Great Construction

The Blind Spot of Medical Science
—Two Contrasting Examples—

     We continue to warn about the extent of how mistaken is medical science, and needless to say it is all too clear that the cause of these mistakes is because medical practitioners are so bound up by theory and ignore the actual situations they confront. I am sure that even the most stubborn materialists will not be able but bow their heads in defeat after they have read these two reports which show two contrary examples of these mistakes. 

Well-known Guy at the Sanatorium
The Guy Who Did Not Follow the Doctor’s Orders

Kôhôdai Church, Kagoshima
                                Keisuke Yamada, 32

     I was hospitalized at a sanatorium for former soldiers at which outside now hangs on its doors the sign of “national hospital.” When I was there in 1948, the place housed about five hundred patients but at present probably has over six hundred. Even so, it still cannot accommodate all the patients who need treatment, an advantageous but not very beneficial situation.
     After I had been at the sanatorium for about half a month, a man whom I did not know at all came to my bedside, and after he had completed his business, the conversation became animated. He was my senior at the sanatorium and had been a patient ever since it had opened, that is, for ten years. He said, “If you really want to recover, don’t listen to the doctors. Don’t take your temperature. Don’t take your pulse. Don’t be still. Disease comes from spirit. Don’t worry and be active!” I was surprised by his rough way of speaking. But I was also impressed. He also said things like, “I didn’t listen to the doctors and I have become as well as you can see.” “They once sent out an official telegram to my family announcing my impeding death, but I have come back to as healthy as you see me now. Since the founding of this sanatorium, there are only two who have lived after they sent out the official potential death notice, and I am one of those two. I don’t worry about coughing up blood or blood mixed with phlegm. While carrying around a spittoon, I throw up blood mixed with phlegm. I have played chess and have tilled the fields. Now, the healthiest guys around are those who have not paid attention to the doctors, the ones who are active. After watching this place for ten years, I see that the guys who listened to the doctor have all died. The ones who have become healthy are the ones who run around. So you shouldn’t pay attention to the doctors either!” There were a lot of things that he said which made sense, but I did not have the courage to carry out all of his advice. I did some of the things he said and did some of the things the doctors said. I learned later that this guy was good at composing haiku. It seems he was a skillful poet whose poems had appeared in the two-poem column of the poetry journal Hototogisu. He is the same person as Nagarabi, that is, Asuka Nomiyama of Nôgata City in Fukuoka Prefecture. He played go, sang songs, and was rather the artist. If I had had as much bravery as this person, I would have completely recovered a lot faster, I now believe.
     In addition, various other unusual things happened during my convalescence, and I came across actual incidences that medical science was not able to answer. There was one person who thought the doctor dangerous and in response to the recommendation for self-imposed rest, got discharged from the hospital citing familial reasons. He sold vegetables, was a black-market peddler, and became very healthy for which the doctor was very surprised. This individual had already been tested and had presented with a germ level of five on the Gaffky scale that meant he required sequestration. He had a chest cavity the size of a large egg that contemporary medical science considers absolutely impossible to cure. But he bustled around, doing this and that, and recovered completely. The doctor said he did not understand it at all and kept repeating that he was completely mystified.
     The well-known guy I have described had left me with the words, “Absolutely do not undergo absolute rest,” and had been discharged as completely recovered. I understand he works as a miner at a coal mine at Iizuka in Fukuoka Prefecture. This man did not appear to have faith in any religion, but he did leave me with a deep impression. Now that I know about this path, I consider him to be a kindred spirit and cannot suppress a wry smile when I think about him. 

Saved from a Five-year Battle with Disease
    —Daily Advancing toward a Divine World Filled with Hope—

 Masako Ito (23)
  Daieichû Church, Aichi Prefecture

     First of all, let me express my appreciation for being able to join the Daieichû Church and advance along this path as a member with many others. Thank you.
     It has been a period of five years, since May 1946, when I had believed in medical science for the relief from the pain of my illness, that I considered my doctor to be “the parent of my life” if only for the one hope that one day I would experience complete recovery, that medicines became my friends, and that I followed a strict regimen of nutrition.
     What were the results of committing myself so wholeheartedly? Most tragically, I had the recurrence of disease three times. Please understand my feelings, my sadness, at this time. While under treatment, I did exactly what the doctor ordered and did nothing to slack off. I also did what those around me told me to do and was called a good patient by society at large. I continued to try every kind of treatment in my desire to become healthy. In this way some two, three years passed, but I did not recover at all. I continued to get a little better but then my condition worsened again. Even the members of my family became disgusted with my sickness and gave deep sighs as they told me that once the disease was contracted it took a really long time to recover. With fervor I also continued receiving injections and taking the internal medicines prescribed. At this time, the doctor who checked me would say every time that if I just took care of myself a little longer, I would get better, and even I thought so myself.
     Time passed quickly and it was already the new year, 1950. I renewed my hope that this would be the year that I did not have to depend on doctors anymore. So, what happened? From February my condition worsened. It felt like phlegm was getting caught in one part of my bronchial tubes and I felt wheezing sounds when I took a breadth. I continued to cough with the unpleasantness unceasing. Fleetingly, my new year hope disappeared, but I saw the doctor again. I continued various treatments until May, but for some reason my condition only worsened. Gradually the doctor seemed to become uncomfortable with me and troubled by my presence. He did not really seem to be eager about my case and only scowled at me. For five years I had not changed doctors and I had depended on the only one doctor I thought I could trust, so for me to hear the words of despair were a big shock.
     Finally around May 20, I became bedridden again. I could only but cry night and day to think that the five years of blood and tears I had spent on healing pleurisy would become this kind of lung disease.
     Even now as I make this report, I cry as I write. Two or three days of sadness passed. As a last resort, the doctor recommended being injected with streptomycin and taking the internal medicine PAS (para-aminosalicylic acid). At this time, however, for some reason, I had come to despise the doctor and could not control the feelings of revulsion that welled up within me. Yet, still I could not part from the doctor and was completely at a loss. It was simply a chance meeting, but this one woman happened to visit me and told me about a wonderful church, World Messianity. This was the start of my salvation by the Tathegata of Divine Light. Thinking of it now, the hand of God was extended to me right when I was on the border between life and death.
     At first, I did not understand the significance of Johrei at all and received it half in doubt. That each day I felt better I was surprised. Appreciation, that I am full of appreciation, is all I can say.
     I learned about the Tathegata of Divine Light on May 25 and came to understand why he is so precious a divine being and how powerful he is. In June, my mother and I received our focal points and joined the church. It is still early days, but I have come to feel much better and my family members as well have received so many numerous blessings I could write about them every day.
     On March 16, we dedicated the Tathegata of Divine Light scroll in our home. To repay even by thousandths this great blessing, I am prepared to help save as much as possible the many individuals who are suffering from the same fate as I did.
     Leaving the doctor who I thought of as “the parent of my life,” I am depending only on the Tathegata of Divine Light. Though my words be inadequate, I hereby report on only one part of my appreciation.
     I apologize for the long text as I am so happy.

Eikô, Issue 111, July 4, 1951
translated by cynndd