“It is of vital importance for a seeker after truth to accept the reality of their existence just as it is. If they can do that then a pure world will appear naturally, extinguishing all doubt and distrust.” Head Priest.

“Up until recently the nembutsu has been no more to me than a way of ridding myself of evil karma (tsumi). But now that I have come across the true joy of faith of my senior Dharma friends, the peaceful faith I have attained by taking refuge in Amida Buddha with single-mindedness has enabled me all at once to transcend this state of mind.” Priest at the temple.

“In the Samgha there are frequent spiritual occurrences that surprise people and prompt them to ask questions. The Sutras all begin with such questioning. Sutras in fact are records of these spiritual happenings within the Samgha. Every fact, every word, every phrase, every plant and tree, they are all the working of Namuamidabutsu.” Former Head Priest of Myokoji, a neighboring temple.

“Coming into contact with the teaching of nembutsu means experiencing ‘mental death’ [before actual physical death]. Living your life in the nembutsu means living the new life bestowed on you once you depart your old worldly one.” Senior priest.

“When you disclose your own sufferings to others and look in turn upon their sufferings, you will feel the infinite working of the Tathagata’s great compassion and Original Prayer.” Head Priest.

“Although I am actually weighed down by a vast ocean of suffering, my happiness at having a few drops lifted away knows no substitute.” Priest at the temple.

“The Venerable Head Priest said to me, ‘It is in the Samgha that you will find a creative way of living. It is important for you to live in a place where words of encounter with the Buddha and Dharma friends are spoken.’ For me this teaching has now become a beacon of light.” Dharma friend.

“We are all heavily burdened with tsumi (evil actions or karma) but those that overlook others committing tsumi are even more heavily burdened than the perpetrators themselves. It is taught that the evil karma of ‘slandering the Dhrama’ is greater than that of ‘the five grave offences’. ” Senior priest.

“For the past thirty years three generations of our family have been cared for by the temple. Now I understand that chomon ( listening to the Dharma) in itself amounts to an ongoing education graciously offered us by the temple.” Dharma friend.

“I attended the meeting held to commemorate Ekai-sama through whom the world first learned of Daigyoin-sama, a great person whose being went far beyond the confines of this world. The day I attended this meeting was the day I actually went and expressed my thanks to the Head Priest, our true teacher, for all his instruction and leadership.” Resident at Hasugayama.

“In the past I used to imagine that all the adornments of the Buddha Shrine were themselves affected by the voices of those giving service. On attending this year’s ceremony I felt as if, at the sound of the Gagaku music, they were actually dancing. The flower arrangements offered to the Buddha, the service with its chanted sutras, the strains of Gagaku music and the radiance in the eyes of the temple followers as they listened to the Dharma, all combined in this Eitaikyo Ceremony to become adornments of the Buddha Land.” Head Priest of a neighboring temple.

“It is not enough merely to appreciate how much we have been protected by the Samgha and by our good teachers; the real challenge is for us to go ahead and actually practise the Seven Rules for Non-retrogression.” Young priest.

One day Ekai-sama challenged us saying, “All those who have been keeping silent, who have spoken no word of thanks for the last ten years, stand up!”

“On listening to you talk, I sense an atmosphere of dependence wherein you merely rely on the Buddha, presuming that it is natural for the Buddha to save you. If you are not moved to take refuge in the merit-transference of the Tathagata, forsaking all else, it cannot be called true faith.” Senior person.

“The Buddha-dharma is not something you can comprehend simply by listening. The moment you are awakened to impermanence, friend and foe become one. When we pass one another, please demonstrate your joy to me, even if it is but in a single phrase from the Sacred Texts. I am very sad to find no one visiting the temple with gratitude in their hearts for what Shinran Shonin has done for us. Alas!” Dharma-Mother Ekai.

“When by chance a performer's foot strays too far while dancing on a Kabuki stage and he draws the other foot up next to it, people will often say “a speck of dust has appeared.” Similarly, if you try instantaneously to remedy the disaccord between your words and your actions, you will merely make matters even worse.” Senior priest.

“A photographer once said, ‘Between black and white there exists an infinite zone of grey.’ In our minds also there exists just such a grey zone. Shinran Shonin tells us that making use of this ‘grey zone’ to conceal our evil past and mystify others is being ‘false and untrue’.” Senior priest.

“Although I have already started down the slippery slope towards oldage, what I have in common with you is the fact that our lives set us questions for us to answer. Although you may consider your lives to be your own personal property, this is not in fact so. It is obvious your
lives do not belong to you because you cannot even imagine when they will end. None of you has chosen your life. Your life exists in itself [beyond your understanding].” A message to students living at the temple from a priest of the Hokuriku District.

“The essence of Buddhism lies in practice. Although there seem to be two kinds of futility: 1) ‘futility’ in the sense that you don’t work at all because you imagine your efforts will be ‘futile’ and 2) 'futility' in the sense that you find something ‘futile’ after you
have worked at it with your whole being, you should understand that those two are totally different in quality.” Head Priest.

“Just as with the cultivation of the land, if we fail to cultivate our minds every single day, our minds will deteriorate further and further.” Young Priest.

“The very first impression we had on entering the Samgha was how happy we felt to be welcomed just as we were in our absolute entirety, along with everything that had happened or was to happen to us, our whole past and our whole future.” Head Priest.

“Because my demanding mind is not yet exhausted, I have only been receiving compassion from the temple. I would like, however, at least to continue to ask how I should properly receive it.” Young Dharma friend.

“How can lay people attain Buddhahood? The only way is through repentance of their attachment to self-power and realization of how heavily burdened they are with blind passions.” Head Priest.

“I am deeply ashamed that it is in my nature to make others work instead of working myself.” Young priest.

“When we surrender ourselves to the Buddha, forsaking all embellishments, an entirely different, resplendent world opens before us, a world wherein we find our strength and our joy.” Head Priest.

“There is no difference between preparation and performance. Every hour and every moment is an actual performance when we should attain faith.” Young priest.