「文明の創造、科学篇」昭和27(1952)年
医学は特に結核患者に対しては、安静を最も重要とされているが、これは前にも述べたごとく大変な間違いである。ではどうするのが一番いいかというと、何よりも自然である。自然とは自分の身体を拘束する事なく、無理のないよう気儘にする事である。例えば熱があって大儀な時は、寝ろという命令を身体がすると思い、寝ればいいのである。また寝たくない起きたいと思うのは、起きていてもいいと命令されたと思い、起きればいいのである。歩きたければ歩き、駈出したければ駈出し、大きな声で唄いたければ唄い、仕事がしたければするというように、何でも心の命ずるままにするのが本当である。気が向かない心に満たない事は止すことである。要するにどこまでも自然である。これが結核に限らず、いかなる病に対しても同じ事がいえる。
食物も同様で、食べたい物を食べたい時に食べたいだけ食う、これが最もいいのである。薬はもちろん不可（いけ）ないが、食物としても薬だからとか、滋養になるとかいって、欲しくないものを我慢して食ったり、欲しいものを我慢して食わなかったりするのも間違っている。人体に必要なものは食べたい意欲が起ると共に食べたくないものは食べるなという訳である。そうして結核に特に悪いのは動物性蛋白である。少しは差支えないが、なるべく野菜を多く摂る方がよい。ところが今日の医学は、栄養は魚鳥獣肉に多いとして奨めるが、これが大変な誤りで、一時は元気が出たように思うが、続けると必ず衰弱を増す事になる。本来栄養とは植物性に多くある。考えてもみるがいい。動物性のもののみを食っていれば、敗血症などが起って必ず病気になり、生命に関わる事さえもある。それに反して菜食はいくらしても健康にこそなれ、病気には決して罹らないばかりか、長寿者となるに見ても明らかである。これについて私の体験をかいてみるが、私は若い頃結核で死の宣告を受けた時、それまで動物性食餌を多量に摂っていたのを、ある動機でその非を覚り、菜食にしてみたところ、それからメキメキ恢復に向かったので、医学の間違っている事を知り、薬も廃めてしまい、三ケ月間絶対菜食を続けたところ、それで病気はスッカリ治り、病気以前よりも健康体となったのである。その後他の病気はしたが結核のケの字もなく、六十八才の今日に到るも矍鑠（かくしゃく）として壮者を凌（しの）ぐものがある。もしその時それに気が付かなかったとしたら、無論あの世へ旅立っていたに違いないと、今でも思う度にゾッとするのである。
今一つは、喀血の場合である。これこそ菜食が最もいい。以前こういう患者があった。肉食するとその翌日必ず喀血するが、菜食をするとすぐ止まるという、実にハッキリしていた。これでみても菜食のよい事は間違いないのである。
今一つは、医師は疲労と睡眠不足を不可として戒めるが、これも間違っている。それは原理を知らないからで、疲労とはもちろん運動のためで、運動すれば足や腰を活動させるから、その部にある毒素に浄化作用が起り、微熱が発生する。微熱は疲労感を催す、それが疲れである。しかしそれだけ毒素が減るのだから結構な訳である。何よりも運動をさかんに行い常に疲労を繰返す人は健康であるに見ても判るであろう。だからくたびれた際足や腰の辺りを触ってみれば必ず微熱があるにみて、それだけ毒が溶ける訳である。
また睡眠不足は、結核には何ら影響はない、むしろいいくらいである。これは事実によってみればよく判る。何よりも睡眠不足の階級を見るがいい。旅館の従業員や花柳界の人達には、結核が最も少ないと医学でも言われている。
これについても説明してみるが、睡眠不足だと起きている時間が長くなるから、活動の時が多くなり、浄化が余計起るからそれだけ疲れる。ところが逆解的医学である以上、睡眠不足を不可とするのである。今一つこういう事でも判る。それは普通朝は熱が低く、午後三時か四時頃になると熱が出てくる。これも右の理と同様で、たとえ寝ていても神経を使うから浄化が起るのである。
Respect Nature
Creation of Civilization
Written by Mokichi Okada in 1952
Medical science regards rest as the most important remedy, especially for tuberculosis patients. However, it is very wrong as I previously described. Then, what would be the best? It is nature that is more than anything. Nature means not to restrain your body and to act as you like without pushing yourself too hard. For example, when you have a fever and feel listless, you should sleep as if your body directs you to sleep. You should also stay up when you don’t feel to sleep but want to stay up as if your body directs you to do so. You should walk when you want to walk, run when you want to run, sing loudly when you want to sing loudly, work when you want to work and so on. You indeed follow everything that your heart says. You should not do what your unwilling heart is not satisfied. In short, it is infinitely natural. The same is true of any kinds of diseases as well as tuberculosis.
Food is also the same as above. You eat what and when you want. This is the best way. Medicine is, of course, not good. It is also wrong that you eat something not to want with patience just because it works as medicine or it is nutritious and you also resist eating what you want. People are motivated to eat what their bodies are needed and should not eat what they don’t want. As for tuberculosis, animal protein is especially bad. A small amount of it is all right but it is better to eat vegetables as much as possible.
However, present medical science recommends eating fish, poultry and meat as they are nutritious but this is a big mistake. A person once feels uplifted but must grow weak if he continues to eat them. It is Vegetable food which has originally rich nutrition. Think about this; when a person has only animal products, it causes septicaemia or so and he must become ill, which might be life-threatening. On the contrary, you can probably become healthier but never become ill and live longer no matter how much vegetarian meals you eat. These facts prove how nutritious Vegetable food is.
Concerning this, I describe my experience. When I was young, I was diagnosed with tuberculosis and informed to die. Then I stopped eating animal products which I had eaten a lot until then. It is because that I realized my eating habit was wrong for a certain reason. Then I started to have only vegetables and I was remarkably getting better. I also stopped having medicine as I got to know that medical science was wrong. I continued to have only vegetables for three months, which completely cured my illness. Moreover, I became healthier than before when I suffered from tuberculosis. Although I have suffered from other illnesses afterwards, no tuberculosis symptoms appeared. I still enjoy green old age and work as energetically as any of the young men even when I become sixty-eight years old now. If I had not realized that, I must have left this world. Whenever I recall that, it makes me a chill.
The other case is hemoptysis. As for it, the vegetable diet is the best to heal it. There was a patient before, who never failed to spit-up blood on the following day when he had meat. However, he immediately stopped spiting it up when having vegetables. It was really clear. From this point of view, it must be good to have vegetables.
The other wrong idea is that doctors consider fatigue and insufficient sleep as bad and they caution about them. It is because, however, they don’t know the principle of them. Fatigue is, of course, caused by exercise. When a person exercises, it makes his legs and loins active. Then the purification action occurs on the toxic substances in there, which generates slight fever. This slight fever gives a sense of fatigue. It is called the tiredness. It is, however, good because the toxic substances are reduced by this amount. You will know that, among others, people who actively exercise and repeatedly become tired at all the time are healthy. Therefore, if you touch around your legs and loins when you are tired, they must have a slight fever. The toxic substances in there are dissolved as much fever as you have.
Then insufficient sleep does not affect tuberculosis at all. It is rather good for it. The following fact shows this. When you see the society where people are sleep-deprived such as the employees of ‘ryokan’ or Japanese hotels and people in ‘karyu-kai’ or the world of the geisha, even medical science says that they don’t suffer from tuberculosis more than anybody.
I explain this more. When a person becomes sleep-deprived, he is awake for a longer time and can act longer. Therefore, the more purification action occurs, the more he becomes tired. Medical science, however, interprets this by contraries so that it regards that insufficient sleep is not good. It is known by the other fact that people usually have a lower temperature in the morning and get a fever at around three or four p.m. For the same reason as above, the purification action occurs even when people are asleep. It is because their nerves are active while sleeping.
Translated by N.H.
You can read the other teachings in English on Johrei.