Great Construction

Divine Will and Medical Science

     Before discussing the topic of divine will and medical science what must be understood is the Biblical account of the forbidden fruit of the tree. The story has it that when the fruit of this tree is eaten, evil is produced. The fruit of the tree is nothing other than medicine, that is, pharmaceuticals or drugs. Buddhist literature as well contains the volume title Collection of Medicinal Herbs, and there are also teachings that say that the Boddhisattva Regarder of the Cries of the World appeared in the world as an avatar with the title Tathagata Master of Medicine. Why is it that God and the Buddha all promoted the use of medicines? As this doubt would naturally arise among my followers who do know that medicines are toxic, I will explain.
     I have taught that from the beginning of creation until the present, evil has been necessary, and even though evil as such is not directly related to medicines, there is very much of an indirect relationship. In fact, evil was created by medicines. To explain the process simply, medicines created evil, conflict arose through evil, and civilization developed through conflict. Indeed, the depth of the profundity of the divine economy is not measurable or knowable through human wisdom. Thus, as I have already written, the evil that is performed which the perpetrators believe to be good is the most frightening kind of evil, and this evil is none other than medical science which was brought about by God. An important point to consider here is the great role, in addition to the cultural development of civilization through the conflict between good and evil, that has been played by medicines. That role has been the weakening of human health through the application of medicines. Such a role may be thought to be an unimaginable paradox, but as it is truth. I do hope it is believed.
     To give an example, as the life of human beings in primitive ages was completely natural, the clothing, food, and dwellings of human beings of these times were the same as those of the beasts. Therefore, human health as well differed in no way from that of beasts. Human beings roamed the mountains and plains at will, continually fighting with ferocious beasts, poisonous snakes, and other such animals. Such was the level of the life of human beings. Because it was a continual process of struggle and conflict, as a matter of course human wisdom advanced. When this age had more or less come to a close, the battle between and among human beings began, and it need not be noted how much of an important element in this conflict was the development of human knowledge. In such a way has continued to increase human knowledge even further to the point we are at today, so you can well understand that these developments were to advance the culture necessary for the construction of paradise on earth. If primitive peoples had been satisfied with their health, the will to advance would not have arisen, so poison was used, as described above, and God greatly encouraged its use by leading human beings to believe that poison is medicine. There is absolutely no way to grasp the profundity of God’s will through human wisdom. Implicitly believing that through medicines illnesses are healed, and by this concept being deeply implanted in the human psyche, human beings have lived until now.
     Speaking in frank terms, God created the superstition of the efficacy of pharmaceuticals. Human beings who have been made to dance to the tune of medicines were able at first to roam the mountains and plains as the beasts as described above, but because human beings began to suffer, they started to create easy paths and went on to fashion vehicles for traveling instead of walking, making horses and cows pull these vehicles, and in foreign countries, to invent machines and run over rails trains that burn coal for fuel. Advancing even further, human beings have come to manufacture astonishingly convenient vehicles like the automobile and the airplane, so we can observe and understand from all these developments that the foundation for the advance of culture is a sign of the deep profundity of divine economy.
     The weakening of human health as described above has also witnessed in other respects the formation of all aspects of civilization, from political and economic systems to such fields as social structures, education, and the arts, all for the purpose of the creation of a better society, so in the long run, all has been nothing but preparation for paradise on earth.

Unpublished essay, apart from its appearance in the mimeographed booklet titled Economy (Keirin), edited by Ichiro Nakamura, and dated August 16, 1952; web master suggests there are many similar points to the essay “The Origin of Evil and Its Relation to Disease” (“Aku no Hassei to Yamai”) from Creation of Civilization (Bunmei no Sôzô) and that perhaps this essay may be an earlier draft.

    translated by cynndd