Two Wings

   I have been reflecting recently on this metaphor I had once read about in Master Sheng Yen's writings, about how the practice of Chan is like two wings on a bird. One of the wings represents the wisdom of letting go (or renunciation) while the other represents the compassion of embracing life and living beings. Are these two tendencies completely opposed to each other, or are they in fact complementary to each other?
     To give an example: if someone does something to me that I dislike, I might take the approach of wisdom and try to see what it is exactly that is bothering me. Most likely, what bothers me is not the actual person but the thoughts and images I connect with the person. If I go deeply enough into this idea, I will end up with the discovery that everything is just a kind of changing aggregate that comes together for an instant, but is no longer present in the next. In that sense, I am taking this 'who' and challenging it, to the point of wonder who is even observing the other person. This concept is fine, but at the end of the day, there are still people, just as there are still mountains as mountains, and rivers as rivers. So the question is, how can this awareness of the aggregate nature of things help arouse compassion?
    If I only stay with the notion that things are aggregates, I will end up with a perhaps nihilistic point of view, wondering if there is anyone to be compassionate toward. But this notion is necessary, because there is no enduring state of being. In a sense, I think contemplating the emptiness can help a person eliminate anger and greed. But if one is staying in that place, it may not arouse kindness or compassion. This is why it seems that there needs to be this other wing on the bird.
      I think the compassion comes when we take this aggregate experience and extend it even to the thinking subject. When I start to see that even this "I" is a bundle of changing aggregates, all I can do is let go of self-clinging and start to see the suffering that comes from all such self-clinging. But if I am only using this concept to negate others, it doesn't go far enough to knowing that even the thinking self is empty. At that point, the thinking itself starts to soften and there is an open space where there isn't a solid "me" or "you" anymore. Perhaps this could be the space of love, if you want to label it as such.