Great Construction

The Law of the Spiritual Preceding the Physical

     This essay contains information that is quite important, and although I have the feeling that publishing the contents may be a bit premature, I still have decided to go ahead and do so.
     First of all is the subject of the ongoing conflict between the two Korea. As all know, at first forces of the north advanced south with irresistible vigor until they cornered Pusan, and the army of the south came to be in a critical position, but with assistance of United States army, quickly repelled and then without undue struggle pushed northern forces back beyond the thirty-eight parallel. Just at the moment that the southern side was approaching the Manchurian border, what suddenly confronted it was a huge force of Red Chinese soldiers. The numbers confronting the southern army were nothing like it had faced before, and unfortunately it was repulsed with renewed and even greater vigor. Southern forces were pushed back to their original position before the conflict had been instigated, so their previous victory had been for nothing. However, then again, Red Chinese forces inevitably crumbled in the face of General MacArthur’s well-planned and farsighted maritime strategy, Allied armies were able to exert heavy pressure, naturally the Red Chinese position in Keijō [present-day Seoul] became untenable, and the Northern army was forced to withdraw beyond the thirty-eighth parallel.
     That is how the conflict appeared on the surface, but here I would like to speak about the battles in spiritual terms. I am always teaching that everything is controlled by the law of the spiritual preceding the physical, and this law is well exemplified in the current conflict. Because east and north are spiritual and west and south are physical, advancing from the direction of the southwest to the northeast is backwards, like trying to sail a boat against the wind. Not only does it take quite a bit of effort, there is also the danger of being pushed back at some time. Therefore, in the very beginning I said that if the American army did not try to land at the most northeast part of Korea from the Sea of Japan, they could not win, and in the end the war turned out that way.
     Let me give two or three more examples. At the time of the second European war as well, just as the German forces were on the verge of attacking Moscow, not only did they have to unavoidably turn back, it was the Soviet army that advanced as far as Berlin. Napoleon met the same fate as well. During the American civil war between the north and the south, well, it was the northern army that won. The war between the northern and southern courts in Japan as well turned out as a victory for the northern court. There are, however, exceptions to this principle. These exceptions are limited only to conflicts between good and evil, and one example of these exceptions is shown by the Russo-Japanese War, but these exemptions are rare. Next, I would like to write about myself.
     My birthplace is a district called Hashiba in Asakusa, Tokyo. The east of Japan is Tokyo and the east of Tokyo is Asakusa. The east of Asakusa is Hashiba. East of Hashiba is the Sumida River, so Hashiba is the eastern extreme of Tokyo. Around the age of five or six, I started to move westward. The first move was to Senzoku-cho in the same Asakusa Ward, then to Haniwa-cho in Nihonbashi Ward, and next to Kobiki-cho in Kyobashi Ward. Moving further westward to Omori, I backtracked to Kojimachi for half a year but then moved to what is now the Hōzan-sō in Tamagawa, which is the western edge of Tokyo. Tamagawa is the place I have been the longest. Then, from there, at the same time I moved farther west to Hakone and Atami. Even when I went to Atami, however, my first residence was on the eastern edge of the city, in Higashiyama. From there, I moved to the center of Atami in Shimizu-cho, and now I am living in Minaguchi-cho. Minaguchi-cho is on the western edge of Atami. The reader can appreciate that from a very early time after birth, I have been steadily moving from east to west. Much like the sun. Since my goal is to create a daylight world, moving westward could be said to be my destiny.
     Speaking of East-West, here is an interesting aspect of which most are not aware. That is, until the present, all in Japan, whether culture, religion, or thought, has arisen in the west and has been brought east. Foreign nations aside, whether Buddhism or Shinto, all have arisen in the west and moved east. It is only the Nichiren Sect of Buddhism that arose in the east. What is interesting about this is that Buddhism is basically a teaching of the moon, but as the end is approaching, there appeared one teaching of the sun. The ideograms for “Nichiren” mean “Sun Lotus,” so naturally he and his work would appear from the east. It is significant that Nichiren stood on the summit of Mt. Kiyosumi in the province of Awa by the Pacific Ocean in eastern Japan and facing the rising sun, chanted “Glory to the Mystic Law of the Lotus Sutra,” and from that time strove to spread the Lotus Sutra.
     As regards other religions, alone stands World Messianity, so it should not be difficult to imagine our future.

Eikô, Issue 92, February 21, 1951
translated by cynndd

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“Reishu Taiju no Hōsoku” was originally published on the top of the first page of Eikō, Issue 92, February 21, 1951, and later, while Meishu-sama still alive, reprinted in Goshinsho: Shūkyō-hen (Divine Writings: Volume on Religion), March 25, 1954, page 476. As far as is known, no English translation has previously appeared.