8/6/15

Yesterday was my first time back at B-. Since Fr. Michael is still in LA, Kathleen led the discussion, and almost everyone was there except Chris and Dorothy. We started with a printout of a short bio of Jean-Pierre de Caussade. Caussade was a Jesuit priest and mystic who focused on the importance of being in the present moment and surrendering ourselves to God: "If we have abandoned ourselves to God, there is only one rule for us: the duty of the present moment." In this, his approach was quite similar to Buddhism.

A lot of questions were raised during the discussion that I wanted to address but wasn't sure how to without using a lot of Buddhist concepts and terms, which I knew would be lost on many, so I mostly just listened. One issue was the purpose of being 'in the present.' From the Buddhist point of view, this is where the work of the meditator is done, where mindfulness can help us uproot our defilements and strengthen our skillful states of mind. It's also where we can cultivate the insights leading to the realization of Dhamma, truth, through sustained practice of meditative techniques and contemplation:

Monks, I do not say that the attainment of gnosis is all at once. Rather, the attainment of gnosis is after gradual training, gradual action, gradual practice. And how is there the attainment of gnosis after gradual training, gradual action, gradual practice? There is the case where, when conviction has arisen, one visits [a teacher]. Having visited, one grows close. Having grown close, one lends ear. Having lent ear, one hears the Dhamma. Having heard the Dhamma, one remembers it. Remembering, one penetrates the meaning of the teachings. Penetrating the meaning, one comes to an agreement through pondering the teachings. There being an agreement through pondering the teachings, desire arises. When desire has arisen, one is willing. When one is willing, one contemplates. Having contemplated, one makes an exertion. Having made an exertion, one realizes with the body the ultimate truth and, having penetrated it with discernment, sees it. (MN 70)

But what is Dhamma? In Buddhism, Dhamma is twofold. It refers to (1) the teachings/symbols pointing towards (2) a profound truth. That truth is an experience/way of perceiving reality that leads to a new mode of being and connection with the absolute; and that new mode of being is an existential transformation lifting us above the fear and suffering we experience through our ignorance and craving/clinging, the reality of things as they are when seen with a calm, clear, and ultimately selfless mind—a mode of being where, in the words of Caussade, we're able to "embrace the present moment as an ever-flowing source of holiness."

Although Buddhism and Christianity talk about this mode of being in different terms, I think they're talking about a similar experience, one that words are unable to fully express. And while people may argue over the language used in communicating the intellectual frameworks we attempt to build around this experience, this awakening or theosis, so that we can try to understand it and the means of achieving it, I suspect that they're arguing over the symbols rather than what they're actually pointing towards, whether it be the luminous mind of Buddhism or the presence of God dwelling within the temple of our bodies.

That said, it seems to me the Western Church has historically been suspicious of mystics and their approach to spirituality, opting instead for a more intellectual and legalistic one. But I agree with Karl Rahner, via Knitter in Without Buddha I Could not be a Christian, that "Christians will be mystics, or they will not be anything" (15), which I take to mean that an experience of God is essential for having a truly fulfilling spiritual life. And that experience, along with the insights that come with it, will in turn open us up to the truth underlying all religions, or as Knitter puts it:

I believe I have discovered something that I suspect characterizes religious experience in whatever tradition or historical context: the more deeply one enters into the core experience that animates one's own tradition, the more broadly one is enabled and perhaps moved to enter into the experiences of other traditions. The more deeply one sinks into one's own religious truth, the more broadly one can appreciate and learn from other truths. (215-16)

In essence, I truly believe that the message of the mystic is ultimately the same message of Jesus—a universal and unifying message linking us to God and to each other by means of which we "may come to share in the divine nature, after escaping from the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire" (2 Peter 1:4).