Christianity And Buddhism Research Paper Several Essay

Christianity And Buddhism Essay, Research Paper

Several times toward the terminal of Zen retreats we have made together, you

hold asked, & # 8220 ; But what does my Christianity attention deficit disorder to my Buddhism? & # 8221 ; And the

reply you received was, & # 8220 ; Nothing. It & # 8217 ; s all traveling the other manner right now. & # 8221 ;

I understand that incredulity about Christianity & # 8217 ; s & # 8220 ; adding & # 8221 ; to Buddhism.

Both of us know many fellow-Christians who are drawn to Buddhist pattern,

either because of an disaffection from the church, or, as I believe is true

for ourselves, because we find in the zendo something we believe we can non

discovery in the church.

I would non name myself a & # 8220 ; Buddhist & # 8221 ; ; even & # 8220 ; Buddhist-Christian & # 8221 ; has its

troubles. Although Thich Nhat Hanh has statues of Buddha and Jesus on

his communion table, the Dalai Lama has said that blending Buddhism and Christianity is

like & # 8220 ; seeking to set a yack & # 8217 ; s caput on a cow & # 8217 ; s body. & # 8221 ; Even Thomas Merton, who

did so much to further Buddhist-Christian duologue, says in Zen and the

Birds of Appetite that & # 8220 ; studied as constructions, as systems and faiths,

Zen and Catholicism don & # 8217 ; t blend any better than oil and water. & # 8221 ;

Despite these and other cautiousnesss, I believe that my attempts at Buddhist

pattern, and my reading in Buddhist literature, have subtly and

significantly influenced my Christian religion & # 8211 ; and, I would state, for the

better. In traveling from church to zendo and back once more, I know that I have

been able to react more and more & # 8220 ; heartily & # 8221 ; to the Gospel. It is non that

I have set up a parallel spiritual pattern ( no statues of Jesus and Buddha

side by side on my communion table & # 8211 ; no statues at all, come to believe of it ) , but in

& # 8220 ; Buddhist & # 8221 ; pattern I have somehow come place in a new manner to my Christian

religion.

What I have found in the zendo is a deeper silence than I expect to happen in

the church, at least in my life-time.

As you know, for Buddhists, particularly in the Zen tradition, the first measure

in & # 8220 ; merely sitting & # 8221 ; is to allow travel of all & # 8220 ; positions, & # 8221 ; that is, softly but steadfastly

to put aside all self-generated and not-so-spontaneous discriminating

judgements of right and incorrect, good and bad & # 8211 ; all judgements whatsoever, even

those which might do up & # 8220 ; Buddhism. & # 8221 ; ( This, I think, is the basic significance

of the ill-famed Buddhist pronouncement, & # 8220 ; If you meet the Buddha on the route, kill

him. & # 8221 ; ) I would non state that this & # 8220 ; emptying of the head & # 8221 ; is the kernel of

Buddhism, but Thich Nhat Hanh would surely set as the first measure for the

heedfulness pattern which is at the bosom of Zen life.

As our ain Empty Hand Zendo ( zen community ) manual describes it, & # 8220 ; Seated

speculation is the nucleus of our pattern. This involves working with the

organic structure, breath, and head, come ining into deep silence and hush, and

opening to a fresh consciousness minute after moment. & # 8221 ; In short, no & # 8220 ; positions & # 8221 ; to

be clung to here!

It is this silence that many of us, including practising Christians, have

experienced as a & # 8220 ; coming home. & # 8221 ; On one degree, holding set aside so much of

our usual hum, one might state that we have come place merely to ourselves,

or to what some folks would name our & # 8220 ; center. & # 8221 ; That is surely true, but

in the Buddhist tradition I think it would be more accurate to state that we

seek to go & # 8220 ; decentered, & # 8221 ; less concerned with ourselves and with the

judgements, strong beliefs, semblances, and biass that we so frequently use to

prop up those & # 8220 ; selves. & # 8221 ;

Raimondo Panikkar titled his major survey of Buddhism The Silence of God:

The Answer of the Buddha ( Orbis ) , and one of the things the Buddha was most

silent about was & # 8220 ; God. & # 8221 ; I think the Buddha has something to learn us on

that point. I was introduced at an early age into the tradition of

& # 8220 ; negative divinity, & # 8221 ; which stresses the bounds, or even the dislocation, of

all our constructs of God. And it is still a really of import portion of my

spiritual mentality. If anything, I have become over clip more positive that

our ecclesial garrulity, and particularly our all-too-facile & # 8220 ; God-talk, & # 8221 ;

can go a existent obstruction to personal religion. ( No 1 can state that we

haven & # 8217 ; t been cautioned about the dangers of garrulity. Equally early as the

3rd century, Origen warned that & # 8220 ; to state even true things about God

involves no little hazard, & # 8221 ; and Henri de Lubac emphasized that hazard once more.