Interview with Kazuo Inamori (Founder of Kyocera and KDDI)

Interviewer: Venerable Fa Hui

June 14, 2026

The Buddha speaks the Dharma in one voice, and sentient beings understand it according to their own capacity.

Kazuo Inamori:

Namo Amituofo. I am Kazuo Inamori, the well-known founder of Kyocera and also the founder of KDDI.

In management, I have gained some insights. Thanks to the kindness of people in the world, many entrepreneurs have affirmed my management philosophy and mental methods, and have gained some inspiration from them. I feel very grateful that my experience can help others.

However, all of this eventually becomes like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, and a shadow after death, vanishing into thin air. I have always firmly believed in the "Law of Cause and Effect" taught by the Buddha. Therefore, for me, I always use "the business path is the Buddha's path" to warn myself, and "altruism" is the best way for a company to succeed. My management philosophy and mental methods are actually infused with the spirit of the Buddha's teachings.

I have always firmly believed in the Buddha. The Buddha is compassionate and great, and can bring true beauty to the human world. I believe that learning the Buddha's teachings can help people's lives achieve true liberation.

Unfortunately, in this life, I encountered the Rinzai school, not the Pure Land Dharma Gate. I encountered Myoshin-ji, but not the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre. However, from the perspective of the Buddha's teachings, one should not make such comparisons; the Zen school and the Pure Land Dharma Gate are originally one, not two. They should be non-dual and indistinguishable, with no distinction between high and low.

However, in the Dharma-ending age, it is true that without practising the Pure Land Dharma Gate, one really cannot attain success. Even if one practises the Pure Land Dharma Gate, if one has not come to the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia to see Namo Amituofo, then being reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss is truly extremely difficult, and one could even say it is impossible.

This is the truth I have seen in the Western Land of Dharma Nature, and I must point this out to everyone at the beginning. Everyone knows that I had a brief period as a monastic in my life. At that time, because I was diagnosed with stomach cancer and underwent a gastrectomy, I truly realised the "impermanence" mentioned in the sutras. In my heart, I vaguely sensed that I must have done something wrong to have caused the cancer.

I have always believed in the laws of karma and cause and effect taught by Buddhism. I have always upheld "good deeds bring good rewards, and evil deeds bring evil rewards" as my life principle. Who would have thought that I would get cancer? At that time, I was indeed filled with confusion, anxiety, and helplessness. In short, after the surgery, a great sense of repentance arose in my heart. I understood that I must have done something wrong, but I could not clearly identify the specific mistake.

I thought about it for a long time and finally decided to practise something I had always wanted to do: the sacred and great event of becoming a monastic. This decision was by no means made lightly, but was taken after careful consideration. Because I had always longed to let go of everything in the world, and without any burdens in life, to experience the various aspects of the world beyond, and to learn the principles of Zen within it.

After becoming a monastic, I did what every monastic in the temple did. I once went door-to-door begging for alms, and in this process, it was a huge test for my body and mind. After all, "letting go" is easy to say but not simple to do. But I have always firmly believed that it is all worth it, and I believe that the sweet fruits of the Buddha's teachings will reveal themselves to me after experiencing hardships.

In this process, I did indeed gain many treasures, which is spiritual richness. When begging for alms, although I felt my status was lower and humbler than before, this truly made my spirit more fulfilled; this is definitely not a manifestation of inferiority, but a process of transformation.

Perhaps it was due to Causal Conditions, but later the master of the temple said some words to me, which made me understand that what I should do more in this life is to propagate the Dharma as a layperson, and use the Buddha's teachings I have learned to help more people. This is actually a "skillful means" of teaching. Regardless, I will not comment on whether this past experience was good or bad; for me, what remains unchanged is the gratitude in my heart.

Now I want to tell the public that after listening to Practitioner Su's Dharma talks in the Western Land of Dharma Nature, I finally understand what the true Buddha's teachings are. It turns out that the Buddha's teachings are in the world, do not hinder worldly affairs, and do not depart from worldly affairs. The true Buddha's teachings must help oneself deal with the various pollutions and constraints of the world, allowing the spirit to be truly reborn and no longer enter the six realms of rebirth.

It turns out that rebirth in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss is a wish that a person learning the Buddha's teachings must have. Because this is the Buddha's deep instruction to all beings, hoping that every being can be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss and no longer suffer in reincarnation.

In the past, because I did not understand this point, my practice was biased, and it could be said that I was not truly learning the Buddha's teachings. However, in my environment at that time, I was unable to meet a good teacher like Namo Amituofo or Practitioner Su who could guide me and pull me back from the wrong path.

I have always firmly believed that the Buddha's teachings can be very effectively integrated into life, including my own management mental methods, or how I treat others and handle affairs. I believe that through the Buddha's teachings, everything can be handled very properly and achieve good results.

However, the Buddha's teachings are not just that. The true Buddha's teachings can help people avoid the suffering of aging, sickness, and death, allowing everyone to truly not grow old, not get sick, and the spirit does not die, and even be able to attain Buddhahood and possess the ability to save beings. This is the truth revealed to me by Practitioner Su of the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre.

It turns out that if one cannot truly leave the world when learning the Buddha's teachings, then there is already a fundamental error. If learning the Buddha's teachings cannot escape the six realms of rebirth, then it has lost the fundamental function of the Buddha's teachings to help beings leave suffering and gain happiness. And if the Buddha's teachings are contaminated by the secular, then the originally magnificent Dharma Gate will become no longer so magnificent. It turns out that the so-called "humanistic Buddhism" is not real, but illusory; it is not the right path, but a deviation.

In the Western Land of Dharma Nature, I can now clearly see that I am not the only one, Kazuo Inamori, who has such misunderstandings about the Buddha's teachings.

The concept of "humanistic Buddhism" is indeed more acceptable to many people. After all, it does not require everyone to completely let go of worldly assets, reputation, status, and various relationships in the world; everyone can practise the Buddha's teachings while maintaining their original state. Many people interested in the Buddha's teachings have therefore come up with many ways to try to integrate the Buddha's teachings into every corner of life.

Among them, the concept of "Zen" is indeed fascinating. After all, who doesn't yearn for the state of "waving one's sleeves without taking a single cloud"? When I first came into contact with the Buddha's teachings, I also first came into contact with the Zen school. The Rinzai school is indeed a very famous Zen school in the world. In the process of interacting with the masters of the temple, I learned that Zen is so magnificent: as long as this heart can be "unmoved" and can be at ease with the world, then the pollution of the world will no longer be an obstacle.

However, these are all from a secular perspective, looking at the Buddha's teachings from the perspective of an entrepreneur, a husband, or a father, thinking that the Buddha's teachings can help one live better in the world, allowing one to be at ease and unhindered while possessing everything in the world. This is indeed a beautiful vision.

The ideal is very beautiful, but the reality is very harsh. In fact, it is extremely difficult to practise while not leaving one's family, not leaving one's work and life assets in the world, and to reach the "Awakening" mentioned in the Zen school.

Now I have a deeper understanding: even if someone can really practise Zen in a modern environment and achieve great enlightenment, or even achieve Awakening without leaving the various pollutions of the world, how many people in the world have such qualifications and conditions? There are too many difficulties to overcome.

And the Buddha is so compassionate, hoping that all sentient beings can leave suffering and gain happiness, so he created the "Easy Path" of the Pure Land Dharma Gate, allowing everyone to attain Buddhahood in the Dharma-ending age.

Regarding the magnificence of the Pure Land Dharma Gate, although I had heard of it before, I had never been able to understand its mysteries. Until now, in the "Western Land of Dharma Nature" at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre, I saw the scenes that Practitioner Su showed to the public, and I truly understood how shallow I was in the past. I could not recognise the true Great Dharma even when it was right before my eyes.

It turns out that the Pure Land Dharma Gate is so magnificent, and its core is this phrase "Namo Amituofo". While Practitioner Su is chanting the Buddha-name, Namo Amituofo immediately appears beside Practitioner Su to save beings together with Practitioner Su. I saw countless spiritual manifestations (this is called "countless manifestations" in the Buddha's teachings) rushing out from the top of Practitioner Su's head, and in an instant, they spread to the entire earth.

What is Practitioner Su's vow? That is to hope that all sentient beings can leave suffering and gain happiness, and to hope that everyone can be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, or first enter the "Western Land of Dharma Nature", the transit station of the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, and then make a vow to chant the Buddha's name and be reborn in the Western Pure Land.

In the Buddha's gate, there is indeed a response to every request. While Practitioner Su's countless manifestations are chanting "Namo Amituofo", one can clearly see Namo Amituofo flashing everywhere, absorbing countless sentient beings into the golden light. These suffering sentient beings all feel incomparably joyful because they are finally saved or have escaped the constraints of space.

Regarding the concept of "space", I didn't understand it too well before. I only knew that when I was meditating, sometimes I would enter a state of trance, as if my consciousness went to a certain place, and then I slowly lost consciousness.

From the outside, according to my fellow monastics when I was a monastic, it was like dozing off or being in a daze. And when I entered this state, people around me often had to use external force to remind me and help me wake up.

However, now that I am in the Land of Dharma Nature, I can clearly look back on what happened in the past. It turns out that the state at that time was what the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre teaches: "entering space". It turns out that there are spaces within spaces. The earth is a large space, and within the large space, there can be various small spaces, and within the small space, there can be various large spaces. It is truly large within small, and small within large.

The profound philosophy of the Buddha's teachings is indeed difficult to exhaust with words and text. However, overly complex language and sutras are not necessarily suitable for modern people, so when Practitioner Su gives Dharma talks, he uses very simple and easy-to-understand concepts or words to help everyone understand the profound philosophy of the Buddha's teachings.

What exactly is space? In fact, it can be used with a simple metaphor: in terms of the human body, within the space of the human body, there are countless cells. Each of these cells is an independent space, and within each independent cell space, there can be countless spaces.

Don't look at a cell as being so small; the space contained within it can be as large as a universe. This is also what I learned at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre: it turns out that there can be such a large space within a small space. Although I have read sutras like the Avatamsaka Sutra in the past and know the principle of "a mustard seed contains Mount Sumeru, and Mount Sumeru contains a mustard seed", now that I am in the Land of Dharma Nature, I can truly witness the situation described in the sutras with my own eyes, which indeed makes me feel very shocked.

I never knew that there were so many spaces in the human body, and I didn't know that in so many spaces, my past karmic creditors and sentient beings connected by karmic affinity were hidden; of course, I saw that karmic creditors still accounted for the vast majority.

This truth must be told to everyone quickly. After all, many people know that karmic creditors need us to resolve the conflict with sincerity, but few people know that karmic creditors are not elsewhere, but in our body cells. If one knows this, who would dare to have bad thoughts?

Once bad thoughts arise, they will wake up the countless karmic creditors in the body. I saw in the Land of Dharma Nature that after karmic creditors are awakened from a person's body, what they do is definitely not to make you happy or feel happy, but to make you receive a harsh lesson, followed by great pain.

And because karmic creditors are familiar with everything about you, including what you care about and what you don't care about, what you like and what you don't like, karmic creditors know all of this like the back of their hand. So when they wake up, the way they choose to seek revenge is often particularly unforgettable among countless pains. That is what the karmic creditors want you to experience, because they were also in such pain at the beginning. This also conforms to the Law of Cause and Effect that I have always believed in.

The content taught by the Buddhist education of the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre is the Universal Principle, the Truth, and the Right Way, and it teaches everyone how to put in the work on the heart, truly allowing the heart to return to a state of purity and goodness. Of course, if you use simpler words, you can also say that what is practised here is the so-called Pure Land Dharma Gate.

From my perspective as Kazuo Inamori, I would like to describe it with another phrase: "practice at the level of subtle thoughts." Because from the sutras taught by Practitioner Su, I have come to understand that the foundation of the Pure Land Dharma Gate is to transform every single thought into the pure and virtuous Holy Name "Namo Amituofo." Putting in the work at the level of every single thought is the most important thing I have learned here.

It turns out that practice must be approached with such caution and vigilance; one must not be casual or indulgent with the mind, but must strictly manage all of one's thoughts, truly becoming the master of one's own mind. If one can truly replace all thoughts with this "Namo Amituofo," it signifies success, the ability to attain Buddhahood, and a complete transformation of one's being.

In the past, I proposed the concept of "Work Zen," which means facing every task before you with the utmost sincerity and focusing your attention entirely on the matter at hand. When you are able to be extremely focused, it is actually a form of meditation, another kind of Zen. In my past view, this was a clever application of the Buddha’s teachings I had learned.

However, I now understand that true practice requires maintaining awareness down to every subtle thought, refining and adjusting one's mental state within the most minute levels. This makes me deeply feel that my past self was truly too naive and my understanding of the Buddha’s teachings too shallow, which is why I believed that one could practise true Buddhism within secular life.

I have always believed in the idea that "what the mind thinks, it can achieve," just as it is said in the Avatamsaka Sutra: "The mind is like a master painter, capable of painting all worlds." For the power of thought, I have always advocated it; I believe that if you desire to achieve a goal strongly enough, that goal will inevitably provide you with an opportunity to reach it. This is a powerful force of the mind, which can also be called the power of thought.

In the Dharma-Nature Land, I have learned that the power of thought is indeed a very formidable force. The human heart is extremely precious; it can think of Good, and it can think of evil. If it thinks of evil, it will bring great disaster to the world. If it thinks of Good, it can bring great benefit to the world. If one's heart is filled with the thought of "Namo Amituofo" in every moment, it will allow the place where one resides to become a true Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss in the present moment.

The true meaning of this is: when a person is truly able to make a Great Vow to save beings and wholeheartedly chant this "Namo Amituofo," they will be able to unleash the true power of this Buddha-name. That is, to evoke Amitabha Buddha to shine forth golden light, to receive suffering sentient beings into this golden light, and to allow them to truly leave suffering and gain happiness.

At the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre, I have learned that true Buddha’s teachings are a power capable of saving the world, capable of bringing people in the world the ability to not grow old, not get sick, and the spirit does not die. It turns out that true Buddha’s teachings can help all beings be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. The key criterion for judging whether one's practice is genuine is whether, while one is still alive, this physical body experiences any illness. If one falls ill, one's practice is not yet genuine and has deviated. Violating the Universal Principle, the Truth, and the Right Way will inevitably lead one only to the end of Aging, sickness, and death.

That I developed cancer in this life actually proves that what I learned was not the true Buddha’s teachings. Because those who truly learn the Buddha’s teachings will not get sick; this is the most important point I have learned from Practitioner Su.

I think everyone in the world who learns the Buddha’s teachings should clearly understand this concept: when one ends up with an illness, or even a major disease, it actually indicates that one's practice has long been not in accordance with the Dharma.

Good teachers are hard to find, yet now the great Amitabha Buddha is at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Goombungee, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. The Buddha has come to this world hoping to give all practitioners in the world a chance to turn back, to help all those who aspire to practise to correct the deviations in their practice, and even more so, to bring every person on Earth the true benefit of not growing old, not getting sick, and the spirit never dying.

If a person has not been able to receive education on the Universal Principle, the Truth, and the Right Way, and does not understand the Truth, they will naturally and unknowingly commit sins. Their outcome after death is often not very ideal; many people enter the hells to suffer retribution after death, which is a fact I now truly see.

For those who do not learn the Buddha’s teachings, they may have such a miserable end after death; then, for all those in the world who are learning the Buddha’s teachings, or who claim to be learning them, they often go to even worse places after death than those who do not. The reason is that they give the world a wrong understanding, mistakenly believing that what they have learned is the true Buddha’s teachings, or causing others to have a bad impression of the Buddha’s teachings; in this, every little bit carries immense laws of karma and cause and effect.

This is indeed a rather serious topic, but I will still tell everyone very directly here. After all, I believe that in the great matter of life and death, there cannot be any ambiguity, so I am also fulfilling my duty here by telling everyone these facts and truths.

"Humanistic Buddhism" is not a viable path; this is the most direct conclusion I have reached now. If one learns the Buddha’s teachings, one should not get sick; if one truly learns the Buddha’s teachings, one should become a Buddha. And if one truly wants to learn the Buddha’s teachings, one should have a compassionate vow to help all sentient beings leave suffering and gain happiness.

Therefore, I will not say much more here, but I want to make a special appeal to those in the world who have the vow to "save the world and save beings." That is to say, if you are a kind person, you hope that those around you, and even your own family, can not grow old, not get sick, and not die; you even hope that people in the entire country and even the entire Earth can stay away from the suffering of Aging, sickness, and death. If you have such a hope and also believe in this, then you should come to the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia to seek the Dharma.

And if you hope to stop yourself from suffering, and also hope that all beings will no longer suffer, then you should come to the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia even more. Because what the "salvation team" is doing is helping everyone to escape the threat of Aging, sickness, and death, and helping everyone to be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.

If you are such a person, please open your mobile phone or computer now, search online for "Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia," and take a good look at the temple's website. You will be able to understand what true Buddha’s teachings are, and also have a basic understanding of what the salvation team is currently doing.

Among them, we in Japan are very fortunate because the temple has set up an "Amitabha Buddha Billboard" here. Too many sentient beings have been saved because of the golden light emitted by the billboard; this not only helps the spirit realm beings in Japan but actually also has great benefits for the Japanese people. Therefore, the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre has been silently helping us Japanese people all along, and I think this is something every Japanese person should be grateful for.

After I died in this life, I entered the Copper Pillar Hell because I still had not truly severed the delusion of desire for men and women in my heart. In the Law of Cause and Effect, the standard for examination in this regard is very subtle.

So I will not explain too much here, I can only tell everyone: if you cannot truly let go of this body, it actually causes great harm to your own spirit, and it is possible that you will have to enter the hells to suffer retribution after death. And what is meant by "letting go of the body"? It means letting go of the feelings and emotions of this body, all the various relationships in the world, wealth and work, career and family, emotions and children, etc. These actually all belong to the category related to the body. If everyone cannot truly let go of all this, it is very difficult to have a good destination after death.

Do not be frightened after hearing these words; this is not a negative statement, but an objective way to let everyone understand that the path of life is actually not easy to walk well. Because the key point that truly determines success or failure lies in where you will go after death, which represents a microcosm of everything you have done in this life. Of course, many people are good people all their lives, but they may still go to a bad place to suffer after death.

All of the above is to let everyone understand that after a person dies, the spirit cannot be the master. The so-called "cannot be the master" means that one cannot control where one is going. As long as one has created the cause of negative karma, it is possible that at the very last moment of dying, one's spirit will go to a place full of suffering.

If the spirit wants to be the master, it must correspond with the Universal Principle, the Truth, and the Right Way, which means it must be able to truly let go of selfishness. This is not an easy thing, but I believe this is something everyone can learn.

This matter truly has its necessity. If one cannot be the master, it will only cause various abnormalities in one's Body-Mind-Spirit, and even disease. That is to say, if one gets sick, it actually means that one is not a person who can be the master. This is something I want to share with everyone now.

In fact, each of us is as pure and virtuous as an infant when we are just born. Each of us has the same Wisdom, virtues, and auspicious characteristics as the Buddha, but we cannot realise it due to delusion, discrimination, and attachment. To put it more simply, every person's spirit has an indestructible Buddha-nature, so our true nature is very kind.

Then why do we commit various sins in our lifetime? It is actually because we have not received education in the Buddha’s teachings. When our thoughts become deviated and selfish, it gives karmic creditors or demon crowds the opportunity to control our bodies, making us commit various sins, or causing various deviations in our thinking.

This is actually due to the interference and control of the karmic creditors within the body or external spirits. This is a very important fact I see now in the Dharma-Nature Land. That is to say, everyone was originally a Buddha, but because they have not received education in the Buddha’s teachings, they have become unable to be the master.

A life where one cannot be the master often has a very high probability of entering the hells after death. Regardless, as long as one is not reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, one is actually still suffering in reincarnation. Therefore, for every Japanese person, and even every person in the world, receiving education in the Buddha’s teachings is really the most important thing that should be completed first.

In the end, I want to say a few words to all entrepreneurs.

Regardless of whether the scale of the enterprise you manage is large or small, whether the annual revenue is tens of billions or hundreds of billions, that is actually not the focus we should be concerned about. As an entrepreneur, the true responsibility should be to ensure that the business you operate will not have a negative impact on society and people. As long as the business you have created has even a tiny bit of negative impact on people, society, or even the country at any level, the founder must pay the price.

From youth to old age, from the perspective of learning the Buddha’s teachings, I did not learn the true Buddha’s teachings, and I deviated on the path of practice, which is why I got cancer. If viewed from the perspective of an entrepreneur, this actually also means that the huge business entity I created did not truly correspond with the Universal Principle, the Truth, and the Right Way, and there were too many deficiencies in many subtle places or many levels.

What I want to share with everyone here is: as an entrepreneur or manager, we have the responsibility to train every employee, every supervisor, and everyone involved in this business entity under our command. We should provide them with training and education so that they understand what the Universal Principle, the Truth, the Right Way, and the Law of Cause and Effect are.

Such an approach is not only responsible for the people within the enterprise (whether they are employees or any other status) but also responsible for oneself as a manager. Because they are actually one with you; if their behaviour deviates and they commit sins, it is equivalent to you committing sins; conversely, if they can follow the Universal Principle, the Truth, and the Right Way and do Good, it is equivalent to the business operator doing Good.

This is two sides of the same coin. I hope every entrepreneur can have such a "view of oneness," understanding that educating employees, training supervisors, and letting them learn what true Buddha’s teachings are is our most basic and unignorable responsibility. Because this is a matter of life and death, the price of committing sins may be letting oneself enter the hells to suffer retribution.

Having said so much, finally, I want to give everyone this "Namo Amituofo." Now I, Kazuo Inamori, am very happily chanting this "Namo Amituofo" Buddha-name in the Western Dharma-Nature Land. My wish is to be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, to attain Buddhahood, and to descend to save beings.

And what about you? Do you have the same aspiration? This tests everyone's Wisdom.

Finally, I want to say to my family that I am doing very well in the Dharma-Nature Land now. I hope that you can be like me, take rebirth in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss as your own aspiration, and come to the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre to learn the true Buddha’s teachings.

I will conclude my talk here today. I am very grateful for this opportunity to be interviewed. I am grateful to everyone at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre, grateful to Namo Amituofo, and grateful to Practitioner Su. Because Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su compassionately rescued me from the hell of copper pillars and brought me to the Western Land of Dharma Nature, I have been able to be reborn here and begin my brand-new spiritual life.

Now, my future is infinitely bright and beautiful, without any suffering, only pure bliss, because I believe that I will certainly be a member of the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss. Namo Amituofo!

Kazuo Inamori