers for me to say every morning. Of course, she believed in the identity of my guide. I wanted those prayers as soon as possible, so I got into a taxi and went to her office, which I had never been to before. Fortunately, the taxi driver found the building almost immediately, a great accomplishment for my ability to converse in Thai at that time was not good. My friend had typewritten the prayers and handed the paper to me. To this day I still have that original paper with the prayers,and of course, now I know then “by heart.”

For the information of the reader, I will state them now:

I happily, I lovingly, I wisely, I safely, I securely, I serenely and I successfully raise my life condition, raise my standard of living, raise and improve my living conditions, raise and improve my life-style, raise and improve my physical, raise and improve my etheric, raise and improve my mental, raise and improve my spiritual, raise and improve my astral, raise and improve my psychic, raise and improve my silver, raise and improve my golden, raise and improve my platinum, raise and improve my crystalline, raise and improve my material, raise and improve my financial and raise and improve my monetary condition to the level that is best for me.

I shine my Buddha nature brighter and brighter so that I resonate to the Buddha nature of all my loved ones, all who touch my aura, all the universe, and the Gohonzon.

I have a long, strong, smooth-flowing life force and I have robust, loving, joyous vitality.

I am active and am in excellent robust health. I have loving, clear eyesight; I have loving, clear hearing; I have loving, clear speech; I have a loving, clear mind; I have loving, clear intellect and I always use them in loving service to the Gohonzon.

I am safe, I am secure, I am stable, I am loving, I am confident and I am wise in all aspects of my life and being.

All my bodies, all my organs, all my systems, all my meridians, all my chakras, all my auras, all my entity, all my being and all my consciousness are harmonious and balanced, aligned and attuned, coordinating and cooperating within myself and with all the universe and the Gohonzon.

I receive the loving inspiration, I receive the loving guidance, I receive theloving wisdom, I receive the loving care and I receive the loving protection of the Gohonzon.

I fully intuit, I fully perceive, I fully receive, I fully resonate to, I fully understand and I fully apply the loving messages and guidance of the loving higher wisdom, the loving and higher inspiration, the loving and higher intelligence, the loving and higher knowledge, the loving and higher truth and the pure love of the Gohonzon.

I immediately know, I immediately recognize, and I immediately understand the nature of all devils and obstacles whenever I encounter them, and I affirm that I always serenely, I always immediately, I always safely, I always wisely, I always happily, I always lovingly, I always joyfully and I always successfully overcome and defeat all devils and all obstacles every time.

I follow the path of my highest, the path of my happiest, the path of my wisest, the path of my safest, the path of my most loving and the path of my most joyous good of all the universe.

I happily, I wisely, I safely, I lovingly, I joyfully, I serenely and I successfully AVOID causing or creating negative karma.

I happily, I wisely, I safely, I lovingly, I joyfully, I serenely and I successfully fulfill all of TODAY’s missions within TODAY.

I achieve my highest, I achieve my happiest, I achieve my safest, I achieve my wisest, I achieve my most loving, I achieve my most fulfilling and my most joyous potential.

In my every thought, in my every word, in my every deed, in my every attitude, in my every outlook, in my every feeling, in my every perception and in my every intention, in my every action and in my every reaction, I resonate totally and lovingly with the Gohonzon.

Throughout this LIFE I happily, I wisely, I safely, I lovingly, I joyfully, I serenely and I successfully fulfill all of this LIFE’s missions within this LIFETIME.

I am loving, I am courage and I am confident. I now achieve and am now experiencing a truly loving, a truly joyous, a truly victorious life of loving ichinen and loving, joyous itai doshin.

I HEREBY AFFIRM THAT THIS IS SO.

It was during the middle of the year 2000 that I kept getting emails from my older sister telling me that she was so tired all the time because she had to care for her husband, who was on dialysis three times a week. The thought entered my mind about returning to the States and staying with her to help. I knew that her mission in this life was that of “caregiver”, like she had done when I was a baby, and she needed some assistance. BUT I was not sure what to do for I had already spent 14 years in Bangkok and it was my home.

I remember that one morning as I was praying, I actually heard the voice of my guide. This was the very first time I had heard His/Her voice. He/She said “Go back to America.” And so, I returned the beginning of the fourth week in December of 2000. I know my sister was happy that I returned. On January 2, 2001,with pains in my chest, I was admitted to the local hospital and a few days later had my first open-heart surgical procedure. Then I knew why my guide told me to return, for had I stayed in Thailand I would have died. I had no medical coverage and could not afford open heart surgery there.And so, this was the second time God saved me, the first from the polio epidemic and now from having a major heart attack.

I was hospitalized 1 month, and my sister was very busy completing all the forms to get me Medicaid coverage. She was wonderful for I was approved and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of medical bills were submitted to Medicaid and paid. Had it not been for her efforts I do not know what would have happened. She certainly took “care” of me, yet once again.

Unfortunately, I developed a staff infection in my right leg and for months I suffered in unimaginable pain. Yet throughout my stay in the hospital and intense pain I continued praying every morning. In fact, I had the Gohonzon in its cabinet, called a budsudan, moved to my hospital room. I never gave up faith and hope, for my love for and faith in God was at a maximum, and still is to this day.A visiting nurse would come to my sister’s home each morning to change the bandages on the infected leg, and I did have painkillers, which did help a bit.

In October of 2001 it was back to the hospital for a second open-heart operation. The first one had replaced the mitral valve and I had a triple by-pass; the second one resulted in replacement of the aortic valve and closing a small opening in my heart, which was not seen the first time. One month again in the hospital, the Gohonzon with me.

Ever since January of 2001 I have been hospitalized on 7 occasions, one including back surgery, for I had pain in my lower back and after an MRI it was suggested that surgery be performed. The most recent stay resulted from my sugar level dropped to 35. For over 5 years I have suffered, but I never gave up and continued praying.

Living with my sister and her husband was very difficult for me, for even though they did love each other their life together was based on “bickering.” So, after the second open heart operation I decided to go to live in an adult home, and the administrator of the home in which I eventually went to live came to the hospital to interview me. My first question to her was “Of all the residents living there, how many have mental problems.” Her answer was “Very few.” Of course she had lied as I discovered when I went to live there. I shared a room with a man who was not only obsessive-compulsive but also schizophrenic. Of course, I still continued praying every morning in addition to chanting, but living with so many mentally disturbed people had a negative affect on me, and I became depressed. I remember that one day when my sister and brother-in-law came to visit me I had said to my sister that “I wanted to die.” She translated that into “I am going to kill myself,” and before I knew it 2 men in white appeared and by ambulance took me to the hospital. As I waited in the Emergency Room, a woman approached me to talk. I discovered she is a psychiatrist and she offered to see me and incredibly she accepted my Medicaid, which is most unusual for a psychiatrist to do. And so I started to see her once a week.I told her everything - about my introduction to the “other side”, that I have a spirit guide (without revealing who that is).

I remember the time when I was living in Thailand I asked my guide why was I chosen - I am not a “Messenger” as was Moses, Lord Buddha, the Christ or Muhammad. He/She responded that I had the soul of Nikko Shonin, who was Nichiren Daishonin’s high priest and lived with him many years, taking care of him. I knew that Nikko had been a student of the Daishonin and was about 20 years younger.

I was also told that the similarities between Nikko and Blake were astounding. It seemed that in every life I had between that of Nikko and the one I have at present had that same soul, and each life was tested. At that time I did not know the reason for the testing; this I discovered later on.Naturally, I found all this difficult to accept. I told the psychiatrist of all the unexplainable events which happened to me when I was living in Thailand.

I never had to wait for a taxi, even during the busiest time of the day. I had the ability to stop the telephone from ringing, just by requesting it. I discovered everything in this world (and in fact the Universe) is connected and we are all one with God. I relayed the “cockroach story” to her, which, when told, sounds like the rantings of a madman.

One day as I was in the kitchen of my apartment in Bangkok, washing dishes, I felt something brush on my left elbow. I looked down and it was a cockroach. Now, understand that the roaches in Thailand are huge, have wings and fly. I quickly jerked my arm away and started to watch the roach. In fact, I sat on a chair outside the kitchen watching this roach. I had the feeling that I was being tested. The roach walked across the wall of the kitchen and entered the dining area. I told the roach that I would open the front door and he can leave the apartment. If it stayed it would die - not that I would kill it, because I do not believe in killing anything that lives. The roach started walking toward the open door and as it approached the door it stopped, as if it was making a decision as to what to do.

Unfortunately, it did not leave the apartment but continued to walk. I told it that it would eventually fall on its back and that I would not help it - the results would be its death, since the roach would be unable to turn over. It walked up the wall, fell on its back and lay on the dining area floor. I sat in that chair for hours until it eventually died.I decided to pray for the roach while I flushed it down the toilet, for I believe that in doing so the next life the roach would have could be as a human. I telephoned my friend, the medium, explained what happened and she said that she would come to my apartment and pray with me. And that is exactly what we did as I flushed it down. It was about a year later that another roach came into my apartment - this one was sick. I am certain that it came to my home because it knew I would pray for it upon its death, which of course is what I did.

I also told the psychiatrist the “blood story.” When it happened I was living alone. I had and still do. I knew that my destiny was to be met alone and that his was not the same. It broke my heart when he left, but it was something I had to do. Anyway, one morning as I awoke I discovered that there was a lot of dried blood on the sheet, the blanket and the pillowcase. I immediately ran to a mirror to look at my body to see where the blood had come from. There was no evidence at all on my body. I stripped the bed and washed everything in the machine I had in the kitchen of the apartment. I then put everything on the clothes line on the terrace to dry in the heat of the sun, intending to use everything again. But as I took off all the bed linens from the line I realized that I cannot use anything again and that it all must be thrown out. Before I put it all in bags to throw out, with a scissor I cut everything up, for I feared that someone would find it all and use it. I telephoned my medium friend and told her what had happened. She asked me if anything from my apartment was missing. I told her that some durian (a fruit indigenous to Thailand), which I had left on the counter in the kitchen, was gone, and I knew I had not eaten it. She told me that I was visited by two of God’s 4 Messengers, not telling me the identity of the two.

I found out later on that both Lord Buddha and Jesus had come to my apartment. They took the durian, which is known as “the fruit of the gods” and left all that blood so that I would know of their visit. I told my friend that they could have left some other type of evidence instead of the blood, which frightened me.

I also told the psychiatrist the “ironing story.” I had purchased these expensive bed linens from a department store in Bangkok. After I washed them, being of the finest cotton, and after they dried they were very creased. Well, I could not sleep on creased linens, so I proceeded to iron them. My guide told me that any job I do I should do the best I can at it. It took me over three hours iron one sheet and two pillowcases. Three hours!!!! It was exhausting, but those bed linens looked beautiful.

I thought that after I told the psychiatrist all of these experiences and more, she would know that I needed intensive psychiatric treatment. Instead she shocked me. She asked what I knew about past-life regression. I responded that all I knew is that under hypnosis one is brought back to other lives lived. She arranged for me to see a past-life regressionist in Naples, Florida.

The doctor paid for my airfare, hotel, food, taxis and even gave me pocket money. She knew that it must be proven to me that I do, in fact, carry the soul of Nikko Shonin, for all that has been happening to me was due to the fact that I was chosen since I had Nikko’s soul. She told me that her dad had taken some courses in a school in Naples which was run by a past-life regressionist, and this was the man I was to see.

When I flew down to Florida, I had dinner that first night with her dad who asked if he could be
present during the past-life regression. I did not mind so I said, “Sure.” Now, mind you, the regressionist did not know anything about me. We, the psychiatrist’s dad and myself, were ushered into an office and I was asked to sit in a very comfortable recliner. The room became very dark, soft, light music was put on as was a tape recorder. Under hypnosis, I was brought back to my life as Nikko Shonin. I actually felt like this man. I remember feeling small pebbles under my feet and carrying a very large vat filled with water on my head. In this life, I have a dent in my skull, which is noticeable, as a result of the weight of the water. I remember bathing the feet of the Daishonin. I felt all of this, and it was incredible. This was the proof I needed. Even though I was uncertain, my psychiatrist was sure that I had been Nikko Shonin and that was the reason for her paying for my trip to Florida. I remember that as I walked out of the office my guide said, "Remember you are human. Always keep your feet planted firmly on the
ground.”

What is this Gohonzon that true Buddhists pray to? It was created by Nichiren Daishonin to reflect a life of pure happiness, the center of which is Nam Myoho-Renge Kyo. But what true Buddhists do not know is that Nichiren Daishonin is the one life God had on Earth. He was born of a fisherman and lived in Japan in the late 14th Century. Why did God choose that part of the world? For the most trouble that existed in the world at the time was in Japan. Of course, the Daishonin did not know his true identity. This was revealed to him just before he was to be decapitated and a comet went through the sky, scaring the man who held the fatal sword. At that moment, the Daishonin knew his true identity.