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Buddhist-Catholic
Dialogue
by Thomas Ryan,
C.S.P.
About 75
Buddhists and
Catholics met
last October
9-12 to dialogue
on the theme of
"From Suffering
to Liberation".
Some of the
sessions took
place at the
Graymoor
Spiritual Life
Center in
Garrison, NY,
and some at the
Buddhist Chuang
Yen Monastery in
Carmel, NY,
about twenty
minutes away.
The event was
planned and
sponsored by the
National
Association of
Diocesan
Ecumenical
Officers and the
Buddhist
Association of
the United
States. (See box
adjoining this
article for the
history of
Buddhist-Catholic
Dialogue).
In her opening
remarks,
Buddhist
representative
Peggy Chang
noted that Pope
Paul VI set the
precedent by
opening formal
dialogue almost
forty years ago.
"As our
societies have
become more
globalized and
interconnected,"
she said, "the
international
effort to bridge
and understand
religions,
despite cultural
and dogmatic
differences,
increases in
importance. We
cradle the world
by our virtues
and values. When
the religious
leaders and
communities
acknowledge the
similarities
shared among
them, they
inspire others
to do the same.
Our differences
separate us, but
our humanity
shines through.
Ms. Chang noted
that
historically,
Catholic and
Buddhist
relations were
approached in
two ways. One
looked at their
differences, the
other look at
their
similarities.
Now, however, a
new approach is
developing. It
steps away from
the contrast and
comparison
analysis, and
focuses on
application-how
people of
different faiths
can effectively
initiate,
nurture, and
advocate social
change by
harmonizing
shared
principles
expressed in
values, virtues
and practices.
The well-known
Buddhist
monastic Thich
Nhat Hanh
describes this
approach as
"engaged
spirituality".
Both Hanh and
Trappist monk
Thomas Merton,
one of the early
pioneers in
East-West
dialogue, have
written on the
need to
integrate
contemplation
and
action-contemplation
as the
engagement to
deepen
understanding
and insight
within
ourselves, and
action as the
employment of
our virtues and
values for the
benefit of
others. Merton
found that both
faith traditions
manifested a
constructive,
creative,
reverence for
life, from which
springs the
desire to better
the lives of
those around us.
"Regardless of
whether we are
Buddhists or
Catholics,' said
Ms. Chang, we
possess
inherently the
will and heart
to help others
around us.
Through
dialogue, we
remind ourselves
of our own
humanity, and
this transcends
any difference
among us. Our
greatest
potential rests
in our capacity
to make
meaningful
change. This
potential is not
restricted to
any one
religious
community.
Instead, it is
found in all.
When we continue
to understand
each other from
this common
ground, we learn
to respect and
value each
community for
who they are and
what they
believe. We are
all human in the
eyes of our
religions, and
thus deserve
equal reverence
and respect.
"The evolution
of humankind
manifests itself
not only in
physical form,"
she reflected,
"but also in
spiritual
understanding.
When our
religious
communities
engage in
interfaith
dialogue, we
take a step
forth, together,
towards higher
understanding
and appreciation
of one another.
When we hold
others in equal
esteem, from
this common
grounding we can
act together to
resolve the most
pressing social
afflictions
today."
This was
precisely the
note Paul VI had
struck in 1973
in addressing
the Laotian
Supreme Buddhist
Patriarch: "The
Catholic Church
considers
Buddhism's
spiritual riches
with esteem and
respect and
wishes to
collaborate with
you to bring
about real peace
and the
salvation of
humankind. Both
require an
attitude of
detachment,
inner freedom,
truth, justice
and
benevolence."
The pope went on
to say that "our
intention in
Laos is none
other than to
love and serve
while sharing
the suffering
and hopes of
others."
In 1987, during
his visit to the
United States,
Pope John Paul
II sounded a
similar theme:
"To the Buddhist
community, which
reflects
numerous Asian
traditions as
well as
American, I wish
respectfully to
acknowledge your
way of life,
based upon
compassion and
loving kindness
and upon a
yearning for
peace,
prosperity and
harmony for all
beings. May all
of us give
witness to
compassion and
loving kindness
in promoting the
true good of
humanity."
In
interreligious
encounters such
as the one last
October, the
most poignant
moments often
occur outside of
the formal
sessions, in
direct, personal
conversations.
One evening
after supper, I
was taking a
walk with
Venerable Ji-Xing,
a senior monk at
Chuang Yen
monastery. "If
we were riding
together in an
airplane, and
the airplane
crashed," he
asked, "do you
think you would
go to heaven
because you are
a Christian and
I would go to
hell because I
am a Buddhist?"
"No," I said,
thinking of
Matthew 25 where
the Son of Man
comes in his
glory and
separates people
from one another
as the shepherd
separates sheep
from goats, "I
think God would
look at our
lives to see
whether we had
visited the
sick, fed the
hungry, welcomed
the stranger,
and clothed the
naked."
"Just so!" he
responded, "So
let us join
together in
serving the
well-being of
others-you
Christians
because you see
the image of God
in each one, and
we Buddhists
because we
recognize the
Buddha nature in
each one."
The spirituality
of dialogue
asserts that
dialogue is not
just about words
and talk, but
ultimately about
transformation.
Through the
process of
encounter, each
one is changed
in some way.
Sometimes it
comes at the
most unexpected
moments and in
surprising ways.
A story to this
effect
circulates from
the 1997
Buddhist-Catholic
Gethsemani
encounter. The
Dalai Lama, in
passing to the
dialogue room
through the
vestibule of the
monastery
chapel, always
stopped to bow
before the
Blessed
Sacrament. When
it came time for
him to leave at
the end of the
five-day
encounter, he
passed through
the chapel a
final time and
again bowed
toward the
tabernacle, and
then headed up
the aisle
towards the exit
door. As he
reached the
door, he turned
one last time to
the Blessed
Sacrament and
waved good-bye.
Now there was a
monk sitting in
one of the choir
stalls who
witnessed all
this and who
said afterwards,
that after years
of struggling to
believe in the
real presence of
Christ in the
sacrament, the
Dalai Lama's
simple,
spontaneous
gesture had
restored his
faith.
It is the
consistent
witness of those
who participate
in such
dialogues that
they are brought
to embrace more
deeply and
practice with
greater
awareness the
implications of
their own faith.
Thomas Ryan,
CSP, coordinates
the Paulist
North American
Office for
Ecumenical and
Interfaith
Relations in New
York City.
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