「文明の創造、宗教篇」昭和27(1952)年

結核の原因には、憑霊の場合も相当多いのである。というのは事実に於て夫婦の一方が死ぬと、間もなく残りの一方が結核となり死ぬという事がよくある。又兄弟の内誰かが結核で死ぬと、其後次々発病し、症状も前に死んだ者と、殆んど同様である。酷いのになると、五人も六人もの兄弟が次々死ぬ事がある。之等を見ると、どうしても伝染としか思われないので、医学が結核は感染するとしているのも、無理はないのである。

処が斯ういう例は病菌による感染はないとは言えないが、案外少なく憑霊による事の方が、殆んどと言いたい位である。今之を詳しくかいてみるが、普通結核で死に、霊界に往って霊界の住人となるや、霊になっても引続いて結核患者なのであるから、病状も生前と些かの変りはなく苦しむのである。処が病気で死んだ霊は言う迄もなく地獄界に入るのであるから地獄の苦しみが続くので、病苦の外に語る相手もなく、孤独で非常に寂しい為、相手が欲しくなる結果どうしても兄弟の誰かを、自分の傍へ引寄せようとする。そこで憑依すれば、自分と同様結核となって死ぬのは分っているから、そうするのである。何と恐るべきではなかろうか。

又其他にも斯ういうのがある。それは祀り方が悪いとか何か死後要求がある場合、それを頼むべく知らせようとして之はと思う人に憑依する。憑依された者は、勿論結核と同様になるので、普通人はそういう事に気が付かず感染したと思い、医師も又そう言う訳で、散々医療を受け遂に死亡するので、此最もいい例として、斯ういう事があった。

今から二十数年前、私がまだ修行時代の頃、私の妻が風邪を引いた処、間もなく激しい咳嗽（せき）と共に引つきりなしの吐痰である。時々血痰も混るので、どうみても結核症状である。私も普通の結核としても、斯う急に起る筈はない、何か訳があるのだと思って、霊査法を行った。

此霊査法というのは、後に詳しくかくが、それで判った事は、果して約一年程前、二十幾歳の青年で、結核三期という重症なのを治療してやった事があった。慥か一、二週間位で、遂々死んで了つた。其霊が憑つた事がよく分ったので、霊の要求を訊いてみると、生前一人の父親に世話になっていたのだが、非常に貧乏なので、自分が死んでからも、碌々供養もして呉れず、未だに祀られていないので居所がなく、宿無しの為、辛くて仕方がないから、どうか祀って貰いたいというので、私も快く承諾し｢今夜は遅いから、明晩祀ってやる。然し君が此肉体に憑いていると、肉体が苦しいから、今私が祝詞を奏げてやる、それが済んだら、直ぐ離れなさい｣と言うと彼も承知して、祝詞が済むや離れたので、妻はケロリとして平常通りになって了った。之などは余りハッキリしているので、私も驚いた事がある。

Spiritually Caused Diseases: (2) Tuberculosis and Spirit Possession

“Creation of Civilization” written by Mokichi Okada in 1952

Tuberculosis is very often caused by spirit possession. It often happens that someone suffers from tuberculosis and dies soon after their spouse died from it. It also happens that siblings suffer from tuberculosis one after another when one of them died from it. Their symptoms are almost identical to the dead brother’s. In the worst case, five or six siblings die one after another. Concerning those cases, people cannot but think tuberculosis is infectious. Therefore, it is inevitable that medical science regards it as an infectious disease.

In some cases, tuberculosis is infected with the disease virus but it is rare. It is not too much to say that most of tuberculosis is caused by spirit possession. Now I explain those cases in detail. When people die, they go to the spiritual world and start to live there. In the case of death from disease, people continue to suffer from it even in the spiritual world. Their symptoms are the same as before. Besides, they should enter the world of hell when they die from the disease. They also have to experience agonies of hell. However, they have no company to talk with. They just endure their illness alone and feel very lonely. They long for company and try to draw one of the siblings towards their side. They know that spiritual possession makes their sibling die from tuberculosis like them. Therefore, they do so. What a terrifying thing it is! I explain the other case. When a person is not properly worshipped or wants something after death, they possess a suitable person to ask for their favour. The possessed person becomes as if they suffer from tuberculosis. When looking at them, people naturally think they suffer from tuberculosis as they don’t know the true cause of it. Neither do doctors. Consequently, they are given quite a lot of medical treatment and finally die. I will tell you the story as one of the good examples.

More than twenty years ago, when I was still a trainee. My wife caught a cold and then had a terrible cough and frequent phlegm, which is sometimes mixed with blood. She seemed to suffer from tuberculosis but it cannot occur so suddenly. I thought there must have a meaning and made a spiritual examination. I will explain what a spiritual examination is in detail later. In any case, I found the spirit of a young man possessing my wife by this examination. It was about one year ago when I treated a young man in his early twenties. He suffered from the third stage of tuberculosis. His symptom was so severe that he finally died in a few weeks. It was he who possessed my wife. I asked him what he wants. He replied that he had a father who looked after him during his lifetime. His father is poor and cannot afford to hold memorial services properly even after he died. Therefore, he has no place to go without lodging that is very harsh. He begged me to worship for him. I willingly accepted his request and told him, “I will worship for you tomorrow evening since it is getting late tonight. Now I serve prayers for you. Leave away from my wife soon after that. Otherwise, she feels pain.” He agreed and got away from her soon after the prayers finished. Then my wife returned to her normal condition as if nothing had happened to her. That was a very obvious example. Even I was surprised.

Translated by N.H.

You can read the other teachings in English on Johrei.