Without experiencing illness, it is very difficult for us to realize that these bodies we suppose we use freely are, in fact, not our own. Akira Kanechiku, thirty-three years of age, was also guided through a sudden, serious illness to awaken to this truth-that the body is something borrowed from God the Parent-and thus to a new way of life that accords with the teachings. Akira’s story tells of how he gained an understanding of the truth of a “thing borrowed” and of the teaching that what is called illness is really God’s guidance for us since it provides us with an opportunity to reflect upon our usual way of thinking and feeling.
When he woke up on the morning of July 5 of the year, Akira found he had lost all feeling in his hands, arms, and legs. He could not even grab his quilt to move it away, let alone get up.
Akira says: “It shocked me to realize there was something so seriously wrong with my body. Startled, my mother called some of my relatives, who then came and hurried me to the hospital. My case was diagnosed as ‘Guillain-Barr syndrome,’ which I had never heard of before. Apparently this is a disease which first attacks nerves in the limbs and, if left untreated, eventually affects all the nerves in the entire body, including those in the neck-a development that impedes breathing and usually results in death.
“The doctor ordered my immediate hospitalization. For days I was fed intravenously. I can’t even describe how excruciating the pain was. After some time I was able to spend my days in a wheelchair, though I still needed the help of a couple of nurses to transfer me to and from the wheelchair; I couldn’t even do such a simple thing on my own.
“Then my rehabilitation started. I have never been through anything so horrible. Besides being in pain, I was frustrated because I couldn’t even lift a pen much less walk. Day after day I repeatedly asked myself why I had to go through all this, but I never managed to come up with any satisfactory answer.”
During this period, his mother came each day to administer the Sazuke, the Divine Grant, to him. The head minister of his Tenrikyo church also traveled long distances to come to administer the Sazuke as frequently as he could. Succumbing to the pains and sufferings the illness caused him, however, Akira would often take out his anxiety and frustration on his mother, rather than quietly reflect on himself.
Nevertheless, the pains in his body began to abate gradually. Then one day, when he woke up from a deep sleep, he found himself overcome by an impulse to read a book about Tenrikyo. He opened one of the books that his mother and the head minister had brought for him, and his eyes became glued to the following verse from the Ofudesaki:
So long as you remain ignorant of the truth that you borrow your body from God, you can understand nothing at all.
III:137
“In that instant, I recalled what my head minister had once told me. He had said to me: ‘Your body is something borrowed and so you should use it to work for God or to work for others.’
“‘Yes, it’s the teaching of a thing lent, a thing borrowed, which has been explained to me so many times before,’ I thought. ‘So this is what is meant by this teaching.’ I never really understood the truth of a thing lent, a thing borrowed, or God the Parent’s intention, not even one bit, until I myself became paralyzed in all of my limbs. I repented never having used this body except for selfish interests and finally made up my mind to enter Shuyoka, the Spiritual Development Course.”
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