Great Construction

A Good Example of a Vegetarian Diet

     The other day, Rev. Gyōin Hashimoto, chief priest of the Yakushiji temple in Nara and superintending priest of the Hosso Sect came to visit, introduced by master of the founding family of the Kankyūan School of the  Mushakōji lineage of tea ceremony. We talked for several hours as if we had been friends for more than a decade, and afterward we ate dinner together. I was surprised to learn that he is a strict vegetarian to the extent that he does not even have dried bonito shavings for soup stock or flavorings and has meals made for himself, so you can see how strict he is. From a nutritionist’s perspective, he is probably a good example of nutritional deficiency.
     But the reality is quite the opposite. Even though he is over sixty years of age, when you look at his features, his facial skin is bright and glossy, he has no excess flesh, he has a wonderfully healthy color, and his personality radiates a pleasant impression I have not seen elsewhere. Moreover, as for discernment and memory, I asked about various aspects of Buddhist art, and the amazing speed of his excellent answers impressed me immensely. He made me reflect deeply on how healthy a vegetarian diet is. He says he has not been sick since birth nor does he know the taste of medicine, so his life is a noteworthy endorsement of my theories on nutrition. When it comes to contemporary people, on the other hand, they get too much nutrition, and yet their complexions are so poor and their brains, so dull that there is no comparison whatsoever. No words are there to describe such ignorance.

Eikō, Issue 174, page A1, September 17, 1952
translated by cynndd

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“Saishoku no Yoki Rei” appeared originally on the front page of Eikō, Issue 174, September 17, 1952. Although no translation is known to exist, this essay was reprinted in the anthology Igaku Kankei Goronbun Shū (Collected Essays on Medical Science), page 290, that did enjoy limited circulation. Igaku Kankei Goronbun Shū contains no publication data, but internal evidence suggests that its editing stopped several months preceding Meishu-sama’s death. Furthermore, since the book lacks publication data, whether the volume had Meishu-sama’s imprimatur or not is unknown, so details concerning this volume are probably impossible to research.