Every once in a while, as I go about the reading and research that are part of my job, I come across a statement or a passage that touches my Buddhist-Christian heart. Here’s one of them, from literary critic Terry Eagleton. It captures, at least for me, the unitive, non-dual understanding of God as “no-thing,” [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Interfaith Dialogue’
A Buddhist-Christian Reflection on Pentecost
“To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. …. we were all given to drink of one Spirit.” I Cor 12: 7, 13 The Spirit is real. The Spirit is given as drink. Drink the Spirit. And let the Spirit manifest in me, as me. The Spirit needs me to [...]
“The appalling silence of the good people” – A Buddhist Dialogue with Martin Luther King, Jr.
In the New York Times of May 15, Michelle Alexander wrote an op-ed piece that hit me soundly in my Buddhist-Christian stomach. In her essay, she comments critically on a recent good news/bad news scenario: many politicians, including Republicans, are calling for a reduction of mass incarceration (good news), but not out of any concern [...]
How Does A Buddhist-Christian Feel About Osama Bin Laden’s Death?
So they “got him.” As someone who is trying to live by the Gospel of Jesus and the Dharma of Buddha, should I join the general dancing in the streets and jubilation in the media? I can’t. Yes, I feel a sense of relief – relief that a source of suffering and of violence is [...]
Obama and Interfaith: Multi-Religious Literacy through Multi-Religious Activity
President Obama has often been accused of not carrying through on promises or projects. That criticism would not apply to the promises he has made to make the White House’s “faith-based initiatives” into “multi-faith-based initiatives.” Back on June 8, 2010, I did a blog titled “We’ve Got a Friend: Obama and Interfaith.” It summarized a [...]
Guest Blogger: John Thatamanil on “Binocular Wisdom”
With this Guest Blog, I’m delighted to introduce the newest addition to the Union Theological Seminary faculty, a close friend, and a fellow “comparative theologian” and “double-belonger.” These are his reflections on “Learning from Multiple Religious Participation.” I am a Christian theologian who loves Buddhism. Unlike some who turn to Buddhism because of trauma from [...]
The Sitting Buddha and the Crucified Christ
One of the most difficult, and therefore one of the most promising, topics that came up in my recent conversations with Korean Buddhists a couple of weeks ago was embodied in the central images of our traditions: the Buddha sitting in quiet contemplation under the Bodhi tree and the Christ agonizing on the cross. There [...]
A Buddhist Response to Christian Fanaticism (written on a return flight from Seoul, Korea to New York)
For the past eight days, my wife Cathy and I have been rushing – or better, have been gently rushed – around the peninsula of South Korea as part of a project aimed at promoting a more fruitful dialogue between Buddhists and Christians. The seed of this venture was planted, and then nurtured, by my [...]
What is the “Something” that does not die?
Every day, the Tibetan school of Buddhism that I practice sends a “Glimpse of the Day” – a word from Buddha, you might say. The Glimpse for Oct. 14 deals with death – with the big question of what happens when I die: The fear that impermanence awakens in us, that nothing is real and [...]
Where the Heck Am I?
In a deep sense, that may be considered the key religious question: not so much, “Who am I?” but “Where am I?” The first question asks about the very nature of the self. The second seeks to understand the positioning of the self, suspecting that if we know where we fit in, or what we [...]
