The Ultimate Life

Sawaki Roshi: A religion which has no connection with the fundamentals of life is futile. Buddhist practice shows the way to full actualization of the ultimate goal of human life, here and now. "Converting non-Buddhists" means to allow people to live in this way, thereby transforming their random, fradulent and incomplete ways of life.

Uchiyama Roshi: It has been over fourteen hundred years since Buddhism was introduced to Japan. The achievements of Buddhist priests have been admirable. They have never taught the religious essence of Buddhism. A priest's job is without comparison because no one else can live such an idle life. If you make a mistake chanting the sutras, the dead do not complain.

Sawaki Roshi said that Buddhist practice shows the way to the ultimate goal of human life. This was the teaching of Buddhism in the time of the Buddha, but since then the rubbish of Buddhist teaching has been emphasized and the essential teaching has been lost.

Sawaki Roshi: Most people do things without any clear view of life. They just do things in a makeshift way, like plastering their shoulder when it feels stiff.
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To be born as a human being is a rare thing, something to be grateful for. But being born as a human being is worthless if you spend your whole life in a mental hospital. It is worthless if you worry about not having money. It is worthless if you become neurotic because you cannot get a prestigious job. It is wothless if you weep because you lose your girlfriend.