Great Construction
The Happiness of the Believers of World Messianity
Because the benefits received by the believers of World Messianity are so great and wonderful, becoming used to the miracles and forgetting their value is an experience all have had. This situation should not need an explanation at this point, but as there are several aspects that are apt to be overlooked, I shall address them.
Today people would most likely say that in their everyday lives there is nothing as frightening as disease. That being the case, there is probably not even one individual who does not depend upon medical doctors and drugs. Of the many examples that can occur, even when catching a slight cold, there might be a fever. What a bother! If food is tasteless, aside from the symptoms of ordinary diseases, there is worry that the cause could be heartburn. A stomach ache or pain in the abdomen may result in concern about diarrhea, and when the stomach becomes upset, it seems like the stomach is a ceramic dish that is easily shattered. Shortness of breath and palpitations after walking quickly causes anxiety about a bad heart. Headaches, heaviness of the head or dizziness results in anxiousness about neurological problems. Crying when not sad or eyes feeling fatigued leads to worries about the start of an eye disease. A congested nose, a sinus problem. Dulling of the sense of smell, hypertrophic rhinitis. A painful throat and a fever, tonsillitis. Stiff shoulders, a precursor of the common cold. Deficient movement in the arms and legs, spinal chord problems. Sense of heaviness in the feet, beriberi. Pain in the rectum, anal prolapse or hemorrhoids. Pain when urinating or cloudy urine, renal tuberculosis. These are just the conditions that come to mind, but there is no limit to the list. The anxiety of people nowadays about sickness and disease has reached the extreme level of neurosis.
But, there is more. There is the worry about germs. If you get a slight cold, you worry that if you do not do something, the cold could get worse, and if you experience coughing and phlegm, that it could be the first stage of a lung disease. These thoughts make you think of the visit to a friend in the hospital who had come down with a lung disease. Or, you might recall one of your own siblings, your mother, your father, or someone else deceased who had come down with tuberculosis. Perhaps tuberculosis may be due to genetics. You fret that you should probably get checked by a doctor before it gets too late, but then you start to consider that if you were declared to be tubercular, it would be the end, since you could not work, you could not go to your job. So, your livelihood becomes your priority. Moreover, you become concerned that someone may claim that the tuberculosis has infected your wife or your children. Oh, I really am in a mess! You start to anguish about this and that. You cannot get a good night’s sleep and melancholy envelopes you. You start to become absorbed in reading books and articles about tuberculosis. You look to see if the book says that tuberculosis can be completely cured, but nothing is stated definitely and you cannot but feel frightened, and as you dig deeper into the details, the explanation becomes more and more technical. Since people nowadays unconditionally trust anything said to be scientific, concern increases the more you read. And even if your condition could be cured, you do not know how many years that would take. And, during the long treatment of tuberculosis, absolute rest is usually required and you would not be able to do anything. Yes, for a little while, savings, sickness benefits, insurance, and so forth would help, but what happens after that? In addition, medical expenses are quite substantial, and unless an individual is of considerable means, the ordinary person, will worry about sickness on top of the worry about money, and thus two worries make the situation worse.
But this situation is not limited to tuberculosis. Various infectious diseases have recently started to spread. If you happen to get a severe case of diarrhea, you worry you might have dysentery. A fever without a cold, typhus. Particularly, when children are not energetic, yawn often, and are sleepy, children’s dysentery is suspected. Or it could be Japanese encephalitis. When the fever continues and coughing starts, whooping cough. A wheezing sound in the throat, diphtheria. Finding that walking is uncomfortable, infantile paralysis or spinal caries. Absent-mindedness, a decrease of mental acuity, or weight loss, scrofulous. If the eyes feel rough, trachoma. Other conditions are hernia, changing preferences of food, and fits of anger, only a fragment of the unlimited number symptoms that become the source of worry.
And recently more cases of irregular menstruation in females have been reported, as well as menstrual pain, vaginal discharge, uterine autoflexion, and hysteria, and when pregnancy occurs, also increasing are cases of morning sickness, renal disease in pregnancy, ectopic pregnancy, and breech and premature births. In addition, ordinary persons generally can experience car and boat sickness, insomnia, ringing in the ears, nasal congestion, near-sightedness, astigmatism, constipation, indigestion, and so forth, as well as many other conditions that do not have names, so the concern for disease is troubling. Thus, nowadays, there is probably no individual who does not have, to either a small or great degree, some kind of diseased condition, so it would not be an exaggeration to say that on this planet earth, no one has a whole and complete body and limbs. The question should be, therefore, is this the normal conditions of the human being? It should be obvious that it is impossible to think that the Creator, that is, Almighty God, would create an incomplete living being. Still, it seems that nowadays human being are easily breakable and that there must be some kind of great mistake somewhere.
Looking at the issue from a different angle, the Buddhist tradition since antiquity has held that there are four hundred and four diseases, but since it appears that at present the number of diseases has grown to over a thousand, the situation is utterly mystifying. Furthermore, since the progress of medical science is taken as a matter of pride, one wants to say that the boasters must be crazy. The reason for wanting to say so is the one great default of contemporary medical science. Contemporary medical science does not understand the true cause of disease, and it is astonishing that true treatments are unknown.
If the question, what is disease, is asked, the reply is extremely simple. Disease is the pain that accompanies the elimination process for poisonous elements which should not be in the human body. This poisonous element are medicines and drugs, so there is nothing more worthwhile than disease. If this principle is thoroughly understood, catching a cold, rather than worrisome, is to be seen as satisfactory, diarrhea is also satisfactory, and germs are welcome, as health is increased each time sickness is experienced. Naturally, healthy persons will not contract a disease even though they may come into contact with germs. If that is the case, are not sickness and disease encouraging and gratifying?
Above all, the facts illustrate this well. Disease and sickness in believers of World Messianity gradually decreases and health gradually increases as previously described. Rarely there are those who die, and these are people whose levels of poisonous elements, toxin were high. The elimination of their toxin took too much time, and as they weakened, they died. Still, these cases are quite few, and according to statistics to date, it is a wonderful miracle that out of one hundred persons, ninety-three have been completely cured and seven have met their end. It should be obvious how happy are those who become believers of World Messianity.
Eikō, Issue 188, page A1, December 24, 1952
translated by cynndd
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“Honkyō Shinja no Kōfuku” was originally published on the front page of Eikō, Issue 188, December 24, 1952, and later, while Meishu-sama still alive, reprinted in the essays anthology for ministers Goshinsho: Shūkyōhen (Divine Writings: Volume on Religion), page 81, March 25, 1954. “Honkyō Shinja no Kōfuku” was also reprinted in the anthology Igaku Kankei Goronbun Shū (Collection of Meishu-sama’s Essays Relating to Medical Science) that did enjoy a 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. “Honkyō Shinja no Kōfuku” has previously appeared in translation. Citation is given below for reference.
“Way to Happiness,” The Glory, Number 006, page 2, May 10, 1955.
“Regarding Sickness,” Teachings of Meishu and Kyoshu, page 10, no date.