Great Construction

Record of Oral Teachings, Issue 19
March 15, 1953


February 17, 1953

     As regards the cover for Amerika o Suku-u [Salvation for Americans], I am often asked about its significance. You also will be asked about it, I believe, so let me speak a little about what it means.
     Now is just the time when globally it has become the world of daylight. In other words, the sun is finally rising. As America represents stars, stars shine in the darkness of night. So, the cover represents that the sun appears in the darkness of night. In spiritual terms, that is what it is. Physically speaking, however, on the cover, the American flag is on top and the Japanese rising sun flag is at the bottom. When Americans see this, they will probably feel pleasant, so I did it that way, but the reason is as I have just explained.
     England is as I have always taught, the moon. As the moon gradually moves to the western skies, the light of the moon disappears, and then the stars shine. So, as England declines, America will shine globally. And then, finally, as the sun rises, the light from the stars will gradually fade. That is what will happen from now on. First the sun will appear in America, so gradually this will take concrete form.
     Then there is the Soviet Union, or properly speaking, Russia. Russia represents the dew. The greatest amount of dew remains on the ground of the earth right before the sun starts to come out, at daybreak. But, when the sun comes out, the dew dries up, so eventually, such activity will be seen globally. And then, France represents mist or fog, and Germany, earth. So, in the future, Germany will become primary in Europe. Europe will be unified. Europe has that destiny.
     Various matters of such in the world are clearly represented in astronomy and natural phenomenon. And then, human beings become stars. So, as the number of human beings increases, the number of stars also increases. The number of stars is still increasing. In antiquity, the number of stars was much less. The discovery of new stars is often talked about, and what could be called gnew starsh will still increase. Hereafter will be a time when only big stars will be discovered, I wrote about this recently. The stars of the moon, fire [Mars], water [Mercury], wood [Jupiter], gold [Venus], soil [Saturn]* will be the leaders of each nation.
     Next, previously I had up to Number 4 of Igaku Kakumei no Sho (Book of Medical Science Revolution) read, so this time, I will have read aloud Number 5.
(Reading of essay: g5, Surgical Procedures,h Igaku Kakumei no Sho)
     Next, What I would like to warn all against are Chinese herbal medicines. Chinese herbal medicines are extremely toxic, poisonous. Their toxicity is actually stronger than that of Western medicines. Another factor is that the dosage amount of Chinese herbal medicines is great. I often ask sick people, gYou have taken quite a bit of medicine, havenft you?h They say they have not, and I further ask them, gThat is not right, you must have taken something.h Then they reply, gWell, if you could call it medicine, when I was a kid, I drank herbal teas.h There are those who do not usually think of herbal tea as Chinese herbal medicine. They say they drink it in place of regular tea, but this Chinese herbal medicine is frightening. The best way to understand this is to ask individuals with poor complexions, those who always look pale, if they have taken Chinese herbal medicines, and they always have. I ask them, gYoufre taking Chinese herbal medicines, arenft you?h and they reply, gJust a little. Maybe about two or three small earthenware teapots.h But even just one earthenware teapot of this medicine contains a tremendous amount of poison. Japanese people have come to die early due to Chinese herbal medicines.
     The fact that recently the life span has lengthened is greatly a result of the Japanese people not taking Chinese herbal medicines anymore. In the case of Western medicines, complexion does not get as poor and mortality is not affected as much as with Chinese herbal medicines. Recently, however, Western medicines have come to yield not one inch to Chinese herbal medicines, and medicines such as penicillin, if they continue to develop as they have, will temporarily lengthen the life span, but after that, the life span will again shorten. Therefore, the new medicines that will come on the market from now on will be frightening. Being efficacious means the poisonous element is strong. So, for that reason, from now on, it may be worthwhile to ask patients if they have taken Chinese herbal medicines.
    
Since antiquity, Chinese herbal medicines were taken mostly by village farmers, not urban dwellers, and that is why villagers have bad complexions. Many of them are either pale or jaundiced. It is said that their complexion is poor because they eat, coarse, simple food, but not so. Their complexions are poor because they drink decocted medicines. Farming villagers will surely have some variety of decocted medicines. They are easy to procure because villagers donft have to pay for them; they can go out to the mountains and just cut the grasses there. They can get the grasses for free. They dry them and continually use them for tea, so their complexions are poor. Most cases seem to be those with pale, dropsical swelling. There are many individuals who are pale and chubby, and this condition is what I call Chinese herbal medicine poisoning.  It seems the most are pale with dropsical swelling. Then again, Western medicines do not produce the bluish or pale complexions but rather skinnier people. So, the pale, chubby person is representative of Chinese herbal medicine poisoning. Since antiquity, Chinese people have had jaundiced complexions. When we think or speak of a Chinese person, we think of a chubby person with a jaundiced complexion and that condition results from Chinese herbal medicines.
     Particularly in the cases where women are afflicted with Chinese herbal medicine poisoning, the skin becomes poor and dry. Their skin is not lustrous nor glossy. Thus have the women today had their skin made poor since the times of their ancestors and their parents with Chinese herbal medicines, and recently women have come to having strong Western medicines injected directly into the skin, so their condition will worsen. More to the point, cosmetics these days contain medicine. In the old days, what we called face powder contained mostly just lead, but these days, in addition to lead poisoning, cosmetics also contain medicinal poisons, so the skin of todayfs women is getting worse. Even young people have to apply cosmetics or they are not presentable. And these cosmetics are ever increasingly developed. When I say gdevelop,h I mean the development of deception. At just a glance, women appear very pretty. But to appear so, they have to apply thick layers of cosmetics. You can go to the beauty parlor and have your face moistened with a steaming towel, but even without that much bother, the Creator fashioned women to be beautiful.
     And, nowadays the nation with the worst skin is the United States. I am told that the skin of young women in the U.S. has become really rough. This happens because with the continual use of various medicines and techniques, it becomes that way. To begin with, lipstick is applied. Women apply lipstick because the color of their lips are poor. Even the use of rouge is strange. Cheeks are meant to be red. All are worsening themselves with medicinal toxins. So, recently women have gradually come to apply more and more cosmetics. Cosmetics probably take the number one place in expenditures by young women these days. Those who worry about their faces are desperate to appear even a little fashionable. In the case of married and other couples, when they go out together, the woman spends an hour or two in front of the mirror, and the man has to wait. From all this, the harm is tremendous. It is really quite pathetic. But all of this is the result of medicinal toxins. So, nowadays there is no woman who could be called beautiful.
     In the age of Ono no Komachi, the use of Chinese herbal medicines was considerable but not to the extent that they are today, so there is no mistake that she was probably a beauty. When a woman becomes a believer of World Messianity, she gradually becomes pretty. This is because she does not take medicines and her blood becomes purer through Johrei. She has the capacity to become a lot more beautiful, but the medicinal toxins from her ancestors still remain, so when she finally has grandchildren, they will be truly beautiful. However, rather than their grandchildren, women themselves probably want to become pretty c.
     From all these perspectives, Chinese herbal medicines are quite bad, but also, their dosage amounts are great. So, no matter how much Johrei is channeled, the medicinal toxins still continue to be dispelled. That is the way Chinese herbal medicines are. In Western medicines, there is swelling, boils, pimples, and rashes, so in this sense, they are easy to take care of. As was just read, in Western medicines, the most frightening are the disinfectants. In Chinese herbal medicines, the most frightening is Gen no Shō [Geranium thunbergii] and Chinese lizard tail or bishopfs weed [Houttuynia cordata]. In Japanese, Chinese lizard tail is called dokudami, so perhaps society does recognize that doku [poison] tame [remains],c. but Chinese lizard tail is ingested by many in the red-light entertainment industry. One thing I heard long ago was that prostitutes and geisha customarily drank it infused in place of tea. Thatfs why those in that world had to apply a lot of cosmetics or else their complexions would be very poor. The poor complexions were due to the infused tea. Thus, of those who are afflicted by Chinese herbal medicine poisoning, women number the most. There are several kinds of brands, Chūjōtō being one of them, but they are all Chinese herbal medicines. So, womenfs beauty is severely harmed by Chinese herbal medicines.
     For that reason, I ask patients whether they have taken a lot of Chinese herbal medicines or not, because depending on that answer, Johrei can take a lot longer to obtain results. The results can differ greatly if the one who channels Johrei does not take this aspect into consideration.
     I will have read aloud a rather interesting essay that I have written.
(Reading of essay: gHeroes of Peace,h Eikō, Issue 199, March 11, 1953)

Record of Oral Teachings, Issue 19, pp. 39-44, March 15, 1953
translated by cynndd


*Translatorfs note: the series of gmoon, fire water, wood, gold, soil,h with the addition of gsunh are also the names for the days of the week from which may have come when this list of elements was also used in ancient times as a way to count groups composed of seven items.