No. 341
“My life right now is full of vitality and highly charged. I am happy to have been given time for myself.” Follower who died a year ago.
「生かさせて頂いている新鮮さと緊張感」、私自身の時を待たせて頂いています。 （一年前に往生のある信徒さんの言）
No. 342
“Ekai-sama taught me through her own example how we should humbly respect the Buddha’s vision that is beyond our comprehension.” Old lady who has been listening to the Dharma for eighty years.
恵契様から、「御冥慮にかしこむ」ということを、御身をもって教えて頂きました。 （聞法八十年のあるおばあちゃんの言）
No. 343
“Ekai-sama was someone who had no time for people hesitating and saying ‘I cannot do it’.” Old lady who has been listening to the Dharma for eighty years.
恵契様は、「出来ない」ということが許されないお方でした。 （聞法八十年のあるおばあちゃんの言）
No. 344
“It was my mistake to keep trying to overcome my father. Many years have passed since my father’s death and I have now come to understand the meaning of accepting my father just as he was.” Reverend Harutaka Aso, Shinto priest.
父を、超えよう、超えようと思ってきたのは間違いだった。父が亡くなって久しい今、受け入れるということの意味が分かります。 （阿蘇禰宜さんの言）
No. 345
“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.
御内陣のお灯明のひとつひとつを見ていると、この私一人を救わんが為の法灯であったと拝めました。 （責任役員の言）
No. 346
“I have found it is Chomon itself (the Introspection Session) for me just to listen and introspect intently step by step, taking care not to overlook a single problem.” Bomori-san (wife of Head Priest of a temple) from Nagano prefecture.
ひとつひとつ、見逃さずに、聞いていくことが「聴聞」でした。 （長野のある坊守さんの言）
No. 347
“Despite the hard work here, such as being on night call, I have continued to work and have not left, because for me my patients are one with my father who died of leukemia at the age of forty-nine.” A nurse whom the Head Priest met at hospital.
夜勤などきつい勤務の中で、やめずに今日まで続けて来られたのは、白血病で亡くなった四十九才の父と患者さんが一緒になるからです。 （住職の入院時、若い看護婦さんの言）
No. 348
“Evidence of our world of nembutsu is that we receive new life illumined by light from the Pure Land. Rather than being a bright light, this is said to be ‘a faint light that seems at once to exist and not exist.’ This is very close to the light Chuang-tzu called ‘bao-guang ’ (hazy light).” Head Priest.
私共のお念佛の世界の実証は、お浄土から照らして頂く光に蘇ることです。それも明らかな光というよりも、「在るが如く無きが如き幽かな光」といわれ、「葆光（ほこう）」（荘子）というのが親しい。 （住職の言）
No. 349
“The founder of Shogyoji Temple became a Buddhist priest seeking in the midst of bloody conflicts the world of peaceful harmony beyond our karma of warfare. Now, coming in contact with the sorrow and joy of the two brothers of the Aso, our founding family, I truly revere the prayer he made.” Head Priest.
正行寺御開基は、血みどろの抗争の渦中に、戦いの業の向こうにある和合の世界を求めて出家発心されました。その願心を、阿蘇宗家の御兄弟の悲喜のお姿に触れることによって、今、拝ませて頂きます。 （住職の言）
No. 350
“Bound by our deep and heavy karma we cannot attain freedom within this world. It is through birth in the Pure Land, however, that we can become one with others in the hands of the Buddha whilst still living our lives mired in this world. Reverend Koreyuki Aso, a Shinto priest, used the expression soko (life-giving light) to describe this light that works upon us from out of the Pure Land.” Head Priest.
この世では、深く重い業に絡めとられて自由を得ることはできません。しかし、泥沼の中にあっても、明るい佛様の世界で相手と一つにならせて頂くところ、それが浄土です。その世界から用らき出してくる光を阿蘇宮司さんは「蘇光」と表されました。 （住職の言）