Exploring Chrisianity and Zen

7 of 7

by Colin Morley

Created on: September 02, 2008

Thomas Merton (1915-1968), a Trappist monk from the state of Kentucky and one of Catholicism's most respected writers and thinkers of the 20th Century, was a keen student of comparative religion.

Perhaps due to his heritage (his father was from New Zealand and his mother an American Quaker) and the circumstances of his early life (he was born in France and educated in both France and England) Merton took a wider view of religion and philosophy than many of his contempories, studying among other disciplines, the origin and practice of Zen philosophy.

Merton believed that aspects of Zen thought existed in all spiritual and creative experience, and explored, together with his friend and colleague Teitaro Suzuki (1870-1966), a Japanese practitioner of Zen Buddhism, connections between Christian mysticism and Zen.

In more modern times, the Japanese priest Misao Kawamata, who converted to Catholicism many years ago, continues to practice Zen meditation, and explains how meditation helped him on his journey to the priesthood while studying in America, with the aid of texts by the German (catholic) priest Hugo M Enomiya Lasalle (1898-1990).

Within the traditional Zen Buddhist tradition, Zen is seen as a pure means of attaining knowledge of the self through meditation, and independently of scripture, creed or doctrine. Thus it is seen by many Christians as a tool which can be used to achieve clarity of thought and need not be seen as alien to Christian or other religious traditions, but rather as an adjunct to spirituality.

Zen practioner Yamadi Roshi (1907-1989)
pointed out that "we all drink the same cup of tea, whether we call ourselves Christian or Buddhist. But from a Zen perspective, one notes that we seldom do actually drink our tea....we are lost in thought, doing several things at the same time, waiting for something more important or interesting to do! Our practice helps us to be "in the moment" and to experience fully, apart from words to describe its meaning."

Above quotation taken from http://www.zcoc.org/chstzen.htm

Further online reading about Christianity in a Zen perspective may be found at:

http://www.sotozen-net.or.jp/kokusai/friends/zf15 _1/feat.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen#cite_not e-mertonway-34
http://www.anweald.co.uk/zenchristiani ty/
http://www.whiterobedmonks.org/zazen.html