“If one asserts that reality is fundamentally compassionate, then that should mean a certain thing and have certain implications.” – John S. Yokota
It is common place in Pure Land Buddhism to speak of ‘Amida’s Compassion’ but what does this actually mean? If we speak of Amida’s Compassion as an objective reality whilst imbuing the term ‘compassion’ with human feeling, then we run into problems of theodicy much like those found in the theistic religions. In other words we can’t talk skilfully to people who are suffering about Amida’s Compassion unless we can convey a clear sense of what is meant. Failure to convey the correct meaning will lead the person, understandably, to reject Amida’s Compassion as ineffectual or unreal.
The notion of ‘Compassion’ in the Buddha-dharma cannot and should never be understood separately from ‘Wisdom’. Or, to put it another way, compassion in the Buddha-dharma relates to the sharing of wisdom with beings. It is symbolised, for example, by the fact that after his awakening Shakyamuni Buddha decided not to dwell in contemplation but instead to go forth and teach beings about his experience.
Some senses of ‘Amida’s Compassion’ (there may be others):
(1) One sense of Amida’s Compassion therefore relates to what T’an-Luan calls the ‘Dharma-body as Compassionate Means’. As described in the Awakening of Faith Shastra it concerns the natural and unsolicited permeation into our defiled minds of the formless Dharma. It is an intuitive, subjective experience of an aspect of reality that dawns naturally – especially as we engage in contemplation and reflection.
(2) A second aspect of Amida’s Compassion relates to the Pure Land Sutras and their account of the making and fulfilment of Dharmakara’s Vows in the forms of the Name and Pure Land. This teaching gives us a framework in which to experiment with and examine the relationships between self and other, sincere wish and actual freedom to fulfil the wish, and so on. In doing so it brings us to apprehend and rely more fully on the afore-mentioned light and is therefore itself emotively (i.e. because of our joy and gratitude) experienced as the receipt of ‘compassion’.
(3) In the tension between self and other, wish and action, it is also increasingly realised that the self – far from being an independent entity – exists and takes its being on the ground of the Other. This is of course the realisation of co-dependent origination or other-power (tariki). As it is colloquially said amongst Shin followers; “we become aware of all that supports our existence”.
Though I think the last of these at times goes beyond subjectivity, and relates to a kind of non-dual state (in the case of the ‘one-thought moment of entrusting’), it is generally true to say that Amida’s Compassion needs to be understood subjectively. That said, however, in so far as the subjective experience of Amida’s Compassion – as Other-power – brings people to identify with other beings as themselves, and therefore physically act to help them, then Amida’s Compassion can become manifest in the world in an objective form.
(4) An interesting combination of subjectively and perhaps objectively experienced compassion may perhaps been seen in the case where other people –including teachers or Dharma friends – unwittingly allow us to glimpse the reality or truth of the Dharma through their natural way of living.
I wonder what people make of these musings? Have I missed out any other aspects of Amida’s Compassion, and what are the implications of such a delineation of the Pure Land conception of compassion? If we look at the example of a person, other than ourselves, who suffers a terrible, suffering-filled death, with neither mental nor physical solace being offered, where does this leave our notion of compassion? Are there places the Light of Compassion doesn’t shine (the teaching says the Light is ‘unhindered’), or must this situation be understood in the context of the cycle of samsara and/or the teaching of rebirth? And, if the latter, can the truth of change and the promise of future salvation transform or dissolve away the terribleness of that time bound moment of suffering?
Perhaps there are no answers to some of these questions beyond entrusting them to the inconceivable and transformative working of the Dharma, but I think it is sometimes good to ponder them so as to avoid falling into lazy notions of what Amida’s compassion means.
“Ikkyu sent the following koan to Rennyo: “Amida has no mercy since Amida only saves who says His Name”. Rennyo answered the koan with a poem: “There is no heart far from Amida, but a covered bowl of water covered cannot reflect the moon. “
Kyōshin
Jishin
