Great Construction

Learn to Discern the Will of God


     I have written on this subject in the past, but to reiterate, human beings are born to fulfill God’s goal which is the construction of an ideal world. As long as individuals act in accord with this goal, they should be in perfect health and able to work in a pleasant and comfortable fashion. This is an unshakable truth. However, to begin with, we carry the medicinal toxins from our ancestors, and because after our own birth we ingest toxins unaware of their actual harm, we do get sick, which is only inevitable. But, in cases where someone who is useful to God cannot work, as it would harm God’s cause, it is only natural that the individual recovers expediently so there is no need for concern. Those who are not aware of this, however, use the poison called medicine and suppress disease, and since medicine strays from truth, the individual does not recover smoothly.
     Such is the case not only with disease. These principles apply to all sorts of calamities and misfortune, which are all purifying activities. But with purification, the form differs due to cause. For example, with the sins having to do with money and material, such as robbery, embezzlement, causing loss to others, and living extravagantly beyond one’s means, sins and impurities are atoned for through money and material. In society we often see cases where the son or children of a rich family will squander money away as if it were water, and such activity expiates the sins of the parents and ancestors. The ancestors select one of their living descendants for the task of purifying the family in order that the family line does not die out and that the family as a whole will prosper, so in these cases no amount of reasoning with the selected descendent will stop the purification activity.
     As an example, suppose there are two brothers. The older one is a ne’er-do-well who is beyond help, but the younger is honest, conscientious, and proper. One might think that the elder is bad and ruining the good name of the family, but observed from the daijo viewpoint, the situation is the opposite. When considered in terms of reducing the sins and impurities of the ancestors, the elder brother is better. In which case it is impossible to understand and judge right and wrong, good and evil, by the way human beings think.
     Then again, possessions destroyed by fire; loss through robbery and fraud; losses incurred in the stock market, horse or bicycle racing in an attempt to make money; failure in business, and having to use up savings due to sickness; are all the purification of material sins through material. Even if one is able to evade human laws, the laws of God are absolute, so it is not to be helped. In the same way, sin created by deceiving people through the eyes is purified by disease in the eye; sins created by words painful to the ear are purified by pain in the ears and disease of the tongue; deeds that make people feel pain in the head are purified through headache; sins incurred by use of some part of the body for one’s own selfish interest are cleansed through purification of that respective part of the body. All purification occurs in accordance with the law of spiritual affinity.
     On the other hand, there is another kind of purification. That is the suffering experienced after starting a life of faith. What is more, that suffering increases the more fervent the faith.
     At this point, those of shallow faith will waver, and this moment is important. In response to fervent faith, God tries to provide benefit, both spiritual and material, but if the recipient is clouded, those clouds have to be purified, so it is purification to cleanse the receptacle before use. If the purification can be endured without wavering, wonderful blessings can be received once the purification is finished.
     In this regard, I have an experience of my own. I suffered for twenty years under debt, and no matter how quickly I tried to repay it, I could not, so I resigned myself to paying it back slowly. In 1941, however, it came about that I could repay the entire amount. A huge load was lifted from my shoulders. Then, the following year, I unexpectedly started to receive money. Taken aback, the profundity of God’s will was brought home to me again.
     “Prosperity after a fire” is a phrase used in Japanese which is an example of fortune improving after  purification has finished. The fire in Atami three years ago is a good illustration. The difference in Atami before the fire and today is as night to day. Thus it can be seen that what is good is of course good, but that what is bad is purification, and that once purification has concluded, matters and affairs will naturally improve, so whichever way the situation may turn is good. Not being sick is good, but if an individual happens to become sick, that is good too, which is true peace of mind. Even so, this goes for people of faith, but for those without faith, it is the opposite. Suffering gives birth to more suffering, and the more one hurries to get better, the worse the situation becomes until the individual sinks to the depths of the abyss. The principles outlined above show that the secret to human happiness lies in discerning the truth of God’s will and purification.

Eikō, Issue 237, December 2, 1953
translated by cynndd


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“Goshin’i o Satore,” originally published in Eikō, Issue 237, December 2, 1953, too late for inclusion in the essays anthology for ministers Goshinsho: Shūkyō-hen (Divine Writings: Volume on Religion), March 25, 1954, but included in the essays anthology for the general public Tengoku no Fukuinsho (Gospels of Heaven), August 25, 1954, page 104, both published while Meishu-sama still alive, has appeared in translation. Citation is given below for reference.


“Law of Spiritual Affinity and Purification,” Fragments, 1965, page 19 [translation from second paragraph to end].

“Man’s Mission,” Fragments, 1965, page 47 [translation of first paragraph].

“Understand God’s Will,” Foundation of Paradise, 1984, page 299.

“Understand God’s Will,” Teachings of Meishu-sama, Volume Three, 2005, page 64.

“Awake to the Will of God,” A Hundred Teachings of Meishusama, no date, page 181.