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     Since antiquity, throughout every age and within each ethnic group have been many heroes, great men, saints, larger-than-life figures and so forth, but when these people who have distinguished themselves in some way are studied dispassionately, generally there are two types. The first type is the hero or great person who catches the attention of society and leaves behind some great accomplishment, usually done without regard to method or means. The greater the ambition of such people, without exception the more they resort to the violent means of war. Such means are frankly speaking large-scale homicide and robbery. Strictly speaking, these people are the heavyweights of evil.
     The reverse of these evil big shots are those persons who detest evil means and through love and compassion vigorously try to save humanity from misfortune. These are persons worthy of respect who work without regret even to the sacrifice of their own lives. These very persons are the heroes of good who even today brilliantly stand out in history. Throughout the centuries, these are persons who are the objects of ardent admiration by virtuous men and women, and much of the populace know of the many who have converted religions due to their teachings. Thus we can easily call the first types of people I have just described as heroes of evil and the second types as heroes of good. In any case, there are points where it is difficult to uniformly determine the achievements left behind for humanity by those of either group because it is almost impossible to measure with human wisdom the profundity of divine economy.
     For example, about the two sacred grounds in Atami and Hakone whose construction I am now directing, many, particularly non-believers say “Master, you seem to be the same as Hideyoshi,” but I reply, “Yes, when you look at the situation where I am constructing gardens and buildings on a grand scale, you may think so, but my purpose differs completely. Indeed, there are many aspects of the items on which Hideyoshi who managed large-scale construction projects of gardens, buildings, and so forth can be praised. In particular he established an artistic culture that colored the Momoyama period, one example of the many is that of the tea ceremony steered by Sen no Rikyu which perfected the culture of Japanese sentiment, but the power Hideyoshi had to accomplish all these achievements was obtained through conflict, so probably it cannot be denied that frankly speaking, his projects were based on murder and large-scale theft. Of course, there is the unparalleled heroic genius, superior in intellect who does not have to follow any of the usual norms, but in the end, these individuals are usually heroes of evil. When the legendary outlaw Ishikawa Goemon was caught, he is reported to have blustered out, “I’m just a lowly, small-time crook, not at all comparable to the regent. Isn’t the regent just a big crook who stole everything under heaven?” I think Goemon did have a point.
     The next hero to appear was Ieyasu who, strictly speaking, like Hideyoshi, stole the country. In other words, he took what he could take, so it is fair to say that he is a hero of evil. On the other hand, there is nothing to criticize about heroes of good, but this does not mean that they deserve absolute praise. Heroes of good certainly sought to help humanity and left behind great achievements, but their work was almost on the spiritual, mental levels only. The physical, material level was indeed neglected, but of that which were constructed number only about three, that is, Sakyamuni’s Jetavana Monastery, the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss created by the Bodhisattva Dharma Store, and the Buddhist art left behind by Prince Shotoku. Otherwise, there is not much to be seen. Indeed, such a lack was probably due to the uncivilized nature of the times, but it is certain that there was not one individual who was great enough to manifest power on both the spiritual and physical levels in order to move the world. In pursuant to this way of thinking, those who have been called great up to now are divided into two categories, heroes of the material and heroes of the spiritual.
     As regards myself, I belong to neither category. It would be fair to say that I combine both categories, that is, on the spiritual level, the category of the hero of good type, and on the physical level, the category of the hero of evil type. The latter, however, is evil on the physical level only, and the contents are entirely different. What I am having constructed right now are comparable to what Hideyoshi built, and in time, what I am doing will not be on this small scale but it is no mistake that it will be an expansion of a Hideyoshi type on a global level. This is possible because all the aspects have been fully prepared by God for tens of thousands years previously, and these creations are now steadily taking form. It is strange for me to say so, but it should be sufficient to think of me as a large-scale hero appearing for the first time in the world.

“Zen no Eiyū to Aku no Eiyū,” originally published in the magazine Chijōtengoku, Issue 37, June 25, 1952, and reprinted while Meishu-sama still alive in the essays anthology for ministers Goshinsho: Shūkyōhen (Divine Writings: Volume on Religion), page 483, March 25, 1954, has, as far as is known, never appeared in translation.