Master Ittei said, «Whatever one prays for will be granted.

Long ago there were no

matsutake mushrooms in our province. Some men who saw them in the Kamigata
area prayed that they might grow here, and nowadays they are growing all over
Kitagama. In the future I would like to have Japanese cypress grow in our province.
As this is something that everyone desires, I predict it for the future. This being so,
everyone should pray for it.»
When something out of the ordinary happens, it is ridiculous to say that it is a
mystery or a portent of something to come. Eclipses of the sun and moon, comets,
clouds that flutter like flags, snow in the fisth month, lightning in the twelsth
month, and so on, are all things that occur every fisty or one hundred years. They
occur according to the evolution of Yin and Yang. The fact that the sun rises in the
east and sets in the west would be a mystery, too, if it were not an everyday
occurrence.
It is not dissimilar. Furthermore, the fact that something bad always happens in the
world when strange phenomena occur is due to people seeing something like
fluttering clouds and thinking that something is going to happen. The mystery is
created in their minds, and by waiting for the disaster, it is from their very minds
that it occurs. The occurrence of mysteries is always by word of mouth.
Calculating people are contemptible. The reason for this is that calculation deals
with loss and gain, and the loss and gain mind never stops. Death is considered loss
and life is considered gain. Thus, death is something that such a person does not
care for, and he is contemptible.
Furthermore, scholars and their like are men who with wit and speech hide their
own true cowardice and greed. People osten misjudge this.
Lord Naoshige said, «The Way of the Samurai is in desperateness. Ten men or
more cannot kill such a man. Common sense will not accomplish great things.
Simply become insane and desperate. In the Way of the Samurai, if one uses
discrimination, he will fall behind. One needs neither loyalty nor devotion, but
simply to become desperate in the Way. Loyalty and devotion are of themselves
within desperation.»