Kenji Miyazawa quotes
Buddhism's starting point is that all living things, we who are so full of pain and sadness, together with all these living things, want to liberate ourselves from this state of pain. ... All living things have been repeating transmigration for immeasurable kalpa. ... Sometimes a soul perceives itself as a human. At other times it is born in a beast, that is, what we call an animal. ... As a result, the living things around us are all our parents and children, brothers and sisters, as they have been for a long time. People of different religions will think this idea too serious and terrifying. [Indeed] this is a serious world to a terrifying degree.
Kenji Miyazawa