Samang Kirok

A certain person said, “In the Saint’s mausoleum there is a poem that goes:
Who in his heart
Follows the path of sincerity,
Though he does not pray
Will not the gods protect him?
What is this path of sincerity?”
 
A man answered him by saying, “You seem to like poetry. I will answer you with a poem:
As everything in this world is but illusion,
Death is the only sincerity.
Becoming as a dead man in one’s daily living
is following the path of sincerity.

The Matheson Trust; Yamamoto, Tsunetomo, Hagakure: In the Shade of the Leaves, Section 111 (p. 31) http://themathesontrust.org/library/hagakure-book-of-the-samurai 

For much of the activity in contemporary life, there is a need to function in respond to numerous unconnected, arbitrary, and often trivial demands.  What is there in my life that warrants sincerity unto death?