"Health Counseling"
(Mijo satoshi)

This article is concerned with the effort to help people with a health disorder by explaining its meaning and significance so that they may turn it into an opportunity to let God's teachings settle in their minds. There might be a variety of causes and reasons that could account for a given disorder, including the person's causality and dust of the mind, God's intention, and an important season that concerns the person.

Addressing a health disorder represents one of the methods of purifying one's heart. The Ofudesaki says:

From today, discerning the heart of everyone in this world, Tsukihi will begin the cleansing.

In this cleansing, there shall be no discrimination between those within and the world. I shall manifest all of the mind of each of you.

Ofudesaki XII:1-2

God seeks to facilitate the purification by showing us our state of mind, which may be manifested as a health disorder. Says the Ofudesaki:

No matter how I try to tell you the truth by words, there is no understanding. Oh, the regret of the Parent. . .

Therefore, the Parent will enter the body. There is no knowing what I shall do.

Ofudesaki XIV:75-76

Though until now no one has known the truth of the human mind,

This time, as God is openly revealed, I shall teach you everything about all matters.

I do not indicate anyone in particular by this talk. I shall give notice through bodily disorders.

Ofudesaki XVI:38-40

Examples of Oyasama trying to help people suffering from diseases develop knowledge and understanding regarding their health include story 125 in Anecdotes of Oyasama, entitled "Cannot See Ahead."

In the Divine Directions, we find such passages as this:

You wonder why you get bodily disorders after you have shown so much devotion. It is such thoughts--which you entertain in the course of daily life--that cause the bodily disorders. If true sincerity is established in you, the bodily conditions will clear up quickly.

Osashizu, June 18, 1889

Elsewhere the Scripture says that one may request a Divine Direction when faced with a major health disorder, but where trivial problems are concerned, one should consult the intermediaries, who are entrusted with handling such inquiries. For example, consider these passages:

When a crucial moment is at hand, asking what to do has some deep significance. Yet you should not need to inquire about trivial matters.

Osashizu, June 17, 1890

Ponder over the disorder of the body and the teaching of single-heartedness. You might not understand in just ten or thirty days. Even the people called intermediaries were initially the same. No matter how much I told them, it did not have much effect. From now on, doing things in full accord with God's teachings is the path of God. I have already taught and trained the intermediaries properly. I should not need to teach you about the disorders of the body. Listen and understand this path well.

Osashizu, November 2, 1888

There is room for further investigation as to what methods of explaining the meaning and significance of health disorders have been handed down.

It is clear, however, that health counseling has played an important role in the work of spreading the teachings. A Divine Direction says:

Almost everyone has come to this path through health disorders. Those who have come to this path for reasons other than health disorders are very few. I want you to understand and teach all the things that have already been taught.

Osashizu, November 26, 1900

Indeed, most followers began to follow the path as a result of a health disorder that helped them settle the teachings in their minds.

Yet caution is in order here. Counseling may be given to those who are suffering from illness or to their family or others concerned, and it may sometimes be based on the personal understanding and repentance of one who is providing it. Thus, health counseling might cause misunderstanding unless great care is taken. Health counseling should nourish and encourage people's faith and trust in God--a preliminary step that could pave the way for them to settle the teachings in their minds. When giving health counseling, one must carefully avoid any words or actions that might undermine people's trust in God.

(This article was first published in the August 2006 issue of TENRIKYO.)