[1][4][5][6] When he was 9, one of his neighbors died at a brothel while with a much younger prostitute, and upon viewing the scene of the aftermath Sawaki stated it created an intense feeling of emptiness in him, more than his parents' deaths, and he realized things cannot be hidden.

[7] Sawaki was described as a tough street kid though he also visited Buddhist Pure Land temples.

[7] As a child, he saw a group of chanting monks return to their temple after being out begging as is said to have found peace that contrasted with his difficult upbringing.

[8] When he was 16, he ran away from home to become a monk at Eihei-ji, one of the two head temples of the Sōtō Zen sect.

[11] Sawaki lacked money so he, in a state of fear, recited the Heart Sutra to a ferry captain as payment and was allowed passage.

Realizing he would not make it in his current state, Sawaki visited temples and reunited with his sister to receive care.

[11] When he was 18 years old Sawaki arrived at Soshin-ji where he began to learn Buddhist sutras and ceremonies.

[14] Sawaki was asked to read a sutra during a funeral for an impoverished man whose father had died.

He instructed the man to cook the rice, buy tofu, and invite his neighbors for food and he would conduct the funeral rites.

[14] Sawaki traveled to temples before settling at Hosenji at age 20 at which point he was drafted to serve in the Imperial Japanese Army.

[16] Sawaki was sent to the home of the people who raised him to rest and recover only to discover the woman chained to a chair and Bunkichi gone.

[16] Sawaki felt the need to help them, and visited his brother for money which he gave to Bunkichi.

[1] He then studied for two years at the priests training school of Senju-ji, a Jōdo Shinshū temple in the Takada district of Tsu.

[1] Sawaki then spent a three-month practice period studying Dōgen with Oka Sotan.

[1] Sawaki ended up in charge of Daijiji for seven years until the death of Oka Roshi where he taught monks and helped restore the monastery.

[17] At Daijiji, Sawaki would develop his own very direct and occasionally crass teaching style and stated the students at the Fifth High School of Kumamoto were the greatest influences in his life as a Zen practitioner.

[18] Later Sawaki began his life on Mannichi Mountain in Kumamoto, traveling to give Dharma talks while living at the second home of a Mr. Shibata a member of the prefecture who heard him recite the sutras with Mr. Shibata hoping Sawaki would be a resource for commoners.

[19] Sawaki also praised others in his talks including Sontoku Ninomiya who helped rebuild homes in Sakura Village as a peasant laborer.

Sawaki traveled the country speaking wherever a request was made until two years before his death focused on teaching laypeople.

[4] He often called Zen "wonderfully useless," discouraging any gaining idea or seeking after special experiences or states of consciousness.

Sawaki stated that each person practicing zazen, truly forgetting the self, settling into one's position, working at eliminating delusion, will surely succeed.

[24] Sawaki taught heaven and earth give including air, water, plants, animals, and humans.

[24] Sawaki taught that every cell in the human body has raw ingredients for worldly desires.

[24] Sawaki taught that he read that standing out has no benefit and being different from the community is not the way which originally upset him as a priest who in his early days hated to lose.

[25] Sawaki offered the poem from Dogen "Without thinking that he protects rice, the scarecrow, in the mountain's small paddy, doesn't existing in vain".

[24] In a similar if simpler vein he stated "A horse and a cat once discussed the question, “What is happiness?” They couldn’t reach any agreement.” As a teacher, Sawaki saw many young people within the education system but he criticized the educational system stating it is stupid to test and grade and give students a number marking what is superior and inferior.

[24] Opposed to expectations of payment, Sawaki stated that thequintessentialack from begging barefoot, washed his feet, ate his meal, and gave a sermon.

If you aren’t careful, you’ll spend your whole life doing nothing besides waiting for your ordinary-person hopes to someday be fulfilled.

But no matter how much you puff up your personal sack of flesh, you won’t make yourself into any- thing besides a devil.

[26]Sawaki is considered highly influential within Sōtō Zen and repolarized sitting practice in Japan.