by Masuo Nezu

During his exercises on that day, Rev. Niwano did some yoga practice. He devised an original exercise routine, adopting various things he had learned for the improvement of health.

He continued, "It is not enough only to nod in agreement or be amazed at what you have heard. Unless you put it into practice, what you learn is useless. Since I heard that the 'salt-water regimen' is also good for empyema, or pus in the lungs, I recommend it to anyone suffering from that. But there aren't many people who will practice it every day. I say to them, 'Why can't you do such a simple thing?'"

Rev. Niwano kept a little bottle of salt in his bag, to use when traveling. He rinsed his eyes with salt water, too--water only slightly salty, like tears--some thirty times every morning. "Whenever I hear about a good health practice, I try it and then follow it every day," he concluded. "Practice makes perfect." His visitors were thoroughly impressed.

Rev. Niwano sought the natural way in everything he did. He was not only concerned about physical health; he stressed mental health, too. At the core of his thinking, of course, was his faith. When asked by a Japanese politician for the secret of his good health, he replied, "Never being untruthful."

He did not mean to be facetious, but only to show the politician how he maintained his healthy condition.

"Be honest--do things simply, naturally. Do everything straightforwardly," he said. When instructing those appointed to new positions in Rissho Kosei-kai, he always emphasized, "Be honest."

"The best way to stay healthy," he stressed, "is to find a rhythm natural to one's physique and mind in everyday life, and then to patiently put exercises to maintain one's health into practice according to that rhythm." Thinking that way--plus getting up by five in the morning and going to bed around ten each night--he regularly sustained just such a daily rhythm himself. It seemed to him to be only a natural way of life.

"Do what is natural--naturally," was his motto. It reflected the way that Rev. Niwano maintained his good health.

This series of articles was originally published in Japanese in 2000 under the title Kaiso Zuimonki: Egao no Ushirosugata.