“She entered a state where prayer and poetry became one and the everyday world seemed full of holiness and significance.”

“Death comes suddenly and life is fragile and brief. No one can alter this either by prayers or spells.”

“But just as the river is always at the door, so is the world always outside. And it is in the world that we have to live.”

“How was it possible for the world to be so beautiful and so cruel at the same time?”

“...What does the blessing of heaven mean? We know the kirin is just an animal, not a mythical creature."It has become a symbol now.... That is the way human beings deal with the world.”

“They reminded me of the people of my village, their indomitable spirit in the face of disaster, their unshakable belief that no matter what might befall them, life was basically good and the world benign.”

“..while I was happy enough to pray to any god, knowing that they were simply different faces created by men, of one indivisible truth.”