Ritsu was a radish farmer in Japan.  

She barely eked out a living.

What she didn't eat, she took into town and sold. On one such trip she encountered some SGI Buddhists.

"They must have a superficial view of life because they smile so much," Ritsu thought to herself.

One day, some young SGI Buddhists visited her home. After meeting with them she decided that she had nothing to lose, and began chanting herself.

When she chanted, she worried less and felt better.

A factory opened up nearby and an influx of new families began arriving. Because there was not enough new housing, they started setting up ramshackle tents and huts around her town.

She could not help but think of the children who did not have a proper place to live. As she chanted about this, she remembered an abandoned building on the edge of her farm. "It could be fixed up and people could live there," she thought.

She fixed it up and rented it.

Rather than spend the rent money on herself, she bought more buildings, fixed them up, and rented them.

After a while, she came to own many pieces of property.

"Some people think I am wealthy because I have a lot of property," she said, "but that is not true. Before I started chanting, I only cared about myself."

Then, with a broad smile, she said, "My Buddhist practice gave me the ability to care for others and that is my greatest wealth."