‘My father and I were about to draw our swords again, when I caught myself and said, “I didn’t come all this way from Japan to fight. I’m still very immature in both my life and this technique, please don’t judge the technique by that. Can you please loan me a guest bedroom? I need to meditate for three days.”

'Then I took them to a course, and I’ll never forget the first words out of my mother’s mouth right after. She said, “Wow, you must really love us a lot to have brought us here.” My father, whose only emotions around us kids was anger and violence, wanted to put his arms around me.

'We can have two births. One is when we come out of the womb, and the other is when we come into contact with dhamma, the path of enlightenment. For thirty-three years I suffered due to my own behaviour. Then I realized, clearly, ...