1st A priest said at a Dharma meeting, “What deep compassion I have been embraced in! I realize that I have always been surrounded by the Buddha, Master and Dharma friends here in this place of encounter, even when I was wandering into the depths of darkness not knowing how deep it was. This is what makes me what I am.”


      
2nd The Head Priest said, “A person who really takes responsibility for his own actions does not complain. Such a person does not go on repenting the past.”
3rd The Head Priest said, “Everyday activities at taya houses vary according to those who live together with us. What is important is to hand down those wonderful activities to our descendants. The essence of those activities is quite simply listening to the Dharma in daily life.”
4th The Head Priest said, “True encounter is always fresh, new and peaceful.”
5th The Head Priest said, “Those who can impart a sense of peacefulness to others and who always come into contact with them in a fresh and lively way could be called true Dharma friends. That is what is meant by Namu Amida Butsu.”
6th
 A lady who had joined the Seiwa Taya said, “While doing daily service to the Buddha, I’ve come to realise that my way of seeking truth has been like that of a snake in a hole, a snake already living in one hole but still looking for another to hide in. Living in this taya has enabled me to stop escaping into these holes.”
7th Mrs Hiroko Sato in London said, “I recently went back to see my father who was terminally ill in bed. Having cared for him for two weeks, the one thing that really stays in my mind is quite simply my parents’ warmth towards me - such an unfilial daughter who has never done anything for them in turn.”
8th At the May Training Assembly held at Entokuji in Nagano, the Head Priest of Shogyoji stated, “The environment changes human beings and at the same time human beings can change their environment.”
9th Reverend Josen Matsunaga said, “The Larger Sutra of Eternal Life states, ‘Each person in the Pure Land radiates light for a whole fathom around their body.’ If we each take responsibility for the world in accordance with what we are able to accomplish by our own two hands, then we will progress beyond loneliness.
10th The Head Priest asked, “Why should we listen to the Buddha-dharma?” Answering, “Because we would never be able to solve our problems if we merely lived our lives on a worldly level.”
11st The Head Priest said, “I hope parents will teach their children that they shouldn’t impute fault or failure to anyone but themselves, otherwise such children will not be capable of taking responsibility for the problems they themselves create around them. If you realise you are responsible for your birth in this world, then you will be able to understand everything.”
12th The Head Priest stated, “In proportion to the extent parents change, so do their children.”
13th The Head Priest said, “My avowed aim is to know myself through and through.”
14th The Head Priest stated, “There are infinite depths and shades of ‘listening.’ Really deep listening is the most important way of seeking after truth in Shin Buddhism.”
15th The Head Priest said, “Reflection on one’s own selfish mind and acceptance of others, these are the two elements that help create a true person.”
16 th

The Head Priest said, “We are imperfect beings. When we convince ourselves that ‘we are right,’ that is the very point where we lose our motivation to listen deeply.”
17 th The Head Priest said, “The spirituality of the taya residents lies in the way they feel at peace when illumined by others.”
18th
 The Head Priest stated, “If parents try and teach their own children, the children will react negatively. Quite simply what can be handed to their children are words of real feeling.”
19th Assistant Professor S. said, “Only when there are people ready to receive, does a sutra reveal its meaning.”
20th The Head Priest said, “It is not through love alone, nor through the Dharma alone, but through the awakening of faith that we receive our spiritual inheritance.”
21st A follower confessed, “It was when the past karma I had kept hidden was revealed that I pronounced the nembutsu from the bottom of my heart.”
22nd Reverend Kojun Shinohara declared, “To go along the Buddhist path is none other than to follow what Shakyamuni Buddha did during his lifetime.”
23rd Reverend Kojun Shinohara said, “There is no one who talked about his personal life as little as Shinran Shonin.”
24th Reverend Kojun Shinohara said, “When Namu Amida Butsu with its joy of faith is transmitted from master to disciple or from parent to child, this is respectively called the Dharma lineage or the Blood lineage.


25th Doctor Masahiro Sakimura, who recently started living in the Seiwa Taya, stated, “The greeting voices, ‘you are welcome back to the temple,’ vividly resonate in my heart. I am now at the starting point of my new life embraced in a sense of peacefulness.”
26th The Head Priest said, “A taya house is a place where we, each and every one of us, have to encounter one another by breaking through our ego-centered world.”
27th
 A Dharma friend, who has recently resolved to have an introspection session, “Eighteen years have passed since my first connection with the temple. During this time, however, my mind has only been focused on the worldly affairs. Now I have made this resolution on my own to listen deeply to the Dharma.”
28th The Head Priest said, “When you arrive at the temple this is the right time for you to open yourself up.”
29th A Dharma friend stated after his introspection session, “To respect my parents is my foremost task. I would like to tread carefully along this path.”
30th At the meeting to read Article 136 of The Rennyo Shonin Goinchidai-ki Kikigaki the Head Priest said, “Our ‘six bandits’ are none other than our blind passions. We have jealousy for our ‘eyes’, gossip for our ‘ears,’ secretiveness for our ‘nose,’ temporal satisfaction for our ‘tongue,’ muddiness for our ‘body’ and anxiety for our ‘mind.’ This is the reality of our lives.”
31st The Head Priest said, “Concerning a taya house, your introspective remark, ‘Because I have no understanding, I am allowed to enter a taya house,’ is more important than your experiential remark, “Only upon entering can you understand.”