Souls of Zen

Taio Kaneta:
Someone from our temple went to the seaside to take a look, just out of curiosity. Then, that person became severely emotionally disturbed, was not able to sleep for three or four days and underwent a drastic personality shift. So, since that person was a member of our temple, I would be asked to help, somehow. I said we would all pray together. And he recovered! This was a great surprise, but a positive one, for once. While I was counseling him, I asked him, why did you go there? what did you see there? what was your purpose in going? Well, I asked him, could it have been purely out of curiosity, even when there were so many people killed?

Pedro Meiyo:
Our main teacher, a teacher that I met, also in Europe, is Zazen.

Pedro Meiyo:
To sit means already to realize the Buddha way.

Shoko Takagi:
Visual thinking, or thinking in terms of results, is in itself a very complex and complicated matter. So you simply do not think. You just sit. That is the secret of Buddhism.

Seikai Takahashi:
I think that the way a temple responds to this once-in-a-millennium disaster shows what the Buddhist principles of compassion and helpfulness really mean to them. By no means did all temples open their doors to the public as shelters.

Toshiaki Kimura:
This is difficult to express, but I think the entire coast has become a religious place. A sacred site, so to speak. I guess that in retrospect, this earthquake might be considered a turning point in the history of religion in Japan. It might completely change the world of religion as we know it.

Issei Takahashi:
There are still people out there searching for their missing family members. Some of them are waiting for the results of DNA tests, but this could take one to two years. I'm afraid the time hasn't yet come for people to start adopting a positive attitude. Can you imagine? How would you feel if you suddenly lost your loved ones, your father or mother who was a part of your life and was healthy yesterday, and now they've been missing for almost six months?

Shinzan Egawa:
We heard that the tsunami would be over ten meters at Sendai port and that the wave would hit in about ten minutes, so everybody tried to get away. In a car or on the back of a truck. We ran away.

Issei Takahashi:
On the surface their life seems settled and secure, but that impression is very wrong. They are still struggling to move forward and are suffering more than ever.

Shoko Takagi:
Death is certain. Once we accept that fact, we can appreciate life and live it to the fullest. We have a word for this in Japanese: shogyo mujo, or 'all things must pass'. A flowing river cannot be stopped. It just flows on. So you have to understand that it flows. In other terms, when people are born, they are certainly going to die.