Furuya Sensei posted this to his Daily Message on April 4, 2003.
There is nothing more blessed than to live a simple life, work hard and have a few good friends. This is the way I think nowadays. Maybe it is my age and I am getting old, but looking over everything I have done - I think this is what I value the most. We can make ourselves very busy and try to do everything we can but we only get weary and bored. If we don't work hard we cannot even realize our smallest dream. People always come and go in our lives but it is those friends who are always there by our side that make the biggest difference of all. We focus on money - one day we are rich and the next day we are poor. We focus on fame - but people soon forget who we are as soon as we can no longer entertain and amuse them. Our fancy car gets scratched and old and is soon worth nothing. What do most people want in this life? I think most people do not know for themselves. In Zen, there is an old saying, "The treasure sword is in your hand." We hold a great treasure without even realizing it!