Energy follows thought. In this article Master Ryuho Okawa teaches us why Western Medicine can never totally heal illness and its major shortcomings. He teaches us that humans have the ability to both heal themselves and to approach Utopia through the power of the mind, the true self.
In the following powerful words of hope and guidance by Master Okawa, we look behind the causes of disease and how we can become empowered to view illness, the body, and the role that the spirit plays in determining health.

“Making cancer vanish” Is a Classic Theme of Religion

Human beings often err in their thoughts. It is difficult to look at oneself objectively, so often we mistakenly try to find the cause of physical problems in external factors. Illness is a good example of this.

Some serious, incurable diseases are often caused by psychological problems and the failure to recognize these problems are often the cause. There are some inner problems one may be unaware of and when these go unnoticed for a long period, diseases often progress.

In most cases, however, people are not aware of the cause of their illnesses. So it is highly likely that once the cause of the illness is recognized, recovery occurs.
Mentally there are many thoughts or tendencies that one may be unaware of, and these sometimes create our illnesses. When a person comes to realize this, by the light of Buddha’s Truth illuminating them, one’s disease begins to collapse and is eventually cured.

After all, human beings are essentially spiritual beings. . Spiritual beings dwell within the physical body influencing it. In fact, the spirit body is “master” while the physical body is “subordinate.”

I believe that about 70 percent of severe diseases that affect our lives can be cured.

In the New Testament Jesus said repeatedly, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” He asked the sick people if they had faith and said, “According to your faith be it done to you.” Thus, illness can be cured if you have faith, but languishes if you don’t.

The reason is if you do not have firm faith, it means you are unwilling to believe in the “great power” that transcends this three-dimensional world.

If you look at things only from the perspective of this world, you can never cure illness. Modern medicine looks at the human body from a materialistic point of view. Actually, it treats the human body like a broken-down car.

However, the human body has the power to heal.
There are various methods of treating diseases such as operating, prescribing drugs and so on, but it is not enough. Unless the ill person has the power to heal him or herself, illness cannot be cured.

It is superstitious belief that surgery alone can cure illness. An operation involves cutting open the body; it is almost like committing hara-kiri (committing suicide through disembowelment) as performed in olden Japan. One might die due to the loss of blood or other complications, and yet we call this treatment. However, the belief that an operation can cure illness sometimes can lead to healing of one’s disease.

For this reason, you must try to resolve the root cause of your illness.

Why Do People Get Cancer?

When you get cancer, there is a certain rule. If the rule is applied, even good people can develop cancer and die.

Good people are usually so responsible that they take on very demanding tasks, feel a lot of pressure, and often struggle with suffering and worries. Their distress and mental stress materialize and manifest as illness. As a result, various ailments appear in one’s body, and one of the typical resulting diseases is cancer.

I mentioned the psychological tendency of those who are likely to get cancer and reassured you that those who get cancer are not necessarily bad people.

However I would like to point out that if you tend to harbor feelings of anger, you are prone to get cancer. When you boil with this anger and suppress it too much, the likely outcome may lead to cancer. There is such a tendency.

On the other hand, those who express their anger directly are often frowned upon by people around them. In this case, they themselves do not fall ill, but instead make others get sick.

In addition, some mental shocks such as failing in an exam or business, having a broken heart, or being involved in an accident can also cause illness.

If one experiences those mental shocks, one subconsciously may try to get some disease to compensate for the pain, and looks for some part of the body that is vulnerable to disease, resulting in the manifestation of disease in that weakened area.

If you have a physical constitution vulnerable to developing cancer, the resultant disease will be cancer. It can appear as different diseases such as vascular or brain disease. There are even some people who produce quite strange, never-seen-before diseases.

When you develop cancer, it usually means that you are facing some adversity causing distress and a self-destructive desire grows in your subconscious.

Suppose a company is in serious financial trouble and on the brink of bankruptcy. It may be a cataclysmic event to the president of the company. In reality, however, nearly 20,000 companies go bankrupt every year. Thus it is not unusual that a company goes into bankruptcy when times are tough in a given industry.

Nevertheless, if the president cannot accept the failure of his company and is deeply shocked by it, he usually falls ill.

If he gets sick, he could escape responsibility before his company goes under. He could attribute the failure of his business to his bad physical condition, and if the company should go bankrupt, he could evade responsibility by saying, “My Company should not have collapsed under normal conditions, but due to my sickness, it could not survive.”

Thus, once the company runs into financial difficulties, the president begins to destroy his body. Within his surface consciousness, he does not think of harming his body, but deep down in his subconscious, he tries to do that to protect his pride.

The same goes for the issues between men and women. Poor marital relationships can often cause disease, and women at such times are highly likely to develop breast or uterine cancer. If a woman harbors inner conflict caused by marital quarrels for a protracted period of time, cancer may appear in these areas of the body.

It is not always a question of good or bad. It is not uncommon that one cannot have harmonious relationships with others; this often results in suffering and worry. Spiritual stress like this creates illness in various parts of the body.