MURYOKO
'Infinite Light'
Journal of Shin Buddhism
Harold Stewart
Wisdom and Compassion
The Wisdom aspect of Buddhism ought never to be overemphasized at the expense of the aspect of Compassion: each should correct and counterbalance the other. Through a strict observance of the rules for the monastic Order our disturbing natural urges can be disciplined, and yet we may fail by too severe a suppression to cultivate and refine them, so that either they atrophy and die or else avenge their imprisonment and denial by open revolt. Thus the over-punctilious and hidebound ascetic can become crabbed and withered, a condition of arrested spiritual growth vividly portrayed in certain Mahayana statues and paintings of the Arhats who did not proceed to undertake the Bodhisattva Career but strove to attain 'liberation' for themselves alone. This may well explain why, after having failed to achieve Enlightenment by their own efforts during this lifetime, some Zen monks have turned in their final days or even hours to total reliance on the Other Power of Amida's Vows and the invocation of his Name with Faith, so as to ensure their posthumous Rebirth into a favourable state such as the Pure Land affords.