Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

Avalokitesvara, when suddenly he made a vow:
"If what the books say about merits is true, then when I
throw up this printing block, may it stay up above my
head! If the truth is otherwise, may it fall down." So he
threw the carved block up into the air and immediately
there appeared the great bodhisattva Manjusri who
reverently received the block into both his hands. The
bodhisattva then addressed the good bhiksu, saying, "I
never left aside merits in my wisdom. I was never
parted from them. Go on, you should go on!" At that
moment the bhiksu attained to realization of sunyata.
This is a good story for us, and shows us that
Avalokitesvara, the great bodhisattva of compassion,
was never parted from wisdom, while Manjusri, the
mahasattva of wisdom, never left aside merits.
Some person may ask me, "I have not yet been able to
identify these two principles, so which way—that of
wisdom or that of compassion—should I practice first?"
I should answer in this way: if you have wisdom enough,
just follow the course of meditations found in this book.
If your wisdom is not sufficient yet to recognize these
meditations as the right way, then first engage in the
performance of many good deeds for the accumulation
of merits, after which you will get a great increase of
understanding.
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