[Buddha-l] Buddhism & American Christianity

[Joy Vriens]

Timothy C. Cahill wrote:

> I'm having difficulty finding anything that really addresses my topic (how
> Buddhism has affected modern American Christianity).  I have tons of
> resources for interreligious dialogue between Christians and Buddhists:
> finding similarities and differences, but nothing that actually addresses
> how/if Christianity has changed due to these new currents. 

The following letter by a German cardinal called Ratzinger could be of 
interest, considering his recent promotion.

Letter on certain aspects of the Christian meditation – Orationis formas 
(Epistula ad totius Catholicae Ecclesiae Episcopos de quibusdam 
rationibus christianae meditationis), October 15, 1989
AAS 82 (1990) 362-379; DeS 13 (1991)
OR 15.12.1989 [Ital.]; DocCath 87 (1990) 16-22 [Gall.]; EV 11, 
1668-1705; LE 5360; Dokumenty, II, 24

It shows that Christianity or more precisely Catholicism has not changed 
a bit, but uses the same negative dogmatic attitude against any form of 
prayer or meditation that doesn't contain the whole imagery of the 
Trinity as in the past against its own more mystically enclined currents.

quote:

12. With the present diffusion of eastern methods of meditation in the 
Christian world and in ecclesial communities, we find ourselves faced 
with a pointed renewal of an attempt, which is not free from dangers and 
errors, "to fuse Christian meditation with that which is non-Christian." 
Proposals in this direction are numerous and radical to a greater or 
lesser extent. Some use eastern methods solely as a psycho-physical 
preparation for a truly Christian contemplation; others go further and, 
using different techniques, try to generate spiritual experiences 
similar to those described in the writings of certain Catholic 
mystics.(13) Still others do not hesitate to place that absolute without 
image or concepts, which is proper to Buddhist theory, (14) on the same 
level as the majesty of God revealed in Christ, which towers above 
finite reality. To this end, they make use of a "negative theology," 
which transcends every affirmation seeking to express what God is, and 
denies that the things of this world can offer traces of the infinity of 
God. Thus they propose abandoning not only meditation on the salvific 
works accomplished in history by the God of the Old and New Covenant, 
but also the very idea of the One and Triune God, who is Love, in favor 
of an immersion "in the indeterminate abyss of the divinity."(15) These 
and similar proposals to harmonize Christian meditation with eastern 
techniques need to have their contents and methods ever subjected to a 
thorough-going examination so as to avoid the danger of falling into 
syncretism.

11.In the Middle Ages there existed extreme trends on the fringe of the 
Church. These were described not without irony, by one of the great 
Christian contemplatives, the Flemish Jan van Ruysbroek. He 
distinguished three types of deviations in the mystical life ("Die 
gheestelike Brulocht" 228. 12-230, 17: 230. 18-32. 22: 232. 23-236. 6) 
and made a general critique of these forms (236, 7-237, 29). Similar 
techniques were subsequently identified and dismissed by St. Teresa of 
Avila who perceptively observed that "the very care taken not to think 
about anything will arouse the mind to think a great deal," and that the 
separation of the mystery of Christ from Christian meditation is always 
a form of "betrayal" (see: St. Teresa of Jesus. Vida 12, 5 and 22, 1-5).
12. Pope John Paul II has pointed out to the whole Church the example 
and the doctrine of St. Teresa of Avila who in her life had to reject 
the temptation of certain methods which proposed a leaving aside of the 
humanity of Christ in favor of a vague self-immersion in the abyss of 
the divinity. In a homily given on November I, 1982, he said that the 
call of Teresa of Jesus advocating a prayer completely centered on 
Christ "is valid, even in our day, against some methods of prayer which 
are not inspired by the Gospel and which in practice tend to set Christ 
aside in preference for a mental void which makes no sense in 
Christianity. Any method of prayer is valid insofar as it is inspired by 
Christ and leads to Christ who is the Way, the Truth and the Life (cf. 
Jn 14:6)." See: "Homilia Abulae habita in honorem Sanctae Teresiae:" AAS 
75 (1983), 256-257.
13. See, for example. "The Cloud of Unknowing," a spiritual work by an 
anonymous English writer of the fourteenth century.
14. In Buddhist religious texts, the concept of "Nirvana" is understood 
as a state of quiet consisting in the extinction of every tangible 
reality insofar as it is transient, and as such delusive and sorrowful.
15. Meister Eckhart speaks of an immersion "in the indeterminate abyss 
of the divinity" which is a "darkness in which the light of the Trinity 
never shines." Cf. "Sermo 'Ave Gratia Plena'" in fine (J. Quint, 
"Deutsche Predigten und Traktate" Hanser 1955, 261).

http://www.catholicculture.org/docs/doc_view.cfm?recnum=2932