Great Construction

Record of Oral Teachings, Issue 30
February 15, 1954


January 27, 1954

     The other day, the American scholar and writer Elsie Grilli, who has occasionally been visiting us, called together major journalists in Japan to publicize my work. At that meeting, she asked them all, gDo you know about Mokichi Okada of World Messianity?h They said they did. She went on to say, gYou should be writing a great deal about him. Why donft you write about him?h They replied, in essence, that whether or not Okada was great, there were various drawbacks to him. Probably they heard about the Shizuoka court case or some other incident. But to this, Grilli replied, gWhat are little things like that? What Okada is doing is a hundred times greater than such things. They shouldnft be obstacles at all.h I heard the journalists pulled back and just looked bewildered. gI came to Japan four years ago and have met many great people in Japanese society, but I donft think there has been any one in Japan as great as Mokichi Okada, so really you should all write about him. His work, a paradise on earth, a world with absolutely no sickness, poverty, or conflict, is the project of constructing a world of peace. There is probably no one else in the world who has such great aspirations. Furthermore, his work is steadily being put into reality. Even the great scale of just the project of constructing various paradises on earth is simply wonderful,h she told them and she went on to speak of various other matters. It was truly gratifying. The person who interpreted for her is a member, a ukiyoe specialist who is rather good at English. This is only one thing that occurred recently, but compared to Americans like Grilli, the vision of Japanese journalists is small. Or, it may have been that until now that kind of narrow vision was sufficient for Japan. But, because my work and I are too great for their vision, I donft think Japanese journalists can understand me. I have written on this topic.
Reading of essay, gFurther Requests for Consideration to Journalists,h Eikô, Issue 249, February 24, 1954.
     I have completed an essay on the secret of good fortune. I wrote about this topic previously, but this time I have gone into more detail. It is written so the subject is easier to convey when speaking with non-members. I hope I have written it so that the relationship between happiness and faith is easy to understand.
Reading of essay, gThe Secret of Happiness,h Eikô, Issue 246, February 3, 1954.
     As has just been read, the spiritual world is divided into strata, and the conditions on each stratum reflect in the physical world. Each stratum in the spiritual world is the place, the home, for the soul of a human being. The soul directs the entire human being, so the home for the soul is its level, its qualification, so to speak. When the soul is qualified to be in the upper levels, there is no suffering. But human beings have soiled themselves with sin, medicinal toxins, and various other impurities, so their spirits have to be cleansed. When an individual joins the church, only the soul goes to a higher level. When only the soul receives the light, the impurities inside the physical body do not match the level of the soul, so there must be cleansing to correspond to the unsoiled level of the soul. This cleansing is purificatory activity, purification. Thus, the significance of purification differs depending on whether it occurs when one joins the church or whether it happens to a non-member. It is important to distinguish these two kinds of purification. Purification in the physical body of a non-member occurs naturally to maintain health in that body. The individual would die if that purificatory activity did not take place. Purification occurs naturally so that human beings may live and work as long as possible. Natural purification cleanses through pain and suffering.
     Varieties of ascetic practices and training methods have come about where one chooses oneself to suffer to cleanse oneself, such as fasting and going off to the wilderness to be alone. Most people are the passive recipients of suffering, that is, it finds them, but ascetics place themselves in the line of suffering. It is active, that is, self-propelling. The two types of suffering differ on this point. But there are those who do not realize they are purifying through suffering and to avoid that suffering, will perform any manner of falsehood. They are easy with the truth, seek to deceive others when they suffer from a lack of money, and thus create more sin, so while they may eliminate one form of suffering, they are creating the foundation for future states of misery. There are many examples in society of those who get in a dilemma and fall to the bottom of hell.
     Illness is the same. People use medicines to avoid illness which temporarily solidifies the disease, but they create second and third conditions, according to the same principle that I have just described. This truth was not known because my teachings were not known and religions until now did not teach this principle thoroughly. Religions held only abstractly that suffering was due to sin. I have written about the strata in the spiritual world so that people would thoroughly understand. People have not clearly understood the relationship between sin and the various forms of sufferings.
    In the testimonials from members, phrases such as gSomeone like me who is full of sin is not qualifiedh or gIn spite of many sins, I received this blessingh often appear. People are indeed aware of some of the sins they have committed, but because everyone also has those sins that they are not aware of, they just vaguely say, gmy sins.h The subject of sin and whether the individual is happy or not has not been clearly taught until now. Testimonials frequently contain the words, gsinh and gsins,h but the most distinctive sins are medicinal toxins.
     People who use medicines do not think they are doing anything wrong, but rather they use medicines because they think they can recover and return to work faster. In other words, they are victims who are deceived into believing that medicines can make them better. This is not just fraud, it is the greatest deception ever. Considered in this way, taking medicines is a way of being deceived. Doctors themselves have no malice, and without a doubt they are trying to help people, so it is sin committed with good intentions, a kind of deception based on good will. This may sound strange but it is the best way to describe the situation, because the whole world is organized that way. It was the age of night, so matters could not be clearly understood. Almost everyone made this mistake. Because this thinking and practice went on for a long time and there was no one who discovered the truth, this situation was one of humanityfs fates. Because this fraud was not discovered, the situation continued while people suffered. The time has come and God has taught me so that I may be used to make this discovery known. You all know this but this is why, to improve your fortune means that you must raise your spiritual level. So, when you think that things do not go your way or that too many things trouble you, it means that your position in the spiritual world is low.
     One example is the situation represented in the following comments. gI am very thankful to have joined the church. I truly understand it. But my father does not understand,h or gMy daughter and son oppose my faith. What should I do?h Many members are in this dilemma. People are in this situation because their position in the strata of the spiritual world is low. Because family members are connected by spiritual cords, as your level rises, those of the stems and branches with which you are connected, that is, your family members, are also pulled up to your own level. I always remind members that if a family member does not understand the faith, just leave the individual alone and do not hastily try to make them join the church. Do not even think of such things and leave all to God. If you yourself try to help as many people as possible, and work to be someone who is useful to God, the level of your spirit will rise, and other family members will be drawn up naturally, so without you saying a word, they will understand. Ultimately, the fundamental issue is the level of your own soul, but even when the level of your soul rises, if the level of your spirit and physical body do not correspond to the level of your soul, it means that they are still impure and that purification will occur. But in cases where the physical body and spirit are purifying to rise to the level of the soul, purification will be over more quickly. When you understand this, you will not be confused and you will not suffer. It is very difficult, though, to come to this realization. This realization is the real truth. This truth is of a much higher level than what the different religions have taught until now, so when you truly understand this point, you will also understand religion, thought, and philosophy. That is as much as I will talk about this subject today.
     I have written something quite interesting. I have written about this subject up before, but I have added some unusual aspects not covered before. I am sure it will be informative.
Reading of essay, gThe Relationship Between God and I,h Chijôtengoku, Issue 57, page 7, February 25, 1954.
     As you can see, the energy is increasing which is very good. But, on the other hand, at times there are aspects that are troubling or bothersome for me. In the things I do, if the order is not correct, you could say that God will make me aware of it. To say that God keeps me in line makes for some uncomfortable situations. The day before last, a teacher of the tea ceremony came to visit. I am not studying the tea ceremony myself and this incident occurred when the teacher was just going to make some tea for us. We were to come when the teacher was ready. When I was called, I found that my wife had also invited a tea utensils dealer to drink tea together, so the dealer was there. I joined the group, received tea first, and then the dealer drank. The moment the dealer took a sip, I suddenly felt uncomfortable and could not be still. I did not realize what was wrong at the time and left the room. Soon after, though, I realized that being in line with the dealer, he had drunk the same tea as I. I realized how great the spiritual difference was. At the moment of his drinking the tea, my spirit had been pulled downward. That was what made me feel so uncomfortable. Incidents similar to this happen every once in a while. There are times when I am not careful and experience the most unexpected distress. The people in my household have gradually gotten used to this. My wife became aware of this for the first time when I had this experience at tea with the dealer, and she agreed to be careful.
     Another interesting point in this regard centers on the Shizuoka court case. Before the case, depending on the problem there had been times when I had things I did not understand, and I would ask God, and God instructed me that the answer was the opposite to what I asked. After the case, I asked God a question, but the answer was gThat is not necessary. That way of doing things is wrong now.h In other words, what had been indirect before now became direct. I understood the difference, so stopped asking. That had never happened before. When I had had word from God or else I would ask God a question, or some other thing would happen, all these were the indirect way of God. In other words, in the case of union of God and man, there is no division. God and man become the same. There are benefits to this, but until I got used to the new state, I had some uncomfortable experiences as I just described. Gradually I am getting used to it, and what just comes to me is the right thing to do. Whether with the construction of the paradises on earth or in other matters, such as with the gardens, what to do just comes to me. I see what it will look like. When I say I gseeh what it will look like, I do not mean that I see the actual shape, but I see spiritually. So, it is very straightforward. You might say there is no comparison to the way I was instructed before and now. Compared to before, matters can be thought out in much less a confining way. This is how construction on the Atami Paradise on Earth, the museum, and other projects are progressing. How the rooms should be decorated is also conveyed, so I feel as if there is nothing to worry about, and I am already thinking about what to do next. The time for these new projects is still too early, so the lag does feel strange. There has probably never before been a person like this.

Pages 81-88.
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