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This phrase comes from the Ofudesaki. Consider these verses: Though there should be nothing called illness in human beings, no one knows the beginning of this world. Because of My desire to have you know this, I began doctors and medicine for weeding and fertilizing. IX:10-11 The text implies that medical treatment can be likened to "weeding and fertilizing" as opposed to "sowing seeds." If we are to reap a harvest, the first indispensable step we must take is to sow seeds, but this alone is often not enough. We also need to remove weeds and fertilize the soil. In this analogy, what is likened to "sowing seeds" is the effort to work with and reconstruct the mind, whereas medical treatment is compared to "weeding and fertilizing." The human body is a "thing lent" by God, who is seen as the Creator or the Parent of humankind. Medical treatment, which can enable humans to overcome disorders of the borrowed body, has been provided by God with the intention of giving humans knowledge of "the beginning of this world" or helping them awaken to the truth of creation and know the Creator of humankind and of everything else. This teaching stresses that when one receives medical treatment for a disorder of the body--which is borrowed from God--it is important to try to understand the core truth of one's existence, which is sustained in a "thing borrowed" from God. (This article was first published in the January 2007 issue of TENRIKYO.) |
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