1st “If we all concern ourselves exclusively with human affairs, then we will lose the ability to see our own reality for what it is. We should never forget the Buddha’s Original Prayer embracing us just as we are.” Head Priest of Shogyoji Temple.
2nd
 “We tend to look on problems and sufferings as ‘bad’. The worst thing, however, is if we try and conceal them.” Head Priest.
3rd “The essence of Buddhism lies in bringing us face to face with Love and Compassion. The Samgha is a place where we are awakened to Love and Compassion.” Head Priest.
4th “I have found that becoming a parent is to meet my own parents.” Reverend Kojun Shinohara.
5th “It is not because I chose my master but because my master chose me that I was given an opportunity to serve my master. For that I have nothing but gratitude.” Reverend Kojun Shinohara
6th

“When family bonds are shattered, what can you leave to your children? Simply your master and Dharma friends.” Reverend Kojun Shinohara at the Parents’ Meeting during the Winter Training Assembly.
7th
 “Parents grow in experience and learn through the relationship with their children to drink deeply from the cup of life.” Reverend Kojun Shinohara at the Parents’ Meeting during the Winter Training Assembly.


8th

“The Sino-Japanese word jo denotes thoughtfulness towards others. The richness of human life depends on generosity, that is deepening this thoughtfulness towards others with an ever broadening mind.” Professor Masao Nanba from Fukuoka Ladies College.
9th “In Buddhism learning is a threefold process: 1) Hearing (carefully listening to others), 2) Contemplation (thinking about others) and 3) Practice (putting the Buddha-dharma into practice).” Reverend Eshu Seno.
10th “The essence of Pure Land Buddhism lies not in any dogma proclaiming its superiority, but in the way those who follow the teaching become awakened to themselves and begin to see the world with new eyes.” Head Priest.
11st “When we look back at the past, we tend to recall a ‘memory’ separately from how we feel now. In order for our current physical reality and our memories to become one, we have to relate ourselves closer to our immediate environment, namely to nature and those who live around us.” Head Priest at the Winter Training Assembly.
12th “By understanding how our memories are connected to our current environment, we can discover for the first time the real significance of those memories. Attaining such true encounters will always give our memories greater depths.” Head Priest.
13th “People in this world mistake freedom for ‘doing whatever they please’. True freedom lies in sharing ‘time’ and ‘space’ with someone, completely free from all attachments.” Head Priest.
14th “Those who share in listening to the Buddha-dharma are called Dharma friends.” Head Priest.
15th “Learning is a means of acquiring knowledge. Particularly by familiarizing ourselves with the classics, we come to the depths of learning. Education is a means of communication. It introduces ideas that teach us new ways of knowing.” Summary of talk by Emeritus Professor Takehiko Okada.
16th “If Buddhists consider they have attained ‘happiness or enlightenment’ they will still remain uneasy. Only when they truly feel themselves to be ignorant, will they achieve inner peace.” Head Priest.
17th “Awareness of one’s ignorance opens up a world of freedom where one can truly talk about equality for the very first time.” Head Priest.
18th “A married couple is the simplest example of ‘sharing’. Although ‘marriage’ includes the principle of ‘love’, it also means “sharing for a long time.” Head Priest.
19th “Usually in this world ‘sharing’ has limits. ‘Sharing beyond this world’ is the meaning of birth in the Pure Land. It is not that the Pure Land exists ‘far away’ but that it appears within your mind at the very moment of sharing infinitely.” Head Priest.
20th “Even the smallest encounter has the possibility of developing into a ‘true encounter.’ In sutras and shastras this idea is expressed in these words, ‘It is like scooping up the water of the ocean with a single thread of hair’.” Head Priest.
21st “Introspection means ‘infinite self-examination’. It reflects the working of ‘Other Power’.” Head Priest.
22nd “The value of our memories depends on how deeply they are connected to our actual current environment.” Head Priest.
23rd “Throughout his life Shinran Shonin always paid attention to the examining the ‘faith of self-power’.” Head Priest.
24th “However hard you may work for something, if you feel you are doing so at someone else’s urging, then you are actually still ‘unfree’.” Head Priest.
25th What we call freedom is usually ‘freedom from something’, that is freedom in the Western sense. True freedom is actually the complete extinction of ‘unfreedom’. When it is attained, you can feel contentment and gratitude.” Head Priest.
26th “A place in which to listen to the Dharma will only functions in a lively manner if there are people willing to work very hard in the care of others.” Head Priest.
27th “As I live my life my desire is to be constantly aware of my selfish way of looking at things.” Follower living at Kasugayama.
28th “When on a visit to my old home I unintentionally revealed to my elderly mother the depression that had been building up within me for so long, she said, ‘This suffering is evidence that you are now living your life, isn’t it?’ On hearing her speak this way, I felt as if I had been awakened.” Woman living at the temple.


29th “Wishing to listen properly, I concentrated on the Head Priest’s Dharma talk. In the end, however, and despite my best efforts I was unable at the end to capture the meaning of his words. After the talk I confided this to the Head priest himself but he simply replied, “Don’t worry yourself about it, your body will surely have taken the meaning in.” Woman living at the temple.


30th
 “Accepting my own karma. That is the root of faith.” Representative trustee of Shogyoji Temple.


31st “On gazing at the altar lights one by one, I realized with a sense of humility that they were the Dharma-Light kept burning to save me alone.” Representative trustee of Shogyoji Temple.