MURYOKO
'Infinite Light'
Journal of Shin Buddhism
Harold Stewart
Kannon
The Bodhisattva's kohai, or halo of light, is the radiation of his spiritual influence throughout the Three Worlds from its central hub, which is a lotus-flower with fully opened petals symbolizing the ontological Matrix of the Universe. These rays pass through the psychic world to the physical world, figured geometrically by the two outer rings of the aureole. The four spokes, or radii, at right angles that emanate from the central lotus and divide the plain gold rings into quadrants, indicate the Four Directions and imply that the Bodhisattva's Great Compassion extends to the whole of Space. It is by his sheer action-of-presence that the selfless Kannon radiates his Mahakaruna, rather than by intentional good works. His Great Compassion is unconditionally distributed throughout the Universe with detached impartiality, to good and evil beings alike. Being boundless, it must also be purposeless, since purpose would imply some human limitation to his Infinite Compassion. So again his Divine Mercy is not to be confused with self-conscious charity, which from the Buddhist viewpoint has little or no merit since it is tainted with egoism.
The specific function that distinguishes Kannon from other Bodhisattvas is that he is pre-eminently the Giver of Fearlessness (abhayadana). Such fearlessness is not to be confused with deliberate bravery in the sense of a conscious suppression of fear by individual will power in the face of danger. As Heinrich Zimmer points out regarding Avalokiteshvara, true fearlessness is not a moral but a spiritual virtue. It does not mean mere recklessness or desperate courage but is a calm and contemplative acceptance of the inevitable, a rising above all fears and anxieties when one is confronted by worldly evils. This is a virtue mistakenly dismissed by Occidentals as Oriental fatalism.
Since, according to an eloquent myth, Kannon was born from one of Amida's tears of pity for suffering beings, he is said to be his spiritual son, that is to say, the personification of his Compassion. So to be mindful of Kannon's saving power and to implore his aid by calling his Name, as the Lotus Sutra recommends, amount to invoking Amida himself. Such recollection does not mean merely reciting his Name by rote, but rather seeking it within by laying one's Heart open to the advent of his spiritual influence. It is fear that isolates one being from another and so aggravates the restrictive doubts, suspicions, defensive reserve, envy, and aversion that reinforce the egoistic illusion and obstruct the working of Kannon's Great Compassion in the Heart. It is not any human belief, but transferred Faith that enables us to overleap our existential impasse into the Void, which then proves to be not mere nothingness but the fullness of Reality, whence Kannon bestows the gift of fearlessness that can break down all barriers. Retrogression to a lower plane of existence is impossible once such sublime equanimity and transcendence of fear is granted by this Bodhisattva.