It describes various people's lives very vividly including the tales about a high priest who did not desire fame and chose seclusion (such as the opening story on Genpin Sozu), about a high-ranking priest who failed to reach Ojo (birth in the Pure Land) due to hesitation, and about the common people in this world who devoted themselves to arts and reached Muga no Kyochi (the state of no-self); the writer also wrote his comments in each tales.
盛名を良しとせず隠遁の道を選んだ高僧（冒頭の玄賓僧都の話など）をはじめ、心に迷いを生じたため往生し損なった聖、反対に俗世にありながら芸道に打ち込んで無我の境地に辿り着いた人々の生き様をまざまざと描き、編者の感想を加えている。