Record of Enlightening Talks, Issue 1
December 8, 1948

October 28, Thursday

Question: Will the big purification come suddenly some time next year? Or, will it come suddenly after three or four years?
Answer: The big purification has been coming for some time now. Even now it is coming. The fall of the privileged classes, the difficulties in the daily lives of the members of families of the Imperial Household after the war are all indications of this. The confusion in the political world at present is also part of the big purification. The big purification will not come suddenly, but will arrive gradually. Whatever the situation, it will not be sudden.

Question: Just a while ago, scabies was rampart among members, but recently one does not see many instances of it.
Answer: We will have fewer cases of scabies. As purification becomes more severe, conditions more serious than scabies, more intense purifications will appear. In these cases, life itself will probably be in danger. From now on, the toxins that have been eliminated as scabies will come out instead as small pox and other diseases, so it will be much more severe.

Question: In such cases, will it be sudden?
Answer: Yes, sudden. Yes, now we are seeing other forms of purification, but God is skillfully handling matters.

Question: The current world situation appears extremely grave and we seem to be on the verge of World War III.
Answer: The strife on all fronts in China is a major form of purification. The defeat of Japan was a purification for Japan, but China’s is rather major. The purification in Korea is quite major too. But I will not make any prophecies. Previous prophecies I made seem to have caused problems. If affairs proceed as I prophesied, that is all right, but when some people report these prophecies, they add, “The great judgment is coming and only members of the Japan Kannon Church will be saved.” Regional newspapers have been very vociferous in reporting this. It cannot be helped that the prophecies of a new religion are so widely reported in society. Nobody talks about Christianity’s prophecy of the end of the world, but that is the way it is with new stores. Criticism can be very trying.

Question: Why is it that even though people may be saved physically by Johrei, there are few people who can be changed spiritually or mentally.
Answer: What do you mean by people who can not be changed spiritually or mentally?

Question: For example, there are many instances of the continuing quarrels of a couple and it looks like they haven’t been changed at all.
Answer: Such matters do not change easily. It can take some twenty or thirty years for a couple to stop quarrelling. It is quite something if they can stop quarrelling right away. Rather than worrying about others, people should think of themselves. You should think about whether you yourself can be healed so easily. It is really something if you can heal your own attitude in five years. Another factor is timing. Also are the factors of order and of stages. In the past, when I belonged to the Omoto religion, I thought it was a good religion, but there were some things about it that I didn’t care for and I stayed away for about five years. Then, someone came along who said I should try looking into it one more time. I started again and was able to understand more and became quite enthusiastic. Eventually I left Omoto, but I was very enthusiastic about it at the time. I learned many things during that period, and I am still grateful for this. This is the way things are, so one cannot say if something is good or bad merely by looking at the surface. In this church, there are some people who immediately upon joining become quite fervent, then cool off, and then there are some people who are cool at first but become fervent later on. There are all kinds, including those who would seem able to produce good results, but don’t. Then again, the time comes when that person really does show results.
     So, in most cases I try to let people work on their own and not say anything. In that case, things go well. If people make mistakes, eventually they will reach an impasse. Some are shocked and immediately change their attitude. Since it is important that people remove their attachments, matters should be left as they are. You should let people proceed until they reach an impasse. It is difficult to stop midway a stone hurtling down a hill. Let it roll down to the bottom of the hill, then secure it. In the same way, it is more effective to talk to persons once they have reached an impasse.

Question: You were born on December 23, the same day as the crown prince. There seems to be some sort of spiritual affinity to this.
Answer: I myself think there is some kind of mysterious spiritual affinity. December 23 is the winter solstice, and the new year starts from the twenty-fourth. Yes, it does! I forgot exactly the reason why but New Year’s Day was postponed one week and the day now known as January 1 became the formal start of the new year. My poetry nom de plum is Akemarô and I took the character that is pronounced Aki in the crown prince’s name Akihito to use as Ake- in Akemarô.
     I first opened a healing clinic on May 1, 1934, and when I moved to that place the week before on April 23, a newspaper vendor came, I believe he was from the Yomiuri newspaper, and he asked me to take the paper and I refused then. But on his way out, he left a photograph of the crown prince. I decided to take the paper, but I thought it indeed mysterious to receive a photograph of the crown prince during the fourth month after his birth. I bought a red frame at a nearby used goods dealer and the photograph fit exactly. I keep it now at Hôzan-sô. There is some kind of mysterious relationship and soon that relationship will be shown concretely.

Question: I heard that according to the celestial beings, virgins have few sins, but does this mean that married women have greater sins?
Answer:  Fewer impurities, not less sin. Women are born and marry. So it may seem strange. Virgin women go to a good place in the spiritual world. The spirits of children care for the flower gardens in the spiritual world. When women become adults, attachments are formed, and romantic love is one form of attachment.

Question: I would like to ask about the voiced sounds, like g, z, and the semivoiced sound p.
Answer: Voiced sounds like g and z are unclean and do not work in a good way. For example, the phrase hito no tame [“for people”] is an example of activity in a good way, but dame means “no good,” right? But voiced sounds are necessary. In the name Isuzugawa, s comes before z, so it works in a good way. The j in Jew is a voiced sound and it works in a materialistic way. When I was in Omoto, I studied Onisaburo Deguchi’s language science and, if you think about it in those terms, the de of Deguchi is really zu, the guchi of Deguchi is (transcriber could not make out the words), the oni of Onisaburo is of course “devil,” and the saburo is feminine and means “the moon.” When I was able to understand language science, I realized that Omoto was connected with the Jewish line. This was one reason I left Omoto. What comes with the voiced (“impure”) after all, is impure.

Question: What about the z in Shizuko?
Answer: This indicates some kind of material activity…. And, the p sounds have the meaning of emphasis or making stronger.

Question: Should names not have voiced sounds?
Answer: It’s all right. Human beings have to have some impurities, they can’t be that pure all the time. As the proverb, “fish can’t live in clean water,” shows, some impurity is necessary. Purity and impurity must be kept in good balance. I will write about language science in a book soon. It is good to remember things like this.

Question: About the eight great kings,¹ 1) especially the affinity of the dragon deities that were confined to the seas around Japan; 2) their present activities; and 3) the meaning of your poem, “Yatariotome / Became one divine spirit / And descended / To this earth plane / As the deity Izunome.” (Yatariotome tada hitokashira no kamumitama to narase kono do ni izunome no kami.);² 4) the question of whether some deity been enshrined in the Naruto Straits.
Answer: The eight great kings are Japanese deities so they have been enshrined in the seas around Japan, waiting for the right time. Previously, they had considered attaining buddha rank and so they went to India, but the activity of the Buddha did not suit them so they returned to Japan to wait for the end of the Buddhist law and were enshrined in the seas around Japan. This can be demonstrated in other actions and events. They are now active as human beings. Most of them are in the Japan Kannon Church.
     Yatariotome really forms nine different divine beings, nine great kings. One of those divine beings is Izunome. This deity and I have a deep affinity and is always protecting me. In the past, the deity has possessed me and informed me of various matters. This golden dragon lay waiting in Lake Biwa and is also the god of Kusashi Shrine at the second station of Mount Fuji. Even in spirit, we can see the spirit and body distinction. The spirit of this golden dragon is Kono-hana-sakuya-hime-no-mikoto of Mount Fuji and the body is Lake Biwa. On April 21 1929, this deity left Lake Biwa and ascended to heaven. Reports in the newspapers at the time told of violent winds and great deluges. Forty-seven boats were sunk. As to a deity in the Naruto Straits, there is no deity there. The deity of the ocean is called Koto-hirawake-no-mikoto and this deity protects the oceans. This is the deity popularly known as Konpira-sama.

Question: How do Ko-no-hana 木花 and Ko-no-hana 兄花 differ?
Answer: In terms of flowers, “Ki”-no-hana 木花 means cherry blossoms, and “Ani”-no-hana 兄花 are plum blossoms. Both represent Kannon, but “Ki”-no-hana is the Kannon of the Buddhist world and “Ani”-no-hana is the Kannon of the divine world. The plum blooms first in the spring, so they are the ani, the elder brother. In common Japanese conversation, referring to “flowers” usually means “cherry blossoms.”

Question: Did the world of evil forces come about when the divine beings Kamurogi and Kamuromi were born and the distinction between good and evil came about? Also, what is the significance of the existence of the world of evil forces seen from the eyes of the creator? Will the world of evil forces be subdued by the forces of good when the Age of Miroku (567) comes?
Answer: No, this is not right. If you divide the divine into spirit and body according to the good-evil distinction, spirit is good, the physical is evil; according to the male-female distinction, spirit is male, the physical, female. People are naturally apt to think of this dualism in terms that “since the female is physical, she is evil,” but this only makes women angry….The Creator is not going to use the Creator’s mighty power to destroy the world of evil forces for the reason that evil is not necessary in the Creator’s eyes. Even the divine consists of contrary, opposing characteristics and because there is a God of absolute good, there also has to be a God of absolute evil. Without this contrast, there is no evolution. That is what is meant by necessary evil. In the past, I was often asked, “If God was going to make people suffer at the great judgment, the Creator should not have made evil people….” This is very true, but my reply to this was, “If I had made human beings, I could clearly explain the reason, but I was also created, and since God created everything, I can only hazard a guess. But if we follow the law that evil begets evil and good begets good, we can become happy. Isn’t it enough to know that?” The world of evil forces was made at God’s convenience. Evil will be limited in the Age of Miroku (567). Because the world of evil forces performs an animalistic activity, the function of the animal in human beings can be less and human beings have freedom to improve themselves. People now are only living within the cage called “laws”….

Question: Why do we give water to a dying person and why is water poured on the gravestones?
Answer: Water for a dying person is what other people give for a dying person to drink. Also, because persons dying from an illness may be thirsty….What don’t you understand about pouring water on gravestones? ….The water you place on the gravestone as an offering, though, is important, so you must be sure it is clean water. 


November 8, Monday

Question: I understand that the spirit leaves the body when one has a dream. Is the efficacy of Johrei less if given while the recipient is sleeping?
Answer: Not at all, because the spirit and the spiritual body are different. A human body is in the same condition whether the spiritual body is having a dream nor not. What usually leaves is the secondary spirit.

Question: When I channel Johrei, I feel like praying to Kannon with the words, “May this person be healed as soon as possible,” but should I try to control, suppress this feeling?
Answer: You don’t have to suppress this feeling! Did I say you should suppress this kind of feeling? You have made some kind of mistake. Praying and asking for Kannon’s help is exactly what you should be feeling. In times of special distress, you can also call out, “Great Teacher, please help me.” At such times, I become God’s deputy. This method should not be used all the time, for usual things, but only in special cases.

Question: A person has a statue of Jizo dedicated in their yard. What should be done if they leave it as is and move somewhere else?
Answer: It is good to have a statue of Jizo dedicated in your yard. It is a very pious deed. Speaking of having a statue of Jizo, all that needs to be done is to present flowers and food every once in a while. If the new owner doesn’t want to keep the Jizo dedicated, why can’t you take it to your new place and dedicate it there? Of course, if the new owner agrees to look after the Jizo, the Jizo statue is better off where it was first dedicated.

Question: I often see Jizo statues where the heads have fallen off.
Answer: If they are in a real bad state of repair, they can be fixed. If you try to repair it by doing extreme things like shaving off a nose or something, you will probably receive some sort of small punishment, but it is all right to do such things if the purpose is to make it look better. If offerings had been made to it in the past, someone should make them now as well. It may be that no one has made offerings. There will be some kind of sign if it wants offerings. The location or position where it is situated may be shifted a little.

Question: Two meetings before, we were privileged to hear you speak about “salvation and judgment,” and I would like to ask further about that topic. We constantly evaluate people in our daily lives. Is this too audacious? I believe that people can improve themselves through evaluation by others, but what is the proper way to look at this issue?
Answer: Evaluations are all right. There is no need to be so rigid about them. But you should be very careful not to make decisions about whether a certain person is good or evil. This is because human beings have no way of knowing whether another human being is good or evil. It is all right if we express our evaluations with a positive, cheerful attitude, but we should not say with malicious intent whether people are good or evil. Statements made with hateful and malicious intent are the source of sin. Neither should you dwell upon statements made about yourself by others. You are fine as long as you act in such a way that will not embarrass you in front of God. It is wrong to want to be thought well of or appreciated by others. What you should be aiming for is to act and behave so that you are well thought of by God, that you are loved by God. When we act this way, there may be times when others take it in the wrong way, but you do not have to concern yourself if others mistake your intentions….
     At one time I was heavily criticized by people. When I was a member of Omoto, I would get a lot of people to join Omoto and would send them off to the headquarters in Kameoka but never received a word back. After a little investigation, I found that upon arriving at Kameoka, these people were told, “That Okada is evil so don’t get near him.” Thus members would stay away from me. There is nothing more unreasonable than what this was! They may have thought I was evil, but from this episode I knew that they were evil and so left Omoto. When you are spoken badly of by someone, that person spiritually speaking takes your sin, so you should be grateful. On the other hand, speaking badly of others creates sin for the person who speaks it.

Question: Among your disciples, I am sure that there are those who have ideas about the way things should be run, the way things should be, but is this a form of attachment?
Answer: People who have ideas about the way things should be run have no faith. They do not trust God. God is handling everything. It takes much spiritual training to be able to leave things to God. People in society in general suffer because they think in human terms. When I run into a problem for which I cannot immediately come up with an appropriate solution, I leave the problem to God….
     Even if someone wants to do something I know is a mistake, I let them do it. If you warn people when they really want to do something, they won’t realize what you are saying. They will only realize it when they hit an impasse….

Question: How can you tell whether you have reached an impasse or not?
Answer: You will know it! You know you have reached an impasse because you yourself suffer. It is as if God is saying, “OK, if you think you can leave things in my hands, then do it!” That is why everything should be left in God’s hands.

Question: When it is really difficult to know how to decide between a choice of two things, I understand that some people write each of the choices down on a little paper, fold them up, and offer them to Kannon. They then ask an innocent child to pick one of the folded pieces of paper from the altar and follow the choice that was picked. I understand that matters usually work out very well.
Answer: Yes, very good.

Question: In Essays on Faith³ I read that summers are hot because that is when the earth is exhaling.⁴ I would like to ask about 1) why winters and summers are opposite on each side of the equator, and 2) why the equatorial regions are always hot.
Answer: The seasons are opposite because the hemispheres are on top and bottom. The earth’s breath, or what could be called the spirit of the earth, moves up and down, so the extremes on both the far poles are cold. 

Question: Usually it is explained that the earth’s axis links the north and south poles….
Answer: That is a difference in how to approach the issue. Rather, you should think of both poles as the extreme sides of the earth and the spiritual energy or breadth goes up and down over the equator. When the earth breathes out, it is clear, and when it breathes in, it rains. In meteorology, this is called high and lower pressure. We speak of the days being long or short, but that is because the sun is directly facing the center of the earth, the equator, and the time it takes to revolve is longer, and as the sun faces the edges, the time it takes to revolve is shorter. Scholars now speak of the heliocentric model as the truth, but that of the earth moving is not right and the right way to think of it is as the earth not moving. The Ptolemaic theory arose with Christianity, and when Galileo taught his heliocentric theory, it was considered a heresy for which he was put in jail and tortured. He was about seventy years old at the time, so he was pardoned on account of his age. Those times were really feudalistic.

Question: Are you the only one to know about the model of the earth as fixed?
Answer: Yes, probably the only one.

Question: The number seven appears often in the Bible. Does this have any significance?
Answer: Seven means completion. According to language science, you can think of nana or “seven” as the Japanese verb that ends and completes a sentence. Not only in the Bible, but in all things, one stands for “beginning” or “the single, true deity,” and two stands for negative and positive, or yin and yang. From this are born children that become three; four is expansion in the four directions. Here is where heat, fire comes about. Five, ice is melted by heat and water comes about. Six, soil is produced, then completion, seven. That is why in Christianity, it is said that the earth was completed on the seventh day which thus became a day of rest. Eight stands for opening or beginning. Nine is tsukushi, or “striving” in Japanese, and represents climax or nadir. Ten, which is written as a balanced cross in Japanese, unites the vertical and horizontal and marks true completion. Now, we are in the world of nine. Fusing the warp and the woof, that is, the cultures of the East and the West, is the work of the Japan Kannon Church. The badge that you all wear that has a “ten” in a circle is a symbol of that. Eleven shows that it has been connected and is now starting. The twenty-first century will be one in which progress starts from the point at which the warp and woof are connected. Twenty is the king, and above that, the utmost God will ride and the world will be in harmony with God’s plan. Seven is soil and so the phonetic letter ナ is also soil. The sounds in the “a” line are fundamental sounds, thus basic and also spiritual. Therefore, all the sounds in the “a” line in Japanese do not have a material or physical function, but as sounds they are of the highest level, such as in taka-amahara (highest plane of heaven) and atama (head).

Question: About the origin and function of hiragana, katakana and Chinese ideograms. Also, what do you think about the limiting of Chinese ideograms and the fact that katakana will not be taught in elementary schools now?
Answer: Chinese ideograms are the oldest, katakana are not quite as old, and hiragana are the newest. Chinese ideograms are physical while the phonetic scripts are spiritual, so that is why we cannot completely eliminate Chinese ideograms to use only phonetic scripts. It is the phonetic script that expresses the spirit of the language. Even now, sounds in the light of the language science have not been studied in relation to names. How the letter looks, its number of strokes, its yin and yang, and its position in the Chinese system of five elements all vary according to the person doing the analysis. For example, Mr. Keigo Kumazaki of Omori counts the ideogram for roku 六 as six strokes and the ideogram for go 五 as five strokes. In paintings, sumi-e is spiritual while color pictures are physical; calligraphy is spiritual while paintings in general compared to calligraphy are physical. There is no problem with a limitation on the number of Chinese ideograms. You shouldn’t have to learn unnecessary ideograms. But we really need katakana. If we didn’t have katakana to write things like “Truman,” it would look funny. Katakana is spiritual and masculine, straight, and of fire, while hiragana is physical, feminine, curving (bending), and of water.

Question: How should you count the number of strokes in the hiragana letters that are used in personal names?
Answer: Well the letter い has two strokes and the letter ろ has one stroke.

Question: There is a member who when the first time he bowed and prayed in front of the divine scroll felt that the scroll dropped a little but when he raised his head again it seemed like the scroll was back in its original position again.
Answer: This member is having purification in the head. He has a light case of anemia. There are toxins in the back of the head.

Question: Back in the days when we did physical therapy, we were told by someone who was not a member that we shouldn’t grow our hair long, but what do you think?
Answer: With men, hair on the head is necessary for dignity. That is why God has provided it. There is no problem if you grow your hair long. You should probably let your hair grow out a bit. A real short hair cut suggests a Buddhist priest. Also, in foreign countries it is the mark of a prisoner serving time, and it also seems to be militaristic. Now that Japan is becoming internationalized, it is probably better to let the hair grow out a bit.


November 18, Thursday

Question: The illegal things that politicians do to get money are being exposed one after another, but at the present stage, I don’t think it is necessary for the authorities to pursue these activities so persistently, but don’t you think?
Answer: Well, say, for example that your ration of rice for today is supposed to be two cups,⁵ but the actual ration given to you is one-third cup short, you will have to buy the missing one-third cup on the black market to get by, so the black market is necessary. Even if you observe the rationing system, if you get hungry, you can’t work. This is the same situation as that in politics today. For example, to become a Diet member, ten thousand or twenty thousand yen⁶ is not enough. One hundred or two hundred thousand yen is necessary to get elected. If you are not elected, you cannot try to fulfill the plans you believe in. There are not very many people who have such large sums of money. Even if you look to rich people for the resources, there are not so many people who will part with such large sums in these tough times. So, in this kind of situation, the use of some form of authority comes into play. When that happens, the public prosecutors get involved, so I cannot say whether it is good or bad.

Question: What about considering this issue from the daijo and shojo standpoint?
Answer: Daijo and shojo do not apply here. Politics nowadays is another issue from the subject of daijo and shojo. This is not an issue of whether God will permit this situation or not: human-made laws do not permit it. We live in a world where mistakes give birth to mistakes. That is why God has started the work of making the world true and correct…. Even if I am asked whether it is good or bad, unless you want me to tell a lie, I cannot say whether it is good or bad. For example, before, in the army, soldiers could not eat no matter how hungry they were, even if they were on the point of collapsing, unless they were expressly ordered to eat. Even if they had the provisions, they were not permitted to eat. This was really strange; if you are hungry, you should eat. We live in a world where there are people who make laws against the black market and yet people who can only live on what they buy on the black market, so I really don’t know how to evaluate this situation. That’s the reality. That’s how things are. I am going to put this in a book to be published soon, but, ten thousand yen should be more than enough for someone to get elected to the Diet. Election districts could be further divided into sub-districts and that way, we wouldn’t need election posters or speeches. All that would required is for candidates to publish their political views within a set format. On one page of a regular-sized newspaper with seventeen columns, the viewpoints of six to eight candidates could be printed. These sheets could be distributed to the people eligible to vote and they could vote for the candidates that appealed to them. America has a representational district system and that is the way it should be. Most of all, it doesn’t take that much money….

Question: Can you tell a person’s spiritual level by their occupation?
Answer: No, you can’t. Of course God can, but human beings cannot tell a person’s spiritual level just by knowing a person’s occupation. From a common sense point of view, a person’s words and actions should give you a pretty good idea. Society has a tendency to look favorably upon people who seem to be virtuous in a practical way, so you have to be careful.

Question: What do you think about life insurance?
Answer: After joining the church and reaching a certain point of understanding, you shouldn’t need life insurance. Because you don’t die at an early age. You should live until around ninety. So, you may come out a little ahead if you join a life insurance plan after you’re eighty. But, by that time, the insurers probably don’t want you.

Question: What about fire insurance?
Answer: I wouldn’t get it for my home. A house made with pure money will be all right even when the big purification comes, but homes built with tainted money will be purified. Spirits attach themselves very firmly to money. Even houses that I have had built have burned down.

Question: Is that why the red light districts burn down so often?
Answer: That is one reason, but the red light districts have others kinds of impurities as well.

Question: What do you think of giving a nutritious diet to sick persons?
Answer: Well, first of all, we have to think about what “nutritious” means. In medical science these days, a “nutritious diet” means processed food. But, the human body does not function when it absorbs processed foods. It is the purpose of the various organs in the body to absorb unprocessed foods and process them. One will weaken physically if one eats “nutritious foods.”

Question: Should people in weakened conditions drink milk and eat eggs?
Answer: Well, these are not what are considered to be nutritious foods,” are they? In a weakened condition, one’s ability to take unprocessed foods and process them decreases, so it is better to have foods that have been partially processed. The best thing is to give sick persons what they want. Apple that has been shredded is one good thing, but its juice is probably better. Since medical science is based on the standards of foreign countries, it does not take into account providing Japanese foodstuffs and prohibits foods like the bean paste called anko in Japanese. Anko, though, is made from adzuki beans, contains sugar, and is highly nutritious. Doctors prohibit their patients from eating it because it is not mentioned in the medical books. What I call nutritious are foods, especially vegetables, that have a high level of spirituality. Even with vegetables, vegetables from the West have lower levels of spirituality. The soil of Japan has a higher level of spirituality, so the vegetables it produces also have a higher level of spirituality. Matsutake mushrooms especially have a high level. That’s why they have a nice, strong aroma as well. It is probably all right to think that a vegetable with a nice, strong aroma is also high in spirituality. Fruits have aroma and much juice, so they have high levels of spirituality.
     Rice gruel is good for people with ulcers. If the stomach walls are inflamed and in danger of hemorrhaging, then sufferers should get a liquid diet, and when the hemorrhaging stops, they can eat rice gruel, and then, as they improve, cooked rice. The same with typhoid fever, people can die from hemorrhaging in the stomach. When I have diarrhea and it comes out like water, I eat a very thin rice gruel, thinner than what is normal, and, as my stools get harder, I eat more substantial food.

Question: When you talk to people, where should you focus your eyes?
Answer: You can focus them wherever you want. It will differ according to the situation. A man probably won’t want to look elsewhere when he talks with a beautiful woman, and if you talk with people who happen to have strange expressions on their faces, you probably won’t want to look at them all the time. The key here is to be natural. Try to make the other person feel as comfortable as possible. Another point is, if you are in a social situation with three or four other persons, you should not talk to just one person. You should carry the conversation along so that no one feels bad or left out. Moving your eyes all about while talking is rude to that person, but then again, keeping your eyes straight ahead like the horse in the old horse-carriage story is not so good either; it is all a matter of degree. Bows should be neither overly officious nor perfunctory. It all varies depending on the person and the occasion, so one measure of people’s faith is how well they are able to associate with others. Things should always be handled with moderation….
     And, at the same time, there are those who don’t look at us while we are talking to them, and when I experience this, I think there might be something troubling that person. It is not that they don’t look at others, but because they have a mental or emotional problem, they don’t want to be seen, be looked upon, by others.

Question: There are people who seem to glare at others…
Answer: That’s because these people haven’t learned to look at others in a friendly way. People who really do bad things have a softer glance, like the ringleader of the Teigin Incident, Mr. Hirasawa. That is what his wife said. She said to watch out for good, gentle men. Also, you should watch out for speakers who are too glib. There are many people who are well poised and talk well who try to deceive others. The people who can’t use words skillfully will try to act, to actually do something.

Question: What is the relationship between Miroku Ôkami when Miroku is written in ideograms as “sun, moon, earth” and Miroku Bosatsu when Miroku is written with the Chinese ideograms for Bodhisattva Maitreya as in The Lotus Sutra?
Answer: Miroku Bosatsu is a disciple of Sakyamuni. Miroku Ôkami will now appear in the world. When Sakyamuni prophesied that Miroku Bosatsu would appear on earth 5,670 million years later, he was talking about Miroku Ôkami (“sun, moon, earth deity).

Question: Should the prayer in a marriage service in front of a divine scroll be the Amatsu Norito or the Zengen Sanji?
Answer: It should be the Zengen Sanji. The Amatsu Norito is a prayer of purification and the Zengen Sanji is about how a good world will come about after purification. Of course, both of them would be right for such a service. You should pray The Amatsu Norito after you make the food and branch offerings. Branch offerings are usually from the sakaki tree or pine tree, but pine is probably best. When offering the branch with the left hand, carry the needles in the right hand and offer the stem to the altar. When you carry the stem with the left hand, it makes the shape of the number one.⁷

Question: I would like ask for guidance concerning the ground-breaking ceremony for our new center.
Answer: The carpenters know about that kind of thing, so leave it up to them.

Question: I would like to ask about 1) the udumbara, which is said to bloom only once in three thousand years, and 2) prenatal care.
Answer: Udumbara is from a legend of India where it is said that a big flower blooms from which appears the Bodhisatva Cakravarti to save the world. In Japan, this is the name for the eggs of an insect, but there is a meaning to this, since when it appears there are many changes, and, as often happens, there are many bad things as well.
     Prenatal care is when the fetus that hears good things grows up to become a good child and when a mother who wants to give birth to a child with a beautiful face, looks at the picture of a beautiful woman. This works to a certain extent. Essays on Faith should be read by an expecting mother as prenatal care. Looking at the calligraphies and pictures of great people is helpful, and so is looking at a picture of Kannon. One can receive spiritual energy by looking at such pictures.

Question: Last year [1947] a girl was born on November seventh and she died on the tenth. She had a purplish blue spot on her back. This year a boy was born on November fourth and he died on the seventh. Half his body had purplish spots. Both times after birth the babies only drank the mother’s milk once. Labor was not hard and both parents are members. What should they do so that a healthy child can be born.
Answer: These parents have lots of medicinal toxins in the blood. The children would not turn out well if they had grown up so they died early. But toxins in the blood will gradually disappear, so the next baby will be all right.... Both these children died on the seventh. There is a spiritual reason to this. Most likely a spirit that died on the seventh. Or, if a spirit not linked by blood to the family, a spirit with some sort of resentment. A spirit that died with resentment. If a relative, one that died on the seventh. This relative created many sins, so they apportion the sins among their descendents. So, in the long run, they help others, accumulate virtue, and pass away.

Question: Why do birthmarks, warts, and moles appear?
Answer: There are two types of birthmarks, black and red. Black ones come from spirits with resentment. The resentment stains the spirit and before this stain has been purified in the spiritual world, the spirit is born again. For example if a spirit was killed before by a spear, the resentment for that death will appear on the shoulder of the party that did the killing. Red birthmarks appear when a person who was beheaded in a former life and stuffed into a coffin and is born again without being completely purified. Moles are a symbol of one’s destiny. Moles around the mouth mean that one will not be in want for food. I have two moles. It is said that one around the neck means one will not be in want for clothes. A mole under the eyes is called a “crying mole.” There are two types of warts, those that can be removed and those that can’t. Warts are also a symbol of one’s destiny.

translated by cynndd

Notes

¹  From Sanskrit, asta naga-rajah.

²  In a set of poems titled “Golden Dragon” in Gosanka Poems, 1948, #43.

³ In Japanese, Shinkô Zatsuwa. Other translations of this title include Miscellany of Faith, Miscellaneous Topics Related to Religious Faith, and Talks for Spiritual Understanding.

⁴ Not a direct quote, but the questioner is referring to the chapter, “The Earth Breathes.”

⁵ Rice was and still is considered the basic foodstuff. It had been rationed since the time of Japan’s second war with China. Volume measurement was used traditionally and up until the time of this meeting for measuring rice, although nowadays, rice is measured by weight. Approximate measurement in the corresponding English system is given to maintain Meishu-sama’s line of reasoning.
 
⁶ Japan underwent rampant inflation after World War II and the value of the yen changed daily. The value of the yen these days compared to its value at the end of 1948 when this meeting took place is 620 times. As of February 2005, the exchange rate is hovering around 105 yen to the dollar, so the figures Meishu-sama gives in the text (left) would be in February-2005 dollar values (right) approximately as follows.
        ￥ 10,000                 $59,047
        ￥ 20,000                 $118,095
        ￥100,000                $590,476
        ￥200,000                $1,180,952

⁷ The last two sentences of this answer appeared in the first edition of Record of Enlightening Talks, Issue 1. In an anthologized version that was published on April 30, 1955, these two sentences had been revised to the following one sentence. “When offering the branch, hold the stem with the right hand, carry the needles in the left hand, and offer the stem to the altar.”