Editor's Note - This is an excerpt from the August 2004 issue of the Buddhist Wheel

Compassion is one of the key words for living the Jodo Shin Buddhist life. Today, many people say that Buddhism is a religion of compassion, and that Buddhists must be compassionate. Thus, the term compassion is used often by Buddhists but sometimes inaccurately. The meaning of this term has to be accurately understood and used so that its power is appreciated.

The Japanese word for compassion is Ji-Hi. Ji is maitri in Sanskrit, which means “to give pleasure.” Hi is karuna in Sanskrit, meaning “to suffer with.” Compassion has the power to remove pain and to give comfort at the same time. This power to save others together with one’s self is derived from “wisdom,” the spiritual insight to see all things, including the self, as they are.

It was Nagarjuna, the Pure Land master in India, who first discussed the three kinds compassions: the small compassion, the medium compassion, and the great compassion. Small compassion (shoji-shohi) is a compassion cultivated by family members in the small sphere of family life among husband and wife, parents and children. This compassion is precious for everyone yet is limited in its work.

The second is medium compassion (chuji-chuhi), which is nurtured by priests in the Hinayana traditions. Cultivating a virtue of selflessness, one is not attached to the notion of self, so that his or her compassion is extended toward other human beings and living beings. Shinran Shonin might have pursued the medium compassion on Mt. Hiei as a monk in the Tendai monastery 800 years ago. But, he truthfully admitted that he was not able to practice this compassion consistently.

The third is great compassion (daiji-daihi), achieved by all of the Buddhas. Getting rid of attachment to all things that do not have their own substantiality, all Buddhas embrace all beings, whether they are wise or ignorant, good or evil, without any discrimination. With great compassion achieved, all Buddhas empathize with those in suffering and give true peace of mind and happiness to all.

As a young monk, Shinran Shonin aspired to achieve great compassion through such religious practices as the recitation of “Namu Amida Butsu.” However, he learned under Master Honen that the great compassion had been bestowed upon all through Amida’s compassionate call, “Namu Amida Butsu.” Shinran Shonin realized that when this compassionate call was heard or acknowledged, it became the entrusting mind of his inner being. He taught that this mind of entrusting, or Shinjin, appears as the saying of “Namu-Amida-Butsu,” which affirms oneness with Amida’s great compassion.

In Jodo Shin Buddhism, the term compassion connotes the power of Amida’s Primal Vow to liberate the devotee from the suffering of human existence. Such liberation is not attributed to any intentional act by the devotee. Nevertheless, once the great compassion of Amida is affirmed, the devotee embodies it in thoughts, words and deeds in his or her actual human life. The great compassion of Amida Buddha is expressed through the devotee’s “small compassion” or “medium compassion” toward others in his or her own life.

Each August, I remember my late grandmother as such a person who practiced “small compassion” in her effort to take care of her family members. When Hiroshima was devastated by the powerful atomic bomb in the morning of August 6, 1945, she and my mother were buried under the debris of a destroyed temple building but managed to get out of the wreckage and survived.

My grandmother saw her daughter-in-law coming home, sobbing, “Oka-san.” Due to the high heat of the atom bomb blast, my aunt had washed herself near a bridge. Her clothes as well as half her body were burnt. Seeing her daughter-in-law nearly fainting due to her injury, my grandmother shouted, “Hold on! I will not let you die.” She risked her own health for three days, and continued to take care of her daughter-in-law.

How strong is the power of compassion! What my grandmother expressed in her selfless efforts was “small compassion,” and the embodiment of the “great compassion” of Amida Buddha.

Let us wholeheartedly receive Amida’s great compassion. Let it be embodied in our thoughts, words, and deeds. Namu Amida Butsu.

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