reference

Teachings of Meishu-sama

Contained in Eikô, Issue 194,

February 4, 1953



Table of Contents


I1  Poems

2  Meishu-sama Speaks At Length on the International
                  Situation Along with Medical and Agricultural Issues

3  The Great Age of Terror Is Upon Us

4  Above Religion

5  Medical Fragments 29 “Untitled

6  One Instance of a Spiritual Disease

7  An Example of the Superstition of Medical Science

8  A Comparison of Johrei and Medical Science

9  Commentary





Poems


1  人らしき 人の無きかも世や末に ひそかに思ふ吾にありけり

Privately I have come
Around to thinking that
Truly it is a world
Without human beings who
Are truly human beings.




2  形のみ 人にしあれどその心 鳥虫獣とえらぶ事なき

In form, a human being
Indeed, but inside
Nothing is there to
Distinguish from the
Animals and insects.




3  物欲の 外望みとてなき人を 見る毎神知る人の尊し

How precious are
Those who know God,
I think, every time I see
Those with no desire apart
From material things.




4  神は無しと 言ふ人々の忽ちに 戦きふためく世の大峠かも

The great tribulation
Will be a world
Where those who say
There is no God
Panic and shake.



5  移りゆく世の状前つに知らせらる 信徒の幸大いなるかも

Great is the happiness
Of members who know
In advance what
Will happen in this
Ever changing world.



 

Meishu-sama Speaks At Length on the
International Situation Along with Medical and
Agricultural Issues
With Shiro Takeuchi and Two Others (2)


What Will Happen to the World



Takeuchi: Do you ever make prophecies?

Meishu-sama: It is not that I do not make prophecies, but as long as there isn’t any immediate danger or anything else important, I do not say anything specific about the future since prophecies reflect on my work. In the upcoming New Year’s issue of Eikô (Issue 189), I do write on the topic of war in the form of “An Account of a Dream” where I say that two thirds of the world will probably become such-and-such, but yes I do know what will happen in the end.
     For example, regarding Chinese communism, it will be completely defeated by the United States, and Chiang Kai-shek will revive. But, it will not be Chiang Kai-shek himself who establishes order in China, but his subordinates. I have written that it will probably be the people who come after him who finally triumph.
     I know about the third world war as well, but it is still too early to speak about it so I will refrain here.
Takeuchi: But, will it actually occur?

Meishu-sama: Yes, it will probably occur.

Takeuchi: Will it occur soon?

Meishu-sama: Look for it in the next couple of years. It will most likely be a nuclear war.

Takeuchi: Will Stalin still be alive by the time that happens?

Meishu-sama: Well, he will live a while, but I cannot precisely say when he will die.
     I have just put out a book titled Salvation for Americans. When it comes to war, the United States will sustain much damage. The nation will have to be rebuilt, but I wrote that, at least as regards medical science, it is necessary to save Americans before the situation gets too bad. I intend to have this book translated into English and distributed to American politicians and medical professionals.

Kosaka: Won’t all of humanity be destroyed if a nuclear war breaks out?

Meishu-sama: No, it will just involve the U.S. and the Soviet Union, so there will not be much effect on other countries. I think Japan will be watching from the sidelines.

Kosaka: Can that kind of position be maintained?

Meishu-sama: I think so. After all, it’s a matter between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Conflict will also spread in China, but Japan will be all right. That’s because even if the Chinese communists suffer setbacks, Stalin probably won’t do anything. Stalin has other things to think about than helping the Chinese communists.

Abe: The Spiritual Leader is thus thinking about such great issues, so other smaller affairs and matters are not be a problem.

Takeuchi: Well, you’re talking about Salvation for Americans, so I can understand that.

Abe: You don’t see that in other religious organizations.

Meishu-sama: But, as I do say, we are not a religion. If human beings could be saved by religion, the peoples of the world should have been saved already since many religions have appeared up to the present.


Fundamental Revolution in Medical Science

Kosaka: The front cover of Salvation for Americans is quite something.

Abe: It does get attention even when put on the shelves of bookstores.

Kosaka: Yes, it certainly does.

Meishu-sama: I intend to present a copy to the American president and distribute it to other influential people.

Kosaka: Meishu-sama, there seems to be a peculiar illness going around Japan these days, with symptoms such as bloody noses and colds. Penicillin used to be effective but it doesn’t seem to work these days. It does appear that many diseases have come along which medical science cannot handle and that we human beings have become weaker.

Meishu-sama: This is a topic I raise constantly. But, if things go on as they do now, diseases will become even more peculiar. Bleeding through the nose when you have a cold is something that medical science says it does not understand. From our standpoint, it is nothing at all. People nowadays receive injections and take medicines, but they also continually use their heads, and the drugs they have ingested go to their heads. Medicines are poisons, so the heads of people become full of medicines. With fever, these poisons are dissolved, and the dissolved toxins come out in the blood through the nose. Medical science does not understand this function and seeks to stop the bleeding, but even if the bleeding is halted, it is only a postponement. Ultimately, the condition will worsen. In order to correct such fundamental errors in medical science, I am writing a book to be titled Book of Medical Science Revolution. Western medical science has to be completely eliminated.

Kosaka: So, the current health situation results from Western medical science flooding over all of society, doesn’t it?

Meishu-sama: Yes. You could go as far as to say that Western medical science creates diseases. In that sense, medical science has rather skillfully fashioned tuberculosis.

Kosaka: Streptomycin and other such drugs were introduced and it was said that we would not have to worry about tuberculosis any longer.

Meishu-sama: Ultimately, streptomycin and these other drugs have only postponed the timing of when the disease starts. The development of medical science amounts only to  having postponed the death of human beings. The development is only temporary, however, and in the future, conditions will become even more serious.
     With the book Salvation for Americans, I thought it would be more effective to try to persuade Americans rather than Japanese. That is because Japanese look to anything that comes from America. I wrote that the cause of all unhappiness is disease and that it is sufficient if disease is eliminated from human beings. Even on the subject of conflict and war, human beings who make war are mentally ill. So, when both spirit and body are made healthy, individuals will be terrified to take another life for the glory of war or for their own greed, and conflict in general will disappear. Average people will take pity on others and the thought of killing will not even enter their heads. The attitude that thinks nothing of taking the life of others is not human, it is beastly. Therefore, the way to the condition in which the very thought of killing does not arise is to make healthy both spirit and body. Ultimately, saving the world amounts to eliminating disease from human beings. After that, everything else will be resolved.

Abe: A related topic is that the Hochi newspaper has increased the number of its pages by two to create a family section, and its main subject is the health of human beings. I particularly would like to emphasize the aspect of “new religions and health.”

Meishu-sama: That is a very good idea. Eliminating illness means to bring it about that illness does not occur, especially to make it so that new illnesses do not arise. That is all that has to be done But nowadays it is contemporary medical science that is supposed to deal with disease, and, speaking from the results, if medical science were truly the correct thing to do, the number of sick people should decrease each year, and disease should be completely eliminated within twenty to thirty years. But the fact that the situation is not so demonstrates that contemporary medical science is not the true way to heal people.

Konishi: I read your essay about sports and in it you mentioned that blacks had become physically stronger and whites, weaker. I thought you really had made a good point. I have discussed this topic with our sports editor. We concluded that all the best sportsmen in the United States are black and that soon probably all the world records will be taken by blacks. Especially so in the combative sports, and though we did see Zatopek win the marathon in the Olympics, otherwise most of the upcoming sportsmen are black. I thought it very good to have essays on sports like the one you wrote. The Hochi is a sports newspaper, so I am sure the topic will interest our readers.

Meishu-sama: Very good. And it would be good to add religion to that topic as well.

Konishi: This is what I think. We don’t have to say that World Messianity is such and such. All we have to say is that there is this wonderful work going on in Atami, that they are doing such-and-such cultural activities, and I think that readers will understand that it is a new religion for contemporary people.


I Do Not Like Religion

Meishu-sama: For the most part, I do not like religion.

Konishi: I have never met a spiritual leader like you. I have met the leaders of other religions. They take me by surprise me when they bluster about or else suddenly shout out utterances like “Praise Be to the Lotus Sutra!”

Meishu-sama:
I intensely dislike such strange religious leaders and founders. To behave normally and in no way be any different from ordinary people is so much more pleasant. I do think that is the way it should be. Even “men of religion” are after all still men.

Takeuchi: When I first met you at Gora, I thought you would be wearing something outlandish, but you just sat nonchalantly smoking a cigarette. That is when the interview became interesting for me. Judging from your personality, I don’t see how World Messianity could have the dark atmosphere in which people are intimidated or deceived. I think it is very good.

Meishu-sama: You mean World Messianity doesn’t reek of religion, right?

Takeuchi: Not stinky at all, actually.

Meishu-sama: I do not make an issue of religious forms. What I am actually doing tells the story. What really saves people and helps the world is what is important.

Takeuchi: That World Messianity is cultural and reliable is good.


Urgent Task of Breaking the Superstition of Fertilizer

Abe: How would it be for your newspaper to do an article on natural cultivation? Particularly as five percent increase of production in five years is an actual fact, it would really be a good thing for this method to spread among average farming households.

Meishu-sama: In recent reports the yield has been as much as thirteen sackfuls of rice per quarter acre in some places.

Abe: This is easier to understand than healing disease.

Kihara: If it came to writing a column about “Family and Religion,” natural cultivation is an inseparable topic.

Meishu-sama: Yes, in that case, farmers would want to read it. In addition, the taste of rice as well as vegetables is really something. After you have eaten products of natural cultivation, you won’t want to eat anything else! The same goes for mikans and persimmons. Natural cultivation improves flavor as well as increasing the amount of production. Nor is expense for fertilizer necessary, and damage from wind and water is slight. This is because, when natural cultivation is used, the number of the plant roots increases and as the level of their endurance is high, they do not fall over. If they do fall over, they stand back up again. Neither is there insect damage. Insects come about from the fertilizer. The reason we see more varieties of insects recently is because the types of fertilizers have increased.
     When natural cultivation is first implemented, there is one point that has to be considered. That is, during the first year of production of rice plants after changing from fertilizer-based farming to natural cultivation, in the beginning the kernels or stones will be meager. This situation can be compared to that when a drug addict abruptly quits narcotics and behaves as if mentally ill. It is the same with plants that have been given fertilizer and are abruptly taken off. They temporarily become rather weak, but what astonishes everybody is that with a little patience, the plants seem to revive in the autumn and the amount of production is about the same as before. The following year, production will be better, and by the fifth year, production will have increased by fifty percent. I have had reports that these days even farmers who are not members of World Messianity are imitating the techniques. The problem is that people nowadays have fallen for superstition, the superstition of fertilizers and the superstition of medicinal poisons. These superstitions must be broken.
     This is on a different topic, but I have received a tremendous report. Someone who works in a coal mine has had four to five occasions when he was able to escape danger, and the miner wrote that he can only think that these escapes were due to God’s protection. You could also put material like that in the newspaper. When such incidents are made widely known, casualties and damage in the coal mines could be reduced by great percentages. If four or five coal miners could become members of World Messianity, the number of accidents could be tremendously decreased. He reports that what should have blown up, did not blow up.
Takeuchi: Why was that, I wonder.

Meishu-sama: This is a spiritual matter, so believing may be difficult, but there is a tremendous science behind this. Call it religious science, if you will. It can be explained scientifically, logically. I intend to write about this. In the future, I will explain what has not been understood, what is taken to be incomprehensible, including matters like this miracle. Call it an advanced, developed science, a science for the twenty-first century.
All: Thank you very much.





The Great Age of Terror Is Upon Us

 
     The title of this essay is probably enough to upset anybody. Followers of my teachings probably not as much, but those who read it for the first time are sure to be unsettled. I have continued to discuss this issue in general terms from many aspects, but as the time is approaching, I feel I must write about it thoroughly. Purification activity in the spiritual world grows stronger as time goes on, and in the near future all of society will be caught up in a flurry of activity. In this regard, I recently have started to write a book to be called Book of Medical Science Revolution, because I keenly feel the need of such information for the public.
     My followers are well acquainted with the point, but individuals today all have within them an astonishing amount of medicinal toxins, which the more it comes to be understood, ever more frightening the situation appears. Particularly, as we observe society these days there are many people who seem to be at the peak of health, working vigorously and earnestly going about their tasks. From the surface, it is almost impossible to imagine that such a terrifying age is approaching. Those not familiar with my teachings to be sure, but even those who have only recently undertaken a life of faith probably will shake their heads in doubt upon hearing such a statement and not readily believe. The truth is, though, that those who seem to the be most healthy are those who are in the most precarious positions, because not only do they have within their physical bodies great amounts of medicinal toxin, but also that these toxins are quite thoroughly solidified. As the time approaches, it is within such individuals that purificatory activity will be generated, not gradually, but all at once. These people ought to be thought of as victims of our age.
     For the past two decades or so I have continued to teach that the cause of disease are medicinal toxins, and in the beginning most found it difficult to believe, but for those who do join the church, the longer they continue their faith, the stronger is their conviction. Not unreasonable it is that this explanation is not believed. For generations the words “doctor” and “medicine” have fit together with our concept of disease like a hand in a glove, so it is probably fair to say that no one will understand how shading the hand over the body one or two times will cure disease. Even so, Johrei has come to be understood by members of the general public much faster than before, and in that sense our work is looked upon differently than before. I mentioned above, however, that purification is becoming more severe, so the number of people who understand Johrei will of course increase. That is because, each day the methods utilized by medical science that solidify toxins, solidify a little less and, conversely, since Johrei is a method that dissolves toxins, the situation becomes reversed and Johrei dissolves to a greater extent. In other words, timing is on the side of Johrei.
     In these conditions, the numbers of sick will only grow, types of diseases not seen until now will increase, and the professionals of medical science will be at a loss. Not knowing which way to turn will become the rule. Ingested and injected drugs that until now worked immediately will not only have no effect, they will produce an opposite effect. In the age of terror that is coming the ministrations of doctors will only make matters worse, and patients will end up dying. When this occurs, not only governments, but professionals and members of the general public will come to understand the true value of medical science and will have no choice but to boycott medical treatment. Of epic proportions will be this predicament. Acknowledging World Messianity’s explanation of disease will be unavoidable, and those who previously criticized World Messianity as quite peculiar will come to say they are sorry. Only at this stage will people truly awaken.
     At this point, when human life itself is in danger, those of the intellectual classes and journalists will approach us en masse seeking salvation, and when that happens, we will be overwhelmed. We will try to help as many as circumstances permit, but because it will be impossible able to help everyone, those who cannot be helped will be most unfortunate, and there will be nothing for them but to resign themselves to reaping their own reward. In the prophetic writings of the Oomoto religion is the following acerbic verse, “When the time comes, even if they seek God, it will be too late. God will not care about those people who have let his words pass over them as if air, so it cannot be helped. Abruptly taken convictions will not be in time!” The point is the same as that which I am trying to make. Another verse certainly seems to cut right to the bone, “The rebuilding of the world this time will be based on whether or not people believe in God, so if they learn that God does exist, whoever they may be, there will be those who can’t help but be at their wit’s end.”
    There is a matter that most people fail to perceive, and I did not feel comfortable mentioning it before as it concerns other religions, but as the time is pressing and I say it for the salvation of humanity, I bring it up here since it is a point that must be made. That is, at the time for the final judgment, religion will be of no use at all. This is because the founders of religions and sects do not possess the power to save the world, much less themselves and their followers. Soon they will come one after another to me pleading for help, so my point should be clear. Religions have certainly continued to exist until the present and they have fulfilled an appropriate role in the world, but we are now facing an unprecedented condition, a great transition of the world, and present civilization is on the edge of the fate of destruction. It is the time for all faiths to come together, all religions unified, with World Messianity in the lead, to save humanity and cooperate in the construction of paradise on earth.
     All individuals should be prepared for making a choice, whether to turn their backs on World Messianity which is unifying all religions or embrace World Messianity and be helped. This is the task now assigned to all of humanity.




 

Above Religion


      The title of this essay is a topic I always stress. World Messianity is not a religion, it is a something above religion. As the meanings of the ideograms used to write the word “religion” in Japanese show, a religion is “the teachings” of the founder of “a sect,” so preaching and sermons without exception take precedence. The means for transmission of teachings are explaining through the mouth and writing by the pen, the best examples of which are the Buddhist sutras and the Christian Bible. Because these methods have been the way for salvation of human beings until now, religion was nothing other than teaching and admonishing, which were sufficient for the times. In our complicated society today, however, methods of the past have not continued to be suitable. World Messianity, as such, was born with the mission to lead the peoples of the world and save the age.
     The first part of accomplishing salvation is healing disease. There has not existed a religion that was able to manifest healing power to the extent that World Messianity does today. Neither are their parallels for the construction of art museums and the improvements we urge for agriculture. From such fields as literature, art, and politics to economics, philosophy, and science, we teach, admonish, but also actually implement on fundamental levels all that is necessary for the human race. Sermons are only one part of World Messianity, but I would like to draw attention to the fact that much of what we do teach is often quite beyond people’s ken. In simple terms, the unfolding of World Messianity is a cultural project on a high level.
     A troubling aspect of this project is that human beings at present do not possess a perception of culture that is very advanced, so they find it difficult to understand our work. Particularly confounding to members of the general public is when serious illnesses are healed merely with the waving of a hand in space over a body or when abundant harvests of high quality crops are produced without piling fertilizers on the soil. In the twinkling of an eye, we assembled a wonderful art collection and built an art museum. Also, I have dared to write a book titled, Salvation for Americans. The Messianic Hall in Atami, now under construction, is a palace of new religious architecture not yet seen in the world. When completed, the building will astonish architects around the world.
     The ongoing construction at two sites of superb beauty in the scenic areas of Hakone and Atami has received attention, and my next plan is to create in the beautiful Hirosawa Pond area of Kyoto, a paradise on earth at Sagano, on a site of a little over sixty thousand square meters. This is just a rough list of our activities, but there are other marvelous aspects of God’s plan that are being unfolded on a world-wide scale, so prepare to be surprised. This may all sound exaggerated, but it is the almighty God of the universe who is guiding and watching over our work, so my account should in no way be seen as braggadocio.




Medical Fragments 29 “Untitled”



      Recently, the method of implanting a bovine pituitary gland into a human being in an effort to obtain the wonderful benefits of rejuvenation, restoring lost hair, promoting greater height, eliminating wrinkles, and reducing fatigue has become, although too good to be true, quite the craze. Doctors who specialize in this surgical technique have sprung up like toadstools after a rain and the fact that in the metropolitan area alone the number of clinics specializing in this technique amounts to over two hundred can only astonish. Problems concerning the method have raised the concerns of the Medical Association, which is now deliberating the issues. They seem to trouble the association as it has not been able to easily arrive at a definite conclusion.
     From our perspective, however, this issue is simple and can be easily resolved, so I will write about it. As I always teach, you should think of the practices of medical science along the same lines as use of the drug Philopon. The drug takes right away but the effect is only temporary. The efficaciousness of the pituitary gland method will last only a year at best, but in most cases for just a few months. The patient will not only suffer a relapse, but as something that never should have been ingested has entered the body which is thus harmed, and having undergone the operation will lead to other vicious diseases to cause much suffering. Surely there are many who remember the surgery for rejuvenation popular about a decade ago that, in no time, had vanished in smoke.
     Think of this recent technique along similar lines. I state without error that in one or two years this technique will also become like a ghost.



 

One Instance of a Spiritual Disease


     There are various illnesses that result from the possession caused by the spirits of people or animals that have died, and the following example demonstrates this kind of possession quite distinctly. That medical practitioners do not understand it is not unreasonable. As can be seen here, it is obvious that a true healing method clearly explains and also must be able to heal diseases of both the spirit and of the body. Until the present, however, medical science has emphasized the physical and faith healing has relied upon the spiritual, so both approaches were impaired. Neither was able to heal all diseases. Here lies the wonderful value of World Messianity.
     In this account, a spirit suffering in the spiritual world possesses a human being in the physical world in order to be saved. The peculiar symptoms of the patient are exactly the conditions of the spirit when it died, so once the relationship between the spiritual and the physical is understood, how the healing process unfolds can also be understood.

 


A Family Saved by the Guidance of Ancestors

    Kikui Daizo, 41, Toyama Church
    Fukumitsu, City, Toyama Prefecture


     In April 1952, I was guided to join the church. Clumsily I share with you one part of my happiness.
     In April 1951, a cold I happened to catch turned into pneumonia and then into tuberculosis for which I was hospitalized. As a result of receiving injections of streptomycin, taking para-aminosalicylic acid, and maintaining absolute rest as recommended by my doctor, the severe cough I suffered from lessened and my appetite gradually returned. At three months I was discharged from the hospital for which I was very happy. After that, I still continued to visit the hospital as an outpatient, but it happened in the middle of October, I believe, just as autumn had advanced. Because I had heard that the Thunberg’s geranium I could pick in my garden had beneficial medicinal effects, I chopped it up, brewed it, and drank it as tea, which my friend Mrs. Murakami once saw me doing and asked, “You seem to be so earnest about getting better. Are you really better?” We continued to talk about different topics, and then she said, “Let me show you a book,” and she handed me a volume that had been wrapped carefully in a newspaper. She said pleasantly, “It will be a good-tasting medicine. Try it instead of tea,” put the book in a large bag, and gave it to me. At the time I thought I had being doing a good thing by drinking the tea and had been rather pleased with myself. Now that I have learned how terrifying medicinal toxins are, I am more than sorry. That night, when everyone had gone to bed, I took the book (the Chijôtengoku magazine) out of the bag and started to read it. The volume referred to matters I had never heard of or seen before. This is not just a regular old book, I thought, and I found it pleasant to read a little bit from it each night. After that, a friend said there was something she wanted me to hear, invited me to the Kurokawa home, and I went along. As I was listening to the talk, suddenly I strangely felt in the world of dreams, as if I were surrounded by a group of foxes. It seemed so real I just had to look around at the whole group. When the talk was over and I thought it time to leave, some people were waving their hands over other peoples’ bodies. Everyone seemed so serious. On the way home, I learned what had been going on as my friend explained to me. I was surprised to find something so wonderful in Fukumitsu.
     From that time on, I felt drawn to and visited the home of Rev. Kurokawa several times to hear more about the church. Hearing the valuable explanations, I felt I should meet Rev Takumi, the head of the church. I heard that a neighbor, Mrs. Asano, was going to dedicate a Divine Light Tathagata scroll in her home on February twenty-second and that the head minister would be there, so accompanied by my mother, we went to hear more details about the path. As if I had found a ray of bright light, I could not contain my joy.
     However, on the night of March six, as always my mother and I recited a Buddhist chant together before going to sleep. The next morning, they tell me, I had lost consciousness. I could hear the voice of my husband far away waking up everyone in the household, and then I regained consciousness. I could not speak. I could not see. I could not move at all. My husband kept asking me, “Are you awake?” “Can you understand me?” But all I could do was nod. There was a big fuss in the household and someone said, “We have to call a doctor quickly!” My husband said to me, “Shall we have the usual doctor come, or since it is a different illness this time, shall we go to another doctor? I will do as you say.” I thought to myself, “This time we mustn’t call a doctor,” but since I could not speak, I just moved my head from side to side. Everyone was surprised, “What kind of sick person is this?” My mother realized what I was trying to say and said, “Her hands are wriggling. I am sure she is trying to indicate Mrs. Asano,” so I was relieved and collapsed again in exhaustion. I heard later that my husband went to fetch Mrs. Asano. She was able to channel Johrei to me right away and I was so happy that tears flowed from my eyes. My body felt better and before I realized it, I fell asleep. While I was sleeping, neighbors came to visit and worried about me, they said to my family, “What are you thinking, not having a person so sick not seen by a doctor!” This was a misplaced kindness, but my family, probably thinking of what society would say, called a doctor. After looking me over, the doctor said, “I do not really know what this sickness is, but just so it does not reach the brain….,” and gave me an injection. That evening, Mrs. Asano came with Rev. Mizokuchi. Right away, Rev. Mizokuchi channeled Johrei to me and in easy to understand terms explained about the church and Johrei to my family. He told us, “Your illness is a sign from your ancestors that they want to be saved. If your husband joins and is able to channel Johrei to you, you will soon get better. Please save your ancestors as quickly as possible.” Even though I could not say anything, within me an inexplicable feeling of bright hope welled up. As I received Johrei, I became able to hear clearly what people were saying, my headache stopped, and on the second day I was able to go by myself to the toilet. Everyone was surprised, although it is regrettable that at that time all that was eliminated was saliva. I was told if I wanted to express something, to write it down and was given a pencil and paper but I could not write even a single letter. In such a pitiful state, Mrs. Asano and Rev. Mizokuchi took turns channeling Johrei and telling me various aspects about the path. Later, on March eleventh, my husband attended the regular service of the branch church and received his sacred focal point.
     How marvelous! From that day I was able to do housework and bit by bit I was able to speak again. My prayers were fulfilled. I was very thankful. It just seemed too good for me. The doctor told me, “Your illness is peculiar. Medical science has nothing on it.” I thoroughly learned that even though I was the one involved, my sickness was not the doings of human beings at all. After that, I took the introductory course and although for a while I had trouble passing food through my throat, I am now able to eat. We dedicated a Kannon screen in our family altar and everyday we receive blessings. April last year my second son had purification of an inflamed mouth and although we did worry about it, we depended on Meishu-sama, and as we gave our son Johrei, he had completely recovered within a month. We are only choked with tears of gratitude for all the blessings we receive in spite of the many sins and impurities our family has.
     I still have much to learn and from now on I intend to repay even if only by a thousandth the blessings I have received. A person as unlearned as myself is not able to express thoughts well in speech or through the brush. All I can say is, “Meishu-sama, thank you very much.” I also want to express my gratitude to Rev. Mizokuchi and Mrs. Asano who, trudging through the snow with a small child on her back, visited my home many times to channel Johrei to me.




An Example of the Superstition of Medical Science



      The deep-rooted belief in medical science today needs no explanation here, but the account below is one example. There are many individuals like this person, but in this case, the account is so vivid that I include it. In society are countless instances of superstition in reasoning, and it is probably the superstition about medical science that has spread most widely and forcefully throughout humanity. That such a terrifying superstition has not been discovered until now could very well be called the enigma of the twentieth century. Nevertheless, World Messianity has already uncovered this superstition. We not only show the logic, the reasoning, behind this superstition, but we also present the actual results of the correct method of healing, so make no mistake that the time will come when the entire world comes to terms with this superstition. Still, even though we ourselves may be free from anxiety about our health, it still deeply pains us every time we see a victim of medical science.




Healed of Serious Condition After Miscarriage,
Saved from Danger After Repeat Deliveries

    Hisae Era, 43                                  
    Koho Church, Fukuoka Prefecture


     Respectfully I express my gratitude for the help I have received. I am truly sorry that I have not been able to repay in any way the vast and limitless blessings I have been showered with and the divine compassion that I have received since joining the church.
     Looking back, the miscarriage I experienced in August 1949 was the occasion for me to learn about this blessed path and be saved. After the miscarriage, my health did not improve at all, a huge lump formed in my lower abdomen, and like the beating of my heart, the solidified lump also beat severely, I was agitated overall and experienced incomparable unpleasantness. On top of that, I suffered from heavy-headedness which was probably due to anemia. My complexion was very pale and because these conditions were accompanied by dizziness, I found it difficult to stand up, so I was kept in bed in the hospital. After looking me over, the doctor said not to overdo because of the anemia due to the miscarriage, and for about three months, I faithfully followed the doctor’s instructions including receiving injections and taking medicines, but none of the treatments had any effect whatsoever, rather my condition worsened further. Because I had continued to stay in bed, my physical strength also weakened, I did not have one bright day, and the anguish continued.
     When I had lost all hope for the future, falling to the bottom of absolute despair, I heard about this precious path from a close relative and right away a minister from the branch church was asked to come to the hospital to channel Johrei to me. As I received Johrei, I felt my head which had been so heavy, become lighter, and the beating in my lower abdomen quieted. I experienced a pleasant feeling I had not felt before. I still cannot forget how the dark clouds seemed to go away and how pleasant and happy at the time I felt from just that one Johrei I received.
     I declared that I would depend only on God and I truly felt I wanted to be saved. Hoping to receive a huge blessing, the next day, I got out of bed and went to pray at the church, riding in a handcart that was pulled along for me. Thanks to God, after five days, I was able to walk on my own to church and the lump in my lower abdomen became softer, dissolving almost completely. As if wiped away by a paper towel, the grave illness I contracted after the miscarriage turned visibly in a pleasant direction day by day, and in the short period of only two weeks I recovered completely. Thank you very much.
     Regrettably, although I received this tremendous blessing, I became very busy with farming and household tasks and for a long time did not go to the branch to worship, for which I deeply apologize..
     The time flew like an arrow and on July 29, 1951, on the occasion of the delivery of my seventh son, I received a blessing and he was born without any complications. Thank you very much. The twenty-eighth day after giving birth, I received the purification of diarrhea and seemed to lose all my energy. After that, on the thirty-fifth day, after I had washed clothes, in the evening I suddenly felt chills. I also had a fever and perspired, and again I was put into bed in the hospital ward. I felt I was enveloped in dark clouds, probably because in my shallow faith, I had continued on as before without expressing any appreciation. I, who had forgotten God and strayed from the truth, had come under the care of a doctor again, for which I am very ashamed. This time as well, the diagnosis was anemia after childbirth, and injections of grape sugar and the ingestion of other such medicines were continued. Of course, all these had no effect and I only got worse. As I lay in my bed in the hospital and received a variety of treatments, my condition worsened, and it came to the point where even the doctor gave up on me. I cried out in anguish. All I could think about was death and nothing else, but on the other hand, my attachment to life, to living, was difficult to sever, and I determined to follow the lifeline of salvation once more. I immediately went to the branch to pray and prostrating myself before the altar, I apologized for the disrespect I had shown so far and pledged from the bottom of my heart not to repeat the mistake again.
     Again God compassionately gave me permission to live. I have many clouds, but this time I was truly able to understand the terror of medicinal toxins. When I think about the past, I shudder in horror. I, who had been saved by the path, had turned my back on truth and had committed the sin of depending on mistaken medical science, was forgiven not once but twice, having my life extended. From the bottom of my heart I do apologize and at the same time express my deep appreciation.
     The joy of having been bestowed life is ever greater and I am able to live each day pleasantly, blessed with health, so happy am I. I am full of the desire to try to spread word of this precious path to the suffering people of the world. Please forgive the lateness of this report.
     Meishu-sama, thank you very much. To you I express my profound gratitude.



A Comparison of Johrei and Medical Science


     This account describes a topic on which I always speak, so there is really nothing left to comment on, only to say that the following so vividly and clearly illustrates my teaching that I feel I must put down a few words. The point that demands consideration here is not that the power of Johrei exceeds that of medical science, but rather how frightening medical science truly is. Not only do its frightening aspects fail to catch attention, but rather life itself is entrusted to this preposterous medical science, which is nothing less than mystifying. This is why the situation is so mystifying.
     Johrei, a method that truly cures disease, has been discovered, so the predicament has come to be understood. If Johrei had not been discovered, patients would not believe that even though doctors are doing their best, medical treatment had worsened. People would believe instead that because their conditions were acute they did not recover from their illnesses and indeed their doctors do explain so. What a frightening world!


Blessings from Precious God and
The Foolishness of Medical Science

    Fusako Saito, 42, Minori Church      
    Fujioka Village, Shizuoka Prefecture


     Meishu-sama, thank you very much for my countless blessings. Here I would like to report my experience with the purification of Mr. Hisaji Ozawa, 39, to whom I channeled Johrei and of the blessings received.
     It was June 10. I heard that Hisaji was taking the day off. He usually seemed to be quite well but occasionally took the day off because of the pain from headaches, and I had heard indirectly that he received injections of penicillin on these occasions. Hearing of his latest affliction, I thought I must save him, so as soon as possible I paid him a visit.
     “The same as before and I’m really in a bad way,” was how he replied with eyes half opened when I asked him how he was. He said that if he kept his eyes open too long, the room seemed to spin around him. It was awful because the ice did not cool him down at all even though the ice was cold, he said, with an ice pack to his forehead, as he laid in bed with three blankets over him, complaining of the cold. That day I channeled Johrei to him but he said he did not feel any change. I told him that if he did not stop using the ice packs, he would become even more dizzy and would not be able to get out of bed. “At first the doctor said it was pneumonia, but now he says it is my chest,” Hisaji told me in a manner completely opposite from his usual outgoing attitude. “I have greatly weakened, though, so I do not have that much longer.” “Don’t worry about your chest. As long as your head feels better, that is enough. With your usual vigorous self please get better. I will try as much as possible to come and visit every day,” I replied to him. The very day I had said this to Hisaji, I ran into his wife on the way home. She cried as she told me, “My husband says that if I stay at home to look after him, the fields will not get taken care of, so he gets angry if I stay at home, but if I go to the fields to work, he says he does not like it if I look after him and that he will go to the fields. He really makes it hard for me, so I don’t want to go home, but I can’t leave him alone.” It was truly pitiful. I myself hurried back from the fields every day, but on days when we were very busy with farm work, I could not make it to his house until after sundown. After a week of visiting and channeling Johrei had passed, the ice pack that he had depended upon so much was hanging on the wall, and he seemed to be better. His body was warmer, and his bad complexion had improved.
     I really looked forward to visiting him. The doctor had previously said that his condition would not improve right away, but now he was surprised to see how much better Hisaji had become.
     On one rainy day, Hisaji told me that the doctor had come and said that it was no longer necessary to have x-rays taken. Hisaji said he felt as if he could do anything. He had eaten ten pieces of his favorite candy, he told me as he gleefully patted his stomach. I urged him not to overdo, and after saying goodbye, on the way home, I said over and over again I don’t know how many times, “Meishu-sama, thank you very much.”
     The following day, I went to Toyama and since I did not get back until late, did not visit Hisaji that day, but I had a feeling and so asked a neighbor about his condition. The neighbor reported, “He felt really good in the morning and we talked a lot, but the doctor came in the afternoon, and after a while, Hisaji started moaning that he felt worse and that his head hurt.” I asked if he had received an injection. When I heard that he had started to feel worse about two hours after receiving an injection, I unconsciously blurted out, “He got worse because they gave him that injection!” He had been so happy yesterday. He had not needed x-rays, and I felt as if I had been torn apart because even though the doctor said he was getting better, still Hisaji was given an injection. That evening I had even got to the point where I thought that tonight I should receive some kind of sign of which is better, blessings from precious God or the doctor. But inside, I was apologizing to Meishu-sama, “Meishu-sama, please forgive me.” I really did not feel like visiting Hisaji. Still, as I performed my evening prayers, all I could see was Hisaji’s face. Sitting at the table for dinner, the chopsticks felt heavy in my hands and I did not care to talk. 
     Oh, this feeling! In my family I was the only member and due to circumstances, we had not yet dedicated a sacred scroll. In place of an altar, every morning and evening, I paid my respects to Meishu-sama’s calligraphy “Sunlight,” and doing so always helped to soothe my confused state. Before going to bed, for some reason I thought “I may be woken during the night,” and while drowsily dropping off to sleep, there was knocking on the front door, “Hello! Hello!” And sure enough, it was Hisaji’s wife. “I’m really sorry to wake you so late, but please come. He is crying out very loudly, complaining of a pain in his head. If I didn’t come and get you, he said venting his pain, he would get on a bicycle and come himself.” I went right away and saw that Hisaji’s state had changed so much from before, blood having rushed to his eyes, trembling violently he said he felt so cold, and at the same time demanding a hot water bottle for warmth, with a big fuss. No one knew how to help. I prayed the Zengen Sanji and channeled Johrei to his head, and gradually the purification activity grew stronger. Just when we thought he was just rambling along, he would say something very clearly and distinctly. This continued repeatedly, and then said sat up and said, “My head is going to dissolve inside. My body seems to be floating. Quickly bring a hatchet and smash my head!” Pointing in the air he said, “My father who passed away three years ago has come for me. It’s the end.” Unconsciously we looked in each others eyes. At that moment I realized I had loaned them a copy of the Chijôtengoku magazine and I stood the cover with Kannon on it by his bedside and prayed for help. Praying to the Buddhist image, I recited a prayer, and right before my eyes an image of Meishu-sama radiantly smiling appeared before my eyes. I repeatedly prayed to him, “Meishu-sama, please help him,” and he seemed to be supportive.
     I went to Hisaji’s side and he whispered to me, “Sorry to have bothered you so much even more than a relative, but my eyes are already misty and I cannot see anything,” and moaning off and on he went to sleep.
     The night passed and in no time the eastern sky lightened and shortly it was four o’clock. Watching carefully over her husband, Hisaji’s wife and I discussed various matters. Finally she asked, “Do you think it would be all right to call a doctor?” I myself wanted to depend only on Meishu-sama but felt I had no choice but to say, “Yes, it would be all right.” Around five o’clock, some of the neighbors started to gather to find out how Hisaji was doing, and so I went home.
     I performed my morning prayers and asked, “Is it all right to proceed in this way? Or, should I stop helping?” And, again Meishu-sama appeared, and moving his hand through the air, I heard him to say, “Help him.” I could only prostrate myself in gratitude and say thank you. I wanted to go back right away, but I realized that I should not show up on their doorstep so soon when they did not completely understand about this precious path, so I did not visit until around noon. I asked how he was doing and heard that he was sleeping soundly. Hisaji’s wife told me that she had gone to get the doctor at six o’clock that morning but had been told that the doctor was to perform a coroner’s examination that day so he could not visit, and she asked me to help again. I felt as if I had received a blessing.
     The purification lasted three days, Hisaji eliminated much through diarrhea and sweating, and afterwards became very energetic. For some reason or another, the doctor did not come any more. Even now Hisaji experiences purification occasionally but is still able to go anywhere he wants.
     We received the blessing of salvation because the doctor had not been able to make a house call, and I was clearly taught the difference between modern medicine and Johrei.
     Until this experience my husband had not shown any understanding about the church, but he, along with Hisaji will soon receive their own focal points, for which blessing I express my deep appreciation. Meishu-sama, thank you very much. (October 16, 1952)



Commentary


     Soon after completing the booklet “Teachings of Meishu-sama Contained in Chijôtengoku, Issue 15,” it occurred to me that it would be appropriate to have a companion booklet containing all the teachings from one of the issues of the church newspaper. As I did with the magazine, I decided to choose one issue at random, and it was just around that time that I happened to be working on translation of poems in Eikô, Issue 194, which at the time interested me, so I decided without looking at which teachings there were in this particular issue to translate all of them and put them together in this booklet. More about how my selection process turned out later below.
     Members could look forward to reading and studying Meishu-sama’s teachings once a month in the journal, Chijôtengoku, along with testimonials and essays written by persons other than Meishu-sama. The newspaper was much the same with of course much less content, but it was published three times a month. Unlike the journal, which like a book, would have a table of contents, the newspaper did not have one and an original copy of this particular issue is not at hand at present, so an overall list of the contents cannot be presented here.
     Still, this particular issue is quite rich in ways I had not expected when I randomly selected it. I knew from experience that most issues of the newspaper carried two, at most, three essays by or interviews with Meishu-sama, but when I started on the actual work of translating I realized that Issue 194, dated February 4, 1953, carried seven pieces by or including Meishu-sama in addition to a rather larger selection of poems than the usual three that were carried in the newspaper.
     There are occasional instances of “extra editions” (meaning there was no edition number attached) that were meant to be sold door to door by members, and although Issue 194 is not an “extra edition,” the large number of varied pieces by and including Meishu-sama does seem to suggest that it was produced with much the same purpose as an “extra edition.”
     This particular issue of the newspaper, unlike other issues but like Chijôtengoku, Issue 15, contains examples of all three varieties of the teachings, poems, transcribed teachings, and essays. Each variety of teaching has its own exegetical issues and below I would like to summarize these issues as they pertain to the teachings in Eikô, Issue 194.
     First, the poems. Although Meishu-sama did not put poems in the earlier editions of the newspaper, by around 1952 he was generally including an untitled set of three poems on the front page of each issue. In this sense, Issue 194 uncharacteristically carries five poems instead of three, but characteristically, these poems are all one-offs. That is, they have no variants nor duplicates. I say “characteristically” because apart from titled sets of poems, usually with a service name, newspaper poems were generally one-off.
     Unlike most issues of the newspaper, Issue 194 contained one variety of transcribed teaching. This is the piece titled “Meishu-sama Speaks At Length on the International Situation Along with Medical and Agricultural Issues with Shiro Takeuchi and Two Others (2).” Transcribed teachings in the newspaper were not exactly rare as can be seen from the fact that the present piece is the second part of a two-part series. In one sense this transcribed teaching is quite similar textually to those in the journal because both were heavily edited before publication. For the journal, Motokichi Inoue selected Qs&As from his record of Meishu-sama’s meetings with various members and ministers and edited them for publication in the journal. In the case of this piece, “Shiro Takeuchi” was a reporter with a byline in a major newspaper so it is very probable that Meishu-sama edited this “transcription” himself.
     I have put transcription in scare quotes, not because of anything having to do with Meishu-sama or the teachings but because this particular type of transcribed teaching is of a genre very well known in Japanese intellectual publishing circles as the zadan-kai (“round-table discussion). Although constructed on the premise that the participants had gathered together and had an actual discussion, there are recorded instances where a discussion did not happen and the back-and-forths were submitted in writing. Since this particular piece involves two groups of people who had no relationship other than this particular meeting, it is a good bet that the meeting actually took place. It is enough to know that this piece was most likely revised, or at least edited by Meishu-sama, and is not of the same type as the three sets of transcribed talks, Record of Enlightening Talks (Gokôwa-roku), Record of Instructions (Gosuiji-roku), and Record of Oral Teachings (Mioshie-shû), which are said to have been transcribed and published without Meishu-sama having edited the written transcription.
     The third category which are the essays shows the most variety and also a few types that have not been widely translated and made available to the English-reading public so far. First, the most familiar type is represented in Issue 194 by “The Great Age of Terror is Upon Us” and “Above Religion.” In form and tone, these two essays are the type best known to English readers. The second type is quite similar in tone to the first, only much shorter. This is represented by “Medical Science Fragments 29: Untitled.” This particular essay is noted for being named “Untitled,” but most of the some thirty short essays that are in this category bear a title. For Japanese readers, the word “fragments,” or danpenshû in Japanese, signifies this series more than anything else.
     The third type is most likely unknown to English readers. Rev. Higuchi did not publish any essays of this type, nor have I seen publications with this type from any of the other organizations. This is the type known in Meishu-sama’s church in Japanese as okagebanashi hihan, literally, “testimonial critique,” represented in Issue 194 by “One Instance of a Spiritual Disease,” “An Example of the Superstition of Medical Science,” and a “Comparison of Johrei and Medical Science.” These are two-part articles in which Meishu-sama introduces a testimonial that has been sent in by a follower and points out what should be looked for when reading the account.
    Meishu-sama’s part of these articles is usually very short and nowadays the testimonials are at least over sixty-years-old. Needless to say, Japanese society has, as have all other societies, changed greatly since Meishu-sama’s day. A further reason for not making a point of translating Meishu-sama’s “testimonial critiques” is that Meishu-sama always tried to run the most recent testimonials in his periodicals. Being an Edoite, he prided himself on being with the times, so to introduce these testimonials now may not seem to be in accord with Meishu-sama. For these reasons and also due to privacy concerns, nowadays when publishing testimonial critiques in Japan, Meishu-sama’ part of the piece is reproduced and the testimonial part is represented by “text omitted.”
     However, on the pro side of introducing these testimonial critiques are several factors. First, to have only Meishu-sama’s part of the critique without the testimonial is to deprive ourselves of the context of Meishu-sama’s remarks. True, many things have changed in sixty years both in Japan and throughout the world, especially in the field of medical science, but still, we are able to see faith in action and Meishu-sama responding to actual situations. Just one item that could be pointed out that is carried in these three testimonials: all three sufferers are under the care of a doctor. In the transcribed teachings that we have available, Meishu-sama says in very strong terms that if a person is undergoing medical treatment, not to channel Johrei or go to a hospital to channel Johrei, but Meishu-sama has put these testimonials in one of the church periodicals (“A Comparison of Johrei and Medical Science” was included in the book God Works Miracles which was published the following year). One could say that Meishu-sama is inconsistent, but we also know that Meishu-sama did say quite often that we cannot judge the right or wrong of any situation and that we have to be flexible, adapt, and take all matters on a case-by-case basis. We also know that Meishu-sama was not happy with some of the testimonials he received (meaning he did not print them in the periodicals), mostly because of the low level of understanding demonstrated by the writer, so although use of the phrase “approved by Meishu-sama” is probably inappropriate, it can imagined that Meishu-sama thought the testimonials he chose would be of benefit to his readers.
     To provide a little background, it should be mentioned that about half of the books that Meishu-sama published after the war and before his death were of the testimonial critique type, although several did contain a group of separate essays in the front part of the book. Probably most well known to English readers by name, not content, is Salvation for Americans (Amerika o Suku-u). What English readers may know of the content from samizdat translations is usually only Meishu-sama’s part, because, as described above, the current editorial practice in Japanese is to reproduce only Meishu-sama’s part. Apart from the first six chapters of Salvation for Americans, each chapter was headed by an essay (which are usually translated) followed by several testimonials (which are not), thus we miss much of the context and contents of the original publication.

translated by cynndd