「文明の創造、科学篇」 昭和27年

愈々（いよいよ）之から病気に就（つい）ての一切を解説する順序となったが、抑々（そもそも）病気とは何かといふと、一言にしていえば体内にあってはならない汚物の排泄作用である。従って体内に汚物さへなければ血行は良く、無病息災で年中潑剌（はつらつ）たる元気を以て活動出来るのである。としたら一体汚物とは何であるかといふと、之こそ薬剤の古くなったもので、毒血又は化膿した不潔物である。では何故其（その）様な病気の原因となる処の薬剤を使用しはじめたかといふと、之には大いに理由があるから詳しくかいてみるが、抑々（そもそも）人類は未開時代は兎も角、漸次人口が増へるに従って、食物が不足になって来た。そこで人間は食物を探し求め、手当り放題に採っては食った。勿論農作法も漁獲法も幼稚の事とて、山野、河川至る処で木の実、草の実、虫類、貝類、小魚等を漁ったが、其（その）良否など見分ける術もないので、矢鱈（やたら）に食欲を満たそうとしたので、毒物に中（あ）てられ、其（その）苦痛を名付けて病気と謂ったのである。そこで何とかして其（その）苦痛を脱れやうとし、草根木皮を試みた処、偶々（たまたま）苦痛が軽くなるものもあるので、之を薬と称して有難がったのである。其（その）中での薬の発見者としての有名なのが、中国漢時代に現はれた盤古氏で、別名神農といふ漢方薬の始祖人であるのは余りにも有名である。

右（上記）の如くであるから、食物中毒の苦痛も勿論其（その）浄化の為であり、薬効とは其（その）毒物の排泄停止によって苦痛が緩和されるので、已に其（その）頃から浄化停止を以て病を治す手段と思ったので、此（この）迷盲が二千有余年も続いて来たのであるから驚くの外はない。そうして西洋に於ても草根木皮以外凡ゆる物から薬を採ったのは現在と雖もそうである。従って薬で病気を治す考え方は、之程開けた今日でも原始時代の人智と些かも変ってゐないのは不思議といっていい。

偖（さ）て愈々之から実際の病気に就（つい）て徹底的に解説してみるが、抑々（そもそも）人間として誰でも必ず罹る病としては感冒であらうから、之から解説するとしやう。先づ感冒に罹るや発熱が先駆となり、次で頭痛、咳嗽（がいそう）、喀痰、盗汗、節々の痛み、懈（だる）さ等、其（その）内の幾つかの症状は必ず出るが、此（この）原因は何かといふと、体内保有毒素に浄化作用が発り、其（その）排除に伴ふ現象である。処が其（その）理を知らない医療は、それを停めやうとするので、之が大変な誤りである。今其（その）理由を詳しく説明してみると斯うである。即ち人間が体内に毒素があると、機能の活動を妨げるので、自然は或程度を越ゆる場合、其（その）排除作用を起すのである。排除作用とは固まった毒素を熱によって溶解し、喀痰、鼻汁、汗、尿、下痢等の排泄物にして体外へ出すのであるから、其（その）間の僅かの苦痛さへ我慢すれば、順調に浄化作用が行はれるから毒素は減り、それだけ健康は増すのである。処が医学は逆に解して、苦痛は体内機能を毀損（きそん）させる現象として悪い意味に解釈する結果、極力停めやうとするのであるから、全く恐るべき誤謬である。そうして元来浄化作用とは、活力旺盛であればある程起り易いのであるから、弱らせに限るから、茲（ここ）に弱らせる方法として生れたのが医療である。勿論弱っただけは症状が減るから之も無理はないが、実際は無智以外の何物でもないのである。其（その）弱らせる方法として最も効果あるものが薬である。つまり薬と称する毒を使って弱らせるのである。人体の方は熱によって毒素を溶かし、液体にして排泄しやうとして神経を刺戟する。それが痛み苦しみであるのを、何時どう間違へたものか、それを悪化と解して溶けないやう元通りに固めやうとする。それが氷冷、湿布、解熱剤等であるから、実に驚くべき程の無智で、之では病気を治すのではなく、治さないやうにする事であり、一時の苦痛緩和を治る課程と思ひ誤ったのである。処が前記の如く苦痛緩和手段其（その）ものが病気を作る原因となるのであるから由々しき問題である。つまり天与の病気といふ健康増進の恩恵を逆解して阻止排撃手段に出る。其（その）方法が医学であるから、其（その）無智なる評する言葉はないのである。近来よく言はれる闘病といふ言葉も、右（上記）の意味から出たのであらう。

右（上記）の如く感冒に罹るや、排泄されやうとする毒素を停めると共に、薬毒をも追加するので、一時は固まって苦痛は解消するから、之で治ったと思ふが、之こそ飛んでもない話で、却って最初出やうとした毒素を出ないやうにして後から追加するのであるから、其（その）結果として今度は前より強い浄化が起るのは当然である。其（その）証拠には一旦風邪を引いて一回で治り切りになる人は殆んどあるまい。又陽気の変り目には大抵な人は風邪を引くし、風邪が持病のやうになる人も少なくないので、そういふ人が之を読んだら成程と肯くであらう。此（この）様に人間にとって感冒程簡単な体内清潔作用はないのであるから、風邪程有難いものはないのである。処が昔から風邪は万病の基などといってゐるが、之程間違った話はない。何よりも近来の如く結核患者が増えるのも風邪を引かないやうにし、偶々引いても固めて毒素を出さないやうにする。従って結核予防は風邪引きを大いに奨励する事である。そうすれば結核問題など訳なく解決するのである。それを知らないから反対の方法を採るので、益々増へるのは当然である。

そうして右（上記）の如く病原としての毒素固結であるが、此（この）原因は先天性と後天性と両方ある。先天性は勿論遺伝毒素であり、後天性は生れた後入れた薬毒である。処が其（その）両毒は人間が神経を使ふ局部へ集中固結する。人間が最も神経を使ふ処としては、上半身特に頭脳を中心とした眼、耳、鼻、口等であるから、毒素は其（その）処を目掛けて集中せんとし、一旦頸部付近に固結するのである。誰でも首の周り、肩の附近を探ればよく分る。其（その）処に固結のない人は殆んどないといっていい。而（しか）も必ず微熱があるのは軽微な浄化が起ってゐるからで、頭痛、頭重、首肩の凝り、耳鳴、目脂、鼻汁、喀痰、歯槽膿漏等は其（その）為である。処が毒結が或程度を越ゆると自然浄化が発生するし、其（その）他運動によって体力が活潑となったり、気候の激変によって自然順応作用が起ったりする等の諸原因によって風邪を引くやうになる。よく肩が張ると風邪を引くといふのは之である。又咳嗽は液体化した毒結排除の為のポンプ作用であるが、之は首の附近とは限らない。各部の毒結もそうである。次に啑（くしゃみ）であるが、之は恰度鼻の裏側、延髄附近の毒素が液体となったのを出すポンプ作用であるから、此（この）理を知れば実際とよく合ふ事が分るのである。

右（上記）の如く頭脳を中心とした上半身の強烈な浄化作用が感冒であるから、此（この）理さへ分れば、仮令（たとえ）感冒に罹っても安心して、自然に委せておけばいいので、体内は清浄となし、順調に割合早く治るのであるから、此（この）ことを知っただけでも、其（その）幸福の大なる事は言ふ迄もない。

What is Disease?

“Creation of Civilization” written by Mokichi Okada in 1952

It is finally time to explain all about diseases. In the first place, what is disease? In a word, it is the action to excrete filth that should not be in the human body. If only there is no filth in the body, blood circulation will be improved and therefore, people will be able to live in good health and act lively all year round. If so, what on earth is filth? That is old medicine. It becomes toxic blood or purulent filth as time passes. Why then did people start to use the medicine even though it causes diseases? There is an important reason for that. Let me describe it in detail. Except for primitive times, human beings faced food shortages as the population gradually increased. Therefore, they searched everywhere for food and ate whatever they got. They collected nuts, seeds, insects, shellfish, small fish and so on all around fields, mountains and rivers. Needless to say, their farming and fishing skills were immature. People didn’t know if they were edible or not, either. They just ate all of them to satisfy their appetite. Therefore, people were poisoned and felt pain. That pain was called disease. To free themselves from the pain somehow, they tried to have roots of herbs and the bark of trees. People happened to find some of them to relieve pain and appreciated them as medicine. Pangu is a famous discoverer of medicine. He appeared in China in the era of the Han dynasty. As everyone knows, he is also called Shennong the founder of Chinese medicine.

As mentioned above, it is obvious that people suffer from food poisoning because of its purification. On the contrary, medicine eases suffering because it stops the toxic substance from discharging. This is called the medical effect. In that way, people had already misinterpreted the meaning of purification since those days. They thought that they recovered from diseases by stopping purification. What a surprise! People have believed this fallacy for more than two thousand years. As for people in western countries, they also collected all sorts of things, as well as roots of herbs and bark of trees for medical purposes. They still do so. In this way, people still think that disease is cured by medicine even in this age of civilization. It means human knowledge has not improved at all since primitive times, which surprises me.

From now, I thoroughly explain the actual diseases. Let’s start with a cold. It is because every human being will surely catch a cold. When a person catches a cold, they have a fever first and then some of the symptoms such as headache, cough, sputum, night sweat, joint pain, tiredness and so on. Why do people have such symptoms? It is because purification action occurs to remove toxic substances in the body, which is accompanied by such phenomena. However, the reason why it occurs is unknown in medical care. Therefore, medical care tries to suppress the symptoms. That is a serious mistake. Let me explain in detail why purification action occurs. If a person has a toxic substance in the body, it interferes with the activity of bodily functions. Therefore, the excretory action naturally occurs when the toxin accumulates in the body to a certain amount. The excretory action means to liquefy the solidified toxins by heat and to excrete them from the body as sputum, runny nose, sweat, urine and diarrhoea and so on. If a person endures a slight pain while that action is taking place, it will proceed smoothly. Toxic substances will be reduced and the person will get healthier. However, pain is interpreted contrary and badly in the medical field, where it is considered to be a sensation to damage bodily functions. Therefore, the pain is tried to stop as much as possible. That is a terrible mistake. Originally, the more a person is energetic, the more the purification action easily occurs on them. Therefore, the best way to stop purification actions is to weaken them. Medical care has appeared for this purpose. The weaker people become, the more symptoms get relieved. That is obvious. Therefore, it is inevitable to interpret it as such but in fact, it is nothing but ignorant. Taking medicine is the most effective way to weaken the human body. In other words, the human body is weakened by using a toxic substance called medicine. As for the human body, it generates heat to liquefy toxins and eliminate them. This action stimulates nerves, which brings pain and suffering. I don’t know when and why people misunderstood the meaning of this action. They consider that it worsens their condition. They try to harden the toxins as they were by using such methods as ice-cooling, a wet compress, antipyretic and so on. I am astonished by their ignorance. Those methods never cure the diseases but contrary try not to cure them. People have misinterpreted the temporary relief of pain as the healing process. As mentioned above, however, those pain relief methods themselves contrarily cause diseases. That is a serious problem. The disease is the benefit of health promotion given by God. Nevertheless, people get it backwards. They try to stop and expel it. Medicine is the way to do it. There are no words to describe such ignorance. These days, people often say, “A fight against the disease.” This expression would be derived from what I described above.

As mentioned above, if a person takes medicine when catching a cold, it immediately stops toxins from discharging. It also adds more toxic medicine to the body. As a result, toxins harden and the pain is temporarily relieved. People think that the cold is cured. This is an outrageous misunderstanding. The toxin was about to discharge first. However, medicine contrarily stops it from discharging and then adds more toxins. As a result, it is obvious that a more intense purification action occurs than before. This is proved by the fact that very few people recover from a single cold. Most people catch a cold when the season changes. There are many people who have a cold as a chronic disease. If such people read this, they would agree. In this way, a cold is the easiest action to clean the human body. There is nothing better than catching a cold. Nevertheless, people have said since a long time ago, “A cold can lead to many kinds of diseases.” This is the most wrong explanation. But above all else, the number of tuberculosis patients recently increases because they try not to catch a cold. Even if they accidentally catch a cold, they try to harden toxins not to discharge. In this sense, the best way to prevent people from getting tuberculosis is to encourage them greatly to catch a cold. If they do so, the tuberculosis problem will be easily solved. However, since people don’t know this solution, they take the opposite approach. Naturally, the number of tuberculosis patients increases more and more.

As mentioned above, solidified toxins cause diseases. They are formed by both congenital and acquired causes. Needless to say, the congenital toxin means the inherited toxic medicine and the acquired one is the toxic medicine taken after birth. As a matter of fact, both of them concentrate on and solidify in the parts of the human body where nerves are active. The body parts where nerves work most are the upper body, especially the eyes, ears, nose and mouth centred on the head. Toxins once solidify around the neck to focus on those parts. Everyone can easily find hardenings if they examine around the neck and shoulders. Very few people would not have them there. Moreover, people have a slight fever there because purification action is slightly taking place. Because of this action, they have a headache, heaviness of the head, stiff neck and shoulders, ear noises, eye mucus, nasal discharge, sputum, pyorrhoea and so on. As a matter of fact, purification naturally occurs when the solidified toxins exceed a certain amount. People also catch a cold for other reasons; when the human body becomes energetic by exercising or so, when the natural adaptation action occurs due to an extreme climate change and so on. We often hear that a person catches a cold when the shoulders become stiff. Coughing is the pumping action to discharge liquefied toxins. This action can occur on the toxins in any part of the body, not just around the neck. As for sneezing, it is the pumping action to discharge liquefied toxins behind the nose or around the medulla oblongata. If you know the reasons why people catch a cold as above, you will see that they very well match actual circumstances.

As I explained above, a cold is an intense purification action that occurs in the upper body centred on the head. If you understand this theory, you will feel relieved even if you catch a cold. All you have to do is to leave it as it is. It cleanses your body and you recover from the cold steadily and relatively quickly. Needless to say, just knowing this will make you very happy.

Translated by N.H

P.S. You can also read this teaching and others in English on Johrei.