Priests and Priests: Walking the Buddhist and Christian Path

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Originally Posted by AlanLa

Depending on where you stand, the whole zen experience is in this thread/topic. If you stand in a place of devotion you see many mountains, or religions. If you stand in a place of criticism those mountains become rivers of thought or beliefs. And if you stand in a place of contemplation (zazen) it all becomes One Mountain, One Body.

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That's what I wanted to say...thanks Alan. Makes sense to me.

Gassho,

Seishin Kyrill

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Originally Posted by Kyrillos

What is happening on a larger scale thre is what happened with me, personally on a much smaller more personal scale; a genuine feeling of the sharing of monastic fraternity with someone of a different religion, that was at once familiar and welcoming, as well as practicable in the idiom I already understood. Once that is felt, there is a natural draw to learn how much more we share.

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I'm also drawn to similarities and common themes between religions.

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Originally Posted by AlanLa

...at the devotional level there is conflict between Buddhism and Christianity, hence your original question. But once you get to the contemplative level that conflict seems to go away.

Depending on where you stand, the whole zen experience is in this thread/topic. If you stand in a place of devotion you see many mountains, or religions. If you stand in a place of criticism those mountains become rivers of thought or beliefs. And if you stand in a place of contemplation (zazen) it all becomes One Mountain, One Body.

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Nice!

Article in Zen Friends Vol. 15, Ni.1 2004 P. 13 A Christian Zen Friend Misao Kawamata Catholic Priest

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Originally Posted by TomSchulte

Article in Zen Friends Vol. 15, Ni.1 2004 P. 13 A Christian Zen Friend Misao Kawamata Catholic Priest

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Hi Tom,

Is there a link?

Most of the Catholic Priests I know who are also Zen Practitioners are Jesuits, and most seem to be practitioners of Rinzai Zen or the mixed Rinzai-Soto Sambokyodan. (I wonder why not so much Soto Soto? Hmmm. Perhaps just historical fluke and one followed another in that direction.)

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Robert Kennedy, S.J., Roshi, is a Jesuit priest and Zen teacher in the White Plum lineage. He studied with Yamada Roshi in Kamakura, Japan, with Maezumi Roshi in Los Angeles, and with Glassman Roshi in New York. Glassman Roshi installed Kennedy as sensei in 1991 and conferred Inka (his final seal of approval) in 1997, making him a roshi (master). Kennedy Roshi is the author of Zen Gifts to Christians and Zen Spirit, Christian Spirit.... To date, Kennedy Roshi has installed six dharma successors...and Kevin Hunt Sensei, a Trappist monk from St. Joseph's Abbey at Spencer, Mass.

For the occasion of Fr. Hunt's installation, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., wrote:

"Because of the long preparation and training required to become a master of the demanding Zen training, Fr. Hunt's achievement is one that we can all celebrate in thanksgiving to God ... Jesuits and other Christians have found Zen to be a valuable instrument for progressing in the spiritual life. ... By coming to focus on the present moment through the practice of the techniques of Zen meditation, the Christian can become aware of God's immediate loving presence."

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http://kennedyzen.tripod.com/index.htm

Gassho, Jundo

SatToday

Let me feed your curiosity.

https://www.amazon.com/One-God-Clapp.../dp/1580231152

As for the gentleman in your post, I'm sure he practices the paramitas. If he does so earnestly, he should handle the three poisons including delusion. If you mean the western meaning of delusion, the Buddha told the parable of the poisoned arrow to reccomend becoming entangled in metaphysical speculation, not to say not to believe in something greater than yourself. Just don't let it turn you into a pretzel.

Gassho
Sat

I am a Zen Buddhist by choice, and I came to Treeleaf Zendo thinking I knew about meditation, not knowing. For about four years before coming to Treeleaf, I sat counting my breath scanning my body and sitting quietly with my breath to alleviate my arthritic pain. Now I just sit. And sometimes I return to these meditations. I observe the things I have learned in reading through the small amount I have done, and by observing and doing. For me I sit, and I am learning to sit often. I am learning not to announce on Facebook that I am a Zen Buddhist, but I've had to make that mistake a lot before that began to happen.

I've had to make many mistakes in my Shikantaza before even getting started, and I feel like I'm just getting started. I want longer sitting to be in my future. Like many I left fundamentalist Christianity at the age of puberty, and I toyed with main-stream Christianity until I found Unitarian Universalism and I'm still a part of this, and I sit with the help of folks at Treeleaf. AND Jundo says there is no bad sitting, and length of sitting time does not matter. I'm not a real Christian.

I know who Thomas Merton is, and I've read St. John of the Cross. I've memorized parts of poetry, but really, Shikantaza is my first formal introduction to actual meditation. I guess all this is unimportant. I sit Shikantaza, and I will continue to sit alone or with others. I'm not sure where my sitting will take me, and some people, Jr. Priests, and practitioners with much more sitting time, tell me that I have a lot to learn, that sitting in and of itself will lead me to more.

I'm a Christian, but only in that I look at some of the practices of Jesus as truth. I am at this time in my life a Soto Zen Buddhist, and Jundo and the other priests of Treeleaf are offering much. I'm told that I have much to learn. I'm 65.

Tai Shi
sat today
Gassho

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Originally Posted by Jundo

Hi Tom,

Is there a link?

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No link, Saw it in the reading rack at Cedar Rapids (IA) Zen Center Did look for it though.

Tai Shi, I have read before that sitting for longer than twenty-five minutes at a time is not necessarily beneficial, but sometimes harmful. Don't push yourself too much! Tackle longer sittings with intervals.

Gassho, sat today

What a lot of labels in this thread!

Doogie asks how one can be a Catholic priest and a zen priest.

I ask how I can be fat and on a diet.

It seems in both cases the answer is, "Like this."

Isn't the rest just the mind doing its gymnastics? "Gotta keep busy."