TRUE HEALTH

by
Mokichi Okada

TABLE OF CONTENTS

This book was originally published in Japanese

under the title Shinji no Kenko.

FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, 1987

Published by Church of World Messianity Copyright 1987 Church of World

ACE ................................................

AND HEALTH
>REME GOAL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
JRING THE WHOLE B Y CURING THE PARTS . . . . . . .
SINGLE SUFFERING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
EALTH AND HEAVEN ON EARTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
\ WORLD WITHOUT ILLNESS, POVERTY,
AND CONFLICT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5ALTH IS EVERYTHING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
CAVEN THROUGH HEALTH. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ROAD TO HAPPINESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
PH FAITH AND WITHOUT FAITH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
EKAI KYUSEI KYO AND MYSELF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
THE TRUE SALVATION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
)WER OF THE SPIRIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
IE FEUDALISM OF SCIENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
POMORROWS CIVILIZATION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
IE TRUE NATURE OF ILLNESS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Messianity, ali rights reserved Printed in the United States of America.

pTHE TRUTH OF HEALTH. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

! HUMAN BEINGS AS VESSELS FOR HEALTH. . . . . . . . . .
TRUE HEALTH AND FALSE HEALTH. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
RAISING HEALTHY CHILDREN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A WAY FOR ANYONE TO PUT ON WEIGHT . . . . . . . . . . .
THE WAY TO BE BEAUTIFUL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
MEDICINE AND SPORT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
MY HEALTH PLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
WHAT IS DEATH?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
LIFE AND DEATH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
NATURAL AND UNNATURAL DEATH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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)XINS
AN ANALYSIS OF TOXINS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
THE THREE KINDS OF TOXINS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
URINARY TOXIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
TOXINS PERSISTING FOR HALF A CENTURY. . . . . . . . .
MEDICINE: A CAUSE OF WRONGDOING . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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CAUSES OF ACCIDENTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
PURIFICATION
THE CREATOR OF HUMANITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
NATURAL THERAPY.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
MEDICINE'S BLIND POINTS AND THE BENEFICENT
POWERS OF NATURE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
WHAT IS SICKNESS? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
THE TRUE CAUSE OF ILLNESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
WHAT IS SICKNESS?
THE COLD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
WHAT IS THE COMMON COLD? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
INTERNAL BATHING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
THE TRUE CAUSE OF SICKNESS IS IN THE SOUL. . . . 68
WRONGDOING AND THE FUNDAMENTAL CAUSE OF
ILLNESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
SIN AND SICKNESS.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
SICKNESS AND SUFFERING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
MEDICINE TOXINS I. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
MEDICINE TOXINS II.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
LOW-GRADE FEVER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
BALANCED PURIFICATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
THE WORD PURIFICATION (JOHKA). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
ADMONITIONS FROM ANCESTRAL SPIRITS . . . . . . . . . . 83
REBIRTH. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
JOHREI
THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
THE GREAT WORLD TRANSITION.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
TRANSITION FROM NIGHT TO DAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
I AM A SCIENTIST OF THE SPIRIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
THE PRECEDENCE OF SPIRITUAL O VER
THE PHYSICAL.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
THE PRECEDENCE OF SPIRITUAL O VER
THE PHYSICAL.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
THE SPIRITUAL BODY AND THE PHYSICAL BODY . . . 101
SPIRITUAL HEALING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
THE PRINCIPLE OF JOHREI... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
JOHREI AND THE THREE-ELEMENT COMPOSITION
OF THE INTERNAL ORGANS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
ABSOLUTE POWER.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

ONE PERSON AT A TIME IS INSUFFICIENT . . . . . . . . .

MY LIGHT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
WHO IS THE SAVIOR? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ELIMINATING THE SUFFERING OF ILLNESS . . . . . . . .
BEING MIDWIFE TO WORLD CIVILIZATION . . . . . . . . .
LIMITED AND LIMITLESS POWER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
PHILOSOPHICAL EXAMINATION OF JOHREI . . . . . . . .
RELIGION AND FAITH. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
THERAPY AND CONCEPTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
IT CAN BE CURED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
THEORY OF METHOD AND THEORY OF EFFECT . . .
FACTS SPEAK ELOQUENTLY.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
CHANGE IN THE JOHREI METHOD.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
SICKNESS AND HUMAN CHARACTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
PRIDE AND ERROR.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
NUTRITION
THE TRUE SCIENCE OF NUTRITION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
FOODS AND NUTRITION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
NUTRITION.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
THE SCIENCE OF NUTRITION.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
THE COMEDY OF NUTRITION.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
NATURE FARMING
PREFACE.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

NATURE FARMING..................................
THE TRIUMPH OF NATURE FARMING THE
GREAT POWERS OF THE SOIL
Principies of Nature Farming.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Adverse Effects of Fertilizers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Superstitions About Fertilizers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Merits of Natural Compost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Repeated Cultivation Means Bigger Crops. . . . . . . . .
Good News for Sericulture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
PRINCIPLES OF NATURE FARMING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
THE GREAT AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION.. . . . . . . .
INSECT PESTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
DAMAGE FROM TYPHOONS AND FLOODS.. . . . . . . . . .
RAISING TANGERINES FOR FORTY YEARS
THROUGH NATURE FARMING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
HOME VEGETABLE GARDENS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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THE GREAT AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION

CLEAN AND ENJOYABLE HOME GARDENS . . . . . .
THE EARTH BREATHES.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
APPENDIX
ADDRESS BY THE FOUNDER OF
SEKAI KYUSEI KYO. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Preface
This volume, True Health, is a collection of the teachings on human
health of Mokichi Okada, founder of Sekai Kyusei Kyo, who is known by
the organization's members as Meishu-sarna, or Enlightened Spiritual
Leader. In its original Japanese-language form it was published as a sister
volume to another collection of Meishu- sarna' s teachings entitled
Tengoku no Ishizue (Foundation of Paradise).
Of the three salient elements of the Heaven on Earth that
Meishu-sama felt was his mission to establish health, prosperity, and
harmony health is the most fundamental. Health, both mental and
physical, hs always been the foundation of ali prosperity and happiness,
and mankind hs exerted great and repeated efforts to attain it.
Sometimes the approach was spiritual and psychological, sometimes
scientific and material Out of these efforts arose movements to cure
illness, the great destroyer of health, through a unified, mutually
interacting and complementary physio-psychological approach.
Activities oriented toward that end continue today.
Medicai science hs, obviously enough, played the leading role in
attempts to ensure physical health. Rapid strides forward in
medico-therapeutic techniques, especially in recent years, have made it
possible to save gravely endangered lives and to restore normal
functioning to the human body. Yet, in spite of such advances, not only
does sickness persist, as is shown by the increase in the "diseases of
civilization," but excessive medicai treatment, overuse of medicines,
application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to agricultural crops,
widespread use of food additives, overeating, and extensive use of
narcotics have Ied to an increasing incidence of psychological
abnormalities, deformed newborn infants, and obese or frail children.
Many people continue to believe that, even though medicai science
clearly hs negative as well as positive effects, it will eventually lead to a
new era completely free of illness. But Meishu-sarna hs warned that if
medicai therapy and eating habits remain unchanged, illness itself will
increase rather than decrease, even though pathological forms may
change.
Modern therapeutic methods mistake a temporary effect for a
fundamental cure. By concentrating research solely on the physical
aspects, those who advocate such methods overlook the true nature of
Me as comprising both spiritual and physical aspects. Meishu-sama

taught that, though God made human beings to be healthy, modern

medicine employs unnatural methods which are detrimental rather than
beneficiai
Against this background of mistaken belief and practice, this
compilation of Meishu-sama's teachings on the subject hs been
prepared in the hope of contributing to the attainment of true health for ali
humanity.
Since Meishu-sama's health philosophy differs from generally
accepted ideas, the following outline of its major principies is offered to
enable the reader to understand it better.
Our world hs a spiritual as well as a physical aspect, and the two are as
inseparably bound together as the upper and under sides of the same object.
The spiritual world is indeed the generative cause, the fundamental
essence, of the physical world. In other words, ali phenomena occurring
in the physical world ha v already occurred in the spiritual world and have
been subsequently transferred to the world of matter. This truth is
expressed in the principie that the spiritual precedes the physical. Since
the spiritual and physical planes are two sides of the same entity, what
happens in one affects the other. Occurrences on the spiritual plane have
consequences on the physical plane, and physical phenomena influence
the spiritual plane. In short, the condition prevailing in one plane comes to
resemble or be identical with the condition prevailing in the other. The
spiritual and physical planes are one. Similarly, the human being
consists of the visible physical being and the invisible spiritual being.
Phenomena occurring in the human flesh are transferred from the spirit,
and changes in the physical being are reflected in the spiritual being.
Although essentially transparent, the spiritual being may become
clouded by impurities caused by negative thoughts, words, and deeds
such as anger, hatred, envy, and slander. Impurities entering the physical
body make the blood murky and reflect on the spiritual being by making
it cloudy. This spiritual cloudiness is transferred as a toxin, or poison, to
the physical being, where it tends to stagnate and congeal as its quantity
increases. When the poison reaches a certain levei, the physical body
loses its ability to function normally. Then the body's natural powers of
self-purification eliminate the accumulation of toxins and restore normal
health. These powers of self-purifcation are God's greatest blessing. Such
conditions as fever, pain, coughing, accumulations of phlegm, and diarrhea
represent those self-purification powers at

work dissolving and expelling the toxins from the body. These powers
may cause temporary physical instability, yet as time passes the toxins
are expelled, purification is completed and normal health is restored.
The elimination of toxins removes the corresponding clouds from the
spiritual plane.
Medicai science, however, tends to regard these conditions as
harmful and hs always employed such things as medicines to cure
symptoms as quickly as possible. Even where it hs apparently
succeeded, such treatment hs halted the self-purification process
midway. Since it prevenis the elimination of clouds from the spiritual
being and toxins from the physical being, these undesirable elements
accumulate. Furthermore, the pollution of the blood with medicines
reflects on the spiritual being by increasing cloudiness. This in turn
amplifies the accumulation of toxin in the physical being to a still
greater levei and can lead to a dangerous situation. The natural
self-purification powers once again strive to remove the accumulated
toxin and manifest themselves in more violent forms than before.
Medicai science responds by prescribing stronger medicines, which halt
the self-purification powers s that they once again assume still more
violent forms. As the process recurs over and over again without
resolution, spiritual clouds and physical toxins accumulate to the point
where the self-purification forces become impotent and extremely
stubborn pathological symptoms afflict the physical being. It is important
to note here that, not just medicines, but chemical fertilizers, pesticides
and food additives fali into the category of impurities.
The way to eliminate spiritual clouds and their physical
manifestation in the form of toxins is through Johrei, purification by
means of the divine light, which God made available through
Meishu-sama
Johrei entails channeling the divine light from the palm of the hand of
one person toward the spiritual being of another, and thereby
stimulating the process of purification and eliminating the cloudiness of
the spirit and the toxins that are its manifestation in the physical being.
This Johrei in turn enables the natural powers of self-purification to
function normally.
In addition to eliminating spiritual clouds, it is vital to avoid
creating them. The fundamental thing here, as already explained, is to
maintain correct mental attitudes and to speak and act in a correct
manner, yet at the same time it is important to minimize the amount of

FAITH AND HEALTH

The Supreme Goal

No one can deny that happiness is the supreme goal of ali human
iittpirations, and that physical health is absolutely essential both to
ipeople in search of happiness and to people who are happy and wish to
rrtmain that way. As Jesus of Nazareth said," What does it profit a man,
l,lf he gains the whole world but loses his own life?"
I have succeeded in eliminating illness from human beings and
restoring them to vigorous health, thereby prolonging their lives. This
Bgnifies the achievement of a great ideal to which humanity hs aspired
for thousands of years.
The prolonging of human life hs hitherto been generally assumed
tobeafooFs dream. For that veryreason, the great discovery leading to
its realization must have value unrivaled in human history. I am certain
that taking this new healing art to ali humanity cannot fail to bring about a
great global revolution. But this should not cause alarm: the revolution
I speak of will b e f ar remove d from the bloody and violent revolutions
of the past. It will be brilliant with light and joy, and will serve as the
foundation for eternal peace.
Though I may sound overly bold, I believe that if you read this book
carefully, think deeply about its contents and put them into actual
practice, you will see that there is no falsehood in what I say.
What is the meaning of cultural development but the betterment of
the well-being of each individual? The basis of this well-being must be
health and longevity. As we ali know, humanity hs exerted great efforts
to advance in the field of medicai science, in the belief that this is the
only way that this goal can be achieved.
It is certainly true that medicai science hs a glamourunequalledby
any other science. But human beings tend to be dazzled by the great
hospitais with their surgical theaters, countless kinds of medicines,
microscopes, X-ray equipment, radium, and various radiation devices,
by the minutely worked out scientific theories, the frequent new
discoveries, and the publication of new theories. Because of ali of this
impressive paraphernalia, human beings naturally assume that medicine
can ultimately eliminate illness. Yettoday that goalremains in the remote
future, and we have no idea when it will be achieved.
I do not wish to idly criticize medicai science, yetl feel that it is time
to warn the world that we are still moving in a direction opposed to what
ought to be the true goal.

In clarifying the functioning of the human body by means of

dissection and analysis, medicai science hs performed a service for
which we must be gratefuL Yet that same medicai science is in many
ways fallacious; indeed, it is surely one of the wonders of the world that
humanity should have gone s long without recognizing those fallacies.
The healing art I have created represents the opening of a mystical
door that hs been closed for thousands of years. I believe that God hs
entrusted to me the great task of helping to restore humanity to its
essential state of good health.
February 5, 1947

Curing the Whole by Curing the Parts

Let us consider for a moment the actual situation prevailing in the
world. The reign of the irrational is wellnigh universal; truth is rarely, if
ever, to be encountered. For this reason there is no telling when the
suffering of humanity will be eliminated. In brief, the world as a whole as
well as individual countries, is sick Though it seems immense, the world
is only a collection of individuais. The illness of one person is transferred
to the whole nation and then to the world until the entire globe is in a
pathological condition. Yet the reverse, too, is true: if the individual
becomes healthy and sound, s will the nation and ultimately, the world.
A person who understands this principie sees that promoting the health of
individuais is the sole way to as our motto proclaims create an
ideal world. In other words, curing the illness of individual after
individual is the way to achieve this great goaL
June 25, 1951
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My Single Suffering
I, too, have my sufferings. Since my task is to blaze a new trail in a
bleak and lightless world such as that of the present, Satan and
Devadatta (a cousin and disciple of the Buddha who turned against, and
even plotted the death of his master; he hs come to be a symbol of evil)
run rampant. It is like being surrounded by a wall bristling with the
spears of jealousy, envy, persecution, calumny, and misunderstanding.
Trying to overcome these things and gradually turn this hellish world
toward paradise is more difficult than can be imagined.
Nevertheless, since I enjoy the protection of the Supreme Spirit, my
lot is not s hard as it may appear to outsiders; indeed, I am constantly
grateful for the great happiness and wonderful destiny that have been
vouchsafed me.
Nonetheless, there is one thing that causes me great suffering. It is,
as might be expected, relate d to modern medicai science. Though I have
been speaking and writing about the fallacies of modern medicine for
many years, I have never yet gone ahead and told the complete,
unvarnished truth. I have been careful always to avoid unduly
provocative remarks, since I felt that to reveal the whole truth might
cause unnecessary trouble. Furthermore, however I might have wished
to publish the truth, I was unable to do s until the right time had come.
I have been thoroughly instructed by God in ali things pertaining to
human health and illness. If I had not, I would never have undertaken
the awesome task of creating a world free of sickness. I am able to speak
boldly because I am absolutely certain of what I am saying. Since the
basis of eliminating suffering is eradicating illness, the utter misery of
modern humanity brings me intolerable suffering. I am caught between
my sympathy for humanity's plight and the feeling that the time is not
right for speaking the full truth. This hs caused me such great pain that I
have constantly prayed for the speedy arrival of the day for full
revelation.
J une 3, 1950
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Health and Heaven on Earth

As you already know from my repeated explanations, the ideal world
that we constantly advocate entalis the elimination of humankind's
three greatest sufferings: illness, poverty, and conflict Illness is
obviously the main condition from which the other two sufferings arise. If
God wishes to save humankind, He must begin by solving the problem of
health. Without health, what happiness can there be? Any religion or
science that lacks the power to solve the issue of health is of little value,
since it is impossible to deal with poverty or conflict without good
health.
This is probably the first time that any religion, or science, hs taken
up the cause of creating a world free of illness, poverty, and conflict To
set such a goal requires enormous confidence, yet the fact that we have
been able to attract hundreds of thousands of faithful followers in a
short time, and that the number of those followers is gradually
increasing as time passes indicates that this confidence was not
unfounded.
It is essential that ali ills be eliminated. Throughout the development
of our organization, therefore, we have recognized the need to deal
with the issue of health, and have given first precedence to healing. To
bring the results to as many people as possible, we have filie d the
pages of our periodicals with case histories, which inevitably awakens
doubt in the minds of readers, especially scholars and specialists. Since
almost ali of these case histories represent miracles of a kind that are
usually thought impossible, specialists and people in positions of
political responsibility naturally expect thorough investigations of
them. Such people are likely to see in the results expressed in our
testimonials a threat of unprecedented problems. They wonder,
perhaps, whether many of our testimonials are true. If they are in fact
free of exaggeration and falsehood, what can they mean? Unprecedented
as it is in the history of the world, the issue is s difficult that such people
have no idea how to approach it
Yet facts always remain facts; truth is always truth. We would not
willingly be foolish enough to hurl ourselves into a whirlpool that is
certain to drag us into major problems. Yet if one views the matter
objectively, one sees that it is Time, the absolute authority, that hs
brought forth this great undertaking, in which we cannot help but recognize a
tremendous love. How will the ordinary people interpret those
12

documented cases of individuais, who, despairing after having tried l

vain ali kinds of accepted cherapies in the hope of curing their grave
lesses, coming to know Johrei, and experiencing the joy of returning i
life from the brink of death, are unable to express their gratitude in
Drds? People who doubt and reject these experiences have never
ICtually come into contact with the matter in question. It is only rational r
human beings to use the power of Johrei in elimina ting the suffering ' the
world, if thorough investigation proves beyond doubt that our
jeriences are fact. Anyone who persists in refusing to recognize the uth
even after it is conclusively proved must either be lacking in love
humanity, be forced to adopt this stand by inescapable
jmstances, or be psychologically ilL
Perhaps what I have said is too outspoken; but the plea I make is one
cannot ignore as long as we intend to go forward into the new g.
June25, 1949

A World Without Illness, Poverty, and Conflict

Most people regard a world without illness, poverty, and conflict as
an unattainable ideal; but our movement is not afraid to say that it
believes firmly in its realizatioa The fundamental way to create such a
world is to eliminate illness.
People who become ill must spend money on treatment and may be
forced to stay away from work Misfortunes pile on misfortunes as the
illness continues. Ultimately, ali the savings and property the individual
worked and sweated for years to amass are gone. Then, when he hs
borrowed ali he can from friends and relatives, he finds that no trace
remains of the abundant, peaceful, and happy way of life he and his
family enjoyeduntilonlyrecently. There are many cases of people who,
inking to the lowest possible depths, suffer from both illness and
poverty.
The entire family of a person who is gravely ill is obliged to shoulder
limitless responsibilities. One person's illness can cause hardship to
orne degree or other, not only to relatives and friends, but also to
13

employers and fellow workers. One person' s illness can be a blow to the
four or five people in his or her immediate family and to others outside
the home as welL When two or three people fali terminally ill, one after
the other, in the same household, it is not uncommon for even the
wealthiest family to find itself compelled to live in severely reduced
circumstances.
People save money with one of two aims; the positive aim of
amassing property and a fortune, and the negative aim of providing
funds to pay medicai bills in case of illness. As everyone is aware, a very
great number of people save for the latter, negative purpose.
We can conclude that illness is the greatest cause of poverty.
Everyone knows that the fundamental causes of conflict, whetheron
the individual or on the national scale, are economic. As I have already
said, illness is a basic cause of economic trouble. Consequently, in order
to rid the world of poverty and conflict it is essential first to eliminate
the fundamental cause illness. First priority must go to ridding
humanity of sickness. Only a divine power could achieve such an aim;
not even the Buddha or Jesus Christ dreamed of such a glorious
undertaking, and whoever can have faith in its realization is a happier
man than any before him.
September 15, 1935

Health is Everything
Theologians and journalists are mistaken when they insist that
those religions which stress the cure of illness or the promotion of
good health are somehow inferior because they concentrate on
practical benefits. Illness is a tremendous hindrance to society as well
as a cause of great suffering, and a thorough examination of
contemporary society shows that sickness is the fundamental cause of ali
unhappiness and tragedy. It can even be said that there is illness
behind every tragedy. The number of happy people increases in direct
proportion to an increase in the number of healthy people. I have been
speaking on the individual levei, but on the national levei, as well, there is
nothing as negative as illness, the root of ali trouble s.
14

In the achievement of the supreme goal a world free of illness,

verty, and conflict solving the problem of illness leads to the
lution of the problems of poverty and conflict. It is important to
aember that illness means not only physical, but also psychological
Brders, one of the most serious issues in the world today. War
providos a good illustration. The people who instigate wars are l exact
opposite of the people who try to prevent them. Similarly, the gleaders
in aggression are very different from the people who must urged to
fight. The great villains in these instances are always the lople of
power who set war in motion, and exposure of their true 5 ti v s
always shows that they are greedy and unsatisfied with the Igree of
success ordinary people find sufficient Their extraordinary Jents and
self-confidence make them impatient and spur them on to Utrageous
ambition. As the lives of historical heroes make clear, such lople
invariably end up in failure even though things may go their way a while.
Furthermore, for the sake of achieving their own ambitious ends,
mercilessly sacrifice the lives of many ordinary people. Even ough they
are called heroes, such people are in fact able to remain nperturbed in
the face of the horrifying unhappiness and loss of life ey cause, the
reason being that they themselves are psychologically Uawed. They
suffer from a kind of madness; obviously, there is f lomething mentally
wrong with a person who is able to persist in selfish, loveless, merciless
actions that serve his or her own purposes regardless Of the cost to others.
Interestingly enough, experience hs taught me that a person with a
psychological flaw always hs some kind of physical flaw as well. The
reason why some "heroes" and criminais seem to enjoy txtreme good
health is that, though they harbor large quantities of toxins, these are
in a solidified state.
On the basis of this discussion, it might seem that any religion,
icience, philosophy, or educational system that eliminated human
illness would be acceptable. In fact, however, there is no way to cure
ickness completely but through the Divine Light.
November 12, 1952

15

Heaven through Health

Jesus Christ proclaimed: "the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Undoubtedly, it is the goal of ali religions to create a better world, to
relieve humanity of suffering, and to bring about a world of joy.
However, far from realizing this common goal, we have not yet even
broken out of the hell on earth. Why is it that, in spite of the ceaseless
efforts of religion, philosophy, science, morality, and education in ali
parts of the world from ancient times, we have made s little progress?
We have still to see the first glimmerings of a solution to the problem of
health that lies at the heart of ali tragedy. Unless the problem of health
is solved, it will be meaningless to try to set the other things right The
divine spiritual healing that I have perfected is capable of eliminating
ali human illness and of establishing perfect health.
Nevertheless, the discovery of this divine spiritual healing readily
invites misunderstanding. The relation between it and the majority of
the world is like that between people standing on the ground and a man
standing on a roof. The people on the ground cannot see the top of the
head of the man located on the roof.
Be sure that if you seek the cause of any tragedy, you will find illness at
its heart. Take, for instance, the case of a young person who, on the
verge of graduating from a school of higher learning, is afflicted with
tuberculosis.* Hope vanishes both for the student and for the parents
who centered ali their aspirations in him. Their future is dark. Similarly, a
middle-aged person attacked by some dread disease must stop working
in frustration just at the time when he or she hs laid the foundation for
vigorous future activity. As I have said, most of the tragedies of human
society can be traced to illness.
It is just at this most miserable of times that there h s suddenly
appeared divine spiritual healing. Anyone who hs joined our
organization and hs actually experienced it will be convinced of just
how revolutionary a medicai science it is.

The Road to Happiness

Ali human beings wish for happiness, and it is obvious that freedom
from illness is essential for the happiness of individuais and families.
But the idea of complete good health hs been considered impossible
until now, and many people, though healthy, live in the fear of falling ill
ooner or later. Moreover, this anxiety is aggravated by uncertainty as
|to whether such an illness could be cured. For these reasons, even
jiuccessful people in comfortable circumstances cannot enjoy true
[happiness because of the insecurity they feel about their health.
As I have explained frequently before, illness is the fundamental t
lource of ali unhappiness. People save money and buy health and life
Insurance to provide for themselves when they become sick. Similar
ffiotivation is behind many social institutions such as orphanages,
homes for the elderly, and relief funds.
Consequently, until the problem of human illness is solved, even the
most ideal governmental measures cannot bring people true happiness.
In brief, health is the basis of happiness indeed, is ali of happiness
but no medicai art or method hs s far been able to solve the problem
of sickness, until now.
I am not boasting; but, as I have already stated, the Johrei and
health regimen that I have founded can liberate humanity from the
insecurity caused by sickness. I can say with certainty that any person
who comes to know Johrei will experience true happiness. The road is
already open to the happiness for which human beings have longed for
thousands of years.

September28, 1942

April20, 1950

With Faith and Without Faith

*"At the time that this article was written, tuberculosis was still a dreaded and generally
incurable disease in Japan."

16

Firstly, I must make it clear that by the word "faith" I mean,

specifically, faith in our teachings and not faith in the general sense.
The people living in this transient world of suffering are aptly

17

described in Chrisfs words as "pathetic lambs." How many people can

actually be said to live out their days completely free of anxiety? Among the
factors causing human insecurity, illness is the most important. People
cannotforetell when they will becomei 11. People can catch a cold within an
hour of being perfectly sound in health. The cold can develop into
pneumonia, or the early stages of tuberculosis. An attack of
appendicitis may bring agonizing pain at any time. The next day, that
person may come down with intestinal typhus or some unknown
disease. Within two or three days, achildmay dieof suchdreaddiseases as
infantile dysentery, diphtheria, or meningitis. Elderly people can
become bedridden and miserable for years from a sudden cerebral
hemorrhage resulting in palsy or partial paralysis. A member of the
family may be forced to lead a life of isolated hospitalization because of a
highly contagious illness.
Moreover, in these days of high medicai costs, it is impossible to
foresee how much therapy and hospitalization will cost. If the illness is
easily cured, the situation is not too bad, but if the illness is protracted,
hard-earned savings may be totally exhausted, positions may be lost as
a result of long absence from the job, and ali financial support may
vanish. As long as the person recovers and is able to work, he or she can
make a living, but how is a family to make ends meet if the head of the
house either dies or becomes permanently disabled? Such a fate means
the end of ali undertakings and plans. It is especially hard when such
tragedy strikes a person in the prime of life. Who can say that the tragic
day will not come when, as a consequence of illness and death, the
bonds of love between husband and wife or parent and children must be
severed? As reflection on these considerations proves, ali human
beings, without exception, bear the fear of illness like a leaden
weight
If humanity cannot b e liberated from this anxiety, then the Buddha
was correct in saying that the transient world is like a house on fire, and
that no one can escape the four sufferings of birth, illness, aging, and
death. According to the Buddha, it is the realization and acceptance of
this that constitutes enlightenment.
What more wonderful news for humanity could there be, then, than
the appearance of a teaching capable of liberating it from the anxiety
of illness! At first, anyone proclaiming the advent of such a teaching
would no doubt be ridiculed as claiming the impossible and as being one
step short of madness. Nonetheless, such a teaching hs most

certainly appeared. My readers may entertain nagging doubts, may

reject what I say yet if true it is surely enough to create a worldwide
sensation.
I shall now briefly expiam the relation between faith in our teachings
and illness. Anyone who grasps the essence of this faith hs no fear of
illness. Once its causes are clearly understood, illness is seen as a source
of happiness rather than fear, since it is recognized as a natural
physiological process in the advancement of good health and therefore
as one of God's great blessings.
S far, I have concentrated on illness, but many other sources of
anxiety make it impossible for contemporary people to enjoy even a
momenfs tranquility. For instance, vehicular transportation, on which
s many people rely and in which they spend s large a part of their lives is
frequently the source of serious disasters. Similarly, disaster due to
dangerous machinery at places of work, fire, theft, or earthquakes,
floods and other natural occurrences can, like the principal danger of
sickness, strike at any time. Governments and private bodies take steps to
protect the population against these things, and funds are set up to
provide health insurance, disaster insurance, unemployment insurance,
and s on. However, none of these tangible methods can ensure
tranquility beyond a certain limit, Absolute security can be attained
only with intangible insurance; that is, God's insurance. Modern people,
who are truly "pathetic lambs," and highly unreceptive to the idea of
intangible methods, find themsleves trapped in constant anxiety, since
the tangible means on which they rely can do nothing to solve the basic
problem.
Those of us who have this understanding cannot bear to watch those
without it, who, like rootless grasses, live lives of fear and trembling.
They are like people afloat on the sea in a lifeboat, being intent only on
their own vessel, they refuse to acknowledge the existence of the great
ship that hs drawn close with an invitation to board. Looking on and
offering help, we are still unable to draw them from the darkness of
rejection.
It is understandable, of course, that people find it difficult to accept
this wonderful, but totally unprecedented spiritualpower. Nonetheless,
the very appearance of this great teaching removes ali ground for doubt
that the emergenceofan ideal world, a world free of illness, poverty, and
conflict is at hand.
March 20, 1949

18

19

Sekai Kyusei Kyo and Myself

As ali members understand, our religion is quite different from ali

precedingreligions. Though I cannot give a detailed explanation here, I
should like to describe the difference briefly.
Most religions in Japan are of one or two general kinds. The first
kind, which is s simple as almost to fali outside the category of religion,
entails actions and ceremonies that give the performer no more than a
vague sense of having done the right thing. From time to time, believers in
such religions visit shrines, where they buy talisman plaques, amulets or
fortune-telling papers. Those with money may sponsor performances of
ritual dancing. Others toss money into the shrine offering box or make
other contributions. Doing these things gives them a vague sense of
spiritual security. In Japan, this kind of popular faith is called"Belief in
the Gods." Since a corresponding organization is usually behind it, it can
only be called a "religion."
The second kind is a pur religion in which members are registered
and organized into groups, and in which numerous officers, ministers
and missionaries engage exclusively in religious work. Firm believers in
such religions have a sincerity that, in contrast to any vague sense of
"grace," inspires them to throw themselves enthusiastically, body and
soul, into religious activities.
The second kind of religion occurs in both old and new forms.
Perhaps under the influence of the changing times, the older ones are
less vigorous and tend to stagnate. I hear that, by now, some of them
barely manage to survive at ali. The newer ones (again in Japan) have
come into being since the late nineteenth century and are currently
developing with great vigor. Most of them, however, are related to the
Shinto faith. Among the Buddhists, only some groups within the
Nichiren Sect demonstrate vigor. The rest lack vitality. Though differing
from each other in forms and modes, most of these religions are
extension of the ideas or writings of their founders. Their believers serve
sincerely because they enjoy the protection of the god or Buddha whom
their religion reveres. Obviously, however, degrees of intensity of faith
vary among members. Most of them claim to want to make humans happier
and the world a better place. We are in agreement with them in this, but
many religions concentrate too much on spiritual elements and show
relatively little interest in material benefits to be obtained in this life.

20

The True Salvation

While not neglecting the psychological aspects, we realize that,
without consideration of physical aspects as well, relief cannot be
complete. This basic stand is what sets our organization apart from ali
others. Spiritual salvation alone is a theoretical matter that cannot give
true happiness. Purely psychological happiness can vanish at any
moment in our deteriorating modern society. Illness may strike; thieves
may break in and steal; swindlers may cause financial loss, or heavy tax
burdens may bring grave difficulty. Of course, taxes are necessary if
police and courts of law are to deal with criminais. Money must be spent in
the prevention of the many sicknesses to which human beings fali victim,
and money must b e found through taxation to make up for the huge
losses incurred in wars started by ill-minded men. Many other instances
could be cited, but as these show, it is extremely difficult to live in
security and tranquility on the basis of spiritual salvation alone. In short,
in a world like ours, happiness is only possible when both material and
spiritual salvation are ensured. As its name indicates, our organization
brings both material and spiritual salvation to the world.
On the individual levei, this means thefulfillmentof the individual's
wishes in terms of actual benefit in this life. On the social levei, it means
cultural reform. In practice, though, as the revelations of God show,
contemporary civilization harbors inherent fallacies, fallacies that no
one hs yet seemed to notice. On account of them moreover, it often
happens that a course of action adopted as being helpful often actually
leads to harm. In short, something designed to promote the welfare of
humanity results in the promotion of unhappiness.
The facts prove this better than anything else. Even though
civilization hs developed to its present levei, human beings not only
fail to find happiness but tend to suffer more and more. Insofar as our
civilization is the product of the wisdom and repeated efforts of great
men and women, and wise scholars, who have appeared one after
another over thousands of years, it should by now have reached a levei
of such supreme excellence that any serious inherent fallacy would be
unthinkable. Yet I know that such fallacies exist. My wish is to make
people understand this as quickly as possible, to share happiness with
them, and to impart to them a policy for the creation of a new and ideal
world civilization. This is the will of God.
I would like to say here a few words about myself. Before I begin, I
21

must explain that, though my background is that of an ordinary human

being, my destiny is a mysterious one, unparalleled in human history. I
have been born to help the world in a way entirely different from such
great religious leaders of the past as the Buddha, Jesus Christ, and
Mohammed. I have been given the power to accomplish what could not be
accomplished in their time. I can, for instance, know anything that is
important to know in the divine, spiritual and physical worlds and in the
past, present, and future within the limits, of course, of matters
relating to helping humanity and the creation of an ideal world. It is
fascinating that I can foresee, not only my own fate, but also changes
that will take place in the world.
Furthermore, experience to date hs shown that my predictions are in
general accurate. It is as if dreams were to come true. I am constantly
making plans and undertaking projects that, without exception, go as I
want. If I decide to write a literary work on some topic or other, the
words flow forth naturally. As you know, I am fond of poetry and can
produce a surprisingly large number of verses. For instance, it is easy
for me to compose fifty short verses in an hour. I would like to write
other verse types, novis, and plays as well, but lack of time prevenis
me. I also write satires and humorous literature. Although I have had no
experience with the genre, I was able to write the ritual prayer our
members recite. As you ali know, I am also constructing a large-scale
prototype of Paradise on Earth and have chosen each stone, tree, and
flowering plant myself. I designed the landscaping, architecture, and
decor. In designing the Hall of Worship in the prototype of paradise
that we are now building, I have employed the LeCorbusier style now
prevalent in the architectural world. But I have done s in a new way s
that, when the building is completed, it is certain to attract global
attention.
I have almost no need to think about the landscaping or
architectural work, since if I only stand and look at the space for which
some project is planned, concrete images arise before me. I have never
studied these subjects; it is just that, if I decide to do something, I
immediately get good ideas. I arrange flowers, paint pictures, and do
calligraphy. Although I have studied painting a little, in ali these other
fields I am a complete amateur. I understand things that will happen a
century in the future in politics, education, economics, philosophy, and
medicine. Knowing as I do the fundamental ways in which contemporary
civilization is in error, I am impatient to do something to introduce
22

reforms, awaken humanity, and bring happiness to the world. But there is
nothing I can do until the right time comes. At present I can only, in
connection with the creation of a paradise on earth, point out problems
related to health, which is fundamental to everything else, and mistakes
in agriculture as they have been revealed to me.

Power of the Spirit

The most surprising thing to me is the way I can make use of the
power of the spirit to enable members to heal illness, and to know the
cures they effect are lasting and sound. Christ and other sages and holy
people have been able to cure illness miraculously, but almost always in
only one person at a time; it was impossible for them to help hundreds of
millions of people. In order to help ali mankind, it is essential to endow
an infinite number of other people with the power to heal. This is what I
am now doing with amazing results, as the development of our
organization most strikingly shows. As I said earlier, even Christ and the
Buddha were unable to do this.
God hs enabled me to do these things because the right time hs
come. When I think about God's reasons for giving me such great
powers, I am deeply impressed with the importance of my own mission. Of
course, God never creates anything superfluous. Everything is made or
destroyedinanswertoa need. If this is seenasthetruthofwhatlsay, my
heaven-sent mission emerges clearly. I am constantly being informed
about ali mysteries and have been given limitless, profound powers of
divine wisdom. I do ali things on the basis of revelation in order to
impart this knowledge to ali people and to create an ideal
civilization.
Humanity hs become s sophisticated intellectually that the
simple explanations that worked in the past now fail to convince.
Miracles proving those principies are required s that people can
accept them and God manifests miracles accordingly. We should be
overwhelmingly grateful that God not only points out our errors, but
also works miracles to substantiate what is revealed. The divine work
23

that I am now carrying out removes ali ground for doubt about the truth of
what I have just said.
November25, 1950

The Feudalism of Science

A large segment of the populace hs recently come to realize that
our Johrei is much more effective than modern medicai science; but I
would like to say a few words here on a related and difficult problem.
No matter how tremendously effective Johrei is, it naturally cannot
cure ali cases and unfortunately, people sometimes die. When this
happens, our opponents raise a great clamor. Some, with seeming glee,
seize the chance to criticize us in the newspapers.
Yet at the same time most people accept death as a possible outcome of
medicai treatment. We ali know of instances in which patients have died
as a result of a single injection. People who at first felt assured of
recovery through medicai treatment have gradually weakened and
finally died. Others have perished because of unsuccessful surgery. But
few people are criticai and suspicious about such deaths; admittedly,
close relatives are sometimes s enraged that they sue the doctors
concerned, but it is very difficult to settle matters of this kind through
lawsuits, and they usually swallow their indignation and give up.
In spite of the effectiveness of our method, we are often credited
with no more than psychological cures, or are showered with the kind of
criticism and attacks I have already described when we make a slight
mistake. In short, mistaken trust in the power of medicai science hs the
upper hand. Of course, this is no recent development; there have been
numerous similar instances in the past. It may be that this is the lot of a
pioneer, but I should like to examine the reasons why society, in spite of
its considerable advances, persists in harboring this irrational attitude.
Be cause materialistic science is a fundamental conditionof modern
society, practically everything considered nonscientific is rejected as

24

superstition. It amazes me that people refuse to realize that science is

notomnipotent, no matter how advanced it is. There are many problems
for which it hs no answers. As I always say, people blindly put ali their
expectations in scientific progress because they have become the
captives of what might be called the superstition of science, which
probably does incalculable harm. Some of the most notable damage is
caused by medicai science. But in this case, unaware that their
adherence to it is profoundly superstitious, people persist in believing
that only medicai science is effective, and in refusing to pay attention to
any other kind of therapy, no matter how effective and socially useful it is.
In a word, Japan today is subservient to science in a feudal way. This is not
without reason; history shows that before the dawn of the scientific age
in this country, various widely held superstitions did great harm and that
it was science that played a considerable part in rectifying this situation.
Yet at some stage the worship of science went too far and carne to
dominate people's minds completely.
Even though they consider science supreme, people entertain
doubts when they find that medicine is incapable of curing illness.
Abandoning medicine, they seek psychological tranquility in one of the
established religions. Then, if unable to find satisfaction in this way,
they turn to the new religious teachings and come to us.
Before World War II, the Japanese people considered the feudal
principie of patriotism and fidelity to one's sovereign to be the highest
morality, and, as we still recall, advocates of democracy were promptly
thrown into prison. Today, most people worship science as the supreme
morality and despise and reject our teaching, just as democracy was
despised and rejected in the past.
March26, 1952

Tomorrow's Civilization
I shall now reveal the results of about twenty years of study on ali
aspects of the spirit and the spiritual world. Properly speaking, in s far as
the spirit is intangible in a sense, immaterial there is no way in
which its existence can be proved experimentally, s that it is obviously
25

diffcult to develop the study of it into a concrete branch of learning.

However, as I have already said, I am convinced that the irresistible
march of science will eventually bring it, academically and scientifically,
within the grasp of the most ordinary of men. The modern science
whose great blessings we ali enjoy now was originally based on what
seemed to be the dreamlike, far-fetched imaginings of pioneers in
earlier ages. These imaginings have evolved into important fields of
scholarship. When this is takeninto consideration, it becomes clearthat
the recognition of the existence of the spirit and the creation of an
important department of learning to deal with spiritual scienee are only a
matter of time. The civilized modern person who refuses to accept the
existence of the spirit and the spiritual world, no matter how carefully
they are explained, is like an uncivilized savage who refuses to accept
the existence of air pervading the spaces ali around him. But once one
admits the existence of the spirit in observing the actual world,
everything becomes totally clear and free of contradiction and
inconsistency. In the same way, the source of the difficulties that make
me criticize materialistic science becomes easy to grasp, in that the
manifestation of this wondrous power is, in itself, the truth. This will
give some idea of the nature of the great change taking place in the
world at present, and of the new civilization that will be born as a
result.
What will this civilization be like? It will inevitably be characterized
by the emergence and development of a spiritual culture. And as the
relation between matter and spirit becomes to some extent clearer, it
should have a remarkably stimulating effect on established civilization
also. This will, of course, take place after the war is over.
It is not an idle dream to assume that, just as the development of
material civilization revealed the true nature of air and was therefore
beneficiai to humanity, s more sophisticated machines will serve
humankind by making it possible to measure and utilize spirit.
In my study of the relation between the spirit and illness, I have
finally come to know its essential character and the cause-and-effect
relations connected with it, and have learned that these things are
intimately connected not only with human illness, but also with change
and renewal in ali phenomena. However, since the solution of illness is
the topic of this book, I shall here confine myself mostly to the
relationship between the spirit and illness.
My healing art is ahead of its time in that it hs reached the stage

Illness is what happens when an abnormality arises in one part or the

whole of the human body and suff ering follows as a result; however,
medicai science hs not yet understood precisely what causes such an
abnormality. Here I should like to outline the research I have done on
this topic.
AU animais consist essentially of the spiritual and the physical
bodies, the close and inseparable connection of which gives rise to the
life force. The spirit is controlled by the will, which arises from the soul.
Western medicai science hs completely ignored the spirit and hs
concentrated, in minute analytical studies, on the body. This is ali that
can be expected as long as science remains materialistic in attitude. The
true cause of illness, however, is not in the body, but in the spirit.
Sickness arises first in the spirit and then transiers to the body. In other
words, the spirit is the cause of illness, and physical manifestations in
the body are the result.
Even hundreds of years more of research will not result in cures
unless the relation between spirit and body is clearly understood. At its
present stage of development, science is incapable of employing
instruments to measure the spirit. Its prevailing situation is identical to
the state of civilization before humanity discoveredthe existence of air in
apparently empty space. A science that discovered the component
elements of air is certainly not incapable of discovering the existence of
the spirit The discovery of air led to sudden forward leaps in science.
Similarly, the discovery of the existence of the spirit will bring about the
establishment of a true medicine, a true therapy and, by uniting religion
and science, will eradicate once and for ali the contemporary conflict
between the claims of science and the spirit.
I am at present achieving astounding cures through a theory

26

27

concentrated on the spirit. S startling are our achievements, in fact,

where it is possible to make spiritual science serve humankind by

manifesting astonishing powers for the improvement of human health.
October23, 1943

The True Nature of Illness

that people describe them as miracles. However, anyone who

understands the principie of spirit-oriented healing without medicines
and without physical therapy realizes that what we do is perfectly
natural, and not mysterious. On the contrary, we should consider it a
miracle if anyone were able to heal completely by means of therapy
concentrated on the body alone.
I am not criticizing science, but pointing out the fallacies of medicai
science. Science hs brought humanity immeasurable blessings, and it
must continue developing in the future. But I hope that its future
progress will be in union with religion.
There is one point in this connection on which it is easy to err. As I
have said, human beings have spirits controlled by will. Machines do
not Nonetheless, in its role as a kind of magician, science tends to make
machines and instruments work as if they were alive and even to replace
living human beings with them. Butitis impossible to treatliving human
beings as machines.
Because they are nothing but physical matter, damaged machines
can be repaired with tools, oil, and the like, which are themselves
physical matter. The human body's blood vessels, nerves, and cells are
constantly changing and ceaselessly engaging in metabolic processes. It
is truly a mystery. Itisnotproducedonthe basisof scientific principies.
The human body is something we cannot make, no matter how hard we
try. Yet we cannot stop it from being made. It is a mystic product of
creation, and a human being is a higher spiritual being completely
different from plants, birds, beasts, and fish.
May 15, 1936

28

HEALTH

The Truth of Health

In talking about health, the very first principie that must be
understood is that good health depends on obeying and respecting the
natural order. Therefore, we must first consider the purpose of God, the
creator, in making human beings. We interpret that purpose to be the
creation of an ideal world consisting of truth, virtue, and beauty. This
astounding idea is not easy to accept at first; who knows how many tens of
thousands, hundreds of thousands, even millions of years itmay take to
attain the ideal? But history shows that the world hs been moving, step
by step, in the direction of its attainment. God is spiritual, and a human
being is physical. Working together, the two are making unlimited
progress. Humanity is in charge of this undertaking. Our responsibility
is immense, and to accomplish it we must be in good health. Having
given us various missions to carry out, God hs endowed us with the
degree of health we need to fulfill our responsibilities. Should we lose
that health, God's purpose in creating us would miscarry. Profound
reflection on this truth makes it clear that our normal state is that of
good health. But, surprisingly, we fali ill or become abnormal
easily. Once this basic truth is understood, it becomes apparent that
converting the abnormal condition into the normal condition is in
harmony with God's purpose.
In considering this truth, reflection shows that abnormalities in the
human body result from deviations from the laws of nature. Correctivo
therapy needs, of course, to understand the abnormality, correct it, and
restore the body to its normal state. Consequently, I shallnowsetoutin
detail the kind of deviations that disrupt the natural order.
When first born, human infants are fed on mother's milk or formula
because they still lack teeth and their digestive organs are still weak.
Gradually, as they gain their teeth and as their internai organs mature,
their diets are supplemented with appropriate foods. Each of the many
varieties of foods available to us hs a distinctive flavor, and the human
body hs been endowed with a sense of taste enabling it to take pleasure in
those flavors. The rest of our environment is well supplied with the right
amounts of air, fire, and water for the maintenance of human health.
The human being is equally well equipped. The brain is endowed with
the ability to reason, remember, and react emotionally. The hands can
make things, and the feet and legs give freedom of movement. Other
necessary parts such as hair, nails, eyes, nose, mouth

and ears are provided. The skin that covers the face and the rest of the
body contributes to human beauty. Outlined in such detail, the human
being proves to be a wonderful work of creation. One is moved by the
wonder of God's work in a single flower, a leaf, a beautiful natural view
and ali birds and beasts down to the last insect and fish; but humanity is
certainly the Creator's masterpiece. The miracle of the reproductive
process ensuring continuance of the species defies description. When
we realize that the human body is the Creator's masterpiece, we see that
illness, which inhibits human action, is an aberration against nature.
This is the point to which human beings must devote most serious
thought.
April20, 1950

Human Beings as Vessels for Health

Since humankind was made to be healthy, we must correct the old
belief that human beings are vessels filled with illnesses. Nothing could be
further from the truth. A human being is a vessel for health. Nonetheless,
we are subject to illness, and since the problem seems insoluble, many
people give up and accept what they consider to be inevitable fate. Of
course, illness is often difficult to cure. Sickness may linger for s long or
recur s frequently that people may be sick more often than they are
healthy. For this reason, people have come to think of their bodies as
vessels for illness and have invented a proverb to express their condition.
It is not surprising that, because the basic nature of illness hs remained
unknown, people have come to believe that sickness and death are
unavoidable. The same belief led the Buddha to say that ali life consists
of the four sorrows of birth, illness, aging, and death.
I have already explained that illness is caused by deviations from the
laws of nature. When people become ill, they usually resort to medicines,
which is a mistaken course of action. It is unnatural to employ either
Chinese medicines, which are made of herbs, roots, and barks, or
Western medicines, which are usually extracts of mineral and vegetable
substances. Medicines are always bitter, malodorous, sour, or

otherwise disagreeable; since olden times, people have spoken of the

need to eat or drink something good to refresh the mouth after a
medicinal dose. Medicines are unpleasant because God made them s in
order to show that they are poisonous and should not be taken. In
contrast, ali wholesome foods and drinks are designed to please the
palate. This is the way of nature.
It is a mistake to attempt to define in generalities what is and is not
nutritious. Foods differ according to the soil, climate, and locale in
which they grow, but they are ali produced to suit the needs of the
people living on that soil and in that locale. It is right for Eastern
peoples to eat rice, and Western peoples to eat wheat People of an island
nation like Japan eat large amounts of fish, and continental people eat
meat. In accordance with this line of thought, it is right for farmers to eat
plenty of vegetables, since a vegetarian diet is suited to people who must
work long hours without resting. If the nutritionists of our time have their
way in convincing farmers to eat more fish and meat, agricultural labor
power will decrease. Since they eat seafood, fisherman work
intermittently and are incapable of long periods of sustained labor.
Moreover, eating seafood increases sensitivity and in this way also suits
the needs of fishermen. Nature is truly wonderful.
April20, 1950

True Health and False Health

Almost ali humankind or at least almost ali members of the
"civilized" peoples are ill. Some are not visibly sick while some are
manifestly s. In other words, the people actually suffering are clearly ill,
and the apparently healthy suffer from latent illness. Here I shall deal
only with the condition of the latently ill, since there is no need to
explain the condition of the manifestly sick
The latently ill harbor toxins, but purification to break down their
solidified state hs not yet started. A truly healthy person is one who is
absolutely free of toxins and in whom no purification process takes
place. In comparison with this, the latently ill person harbors
accumulated toxins yet apparently stays in good condition, carries out

his daily duties, even hard labor, and looks totally healthy.
Furthermore, since it is difficult to discover such toxins, modern
medicai examination pronounces such people healthy. I call this
condition"false health," and cannot help shuddering to think how many
people today go merrily on their way in spite of the explosive load of
illness they bear. The old-fashioned saying that human beings are
"vessels for illness"refers to this state of "false health."
February 5, 1947

Raising Healthy Children

Japanese children today are in poor health. It alarms me greatly to
see how poor their facial color is and how frail they look. In the past this
condition prevailed largely among urban children, but lately it hs also
begun affecting those in farming villages. Physical examinations
conducted at a primary school in a certain village in Nagano Prefecture,
located in central Japan, showed that eighty-one out of one hundred
children were suspected of suffering from tuberculosis. Since then,
similar reports have appeared from time to time in the newspapers. It
must puzzle everyone to read this kind of thing at a time when modern
medicai progress hs reached even rural reas. The gravity of the
problem is ali the greater in that the cause of the phenomenon hs not
been found. To enable people to understand, I shall describe the cause
in terms of my system of natural medicine.
The only conceivable cause of poor health among urban and rural
children is mistaken hygiene and nutrition. The mistake lies in believing
that Japanese children are exactly like Western children, and in raising
them totally in the Western mode. This is a grave error. Japanese and
Western children are essentially different. The mistaken idea that
Japanese children can be raised in the Western way seems in the past to
have been limited to the city, but hs now spread to the country as well.
The error of the Western way is in ignoring nature, giving children too
much milk, neglecting breast-feeding, pampering, overdosing with
medicine, and administering the wrong kinds of injections. Though
theoretically acceptable, this kind of rearing actually weakens children
34

physically. The system may be suitable for Westerners, who have been
accustomed to it for generations, but it represents a sudden and bad
change for the Japanese. If there must be a change in the old-fashioned
way, which the Japanese have long found compatible, it should be
gradual. The facts make this perfectly clear. Children were much
healthier a few decades ago at a time when medicai science had not yet
advanced to the levei it hs reached today. For the sake of reference, I
shall now describe the right way to raise children.
Mothers should work until the month of their delivery if possible.
They should breast-feed their children, and use cow's milk only when
absolutely necessary. Children should be allowed to live in as natural a
way as possible, and mothers should not be too worried over things like
catching cold. In other words, children should not be unnecessarily
bundled up, but should be allowed to go their own ways without too
much parental interference. Use of medicines must be minimized.
Parents should recognize that children are born into this world
endowed with the capacity for healthy growth. Too much coddling only
weakens them. The best general policy is to keep in mind the venerable
old ways handed down from our ancestors without being carried away
by the fashions of the times. We should use modern progress by
adopting not its theories, but its truly good aspects. I strongly urge
authorities and specialists to take this point into consideration.
March 14, 1951

A Way for Anyone to Put on Weight

A large number of people who are born thin yet want to put on
weight try ali kinds of methods to no avaiL Practically everyone hs at
some time seen a woman with lovely facial features who was too thin to
allow her innate good looks to show to best effect, and hs thought
regretfully how beautiful she would be if only she were a little plumper.
Sometimes physical debility makes children peevish, and frail. It is
common for parents wanting to strengthen their offspring to feed them
milk, cod-liver oil, and other nutritious foods and to lament later that ali
their efforts have produced no weight gain.
35

There is a way by which people like this can fatten up and improve
their facial color. On the shoulders of people who cannot gain weight
there is invariably a hard, rocklike place that is slightly feverish.*
Because it exhausts cells, this fever sharply reduces the appetite; but if
Johrei is used on it, the hard spot will gradually soften. As this happens,
the appetite will increase, and the person will put on weight Not only
does Johrei make people healthy, it makes them beautiful too. If this
method were known widely throughout the world, we would ali be able to
rejoice at the increased number of lovely people. Parents too would be
made happy by the improved health of their children.
January 10, 1951

The Way to be Beautiful

There are three major kinds of beauty: artificial, natural, and
emotional. Artificial beauty is the result of using powders and rouges,
but natural beauty is the result of good health and good circulation; it is
the beauty of vitality and vigor. Emotional beauty springs from the
heart and inspires respect and affection in others.
Today women plaster themselves with powder, rouge, and lipstick to
make themselves look lovely because they have forgotten everything but
artificial beauty. Yet there is a way to be lovely from one's innermost core
without resorting to ridiculously costly cosmetics.
This is true beauty, which comes from good health and purifying the
blood. Women's skin becomes lusterless, wrinkled, pallid and puffy
from the use of too many medicines. To hide these effects, women today
make excessive use of cosmetics.
True loveliness is impossible without inner beauty, which comes
from faith. We see this in people receiving Johrei, who grow s much
more beautiful as time passes that it is almost impossible to recognize
them.
September 3, 1949

Medicine and Sport

Athletes, who have splendidbodies and great physical strength, are
generally considered likely to die fairly young. Why this should happen is
a riddle to medicai science, but the following are the reasons.
Although there are many kinds of sports, a person usually specializes in
only one kind. Consequently the athlete repeats the same movements
over and over through long hours of training, s that toxins gather and
harden at his power points. As time passes, the purification process
starts. But since toxins are more persistent in athletes than in ordinary
people, purification and cure are more difficult for them.
My own experience hs shown that hard protuberances of
accumulated toxins f orm on one shoulder or the other of swimmers, and
that the purification process associated with them produces symptoms
similar to those of tuberculosis. In evalulating the condition of such
swimmers, doctors frequently diagnose tuberculosis, and this accounts
for the large number of persons in this field apparently suffering from
this disease.
Similarly, golfers tend to be afflicted withkidney trouble, because
tensing the waist and hip region causes toxins to accumulate and harden
around the kidney rea, and it is a well known fact that marathon
runners frequently suffer from enlargement of the heart.
For the sake of their health, athletes ought to engage in two or more
sports.
Musicians should also be careful, since their work calls for
repetition of the same movements, which could lead to sickness. For
example, people who are fond of piano playing have accumulations of
toxins in their chest regions since their power points are in both arms.
Violinists are subject to the same kind of problem in their shoulders,
and cellists in their left shoulder and hip region. These conditions
deserve serious thought, and musicians should compensate by
performing movements other than the ones involved in their work.
February 5, 1947

*The person administering Johrei does not touch the afflicted person's shoulders. Instead,
the person receiving Johrei ascertains the hardness or softness of his or her own shoulders.

36

37

My Health Plan

I should like to explain the method I myself follow in keeping fit

This year I am sixty-seven years old according to the Western way of
reckoning age, but I am more hale and hearty than many men in the
prime of life. I frequently climb the hill on whose slopes our new
headquarters is being built and always have to slow down for the
younger people, who lack strength in their legs. I am almost embarrassed
by their frequent questions as to whether Meishu-sama is tired, since I
am not fatigued in the least. I go to bed at two thirty or three in the
morning and sleep till seven or seven thirty, which means I have about
four or four and a half hours' sleep. As my close associates know, I do
the work of ten people. Younger people find it hard to keep up with me,
but there is nothing to do but let them keep trying.
I do ali these things as a result of my method of keeping healthy.
Since my way is the opposite of the one generally followed today, I shall
explain it here in the hope that it will serve as a reference for other
people.
The modern medicai prescription for good health is to exert oneself
only moderately, to get plenty of sleep and nourishment, to chew one' s
food well, and not to think too hard. My method is the opposite of this. I
insist that people should exert themselves to the maximum* since this is a
most effective way to improve health. Nonetheless, I urge sensible
moderation, since overexertion can cause suffering. The amount of
sleep a person requires varies with age, but for a person of about my age
four or five hours is just right. Interestingly enough, as far as food is
concerned, I am constantly worried about getting too much nourishment
There are s many offerings from members that we can scarcely cope
with them, and I always make a point of eating at least a little of each in
appreciation of their kindness, s that I tend, if anything, to eat too
many rich things. To make up for this I unfailingly eat a considerable
quantity of sweet potatoes after breakfast each morning. As a late-night
snack, I often have a bowl of plain rice-and-tea and never miss a serving of
sweet bean-soup.
Foods have yang (positive) andyin (negative) characteristics that
*(Exert oneself to the maximum) This means that healthy people must not pamper their
bodies. It does not mean that people who are confined because of illness or who are
constitutionally frail should attempt to lead the same kind of active lives as completely
healthy people.

must be kept balanced. Vegetables are yin and fish and meat are yang.
These foods must be taken in a way that avoids leaning too much in
either direction. I eat seventy percentyin and thirty percentyang foods in
the morning, fifty percent of each at lunch, and seventy percentyang and
thirty percntyin foods in the evening. Pickles too areyira oryang in
nature: pickled green leafy vegetables are yin and pickled daikon,
radish and turnip are yang. I eat them in a half-and-half ratio.
I chewmy food only about halfway, not thoroughly, because chewing
food fully weakens the stomach. Furthermore, I do not rest after meais
but immediately begin some activity.** This is a way to strengthen the
stomach. I have effectively cured stomach illnesses through this
method.
I never set limits to the foods I eat. My basic dietary principie is to
eat as much as I want of what I want when I want it It is, however,
impossible to be always as self-indulgent as this statement suggests, s I
eat suitably.
Though it may sound surprising, thinking as much as possible is a
kind of health regimen. People who use their brains live long, but
worrying is a poor use of them. Instead, one should use them in
interesting, pleasant ways. This is where faith reveals its value.
Whenever you have a worry, if you take the attitude that you should
leave it up to God, the worry will diminish considerably. In other words,
let God shoulder the burden. Perhaps this seems conveniently selfish,
but God finds such selfishness highly pleasing.
For a long time, no matter how it might rain or blow, I have never
missed going out once a day. I walk as much as possible. Old people who
continue to improve in health often say the same thing. I drink only
about three small sake-cups of sake or one small glass of beer and
smoke only an average amount***
This is my system for good health. I pay no attention at ali to germs.
Although the ordinary person might consider my method unwholesome, in
fact it is the true way to b e healthy. I guarantee that anyone who puts this
method into practice will become healthy. There is no chance, at least,
of your becoming a pallid indoor type, s I recommend that you put
your mind at ease and follow the system I have set forth.
April20, 1950
**(WhenI have finished eating, I immediately begin some activity) This does not pertain to the
ill.
***Meishu-sama did not inhale but only enjoyed the fragrance of cigarettes. He smoked four
or five a day and did not recommend that others smoke.

39

What is Death?

In life, no issue is as urgent or as imponderable as death. As a result

of my own long personal experience and of my researches into various
religions, experiments in spiritualism conducted inthe West, and every
other related field, I have arrived at an answer.
I shall begin my explanation by describing the composition of the
human being, which is not the physical body as scientists claim but is
composed of two fundamental elements: the physical body and the
spirit (element of fire). The elements of water and soil are the
fundamental components of the physical body, which cannot function as
a living being without the soul, the intangible spiritual element. The
human body is no more than the visible manifestation of the spirit, and
the separation of the spirit from the body is what is meant by death.
When the physical body grows old or ill, or is injured or suffers
excessive loss of blood, and can no longer be used, the law is that the
spirit must separate from it. The loss of the element of spirit, or of fire,
causes the body temperature to drop and the blood to coagulate at
certain points. The element of spirit, in the form the physical body had in
life, then goes to a separate world called the spiritual realm. Because it
is an excellent example of how this happens, I shall describe an
experiment once conducted in the West in connection with the form of the
spirit.
As a certain patient was approaching death, the nurse on whom this
experiment was being conducted noticed a white, steamlike vapor rising
from the vicinity of the ill person's forehead. It thickened and, after
forming a large oval in space, gradually assumed the shape of a human
body like the one the patient had had in life. The vapor form hovered in
the air about three feet above the now lifeless corpse, and looking down
on the grieving family surrounding the bed, seemed to want to say
something, but finally quietly floated toward the window and thence
outside.
The spirit is thought usually to leave the body from a limited
number of places: the forehead, the abdmen, or the feet In instances
like death by explosion, when the body is mangled, the spirit is
temporarily dispersed into countless fine particles but immediately
reassembles centripetally to assume the shape of body the victimhadin
life. From there, it proceeds just as do the spirits of those who die as a
result of illness.
40

When the spirit moves to any given place under its own volition, it
assumes a spherical shape as it floats through space.
People who can see these spirits, like the nurse in the above example,
have special powers that are either innate or acquired through training.
There have been many such people in our country, and I have met them
on numerous occasions. One woman whom I used in an experiment
proved to have wonderful powers of clairvoyance.
1939

Life and Death

Since ancient times, people have devoted more energy to the
problem of death than to any other. Nothing is more terrifying than
death, which puts an end to ali happiness and hopes. Yet with the
exception of certain special cases, the majority of deaths are caused,
one might say inevitably, by sickness. Most deaths occurring before the
age of ninety result from illness are, in other words, unnatural. The
natural human life span would be terminated not by sickness, but by
aging and gradually increasing physical debility. For this reason, people
who die in this natural way do not suffer and usually can forsee the end.
The corollary is that deaths accompanied by suffering do not represent
the natural termination of life. People are merely resigning themselves to
their lot when, in a case of premature death, they seek comfort in
words such as "His time had come." The famous Zen priest Torisu
Etsuzan, who diedafewyearsagoattheageof one hundredandtwelve,
foresaw his own demise. He called a considerable number of immediate
family members, relatives, and friends to his side, said some parting
words to each, and meditating until the prophesied time arrived, died
quietly and painlessly. This is an excellent example of a "natural"
death.
1939
41

Natural and Unnatural Death

Death is the extinction of life that occurs when, like a tree that

withers and dies, the physical being is no longer capable of living. The
numerous causes of death can be grouped into two major categories:
natural and unnatural. Natural death comes when the living being's
allotted spanof years hs been exhausted. Unnaturaldeathresults from
illness, accident, violence or suicide. Human beings should die
naturally; yet, incredible as it may seem, natural deaths have steadily
decreased in frequency as civilization hs advanced, while unnatural
ones, especially those caused by illness, have increased.
Why is it that, in spite of inexorable advances in other fields of
civilization, the situation in relation to human life hs retrogressed?
This single fact should make one suspect some grave error, yet despite
their limitless desire for research in other fields, they remain extremely
indifferent to this issue, presumably because they are resigned to their
inability to do anything about the question of mortality. This is because no
science or religion of the past hs ever been able to pr vide a definite
solution to the question. Consequently, no matter what progress is
made in other fields, in this one rea man hs no recourse at present but
to let nature run its course.
The topic obviously requires further thought. Nothing could be
more contrary to the intentions of God, who made man to be the
supreme animal, than for unnatural deaths to exceed natural deaths in
number and to continue increasing. If Godisindeedalmighty, sooner or
later He must restore to humanity its qualifications as leader of
creation. There is obviously no reason for God to look on silently forever at
the abnormalities of human life.
It is natural, it follows, that the Almighty God should eliminate
unnatural deaths and thereby lengthen human life through divine
power. And this only underlines further the imminence of the world of
light, the world free of sickness for which humanity hs hoped for
thousands of years.
June 19, 1936

42

An Analysis of Toxins
I shall now turn to an explanation of toxins. Basically, toxin is
something that taints the blood, or clouds the spirit. This tainting or
clouding arises, of course, as a result of contamination through evil. The
idea of contamination has been made much of by religions since ancient
time, but so far accounts of it have been over-simplistic: evil is
contaminating, so it should be avoided. But this kind of explanation
cannot possibly convince a civilization that has become intellectual and
scientific. Today, people require a sound argument based on empirical
logic.
Just as the world consists of a physical and a spiritual realm, s a
human being is made up of inseparably interrelated physical and
ipirtual beings. Because the spirit and body are one, cloudiness of the
spirit is reflected in the blood and vice versa. This is of paramount
importance, and must be clearly understood. The physical wrong a
person commits causes clouds to form on the spirit. An accumulation of
these clouds cause a purification process to begin; this may take the
form of illness, legal punishment, or some other disaster. Any wrong
which escapes these kinds of purification will be spiritually punished
according to God's law. A person may avoid retribution by his fellow
man, but the punishment of God is absolute and will be reflected in the
body in the form of some great suffering. Such illnesses are highly
malignant and often fatal The process of suffering the consequences of
evil can be likened to a debt The longer it goes unpaid, the more the
interest accumulates. Those rare villains who manage to avoid the
punishment of humankind and God in this world will plunge into hell
when they die because of the gravity of their misdeeds, and finally be
obliged to repent. The hell in question is like that which the Buddhists
call Avichi, the lowest of ali hellish regions, or the Nezoko-no-kuni (land
below the roots) of Shintoism, where there is complete darkness in
which one remains as if frozen for hundreds of years. Ali desperately
wicked people must resign themselves to going to this kind of world. I
realize that modern people will have difficulty accepting this, but I insist
it be believed, since what I say comes directly from spirits I have heard
during my researches into the spiritual realm.
The self-reproachone feels at doing wrongresults in suffering which is
in itself a form of mild purification. It would be good if complete
repentance followed atthis stage, but itrarely does, and most people go
on sinning more and more. The extent of one's spiritual cloudiness is

45

commensurate with the degree of wrongdoing. Clouds, however, can

come from without as well as from within. Take, for example, a case
where one person causes another suffering. The victim becomes angry
and bitter, and these emotions are transmitted through spiritual cords
to the spiritual being of the person who caused the original harm, and
thus cause clouds. By contrast, when one person makes another happy,
his or her gratitude is transmitted back in the form of light to the
benefactor, whose clouds are reduced by it. It is a fundamental law of
nature that the more such good deeds are done in secret, and without
desire for reward the greater will be the reward from God. Human
beings shall believe and abide by this absolute truth. Purification of the
cloudiness causes sickness and other disasters; therefore, if human
beings wish to be happy they must do good, not wrong, and thereby
prevent their spirits from becoming clouded.
Next, I shall touch on the subject from the physical standpoint. The
form of illness which comes from murkiness in the blood is, of course,
caused by the poison called medicine. Medicines are essentially toxic,
but people have mistakenly interpreted them as beneficiai because they
are unaware that sickness is a purification process. I shall explain the
principie involved in toxic medicine from the standpoint of practical
experiment, but must point out that even people who have been cured by
Johrei can suffer a relapse. We call this repurification. Though the
initial Johrei removes the toxins that have already stimulated the
purification process, as the person returns to vigorous, active work, a
brisk purification starts again. In other words, the patient becomes
healthy as a result of purification, and further purification is stimulated
by this good health. As the process is repeated, the patient gradually
approaches full recovery. This repurification, however, can entail fairly
violent high temperatures and severe coughing. The phlegm coughed up
is old and therefore thick; it is easily recognizable by its medicinal
smell. The patient loses appetite, grows weak, and in rare cases may die.
The Creator hs enabled the earth to produce ali the food needed
for the nourishment of humanity, the protagonists of the world. God hs
given to each food its own flavor and to human beings the sense of taste.
There is thus no need to worry about nutrition. Merely to eat and enjoy
the things one likes is enough for good health. The principie in
operation in this case is similar to that governing the sexual appetite,
which hs other purposes than simply to create human beings. Thus,

46

human beings should not put into their bodies anything other than
substances specified as foods. If the food hs no taste or is bitter it
should not be eaten. It is through, ignorance of this, that people have
always made the great mistake of assuming that unpalatable medicines
are good for the body.
December 1,1952

The Three Kinds of Toxins

Ali illnesses are caused by the three toxins: accumulated toxin
(nendoku), urinary toxin (nyodoku), and medicine toxin (yakudoku).
Accumulated toxin could also be called hereditary medicine toxin since it
is transmitted from generation to generation and is ultimately
transformed into an independent kind of toxin. Urinary toxin results
from excess urine caused by malfunction of the kidneys. I have already
explained what medicine toxin is, and will confine myself here to
explaining the ways in which it manifests itself. It mainly produces such
unpleasant conditions as fever, pain, itching, diarrhea, nusea, paralysis,
and s on. The fever is more noticeable in people who take medicines in
large amounts. For the same reason, it can be said that people who
normally use no medicines rarely suffer from fever. Again, the pain
caused by Western-style medicines is often sharp, whereas pain from
Chinese-style medicines is duller.
February 5, 1947

Urinary Toxin
As hs frequently been pointed out, especially hard toxins that
persist in the body as the result of generations of use of medicines and
47

that are thus not readily discharged, tend to accumulate where the
nerves are most dense. Since we tense our waists, hips, and backs in the
positions we assume during various activities, these toxins accumulate
particularly in the region of the kidneys; this is clearly illustrated in the
ailments of golf enthusiasts. Since such toxins constrict the kidneys, the
extent to which they accumulate affects the organ's efficiency. For
instance, if kidneys operating at maximum efficiency are capable of
removing ten units of urine from the body, they may be able to remove
only nine units when constricted by toxin accumulation. The other unit
remains in the body to become urinary toxin. Like second-stage toxins
those reinforced by some extraneous substance, such as medicine,
multiplied on the original or first stage toxin urinary toxin
accumulates in regions of dense nerve concentratioa Because of its
relationship to bodily movements, it tends to concentrate most in the
kidney region, the abdmen, the lympatic glands of the groin, the
peritoneum, the shoulders and the neck. Toxin accumulation is greater
on the side that is more constricted. Whereas hereditarily transmitted
medicine toxins are limited in quantity, and medicine toxins themselves
limited to the amounts of medicine taken, urinary toxins are constantly
produced and therefore hard to treat. This urinary toxin is one of the
three toxins that together are, generally speaking, the source of ali
disease.
7939

Toxins Persisting for Half a Century

At the age of eighteen, I contracted pleurisy. The treatment
consisted of opening a hole in my side and draining off about two
hundred grams of fluid. Germicides were used in the operation. Later
the illness recurred. This time I was given medicines. The combined
effects of the medicines and the disinfectants caused a hard
accumulation of toxins at a place between my back and armpit that I
discovered only recently. I decided to give myself Johrei to get rid of it. At
first, it was very hard, but it gradually softened and began to dissolve. Each
time it dissolved a little more, I had diarrhea. Though the toxin
48

accumulation caused little pain, I was interested to note how certain the
occurrence of diarrhea after Johrei was. This experience proved that
toxin accumulations persist for years. I am now sixty-eight, which means
that that hard lump of toxins was in my body for fifty years. If I had not
known about Johrei, it would ha v remained with me for the rest of my life.
After each bout of diarrhea accompanying the dissolving of the toxins, I
felt much better, even though I had thought myself quite healthy,
unaware of the toxin accumulation. After the toxins finally dissolved
completely my condition improved greatly, to my great joy. I feel as
though I have added twenty or thirty years to my life. An even greater
benefit is that my mind works s well now that writing is easier for me
than e ver before.
What I learned from this incident, in short, was that, in people who
do not know about Johrei, medicine toxins can persist for life.
Furthermore, as I have always said, the sources of diarrhea are almo&t
always either in the head or in the back Thus there are two types of
diarrhea; the kind that occurs when the accumulations of toxins in those
reas disperse and collect temporarily in the abdmen; and the kind
that is caused by poisoning through food or drink. When brought on by
Johka (purification) of the head, diarrhea is accompanied by large
fluxes of blood.
June6, 1951

Medicine: a Cause of Wrongdoing

Most readers will probably be surprised by the title of this article.
The idea of a relation between wrongdoing and medicine is indeed
startling. Yet astounding as it may seem, there is actually a very serious
connection between the two. Medicine, as I often insist, is poison. When it
enters the body, the blood becomes cloudy. When the blood becomes
muddy, the spirit becomes cloudy, and this results in discomfortforthe
person who hs taken the medicine.
The sense of discomfort is the true villain since it makes the person
afflicted by it fretful, irascible, and ultimately bellicose. A person who
feels well can shrug off provocative remarks from others, but may fly
49

into a rage at practically nothing when he or she is suffering some

malaise. In other words, the feeling of the moment determines whether a
person is bright and cheerful or gloomy and ill-tempered. It must be
taken very seriously, moreover, since it hs a close connection with his or
her whole fortune in life. Emotions play an important part in human life;
they can lead to the break-up of married couples, quarreling
between parents and children or brothers and sisters, trouble among
friends, and in some cases to loss of one's job.
Ob viously, emotions play a very large part in ali spheres of practical,
everyday life: whether, for example, an employee in some government or
business office is liked and trusted by his or her superiors; whether a
person is approved of by his or her colleagues, or a merchant popular
among his or her customers; whether a technical expert is successful in
his or her work or a student in his or her study; and s on. Emotion is a
normal component in ali such cases; what matters is when it gets out of
hand.
People who have trained themselves to a state of great self-control
can deal with emotional problems successfully, but ordinary human
beings often look to the stimulus of drink, say, or gambling as a
distraction from their sense of discomfort. Others, who are well off
financially and occupy a high position in society, look for similar escape
in luxurious living or sexual philandering. This ali costs money, which is
frequently obtained by less-than-admirable means. Human beings have
been known to resort to embezzlement, fraud, graft, and most
terrible of ali murder, just to acquire quite insignificant sums. Some
people claimto beabletofindawomanbehindevery crime, butlmyself
think medicine is at the heart of the trouble. In brief, to find emotional
relief, people today seek stronger and stronger stimulation. To serve
their needs, organizations offering unwholesome amusements of ali
kinds are increasingand are becoming steadily more accessible through
modern transportation methods. These factors, combined with the
breakdown of older social restrictions such as class systems make the
serious life look foolish in the eyes of many.
However, troubles of this kind represent the brighter side of the
picture. The darker side of medication is much more serious. Here,
illness is caused in almost ali cases. Moreover, people recklessly dose
themselves with medicines andinjections, s that illnesses increase and
more and more human beings experience discomfort The ramifications of
excessive reliance on medicine are extensive. First, because
50

medicines cause increased illness, patients must spend money on

treatment and lose time from work. The expenditure and the loss of time
on the job reduce their income and drain their savings. They must
therefore borrow or be a burden on others. They become increasingly
disgusted with life. At the same time, since medicines repress but do not
fully cure, the illness drags on until they find themselves in a complete
impasse, and are driven to steal the needed funds or, if they are
weak-willed, commit suicide, either alone or sometimes with the whole
family. Cases of this kind are reported in the newspapers every day.
Tuberculosis is the illness precipitating many such tragedies.
To sum up, then, crime hs its origins in a human sense of malaise,
which is caused in turn by medicines. This is the meaning behind the
title "Medicine: a Cause of Wrongdoing."
FebruaryB, 1952

Causes of Accidents
The many accidents occurring today on highways and in other
places continue to increase alarmingly, even though we are being
constantly warnedaboutthem. The questionof howto deal with them is s
difficult that warnings and admonitions seem to be the only way open.
The true cause of the accidents seems to go unrecognized; but fromour
viewpoint, it hs to do with the condition of modern humanity's nerves. In
short, people's nerves today fail to respond sensitively and quickly.
Confronted with danger, people cannot react and avert harm with the
agility that is essential. This sluggishness must be rectified since, in
crises, a split-second's slip can spell disaster.
In this connection, I am constantly struck by the lack of agility in
young people. Many of them are much more sluggish than I, and I am
nearly seventy. What I look on as an ordinary way of moving and acting
they consider speedy. The cause of this mental dullness is the modern
tendency to resort to injections or medicines unthinkingly and at every
turn. Moreover, the alcoholic beverages they drink contain preservatives
or other chemicals, and the foods they eat have been grown with the aid of
chemical fertilizers and insecticides. People who have eaten and
51

PURIFICATION

drunk this kind of thing for a long time usually have large accumulations of
medicine toxins in their bodies. Virtually saturated in medicines and
compelled to lead lives of increasing complexity in which they must
think too much, modern people understandably have massive
coagulations of medicine toxins in their heads. Mild purification
processes are taking place in their heads ali the time, s that practically
no one today is mentally lucid; almost everyone suffers from hotness,
rushes of blood, heaviness, and pain in the head. This mental state
accounts not only for accidents, but also for the many murders and
assaults reported recently in the newspapers.
July 16, 1952

52

The Creator of Humanity

Who created humanity? Obviously humanity itself. God created our
first ancestors, but thereafter human beings have created other human
beings. Our bodies have the mysterious power to create priceless human
spirit and flesh. This power cannot be obtained through knowledge,
learning, mechanical equipment, or medicines. God hs endowed each
human being with this innate power. If each human being hs been given
the wonderful power to create a physical being, then it is scarcely
surprising that he should be able to cure his or her own illnesses. Natural
therapies can thus produce certain results.
1936

Natural Therapy
Human beings are indeed the artistic masterpiece of ali God's
creations. Truly, as is said in the Bible, humans were created in the
image of God. Consequently, it is impossible for science to understand
entirely the mysterious structure that is a human being. Science hs only
come to a partial understanding of humanity, and no one can say how
many thousands of years will be required for a full understanding or even if
such an understanding is scientifically possible. We can only praise the
might of the Creator of s wondrous a creature with its many amazing
characteristics manifest in the movements of limbs and body; inthe subtle
operations of will and thought; in emotionalexpressionsof joy, anger,
sorrow, and pleasure; in nerves s sensitive that they find intolerable the
itching caused by a mere flea bite; in a tongue capable of
conveyingallkinds of intentions and of tasting theflavors of ali kinds of
food and drink; in faces, each one unique among the 1.8 billion people on
earth. Especially mysterious is the process of reproduction whereby a
human being is created. In the light of these wonders, it is scarcely
surprising that, as long as human beings are not scientifically produced
robots, science will be unable to solve the mystery of life.
The minute a person becomes ill, the body itself sets to work to

55

eliminate the trouble. Capable of producing its own home-made

medicines, the body is both a great pharmacist and a great physician.
When the body is invaded by the impurity called illness, the doctor of
home medicine who hs his own hospital there promptly diagnoses the
cause of the trouble and immediately issued a prescription to the
pharmacist, thus initiating therapy. The body produces splendid
medicine and maintains splendid equipment, both of which can produce
effective cures. When a toxin is absorbed by the body, the body's
pharmacist immediately prescribes a laxative, which induces diarrhea to
rid the body of the offending substance. Other bodily reactions, too, are
remarkably ingenious. For instance, the entry of harmful bactria into
the body stimulates the great sterilizing process called fever. When
poisoned in one way or another, the body forces the poisons outward to
prevent them entering the internai organs. The result is that red
splotches appear on the skin, and itchiness and fever eliminate the cause
of the trouble. Toxins stimulate the kidneys to vigorous action in order
to use liquid to excrete the poison in the urine. When a great deal of dust
is inhaled, the body expels it in sputum. Therefore, most illnesses can be
cured by leaving them to nature.* Nevertheless, ignorant of this, people
rely on the medicines and therapeutic systems developed by scientific
research, thereby greatly hindering natural therapy and extending the
duration of the illness.
Nevertheless, a reliance on natural therapy does not completely
eliminate the need for medicai practice. There is much value in such
things as bacteriology, some aspects of hygiene, surgery in time of war or
following traffic accidents and other emergencies, dentistry, and bons
etting.
7935

Medicine's Blind Points and the

Beneficent Powers of Nature

*This does not raean refusing to call on the help of medicai science in case of a grave and
possibly fatal illness. It merely states that, since taking advantage of the natural powers of
recovery of the human body is fundamental to the maintenance of good health, natural
therapy is most desirable.

The greatest mistake of modern medicine is ignoring completely the

natural powers with which human beings are innately endowed. We
often hear of people who, when taken sick, go immediately to the doctor.
After examining them, the doctor says, "It's a good thing you carne to
me without delay. If you had waited longer, it would have been too late."
Doctors say such things because they believe illness or allowing an
illness to go unattended, means that the patienfs condition is certain to
worsen. Medicine dislikes the idea of not dealing with a situation in
time, and immediately prescribes medicines or other therapy to halt the
sicknessas soon as possible. However, it is important to realize that this
eagerness to stop the progress of a sickness is a serious mistake.
Sickness is the process whereby toxins are eliminated. If it is allowed to
run its course, the disease is certain to be cured once the toxins have
been removed. It is to rid the body of toxins that such sufferings as
fever, coughing, phlegm, runny nose, sweating, diarrhea, pain, and
itching exist. Ali that is necessary is to put up with the condition for a
while. When the impurities have been eliminated, the interior of the
body will be clean.
There is no sense in tryingto deal with sickness in accordance with a
timetable. Doctors, however, ignorant of this principie, take the opposite
stand and strongly caution against allowing an illness to run its course.
They try to block the passage of impurities the body is trying to push out,
and in this way cause the toxins to harden. Obviously, this is no way to
bring about a fundamental cure.
Another serious blind spot of medicine is the dread of the
suppuration that usually occurs when the human body suffers a wound or
burn. Because of this fear, doctors make the great mistake of taking
various steps to prevent infection. The shock of a wound or a burn
causes toxins to collectin theinjuredarea; everyone hs a considerable
amount of toxins, which the body tries to expel whenever an
opportunity presents itself. Since they collect around wounds, the
larger the infected rea the greater the amount of toxins that will be
removed from the body. This, of course, is a very good thing.
The process whereby the human body is constantly cleansing itself
and eliminating impurities is called natural self-therapy. Each human
being is endowed with such power, and to respect it and give it every

56

57

opportunity to manifest itself is the only true way to true medicai

science. In practice, however, as is amply borne out by the f acts, doctors
accept and even encourage things that hinder the operation of this
natural power.
Simply to realize humanity's heaven-bestowed, natural self-healing
powers more wonderful than anything medicai science is capable of
is a source of immense happiness. Johrei further reinforces and
stimulates these natural powers and is therefore the most progressive and
rational of ali therapeutic sytems.
July25, 1951

What Is Sickness?
Ali human beings have both innate toxins, inherited from their
parents, and acquired medicine toxins, which enter the body after birth.
Most people find this statement surprising. From ancient times the
belief was accepted, and served as the central idea underlying medicai
practice, that medicine was something that cured disease and improved
health, and that, given the right medicine, the problem of sickness could
be solved. People have thus assumed that the discovery of good
medicines would solve the problem of sickness. Everyone knows the
importance the people of the United States attach to medicines, and the
extreme efforts they devote to discovering new ones. If medicines
produced cures, the number of illnesses should in theory gradually
decrease. Instead, in apparent defiance of ali reason, they are steadily on
the increase. There is no such thing on earth as a truly curative
medicine. Ali medicines are poisons, each with its own effect The
operation of the poison called medicine appears to cure because it
decreases pathological symptoms.
Why do I say that medicines are poisons? When the Creator made
human beings he simultaneously provided ali the foods they require.
The things that are fit for human consumption are clearly distinguished
from those that are not. Things that we should eat have pleasing flavors,
and we have been endowed with a sense of taste. The scrupulous care
the Creator hs taken with these arrangements is revealed in the way

people can derive ali the nourishment they need simply by eating the
things they like. We do not eat consciously to live, but live because we
eat The mystery of procreation is similar, in that men and women do not
only engage in sexual intercourse specifically to have children. Children
are granted to human beings as the incidental result of acts performed
for other purposes.
The interior functions of the human body are incapable of dealing
with foreign materiais other than the ones created to serve as foods.
These other materiais are the medicine toxins, which tend to accumulate
and, as time passes, harden in various parts of the body. The resultant
hard reas are found only in regions where the nerves operate, such as
the upper body, especially the neck and above. This is the region
dominated by the brain, and includes the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
These are the places where toxins tend to accumulate, hardening in the
vicinity of the neck and causing the stiffness in the neck and shoulder
region that everyone experiences. When a certain degree of intensity hs
been reached, the natural elimination, or purification, process sets in.
Fever dissolves the toxins, which, in fluid form, are passed out of the
body in coughing, sputum, nasal discharges, sweat, bowel movements,
58

and urine or the symptoms of what is called the common cold.

The cold is a process for ridding the body of toxins. If the patient
endures the discomfort and allows things to run their natural course,
eventually the interior of the body will be cleansed, and a cure will be
effected. This is a marvelous thing. The simple physiological process
known as the cold is actually evidence of God' s providence for which we
ought to be grateful, even though people incorrectly interpret the
suffering caused by purification. It is surely evident how mistaken
medicine is in devising ways of putting an end to the process.
The more vigorous and lively the human being, the more readily the
purification process occurs. Attempting to halt the process can only
reduce the vigor of the body. Nevertheless, people still resort to the
poison called medicine. From ancient times, people have prepared
liquid medicines, pills, unguents and injections by brewing, powdering,
and extracting elements found in grasses, roots, barks, minerais and
animal organs for use in halting the purification process. Since such
poisons are strong enough to be fatal, they are administered in small,
diluted doses. Amounts are laid down to be taken several times daily. A
medicine that works well is one in which the toxin hs been
59

strengthened as much as possible without reaching a levei that can

cause addiction.
The use of medicine toxins hardens those other toxins that, having
been dissolved, are in solution and in the process of being eliminated.
The current fuss about preventative hygiene and fear of the common
cold indicate how poisoned modern man hs become and how easy it is
for him to fali sick. Furthermore, the happiness people feel over a
life-expectation of sixty-odd years is gravely mistaken. If it were not for
sickness, human beings could easily live to over a hundred. Death at less
than that age is unnatural and caused by sickness; if illness were
eliminated and natural death prevailed, we would ali live longer.
As the discussion s far should have shown, medicai therapy does
not cure illness but simply alleviates pain temporarily. Ali the methods it
employs to achieve that endtotal rest, wet dressings, applications, ice
packs, electrical therapy, radiation treatments, and s ononly harden
the toxins. Moxa cautery and heat treatments are exceptions. These use
heat stimulation to guide the toxins to certain locations and bring relief
from pain, but that is ali; when the situation returns to what it was
before, nothing lasting hs been achieved.
Therapy methods used until now have hardened toxins. The only
way to bring about a true cure is to dissolve toxins and remove them
from the body.
January l, 1953

The True Cause of Illness

As I said in the preceding section, human beings possess various
toxins when they are born into this world. Since it is impossible to
maintain perfectly good health because of the obstructions these toxins
create, the body is constituted to undergo a constant natural purification
process to eliminate them physiologically. This natural purification
process is accompanied by some pain connected with the process
known as sickness.
This can be illustrated by reference to the most common of ali
sicknesses, the cold. Though there is probably no one who hs not

experienced a cold at one time or another, the causes of the sickness

remain unknown to medicai science. My own discovery, however, hs
been that the cold is one of the simplest of ali purification processes. A
person who catches a cold is likely to manifest a variety of unpleasant
symptoms fever, headaches, coughing, expectoration, nasal
discharges, lossof appetite, sweating, lethargy, and pain in the joints
that I will shortly discuss in detaiL
First, though, I must look at the nature of the purification process,
which I divide into two categories. In the first category, various toxins in
the blood accumulate and harden in various parts of the body. The
places where they naturally accumulate are reas of nerve
concentra-tions or regions that are on the underside of the body when it
is at rest. As time passes, the accumulated toxins harden to produce
what is commonly called stiffness. Usually this condition is painless or
associated with nothing worse than stiffness of the shoulders.
The second purification process occurs when the first one hs
already exceeded certain limits and natural elimination of toxins
begins. To facilitate such elimination, it is essential to dissolve the
hardened toxins. Fever is the means employed to achieve this end. The
degree of fever required depends on the hardness, nature, and quantity

of the toxins and on the patienfs physical constitution. Fever is

occasionally experienced from fatigue after exercise. This happens
because exercise stimulates the purification process. The toxins
dissolved by it are remove d from the body in sweat, expectoration, and
nasal discharges.
Since itresults in expectoration, coughing insuch cases can serve as a
"pump". Nasal discharges are removed in sneezing. Sputum is
expectorated after coughing; sneezing is always followed by discharge
of nasal matter. Fever, expectoration, and the taking of medicine cause
loss of appetite. The movement caused by the dissolution of hardened
toxins and preparation to eliminate them stimulates the nerves in the
affected rea and brings on headache and pains in the joints. Toxins
being eliminated by coughing come into contact with the mucous
membranes, causing catarrh in the throat and vocal cords, which in turn
cause pain and hoarseness.
If no treatment is given and no medicines are used, these symptoms of
the cold are lef t to run their natural courses and they will be curedina
short time, as the purification process is completed in an orderly way.
Relying on natural therapy in this way reduces the amount of toxins in

60

61

the body and improves health. By showing that colds should really be
welcomed as the simplest of the purification processes, this discussion
should make clear how mistaken people are when they fear them, and
how mistaken medicai science is to try s hard to prevent people from
catching them. Since ancient times it hs been said, for example, that
"the cold is the source of ali illness." In fact, however, itis necessary to
affirm that the cold is the sole means by which ali other illnesses can be
avoided.
Ignorant of the causes of the cold, medicai science applies various
methods when a person catches cold, yet ali of them halt the purification
process. Antipyretics, ice packs and wet applications to lower fever are
examples. They nave the effect of setting purification back from the
second to the first category. They reharden those toxins that had begun to
dissolve. Though doctor and patient are deluded into thinking the
condition is improving because such symptoms as fever, coughing, and
nasal discharge are reduced, actually the toxins have hardened again and
the situtation hs regressed to what it was before second-category
purification started. Recurrence of the illness is therefore only to be
expected. It is importantto notice that ali such steps as medication, ice
packs, and wet applications make the situation worse when it does recur
because they halt the purification process. Consequently, the repeated
interruption of minor purification processes by such means as medicines
causes the toxins to accumulate and increase, thus making necessary an
inevitable major purification process, which takes the form of a serious
illness.
February 5, 1947

What Is Sickness?
The Cold
Medicai science agrees that people have various innate toxins. The
body initiates a natural physiological process in the attempt to get rid of
them. We call this process purification. Initially, the toxins accumulate in
various parts of the body, especially in those reas where nerves are most
usecL the upper part of the human body, notably around the brain. When a
person is awake, the brain, eyes, ears, nose, and mouth are constantly
active, even though the legs and arms may be at rest. Consequently
toxins accumulate mostly in the rea of the brain and then in the
shoulders, neck, lymph glands, the top of the spinal column, and the
region of the glands under the ears. Gradually these localized
accumulations of toxins harden. When the hardening reaches a certain
stage, the elimination process begins. This should be regarded as a
blessing. Hardening of toxins reduces vigor to the point where the
human being is incapable of carrying out his fundamental tasks, by
interfering with blood circulation and causing stiffness in the neck and
shoulders, headaches, heaviness of the head, reduction of vision,
hardness of hearing, stuffy nose, dulling of the olfactory sense,
pyorrhea, bad teeth, shortness of breath, sluggishness in the legs and
arms, backaches, and swelling. To prevent this, the Lord Creator
provided the splendid purification process called sickness.
If the pain involved in the elimination of toxins is what we call
sickness and this sickness purifies the blood, it ought to be considered
the greatest of ali God's blessings, since it is the essential element for
good health. It could even be that, if they were not subject to illness,
human beings would gradually weaken and perhaps become extinct.
Since I advocate the creation of a world free of illness, I might seem to
contradict myself by saying this, but that is not the case. What I mean is
the elimination of ali toxins s that the purification process, and
therefore illness, become unnecessary. I shall now explain my meaning as
thoroughly as possible and in the most readily understandable way.
We call the process of eliminating hardened toxins purification. When
a person catches cold, the first symptom is fever. Nature employs fever to
dissolve the hardened toxins and facilitate their elimination. The liquid
toxins then quickly enter the lungs. This is a highly mystical process. For
instance, if we dissolve the toxins by means ofJohrei, they

62

go immediately to the lungs, passing straight through muscles and

bons. The condition is fairly light when toxins are concentrated in only
one or two places in the body, but grows more serious as the number of
concentrations increases. This is why a cold that seems mild at first
sometimes grows more serious.
If the liquified toxins are thin, they quickly enter the lungs then are
immediately expelled from the body as sputum. If they are denser,
however, the pumplike operation of coughing is called on to eliminate
them through the trachea Thus coughing is immediately followed by
discharge of sputum, as sneezing is always accompanied by nasal
discharge. Similarly, headaches, pain in the throat, inflammation of the
inner ear and of the lymph glands, and pain in the arms and legs and the
glands near the groin are ali caused when toxins that were solidified in
those parts liquefy and begin to move in search of an outlet. These
conditions occur because of stimulation to the nerves. The fluid toxins
may be either concentrated or dilute. Concentrated ones are eliminated
from the body in sputum, nasal discharge, or diarrhea; extremely
diluted ones are watery and may be eliminated as night sweating or
urine. The completely natural way in which this purification process
takes place makes one marvel at the powers of the Creator. There is no
reason why God should have produced human beings and then imposed
on them such a thing as illness that causes them to suffer and impedes
their activity. In fact, human beings produce toxins through error and
allow them to accumulate in what ought to be unfailingly healthy bodies, s
that the elimination process becomes unavoidable and essential. If this
is the nature of illness, it means that the ordinary cold, if left to run its
course naturally, should be cured without specific treatment since the
purification process will take place naturally. When this happens, the
health will improve.
Yet for some unaccountable reason, at some point this purification
process became completely misunderstood. When an illness develops,
people take extreme measures to halt purification because they interpret
the accompanying pain as an indication that their condition is
deteriorating. Out of fear they try to reduce the fever. Reduction of the
fever halts the liquefaction of the toxins; as a consequence, ali such
symptoms as coughing and discharge of sputum decrease, giving the
impression of recovery from the sickness. By resorting to medicai
therapy to treat a cold, people only reharden toxins that had started to
liquefy.
64

Since measures such as ice pack, cold applications, medicines, and

injections harden toxins and simultaneously eliminate pathological
symptoms, people tend to believe they are effecting a cure. In fact, these
measures only hinder the cleanup operation that had once begun. Colds
grow worse because, by trying to halt them, people force the purification
process to conflict with the nonpurification process in a way that generates
friction. Even when application of medicai therapy seems to have
conquered it, the cold will inevitably reappear. In short, instead of
curing illness, medicine only postpones it. The way to cure sickness is to
purify the body by completely ridding it of the toxins that are the
fundamental cause of illness. The only true therapy is one that, when
purification begins, accelerates the liquefaction of toxins and maximizes
their elimination from the body.
August 15, 1951

What Is the Common Cold?

Itis probably impossible for the ordinary person living as a member
of society to avoid catching cold. Becoming chilled is generally regarded
as the cause of colds, and it is difficult to avoid the condition that
presents itself many times everyday when one may get chilled:
undressing before going to bed, dressing upon waking, bathing, and
going out into the cold wind and rain. Consequently, I teach that people
should not worry about this too much.
Sometimes, feeling cold is followed by actually catching a cold and
sometimes it is not. When it is, it is because the person had a slight
fever; when it is not, it is because there was no fever. In other words, the
person had already caught cold, and the slight fever was the first sign of
the illness; the cold would have come no matter whether his body was
chilled or not. Particularly if he hs a slight fever, he will shiver from
cold no matter where he is and no matter how heavily he is dressed.
It is important to realize, however, that when the weather changes or
when a person is exposed to cold, there is no way to prevent the natural
process of purification that takes place in response to those conditions.
65

It is therefore futile to try to avoid catching colds, which are inevitable.

Indeed, the attempt can have adverse psychological effects. I am
convinced there is no one who can avoid a cold by being careful.
Medicai science still cannot pinpoint the cause of the common cold.
Nevertheless, I will attempt a rough explanation in the light of my own
views. First of ali, the basic cause of healthor sickness in human beings is
the purity or impurity of their blood. A healthy person hs pur blood,
whereas the blood of an unhealthy person is clouded. Fortunately, a
purification process is constantly taking place in the body of a person
with clouded blood, and the elements (toxins) responsible for the
clouding collect in one place and harden. This is, as I have already
explained, the first purification process. The second purification process
that is, elimination of the hardened toxins follows. This process is
what is called the common cold. Fever dissolves and liquefies the
hardened toxins, which, after first accumulating in the lungs as sputum,
are expelled by the pumping action involved in coughing. In other words,
the common cold is the simplest form of purification. As a result cloudy
blood becomes pur, and health is improved. Consequently, the cold is a
great blessing bestowed on humanity by God and a natural physiological
process.

Nouember 23, 1943

Internai Bathing
I am constantly writing about the fallacies inherent in modern
medicine. Some people accept the principies on which our philosophy is
based, but in reality most are unable to put it boldly into practice
because they think of sickness in terms of the doctor and medicines. For
the sake of that majority, I shall here explain our approach in the most
readily understandable way.
Probably the most easily understood sickness is the ordinary cold.
When people catch cold and such symptoms as fever, coughing, phlegm,
sneezing, watery nasal discharges, headaches, and pain in the joints
develop, they immediately go to a doctor for a diagnosis. This is the
cause of the trouble. While realizing that the sickness is no more than a

66

cold, most people who catch one at once entertain the fear that, if they
are not careul, the situation will become more serious and that they are
experiencing the first stages of a much graver sickness. Some people
simply do as their doctor instructs and wait to get better. Others turn to
home remedies like aspirin, root and herbal brews, a drink of sake and
eggs, charred orange peei, and s on, or go to bed, pile quilts on
themselves, and try to sweat it out, turning bright red in the process.
Not satisfied with makeshift home cures and afraid that the sickness will
get out of hand and become perhaps incurable, people with less
courage than money rush to their trusted physician. They ask a lot of
questions, but, because the doctor himself does not understand the
cause of the common cold, he or she is unable to give any clear
explanation. Consequently the patient's mind is, quite naturally, not put
at rest. The doctor may well suspect the danger of pneumonia, but must
be content with such perfunctory injunctions as "Go to bed and rest,"
or"Take good care of yourself," thus only increasing the patienfs
anxiety. Such patients are obliged to stay at home ali day with a
thermometer and, from our viewpoint, look ridiculous.
There is nothing more beneficiai to health than the cold, since it
cleans outthe toxins stored in ali parts of the body. It is good to sweat as
much as possible and to rid of body of phlegm and nasal discharges,
since these fluids contain toxins that have been dissolved by fever. The
more quickly they are removed from the body, the sooner will a cure of
the cold be achieved, leaving the patient feeling refreshed and in better
health than before. A cold cleanses the body s interior free of charge.
What could be a greater blessing than that? Just as bathing is a way to
keep the outside of the body clean, a cold is a way to keep the inside
clean. Washing removes the grime clingingto the skin; a cold removes
the grime on the body's interior. Sputum, nasal discharges, and sweat
are the interior dirt being removed from the body. Though it is easy to
wash the outside of the body, similar cleansing of the interior is
impossible. Nature, bearing witness to the great skill of God the
Creator, hs provided colds to do this work, and we should be
correspondingly grateful to them.
Employing the toxins called medicines and misinterpreting the
nature of colds, doctors do ali they can to stop them. I doubt if there is
one true medicine among the medicinal products of the world. Ali the
substances now considered beneficiai medicines are actually toxins
retarding the natural process of recovery. Nothing is more mistaken

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than to rely on these toxins. People make the mistake because they are
deluded into thinking that, when medicines bring relief from pain by
temporarily halting the internai cleansing process, an actual cure hs
been effected. In short, medicine is truly a forbidden fruit
The fact that I have discovered this remarkable human error and
teach Johrei, moreover, as a way of eliminating medicine toxins, clearly
shows how great a salvation my work representa. It should be obvious
too, that my insistence on the creation of a heaven on earth free of
illness, poverty, and conflict is more than mere boasting.
March 12, 1952

The True Cause of Sickness Is In the Soul

Everything inthe physical world is made up of a spiritual being and a
material being. The material being decays and decomposes when the
spirit leaves it This happens even in the case of stones; for example,
stones that crumble and break easily are sometimes referred to as
"dead." Rust on the surface of metal can be called a corpse since it
represents what the metal becomes when its spiritual being departs.
Well-burnished sword blades and ancient metal mirrors do not rust
muc h because the spirit of the persons who made them have been added to
those of the physical objects. Ali material things have spirits, bu
living creatures have spiritual beings. In living human beings, the
spiritual being and physical body are intimately, inseparably, linked to
each other. Death occurs when the spiritual being leaves the physical
body for the spiritual world.
Besides their spiritual beings or rather, within their spiritual
beings ali living creatures have minds and souls. The mind is the
center of the spiritual being, and the soul is the center of the mind. In
size, the mind is one-hundredth that of the spiritual being, and the soul
is one-hundredth that of the mind.
When the soul moves, the mind is put into action. When the mind
moves, the spiritual being is put into action, and this in turn causes the
physical being to act. The soul is the fundamental source of ali human
movement and of ali other physical phenomena. Classified in terms of

good and bad, the mind acts as good in relation to the bad of the physical
being, and the soul as good in relation to the bad of the mind. The
friction between the various goods and bads gives rise to a harmony
which manifests itself as potential action.
Consequently, illness is generated by part of the soul, whicft
activates the physical body. Though small, the soul hs free powers of
expansion and contraction. When a person is awake and working, the
soul assumes human form, but it becomes round during sleep. At the
instant of death, the soul, the mind, and the spiritual being become
round. Light is associated with this roundness. Therefore, on leaving
the body, the spiritual entity assumes the form of the flying, flaming
spheres which are occasionally visible to the human eye.
The occurrence of illness in one particular part of the soul in its
human form signifies, in fact, a clouding diminution of the light of a
part of the soul itself. This is transmitted first to the mind, and then to
the spiritual being. Finally, it manifests itself as illness in the physical
being. Therefore, as long as the soul remains unclouded, the person will
contract absolutely no illness. Pollution with sin is the cause of clouds
on the souL To explain this, it is necessary to delve into the field of
religion. Therefore, I shall not deal with it here, but instead will explain
illness as a physical manifestation.
As I have already explained, when clouds occur in part of the
spiritual being let us say the lungs the blood in the corresponding
physical being becomes muddy. Since this principie is not limited to
lung disease but applies to ali other sicknesses, treatment must depend
on removing the clouds from the spiritual being. Acquainted only with
the evidence and ignorant of the main cause that is, of this principie
modern medicai science concentrates most of its research and effort on
pathological symptoms in the physical being. Though it may bring
temporary respite, such treatment cannot effect fundamental cures. In
contrast, Johrei employs the divine light to eliminate clouds in the
spiritual being. When this happens, the concentrated liquid is dissolved
and the illness is either alleviated or cured entirely because purification
of the spiritual being results in a cure in the physical being. However, it
cannot be said that this is truly fundamental. Though certainly more
fundamental than the effects of medicai science, it cannot be called
absolute since, unless the soul is totally purified, it is impossible to be
truly mentally tranquil. Purification of the soul is only thorough when
the person hs a firm understanding of the right faith and puts that faith
69

into practical action. Since this kind of action is the work of the divine
light, the people carrying it out generate absolutely no sin but instead
accumulate virtue. Consequently, such people lead lives of joy and
rapture utterly free of illness or calamity. They enjoy happiness, long
life, and prosperity.
I should like to take the opportunity this discussion offers to say one
more thing about the souL Some people are easily startled by externai
things, and are constantly unsettled and restless because their souls have
been weakened and their powers of resistance against impulses from the
outside world have been reduced. The many people today who suffer from
nervous debility are of this kind. The cause of the weakness is clouds in the
soul, but it can be cured if the coagulation of toxic blood at the nape of the
neck is dissolved. If their condition deteriorates, such people may suffer
insomnia. They must also live with the likelihood of a recurrence even
after a cure hs been effected. Therefore they should accept Johrei and
allow their souls to be s illuminated by the divine light that no clouds
can develop there.
1935

Wrongdoing and the Fundamental

Cause of Illness
Illness is basically caused by pollution of the blood, and an
accumulation and coagulation of suppurative fluid. These in turn are
manifestations of clouds in the spiritual being. This is a result of
pollution through sin, which can be either hereditary or acquired.
Hereditary pollution is the accumulation and consolidation of the wrongs
perpetrated by many ancestors. Acquired pollution is the accumulation of
the wrongs a person commits in this life.
First I shall deal in detail with hereditary pollution. We are not
creatures who have suddenly sprung to life unrelated to ali other beings.
Each of us hs thousands of ancestors and is the present living, breathing
culmination of ali our forebears. At the same time, however, each of us is
an nterim being, a temporal individuality, in an eternal process. In the
large view, we are links in the chain connecting our ancestors and our
descendants. In the smaller view, each of us is the link
70

joining parent and child. To explain thoroughly how sickness can result
from the wrongdoing of ancestors, it is essential to discuss life after
death, that is the organization of the spiritual world. In what follows,
therefore, I give a summary of the situation here.
In leaving this world and passing through the gate of death, a human
being divests itself of its clothing of flesh. The flesh belongs to this
world, and the spirit to the spiritual world. As a result of aging or illness the
physical body degenerates to the point where it is no longer serviceable,
whereupon the spirit abandons this useless physical burden and goes to
the spiritual world, where it must prepare for rebirth into this world. This
preparation is purification. Since most people are greatly polluted by sin
during physical life, in the spiritual world, as a result of a fair and strict
judgment, the majority fali into hell. Enduring their punishment there,
they improve little by little. Nonetheless, this purification still leaves
spiritual pollutants, or a residue of sin, to be passed on in an unbroken
stream to their descendants. Children and grandchildren must bear the
burden of their forefathers' wrongs in what might be called a
cause-and-effect law of atonement Since this is the inscrutable law of
God the Creator of ali things, human beings have no choice but to obey it
The spiritual pollutants ceaselessly flow in the direction of a human
being's brain and spinal column and, immediately after entering the soul,
assume physical form as suppurative fluid, which is the cause of ali
kinds of illness.
The second, or acquired pollution is something everyone understands
well since no person is capable of living this life without doing wrong in
some way or another. Of course, wrongdoing is of many kinds and
degrees; there is legal wrongdoing, moral wrongdoing, social
wrongdoing, and s on. Some wrongs manifest themselves in actual
physical action, whereas other kinds are only wrongdoing of the mind.
Though it may sound too severe, Chrisfs statement that a man who lusts
after a woman in his heart hs already committe d adultery with her is
certainly not mistaken. Ali the small acts and thoughts of daily life
hating someone, wishing another person harm, lustful desire though
apparently insignificant in themselves can become serious if allowed to
accumulate over a long period. Superiority of the kind gained by victory in
a competition or social success can cause the person who hs not
succeeded to resent or feel envious of the more fortunate person. This
kind of resentment can be the cause of sin. Unnecessary taking of life,
being lazy, attacking others, wasting material ps sessions, oversleeping
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in the morning, breaking promises, falsehood, and many other actions

and attitudes are ali sins committed without beingfelt as such. Though
small individually, yet over a long period of time these sins can become
numerous and accumulate as clouds in the soul. Contrary to what might
seem to be the case, even newly born infants have acquired clouds. The
case may be different after children leave their parents' sides to become
independent, but as long as they are under their protection, children
must share the sins of their fathers and mothers. The parents are the
trunkofthetree. The boughs are the children, andsmaller branches are
the grandchildren. Just as no branch is unaffected by the trunk, s it is
impossible that the spiritual clouds of the parents should fail to
influence the offspring.
Acquired pollution and its effects are often readily apparent, as the
following few examples show. In two of these instances, people who
persistently pulled the wool over other peoples' eyes went blind
themselves. As a child I often went to Senzoku-cho, in Asakusa, to visit
an old man, who inhisyoungeryears, hadbeentheproprietorof ashop
specializing in mounting scroll paintings and calligraphy and who had
himself amassed a fortune as a result of his genius for forging such
works of art. His new scrolls passed muster for sale as valuable
antiques. However, as he told me himself, after he had grown old he
went incurably blind; he died not long afterward.
In another instance, the head priest of a temple in the Shizuoka
district wanted to place the main Buddhist image of his temple on view in
Tokyo. He took the statue to Tokyo to raise funds but failed and
found himself without sufficient money for the trip home. To raise the
fare, he left the statue as collateral with the proprietor of a dealer in
furnishings called Hanagame, in Hanakawado, Asakusa, from whom he
borrowed what he needed. Realizing its great value, Hanagame sold the
image. When the priest, who had gathered the money for repayment,
returned to Tokyo to redeem it, Hanagame stubbornly and brazenly
refused to admit he had ever accepted it in the first place. In an
irresolvable impasse, the priest hanged himself under the Hanagame
eaves. Having made a huge profit on the sale of the statue, Hanagame
expande d his business and for a while steadily prospered until he was
extremely wealthy. But in his late years he, too, went blind. To make
matters worse, his son, who was supposed to succeed his business, took to
drinking and womanizing and squandered the family fortune. I often saw
Hanagame as a wretched, miserable, scrawny old man being led by the
hand about town by his old wife. My father told me the story of his
72

fate. There can be no doubt that the revenge of the dead priest was at
work in what happened to him.
In another instance, the sin of the father was visited on the child. A
girl of seventeen or eighteen who worked as a maid in our house had lost
the sight of an eye when the children of the family by whom she had
previously been employed accidentally shot her in the face with an air
gun. It was discovered that in the middle of the nineteenth century, her
father had been especially skillful at making imitation coral beads of
rubber, which he sold to rural people at high prices as the genuine
article. Though he made a great deal of money this way, the resentment of
the people he duped must have been equally great. The father's sin was
visited on the daughter in the form of lost sight in one eye. Moreover, if
her eyes had been normal, this girl would have gone far in the world
since, aside from this one deformity, she was very lovely.
In still another instance, an old man carne asking me to treat a pain in
his wrist. I was s surprised that more than ten days of therapy failed to
cure him that I asked what his religious f aith was. He told me that for
more than twenty years he had put his faith in a certain deity. As soon as
he followed my advice to stop worshiping that god his arm gradually got
better. And, in a week, he was completely cured. I frequently hear of
people whose hands are paralyzed or painful or whose knees will not
bend because they mistakenly worship the wrong deity.
As these examples show, we must not underestimate acquired
pollution by sin. People who suffer from illness or other hardship should
carefully examine themselves to discover what they are guilty of, then
repent and make amends.
7936

Sin and Sickness

Before discussing this topic, I should say that, though "sin" tends to be
thought of in religious terms, when I speak of it, I am talking about its
ethical aspects. Men of religion do in fact frequently use the term sin;
but, as what follows shows, sin is not some hypothetical, man-made
abstraction, but a practical reality.
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As I said in the preceding article, when people think evil and commit
evil, cloudiness in the spiritual being increases both in quantity and
concentration. When the concentration reaches a certain degree, the
purification process sets in naturally. This is a strict inescapable law of
the spiritual world, and no one is immune to it Though the purification
process usually manifests itself as illness, it sometimes takes other
fornis. Where medicai therapy hs no effect on illness even though
applied with utmost thoroughness, it is because it attempts to use
mechanical and pharmaceutical means to solve a spiritual problem. It is
pursuing a totally mistaken course. Praying to a god or Buddha in cases of
illness, as some people do, is effective to some extent since, ob viously,
such beings are of the spiritual realm and their blessings help to diminish
spiritual clouds. However, not even a god or Buddha the more
conscientious he is the more s, since he must be fair will allow
impurities accumulated over a long period to be resolved with only light
suffering. This is like a person who hs violated a national law; no matter
how he repents and laments, his crime cannot be overlooked, though his
punishment may be lightened as a result of his penitent atttude.
In some cases, alternative kinds of purification processes have taken
place before the usual one begins. In these instances, the degree of
clouding is relatively light, s that only a mild purification process is
required. Such prior purification may have been motivated by a
psychological awakening brought about by contact with religious stories
or holy writings or by the testimonials of older persons or people of
distinction. The good effects these can have show the importance of
good books, lectures, motion pictures, and dramas in awakening the
human soul or conscience.
Next, then, I should like to discuss the process occurring in the
spiritual being when people are awakened in these ways. The spiritual
being is in three stages; including the mind, which is the center of the
spiritual being, and the soul, which is the center of the mind. The soul,
which is essentially conscience, is constantly being clouded over by
influences from without. It is fundamentally a radiant sphere; cloudiness
in the mind, its outer casing, obscures its brilliance and puts it to sleep;
but when the mind is as calm as stillwater or a clear mirror, the celestial
brilliance of the soul shines forth.
When a person is spiritually awakened, the soul that hs slumbered
suddenly shines bright. Until today, the primary ways to bring about
such an awakening have been educational for example the stories and

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written material that I mentioned earlier. Contact with them awakened

the soul and allowed it to glow. This in turn dispelled the cloudiness of
the mind and initiated purification of the spiritual being. In this way, the
three elements soul, mind, and spirit preserve a state of balance
between light and dark.
In this educational approach, first the soul is awakened; then the
mind and spiritual being are purified. In our therapeutic method,
however, the order is the opposite: by means oJohrei from without, the
spiritual being is first purified; this dispels the cloudiness of the mind
and, irresistibly, awakens the soul. Furthermore, when the soul and mind
are awakened by the educational method, the person undergoes the
suffering of self-denial, which in turn affects the spiritual body, leading
to sickness and other sufferings, whereas our therapeutic method
constitutes a kind of ideal remodeling of spirit and body together,
whereby the soul is awakened without its realizing it, in the
course of the cure.

October23, 1943

Sickness and Suffering

Suffering is the awareness people have that they have fallen ill. It
might even seem that sickness and suffering are synonymous, butthere
are many different kinds of suffering. Until the present, medicai science
hs regarded suffering and illness as the same thing and hs believed
that easing suffering was tantamount to relieving sickness. This
approach is fundamentally mistaken, as the example of the common
cold will show. When people catch cold, they first develop a fever. Since the
head hurts, they apply ice packs to it. Because this brings a little
comfort, they feel that the lessening of the suffering is the same thing as
lessening the gravity of the sickness itself. This is wrong. Illness and
suffering are different; the more the suffering is relieved, the more
aggravated the sickness becomes. Though modern people might find
this an astonishing statement, it is an unshakable truth. No medicine that
fails to accept it as a fundamental tenet can be a true medicine. The
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explanation that follows should leave everyone who reads it totally

convinced. In the past, people used to say that there was no man
untainted by conceit and syphilis. Actually, there is no one who hs not
inherited toxins. Furthermore, most people have more of those toxins
than they think. When the toxins are transformed medicines, we call
them medicine toxins; I will discuss them later.
As a resultof the metabolic processes, toxins accumulate invarious
parts of the body and harden gradually with the passing of time. Toxin
accumulation occurs in places where the nerves are used, and is
therefore most frequent in the upper body, especially above the neck.
During waking hours, the head, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and throat work
unceasingly. This is especially true of the brain, where more nerves are
employed than in any other part of the body. Consequently, the toxins of
the whole body are constantly moving toward the brain and accumulate
to a great extent in the vicinity of the neck; this is because the nerves of
the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears have their origins in the brain. The
phenomenon explains why most people have lumps in the neck rea or
stiffness in the shoulders.
When toxins accumulate to the maximum degree, they impede the
continued maintenance of good health. At this stage an elimination
process, called purification, begins. The Creator hs exercised the utmost
ingenuity in providing this purification process. First a fever develops
and melts the toxin lumps. Then, instantaneously, the toxins pass in fluid
form into the lungs, where they are immediately expelled from the body
in the process called expectoration. Coughing is the pumplike process
resulting in expectoration. Toxins in the rear of the head and the vicinity
of the top of the spinal column become nasal fluids, which are
discharged through the nose in the process called sneezing. The way
these processes act to remove liquefied toxins from the body is obvious
when it is recalled that one always discharges sputum in coughing and
nasal fluids in sneezing. After liquefaction, toxins in the body below the
neck are discharged as night sweating. Headaches are caused by liquefied
toxins seeking a way out of the body and stimulating the nerves to cause
pain. These toxins are striving to reach the lungs, from which they will be
expelled in the form of sputum. When we administer Johrei for headaches,
coughing and expectoration of sputum are instantaneous, and relief from
pain follows. Because human beings often bend their arms and legs,
toxins accumulate in the joints, where purification results in pain.

As this explanation makes clear, sickness is the process of cleaning

pollutants from the human body. It can therefore be said that there is no
greater blessing than the common cold, or sickness in general. The
cause of poor health is accumulated pollutants. Sickness is the process
whereby those pollutants are cleansed away and good health is restored.
The suffering of sickness is blessed since it is a cleansing process. If left
alone, it will not be severe.
Medicai science views pain as an evil and attempts to halt it. By
preventing the emergence of matter that naturally ought to be expelled
from the body, this causes a collision between natural and artificial
power and in this way intensifies the suffering. Obviously, medicai
science, which hs developed under the delusion that suppressing
natural processes in this way can work cures, is fundamentally in error.
There is, however, a condition essential to the removal of the
localized accumulation of toxins. Unless the body is vigorous enough to
expel the toxins, that is, unless the metabolic processes are strong
enough, purification cannot take place. Interpreting this in the opposite
way, medicai science attempts to suppress the emergence of purification.
To do this, it must weaken both metabolism and health. Medicines are a
way of weakening health.
Fundamentally, medicines are poisons; they are effective precisely
because they are poisonous. This may seem ludicrous, yet a dose of
medicine in fact weakens the body. Weakening the body weakens the
purification process, which in turn reduces suffering. Established
medicai science deludes itself by assuming it is the medicine that hs
cured the illness. The same can be said for other so-called therapies.
Applying ice packs to the head to reduce fever only rehardens those
toxins that had started to liquefy. Total rest with no exercise of any kind is
the most effective possible way to weaken the body. Even people in good
health will suffer ill effects if f orce d to remain still for several months
without exercising their bodies. Their stomachs will weaken, they will
lose their appetites, their arms and legs will be debilitated by lack of use,
and they will find themselves on the verge of serious illness. Clearly the case
is much graver with a sick person who is deprived of ali exercise. Wet
poultices also weaken the body. Human beings breathe, not only through
the mouth and nose, but also through the capillaries dispersed throughout
the skin of the whole body. Poultices stop dermal breathing wherever they
are applied. This lowers fever and relieves

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suffering, but it stops the purification process in the vicinity of the

poultice.
(Date uncertain)

Medicine Toxins I
I shall now go on to explain the grave danger of medicine toxins, in
general, aside from what I call the "hereditary toxins."
In ali ages and ali places, it hs been considered sensible to take
medicine when ill, just as it is to eat when hungry. The idea that
medicines cure is deeply ingrained. Yet I have realized that medicines
are fearsome poisons that totally lack power to cure sickness. Indeed,
they cause illness in the sense that they are its source.* Some people may
find this difficult to understand, but it is true. I once read in a book the
following words of a noted Chinese-style doctor: "Fundamentally there
are no medicines; they are ali poisons. Taking medicine for an illness is
the same thing as attempting to control one poison by means of another."
This is a very wise thing to say and reminiscent of the old proverb about
"making medicines out of poisonous herbs."
When pain is intolerable, relief can of course be had by means of,
say, morphine injections. Yet as medicai scientists know full well, the
relief is brought about only by a temporary paralysis of the nerves
caused by the poison called morphine.
I have explaned earlier that sickness arises as a result of the
process of purification, which is always accompanied by the suffering
referred to as illness. Obviously, everyone dislikes suffering and wants to
escape from it quickly.
There are two ways to eliminate suffering. One way to get rid of it
completely is by totally expelling from the body those toxins that must
*Though medicines are capable of extending lif e temporarily and of creating a condition of
false good health, they cannot bring about a fundamental cure. Essential good health is a
conditionin whichhuman beings can live without medicine. For this reason, itis important to
avoid taking medicines as much as possible, though sometimes respect for human life makes
their application necessary.

be removed. The other is a temporary escape and a return to the

condition predating the occurrence of suffering; this means, merely,
halting the purification process and returning to the condition existing
before its initiation. S ince the complete elimination of toxins is a natural
process, it takes time. It is the desire to be free of suffering quickly that
hs stimulated the development of ali the medicai and other therapeutic
methods invented in the past Moreover, medicai science hs never yet
understood the principie of toxin elimination and purification as the
true nature of illness.
1939

Medicine Toxins II
When people become sick they develop fever, pain, and general
malaise or may cough and expectorate sputum. If they take medicine
they will feel better, just as if the medicine had cured the sickness. But, as
I have often said, taking the poison called medicine weakens the whole
body. Because the body weakens, the purification process grows faint,
and pain is eased. If this were ali, the situation would not be s bad.
The truly serious problem is what happens to the poison after one hs
taken it.
Let me explain. The ingestion of poison stimulates an antidotal
process, or one that eliminates the harmful substance. This is true of
toxins in the foods we eat, but the body is powerless to counteract
immediately poisons other than those in our foods. Since the poison
from the medicines that people take is not completely eliminated, some
remains to accumulate in the body. Just as in the case of toxins that
have been handed down through generations of medicine users, these
newly introduced toxins accumulate in reas where nerves are plentiful;
when purification and elimination of accumulated hardened toxins of
the kind that are most difficult to expel from the body begin, medicine
toxins halt the process and increase toxic leveis. This is the effect of
medicinal therapy.
A second-stage accumulation of toxins develops. Then purification
begins again; but this time, owing to the increased amount of toxins, the

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purifying process is a greater strain. This is why secondary purification,

or repurification, is more severe than the initial process. Furthermore,
third-stage and fourth-stage purification can occur.
1939

Low-grade Fever
Though only some people are aware of it, probably no one today is
without what is called low-grade fever. Because of the surprisingly great
influence it hs on the human body, I shall now discuss this kind of
fever.
A persistent slight fever causes headaches, heaviness in the head,
lack of psychological concentration, distraction, diminished memory,
loss of perseverance, laziness in everything, sluggishness of the whole
body, and a desire to lie around and doing nothing. It reduces the
appetite and makes people finicky about what they eat. When afflicted
with it, people show a preference for liquids and foods with high liquid
content They may b e irritable, shut off from the world, jade d, and
pessimistic. They become hysterical, are negative in outlook, and prefer
rainy to fair weather. They catch cold easily and are prone to stuffy
nose, ringing in the ears, and tonsillitis. They become short of breath
and suffer heaviness in the legs from walking fast or climbing slopes. As
this brief summary of its effects clearly shows, a low-grade fever is not
something to take lightly.
Because of these symptoms, such people do not mix well with their
friends or get along smoothly with other people. Their marital and other
relationships are poor because such people insist on acting precisely as
they wish and always have some kind of justification for their own
selfish behavior; "liberalism" is one of their favorite excuses. Because
such people are dissatisfied with life at home, horrible things often
happenintheirlives. The currently increasingnumbersof youngpeople
who run away from home may well be influenced by this kind of
domestic situation. In the worst cases, entire families have been known to
commit suicide together.
80

On a social levei, large numbers of people concerned with nothing

but pursuing and justifying their own selfish ends disrupt harmony,
debate unimportant matters, and resort to conflict to solve issues that
could be solved amicably. Egotism of this kind is apparently common in
the world of politics.
Whenever something is being debated in a group, there is s much
bustle and commotion that it takes a long time to come to an agreement;
the reason is not s much that people are unaware of the cause as that
they are indifferent to it
But there is still more to the matter. As society becomes disturbed in
the ways I have described above, people experience more unpleasant
than pleasant things, and seek diversion by turning to alcohol; this is
why the sale of alcoholic beverages, no matter how much they cost,
continues unabated. Next, such people seek still stronger stimuli in the
hope of escaping from their suffering. Young people seek unwholesome
amusements. Older people with the money to pay for such things keep
mistresses or seek consolation in the red-light districts. For this reason,
the world today is filled with such unhealthy amusements.
Clearly, then, nothing is s fearsome as a low-grade fever, which is
the fundamental cause of trouble in ali these aspects of life. The
presence in the body of medicine toxins is the cause of the slight fever,
which is a sign of the slow purification process taking place in the body to
eliminate these hardened toxins. Since Johrei is the only way to work a
cure, an increase in the number of people who do Johrei will eliminate the
deplorable situation I have described above. When this happens, society
will be a pleasant, happy place in which to live; and we will have an ideal
world.
September 5, 1951

Balanced Purification
The person who administers Johrei must remember the principie of
"balanced purification." For example, pain in the right arm may
disappear, but then develop in the left arm. The pain seems to move from
one arm to the other, but this is really an example of balanced
81

purification: cleansing must take place in an equalized fashion. Thus,

when toxins have been purified out of the right arm, a parallel natural
purification may start in the left arm if there are toxins there. Obviously
this pertains not only to the arms, but also to other parts of the body.
Pain does not shift from the abdmen to the back. The appearance of a
shift is only the result of the balanced purification I speak of.
Aprl22, 1950

The Word Purification (Johka)

The word "purification" which we use for illness is, I feel, peculiarly
apt, not least because it exactly expresses the truth. It hs, to begin
with, a very pleasant sound, whereas the word sickness is unpleasantness
itself. Yet even the word for sickness, in Japanese, is hardly a mistake.
The two characters for it, byo and ki, mean "sickness" and "mind," and
the trouble is precisely that people fret their minds about sickness too
much without realizing that it is, essentially, a good thing.
In this connection, I am encouraged and delighted when I hear
members saying to each other, for example, "Fm pleased to say that
purification hs started," or "Thanks to purification, I feel much better
now," or "Purification is a true blessing."
Though I dislike it very much, the word byoin (hospital) is an apt
description of the institution: a place (in) where incurable illness (byo)
continues for a long time. If we in this organization were asked to give a
name to a place where illness is treated, we would probably call it a
johin, or place of purification. If people stopped taking medicines, the
only illnesses that would remain would be simple ones that could be
cured at home; and there would be no need to build hospitais of any
kind.
May 21, 1952

Admonitions from Ancestral Spirits

Because they sincerely hope for the happiness and prosperity of
their descendants, ancestral spirits are ceaselessly sending them
warnings to prevent their making mistakes and doing evil that runs
contrary to their own well-being, and to help them avoid falling into
negative ways. When their posterity left in this world are lured by evil
forces into doing something wrong, the ancestral spirits inflict ali kinds of
calamity and illness on them both as a warning and as expiation for sins
already committed. For example, a person who hs made a fortune by
dishonest means will be made to suffer fire and loss that destroy ali his
property. With some sins, again, purification by illness is carried out.
Such admonitions manifest themselves in various ways. For example,
it may happen that an infant or a child undergoes purification in the form
of a cold a simple illness thatJohrei should be able to cure easily yet
nothing hs any effect. Perplexingly, the child begins to vomit a great
deal; loses appetite; rapidly declines and dies. This is an admonition
from the ancestral spirits of the kind already described, necessitated
by, say, the child's father's marital infidelity or by his keeping a
mistress. Where the man fails to understand the first time such a
warning is delivered, his other children are taken from him one by one. It is
lamentable in the extreme that a man should thus sacrifice the life of a
dear child for fleeting moments of pleasure. In a case of this kind, the
spirits hesitate to take the life of the father, who is the mainstay of the
whole family, and are compelled to take the child in his stead.
Here is an interesting illustration of such an admonition. The head
of a family, about forty at the time, was disinclined to worship in front of
the family Buddhist shrine; this disturbed his daughter, who discussed
the matter with her father's younger brother. As an outcome of these
talks, the family shrine was transferred from the house of the older to
that of the younger brother. The younger man began to worry about
what might happen in the future and went again to his older brother's
house to request him to write a clear statement of the shrine' s transier.
The older brother agreed and took pen and paper in preparation, but in
the very instant in which he was about to write, he had a spasm of the
hands, and his tongue was paralyzed. He was unable to write or say
anything.

82

83

Various kinds of treatments were tried on this man, but to no avail.

Finally he carne for help to one of my disciples, who related the
daughter's story of the family shrine to me. The ancestors delivered this
admonition to the older brother as head of the family's main branch,
because, while willing to permit the transfer of the shrine temporarily to
the home of the younger brother, they could not countenance a
permanent transfer, since this would upset the family lineage and could
result in severance of the family line.
February 5, 1947

Rebirth
There is a great deal of latitude in the speed with which people are
reborn, depending on the will of the person involved. A person who is
very attached to this world at the moment of death will be reborn
quickly. But the effects of such a speedy return are not good. The
deepest purification takes place in the spiritual world. Therefore, the
longer one is there, the purer one's spiritual being becomes, and the
more fortunate one's circumstances at rebirth. If rebirth is fast,
pollutants remain and must be purified away during life by means of an
unfortunate fate filled with sickness, poverty, and disaster. This is the
situation that determines why some people are born fortunate whereas
others are born unfortunate. Good and bad fortune are in no way
accidental but are inevitably determined by the degree of purification in
the spiritual world.
There is still another determining factor: the sincerity and
thoroughness with which survivors hold memorial services for the spirit
of the departed. Moreover, the fervor with which survivors and
descendants help others, work for the welfare of society and the nation,
and accumulate virtue, stimulates the purification of ancestors.
This means that filial piety is not limited to this life. On the
contrary, the prayers offered and good deeds performed after the death
of one's parents can be even more important than care shown during
life. It is only people ignorant of the nature of the spiritual world who
say, "By the time I was ready to be good to them, my parents were no

longer alive to enjoy it."

People who are reborn before their purification in the spiritual
world is complete are sometimes physically deformed or disabled. To
take one example, one may be born with a deformity of an arm or leg
because one hs broken a limb in a fali, then been reborn before it hs
had time to heal.
There are cases in which the devotion and attachment of survivors
influence the speed with which a person is reborn. Women not
infrequently become pregnant again soon after the death of a beloved
child. This may be because the devotion and longing of the mother have
greatly accelerated rebirth of the infant. For precisely this reason, such
children are usually not very happy.
October23, 1943

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85

JOHREI

The Spiritual World

I should now like to discuss in more detail the way in which modern
civilization is based, as needs no pointing out, on materialistic science.
First of ali, it is necessary here to understand the structure of the
universe itself. I shall concentrate on the major points, and on those
particular matters that are related directly to human beings.
Basically, the universe consists of three elements: the sun, the moon,
and the earth. These three elements are the essences of fire, water, and
soil, and manifest themselves as the spiritual realm, the air realm, and
the phenomena realm; reality is a complete fusion and harmony of these
three. Hitherto, people have understood only the realms of air and
phenomena (the material realms) and have been ignorant of the
existence of another, the spiritual realm which material science was
unable to understand. Modern civilization is only two-thirds of what it
should be because it hs been produced by progress in only two of the
basic elements.
As long as this other element is ignored, a perfect civilization cannot
evolve, since that element is at the heart of ali basic power and is far
more important than the other two combined. This statement is clearly
illustrated by our culture, a culture that hs not been able to ensure
happiness, humanity's sole desire, despite ali its material development. A
close examination of the fundamentais of this paradox reveals a
profound truth. If mankind had understood the existence of the spiritual
world from the outset, material civilization would not have achieved the
kind of wonderful development it manifests today. Ignoring the spiritual
realm gave birth to atheism, and from atheism, much evil was born. The
resulting struggle between good and evil hs caused man to suffer, and
hs thus relentlessly stimulated the development of material civilization.
Deep thought on the matter shows that this can only be God's plan. Now,
however, having developed to a certain levei, materialism threatens to
bring about the destruction of civilization. The invention of the atomic
bomb vividly illustrates the truth of this. The time hs come to make a
great turnabout in our thinking concerning the advance of civilization.
The first step must be to make clear to ali people the existence of the
spiritual world, which hitherto had been considered nonexistent. Since
it is in fact intangible, of course, it is impossible to deal with it through
science. The only way is through a manif estation of the power of

89

Transition from Night to Day

Ali occurrences in the physical world are projections of occurrences
in the spiritual world. Everything becomes clear if it is realized that a
great transition hs recently been taking place in the spiritual world.
From God's point of view essentially ali things in the universe are
created and destroyed as a result of the action of both the spiritual and
the actual worlds in an unending process of development in the material
world that ranges from the limitless universe to the most minute
particles. It is these unending changes that give rise to unceasing
cultural progress and development Calm and quiet reflection on this
cannot but inspire one with a sense of the universal will, of the purpose of
God. In ali things, there are distinctions between yin and yang, dark and
light night and day. These variations, as well as those of the seasons of
the year and of the growth and decline observable in ali things, relate to
human life as much as to ali other phenomena. The distinctions
observable among ali things, of ali sizes, are to be seen in time too. For
instance, just as a twenty-four hour span is divided into day and night,
s each year, decade, century, millennium, hs a day and a night These
larger days and nights, however, are phenomena of the spiritual world.
To the actual world only the day-and-night division of a twenty-four hour
span is observable.
The time for the change from night to day that must happen in the
spiritual world every s many thousands or tens of thousands of years
hs now arrived. Unless one understands this important fact, it is
impossible to grasp the principies of Johrei. At the same time,
knowledge of this truth makes it possible to see the future of the world
and inspires serenity of mind. Next, then, I shall explain how this change in
the spiritual world from night to day a change that takes place only
once in thousands of years affects the physical world.
Hitherto, the spiritual world hs been experiencing a night that, like
night in the actual world, is a dark broken only by periods of moonlight
Of course, when the element of water is abundant and the moon is
concealed, only the stars shine. When the stars are clouded over, the
darkness is complete. The effects of this state are clear in the physical
world, which is simply a reflection of the spiritual world. The alternating
periods of order and disorder, war and peace, in the nations of the world
in the past have been very much like the waxing and waning of the moon.
92

Now the time hs come where dark must give way to light; we are
entering a period that can be likened to dawn.
As an outcome of this transition in the spiritual world, humanity will
experience an immense, awe-inspiring, and joyful transformation of a
kind never known before. Harbingers of this transition have already
appeared on the scene.
Like day in the actual world, the new day of which I am speaking will
begin with the appearance of the sun's orb in the east Now, in the Far E
ast in Japan, the land of the rising sun a great revolution is taking
place. The destruction of the existing culture of night is starting in this
country. This is the reason for the total destruction of our major cultural
cities, thereductionof ourindustry andeconomy todire straits, and the
general abolition of the privileged and ruling classes. Signs of the
construction of a new culture the culture of day have already
appeared. Following complete disarmament, democracy is coming into
being in Japan. Both phenomena are unprecedented in the 2,600 years
that have passed since the founding of the Japanese nation. More than
unprecedented, they were also unforeseeable. They are a first step in
the establishment of world peace.
In contrast to the world of night, characterized by war, hunger, and
suffering, the world of day will be a time brilliant with peace,
abundance, and good health. The Japan of the present shows we are at
the turning point
The sun that is now rising in the eastern heavens will eventually
reach its zenith. What will that mean? Obviously it will mean the overall
destruction of the culture of night. What is more, it will signify the birth of
the culture of day. Since Japan can already show a little of that
culture, this much is easy to prophesy. The fate of the world is bearing
down heavily on us at the present. No one will be able to escape from
this framework; the only course open to us is to find a way to minimize the
suffering we must face. Such a way is at hand in an understanding of our
principies of Johrei and in participation in the development of the
culture of day.
The Bible says, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached
throughout the whole world, as a testimony to ali nations, and then the
end will come." I believe this to signify that my writings must fulfill this
mission. In explaining the principies of Johrei I have gone s far as to
explain the fate of the world because this is very important. Discovery of
the principies of Johrei and discovery of the fallacy of medicai science
93

both depend basically on the one point of converting night into day.
The cause of sickness is clouds in the spiritual body. Eliminating
those clouds is the sole condition for the cure of sickness. Why then was
this not known before the discovery ofJohref? The reason is that there
are two ways to treat sickness. One is to bring about a return to the state
before purification of toxins started; that is, rehardening the toxins. The
other is to liquefy the toxins and eliminate them. As the reader will
understand well by now, established medicai science employs the first
method, whereas Johrei employs the second.
One of the principies of Johrei is that the human body radiates an
invisible, mystical light that is a spiritual essence peculiar to the human
body and that consists basically of the element of fire. Channeling of
Johrei demands large amounts of the element of fire, which will
gradually increase in quantity in the spiritual world as the latter moves
into the period of day, since the sun is the basic source of fire-element
radiation. Aside from its value in healing, an increased quantity of the
element of fire is equally important because it will stimulate the
purification process in the human body. Change in the spiritual world
will directly influence the spiritual body. Increasing the amount of the
fire element will play, as it were, a supplementary role in encouraging
purification of the clouds in the spiritual body. Sickness will therefore
occur more easily, and established medicai therapy, which depends on
hardening the toxins, will lose some and finally, ali of its efficacy. For
instance, whereas in the age of darkness it took several years before the
toxins, once hardened, became active again, in the age of light this
period will gradually shorten to a year, then half ayear, and s on until in
the end hardening of the toxins actually becomes impossible.
We are gradually moving into the world of day. In the world of night,
the toxin hardening, and not the toxin-liquefying method of treating
sickness hs prevailed because the element of fire needed for
toxin-liquefaction hs been available in insufficient amounts. This hs
made it seem necessary to settle for the toxin-hardening method as the
best substitute. But this was a grave mistake that hs been the cause of
shortened life spans, illness, hunger, war, and other sufferings.
February, 1947

94

I Am a Scientist of the Spirit

Though it might sound odd for me, a specialist in religion to
describe myself as a scientist, yet anyone who reads this to the end will
be convinced that the description is accurate.
As I often say, modern science is still on a levei too low to be called
science at ali. Contemporary science places maximum stress on the
discovery and investigation of particles. Sophistication of the
microscope hs made possible astounding advances in humanity's
understanding of extremely minute particles. We are capable of
investigating things magnified thousands, even millions of times, and
possibilities for further development seem infinite. The word spirit,
which hs come into popular usage in recent years, probably refers to
this limitless world. It is not scientific operations as such, of course, by
hypotheses deduced from the results of research into scientific theories
that have enabled us to learn about this world; without such hypotheses,
efforts to understand it would have been futile. This infinite world is the
same thing as the spiritual world that I teach. Science, which in reality
hs long denied the spiritual, hs now been obliged to recognize it.
By coming to a more accurate appreciation of the spiritual world,
science hs suddenly raised itself to an elevated position and taken a
step forward in the scholarly search for ideal truth. In its early period,
science concentrated on the physical; in its latter period, it will
concentrate on the spiritual. The emergence of such a science on the
world stage signifiesa 180-degreeturn, bringing science into agreement
with religion.
To make this still easier to understand, let us imagine a line drawn
through the center of the world of science. Material science is below
that line, and spiritual science above it. The former concerns itself with
externai content, and the latter with internai content. It is a matter for
great rejoicing that science should have moved from the material, where it
was a science of existence, to the spiritual, where it is a science dealing
with things without physical existence.
A serious problem still remains, however. It is not enough simply to
understand the spiritual world. Its essence must be grasped and then
made useful to humanity. Physical science hs no method capable of
doing this. To deal with the spiritual, it is essential to employ the
spiritual.
In my opinion, this difficulty can easily be overcome. Indeed, it hs
95

already been overcome in my work with astonishing results. In cases of

curing sickness I am using the spirit to solve spiritual problems. To
explain briefly: since impurities accumulated in the patienfs spirit are
the sources of ali illness according to the firm law that the spiritual
precedes the physical removingthese impurities necessarily effects a
cure. The methodwhereby this cure is effectedis to use aspecialkind of
spiritual radiation it might be called a spiritual atomic bomb to
burn away the impurities. This method, which we call Johrei, is a
sophisticated scientific operation worthy of being called a
"super-science," since it solves problems that medicine, science, and
religion ha v heretofore found irresolvable.
Since the inferior cannot overcome the superior, a solution of the
high-levei problems of human life by means of low-levei material
science is impossible. This is proved by the ease with which Johrei can
cure illnessesthat medicai science hs given up as hopeless. Spiritual
science could be called the inner essence of physical science.
Let us now examine more thoroughly the nature of the spiritual
world. Essentially, the spiritual world is made up of theessences of sun,
moon, and the earth, a union of what science refers to as oxygen,
hydrogen and nitrogen, and what we call the fire element, the water
element, and the soil element Earth is the basic form of the material
world; sun, of the spirit; moon, of the air. Sun and moon control the
atmosphere, which fills ali spaces on the earth. The fire element, though
the strongest, is also the rarest of the three. For this reason, while
understnding heat and light, science hs not yet grasped the nature of
the fire element as a spirit. Since science hs concentrated solely on the
elements of water and soil, it is these that characterize modern
civilization; this is its greatest failing.
At this point I have to describe a major, startling change that the
world is due to undergo. The world, as we have seen, is composed of the
three elements of sun, moon, and earth. In terms of physical phenomena,
the alternation of the sun and the moon signifies the change from day
to night A similar division between day and night exists in the spiritual
world, even though material science cannot understand it Spiritual
science, on the other hand, can understand it. The great change which
must take place in the world is a transition of a startling kind humanity
hs never previously considered. It is now about to begin. It is a historical
change, an expansion of day and night that can only be comprehended in
terms of time itself. In the spiritual world,
96

alternation of day and night takes place once in ten, a hundred, a

thousand, or ten thousand years. Just as the planet earth is composed of
the three elements of fire, water, and soil, s ali universal space is
based on the number three. According to this immutable law of the
universe, day and night last three years, thirty years, three hundred
years, three thousand years, and s on. Of course, there are differences
in the speed with which the transfer from spirit to material being is
made depending on the nature and size of the thing in question.
Nonetheless, in general, everything flows according to the law.
Surprisingly enough, the great transition that must take place once
in three thousand years is about to happen now now is its dawning. As I
have written previously, the very date of the transition is clearly known:
since June 15, 1931 the world hs been in its day phase. Though the
transition hs been made in the spiritual world, it is gradually being
transferred to the physical world and will eventually become a reality.
As the spiritual world enters the day phase, the quantity of fire
element will increase. This too will gradually be refle cted in the physical
world, and the situation prevailing until the present in which water hs
taken precedence over fire will be reversed; fire will take precedence
over water. No physical science can explain this, yet people of
enlightenment will understand fully. Problems that have necessarily
gone without solutions in the past can now be readily solved. In this way,
my idea is to elevate physical science from its present low levei to the
point where it can help to create a true civilization.
April 7, 1954

The Precedence of the Spiritual

over the Physical
Becauseitismaterially oriented, and concentrates solely onvisible,
tangible objects, modern science understands only the outer surfaces of
things and pays no attention at ali to an important inner reality. The
"reality" in question, which might well seem a kind of non-existence, is
what is known as the spirit. As long as science fails to realize that the
97

spirit is the main constituent of ali things, its advances will be limping
and partial, no matter how much progress it makes. Nor can it be
expected to give rise to a true civilization. Once this is clearly
understood, ali the unsolvable problems of the past will be easily solved,
since the law that the spiritual takes precedence over the physical is
universal. To take one example, the invisible will is responsible for the
motion of the limbs and other parts of the human body. The body does
not move on its own. No matter how miraculous it may seem, it is
necessary to understand that the original cause arises in the spirit and is
then transferred to the body. I shall now explain this in relation to
sickness, in which the principie is most easily understood.
Though it is manifest as phenomena in the body, illness hs, of
course, its origin in the spirit. In other words, a cloudiness first occurs in
one or several parts of the spirit, then is reflected in the body as illness, s
that to get rid of the clouds obviously means curing the sickness. As long
as the cause of the sickness is in the spirit, medicai science's practice of
treating only the physical symptoms cannot effect a true cure. It is
essential to realize this as quickly as possible and make a new start.
Happily, God hs entrusted to me the immense responsibility of revising
and correcting the mistakes of medicai science. The responsibility is ali
the greater in that the error goes beyond medicai science and extends to
ali aspects of our civilization.
Let me give an example. The many crimes that occur today are, like
sickness, only surface manifestations. Their causes, likethose of illness, are
to be found in the spirit or the soul. Nonetheless, as in treating sickness,
people remain unaware of the true causes and attempt to deal with crime
by treating the symptoms only; in other words, through punishment.
Such treatment, however, is only temporary, and crimes continue as
numerous as the sands on a beach. People should realize that the
remodeling of the soul essential to their elimination can be achieved only
through religion. As I have shown, failure to take the spirit into account is
behind these two major problems. Miracles are a method of making this
thoroughly understood.
September 10, 1953

The Precedence of the Spiritual

over the Physical
Let us consider the relation between the non-material world and
physical illness. By "non-material world" I refer to what we call the
spiritual world. In human beings there is unity between the body and the
spirit. The body is visible and physicaL The spirit is invisible to the eye, but
it exists as a kind of ether. The human body belongs to the realm of air,
and the human spirit to the spiritual world. As previously stated, the
spiritual world is a transparent entity still more rarefied than air. In this, it
might seem similar to non-existence, yet in f a et, f ar from being nonexistent
it is a source of absolute and infinite power, a realm of unimaginably
mysterious depths compounded of the essences of sun, moo n, and earth. I
shall tentatively refer to it here as "universal power." This universal power
brings ali things into being and stimulates their growth and development,
but this process accumulates pollution, and a purification process takes
place to eliminate the pollutants. This is very much like bathing, which
human beings use to remove the dirt and grime accumulating on their
bodies. Pollutants accumulating in specific localities in the spiritual
world of the planet earth stimulate the development of low-pressure cells
that perform a cleansing and purifying function. Pires, whether caused
by lightning or by human agency, perform the same kind of function. It is
the same with human beings, of course when pollutants accumulate, the
spirit takes the lead in initiating a purification process. I shall now
examine this in
detaiL
The pollutants or clouds that accumulate in the human spirit
create opaque spots on the essentially transparent spiritual body. There
are two causes for this: clouds arising in the spirit itself and clouds
transferred to the spirit from the physical body. I shall begin my
explanation with the former. The spirit consists of three layers which
converge in the center. The innermost is called the soul the tiny
entity that, in terms of human birth, is first transferred by the man to
lodge in the womb of the woman. However, since the soul is enclosed by
the mind which is itself enclosed by the spirit, conditions in the soul are
transferred to the spirit by way of the mind, and in reverse, conditions in
the spirit are reflected on the soul by way of the mind. In short, the soul,
mind, and spirit are simultaneously three and one. As long as they are
alive, ali human beings do both good and evil. When the bad
99

outweighs the good, the difference is sin that reflects as clouds on the
soul. Then the mind and the spirit, in this order, become cloudy too. The
clouds are removed when the following purification process begins.
Accumulated clouds contract and condense and gather in certain
localities in the body. Interestingly, the location differs according to the
nature of the sin. For instance, sin committed through the eye causes
accumulation in the eye; sins committed through the head,
accumula-tions in the head; and sins committed through the chest,
accumulations in the chest
Let us consider now the reverse case, where clouds are transferred
from the physical body to the spirit. In this case, the murkiness
develops in the blood before transference to the spirit. Since the blood is
the physical manifestation of the spirit and the spirit, conversely, a
spiritual manifestation of the blood, the body and spirit are one.
Conversely, transference of concentrated clouds to the body causes
murkiness in the blood; when this becomes still further condensed, it
hardens; and when the resulting hardness is liquefied and seeks outlets
from various parts of the body, the suffering caused is what is known as
sickness.
Transference from the body, thus, refers to the transference of the
blood's murkiness. The question, then, is what causes this murkiness.
Surprisingly enough, it is the medicine that forms the mainstay of
medicai therapy. Since ali medicine is poison, ntroduction of medicine
into the body causes clouds in the blood,* as facts prove better than
anything else. Because of the toxic nature of medicine, it is scarcely
surprising that, while being subjected to medicai treatment, illnesses
often linger, worsen, or give rise to pathological side effects.
If clouds in the physical blood are reflected as clouds in the spirit
and if this in turn is the cause of sickness, the way to cure sickness itself is
the same as the way to cause sickness. It is a universally applicable law
that the spiritual takes precedence over the physical. For this reason,
unless the clouds in the spirit are removed, the illness resulting from
them cannot be completely cured. Our therapy is an application of this
law in that we fundamentally cure illness by purifying the spirit
*Though medicine may prolong life and may produce people who are apparently, though not
actually healthy, it lacks the power to effect fundamental cures. Human health in its original
forra is the ability to live without medicine. For this reason, it is important to avoid taking
medicines as much as possible. There are, however, cases in which very grave illness makes
resort to medicine unavoidable.

100

through t/ohrei. Ignorant of this, medicai science tries to cure the body
only while ignoring the spirit. Consequently, no matter how much
progress it makes, it remains capable of temporary cures only.
August 15, 1951

The Spiritual Body and the Physical Body

It is a fundamental principie that in ali things the spiritual takes
precedence over the physical; once this principie is understood, many
so-called miracles become comprehensible. It is, however, necessary to
understand first the relation between the spiritual world and the physical
world. Human beings may be clad in a fleshy raiment, but they also ha v a
spiritual raiment (aura). The aura is a kind of ether or light reflected from
the spirit; and, though it is vague, there are people who can see it with
their ordinary eyes. Like the weather, the aura is constantly changingfrom
clearto cloudy and from cloudy to cie ar. If the personthinks good and does
good, the spirit is clear; butif he thinks evil and does evil, it becomes
cloudy. Thus belief ina true deity shedsa light that helps to dispel the
clouds, whereas worship of a false deity only increases them.
Ordinary people who lack knowledge of spiritual matters tend to
think that any god is a true god. This is a great error. Actually, false gods
are more numerous than true gods. Proof of thisis to be seeninfamilies
that, despite generations of ardent faith, suffer an endless line of
misfortunes. The deities such people worship are either false or weak.
When a person puts his faith in a true god, however, and accumulates
merit as a consequence of his own efforts to save others, his light
increases, and his aura widens. The aura of an ordinary person may be
about 3 centimeters wide. That of a good and virtuous person may be
from 15 to 30 centimeters wide, while that of someone with a godlike
personality and immense merit may be many miles in width. That of a
great religious leader will extend throughout a number of peoples and
lands, as is true in the cases of Christ and the Buddha A savior of the
world hs the astounding power to encompass ali humanity with his
light, though history shows that no such savior hs appeared in the
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world s far. The attitude and effort of the individual determines the
width of his or her aura. People should believe this and seek to
accumulate as much virtue as possible.
Members of our organization are often saved from disaster by their
auras. For instance, a wide aura may prevent the spirit of an oncoming
automobile from reaching a person even if it should strike him. In
similar circumstances, people with thin auras or none at ali may be
killed or suffer severe injury.
The case is similar with good and bad luck. Things are organized s
that the human body belongs to the physical world, and the spirit to the
spiritual world. The spiritual world is made up of upper, middle, and
lower zones, each of which is divided into three stages. Each of these
stages is further divided into twenty leveis for a total of one hundred
and eighty leveis in ali. Of course, the lower zone is hell. The middle
zone is the world ofbeing, orarealmof the same caliberas ourordinary
world. The upper zone is paradise. Ordinary people dwell in the middle
zone but can move either upward or downward depending on whether
their actions are good or evil.
Furthermore, the spiritual world, unlike the actual world, is utterly
fair without the least partiality of any kind. Though this is a disadvantage
to the wicked, it is a true joy for people of true faith.
The world of hell, of course, is a turmoil of jealousy, resentment,
envy, hatred, and poverty. These traits the Buddhists call greed, anger,
and folly, ali of which increase in intensity as they descend through the
leveis. The very bottom realm is said to be a hell of utter darkness and
cold. Ali this does not pertain only to the world after death. Happiness
and unhappiness in this actual world depend on the individual's
position in the spiritual world. The numerous reported cases of entire
families who, after having been driven to extremities of suffering,
commit suicide together, reveal the way the realm of hell in the spiritual
world is reflected on the actual world. Since such suffering ultimately
stems from evil which the person himself hs perpetrated, no one is as
foolish as the deliberate wrongdoer. Even people who seem temporarily to
have gotten ahead in the world as a consequence of evil acts must
sooner or later come to grief because they are placed in hell in the
spiritual world. Thereverse, too, is true. If a person does good and if his
position in the spiritual world improves, it is an inviolable, divine law
that happiness will one day come his way, no matter how much he
suffers now. Although teaching this principie is the essential mission of

102

religion, it hs not done s thoroughly until the present time, the reason
being the emphasis on scriptures and preaching at the expense of the
really important thing; actual demonstration that is, miracles.
But the time hs come. The Supreme God will manifest his absolute
powers and through our organization will work startling miracles that
will awaken humanity from its delusions and win the faith of ali
people.

September 10, 1953

Spiritual Healing
From various angles, I have explained that the world of day will be a
world in which the spiritual precedes the physical. Toxins accumulated as
material substances in the human body are the fundamental causes of
illness. In the spiritual being, clouds occur in zones corresponding to the
reas in the physical body where these toxic accumulations take
place.
Elimination of the toxins from the physical being is a temporary
measure only; the toxins will regenerate as time passes in accordance
with the law that the spiritual precedes the physical. Consequently, the
only correct method of achieving the ultimate aim of therapy is to
remove the clouds from the spirit. This is the fundamental way to
eliminate toxins.
The very word relapse makes it clear that, by concentrating on the
physical body and employing no methods other than elimination or
hardening of physical toxins, past therapies have had only temporary
and never fundamental results. As I have just indicated, medicai science
hs only two ways of dealing with toxins: hardening them or surgically
removing them. Folk remedies use electricity or light rays to harden
toxins or moxa combustion to cause burns that concentrate and then
eliminate suppuration.
The therapy to which we subscribe, however, is based on the
removal of clouds from the spirit by means of a kind of spiritual wave
composed mainly of the fire element radiating from the hands and
fingers of the person administering Johrei. I have tentatively named
703

this wave the "mystic ray." Everyone hs it to some degree. Perhaps it

would be better to say that this ray boundlessly fills the space ali around
us in short,the spiritual world.
Why hs no one in the past discovered the use of this spiritual ray to
conduct therapy by eliminating clouds? It is because the world was in a
night phase, in which the available light was limited to, roughly, that of
the moon and it was impossible to obtain enough of the mystic ray to
treat illness; that is, to remove clouds from the spirit. This is not to say
that the ray was totally non-existent. As is well known, some religious
people and faith practitioners have been able to win fame among people
for their doctrines, and renown as founders of religious sects because
their cures have had some effect. Nevertheless, since it is primarily
composed of the water element, the light of the moon hs been effective in
dealing with only limited numbers of sicknesses and for only limited
periods. Since the water element of moonlight is a cooling factor, it
hardens toxins.
Since it employs mainly the fire element, Johrei hs the great effect in
dissolving ali kinds of toxins. Thus the following are the two
fundamental motivations behind the discovery of my therapeutic
method: the knowledge that the world is about to enter a transition from
night to day, and the desire to effect great cures by radiating on
pathologically affected parts of human bodies a powerful ray, thus
causing the fire element, the molecules of which increase in the day
phase of the world, to pass through the human body in great
concentrations.
October23, 1943

The Principie of Johrei

l
The general educational levei today makes explanation of this
principie most difficult. There is nothing to be done about this, however,
as long as education remains structured on materialism.
In fact, however, the written records and traditions handed down by
word of mouth of founders of virtually ali religions include mention of
104

miracles. This is especially the case in the great religions, because in

those days performing miracles and producing beneficiai results were
sufficient to convince the masses, who had no desire to be told the
principies of the miraculous things they beheld. It is obvious even now
how many more people Jesus Christ would have saved in his lifetime
and the great extent to which he would have been able to expand the
limits of his teachings if it had not been for his crucifixion. The brevity of
Christ's life was caused by the great power of Satan at that time. Satan's
power was superior because, where the spiritual realm was concerned,
the time was premature. Spiritual intuition tells me, however, that now
the time is at last ripe for the great transition in the spiritual world and
that Satan's power is weakening day by day.
Divine revelations have made clear to me ali the things that have
puzzled the world in the past. Through this knowledge, I am striving to
define clearly the true and false, elucidate the basic roots of good and
bad, rectify ali errors, and stimulate lively development of a spiritual
culture to contrast with the materialistic culture that hs progressed s
haltingly in the past. In other words, by stimulating the simultaneous
development of the spiritual and material cultures, I aim to create an
ideal world, or paradise on earth. I shall explain some of the principies
which enable members to get good results through startling miracles.
As I have said, unlike uncivilized people or people living in a time of low
cultural development, modern humanity is not inspired to faith by
miracles alone. People today are unconvinced unless miracles have
theoretical corroboration. Many older religions have gone into decline
because they merely rejected materialistic culture and failed to bring
actual benefit in this life to the people of the time.
I shall now explain the Johrei method by means of which our
members work miracles. Raising the hand and directing the palm
toward a sick person immediately lightens difficult and serious
illnesses. In a short time, intolerable pain is relieved or eliminated
altogether. This can only be called miraculous.
Over hundreds and thousands of years, outstanding scholars of
many lands have studied and practiced to perfect modern medicai
science, and their meticulous and elaborate therapeutic methods
deserve praise. For an ordinary person to successfully apply the Johrei
method to cure sicknesses that have proved recalcitrant to therapy at
the hands of medicai authorities who have trained for decades at great
expense, must be described as the wonder of the century. This is
105

precisely what is meant by "the truth that transcends truth." It is

understandable, since this is something without precedent in ali
history, that people who have done no more than hear such stories
cannot accept what they hear, and that they regard the bearers of the
tales as either superstitious or demented.
If we were less than absolutely certain of what we can do, we would
never have made such an ambitious and sweeping statement of
purpose: "A world absolutely free of illness, poverty, and conflict." If we
lacked the power to carry out this program we would be guilty of the
unforgivable evil of deceiving the world.
Miracles are not miraculous for us. They are phenomena that occur
as the result of a particular process, and are capable of scientific
corroboration.
II
Nothing is purely material; everything hs a spiritual body that is
invisible to the eye. Human beings are composed of a physical body and a
spiritual body, which in very general terms correspond to the essences of
the moon and earth and the essence of the sun, respectively. In simple
terms, the spirit is fire, yang, male, exterior, vertical and diurnal. The
body in contrast is water, yin, female, interior, horizontal, and nocturnal
Concentrating solely on the body, science hs made the fundamental
error of not recognizing the existence of the spirit. If they were body
without spirit human beings would be matter only, as inanimate as
trees and stones, devoid of both life and spiritual activity. Pailure to
understand this simple fact hs been behind ali the errors science hs
committed in the past. Scientists assume that space is occupied by
nothing but air. Unfortunately science hs not yet developed to the
stage where it can discover the many invisible elements other than air
that fill space.
Fortunately, however, I have been able to discover those invisible
elements. I call this approach "spiritual science." The discovery hs led to
the pioneering of an age in which humanity's greatest suffering,
illness, will be totally eliminated.
What, then, are the basic causes of sickness? The human being is
composed of spirit and body. The two are inseparably joined, and the
spirit enables the body to live and move. The spirit assumes a shape like
thatof the body. Atits center is the mind; atthe center of the mind is the
soul. The operations of this three-in-one entity manifest themselves in
706

the form of will and thought. Since it controls the body in the form of will
and thought, the spiritual precedes the physical. In simple terms, when a
human being moves his arms and legs, the limbs are motivated,not by
themselves, but on the command of the will. The same is true of the
eyes, the nose, the mouth, and ali other parts of the body.
To explain sickness in connection with this principie in a way that is
readily understood, I shall take boils as an example. Almost everyone
hs experienced them. Generally, they begin as small eruptions,
increase in size, become red, inflamed, and are painful or itchy at their
head. They are a manifestation of the natural physiology of the body as it
attempts to expel toxins. The body is naturally able to generate fever to
liquefy toxins that have accumulated and localized, and then to
discharge them in fluid forni. To create an exit passage for the toxins,
the skin becomes thinner and softer than usual. The redness of a boil is
the toxic blood visible through skin that hs become transparent. A
short while later, a small hole opens, and liquefied toxins in the form of
pus are expelled from the body. This is the end of the purification
process.
This is the physical explanation. In the spirit, a kind of cloud
corresponding to the boil develops. The graver the sickness, the denser
the clouds. The clouds accumulate and localize in one part of the spirit.
This is the ordinary purification process leading to the elimination of
toxins from the entire spiritual body that have accumulated in one
place. The purification, which is inseparably connected with the
physical being, is what is called sickness.
Not only the human body, but everything else in the universe is
subject to the previously mentioned law that the spiritual precedes the
physical. The purpose oJohrei is to eliminate clouds in the spirit. By
means oJohrei, the clouds are rendered completely ineffective, their
life is converted to death. "Dead" clouds are impotent and cannot
irritate the nerves. Consequently, pain no longer exsists.
III
The Johrei method I use at present is to write the character for the
word hikar (light) on pieces of paper, which exert their effect when
worn on the person as focal points. When someone wearing a focal point
administers Johrei, strong waves of light radiate from the ink with which
the character is written, travei along the person's arm, and then radiate
outward from the palm of his or her hand The written characters for

107

hikari give off light rays which are transmitted instantaneously to each
one ofthemthrough"spiritual cords" frommybody, justas radio waves
are broadcast To say that light waves are emitted from my spiritual
body raises the question of what kind of mechanism there is in my
spiritual being that can do this. The answer is simple: in my abdmen is a
bali of light with an ordinary diameter of about 6 centimenters. There are
people who have seen it. This bali of pur light emits limitless light rays.
The source of this light is the cintamani gem of the Bodhisattva
Avalokiteshvara, which, located in the spiritual world, directs its
boundlesslighttome. This is calledthe divine power, the imponderable
power, and the power of wondrous knowledge. The cintamani gem, or
the jewel of satisfaction, held by the bodhisattva called
Cintamani-cakra-avalokiteshvara is the same as this one.

IV
Concerning the background of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (or
Kannon in Japanese), from ancient times this particular Buddhist deity
was believed to have a unique, mysterious power. With God's permission I
will some day reveal ali of the mystery of this bodhisattva, but at present,
the time is not ripe. I shall therefore set forth only as much as is
necessary to Johrei.
Of course, Avalokiteshvara hs been active in Japan since the
arrival of Buddhism, but until now that activity hs been limited to
salvation of the spirit. Avalokiteshvara conferred practical blessings
when people pray ed for the m, but they were only of the most minor kind
because, though the basic element of the light was a close union of the
elements of fire and water, the element of soil was missing. Because it
included only two elements, the light lacked full power in the conferring of
benefits. But the time for the great transformation in the spiritual world
hs arrived what the Bible calls the end of the world and the Last
Judgment. For this reason the mightiest and most absolute power of
salvation hs become necessary. This power must include ali three
elements of fire, water, and soil the last-named being the element
of matter which corresponds to the human body. The three-element
composition is completed when soil is added by the passage of light
through the body. The power of this three-in-one is the power of
Avalokiteshvara. In simple terms, the light element emitted by the
cintamani jewel of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara passes through my
body, thus becoming a manifestation of the bodhisattva's mystic power,
108

which passes from me and through followers in our faith, becoming in

turn the power of purification.
I shall now use an example to explain this principie. In the past,
people prayed for blessings to pictures or statues of Avalokiteshvara.
But the Johrei performed by believers in our faith is capable of
bestowing many times more blessings because the light waves emitted by
statues and paintings consist of only two elements and lack the vital
power of the physical body.
The great transformation in the spiritual world, of which I am
constantly speaking, is another reason. Before the middle of June 1931,
the water element predominated in the spiritual world; the amount of
the fire element was small. Since that time, however, the amount of the
fire element hs been gradually increasing. The transition actually
started decades earlier, but at that time the element of fire was
extremely rare. To explain the strength of the light, I might say that the
light is strong when the fire element is abundant, just as an electric lamp
of high candle power gives off strong heat.
As another example, I am often told that I am much hotter than
ordinary people because of the mass of the fire element inmy abdmen.
Each evening some of the people who serve me rub my shoulders and
then always comment on the great heat they feel in my body. Even in
winter, it is such that they often have to remove one or two outer
garments. Everyone says that a room becomes warm by my being in it
for a short time. I laughingly call myself a "substitute stove." In winter,
after a bath, I am comfortable for an hour or two in nothing but a
terry-cloth robe. I greatly prefer bath water that is not too hot. The
principie involved is like the one that increases heat when water is
poured into a fire or that makes clear winter days colder than cloudy
ones.
May 30, 1949

109

Johrei and the Three-element Composition of the

Internai Organs
Among the internai organs, the function of the heart, lungs, and
stomach hs the greatest importance to human life. I shall now explain
how they act in terms of the three fundamental elements of fire, water,
and soil.
The heart absorbs the fire element, the lungs the water element, and
the stomachthe soil element; the heart corresponds to fire, the lungs to
water, and the stomach to soiL But the way inwhich medicai science hs
explained this matter hs been totally inadequate. Science hs pointed
out the way in which oxygen taken into the lungs purifies the blood, but
this alone fails to reach the heart of the matter. I shall now explain the
situation according to the medicine that hs been divinely revealed to
me, but I must first begin with an explanation of the true nature of the
spiritual world. It is impossible to understand this true nature without
realizing that, though it is imperceptible to the five human senses, the
spiritual world is actually the fundamental source of ali things.
The principie that water causes fire to burn and that fire causes
water to flow is the key to the solution of ali things. A prer equisite to an
understanding of the invisible spiritual realm is an explanation of the
realm of air. Oxygen, familiar through modern science, is the spirit of
fire; hydrdogen is the spirit of water; and nitrogen is the spirit of soil.
These three maintain their individual identities but when they are
unified they form the essence from which ali things rise. The ineffably
mystical action of these three elements results in a situation in which
extremely hot, extremely cold, and temperate climates are each suited to
the needs of the creatures living there. Hypothetically, if ali the water
element were removed, the world would explode at once. If ali the fire
element were removed, everything would instantaneously freeze. If ali
the soil element were eliminated, everything would crumble to nothing.
This principie should make clear the basic significance of the function
of the heart, lungs, and stomach. In other words, the heart absorbs the
fire element from the spiritual world; its operation is the pulse. In a
similar way, the lungs absorb the water element; their operation is
respiration. The stomach absorbs the soil element from the physical
world; its operation is intake of nutrients.
The liquefaction of the hardened toxins that cause ali illnesses
110

demands heat. This is the first step in the purification process.

Interpreted as a pathological symptom, this heat, which is necessary in
large quantities, is fever. At such times, in order to accommodate this
heat, the pulse rate increases greatly. Since heat concentrates in the
affected region, it tends to decrease in other parts of the body, thus
bringing about unpleasant chills. At such times, the lungs absorb large
quantities of the water element, causing the respiration rate to increase,
stimulating the activity of the heart, and preventing dehydration.
The spirit of fire is of course, emitted by the sun, the spirit of water
by the moon, and the spirit of soil by the earth.
Principal among the three major organs is the heart, which activates
the lungs, which in turn activate the stomach. Though insufficiency of
food in the stomach does not mean immediate danger to life, survival is
possible for no more than a few minutes if the lungs become inoperative
and for only seconds when the heart fails. This is clear from the custom of
medicai science of always giving heart failure, not failure of the lungs or
stomach, as the cause of death.
When a person dies, the heart first stops operating. The body then
becomes cold as the spirit, the element of fire which had previously
filled it, departs to return to the spiritual world. Then the lungs cease
respiration, and the element of water which had permeated the body
returns to the realm of air, initiating a process of drying up. Obviously
the stomach also stops operating and the impossibility of obtaining
drink and food causes the body to become rigid.
Since the human body is composed of an amalgam of the three
elements of fire, water, and soil, curing illnesses that beset the body is
rational only if it relies on the powers of those three elements. This is
the principie of Johrei.
Johrei depends on power from the Supreme God, a transmitting of
light It is a spiritual light, invisible to the human eye, whereas the
visible light of the sun, a lamp, or an electric bulb is the physical
manifestation of light The essence of light is a close union between the
elements of water and fire. The greater the amount of the fire element,
the stronger the light. However, the power of light composed of fire and
water is insufficient. The element of soil is also necessary. Inclusion of
the element of soil perfects the union of the three-in-one, which emits a
light with wonderful healing powers. Waves of this light penetrate the
body and eliminate polluting clouds in the spirit. The effect of this
process is transferred to the body in the form of therapeutic
111

effects.
As for the practical means of carrying this out, I write, as I have s
often explained, the character for the word light on a piece of paper,
which is then folded and worn inside the clothing. The spirit of light
waves pass through my arm and through the pen to permeate and
condense (though I use the word condense, the process is difficult to
explain). A connection is then established between the character for
light and the source of light within my body by means of spiritual cords
along which a supply of light waves passes ceaselessly. The spiritual
link between the Supreme God and myself is similar; an infinite amount of
light waves is transmitted to me for the sake of the salvation of mankind.
As this explanation should have made clear, a therapeutic method
making use of the power of the three-in-one composition of the human
body is true therapy, and as is only to be expected, such therapy is
capable of manifesting unprecedented healing powers.
August 6, 1949

Absolute Power
It is indisputable that the power of God is the source of ali activity in
the universe. Ali growth and change are a manifesta tion of this power, as
are the stimulation and cessation of ali action. Ali living creatures, from
human beings to bactria, are born and die because of this power. It is
the limitless, absolute controller. I could supply endless other examples of
this fact, but suffice it to say that the universe itself is, ultimately,
power, which I would now like to examine from various viewpoints.
The actual Chinese character signifying "power" (-f) shows how
not only the meaning of words but the way they are written is a product of
God's wilL The character in question is produced by first making a
vertical line, then crossing the vertical with a horizontal slightly higher
than midway to make something like a cross and finally swinging
another vertical down from the horizontal, allowing the brush to rise
sharply upward at the bottom of this second vertical in a kind of tail. In
short, from a combination of vertical and horizontal arises action, which
772

then proceeds to revolve with a clockwise circular motion. This is the

way power itself works.
To examine this now in terms of actuality, it represents, in the
widest sense, the two great principies or ideologies of the world:
spiritualism and materialism, or the spiritualistic and materialistic types
of culture. In religious terms, in which they are easiest to understand,
these are the cultures of the two great world religions: the oriental,
vertical, spiritual culture of Buddhism and the Occidental, horizontal,
physical culture of Christianity. In the past, because they have existed
independently, the vertical and horizontal have been unable to manifest
true power, as is most patently proved by the failure of the world to
achieve harmonious unity and to save humanity.
The major religions have undeniably had as their goals the
realization of an ideal world, but the wretched confusion and deadlock of
today' s world shows how f ar the ideal is from actuality, how remote is its
realization. Lack of power is the reason for this state of affairs, and that
hs come about because the vertical and the horizontal have not been
bound together. Of course, this may be a matter of time and may be
unavoidable within God's plan.
If I now explain my own mission, the meaning of what I have just said
will become ali the more apparent Johrei is the central aspect of my
activities. As our members know very well, I write the character of
"light" on a piece of paper, which, when worn as a focal point, imparts
the power to cure completely even those difficult illnesses that doctors
have given up as hopeless. I have already written hundreds of thousands of
these focal points, but their effectiveness remains unchanged, no matter
how their number increases. Furthermore, they are effective, not only in
curing illness, but also in altering a persors psychological makeup. They
thus improve the personality and save people from very dangerous crises.
Thanks to the innumerable examples of such miracles occurring ali the
time, more and more people are living in happiness. This is due entirely
to the power of the focal points; I do not wish to boast but facts are
facts and there can be no harm in relating them. Never before in history
hs anyone ever exercised this absolute power. There can be no doubt
about ali these miracles, since they are related in testimonials of actual
experiences in our periodicals. In Buddhist terms, this power which is
born of the binding together of the vertical and the horizontal is the
mystical power of the Bodhsattva Avalokiteshvara. In Christian terms, it
is the power of the Messiah.
773

Though largely spiritual now, this power will someday manifest itself in
physical form. When this occurs a true culture, born of the conjunction of
the spiritual culture of the Eastandthe material culture of the West, will
come intobeing. The birthof sucha culture is God's goaland God's will
and is unprecedented in the world.
January 16, 1952

One Person at a Time Is Insufficient

The great achievements of the many sages, who like Jesus Christ,
have worked mira cie s in saving human beings glow brightly in the
history of religion. But such people have only been able to cure
individually, which makes it impossible to heal large numbers of people.
Even Christ, who performed such wonderful miracles as opening the
eyes of the blind, causing the lame to walk, and driving demons out of
the spiritually ill, was able to heal only one person at a time, s it is not
surprising that his achievements attracted little popular attention in his
own day. Yet tens of thousands of our members daily perform similar
healing, and there is no telling to what extent their number will increase as
time passes. One thingthat is predictable however, is that since large
numbers of people will gradually be saved, our activities will become an
important global issue in the future.
Our therapeutic system is undeniably a wonderful medicai science,
but physical healing alone is insufficient, since the creation of an ideal
world is our ultimate goal. We must strive to create both psychological
and physical health, producing the kind of human being that is united in
spirit and body, thus making possible the formation of a paradise on
earth. This discussion indicates that the time hs come and that our
organization hs appeared as the ultimate religion, as is most vividly
proved by the way people who accept our faith immediately become
capable of miraculous healing powers.
(Date uncertain)
114

My Light
Some readers no doubt are astonished by the things I have written
about Buddhism things that have been divinely revealed to me,
thoughnever said by anyonebefore. Itismerely a matterof timingthat
hs prevented God from making these things clear before. For a long
time darkness and ignorance have prevailed, but a great transition into
an age of brilliant sunlight, driving away the dark, is approaching. Even
in the age of darkness, of course, the light of the moon enabled people to
discern things to a certain extent, and they were grateful for such small
mercies. I refer to the teaching of Buddhism.
Yet moonlight is only about one-sixtieth the power of sunlight, too
dim to make things clearly visible. Thus throughout the period of
darkness, human beings were deluded, unable to live in peace and
tranquility since neither religion nor anything else was clearly discerned.
But when it is day, everything on earth is clearly revealed in the light of
the sun and nothing is obscure, s that it is perf ectly natural that I, who
se taskis to create a"civilization of day," should understand ali things.
What, exactly, is my relation to the world of day? Within my body
resides a bali of light what was known from ancient times as the
cintamani jewel. I have already made this fact known, but here I shall
deal with the light itself in detail. It hs been thought that the light is the
radiance of the sun, but this is mistaken. It is in fact a close conjunction of
the light of the sun and the moon. Its fundamental nature is a union of the
two extreme elements of fire (sun) and water (moon). As long as it
resides in my body, the soil element of my flesh is added to those two
elements, thus completing the three-in-one triad of fire, water, and soil. In
saying this, I do not imply that ordinary people are made up entirely of
the soil element. They too have light, though it is small and weak. My
light, however, is much larger than that of ordinary people. It may be tens
of thousands ormillions of time s larger, or s infinitely larger that it defies
the imagination. When worn on the person, the three kinds of focal
points, bearing the characters for light, divine light and great divine
light, immediately manifest healing powers radiated by the light of
their written characters. In writing them, I neither pray nor do anything
out of the ordinary. I merely write them, one at a time, at a great
speed: it takes about seven seconds to write one, and I can easily write
five hundred in an hour. Each of those pieces of paper is capable of
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curing tens of thousands of people. Though I may give them to hundreds of

thousands of people, their effectiveness remains unchanged. In other
words, the power of the light I possess is inconceivably great.
Since I possess such power, it is unlikely that I should fail to
understand anything. As our members well know, no matter what I am
asked, I am never at a loss for an answer. Sometimes suffering people in
places f ar removed from me telegraph asking for blessings, and many of
them receive curative aid from me by doing no more that that. As soon as
I hear of their plight, a part of the light within me breaks off and
connects with them. The light traveis through spiritual cords to bring
them assistance. Since this light can be multiplied tens of thousands of
times and radiate as far as necessary to make such connections, it is
extremely precious. In simpler terms, what radiates from me could be
called "light bullets," except that, unlike ordinary bullets, they do not
kill but give life.
This general explanation deals with only a part of my power; to
explain ali of it would be difficult Even s, it will be enough to make
people open their eyes and observe the work I do in the future. Any
person of intelligence will be able to understand to some extent. In
religious terms, people vary in their "spiritual awareness," and if
believers purify their bodies and souls wholeheartedly s that they are
free of clouds, they will be spiritually enlightened and accurately
comprehend my great power.
May 25, 1952

Who Is the Savior?

I consider this an unusual title for an article, as I am sure the reader
does. In order to explain it, I must now give a psychological account of
myself. I should say in advance that my chief aim here hs been to view
the workings of my inner mind objectively and without the least
deception: I hope the reader will keep this in mind.
The words savior and messiah have been used at ali periods
throughout the East and the West. Yet, with the exception of a few people
of special religious faith, the majority of humankind hs always
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regarded the birth into the world of the long-awaited, supernaturally

powerful savior as no more than an ideal hope, a great dream. Those
who have claimed to be saviors themselves have vanished with the
passing of time. Clearly, no true savior hs yet appeared.
Though I am not fond of calling myself the savior, I must confess
that I cannot definitely deny that I am. The appearance of a savior is of
unprecedented importance inthe history of humankind and, obviously,
must not be discussed lightly. Nor can one regard it simply as an ideal:
one must believe that it will take place sooner or later, since the sages of
the ancient past have prophesied it in such various forms as the coming of
the Messiah, the Second Coming of Christ, and the birth into the world
of the Bodhisattva Maitreya as the next Buddha.
To turn then, to my own psychology. for a long time I have thought
that the primary condition for a savior is the ability to solve the
problems of human illness. The greatest quality of a savior is to be
endowed with an absolute method for perfecting human health and
allowing people to live their heaven-appointed life spans, plus the
power to put that method into actual practice. Of course, the physical
health must be accompanied by mental health.
In a famous passage, Jesus of Nazareth made this clear when he
asked what it would profit a person to gain the whole world and lose his
life. In this connection, I have always held that the value of a religion or a
religious leader is clearly limited if the power to eliminate sickness is
lacking.
One day, over a decade after I first entered the life of faith, I carne to
understand the fundamental principie of illness and the method for
dealing with it. The surprise and joy I felt at that time is unimaginable.
Among ali the peoples of the world, no one hs ever made s great a
discovery as this. No other discovery or invention is in any way
comparable with it; I must indeed have been born with a miraculous
destiny.
October20, 1948

117

Eliminating the Suffering of Illness

Since ancient times, two major methods have been used to cure
illness. One method is totally spiritual and involves prayers to divine
beings or Buddhas, either directly or through the intervention of
shamans or other religious practitioners: conjurations, surrogates, or
spiritual discipline. The other method, totally physical in nature, relies
on such things as medicine, mechanical equipment, surgery, injections,
and radiation treatment but includes as well such folk treatments as
shiatsu(fngerpressure cure) andmassage. In other words, the methods
are diametrically opposed. In modern civilization, however, science hs
made such startling progress that it hs become usual to assume that
physical therapy is the only way to effect cures. Consequently, it is
believed that progress in physical therapy will one day free humanity
totally from the sufferings of illness. By overemphasizing science, men
have come to reject the very existence of the divine spirit.
To examine the situation now in greater depth, we see that oriental
civilization evolved, according to God's plan of operations, after
humanity had developed to a certain stage. For a while it made great
strides, but later failed because it was too spiritual and mental, firmly
denying physical matter; thus it entered the period of decline in which it
still is at present. On the other hand, occidental civilization, which hs
underestimated the spirit and worshiped the physical, developed to the
stage it is in at present But it, too, hs ultimately failed Both
civilizations have failed, as the present state of the world clearly proves. In
short, humanity hs failed first in one direction, then in another. Yet in
spite of this double failure, people's eyes have not been opened and they
still cling desperately to the kind of civilization that offers no hope.
Obviously some kind of great change is required.
December25, 1951

118

Being Midwife to World Civilization

This is where Sekai Kyusei Kyo appeared and pointed out the errors in
the already failed civilization. In this sense, I am now writing the text for
the creation of a new civilization. Essentially this project inclines
strongly neither to the vertical nor to the horizontal, but is the teaching of
an adaptable, indestructible truth, a truth of moderation. In simpler
terms, it recognizes the existence of the spirit while greatly respecting
material progress. The Johrei method itself is a combination of the
power of both spirit and body, since it consists of the spirit emitted
through the palm of the hand Consequently, I am both the midwife and
the leader in the birth of a true world civilization.
December25, 1951

Limited and Limitless Power

It is necessary to understand the difference between limited and
limitless power, since people today tend to assume that ali power is
finite. Possibly this is ali one can expect in a purely materialistic social
and cultural environment Many people ignorant of the truth fail to be
successful because they base their actions only in belief in limited
power. There are many different kinds of limited power. In primitive
civilization the basic power was human power or physical strength. As
civilization evolved others followed mental power, authority, then
political power, the power of oppression, military power, financial
power, economic power, the power of learning, horse power, mechanical
power, destructive power, the power of thought, the power of the pen,
and the power of publicity these gradually developed to supersede
human power. The strength of each one depended on the period in
questioa In the primitive period, the kinds of power that succeeded
each other were violence, authority, and control.
It is important to note that ali these kinds of power are limited and
have no quality of absoluteness, as is irrefutably proved by the way a
power once considered absolute can later be totally destroyed. An
119

examination of examples of failures from the distant past makes this

clear. In contrast to limited power. limitless power is absolute, eternal,
and irresistible. Though limited power is visible and tangible, limitless
power seemingly exists nowhere. For this reason, people are unable to
believe that it exists and remain convinced that limited power is the only
power. Limited power is produced by human beings; limitless power is
employed by God.
A ready example is the Johrei method used by our organization.
People assume that since medicai science uses visible, medicinal, and
mechanical methods it will necessarily effect a cure; yet find it
impossible, at first, to believe that Johrei, which involves no more than
raising the hand into space, can have any therapeutic effect. They are
totally unable to understand why Johrei, in practice, is compararably
more effective than medicai science; they can only wonder. In short,
they can understand limited power, but limitless power is beyond them.
However, for a person who understands the principie, it is perfectly
natural. What is quite clear is that medicai science is the power of
humanity, whereas Johrei is the power of God.

(Date uncertain)

Philosophical Examination of Johrei

The basic premise on which people have criticized the great effect of
Johrei is quite erroneous. People have long been accustomed to
believing that no cure is possible without physical treatment and tend to
think that the effects of our therapy, which employs no medicines and no
mechanical devices, must result from psychological suggestion.
Non-members especially are prone to think this way. Interestingly
enough, however, the truth is the opposite.
Almost ali the sick people who come to us, or who resort to certain
kinds of folk medicine, entertain a certain degree of doubt about it
because they are baffled by a treatment that employs no machines and
no medicines. However, when others explainthe great effects it hs and
when they see how effective it hs been in the cases of people close to
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them, they almost ali come to temper their doubt with belief.
Most people who undergo medicai treatment are dominated by the
assumption that they will recover. They ali, moreover, put great faith in
big hospitais and people with doctorates. Preconceived ideas about the
wonders of progress in medicai science make their confidence in it
incomparably greater than their trust in other forms of healing. This is
proved by the way in which many people continue to undergo a
prescribed medicai treatment in vain for months, without losing their
faith in it Sometimes, even therapy extending over one or two years and
resulting only in an aggravation of the condition does not alter the
patienfs confidence, which is truly amazing in its tenacity.
Quite often, doubt does not arise even when mistaken diagnosis and
mistaken treatment worsen the patienfs condition, when injections cause
death or surgical errors increase the gravity of the sickness. When a great
doctor, employing ali the late st methods, is unable to do anything but
go on making matters worse until the patient finally dies, people resign
themselves to fate and make no complaint at ali; even a great doctor
working as hard as possible was unable, they say, to effect a cure. Even
when the cause of death being a patently mistaken treatment, a legal
suit would be justified, but people usually take the easy way out and let
matters ride saying, "No matter what we do now, the person who hs
died will not come back to life again."
Medicai science commands this absolute trust, I believe, because, in
making judgments, people today are far too likely to emphasize externai
form, theory, and tradition more than substance. As a young person
interested in philosophy I was once deeply impressed by the theories of
the famous French philosopher Henri Bergson, especially his ideas on
intuitivo theory and the perpetuai motion of ali things. The gist of those
theories is as follows:
It is difficult for human beings to respond intuitively in making
observations of the things around them, since ali of us fali under the
influence of currently existing ideas. The comprehensive effects of
things such as education, custom, and tradition lie latent in our minds,
tending to make our thinking fixed and rigid. We are unable to escape
their influence. The sum of these things prevenis us from grasping
objects as they actually are. In other words, they obscure our vision like
dark glasses. To understand things correctly, we must put ourselves in a
state where not a grain of these preconceived ideas remains to hinder
us. Bergson hs described the self in such a condition as the self of the
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instant It is the self for which there is neither past nor future, the self of
the unprejudiced min d, free even of speculation. When the self of the
instant views things it is with completely unhindered intuition. This is the
only way for human beings to view things correctly.
The theory of the perpetuai motion of ali things that is, the idea
that everything that exists is in constant movement and never stops for
an instant means that the individual self, the Japan and the world of
today are not the same as the individual self, the Japan and the world of
yesterday. Obviously, the culture, politics, economics, art, and medicine
of yesterday diff er from their counterparts today. Therefore, what was
truth yesterday may, or may not, be destroyed today. If it is destroyed, it
was false to start with. Truth that is not destroyed can be said with
certainty to be either truth or something closer to truth than falsehood.
The appearance of truth in relation to time is also important There are
many historical instances of truths that have been considered supreme
for decades and centuries only to be proved paradoxes at a later
date.
Bergson's philosophy, as outlined here, is extremely convenient in
arriving at an understanding of the true nature of Johrei and Western
medicai science. It is important to note in this connection that the
majority of the people who come for our purifying practice do s
because the medicai science in which s many have absolute faith hs
failed to cure them. Strangely enough, when the medicine they trust
does no good, they are cured by the kind of therapy that they view with
suspicion. Reflection on this state of affairs clearly r v ais the
difference between the healing powers of the two approaches to
therapy. It is a sign that the healing powers of Johrei transcend
psychological suggestion and go much farther.
September 28, 1942

Religion and Faith

with certain established doctrines and expounding certain teachings in

accordance with which their adherents must act. In addition, religions
frequently require their members to worship figures of buddhas,
bodhisattvas, gods, sages, Christ, or sect founders.
Faith means trust and confidence which grow stronger as time
passes and ultimately evolve into reverence and total conviction. Its
objects are not limited to gods or buddhas but can include practically
anything. Praying for the sun to rise at dawn is faith. The samurai spirit is
a kind of faith, as is belief in science. Belief in medicai science in the West
is also faith that hs become s absolute that people are willing to entrust
their precious lives to it with tranquility, no matter what effects its
treatments produce.
It is where these religious elements and concepts of faith are
concerned that Jo/irei differs. It hs, of course, no religious element at
alL As for faith, it is not entirely non-existent; it is, for example, only
natural for people who have recovered from a criticai illness, even after
physicians have warned of impending death, to rejoice s greatly that
their emotion extends into faith. However, this is a natural reaction, and
not superstition.
Now I have a word to say to doctors. There is a reason why doctors
invariably attribute successful cures effected by other than medicai
means to faith. Their interpretation, based on the experience of
Western medicai science, is that medicines are especially effective
when the patient hs faith in the doctor administering them. Doctors
frequently speak of the many instances in which the same medicine hs
superlative effect when prescribed by a famous physician and much less
effect when given by an unknown doctor. This proves that the medicine
itself hs no cura tive effect at ali and that belief alone is at work in such
cases. In the light of this situation, it is probably unavoidable that
doctors accustomed to such attitudes should think that belief in the
doctor effects the cure.
As I often say, in the case of Johrei the effect for a doubter is exactly
the same as the effect for a believer.
October, 1943

Whenever Johrei is described as a religion ora faith, I insist thatit is

neither. Religions occur in various forms and require various different
kinds of activity, but generally they are organized into sects or groups

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123

Therapy and Concepts

There isatpresenta grave misconception concerningthetreatment

of sickness. It is the idea put forward, moreover, by doctors
themselves that healing based on faith and healing by folk medicine
are greatly assisted by psychological suggestion and spiritual strength.
In my opinion, this is putting things the wrong way round. The average
person hs absolute faith that medicai therapy can cure sickness. The
extent of this belief as shown in ali kinds of daily instances is quite
astounding as is witnessed by the fact that such people consider any
case of cure through nonmedical means to be miraculous. In other
words, the patient who chooses to seek a cure through conventional
medicine starts with the psychological conviction that his or her
sickness will be cured. Should, even s, a cure notbe achieved, itmeans
that medicine itself which theoretically commands ali the resources of
science and psychological suggestion hs proved ineffective, thus
making nonsense of such ideas.
Now let us examine the opposite kind of case. In the beginning, ali
patients who come to us entertain doubts about the likelihood of a cure.
Most of them, after having found no help in medicai treatment and other
methods, are merely accidentally guided to us and turn to our system as a
last resort, hoping for a stroke of good luck. Thus, whereas medicai
science, which theoretically hs an absolute advantage in such
undertakings, is unable to cure, our group, which ought to be at the
greatest disadvantage, shows solid results. There is food for serious
thought there.
May 15, 1936

It Can Be Cured
The elimination of illness that is, the assurance of good health is
the most important of the three conditions we constantly profess as our
goal a world free of illness, poverty, and conflict. Without health,
what salvation is possible? Those people of great faith who believe

124

salvation is possible while they groan beneath illness and suffering are
greatly mistaken. Though spiritual salvation is possible under such a
philosophy, physical salvationis not. The reasonwhy people of faith are
only half saved is that, limited to spiritual salvation, the existing
religions unfortunately lack the power to save on the physical plane. As a
consequence of the long-established conviction that religion should
concern itself solely with spiritual salvation, religious scholars have
concocted the ingenious theory that physical salvation is heresy. On the
basis of this paradoxical view, they voice the highly mistaken opinion
that any religion propounding the aim of bringing to its followers actual
advantages in the present world is of inferior quality.
The members of our organization are able to enjoy in abundance the
practical blessings which established religions consider impossible to
bestow. Such people who come to us after having been given up as
hopeless by doctors immediately take a turn for the better and recover.
Such an astonishing truth should be a matter of major concern for
physicians. Nonetheless, despite ali the criticai attacks directed at us
by the world, our organization continues to develop at an unabated
rate.
The people who spread our teaching have no inclination to offer the
sick cures from a religious viewpoint. Ali they do is perform Johrei
purification of the spirit in response to the request of the person.
When the spirit hs been purified, the illness vanishes naturally. In
other words the process involved is not one of curing but of allowing a
cure to effect itself. This is the most important point. It is inconceivable
that it could infringe any law or do any harm to society. We welcome any
kind of investigation of our activities since the number of lives we have
saved and the extent to which we have helped enhance the general
welfare are clearly revealed in the mountains of reports and written
expressions of gratitude we receive from people who are s happy at
being saved by Johrei they cannot contain their delight. Indeed these
written expressions of thanks are too numerous to be accommodated in
the pages of the monthly magazine Chijo Tengoku (Paradise on Earth)
and the weekly /tTzar (Light). Asa rale, the person who hs been helped by
Johrei writes his or her own report, telling the facts as they are
without exaggeration. People who for some reason cannot write their
reports dictate them orally. But in ali cases, names and addresses are
given in detail, and anyone who doubts can visit the people and question
them.
125

It is most distressing that people, either wittingly or unwittingly,

attempt to hinder us as much as possible in our struggle toward the goal
of creating a new Japan. I am at a loss how to describe people who
attempt to crush us because we have superior powers in curing illness,
humankind's greatest source of suffering, when both the official and
private sectors of the population ought to offer us ali possible support
and encouragement.
March 30, 1949

Theory of Method and Theory of Effect

Here I would like to deal in some detail with the unfortunate
readiness of the general public to misunderstand the Johrei therapy.
Although the wonderful effects of Johrei treatment are now known to a
large segment of the populace, a considerable number of people, and
especially a group of specialists, still seriously misunderstand us. My
purpose in writing this is to enlighten them in their error. In the
criticisms made of our system there is never a word indicating that its
effectiveness is inferior to that of medicai treatment. The criticism is
that our method is mistaken, unscientific, and superstitious because it
makes no use of such material means as machines and medicines. I
refute this objection, though I realize that such people make it because
they consider human beings to be physical bodies only. In contrast to
their opinion, we see the human being as composed of the two elements of
physical body and spirit, and insist that the spiritual takes precedence
over the physicaL In other words, the body moves in accordance with
the operations of the spirit, or the will. The difference between our view
and theirs is the difference between materialism and spiritualism or
between the belief that the physical takes precedence over the spiritual
and the belief that the spiritual takes precedence over the physical. They
employ physical means to cure the spirit
The key to determining which of the views is correct is to find a
criterion for accurate judgment. The only absolutely infallible criterion is
the actual effects of the two methods. In contrast to the materialist
method, which deals with visible things that anyone can recognize, the
126

spiritualist method is at a disadvantage in that it is dealing with

something invisible and intangible that cannot be readily recognized.
When the spiritualists are criticized on this point, no mention is made at
ali of effects; and method alone comes in for censure. The method that
concentrated on visible things seems on the surface to be reasonable.
However, without employing medicines and mechanical equipment and
relying solely on the operation of the palm of the human hand, we are
able to manifest amazing therapeutic effects in dealing with illnesses
that medicai science cannot cure no matter how much medicine and
mechanical equipment it resorts to. In short, one system seems
reasonable but fails to cure, while the other seems unreasonable but
cures. It is important to note that one system concentrates on method
and the other on effect It should be perfectly clear which of the
approaches is correct.
To carry the discussion to its logical conclusion, one may say that,
even though it is scientific, the system that produces no positive effect is
in practice useless and therefore, to say the least of it, not good science.
The system that does have a positive effect is useful, and therefore good
science. The essential point is that one is concerned with visible things
and one with invisible things. The former deals with the visible and is
not true science; the latter deals with the invisible and is true science.
January 30, 1950

Facts Speak Eloquently

In a short time, our organization hs grown and extended its
boundaries to an extent probably unprecedented in the history of
religion. Why hs this happened? In this hard world, people do not
donate money, use their spare time, and remain fervently faithful
without some reason. Furthermore, our present membership of two
hundred thousand includes representatives of ali social leveis: from
politicians, doctorate holders, university professors, members of the
national diet, high ranking officials, and influential businessmen to
727

middle-class merchants, white- and blue-collar workers and farmers.

The great diversity of this membership deserves thought.
There are quite a number of people who, refusing to accept such
facts, self-righteously dismiss our teachings as superstitious and
heretical; however, it would be a mistake to condemn such people
outright since virtually ali of the new religions that have appeared s far
have been without true value. Though some of them have flourished in
the beginning and have seemed to promise to become great religions in
the future, as time hs passed they have gradually lost their vigor and
ended in fiasco. Only a limited number of them continue to exist today.
With examples of this kind in mind, people might be called justified in
dismissing new religions as superstition and wrong teachings.
How does this situation affect us? Before answering this, I would ask
you to abandon ali prejudico, begin with a blank page, and look at things
through untinted glasses. The quickest and most sensible answer is to
talk about the effect of our characteristic Johrei, which is unprecedented in
the history of religion and in the history of humanity. That this is neither
empty theory nor conceit but living fact is prove d most vividly by the
mountain of reports on my desk; of the experiences of individual human
beings, reporting their overflowing gratitude. The reports are regularly
carried in large numbers in the newspaper Hikari and the monthly
magazine Chijo Tengoku.
Because we know these facts, we are compelled to believe in the
possibility of realizing our extraordinary ideal of a Paradise on Earth in
which there will be no illness, poverty, or conflict.
The work we are doing at present cannot really be called religion.
Use of that word summons up associations with older established
religions and is therefore a hindrance to understanding the true nature
of our organization, which is actually an undertaking of salvation on a
scale larger than anything that hs gone before it. Since the world is
entering a phase of tremendous transformation, it would be difficult
without salvation on this vast scale for humankind to escape a great
crisis. Consequently God hs chosen me as the person to carry out this
great undertaking. Though I am not bold enough to call myself a
Messiah, I cansay now that in the future God will manifestMessiah-like
powers through me.
As history shows, ali religions have been misunderstood by the
world at one time or another. I am no exception to this rule, for I too have
been misunderstood, but the numbers of my supporters are gradually
128

increasing. For my part, I merely act according to God's instructions

and, entrusting myself to God, allow time to pass.

December20, 1949

Change in the Johrei Method

Henceforth, I wish Johrei to be performed in a new way that hs
been divinely revealed to me and that derives from the recent
tremendous alteration in the spiritual world. Formerly, Johrei involved
the action of both spirit and body in that, when the spirit was emitted
from the palm of the hand, the person exerted a certain degree of
physical power. However, the use of physical power had the effect of
reducingthe spirit's power. Eveninthe past this was s; that is why, the
harder the person performing Johrei tried, the more the effect
diminished.
To check this tendency, from now on no physical power should be
exerted in the channeling, and the spirit alone should be radiated. To
explain in greater detail: the light of the divine spirit will pass from me
along spiritual cords to the focal points ali of you possess, where it will
abide. Since that light will pass through the palm of the hand to the
pathologically affected part of the recipient, from now on Johrei
practitioners must channel the spirit with as light and easy an attitude
as possible and must exert no force at alL It is certain that, with this
method, healing powers will be much greater indeed, five times
greater this will stimulate astonishing progress in the work of God. You
must do as I say without confusion or fear, for it is the will of God, now
that the time is ripe and that salvation for humanity is moving forward.
I will explain practical details personally in interviews, s as to make
them easier to grasp.

December27, 1950

129

Sickness and Human Character

My considerable experience hs revealed to me interesting
correlations between a person's character and the sickness from which
the person suffers. As I have discovered in therapy, a person who is
direct by nature will recover in a direct fashion. A person who doesn't
make afuss will recover without a fuss. Butthe illness of a person who is
egotistical is likely to persist for a long time. The symptoms of a
stubborn person are stubborn themselves. The sick condition of a
person who is changeable is likely to alter easily. The sickness of a
person with an negative personality is likely to take negative turns.
It is important to know the character of the person one is attempting
to cure and to alter his or her bad traits, since this is certain to have a
good effect on the sickness itself. The best thing is to attempt to develop
straightforwardness in the person's character.
1936

Pride and Error

human power. The less human power exerted, the better. A proud
person, however, is most likely to exert his or her own strength, which
hs a more debilitating effect on the effectiveness of Johrei than
anything else.
People often ask me why their healing power hs fallen off lately now
that they are practiced, whereas it was s much greater when they were
hesitant beginners. The explanation I have just given should make the
answer obviou s.
We must also be on our guard against error, for it is easy to make a
mistake in relation to one's thinking concerning faith. For instance,
people sometimes conceive a desire to know about God's causes and
effects, or the origins and relationships of the gods as set forth in myths
and legends, or become interested in the phenomena of spiritual
possession, thirsting for more and more knowledge on such subjects.
Too much enthusiasm on these topics can cause a person to neglect the
basics of faith. There is nothing wrong with knowing a little about such
matters, but limits must be set, since becoming wrapped up in them can
lead the person away from the true path. Error of this kind comes from
either not reading my teachings or from reading them but failing to put
them to practice.
A person who understands what I have written on these two
important points and puts my writing to practice will be able to follow
the line of true faith.
July4, 1951

Two of the things that we are most strongly warned against in the
teaching of Omoto Sect are pride and error. It is good that we should be
on the lookout against pride, for the experiences of many of our
members reveal how it can be a problem. For instance, a person who
performs Johrei for the first time is uncertain of his or her ability to heal
andgoes aboutthe task in fear and trembling. Wheninfact he succeeds in
curing, he or she considers it wonderful; and the person healed is
overjoyed and grateful; ali of our members must have experienced this at
some time or other.
But, as time goes by, the person forgets to be grateful for being
allowed to heal and comes to think that the greatness resides in himself
or herself. When this unmistakable kind of pride develops, stern
cautioning is needed, since this is a stage of great danger, one at which
the person's thinking can take a reverse turn. As I have already stated,
the Johrei practitioner must not attempt to exert any of his or her own

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131

The True Science of Nutrition

NUTRITION

The basis of nourishment is the spirit of the food we eat, but

contemporary nutrition concerns itself only with vitamins, calorie
counting, and other minor details. In fact, the spirit is impossible to
understand at the present stage of learning, no matter how much
research is expended on the matter, since spirit cannot be measured in a
test tube. Calories, vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates, and s on are the
dregs left behind when the spirit hs been removed.
Humans are active beings made up of both spirit and body. Our
food, consequently, must nourish both the spirit and the body. Foods
themselves also consist of spirit and physical being. The spirit is
retained in large amounts in fresh foods such as newly picked
vegetables or newly caught fish. Foods spoil when their spirits are
allowed to escape. The length of time spirit remains in foods varies
according to type: grains retain their spirits longest; vegetables come
next; fish lose their spirit faster than ali other foods. Observation of the
way foods spoil will make this clear. The fresher the food, the greater
the concentration of spirit in it. Salt-dried foods retain their spirits
relatively long because they borrow the spirit of salt, which removes
much of their moisture.
The spiritual energy of foods nourishes the human spirit, and their
physical components nourish the human body. The fundamental source of
human activity is adequate spirit, which is at the s ame time the factor
determining physical strength and weakness. Consequently, it is
essential for good health to consume foods with large amounts of spirit.
Eating such foods stimulates greater activity of the spiritual being and in
this way makes the body stronger and healthier. No matter how many
manufactured nutritional supplements are consumed, they have virtually
no power to activate the spiritual being and thus have no stimulating
effects, their own spiritual elements having been dispersed and
weakened. Eating plenty of fresh vegetables is infinitely wiser than
resorting to such supplements.
Modern science is mistaken in ignoring the importance of the spirit
and concentrating research on the body only. Yet, to give a simple
example, the limbs and body of a human being do not control the mind; it
is the mind that controls the limbs and body.
The human body is made up of hundreds of different kinds of
matter, principally blood, cells, muscles, bon, hair, fluid, calcium, and
735

s on; each of these is composed of different elements. The organs of the

body constantly function without resting a single second. Ali these things
receive energy from spiritual and material elements extracted from
foods, which contain without exception ali that is necessary for active
human life. Consequently, human beings should ideally consume as many
kinds of foods as possible. People should eat whatever they want to eat
without making the mistake of assigning medicinal virtues to some and
harmful effects to others.
1935

Foods and Nutrition

Specialists in modern health should realize that they lean too far in
the direction of scholarly research and separate themselves too far from
reality. I say this because, after more than a decade of study, I have
come to a conclusion that is diametrically opposed to accepted beliefs.
Fifteen or sixteen years ago, I was a great eater of meat Dinner was
always either Western-style or occasionally, Chinese food. In other
words, I ate what nutrition experts of the day would probably have
considered an ideal diet But, in my thirties at the time, I never weighed
more than a miserable fifty kilograms or 104 pounds, suffered from
stomach and intestinal disorders and colds ali the time, and never went a
month without having to call on the services of a physician. In my
eagerness to regain good health, I tried ali the currently popular
regimens deep breathing, cold-water massage, meditation, and s on.
Though some had limited effects, none led to overall physical
improvement.
Realizing the negative effects of a meat diet, I switched to eating in
the traditional Japanese fashion; that is, plenty of fish and vegetables.
Suddenly, I began to gain weight. In two or three years, I was weighing
from about fifty-nine to sixty-one kilograms or from 124 to 128 pounds. I
gradually became free of colds and forgot ali about stomach and
intestinal disorders. For the first time I knew the joy of good health; and

since then I have remained active and completely strong and sound.
Trying the same diet on my six children and the other members of
our family, who number fifteen or sixteen in ali, hs produced excellent
results. We know the great happiness of never having our doorstep
darkened by the demon of illness.
Out of curiosity, I asked my wife and our maid to feed the children on
what in the eyes of modern nutrition specialists is poor nourishment par
excellence. They were given such plain fare as seventy-percent hulled
rice, plenty of vegetables, on rare occasions "inferior" fish such as
salted salmon and dried sardines, pickles and rice-and-tea gruel or
pickles and salted balis of steamed rice, and homemade
rice-and-seaweed rolls. The results were surprising. Our children in both
primary and middle school were physically robust. Their nutrition was
above average or excellent. None of them, from our oldest daughter, who
was sixteen at the time, to our smallest boy, who was four, ever
suffered anything that could be called a serious illness, and they
always won prizes for perfect school attendance.
For the past eight years, I have been applying this experience in

treating hundreds of physically ill people, always with excellent results. I

would be happy if medicai scientists would make a study of the
especially good effects vegetables in the diet have had on patients with
lung ailments.
These are the simple facts. They encourage me to state flatly and
unequivocally that, though it seems to have made great progress, the
contemporary study of nutrition is fundamentally wrong. This is a
matter of great importance to the health and welfare of the whole
nation; the time hs come to rise up fearlessly, sound the alarm, and
issue a warning to the population in general as well as to the learned
authorities.
If generally adopted, the diet I advocate could have a most
beneficiai effect on the national economy. I guarantee that Japanese
farmers would become incapable of the hard work they have always
done if they were to adopt a meat diet instead of the homely fare to
which they have long been accustomed.
June, 1935
137

Nutrition
My detailed explanations in previous articles should already have
made the danger of medicines clear, but it is also important not to
overlook the great fallacy currently prevalent in connection with
nutrition. The science of nutrition concentrates on foods and neglects
the way the human body functions. It is folly to try to compensate for
nutritional insufficiencies by means of vitamins which science hs
actually classified into groups A, B, C, and s on because this is to
overlook the innate capabilities of bodily functions.
Essentially the life force is a result of the activity of the bodily
functions. These functions, especially digestion, are the main constituent of
the drive to live. The drive to live is synonymous with good health. And
"activation" of the functions signifies the working of the functions to
perfect imperfect foods. This is easy to understand if one thinks of the
way the body grows weak when the stomach is empty. The reason for this
condition is that food processing hs stopped. When one eats, digestive
activity resumes; and the body feels refreshed. Since ali the body s
functions are interrelated, the weakening of the fundamental digestive
function weakens ali the others. Conversely, recovery of the digestive
function brings about recovery of the others.
Exercise is essential to good health because it stimulates the
metabolism. The good e ff ect it hs is supportive and not fundamental in
nature. The essential thing is to stimulate the activity of the digestive
function itself. And, to this end, especially easily digested foods are not s
good. We would do better to eat perfectly ordinary, simple foods.
Medicai science urges us to eat foods that are easy to digest
However, they are in fact harmful since they weaken the stomach.
Though long chewing of food is recommended, it also, if overdone, hs a
similar weakening effect on the stomach. An illustration of these effects is
the malpositioning of the stomach called gastroptosis, a purely
manmade sickness, which results from the stomach relaxation that is the
inevitable outcome of eating easily digested foods, chewing them too
well, and frequently taking digestive medicines, ali of which aggravate
gastric weakness.
In relation to this, I recall an experience of my own. I once tried the
regimen known as Fletcherism, which was popular in the United States
more than thirty years ago and which advocated chewing food as

thoroughly as possible. For a while, the system seemed to be doing me

good; but, after about a month, I started growing progressively weaker.
Realizing that the system was at fault, I returned to the ordinary way of
eating and soon recovered.
As this should indicate, medicai science cannot hope to improve
health s long as it follows a course diametrically opposed to the truly
beneficiai one. To take another example, it is very odd to suggest to a
mother whose breasts fail to produce enough milk that she should drink
cow's milk. Human mothers should be able to produce enough milk to
breast-feedthe childrenthey bear. If they cannot, they have been doing
something wrong and the condition will be rectified when they discover
and correct their mistake.
Medicai science is either unaware of or unable to cope with this
situation and seems to believe that whatever a mother takes in at the
mouth goes straight through to the nipples. This is an absurd error.
Drinking cow's milk actually reduces the amount of mother's milk
produced. In other words, supplying milk from outside reduces the
ability of the mother's body to lactate.
A moment's thought will suffice. The process whereby human
beings eat rice or bread and green vegetables and yellow beans to
138

produce red blood is wonderful. If blood is produced from eating food

that contains no blood at ali, then what would be the outcome of
drinking blood? Obviously, cessation of blood production. If cows
produce splendid milk by eating hay, how much greater is the human
power to produce totally different substances from nutrients! Refusal to
examine nature is the fundamental cause of the fallacies prevailing in the
science of nutrition.
Vegetarians are healthy and long-lived because vegetables contain
ali the nourishment the human body needs in large amounts. Zen
priests, who eat simple fare, often live to very ripe old ages. The famous
writer George Bernard Shaw, who died at ninety-four, was a well-known
vegetarian.
In essence, then, human beings should follow the natural course of
eating what they want without worrying too much about nutrition.
Urbanites should try to eat vegetable and animal foods at a
half-and-half ratio. Farmers and the sick should eat seventy to eighty
percent vegetable and twenty to thirty perc ent animal food. With such
diets, and abstaining from ali medicines, there is no reason why people
should become ilL Since s many methods of hygiene and health are
mistaken
139

and cause more trouble than they do good, men would do best to live a
simple life in accordance with nature.
August 15, 1951

The Science of Nutrition

The contemporary science of nutrition errs fundamentally in
studying only one of the two aspects deserving research. It studies only
foods and neglects the human bodily functions that must ingest and
process those foods. The body's internai functioning, which is still not
completely understood even by the scientist with his modern theories,
freely produces and alters the necessary nutrients from foods eaten.
One hs only to observe how magically the digestive functions transform
rice, bread, leafy vegetables, yams, beans, and s on into blood,
muscle, and bon, even though the most meticulous analysis of these
foods is unable to discover the smallest particle of the element of blood
or the slightest trace of the basic material of muscle. Nor can analysis
find in foods any of the malodorous odor of urine or feces, or any
ammonia. Consequently, in prescribing vitamins and other supposed
supplements, modern nutrition only increases bodily debilitation.
Here is an example to make my meaning easier to understand.
Think of a factory that brings in supplies of iron as raw material and coal
as fueL It operates mechanical equipment, utilizing the work of laborers
and the burning of coal in various processes that ultimately result in
finished products. The production processes are the factory's life
power. If instead of raw materiais and fuel, however, finished products
were brought to the factory, there would be no need for laborers or coal.
The machines would not need to operate, and no smoke would come
from the chimneys. Since the factory could not continue under such
circumstances, the laborers would be discharged, and the mechanical
equipment would rust.
Similarly, if the human body is supplied with supplemental
nutrients in exactly the forms it requires, there is no room for the

activities of its own nutrient-producing plant, and debility sets in. This is
whyit is essential to understand that human energy is generated from the
activity of converting imperfect nutrients into perfect nutrients such as
vitamins and other similar substances.
Moreover, the modern science of nutrition is mistaken in
underrating the food value of grains and believing that foods eaten to
supplement such staples are more nutritious. The truth is that grains are
the major source of nourishment and the supplementary foods of
secondary importance something added merely to make eating the
grains more enjoyable.
Essentially, the human bodily functions are made to be able to adapt
to the environment. The tongue of a person who habitually eats the
plainest foods comes in time to find them delicious. This fact, however,
is little known; as is often observed in people of luxurious inclinations,
gourmets become jaded with ordinary fare and constantly seek new
delicacies.
Let us now examine the significance of different foods. Fundamentally, foods, which are esssential to the maintenance of the life of
living organisms, are suited to the needs of those organisms. The

Creator thus hs determined the kinds of foods human beings, birds,

and beasts should eat. It is easy to tell what foods are provided for
human beings; foods have tastes, and human beings are endowedwitha
sense of taste. The human being enjoys eating those foods that are
naturally nutritious and that are the elements of which good health is
made. It is therefore essential to realize that ingesting such unappetizing
things as tonics, which do not require chewing and which do not demand
the functioning of the digestive system, is not only mistaken, but also
harmful. Each person hs a different environment, occupation, and
physical constitution. The thing that the individual likes to eat is a
necessary element for that person. In other words, we should eat what
our natural instincts tell us to eat without being too greatly concerned
with such things as theories of nutritional science.
Vegetables are more nutritious than anything else. From the
nutritional standpoint, a diet of grain and vegetables is sufficient, as
actual cases of people who follow it make perfectly clear. Vegetarians
like Japanese farmers and Zen priests are healthy and long-lived,
whereas urbanites who continually eat fish, fowl, and meat, become sick
easily and have shorter life spans.

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141

February 5, 1947

The Comedy of Nutrition

At present, substances such as vitamins A, B, and C, amino acids,
glycogen, carbohydrates, fats, proteins and s on figure largely in
artificially prepared nutritional supplements and tonics. A great variety
of them is available, and the number of different kinds of vitamins
increases each year. Though taking such substances, either orally or by
injection, may have a temporary effect, it produces no long-term
improvement. In fact, they have adverse effects, and the more such
supplements a person takes, the weaker the body becomes. It goes
withoutsaying, of course, thathumanbeings consume foods for the sake of
life support and the manifestation of life powers; yet today's scientific
theories misinterpret this truth.
In eating, the human being ingests and chews food, which passes to
the stomach and thence to the intestines, where the necessary elements
are assimilated and the remainder is excreted from the body in urine
and feces. By means of this process, the life powers of the liver, gall
bladder, kidneys, and pncreas function to produce, extract, and
distribute ali the nutrient elements needed for the functioning of blood,
muscles, bons, skin, hair, teeth, finger and toe naus, and s on. The
my sterious, mystical, infinite life process cannot be described in words
but is nature itself.
The nutrients human beings require for life are contained in ali
kinds of foods, whose virtually limitless variety arises partly from the
need for different kinds of nutrition, partly from differences in
individual preferences and capacities from time to time, and partly from
the differing needs of the individual constitution. When hungry, the
human being eats. When thirsty, he drinks. A person who craves sweets
hs a sugar deficiency, and one who craves salty food lacks salt The
natural desires of the human being reveal our needs for various kinds of
foods. But we ali want food that tastes good. It is mistaken to force
ourselves to take tasteless or unpleasant things like medicines. The old
Japanese saying to the effect that good medicines always taste bitter is
equally mistaken. The Creator made things bitter to show that they are
poisonous and must not be eaten. Consequently, the better foods taste,
the denser their spiritual content and the higher their nutritional value.
Fresh fish and vegetables are delicious because they still have dense
spiritual beings. As time passes, their flavor diminishes because their
spiritual energy disperses.

A few words, now, about tonics and artificially prepared nutritional

supplements. The body is able to produce freely, in just the right
quantities, ali the various nutrients that is, vitamins and everything
else it needs from the foods it consumes. In other words, the body's
nutritional function hs the miraculous power to produce the vitamins it
needs even from foods that are totally lacking in them. Indeed, this
process of producing nutrients is precisely what constitutes the human
life force: the activity of converting incomplete foods into complete ones
is, in short, life itself.
Taking artificially prepared nutritional supplements, which are
complete foods, reduces the need for the body's own nutrition producing
function, which therefore naturally degenerates, thus stimulating
degeneration in other functions that share communal responsibility with
it and leading gradually to total physical debility. In what follows I give
two or three examples of what I mean.
Some years ago, the dietary regimen known as "Fletcherism" was
popular in the United States. It required that ali food be chewed
thoroughly till it was dense pulp. I followed this system diligently for a
month, only to find to my surprise that my body gradually grew weaker
and was incapable of exerting the kind of energy I wanted from it.
142

However, after abandoning the system and returning to my ordinary

way of eating, I recovered. This experience shows how mistaken it is to
chew food too thoroughly. I realized that, since thorough chewing with
the teeth reduces the demand for stomach action, the stomach weakens,
and that chewing food moderately is best. Long ago people used to say
that a person who eats fast and defecates fast is healthy. In this respect,
they were more advanced than modern civilized mankind.
Taking digestive aids also weakens the stomach by dulling its
activity. The person with a stomach problem again resorts to medicine
for the condition, and this further weakens the stomach. In other words,
taking digestive medicines is undeniably a cause of gastric sickness.
One often hears of cases in which chronic sufferers from stomach and
intestinal illnesses made no improvement as long as they persisted in
eating easily digested foods but recovered by eating rice-and-tea gruel
with pickled vegetables.
The way the human life force converts incomplete foods into
complete ones can be compared to the operation of a machine factory.
Raw materiais are brought to the plant, where coal is burned as fuel to
operate the necessary equipment. Workers employ the energy from the
143

Nature Farming
Preface
The theory of cultivation without f ertilizers* that I have advocated is
s unorthodox that it hs encountered general astonishment and
disbelief s far, indeed, notonly crops buthuman beings themselves
have become addicted to fertilizers.
Admittedly, quite a lot of people have accepted the theory in large
measure out of respect for me personally yet even here they have, as
ali the reports show, carrie d it into practice at first only with the greatest
misgivings. Then suddenly, just before harvest, when the crop is much
bigger than anticipated, the fear vanishes. One fact is more convincing
than a thousand theories.
I believe that as a result of this great discovery a revolution will
occur not only in Japanese agriculture, but someday perhaps, in
agriculture ali over the world. If such a great philanthropic task were
achieved, it would be an unprecedented piece of good tidings for
mankind and a perfectly natural outcome of our organization, which hs as
its goal the creating of a paradise on earth.
July l, 1949

Nature Farming
To explain nature farming in terms of fundamental theory, I must
begin with a discussion of the nature of soiL The Creator made soil for
the cultivation of grains and other vegetables essential to the support of
life. Consequently, the essence of soil is a mystery far beyond the
The original Japanese uses a compound term Muhiryo saibai, translated here as
"cultivation without fertilizers." However, though the system of agriculture Mokichi
Okada advocated employs no commercial fertilizers or animal manure and is popularly
called a "no-fertilizer" systera, it actually makes extensive use of natural compost. The
term"no-fertilizer" is therefore inaccurate. Stressing as it does the powers of nature, this
method of cultivation is best described as "natural" Mokichi Okada hs stated that this
term is proper, and we intend to use it exclusively from now on.

147

complete comprehension of modern materialistic science. Over the

ages, agriculture hs steadily, though imperceptibly, fallen into evil
ways. Underestimating the power of soil, farmers have accepted the
necessity of using manure or chemical f ertilizers for the improvement of
crops. As a result the soil hs degenerated and altered, and its
generative powers have weakened. Unaware of this, and sufferingunder
the delusion that insufficient use of fertilizers causes poor crops,
farmers resort to still more fertilization, with the result that the soil
declines even further. Farmers ali over Japan today unanimously
lament the poverty of the soil. I set forth below a few points illustrating
how dangerous the use of artificial fertilizers is.
1. One of the greatest agricultural worries today is insect pests.
However, instead of finding out what causes them, farmers concentrate
ali their efforts on exterminating them. In other words, unable to find
out the reasons why harmful insects occur, they take what seems to be
the next-best alternative. In fact, fertilizers generate harmful insects,
and the number of such pests hs increased in recent years as the
number of fertilizers used hs increased. Furthermore, people are
unaware that the insecticides used to exterminate pests penetrate the
soil and cause it to degenerate, thus leading to the appearance of still
more insects.
2. The application of fertilizers gravely weakens crops. Heavily
fertilized plants fali and break in wind and rain. They bear little fruit
because their blossoms drop. In the case of rice, wheat, and beans, the
plants grow too tall and their leaves are too big, s that crops are
shaded, husks are thick, and seeds are small and sickly.
3. The ammonium sulfate and ammonia in manure and chemical
fertilizers are powerful poisons. Eating plants that have absorbed such
substances means that, though perhaps only in minute quantities, these
poisons constantly enter the body through the stomach. This can
scarcely be called harmless to the health. Doctors have recently
reported that cessation for two or three years of the use of manure
fertilizers totally eliminates intestinal worms. Here is one of the great
advantages of nature farming.
4. Rising fertilizer prices bring the cost of raising rice s close to the
price the government sets for it that farmers are compelled to sell on the
black market.
5. Acquiring and applying fertilizers and dusting and spraying
insecticides require tremendous labor and effort.

6. Vegetables and grains raised by nature farming are better tasting,

larger, and faster growing, and crops are bigger than those produced
with fertilizers.
These points should make clear both the danger of toxic fertilizers
and the advantages of nature farming, which can be called without
exaggeration amajorrevolutionin Japanese agriculture. In what follows I
discuss the results and methods evolved from my own experiences, and
the reports of a number of people who have put nature farming to
practical application.
I suspect that very few people in Japan know what real vegetables
taste like because few crops in this country are raised without chemical or
manure fertilization. The inherent flavors are lacking in vegetables that
have absorbed such fertilizers. Vegetables that have absorbed natural
nutrients from the soil, however, develop their own truly delicious
flavors. I have found much more happiness in life since I carne to
appreciate the taste of naturally cultivated vegetables. In fact, the
advantages of the nature farming method are s great that to apply it
mightbecalledkilling seven birds with one stone: thecosts and labor of
fertilizing are eliminated; there is no unpleasant odor; there is no
danger of spreading parasites; insect pests are minimized; crops are
large; and vegetables are delicious.
To begin with practical matters, I shall first discuss the nature of
soil, which is a three-in-one unity of the three great elements of soil,
water, and fire. The soil element provides the basic power for plant
growth, while the water and fire elements are supplementary powers.
The nature of the soil itself, which is the main driving force, can produce
either good or bad effects on plants. In cultivation, it is imperative to
improve the quality of the soil, which is the fundamental element. The
better the soil, the better the results.
The way to improve soil is to strengthen its vitality. To do this, the
soil quality must be cleansed and purified. Soil that hs been purified is
rich in power for the raising of plants. Agricultural practices in the past,
however, have polluted the soil to an extreme degree. This is best
understood by examining the opposite theory first.
Fertilizer hs from ancient times been considered essential to the
raising of crops, but the reality is that the more it is used, the more it
kills the soil. Fertilization may produce temporary good effects, but the
soil gradually becomes addicted to it and is unable to produce good
crops without it. In other words, the more fertilizer is used, the more

148

149

adverse its effects.

When crops from paddy fields become poor, farmers haul in new soil
and temporarily increase their harvests. However, they interpret this
phenomenon mistakenly. They believe that repeated crops over a
number of years have exhausted the nutrients in the soil and made it
poor. What they never realize is that the soil hs degenerated because of
repeated years of chemical and manure fertilization. The new soil they
introduce is free of chemical and manure fertilizers and, therefore, rich
in life power. For this reason, it increases crops. But I will leave
theoretical discussion at this point and proceed to explain the
advantages of nature farming in practice.
First, I should mention the short height of plants raised the natural
way. Fertilized plants grow tall and have heavy foliage withlarge leaves
that shade and retard the growth of such crops as beans. Furthermore,
frequent dropping of blooms greatly reduces the formation of fruit. In
the case of green soybeans, a naturally cultivated crop will be twice as
big as a fertilized one and the beans will be free of insects and have a
most delicious flavor. The skins of naturally cultivated string beans and
broad beans are incomparably tender.
Amateurs trying to raise potatoes often complain that their crops
are either small or none and that the individual potatoes themselves are
of unsatisfactory size. Unaware that the cause of the trouble is too much
fertilizer, and operating under the mistaken notion that they have
fertilized insufficiently, they apply increasing amounts of these harmful
substances, thus decreasing the results of their labor. When asked for
advice, instructors or experienced people totally miss the point by
saying that the seed potatoes must have been bad, that the acidity of the
soil is at fault, or that planting was done at the wrong time. The amateur
hs no way of discovering the true cause of his poor crop. Potatoes
raised by means of nature farming are extremely white and fragrant,
have a firm texture, and are s delicious that they might be mistaken for
another kind of vegetable. The same thing is true of taro and yams.
Naturally cultivated sweet potatoes raised in high furrows, well spaced in
a place that gets plenty of sun are astonishingly big and delicious. I
have heard, however, that most farmers use no fertilizers in raising
sweet potatoes.
The success of nature farming in raising corn aeserves specim
mention. Since ali seed, not only that of corn, include the fertilizer
poison, crops are not as good as they might be for the first year or two. In

the third year, however, there is a remarkable improvement. Corn

raised from seeds free of fertilizer poison in land also free of fertilizer
poison hs very thick stalks and flowing green leaves. If the ground is
well watered and gets plenty of sun, the stalks will bear plenty of ears
that are long and densely seeded in even rows. Once tasted, this sweet,
delicious corn can never be forgotten. Daikon radishes raised the
natural way are large, pure-white, thick, and sweetly delicious and have a
fine, firm texture. It is fertilizer poison that causes the air pockets and
hardness marring some daikon radishes. Naturally cultivated vegetables,
which are never attacked by bugs, are tender, have attractive colors and
stimulate the appetite because of their tempting fragrance. Since no
manure is used in growing them, they are of course completely sanitary.
Nature farming is especially recommended for the raising of egg
plant. Grown this way, egg plants have tender skins, beautiful color and
an appetizing fragrance. My own family refuses to eat egg plants that
have been raised with fertilizer.
In the nature farming of rice, chopped straw, which absorbs heat is
mixed with the soil to provide greater warmth. As is generally known,
cold mountain water is very bad for rice. Consequently, irrigation
150

ditches should be long and shallow to allow the temperature of the water
flowing through them to rise. No ponds should be dug along the course of
the ditches since the depth of the water would make it slow to warm up.
Nature farming of such things as squashes, melons, water melons, and
pumpkins produces unprecedentedly good results.
Rice and wheat raised the natural way are short in stature and
excellent in both quantity and quality. Ordinary rice is extremely glossy
and almost as dense in texture as glutinous rice. It hs such body and is
s delicious that it is always rated as superior.
In brief then, these are some of the advantages of nature farming.
Surely there hs never been better news than this in connection with
household vegetables. I and others like me produce top quality
vegetables by no more labor than is required to sow seeds andweed the
fields from time to time.
Although, as I have said, there is no need for artificial or animal
fertilizers, it is important to use large quantities of natural compost,
which I shall now discuss. In stimulating plant growth it is of the greatest
importance to allow the root hairs at the ends of the larger roots to
develop. This means preventing the soil from compacting and
151

hardening. If natural compost hs decomposed too much, it tends to

harden easily; about half decomposed is best. Grassy plants are suitable
for compost since they decompose quickly. The hard fibers in tree leaves,
however, linger for a long time. Consequently, such leaves shouldbe
allowedto decompose thoroughly, since contact withthe hard fibers
impedes the growth of root hairs. Recently some people have argued
that it is good to allow roots to come in contact with the air, but this is a
mistaken notion. If the soil is loose enough to aerate the roots, the root
hairs have plenty of room to grow. This roominess is the reason why
plants grow well in such soil. Air hs nothing to do with the matter.
Warming the soil is another point that must be taken into
con-sideration. In general, for vegetable cultivation, a bed of grassy
compost about one foot thick is made at a depth of about one foot. For
plants like daikon (turnip), carrots, and burdock, however, where the root
is the most desirable part, it is best to mix grassy compost well with the soil
and make a bed of leafy compost underground. Recently, people have
been concerned about the damage caused by soil acidity. Since the acid is
the result of artificial or animal f ertilizers, those of us who use the nature
farming system have no need to worry about this.
Another thing that amazes people about our way of growing
vegetables is our success in planting the same crop in the same ground
year afteryear,* a practice that is generally considered unsound. With our
method, crops gradually improve as the years pass. This may seem
miraculous, yet there is a very good reason for it. The nature farming
method takes advantage of, and tries to reinforce, the powers inherent in
the soiL Planting the same crop on the same land, year in and year out
enables that soil to naturally generate the properties needed for the
cultivation of the particular kind of vegetable, to which it becomes
accustomed.
Though insect pests may not totally vanish when the nature farming
method is used, it does reduce them to a fraction of what they are when
fertilizers are employed. Farmers often say that too much fertilizer
increases the number of insects that plague the crops. I have hear d from
experts that Manila and Havana tobaccos, which are used in the finest
cigars and are famous for their superb aroma, are never
* "Planting the same crop in the same ground yearafteryear." Measures must be taken in
connection with the soil and other conditions to make this kind of cultivation successful.

troubled with insect pests, because the plants are never fertilized. In
particular, there is the fact that insects do not damage weeds; and the
special fragrance of the wild parsley and edible chrysanthemum picked
in the country in springtime is due to the fact that they have had no
fertilizer.
It is important to make one point clear. For the f irst ye ar or two after
the shift is made from fertilized agriculture to nature farming, results
will be poor. This phenomenon occurs because the soil hs become
addicted to fertilizers. The situation is like that of the drinker, who, when
deniedalcohol, suffers aperiod of absent-mindedness; the smoker who
becomes lethargic when he stops smoking; or the morphine or cocaine
addict who cannot tolerate being denied drugs. It is imperative to be
patient and wait two or three years until the soil and seeds are freed of
the fertilizer poison and the land can manifest its great powers.
This explanation of the principies behind nature farming should
make clear how mistaken the agricultural methods of the past have
been. This is a matter unrelated to faith. A person can have no faith and
still produce revolutionary results by using natural composts instead of
artificial or animal fertilizers. But it is important to realize that, if the
divine spirit is used to purify the soil, the effectiveness of nature
152

farming will be even greater.

July l, 1949

The Triumph of Nature Farming

The Great Powers of the Soil
Principies of Nature Farming

The basic principie of nature farming is to give full play to the great
powers inherent in the soil itself. Hitherto, people have not known or
perhaps it is better to say have not been told about the true nature of
soiL This gave rise to the idea that fertilizer is essential, and to an
almost superstitious reliance on it. In the early stages, no matter how
vigorously I advocated nature farming, people either would not listen at
ali or laughed at me. But gradually my efforts were repaid. In recent
753

better than ordinary. When Harvest comes around, they will be

ttounded to see not only that their crops are big, but also that the grain
li of high quality, lustrous, strongly adhesive, and delicious. Most of it
will be first or second grade, and practically none will be below third
grade. Moreover, the grain will be from five to ten percent heavier than
Usual and will be s dense that its volume will actually increase instead of
reduce in cooking. This means that a person's appetite can be
atisfied and will stay satisfied on one-third less than the usual amount of
steamed rice. Thus, rice grown the natural way is highly economical. If
everyone in Japan ate rice raised according to our nature farming
method, consumption would drop by one-third. As long as current
amounts continue being produced, this could eliminate the need for
importing rice, and therefore have a splendid effect on the national
economy.
Superstitions about Fertilizers

With nature farming, the seedlings are weak and poor in color for the
first two or three months because fertilizer toxin remains in both
seedlings and the soil. As time passes, however, they rid themselves of
these poisons, regain their own innate powers, and gradually improve.
Farmers should be able to understand this because they can see how
fields that have been in poor condition improve after heavy rains wash
out excessive fertilizers. Farmers are in error in believing that hauling in
new soil improves crops from low-producing fields because nutrients
have been sapped from them by long use. The truth of the matter is that
the soil hs become poor from many years of being artificially fertilized
s deeply affected are such farmers by a superstitious belief in the
efficacy of fertilizers.
Merits of Natural Compost

In using natural compost for rice cultivation, rice straw should be

chopped as fine as possible and thoroughly mixed with the soil to
produce a warming effect. To soften soil for dry-field cultivation and
thus to permit roots to grow and spread, allow dried leaves and grasses
to decompose until soft, then mix this compost with the soil. Recently it
hs been said that ground should be soft in order that air may penetrate
to the roots. It is not that air is good for the roots, but if the soil is soft
enough to allow air passages, root growth will not be obstructed.
For the cultivation of plants whose roots do not penetrate deeply,

mixing grasses and leaves with the field soil is sufficient. For
deep-rooted plants, on the other hand, a bed of tree leaves should be
made about thirty centimeters below ground levei. Such a bed warms the
soil. Since root-system depth varies considerably from plant to plant,
the depth of the leaf bed must be adjusted to suit the needs of the
given plant.
The uninitiated claim that composts of this kind contain fertilizing
elements is untrue. They are employed to produce three effects; to
prevent the soil from hardening, to warm the soil, and to retain
moisture around plant roots. Where the soil around crop roots tends to
dry, spreading of large amounts of natural compost keeps moisture
in.
As the discussion s far should have made clear, nature farming
takes advantage of the powers of the soilby avoidingthe introductionof
such impurities as artificial fertilizers and by preserving soil purity.
Doing this eliminates hindrances and enables soil to make the most of
its own essential qualities.
Interestingly, farmers err when they think it is necessary to allow
soiltorest. Soil improves the more crops are raised onit, just as human
756

beings become stronger the more they work and weaker the more they
rest. I feel very sorry for farmers who refuse to cultivate the same fields in
consecutive years because they believe this will drain it of nutrients.
Repeated Cultivation Means Bigger Crops

Our natural system advocates repeated consecutive cultivation of

the same piece of land. For instance, for the past seven years we have
been raising corn on a piece of gravelly land in Gora in Hakone that
would take a prize for the most unlikely agricultural site. Nonetheless,
the harvest this year is wonderfuL The ears are longer than usual and
densely packed with even rows of sweet, tender, delicious grains.
Consecutive cropping means better harvests because the land naturally
develops the qualities suited to the needs of the plants being raised on it,
just as men who do heavy labor develop muscular bodies and men who
are engaged in intellectual pursuits develop clever minds. Similarly, as
human beings who constantly change occupation and domicile are
unlikely to succeed, s crop rotation is unlikely to result in abundant
harvests. Seeing this makes clear how mistaken are the agricultural
practices of the past
157

Good News for Sericulture

Silk worms raised on leaves from mulberry trees cultivated in the

natural way suffer from no diseases and produce larger quantities of
strong and lustrous threads. The profits that the implementation of this
policy would bring to the sericulture world and to the entire national
economy are immeasurable.
May 5, 1953

Principies of Nature Farming

A complete understanding of these principies is impossible on the
basis of established scientific thought and can be attained only through
explanation on the basis of the spiritual science that hs been revealed
to me. Consequently, the principies may be difficult to grasp at first.
But a person who reads attentively what I have to say and reflects upon it
is certain to understand. Anyone who finds it incomprehensible is
probably, quite unconsciously, caught up in the superstitions of science.
The facts, more than anything else, show that what I say is absolutely
true.
Actual results invalidate the apparentprogress of agriculture today,
which, as is well known, is a combination of traditional and scientific
methods. Weak seedling stock and the plants' inability to surmount
various natural disasters are the direct cause of the poor rice harvests of
last year. I am certain that most people would gasp if I told them that
fertilizer toxin is responsible for weakening seedling stock Farmers
have considered fertilizers indispensable to crop raising and, owing to
their limited knowledge and scientific blindness, have been unable to
perceive the harm they do. An important element in their
misunder-standing lies in science itself. Science, though admirable in
other fields, is not merely powerless as far as agriculture is concerned, it is
mistaken. For example, through lack of understanding of the true nature
of soil and the capabilities of fertilizers, science hs promoted artificial
methods and ignored the powers of nature. In spite of the united,
long-term efforts of the government, leading farmers, and agricultural

specialists, the lack of true progress shows that, in the face of poor crops
likethose of last year, science is impotent and easily defeatedby nature.
Japanese agriculture is up against an apparently impenetrable barrier.
Happily, God hs revealed a natural system of cultivation which will
break down that barrier.
The cause of present problems in agriculture is the lack of
knowledge of the nature of soil and the tendency to stress fertilizers,
which are actually only auxiliary substances. What, after ali, is the point
of plants removed from the soil? After World War II, American soldiers
stationed in Japan tried the hydroponic cultivation of plants. Although
at first their efforts seemed to produce good results, it hs recently been
reported that the method is gradually being abandoned.
It is astounding that farmers have neglected the soil for such a long
time and have concentrated on fertilizers to provide nutrients for the
raising of crops. The consequence of this policy is that the soil hs
become debilitated and acid, as the disastrous crops of last year prove.
Nothing can be s foolish as the way farmers have wasted labor and
expensive fertilizers to create the very conditions responsible for poor
crops.
Before examining its nature from the standpoint of spiritual
158

science, it is necessary to explain the significance of soil. The Creator,

who made human beings, also made soil in which to grow the food
humans require. Seeds sown in the soil germinate and put forth stalks,
leaves, flowers, and finally fruit, which can be taken in at the happy time of
harvest. We should regard the soil, that wonderful technician that
produces rice, with gratitude. Since it is the forces of nature that are at
work here, there is of course no more suitable subject for scientific
study, yet in practice science hs made the great miscalculation of
relying more on the power of human beings than on the power of
nature.
Natural power, or X, is generated by the union of sun, moon, and
earth; that is, the fire, water, and soil elements. It is common knowledge
that at the center of the earth is a mass of fire, which is the energy
source of ground heat. The spirit of this ground heat, which penetrates
the earth' s crust and fills ali space up to the stratosphere, is composed
of spiritual and material aspects. Its material aspect is what science
calls nitrogen; its spiritual aspect is as yet unknown to science. The fire
element, which is radiated from the sun, hs spiritual and material
aspects. The material aspect is light and heat; the spiritual
159

aspect is also as yet unknown. The water element, which is radiated

from the moon, hs a material aspect water itself and a still
undiscovered spiritual aspect. X is now the result of the unification of
the three undiscovered, spiritual aspects of these elements. Though
apparently nonexistent, this X is existence itself. It is the source of life of
ali things. It follows that, since the growth of agricultural crops is
equally its doing, itis, in itself, an unlimited fertilizer. To recognize its
power and to cherish and respect the soil is the true, the only agriculture
because this allows the soil to manifest its capabilities to an amazing
degree. Puttingthis method into practice is the fundamental solution to
the problem.
Another important point is the prevailing belief that only animate
beings are capable of such reflections of will and thought such as reason
and emotion. No doubt the idea that inanimate things are also capable
of these things would surprise many people. Yet it is true of inanimate
things, including the soil and crops. Respecting and cherishing the soil
enables it to manifest its capabilities fully. Keeping soil clean and free
from pollution makes it happy and active. The difference between the
will and thought of animate and inanimate phenomena hs to do with
freedom; whereas animais are free and active, soil and rice plants are
bound and static. If farmers wish for bumper crops in a spirit of
gratitude to soil and rice plants, their attitude will be communicated,
and their wish will be answered. It is science's greatest mistake to
assume that anything invisible and intangible does not exist.
January 27, 1954

The Great Agricultural Revolution

i
Over a decade ago, I discovered that it is possible to produce large
agricultural crops by means of the nature farming method, which adds
only leaf and grass composts to the soil and uses no artificial fertilizers
or animal manure at ali. At the time, however, few farmers would lend an
ear to what I had to say, no matter how hard I tried to convince them. I
have continued unfalteringly to the present not just because from the

outset I have known that my beleif is absolutely true, but also because I
am convinced that the nature farming method is the only way to save the
farming population, and is thus deeply connected with the fate of the
whole nation. Portunately or unfortunately, the grave situation that I
anticipated with such concern hs now come about. I am painfully aware of
the need to win the understanding of both the farmers and the general
Japanese population. I am gradually perceiving hopeful signs in the
outiook for the nature farming method.
The fact that I am a religious leader is helpful here because
members of our faith believe what I say and put it into practice, even
though they cannot explain it. This hs. produced relatively quick
results, and won many sympathizers. Recently, even ordinary farmers
who are not members of our faith have gradually started paying
attention to our method.
Before going into a detailed explanation of the principies whereby
this agricultural method is able to ensure large crops by adding nothing
to the soil but natural compost, I should like to explain its effects. It is
startling in the way it reduces costs and labor; there is no need to pay for
fertilizers; insect damage is reduced to a fraction of what it is in ordinary
160

cultivation systems, and damage from wind and storm is halved. This
means that labor too is cut by half. I have been speaking of rice
cultivation, but the method hs the same effects with other crops as
well. One example of the wonderful success it hs with ali kinds of
vegetables is the immense size of sweet potatoes raised this way. Bean
crops too are greater, and individual beans are bigger. Radishes are
whiter, finer in texture, crisper, and much more delicious. Other
vegetables also have excellent flavor and color, are tender, and are not
attacked by insect pests. I have no space to enumerate them ali, but an
astonishing list of other vegetables including corn, pumpkins, and
watermelons benefit from this system in the same way.
The wonderful flavors of foodstuffs raised by nature farming
deserve special mention. No one who hs tasted grains or vegetables
grown in this way hs any desire to eat those raised with fertilizers. I
myself eat only foods raised without fertilizers, and farmers following
this system have increased to the extent that I receive more vegetables
than I can eat. People are grateful to find that abandoning the use of
fertilizers can increase the harvests and the quality of fruits. Flowers
grown the natural way have larger blossoms and brighter color and last
longer in ikebana arrangements.
161

Nature farming drastically reduces insect pests, which emerge because

of the use of artificial fertilizers. The folly of the current reliance on
chemical insecticides and germicides is greatly to be lamented, since these
substances sink into the soil and actually stimulate the developmentof
more insects. Furthermore, plants grown according to the natural system
suffer much less than others from the wind and storm damage that hs been
occurring almost yearly in recent times. Plants are greatly weakened by
absorbing artificial fertilizers. I have discovered that chemical fertilizers
and animal manure become toxic when absorbed by crops. The resultant
poison becomes both nourishment and a stimulus to reproduction on the
part of insects. Fertilizers give rise to minute insects which eat the plants
themselves. If they develop in the roots, they weaken the plant by ravaging
the root hairs. In addition, they can cause leaves to wither, stalks to break,
flowers to drop, and fruit to fail to ripen. They cause withering in
potatoes. When these minute insects develop in reas other than the roots,
healthy plants have the strength to destroy them. But when plants are
debilitated because of fertilizers, they fali victim to the pests. In winds and
storms too, plants raised the natural way are tough and resilient enough to
stand again even when blown down. Plants raised in the ordinary way,
however, are ruined if blown down in this way, and an examination of the
roots tells why. The root hairs of plants raised the natural way are much
more numerous and longer than those of fertilizer-grown plants, and root
spread is better. As ali farmers know, plants that are low and have short
leaves bear more grain or fruit. Nature farming results in plants with short
leaves, whereas those raised on fertilizers are tall and have large, long leaves.
Though they look good, such plants bear surprisingly little fruit.
Since they suffer from no sicknesses, silkworms raised on leaves from
naturally grown mulberry trees are extremely healthy and produce more
high-quality threads that are both tough and lustrous.
In short, ali crops raised the natural way are incomparably better
than those raised with fertilizers. The important thing to understand in this
connection is the capability of the soil itself. Because the Creator made
soil to grow the crops needed by humans and animais, it contains in itself
more than enough fertilizing material. In short, it is, in itself, fertilizer.
Ignorantof this fact, human beings have greatly weakened the soil by
applying artificial fertilizers as if they were plant nourishment. This is an
astonishing error since, to increase crop production, what is

really necessary is to increase the strength of the soil. To ensure

the finest results, it is necessary to keep the soil pur by mixing no
impurities with it and adding nothing but natural composts.
The fundamental theory of nature farming is respect for nature. As
the generation and growth of ali things in the world illustrate, there is
nothing that does not depend on the power of nature: that is, the three
basic elements of fire, water, and soil, as manifest in the sun, the
moon, and the planet earth. Given plenty of sun, ample water, and pur
soil, plants will produce more than human beings require. The leaves
that fali in abundance and cover the earth each autumn are the true
enrichment of the soil, Nature is teaching us to use them to improve the
soil. Cultivators are mistaken, however, if they think natural composts
are used as nutrition for the soil. Their true purposes are to absorb
moisture andthus to prevent drying, to supply warmth, and to keep the
soil from hardening.
Thus the best thing to do for rice cultivation is to chop rice straw
as fine as possible and mix it with soil in a kneading fashion. Since
rice straw is produce d by the rice plant, it hs a warming effect on the
roots. In vegetable cultivation, dried fallen leaves and grasses
should be mixed with the soil; the usual proximity of wooded reas to
162

fields will
encourage their use.
The centerof the earthisamassof fire ceaselessly radiating ground
heat that is, the spirit of soil in the form of nitrogen. A
God-provided fertilizer, it penetrates the earth's crust and rises to
accumulate at a certain height above the planet. It is then brought back
to earth in rainfall to permeate the soil. This natural nitrogen fertilizer
descends from the heavens in exactly the required amounts.
During World War I, when the Germans were experiencing food
shortages and were forced to increase crop production rapidly, they
discovered that nitrogen could be taken from the air and used as
fertilizer. Since then, the practice of using this chemical hs spread ali
over the world. But its temporary good effect cannot last. Ultimately the
soil is weakened by oversaturation with nitrogen, and its productive
power drops; despite this, people, like drug addicts, have become
addicted to the practice and thus overlook the real cause of the
trouble.
It must be remembered that the amount of fertilizer toxin persisting in
soil and seeds even after the change to nature farming hs been made
greatly influences crops. In wet-field rice cultivation, some farmers may
163

expec t a ten- percent increase for the first year, but others may witness a
ten- or twenty-percent decrease for the first year or two. The ten- or
twenty-percent increase will take place finally in the third year. Very
poor crop results after the change mean that a great deal of artificial
fertilizer remains. In such cases, it is wise to haul in fresh soil from
elsewhere to neutralize its effects.
Rice plants absorb such highly poisonous substances as ammonium
sulfate when these are used in chemical fertilizers. Consequently, people
for whom rice from those plants is a dietary staple take the poison into
their bodies three times daily, albeit in infinitesimal amounta Naturally,
this hs an insidious harmful effect It is conceivable that the high rate of
illness today is caused by such poison intake.
In conclusion, I would like to summarize the economic effects of the
nature farming method.
1.
The cost of fertilizers is saved.
2.
Labor is halved.
3.
Crops are greatly increased.
4.
Grain volume increases s that there is no loss in cooking, and the
grain is delicious.
5.
Insect damage is minimized.
6.
The danger of ascarids and other parasites, a topic of major
concern today, is eliminated entirely.
This explanation hs shown how revolutionary the nature farming
method is. To implement it would immediately solve more than the food
problems; by ensuring adequate nutrition, it would also have salutary
effects on human health. If implemented throughout the nation, the
system would accelerate the rebuilding of Japan, which would without
doubt earn the respect of the whole world for the high levei of its
civilization. It is for these reasons, and to bring this method to the largest
possible number of Japanese readers, that I have compiled this special
edition.
Finally, I should say that I have absolutely no intention of using this
material as religious publicity. The results of the nature farming system will
be the same for people who do not share our faith. II
Last year the season was unfortunately short, and no harvest was
possible in some reas. However, after considering the reports from
various regions, I can understand what happened, and will give my

opinion of the situation here.

At first, family members and f ellow villagers are likely to criticize or
ridicule those who adopt the nature farming system, since it rejects the
fertilizers that have always been considered the source of crop life.
Reading accounts of the preseverence in the face of setbacks of the
farmers trying the system brought tears to my eyes and filled my heart
with joy at the wonders faith can do. Nor is it surprising that people
whose ancestors have for generations adhered to superstitious belief in
fertilizers should object to the nature farming method. One recalls how,
throughout history, inventions and discoveries, even those that are now
making the greatest contributions to humanity, were at first objects of
misunderstanding and persecution, and the many records telling how
they triumphed over suffering and hardship cannot fail to move us
deeply today.
I was prepared for the nature farming method to meet with great
initial opposition, but f elt that the period of patient perseverance would
be limited since our system actually produces astonishing results. From
reports gathered s far I see that, as predicted, our methods are finally
capturing the attention of people in many fields. Nonetheless, externai
conditions are bad, and, since he is not entirely certain that method will
164

succeed, the farmer who decides to employ it does s fearfully and only as
an experiment Furthermore, since soil and seeds are still permeated with
fertilizer toxin, the plants are soyellowandscrawny inthe first year that the
farmer fears they will dry up entirely and in his anxiety turns to God in
prayer. Thus everyone who hs tried the system confesses to a feeling of
great relief when harvests turn out to be surprisingly good. It is by
overcoming the initial period of hardship that the crown of victory
is won.
May 5, 1953

Insect Pests
The three greatest burdens on the agricultural community in recent
times have been the high cost of fertilizers, insect pests, and damage
from wind and storm. I have already dealt adequately with the topic of
765

fertilizer, and would now like to speak in detail about insect pests.
Harmful insects breed because of fertilizers, which pollute the soil,
cause it to degenerate, and weaken its potiential. At the same time, the
impurities introduced by the fertilizers remain. Ali kinds of matter
decomposing in the polluted places encourage insects and bactria. The
several varieties of fertilizers are responsible for the varieties of insects
that breed because of their presence, and the new kinds of insect pests that
have emerged recently are the results of the production of new kinds of
fertilizers.
One should emphasize here the grave wrong committed by people
who use chemical insecticides to rid themselves of crop pests. These
substances, which are toxic enough to kill insects, permeate and ruin the
soil. Soil polluted with chemical insecticides adds yet another poison to
the fertilizer toxin already absorbed by plants grown in it. The soil
weakens and, like human beings, loses its powers of resistance, with the
result that insect pests proliferate. This kind of vicious circle is a good
example of howmistakenagriculturalpractices have been in the past.
Obviously, the health of people who eat rice raised with the highly
toxic fertilizer, ammonium sulfate, will be adversely affected, since
their blood will be clouded. Even though individual dosages are very
small, eating such contaminated rice three times daily ali year round
causes a large accumulation of toxin, which becomes the fundamental
cause of ali kinds of illnesses.

January 15, 1951

the damage is the most that can be expected at the present time are
amazed at the way plants raised according to our nature farming method
withstand wind and storm. Their root spread, for instance, is good, and
stalk breakage is only a fraction of what it is with fertilizer-grown crops.
Flowers do not drop, and rice does not rot even after rain. Indeed, in
comparison with fields of rice raised with fertilizers, fields cultivated the
natural way seem to suffer no storm damage at ali. Examination shows
that plants raised without fertilizers have many more hair roots and much
stronger root spreads than plants raised with fertilizers, and are
consequently as strong and healthy as human beings fed on a plentiful
diet of wholesome, toxin-free foods. Farmers always welcome plants
not just grains, but ali other crop plants as well that are low and have

Damage from Typhoons and Floods

Both the governmental and the private sectors are anxious to do
something to prevent the ever-increasing crop damage caused by
typhoons and floods. Proper preventive measures would require
enormous expenditure, and for the moment one hs to be content with
stopgaps. Nevertheless, s long as great losses are incurred each year,
action of some kind must be taken. Those who accept that to minimize

166

small foliage, since they bear better. This accords exactly with the results
of my own method, and serves to show how superior it is. People of
experience are unanimous, moreover, in praising the excellent quality
and flavor of the crops. Crops of plants raised with fertilizers, on the
other hand, are less satisfactory because too much nourishment goes to
their leaves, which flourish to the detriment of the fruit or grain.
Offshoots from rice raised the natural way are extremely numerous. The
record at present is an amazing one hundred and fifty shoots, producing
fifteen thousand grains, from one rice seed. Furthermore, naturally
cultivated rice straw is of very high quality and is strong enough to be
used in many ways.

January 15, 7957

Raising Tangerines for Forty Years Through

Nature Farming
Not long ago, a member of our organization gave me tangerines from a
tree he hs been cultivating for forty years without the use of fertilizers. I
ate some at once and can say I have never found anything s delicious.
Fellowbelievers often give me naturally cultivated fruits and vegetables
that, though certainly more delicious than those raised with fertilizers, are
still not one-hundred percent as good as they should be.
767

This is because some fertilizer toxin remains in their seeds or in the soil
in which they are grown. It takes more than four or five years to
eradicate this toxin and allow true flavors to emerge.
Eating the tangerines made me think of the effects our cultivation
method could have on the economy. If naturally grown fruits and
vegetables were marketed, their delicious flavors would soon win them
an enormous following, and there is no telling how great sales might be.
In addition, they could be exported abroad, bringing in unprecedented
amounts of money, to the great advantage of the national economy.
Recently, many stores have started selling so-called sanitary
vegetables raised with chemical fertilizers but without human manure. It is
true that this system eliminates the danger of internai parasites, but the
vegetables themselves are inferior in f lavor. Consequently, experienced
members of our organization could make plenty of money selling
vegetables and fruits raised our way, without fertilizers of any kind.
Aside from making money, such action would publicize nature farming,
and I would like our members to start doing this at once.
DecemberS, 1951

Home Vegetable Gardens

S f ar, I have directed my explanations largely at people who farm
for a living, but I would like to conclude with some words on the
domestic garden.
With nature farming, the method is clean and sanitary, and crops are
surprisingly good, abundant, and flavorful. There is no need to worry
about damage from insects and there is no danger of internai parasites.
Leaf color and stalk forni are much better than in plants raised with
fertilizers. A home gardener who adopts the nature farming method
finds his daily garden chores enjoyable rather than trying as in the
past.
Amateur gardeners have often complained that their potatoes did
not produce well or that the potatoes were small. They have spoken of
flowers dropping from tomatoes and eggplants or of daikon (turnips)
riddled with holes. Other constant complaints include cucumbers that
168

wither because of root worms, or pickling greens with practically no

undamaged leaves. The home gardener, unaware that these crop
failings have been caused by use of fertilizers, hs assumed that he hs
been fertilizing too little and hs increased the amounts, thereby further
damaging his produce. Puzzled, he hs turned to the specialist for help.
The specialist hs been unable to give a satisfactory answer, for he too
is superstitiously convinced of the importance of fertilizers, and the
number of people troubled and perplexed by the situation hs increased
greatly. If ali these people only knew of the nature farming system, they
would experience a quite extraordinary sense of relief.
January 15, 1951

The Great Agricultural Revolution Clean

and Enjoyable Home Gardens
I would now like to explain the system mainly for the benefit of the
home gardener.
Readers of Chijo Tengoku and of this paper will already be aware of
the wonderful results farmers achieve by growing crops without
fertilizers. The same system can be a light in the darkness for the home
gardener as well. In addition, it provides the double advantage of crops
better than those possible with fertilizer, and of reduced labor. For
reference, I will enumerate here the most important of the many
benefits of the system.
1. Since only natural leaf and grass composts are required, there is no
need to deal with animal manure. Labor is reduced.
2. Ali vegetables are of better quality and much more delicious than
those raised with fertilizers.
3. Individual fruits and vegetables are larger and crop quantities are
greater.
4. Insect damage is reduced to a fraction of that experienced with
fertilizers, and there is obviously no need for insecticides.
5. Plants raised without human manure cannot carry ascarids or other
internai parasites.
Since most home gardeners raise vegetables rather than grains on
169

the ir limited plots of land, I shall now discuss some of the experiments
we have already completed on vegetable cultivation.
Amateur gardeners often complain that their potatoes bear poorly
and are small. These difficulties, which are caused by fertilizers, do not
exist in nature farming, which makes it possible to produce large crops
of pure-white, dense, subtly flavored, and appetizing potatoes.
Corn stalks are thick, and the leaves are long and bright green. It is
possible to tell ata glance that they are largerthan usual ones. The ears
are long and thick, and heavy with densely packed, orderly rows of
tender, sweet kernels.
Daikon (turnips) are longer and thicker than usual They have a fine,
crisp texture, are extremely delicious, and completely lack the holes
and hard places s often caused by fertilizers.
Ali the leafy plants used in Japan for pickles, spinach, Kyona
(Japanese cabbage), Chinese cabbage, and cabbage turn out subtly
flavored, tender, large, and appetizing. Lastyear, an amateur gardener
showed me three heads of Chinese cabbage he had raised, each weighing
roughly six kilograms. They were the largest I have ever seen.
Ali bean crops are better with nature farming, but green soybeans
are especially noteworthy. The plants have short branches and small
leaves and produce twice as many beans as plants raised with fertilizers.
Each pod usually contains four beans; almost none contains only one.
Tempting to see and delicious to eat, eggplants have good color,
tender skins, and strong flavor. Anyone who hs eaten them raised the
natural way will never want eggplants produced with fertilizers again. I
shall not discuss them in detail here, but scallions, onions, tomatoes,
pumpkins, and ali the melons are also outstanding when cultivated
without fertilizers. The smooth texture and delicious tasteof pumpkins
grown this way, however, deserve special mention. Yams raised
according to the nature farming system are exceptionally large, and
grow even larger if they are allowed to remain in the ground somewhat
longer than usual.
Fruits raised the natural way, especially citrus fruits, persimmons,
and peaches, are much more delicious than those raised with fertilizers.
Natural composts, which are essential in nature farming, are of two
kinds: grass and tree leaves. Grass is suitable for mixing with the soil;
leaves are used to make bedlike layers under the soil.

l shall now explain the effects and principie of cultivation without

fertilizers and the difference between it and ordinary methods.
Originally, the Creator made soil for raising vegetable foods; as such it
is a subtle substance of mystic properties. Taking full advantage of its
powers is in keeping with soil's essential function. Not realizing this,
however, at some period in the past people made the mistaken decision to
employ fertilizers, which killed the soil by destroying its vitality.
Attempting to rectify the situation by using still more fertilizers, they
caused plants to become addictedto these outside substances. The soil of
Japan is now said to be poor. This is because of the use of fertilizers, and
the chemical fertilizers that have recently come into use have
aggravated matters. To prove this, one hs only to examine the case of
rice cultivation. Whenrice crops decrease, farmers attemptto stimulate
better growth by hauling into their paddy fields soil from other reas.
They do this in the belief that importation of virgin soil will restore the
nutrients that long periods of cultivation have depleted. They are totally
mistaken; the truth is that long application of artificial fertilizers and
animal manure hs destroyed the so"s vitality. The importation of soil
free of fertilizer toxin restores it.
The purpose of composts is to keep the soil soft and warm. Roots
mustbe able to spread well if plants are to grow strong and vigorous, s
the soil must not be allowed to become packed hard. Thoroughly mixing
grassy composts with the soil prevents such hardening. Grassy
composts, which have tender fibers, permit the growth of root hairs at
the endsof plantroots. Tree leaves, onthe other hand, have tough fibers
and should not be mixed with the soil. Instead, they should be used to
forni bed layers for keeping the soil warm. Ideally there should be a lay
er about 30 cm thick of soil mixed with grassy compost and below it a layer
of tree leaves about 30 cm thick. This arrangement is good for ali
vegetables and beans. For crops of long-root vegetables like daikon
(turnips), carrots, or burdock, adjustments in layer thicknesses must be
made. Furrows of maximum height provide the roots with ample
sunlight and growth is excellent. Yams planted at intervals of about 30
cm in furrows about 60 cm tall reach astonishing sizes.
Furrow orientation east and west or north and south must be
determined on the basis of natural lighting and prevailing wind
directions. To prevent strong winds from breaking stalks and scattering
the ridges of earth, it is always wise to build suitable fences or plant
trees as windbreaks.
March 30, 1949

170

171

The Earth Breathes

Ali things not just animais but plants and minerais as well
breathe. In fact, the planet earth itself breathes, as I shall now
explain.
Earth breathes once a year. Exhalation begins in the spring
and reaches its clmax in the summer. The exhaled breath of the
earth, like that of human beings, is warm. It results from the
emanation of ground heat and grows more intense in spring, when
ali things begin to grow. The grasses and trees come into bud first of
ali, ali things reachupward, and man himself f eels a lifting of the
heart. As summer approaches, the vegetation flourishes increasingly
till a kind of peak is reached, when the earth itself begins to
breathe in. At this point, plants and trees wither, and ali things
go into a state of decline. Human beings too become cool and calm.
As this course of development moves toward the opposite pol, winter
sets in. In this natural cycle, the earth exhales its spiritual ether
nitrogen, in scientific terms whichenables plants to grow. Nitrogen
constantly rises, collects at the upper limits of air, then is returned to
earth again with the falling rain. This is natural nitrogen
fertilization. It is an error to take nitrogen from the air and use it
artificially as fertilizer. At first, this increases crops, but if
nitrogen fertilization is continued for a long time, the soil
becomes poor as a result of nitrogen addictioa In other words,
oversaturation of nitrogen dulls the soil's vigor. During World
War I, the Germans invented nitrogen fertilizer in order to increase
crops. They were able to achieve their wartime aims with its use, but
such fertilization should have been abandoned with the return of
peace.
Incidentally, sun spots, for which there have long been various
explanations, represent in fact the breathing of the sun. Every
eleven years, when the spots are said to increase, the sun reaches the
end of its exhalation phase. Though it is usually said that the light of
the moon is a reflection of the light of the sun, the burning of the
sun might also be seen as caused by the moon's water element The
waxing and waning of the moon, which take twenty-eight days to
complete, represent that bod/s respiratory activity.
September 5, 1948

CONCLUSION

172

Conclusion
In this book, besides providing a solution to the problem of health,
the fundamental source of human happiness, and discussing the
possibility of creating a world without illness, I have dealt with ways to
eliminate poverty and strife. I also explain that the spiritual world,
being the source of ali things, is where true solutions to ali problems
must be worked out. By avoiding theory and concentrating on actual
experience and examples, I think I have enabled the reader to
understand the basic concepts of my philosophy and to find a certain
amount of hope and tranquility.
As the book makes clear, my true purpose is to save as many of the
world's twobillionpeople aspossible ata time whentheunprecedented
shift from the old world of night to the new world of day threatens
massive destruction. I feel sure that my readers will give their
wholehearted assent to this aim. In addition, while suggesting a
revolution in the field of medicai science, I have attempted a blueprint
for the realization of a heaven on earth in the new world to come.
My ideas must be put into practice in a realm that is not exclusively
scientific nor religious but a combination of both and that also relates to
politics, econmica, education, morality, and art. I foresee the imminent
birth of a new culture in which ali the useless elements from the culture of
night will be destroyed while ali that is still useful will be preserved. The
recent idea of a world federation is a manifestation of the new world I have
in mind.
In that world, my new ideas for cultural activities in religion,
politics, economics, education, and art will at last be made known. Like
our medicine, they will be something mankind hs never known before.
For the creation of a heaven on earth, an unprecedented undertaking,
unprecedented concepts must be established. Christ urged his followers
to repent because the kingdom of heaven was at hand. The Buddha said
that, after his own death, the world of the Bodhisattva Maitreya would
come into being. At present, the entire planet is experiencing the birth
pangs of a new world.
February 5, 1947

175

APPENDIX

APPENDIX
Address by the Founder of the Sekai Kyusei Kyo
Delivered at the Hibiya Public Hall, Tokyo
What I am about to say is very unusual and unlike the things other
people say. But what would be the sense in my coming ali the way here
from Atami just to say the same things as others?
People are fond of calling our time an age of culture an age in
which culture hs made great advances. Such remarks represent a
confusion of culture and civilization. The two are very different. A
civilized world is an ideal one completely free from barbarity. Culture is
the stage between barbarity and the attainment of civilization. Men
today are infatuated with the chimera "culture," convinced that what
they have now is either fine in itself or can result in a good world if
further improved and developed. Actually, however, the world today is
very different from what I mean by a civilized world.
In the simplest terms, civilization is a state in which life is safe, in
which the safety of human life is ensured. However, the world today is
perilous and frightening, threatening a last judgment in the forni of
atomic and bacteriological bombs or the like. Ours is a time of culture, not
civilization, since the safety of life is threatened. We live in an age of
transition between barbarity and civilization. What, then, is civilization?
War and illness are the greatest threats to life. Consequently, a truly
civilized world is one totally free of these two threats; one in which the
safety of life is completely guaranteed. Since it is now imperative to
move toward that civilization, the Sekai Kyusei Kyo hs adopted as its
goal the creation of a world free of illness, poverty, and conflict war
being, simply, conflict on a grand scale.
Illness, which is the source of ali three of these evils is both physical
something that hurts or causes discomfort and mental Without
curing such physical lnesses as tuberculosis, contagious diseases, and
dysentery which are said to be unusually common this year it will be
impossible to achieve a civilized world, even in hundreds or thousands
of years.
As personal histories show, the roots of poverty lie in physical
sickness. A person loses or is unable to find employment because of
bodily illness and is therefore forced to bear the double hardship of
physical suffering and loss of income. This in turn hs a negative effect on
family, relatives, and friends.

779

Psychological illness is the cause of war. The people who initiate

hostilities history calls them great men and heroes possess great
power and brains but suffer from a kind of psychological sickness.
In short, we must eliminate both mental and physical sickness for the
sake of creating a true civilization. In theory at any rate, it is assumed
that medicai science can cure physical illness members of the
medicai prof ession are doing their best in that direction and that only
religion can cure psychological illness. Doubt persists however, about
the very possibility of cures. In fact, only Johrei can heal the mind and
the body and thereby enable us to create a civilized world.
Seeing humanity and the whole world today as barbarous in the
worst sense, I fear modern warfare much more than I would have feared
fighting in some so-called "barbrie" age. People today are dazzled by
the cultured or "civilized," as they say surface of a society that is
barbarian at best semicivilized in its essential nature. It is as if
they were admiring the beauty of a woman who is wearing fine clothing
but who is actually a mass of syphilis and suppuration.
Sekai Kyusei Kyo is not a religion. If religion were capable of solving
our problems, solutions would have been found long ago. Throughout
history, religious leaders, founders of faiths, philosophers, and moralists
have purported to solve issues, make progress, and put things right.
Humanity hs reacted toward them with the same unquestioning trust
shown by a tattooed, naked savage to a witch doctor. But the failure of
ali the religionists' efforts to ensure the safety of life points to their lack
of power. They have been able to bring the barbarians to a state of
culture but are impotent to take them further to a state of civilization.
Mankind hs made many wonderful discoveries and hs invented
many splendid things but hs used them in wrong ways. The discovery of
atomic energy is an illustration of my meaning. Used correctly this
discovery would make it possible to operate a train or automobile for
days on an energy source no larger than the tip of a finger. Instead of
putting it to such good uses, however, human beings created the atomic
bomb, which as we know, is capable of killing millions of people. The
airplane, a fast and convenient means of transportation hs been
converte d into a dreadful machine carrying deadly bombs.
Although science hs advanced s far, yet lacking the essential
quality, it hs been put to wrong uses that cause humanity sufferingand
hardship. If only the soul is altered, however, these things can be put to
180

good uses and employed in the creation of a splendid world Christ

urged people to repent because the kingdom of heaven was at hand.
Shakyamuni predicted that, after his death, the realm of the Bodhisattva
Maitreya would come into being. As I see things, it would have been
better if Christ, for example, had talked less of the kingdom of heaven' s
being at hand and more about creating a kingdom of heaven; but in
practice the world at that stage was not ready for such things.
In those days, culture had not advanced to the stage where the
creation of true civilization was possible. What they said was therefore
right for their time. By now, however, material culture hs advanced s
much that the world hs become almost completely one. What I am
saying can be heard in ali corners of the globe. I could board an airplane
and after a single nighfs sleep, be in America The physical conditions
for the creation of a civilized world are nearly fulfilled, but our souls still
have not developed to the point where we are ready to put our
knowledge and skills to good uses. We must tell ali men of this situation
and help them develop the right kind of soul. As the members of our
organization know well, I am constantly writing with the aim of telling
people these truths.
In addition to carrying this message to others, I am engaged in
Johrei, which is a method of curing illness and of healing the evil in
simpler terms, barbarity in the soul. The soul itself cannot be
removed, since human beings cannot live without souls. Johrei,
therefore, alters its way of thinking by dissolving evil elements and
increasing the number of good elements. Ali people who have undergone
this experience feel a desire a compulsion to do good.
As I often tell members of our organization, people today f requently
wantto do wrong. Evenwhen they do not have this positive longing, they
feel that doing good is foolish and that to be open and frank somehow
lowers their dignity; thus, they prefer to put up a good front and look
smart. In fact, their attitude is the reverse of the correct one, though
many years ago even I myself did not realize this. I too thought it was
clever to get ahead in the world by doing flashy things. As I carne to
know God through faith, I saw I was wrong. From then on, I found myself
concentrating on looking for something, anything, that would be good
for others. By "good" here, I mean anything that makes people happy,
makes them feel good, pleases them, gives them satisfaction. From that
181

point on, things began to go better for me. In short, when one begins to
look at things in this way i t's not a matter of faith at this stage one
discovers that things are going increasingly well and that one is finding
increasing happiness. S I felt a sudden desire to let other people know
about it. The more I experienced this practical truth, the more I carne to
realize that God and the devil really exist, and from that time on I was
subjected, little by little, to ali kinds of what I might call training in faith.
And ali kinds of miracles and the like convinced me quite plainly that I
had an extremely important mission to fulfill. And that is how I carne to
form the Sekai Kyusei Kyo and to start the activities in which I am still
engaged.
Many sages and men of religion have dealt with the topic of a final
judgment for humanity Jesus Christ spoke of the last judgment and
the Buddha mentioned a world that would come into being after his own
death. It is often thought that this final judgment will be a kind of court
session, not in hell, but in the actual world, presided over by someone
like the Buddhist Yama, king of the spiritual world. This is not true.
The spiritual realm, to put it simply, consists of three realms for ali
beings: the physical, tangible, visible world of ordinary experience; the
inner spiritual realm; and the realm of air, which is intermediate to the
other two. In general, humanity understands the physical realm and the
realm of air but not the spiritual realm. In other words, there are three
stages comparable to the three stages of human history from the
barbrie age, to the age of culture, and then to the age of civilization.
In addition, the world undergoes alternating phases of light and
darkness. The most common of these is the twenty-four-hour cycle of day
and night In the yearly cycle, winter, when the rays of the sun are the
weakest, is the period of dark, and summer, when those rays are
strongest, the period of light. Moreover there are ten-year and
one-hundred-year periods of light and dark manifested as ages of
peace followed by dark ages. This too is a kind of rhythm. There are
similar alternating stages lasting a thousand years and ten thousand
years. We have long been in an age of dark but are now about to enter
an age of light, of civilization (the second of the two characters used to
write the Japanese word for civilization, "bummei," means "bright").
When the transition from dark to light is made, things of darkness that
have no place in the culture of light must be gotten rid of. There will be
many of

them, like the electric light that is useless in the daytime; they will have to
b e destroyed.
The "Last Judgment" means differentiating between what will be
useful and what will be useless when the break between day and night
occurs, useless things must be either put away or destroyed, and new,
useful things must be created.
Human beings themselves also consist of a physical being, a
spiritual being, and an intermediate water or water-vapor being
corresponding to the realm of air. The human body contains a large
amount of liquid. The spiritual being, or soul, belongs to the spiritual
realm. As the spiritual world becomes light, the spiritual beings of
humans must become correspondingly light. This means that whatever
cloudiness is in them must be removed; this must be accomplished by
means of a natural process of purification replacing the unclean with the
clean. But the cleansing process will involve suffering since, as our faith
teaches, purification is the principie source of illness.
In the past, people have not known or have ignored the strength of
the operation of the spirit the souL For example, the day before
yesterday, I happened to think of a person I had not seen for a year.
Then, yesterday, he carne to see me.
182

Such communication takes place along what are called spiritual

cords, whose operations are most interestingly observed in af fairs of the
heart It is not my purpose to discuss such things here, but it does seem
that when one comes to believe, one begins to understand this kind of
communication, which helps one to understand better the nature of,
and the prospects, for a love affair among other things. This is no light
matter. Foreseeing ali kinds of development in society by means of the
spirit and spiritual cords can prevent tragedy and social eviL But
enough of such matters for the moment. . . .
Where moderate sickness is enough to remove cloudiness and inake
the spirit conform to the environment of light, ali is well. But if the
cloudiness is very great, the illness required to eliminate it may be s
grave that the person dies. Illnesses that come in small doses may be
tolerated, but when ali the sickness required for purification comes at
once, the burden may be too crushing. The final judgment, when the
spiritual realm becomes totally bright, will suddenly inflict this kind of
intolerable burden on many people. God in his mercy is taking pity on
them at present and trying to help them by letting them know what is
imminent. Thus he commanded me to make these things known.
183
184

Whereas Christ and Shakyamuni prophesied the coming of a better

world, I proclaim now the need for us to make it ourselves and to create
on earth a heaven free of illness, poverty, and conflict. God hs
commanded me that we should make it.
In fact, God hs already done ali the preparations. I do not need to
work myself to death in actual acts of creation: ali I need to do is to deal
with phenomena as they present themselves. This is easy, yet imposes on
me a responsibility greater than anything humanity hs ever known
before. Carrying it out will make the prophecies of the great men of the
past come true. If they failed to come true, the prophets who made them
would be liars, and great men like Christ and the Buddha were not liars.
Therefore, someone must make their prophecies come true, and I have
been selected for the task. Until now, I have never spoken of this
immense and awesome responsibility; but today, for the first time in
front of a large assembly, I make this statement because the time of
change from night to day is gradually approaching and I must inform the
greatest number of people as quickly as I can for the sake of their own
salvation.
May 22, 1951
Sekai Kyusei Kyo 26-1
Momoyama-cho Atami City,
Shizuoka Pref. Japan