1st	The Head Priest said, “The Buddha appears in the form of the nembutsu (pronouncing of the Name of Amida Buddha), gassho (holding palms together in homage) and raihai (bowing in worship).”
	2nd	The Head Priest said, “The innermost core of Shinran Shonin’s spirituality came simply from his encounter with a good teacher.”
	3rd	The Head Priest said, “When I find myself questioning life and death, I become aware that the Tathagata has already embraced my whole personality and will never abandon me. This is the true heart of compassion.”
	4th	The Head Priest said, “My true home to which I should return through the nembutsu is the moment I first met my good teacher.”
	5th	The Head Priest said, “Although the flame of a candle will always burn, flicker and finally go out, it calms our mind more than the light of an electric lamp.”
	6th	The Head Priest said, “Unless you meet a good teacher, whatever action you take is like cleaning with a dirty cloth. It will merely cause your own karma to increase and repeat itself again and again.”
	7th	The Head Priest said, “The transmission of the Buddha-dharma from parents to children is a very important task to perform. It is vital that both parents and children should share something they can practise together.”
	8th	Takehiko Okada sensei, Emeritus Professor of Kyushu University, said, “The older I become the more aware I am of the greatness of nature and of my own lack of dutifulness towards my parents.”
	9th	The Head Priest said, “It is Amida Buddha’s unconditional love that enables us ordinary beings to abandon our jiriki (self-power) simply in order that we can be given the nembutsu of tariki (Other-power).”
	10th	The Head Priest said, “It is through his prayer that we ordinary beings may attain unity of body and mind that the Buddha comes near us.”
	11st	The Head Priest said, “Living in Japan, an environment truly filled with love and thoughtfulness, we can still feel loneliness in our personal relationships. In such a situation, when all other means fail, it is only light that restores peace to our hearts.”
	12th	The Head Priest said, “It is the ‘light’ of the Buddha that manifests the way in which everything in the universe returns to the mother ? the one true origin.”
	13th	The Head Priest said, “Through the ki (the self) that has received the nembutsu, deeper expression is given to the ho (the Dharma).”
	14th	The Head Priest said, “There is a phrase, ‘Pure practice of the nembutsu’. Our nembutsu becomes pure by being surrounded and illumined by good friends and companions.”
	15th	The Head Priest said, “The Wheel of Light continuously illumines us, breaking through our self-centered consciousness.”
	16th	The Head Priest said, “The fact that we have glimpsed the world of spiritual respect means that our selfish mind, so lacking in respect, has nevertheless already been illuminated.”
	17th	In unexpected ways our Dharma friends awaken us to various aspects of ourselves. In this way we come to feel very strongly the importance of respect towards others.”
	18th	The Head Priest said, “Our Sangha will never develop if each of us merely depends on the instructions of others. Only when we are prompted from within to ask our own questions and to set our own tasks, will the Sangha evolve for each of us as individuals.”
	19th	The Head Priest said, “Only when you become aware of all that has been done to help you in life, can you begin a new life and respond with gratitude.”
	20th	A predecessor stated, “Namu is the mind of a child and Amida Butsu is the mind of a parent.”
	21st	The Head Priest said, “It is the instantaneous awakening of the nembutsu that goes beyond the world of illusion. Thus the working of Other Power is revealed.”
	22nd	The Head Priest said, “The monument to commemorate Ri Taikei sensei is a symbol of the vessel through which we in the Far East received the transmission of the Buddha-dharma.”
	23rd	Takehiko Okada sensei, Emeritus Professor of Kyushu University, said, “If you remain alone, you will never become who you are really are as a human being. If you speak only of democracy [without becoming aware of your own problems], you will invite laughter from visitors from abroad.”
	24th	Takehiko Okada sensei, Emeritus Professor of Kyushu University, said, “If you remain alone, you will never become who you are really are as a human being. If you speak only of democracy [without becoming aware of your own problems], you will invite laughter from visitors from abroad.”
	25th	A young priest said, “On meeting a good person who rejoiced at my ordination as much as if it had been his own, I found a much deeper level of meaning in ordination.
	26th	The Head Priest said, “Making a decision is not choosing one possibility but forsaking all the other, in other words ‘entrusting oneself entirely to the Buddha’.”
	27th	At the Young Women’s Meeting the Head priest said, “When listening to the Dharma, if you consider you already know or understand it, then that is dangerous. It is very important for you to listen to the Dharma with a humble attitude, always asking yourself whether your understanding is good enough or not.”
	28th	The Head Priest said, “Often, because of the way we think about ‘equality’, we tend to pull others down to our own level. ‘Respect’ is the opposite. When we respect others, we are aware of ourselves as individuals and we feel grateful to others for what they have done for us.”
	29th	At the Young Women’s Meeting the Head priest said, “If parents are not aware of themselves, they will not be able to respond to their children with confidence. If they meet with their children whilst still remaining in darkness themselves, such an attitude on their part will cause distortion in the minds of those children.”
	30th	At the Young Women’s Meeting the Head priest also said, “When you speak to your children, if you are still ‘lonely’ in your own mind, then whatever you say to your children, whether you speak strictly or gently, it will weigh heavily on their minds.”