"You can be happy if you think positively"
In the very beginning, Shorinji Kempo started from a five and a half mat room, and I came to pour all my assets and efforts into that. I worked as hard as I could, and eventually I came to spend everything I had on Shorinji Kempo. Now, the real estate alone would probably make a vast amount. However, not one of those assets is my personal property. A minimal savings for living is essential, but I don't think you need any more than that. It is all the property of Shorinji Kempo. "Use it while you're alive." I think that's the main thing. I discovered this way of life immediately after defeat in the war, and because I have always given everything I have, multitudes of people have given me their assistance. Moreover, legions of young people are growing up who have visited me out of admiration and respect. There is nothing in life to match such a splendid pleasure as this.
There are some people who say that money is better, but no matter how much money or how many things one has, one can't really use them. When it comes to the clothes one always wears, it's one or two sets. Or for shoes, they say that there is always just one pair that really fits, and so in the end even with many pairs there is really just one pair. Until just recently, I didn't have a car either. The reason was that when I needed one I took a taxi, and I had just decided to think as if I had stored cars all over the country.
Essentially, with a conversion of the heart, of one's way of thinking, one can profit incredibly. So I think that the younger the age at which one is able to reach such a position and change one's life, the better.
You all, as well, once you have gained a fundamental stability in life, next you might consider finding some sort of a reason to live. Moreover, if it is not simply for your own purposes, and if instead you have a sense for others as well, then anything you do will succeed, and that is how I have survived. Shorinji Kempo is not simply the teaching of techniques, but rather its real existence is in teaching that way of living.
(August 1970 from a university training camp sermon)
