PDF File: 202310_Masaaki-sama’s Message_20_Food
Today, I want to talk about something completely different: about food.
Let me start with Meishu-sama’s Sacred Word “The life of faith I have walked.” He wrote:
I want to live. I want to live. That was all I could think of. This made me visit a doctor. My heart already ached for the poverty-stricken life of my father and mother, and what is more, I was required to take expensive medications. I cried and cried. Tears welled up in my heart and I had no way of stopping them.
But how miserable I was who was forsaken by God! Even though I was able to get a diagnosis from Dr. Irisawa, a leading figure in the medical world at the time, it was too late. There was no chance for my lung disease to be cured.
“Young boy…you must give up.” The doctor didn’t actually utter these words but I knew it full well, and I thought to myself, “The only hope for surviving is through a miracle.”
In my endless despair, I yearned for something, perhaps a light, somewhere in the distance, barely discernable. My heart unconsciously looked up at it. This compelled me to quit all my medications and meat-eating that my doctor recommended. I went on a strict vegetarian diet and let my illness run its own course. Then, how strange and mysterious. Day after day, my health began to improve, and before I knew it, illnesses that caused me so much suffering were completely gone.
Meishu-sama, who was given up by a doctor and whose only hope for surviving was a miracle, cured his illness through a strict vegetarian diet, of course without eggs or dairy products.
Through this experience, Meishu-sama learned that food could affect health and that great were the effect and advantages of a vegetarian diet.
Throughout his life, whenever he had any type of purification, Meishu-sama always went on a strict vegetarian diet. Not only that, he cured his wife’s illness through a vegetarian diet and also made members who came to receive Johrei, that is, members who were sick, practice a vegetarian diet too—apparently most of them were cured through a vegetarian diet.
Still further, he warned us of the negative effects that meat-eating could have on the body.
All of you might already know this as he wrote it and said it so many times, but Meishu-sama repeatedly taught us that the cause of cancer is simple: it is due to meat-eating. He wrote, “It is said that the most feared illness today is cancer, so let me write about its cause. Well, the cause is very simple and straightforward: it is due to the accumulation of toxins from meat-eating.”
Even for those whose health is in good condition, Meishu-sama said that if you must eat pork or beef, keep it under once a week, maximum, for it clouds the blood. He said “if you must eat.” In other words, he is saying that if you can avoid eating it, avoid it. And here, he was talking about men. For women, he did not recommend eating pork or beef at all.
As such, Meishu-sama’s understanding of nutrition was completely different from the one that was advocated by science and believed by people back then, and that is believed by people today too.
Meishu-sama said that even though people might think that meat, which is believed to be high in protein, gives them energy, strength and power, actually, it is the opposite. Meishu-sama taught us that what gives people energy, strength and power is in fact vegetables, and that meat-eating weakens people. He said, “If you eat meat, of course it weakens you.”
When his chefs prepared meat for him, Meishu-sama said to them, “Don’t make me eat these foods that lack nutrition. Please serve me vegetables as they contain more nutrition.”
While it is true that Meishu-sama did eat meat mainly in the form of fish and occasionally chicken, he had a strong belief that humanity should move in the direction of having a vegetarian diet. So that there is no misunderstanding, I should add that Meishu-sama’s staple food was of course a grain, that is, rice. Grains should always be the main part of one’s diet.
He taught us that with Nature Farming, the taste of grains and vegetables will improve dramatically, which should make people turn into vegetarians.
And he said that vegetarianism is one of the prerequisites of the world of Miroku, a paradise on earth. He is essentially saying that when a paradise on earth comes, all people will be on a vegetarian diet.
Meishu-sama said to one of his close assistants: “When vegetables are delicious, people will eat them more. This would change human nature itself. Social evils and diet are related. As the world of Miroku approaches, people will have to eat a vegetarian diet.”
Reading all these Sacred Word of Meishu-sama made me realize once again how important the farmers of Nature Farming are for the construction of a paradise on earth. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all those who, on a daily basis, put so much effort into the practice of Nature Farming, into the fulfillment of Meishu-sama’s wish. Thank you.
Keep in mind, though, that Meishu-sama was not advocating vegetarianism out of some ethical or environmental reasons, something quite common in the Western world today.
Rather, he was advocating it for the positive effect it can have on the human body, on our health. Of course, if the natural environment improves as a result of vegetarianism, Meishu-sama would not deny such benefit. But we have to remember that the main purpose for Meishu-sama in talking about diet was for our body and mind to be healthy.
After all, the motto of World Church of Messiah when Meishu-sama was alive was to construct a world completely free from illness, poverty and conflict.
Okay, everyone. How are you taking this message?
What I don’t want you to feel is that “Oh, from now on, I can’t eat meat?” or “I have to eat this and that?” or “I have to be a vegetarian?”
I can understand how difficult it must be for all of you to practice the diet indicated by Meishu-sama, and I am in no way forcing it on anyone. I hate faith based on commandments, and I don’t want anyone to feel that they have to change their diet when they are not willing to or when they want to eat certain foods. Please do eat the food that pleases you and your family.
But, at the very least, I want you to gain this knowledge about what Meishu-sama said on food, which I believe most of you did not know until today.
When you are diagnosed with cancer for example or when your health condition does not improve no matter how much you listen to your doctor or when you are in doubt as to whether the diet you follow is really in accordance with Meishu-sama’s will—on these occasions, if you can remember today’s message, even if just a little, somewhere in your hearts, that would be much more than enough for me.
So, please, never feel any pressure as to what you can eat or cannot eat. Eat what you like, please. Our Church never had, has or will have any rules or commandments to follow, and the same goes for the issue of food. I mean, aren’t we already freed from such kind of narrow-minded faith thanks to Jesus and Meishu-sama?
But when you find yourself trapped or when you feel like there’s no way out in terms of your health or when you are suffering from any kind of disease, I hope you can recall what you heard today. It might help you then. I believe that is why Meishu-sama had to suffer from certain illnesses and overcome them through a vegetarian diet. Remember: Meishu-sama left the Sacred Word I cited today, for us, for our health. My intention is the same.
Meishu-sama said that in the world of Miroku, in the ideal world to come, everyone will turn into a vegetarian. To me, Meishu-sama’s Sacred Word is always sacred and unchangeable. And I believe that this day will come when Meishu-sama’s will is fulfilled.
I think we have created an image of Meishu-sama that is completely different from the one that is expressed in Meishu-sama’s Sacred Word I cited today, completely different from the true image of Meishu-sama, the Meishu-sama who wishes for all humanity to turn into vegetarians.
