(Wonders of Nature)

There was a great volcanic eruption in the Eyjafiallajokull area in Iceland on April 14th.　The horrible scene of the eruption makes us think that “our planet” is very much alive. Most of the Icelandic islands are volcanic and carry extensive glaciers. It is said the high-temperature magmas meet glaciers, resulting in steam explosions. According to environmental specialists, even greater explosions may occur at the adjoining volcano any time.
The recent volcanic eruption affected the life of eight million people. Airlines lost 38 billion dollars per day. The total loss in general rose to 280 billion dollars or more, which exceeded the damage caused by the terrorists’ act in the U.S. Since the volcanic eruption was an act of God, nobody could complain or blame anyone. Thus, Nature sometimes teaches us how small human beings are. But we also learn some lessons from this sort of natural phenomenon, and begin seeking how to co-exist and cope with Nature.

(Oneness of life and its environment, or esho-funi in Japanese)
This means non-duality of life and its environment. As I said above, our planet earth is much alive and, like us human beings, shows its various expressions from time to time. Esho-funi is a Buddhist term, meaning our environment (eho) and our life (shoho) are not two entities but one single reality. The two are closely connected in essence and is never separated. Some years ago, it was reported that soon after a large-scale cleaning campaign in New York the number of crimes remarkably decreased. It proved that human minds are inseparably connected with the environment. Thus, the human desire to protect nature leads to harmonious collaboration between life and its environment.

(Oneness of mind and body, or shinshin –funi)
In oriental medicine, it has been said for thousands of years that our mind and body are closely connected and inseparable, too. Now I have a patient who is suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Her limbs are constantly shaking. Her life has been loaded down with difficult problems. On one occasion I said to her, “Isn’t it true that the shaking gets exacerbated each time your mind is disturbed?” She said I was right and candidly admitted that she was always worried and irritated about this and that. And asked me, “How could I handle this?”
In fact, there are other health problems besides Parkinson’s, such as atopy cases and many others. In many cases, mental stress worsens the symptoms. In answer to her question, I said, “Compare yourself to your husband who is bound to bed and even cannot eat. In contrast, you are able to enjoy eating at least and can walk and talk. Don’t you feel happy to think of these blessings?” My answer seemed to wake her up. She said, “You’re right, indeed! I’ve been always complaining about this and that and never ever been thankful for anything that happens in my life. I must change my way of living.”

(Sense of gratitude)
Disturbing emotions occur not by themselves. It is always us ourselves that are responsible for emotional disturbances. We ourselves are causing them. How can the disturbed emotions be calmed? It is the sense of gratitude that helps the disturbed emotions calm down. The sense of gratitude motivates our whole system, body and mind, and accelerates the correction of the deranged mentality. The woman troubled with Parkinson’s disease just mentioned above began to change her expressions all of a sudden when we discussed the role played by the sense of gratitude. The wrinkles between her eyebrows disappeared. She changed into a happier individual, thus benefiting from the virtuous cycle of her mind-set. In other words, she learned how to steer her life in the right way.
It is not sickness itself that deprives us of happiness. What we must guard ourselves against is the likelihood of letting our spirit weaken because of the sickness. In fact, sickness itself often serves for us to learn the in-depth meaning of life and to grow into a warm-hearted individual. Sickness is not our enemy but a mentor. Our fundamental life power helps us to steer our daily lives in the right manner., even in making necessary changes in the environment in which we live.
Every human being without any exception is equipped with explosive life power such as we saw in the recent volcanic eruption in Iceland. This is what I keep telling myself when treating my patients each day, feeling excited at the wonders of Nature and humankind.