1st



2nd



3rd



4th



5th



6th



7th

A temple follower murmured, “How happy I feel since coming to live in a taya house! I feel an unimaginable sense of gratitude.”


A priest at the temple said, “True peace cannot be achieved by conflicts. There can be no other way of solving a problem than for both sides to learn to be grateful to one another.”


At a monthly meeting a temple follower said, “My late mother not only gave birth to me but also left me a priceless treasure, a place where I can listen to the Buddha-dharma.”


At a morning assembly a priest said, “True harmony can never be brought about by the conflicts of those who assert themselves against one another.”


At a morning assembly a priest said, “A taya house is a spiritual clinic where those filled with blind passions come to be cured.”


Head Priest said at a　morning assembly, “True peace is none other than the attainment of inner peace by every single one of us. It is the Original Prayer of the Buddha.”


A priest chairing a meeting said, “Kimyo (taking refuge) means to return to the fundamental principle of human existence, namely taking full responsibility for our present problems.”


    
8th




 A music teacher from the Imperial Palace pronounced, “It is because Gagaku Music has no specific goal it is striving towards that it has been handed down through the generations.” The temple-keeper (wife of the Head Priest) said, “On watching a priest at his temple joining ceremony I shared with him the joy of serving the Buddha.”


  
9th




 An English Dharma friend wrote, “Witnessing the joyful activity of Shogyoji Temple from afar I feel a great hope that one day the small but strong seedling of Three Wheels (a branch temple in London) will develop into a great Bodhi Tree akin to its parent.”


10th




 The Head Priest said at a meeting, “Teaching takes on form and all form is destined to fade away. The historical view of the Right Dharma-age, the Semblance Dharma-age and the Last Dharma-age refers perhaps to this fact of impermanence. If you experience true encounter, however, you will feel no fear or anxiety.”
11th Master Landscaper, Oguchi sensei, told a Dharma meeting, “When I discovered the Three Honourable Stones (symbolizing a Buddha and his two attendant Bodhisattvas) constructed in the Edo period and long buried in the garden of the Takeo Dharma-house, I felt so excited!”
12th



 Master Landscaper, Oguchi sensei, told a Dharma meeting, “When I discovered the Three Honourable Stones (symbolizing a Buddha and his two attendant Bodhisattvas) constructed in the Edo period and long buried in the garden of the Takeo Dharma-house, I felt so excited!”


13th Reverend Kojun Shinohara stated in the Dharma talk he gave at the Eitaikyo Ceremony, “Shakyamuni’s Buddha Way starts and ends with appreciating what has been done for us.”
14th The Head Priest of Kyoganji Temple said in his Dharma talk, “When I was told that part of my robe was torn at the back, I realised that I had been walking throughout life entirely unaware of my own back.”
15th Head Priest of Kyoganji also said in his talk, “With each breath of the nembutsu we feel how precious life is.”
16th A father talked to his twenty year old daughter dying of cancer, “Thank you for everything you have done. I hope that you go to a good place (meaning the Pure Land). I will surely follow you.”
17th A saying by a senior scholar quoted by Reverend Josen Matsunaga in his Dharma talk during the Eitaikyo Ceremony: “The words through which I am taught are warm but those through which I teach, it sounds to me , are cold.”
18th The Head Priest said, “We have a tendency to think that, if we gain something through our actions, then what we are doing is useful. It is very bad that we forget the persistent nature of our karmic self like this.”
19th The Head Priest of Kyoganji Temple said, “When you repeatedly say that you are unable to listen to the Buddha-dharma, it must be caused by your selfish concern and attachment.”
20th The Head Priest said, “The most important element for awakening or giving rise to the bodhi-citta is motivation.”
21st The Head Priest said, “The most important thing for us is a change of attitude. Rather than being content to sufferings just as they are we should want to listen to the Buddha-dharma in order to solve the problems we face, however trivial they may seem.”
22nd The Head Priest said, “Knowing what has been done for us becomes central to our lives through meeting a good friend who is himself already aware.”
23rd The Head Priest said, “Self-conceit or arrogance stems from the ignorant self that is as yet unaware of all that has been done for us.”
24th Reverend Kojun Shinohara, having been living at the temple for some forty years, said, “Growing old now like this I would like to finish my life feeling the same sense of gratitude for all that has been done for me, as I did when I first started on my spiritual path.”
25th The Head Priest said, “Form gives birth to formlessness and life is given to form. This living Triple Treasure is the true way of our living the Buddha-dharma.”
26th The Head Priest said, “The true meaning of the living Samgha lies in solving our immediate problems in daily life.”
27th The Head Priest stated, “Those who are content to be ‘dependent’ on others lack an ordinary sense of responsibility. They become self-defensive and jealous, think they are being unfairly treated and, finally, tend to hurt not only themselves but also others. The Buddha-dharma is ultimately attained ‘at the moment of entrusting oneself to the Buddha’.”
28th The Head Priest said, “The mind beyond ‘dependency’ can also be said to stand for the mind of an Emperor who is responsible for every action in his country.”
29th The Head Priest said, “A priest who has left home is aware that he must take upon himself responsibility for everything, both good and evil.”
30th The Head Priest’s words: “One only becomes aware of what has been done for one, when one ceases one’s ignorant complaining.”