Monks in conversation

by L.D.L.

Christian Century

Vol. 113 No. 29 10/16/96

Pp.968-970

Copyright by Christian Century


In November 1968 Thomas Merton met for the first time with the Dalai Lama in northern India. Merton described the spiritual leader of Tibet as a "very solid, energetic, generous, and warm person, very capably trying to handle enormous problems--none of which he mentioned directly. There was not a word of politics. The whole conversation was about religion and philosophy and especially ways of meditation." While the conversation between these two monks was cut short by Merton's tragic death a month later in Bangkok, the Dalai Lama's interest in dialogue with Christian monastics continued long after his encounter with Merton. In 1993, at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago, the Dalai Lama and other Buddhist leaders met for a dialogue with the members of Monastic Interreligious Dialogue (MID), a board of Catholic monastics and their advisers who coordinate exchange programs with Buddhist monks and nuns. After this meeting the Dalai Lama expressed interest in continuing the conversation still further, and the result of his interest was a gathering this past July of about 50 Buddhist and Catholic monastics and teachers at Merton's own monastery, Gethsemani Abbey near Bardstown, Kentucky. In 1968 such a gathering would have been barely imaginable. An acquaintance of Merton, Basil Penning-ton, O.C.S.O., noted that his old friend would have been turning eartwheels at the thought of such an event. Never before had Buddhist monks and nuns and lay teachers gathered in the chapter room (the heart of the monastery, normally restricted to monks of the monastery) to discuss meditation and the interior life with Christians. Attending the conference, besides His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, were Buddhist leaders from both Mahayana and Theravada Buddhist countries, including Sri Lanka, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Kampuchea (Cambodia), Tibet, Taiwan, Korea and Japan. American Buddhists from the Theravadin, Zen and Tibetan traditions also attended. The Catholic voices included Benedictine, Trappist and Camaldolese monks and nuns from MID, as well as the advisory members of the board. The sole Protestant participant was Diana Eck, a United Methodist scholar who teaches at Harvard University and serves as a MID board adviser. We soon plunged into a discussion of meditation practices. Two questions brought to the surface deeply held convictions. A Catholic monk who had himself done Zen meditation pressed the "Mind" question by asking the Buddhists: "What is Mind?" For Mahayana Buddhists in particular, the question of Mind or the Buddha-Mind opens up the question of what is ultimately real and of what our true identity is. Buddhists were eager to share their perspectives on how our true mind is Buddha-Mind. In response, Christians wrestled with the questions of duality and nonduality in the Christian tradition: what does it mean for Christians to affirm that God is not some other finite reality "out there"? The second question involved the cross. Zoketsu Norman Fischer, a Zen Buddhist teacher of Jewish origin who is the co-abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center, commented on seeing the body of Jesus on the crosses in the monastery and asked Christians if they felt sad at seeing the suffering figure. One Christian after another came forward to express his or her understanding of Christ on the cross. Later in the discussions, Fischer stated that he greatly enjoyed chanting the psalms with the monastic choir at the vesper service, but he asked the Christians about the bloody, vengeful psalms that in graphic fashion call upon God to crush one's enemies. "What does it mean to pray such psalms?" he asked. Judith Simmer-Brown, an American Buddhist in the Tibetan tradition from the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado, pressed the question of how the death of Jesus could in any way be salvific: "I just don't get it." We struggled to explain this central aspect of our faith, reflecting on how to present the mystery of God's presence at the heart of suffering. On the Buddhist side, participants also went through a process of reflection in response both to the diversity of Buddhist perspectives represented and also to the presence of a Catholic monastic witness that resonated strongly with central values in their own tradition. For many Buddhists, this was their first in-depth encounter with Catholic monastics speaking from the experience of many years of personal prayer and meditation and from monastic traditions with long centuries of spiritual experience going back to the desert fathers and the scriptures. When Mary Margaret Funk, O.S.B., explained the Benedictine practice of lectio divina, a reflective, meditative reading of the scriptures, Buddhists responded by talking about the resonances of the sutras in light of meditation. Basil Penning-ton explained the practice of centering prayer, and Buddhists explained aspects of their meditation practice. Buddhists encountered a Catholic monastic environment that bore many similarities to their own. After hearing repeated references to the Rule of Benedict, Buddhists asked where they could find a copy of it. By the end of the encounter, several of the American Buddhists were considering writing a Buddhist commentary on the Rule. The setting was peaceful and serene, shaped by the rhythms of Catholic monastic life. But questions of violence surfaced repeatedly. The gathering was framed by the TWA crash and the bombing in the Olympic park in Atlanta. The presence of the Dalai Lama and of Maha Ghosananda (known as the "Gandhi of Cambodia," the supreme patriarch of Cambodian Buddhism, the founder of Inter-Religious Mission for Peace who has done extensive work for Cambodian refugees) was a vivid reminder of the unutterable sufferings of their respective peoples." Another frequent theme of the discussions was how to view and respond to anger. James Wiseman, O.S.B., of the Catholic University of America, chair of MID, explained that some Christian writers view all anger as a negative and unhealthy emotion, but Aquinas had seen anger prompted by injustice as proper. For most of the Buddhists, anger is a poison that arises from ignorance and is never wholesome, even though the energy generated by anger can be channeled constructively. But the Dalai Lama himself disagreed with the classical Buddhist perspective and suggested that anger inspired by injustice and enveloped by compassion can be wholesome and appropriate. At one point, Havanpola Ratanasara, originally from Sri Lanka and more recently from Los Angeles, stated: "I think we've talked enough about anger now. Let's move on to something else." But by my count, at least five more Buddhist leaders spoke about anger after that. The question of how to respond to violence took a poignant turn when Armand Veilleux, O.C.S.O., a French Trappist monk, shared his account of the recent kidnaping and martyrdom of the French Trappist monks in Algeria. He had flown into Algeria after the kidnaping as a representative of the Trappist order. After the military takeover and the beginning of Muslim fundamentalist violence against foreigners, the monks knew that their lives were in danger and discussed what to do. In their first vote, two monks favored staying in Algeria and the rest thought it wiser to return to safety in France. They did not, however, wish to make the decision by a majority vote. Seeking consensus, they decided not to debate or discuss but to pray silently for 24 hours and then take an anonymous vote. The second vote was unanimous: to stay. While Christians saw this as an act of courage and witness, a Buddhist participant stated that from a Buddhist perspective it might be more compassionate to leave such a situation to prevent one's potential killers from the bad karma (or effects) of murder. In reply, Dom Bernardo Olivera, O.C.S.O., the abbot general of the Trappist community worldwide, affirmed that the God of Jesus Christ is a God of mercy and compassion: "I fully expect to see the faces of the killers with me in Paradise." From the Buddhist side, Ghosananda, a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, offered a paper that was read by another participant about his work for peace. Afterward, a Japanese Zen monk, Eishin Nishimura, described his own journey to the refugee camps in Thailand some years ago. There was little for the Cambodian refugees to do in the camp; but the Zen monk noticed a makeshift Buddhist temple set up in one corner and in it, a single Buddhist monk sitting in meditation. Turning directly to Ghosananda, Nishimura exclaimed: "That man was you! My question is: What were you doing there?" Ghosananda replied: "I was making peace with myself so I could share it with others." When various Christians tried to draw Ghosananda out on practical questions of resistance to injustice, he refused to engage in detailed discussions of tactics and strategy and repeated the pithy wisdom of the Buddha to make peace with oneself. As the session ended, he who had led marchers for peace through war-torn Cambodia led us in silent walking meditation to the grave of Thomas Merton, where he stood alone behind the cross as we gathered around. While there were repeated recognitions of difference, the overall mood was of a harmony surpassing and enveloping our differences. Ratanasara repeatedly reminded us: "Don't mix the doctrines!" But when participants were asked to sit quietly and await a word to express their experience, Geshe Sopa, a learned Tibetan lama, proclaimed: "Unity." After the encounter had ended, a Korean Zen monk, Samu Sunim, stated that by the third day he felt at home in the Catholic monastery. Concerning the differences, which were real, he thought: "It's no big deal." He explained: "We tend to cling to topsoil, but when you reach the earth soil, it [the difference] doesn't really matter." ~~~~~~~~ By L.D.L. -------------------