AustLit

Michael Ackland's Damaged Men (2001): 247 comments: 'The work's subject is 'the poet's pilgrimage from the self-power methods of Zen to the Other Power teachings of Pure Land Buddhism... and gives a trustworthy account of the defeats and triumphs through which he passed.' Barry Leckenby says Stewart 'wrote Old Walls in celebration of Kyoto and Amida. It is the poetic soul's 'lonely planet' guide to Kyoto, providing a testament to how he overcomes his spiritual doubt. The thirteen narrative poems, each accompanied by an expositional essay, capture the essence of the Pure Land teachings, following the poet amongst the temples, through the quiet lanes at sunrise, up the mountains and across the fields of Kyoto in search of Amida's Pure Land -the land of ultimate happiness beyond this cycle of birth and death.' Source: 'Keeping the Faith: The Narrative Metaphysical Poems of Harold Stewart', Journal of Shin Buddhism website, http://www.nembutsu.info/keeping.htm.