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What exactly is "Christian Zen"
Ive heard about it and I was wondering what exactly it is.
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Christian Zen - By William Johnston
Zen Center of Orange County - Christian Zen
Morning Star Zendo - Roshi Robert Kennedy -author of Zen Gifts To Christians, (Also a Jesuit priest)
I hope Zenmonk doesn't mind but I transferred these links from another post of his.... i hope you find them interesting NN.
Unfortunately, they don't seem to have transferred as proper links, so you'll find them here:
http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=392&page=3
Posts 27 & 28 onwards.... That should supply you with a fair amount of food for thought - !
I could be wrong - but there just seems like there are premises between the two basic teachings that make it hard to relate the two entirely.
-bf
Everything conditioned is relative. If it relatively increases positive mental qualities and decreases negative mental qualities, then it is relatively good for the individual to practice. Whether or not they ever reach a point that transcends the relative, the duality of conditional understanding, is a whole other story. It is up to each individual to open up their own awareness to that which is Unconditioned.
Jason
'Isn't it preferable to maybe consider the liaison of the two as a move towards a union of thought, and a joining and melding of ideas....and a cohesion of those that are the same or similar, and a quiet putting to one side of those which do not coincide, but rather push gently against one another, as the two 'positive' ends of two magnets.....?'
But Elohim was more precise.....:o
I'm just saying the premises of a jealous god that wants us to rely on him for our salvation doesn't seem to meld with some of the practices of Buddhism.
And if anyone can find a way that they incorporate both sets of teachings into something they can wrap their mind around and find peace - "Go for it", I say.
-bf
I'd entirely agree. It is not possible to be a Buddhist and believe in an omnipotent creator deity without doing an injustice to both traditions. I would though say that Christian Zen, whilst exploring Zen practice from a standpoint of a relationship with Christ, which is the essence of Christian Zen, like all Buddhist practice, eventually entails letting go of all belief and seeing into the true nature of things. That is the ground that is neither Christian nor Buddhist and can express itself freely through both traditions.
I have to agree that the two religions are not compatible in philosophy. That is to say that the majority of Christianity which is derived from the Proto-Orthodox thought of Paul is not compatible with Buddhism. The basic principles of daily living seem to be compatible though.
Is it possible to practice Buddhism and neither believe nor disbelieve that there is a "creator"? I struggle with Christianity because I can't manage the "faith" to believe in something that I can't get my head around. The trouble is, I can't get my head around the absence of a "creator" either, so I would find it hard to hold a "faith" that requires me to disbelieve it as well. The more I think about the question "Is there a God?" the less meaning the question seems to have.
That's a very good point. Look at it this way, you know that thunder is caused by natural conditions. You know that it's not a wrathful deity. There is no need to bring in any such deity and so the question of belief doesn't arise. There is no absence because it was not there to begin with. Nature gets along perfectly well without a man behind the curtain. The idea of God is just that - an idea, which is used to explain what is unknown. Buddhism is about knowing, not believing.
The only article of faith, if you want to call it that, in Buddhism is that others have awakened and you, as a human being, can do what they have done. The teachings, unlike most religious doctrines, are not to be believed but to be known and experienced. If you don't believe in Rebirth - fine, put it on the back burner until you know. If you feel that you don't know whether there is or is not a supreme being - fine, put that on the back burner too. Not being involved with belief doesn't mean pretending that one knows, or being dishonest about the beliefs we do have. Buddhism may not have anything to do with belief, but Buddhists as human beings do have beliefs. The difference is that we acknowledge not knowing, we acknowledge beliefs as beliefs, not as something known. So if you don't know something - trust that not knowing. There is no need to try and fill in the space of not knowing. That space actually has a lot of wisdom if we don't try to cover it up.