The Good Heart: A Buddhist Perspective on the Teachings of Jesus

Reviewed by John B. Cobb Jr..

Journal of Ecumenical Studies

Vol.34 No.4

Fall 1997

 PP.580

Copyrighy by Journal of Ecumenical Studies
 
 




            
            
     
            This book shows the Dalai Lama's remarkable capacity to address 
            diverse audiences at just the right level. Here, speaking to and 
            with Roman Catholic meditators in the John Main Seminar of 1994, he 
            responds to passages from the Gospels that evoke somewhat similar 
            passages from the Buddhist scriptures. The virtues advocated are 
            quite similar. Jesus was "a fully enlightened being or a 
            bodhisattva" (p. 83). Nevertheless, Buddhism and Christianity are 
            deeply different in their metaphysics. The Buddhist principle of 
            interdependence makes it "almost impossible to have any room for an 
            atemporal, eternal, absolute truth. Nor is it possible to 
            accommodate the concept of a divine Creation" (p. 82). This reviewer 
            wishes that a Christian respondent had pointed out that the 
            doctrines that so sharply contrast with Buddhism are not in the 
            Bible. When Christian scripture is read with the vision of 
            interconnectedness in mind, instead of conventional philosophical 
            theism, its faith in God does not violate this Buddhist vision in 
            the way most theology has done. In any case, the Dalai Lama does not 
            discredit Christian teaching but seeks to understand and affirm its 
            spiritual power. Diverse temperaments and personalities need diverse 
            traditions. 
            A difference that is almost absent from these conversations is the 
            attitude toward history. History is much more important to the Bible 
            and to most Christians than to the Buddhist scriptures and most 
            Buddhists, a difference related to the centrality and absence of 
            God. However, the Gospel passages selected do not bring this out, 
            nor do the Catholic meditators. There are other differences that do 
            come through clearly but are not emphasized by the Dalai Lama as 
            differences. E.g., he finds Jesus' call to love enemies quite 
            similar to Buddhist teaching, but, in order to attain the needed 
            impartiality toward all creatures, effective meditational techniques 
            are needed. These are described in Buddhist scriptures but not in 
            the Bible. Because the audience for these remarks consisted of 
            persons who practice meditation, this difference is not highlighted 
            in these conversations, but most Christians understand faith, not 
            meditation, as the requirement for love, including love of the 
            enemy. The Dalai Lama notes the important place of faith in Buddhism 
            also, but this faith is grounded in reason and leads to further 
            analytic reason, which leads to liberation. 
            In addition to the translated transcription of the Dalai Lama's 
            talks and the questions and comments of the other seminar 
            participants, the book includes glossaries of Christian and Buddhist 
            terms and introductions to Christianity and Buddhism. It can be an 
            excellent text for dialogue groups that are ready to venture beyond 
            the first stages of mutual acquaintance. The spirit shown by all 
            participants in these conversations is ideal for authentic dialogue. 
            Our generation is fortunate to have a spiritual teacher of the 
            stature of the Dalai Lama in its midst.