I don’t claim that Christians have some kind of advantage when it comes to morality. Long before Christianity, the Buddha set out a detailed ethical and moral Eightfold Path. The thing is that morality is not like a winter coat, that you put on when you’re cold and take off when you’re hot; it’s a much more intimate piece. When we have grown up with a particular form, it’s a part of us.

 

By Angel Roberto Puente

For decades I have been noticing the many Buddhist teachers who were raised Christian.

The amount of practitioners in the same situation is hundredfold. I’ve listened to the stories and can see that their rejection is directed toward the church. Nobody has ever said they rejected Jesus, the anointed. Anyone, who, like me, learned of Him in primary school will always carry the imprint. First love is difficult to forget.

It takes a lot of determination to stand outside the orthodoxy of the church like Martin Luther did. It also necessitates diving deep into the teachings of Jesus to really discern the truth about them. The truth that you won’t hear from the established church.

The methodology that would allow for this direct connection with Jesus is lacking in the church. Buddhist practice closed the gap.

After World War II, Catholic priests that were stationed in Japan became interested in Zen.

Hugo Enomiya-Lassalle (1898–1990) a survivor of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, became a student of Harada Daiun Sogaku Roshi. Harada and his successor Yamada Kōun Roshi were open to teaching Christians. Starting with them, a long list of Zen teachers was produced both in America and Europe. Later, the Taizan Maezumi, White Plum lineage authorized other Christians as Zen teachers.

The consensus among all these teachers is that, as Enomiya-Lassalle first argued, “Zen was not a religion but a ‘pre-religious’ human experience—a purely physiological and psychological method that prepared the soul for ‘divine union.'”

This was in line with what Yamada Kōun Roshi was famous for saying, “I do not want to make you a Buddhist. I want to empty you in imitation of your Lord Jesus Christ who emptied himself and poured himself out.”

Several notable Zen masters and teachers have commented that Christians, particularly those with a background in contemplative prayer or religious life (priests and nuns), advance quickly and have kenshō quicker than other students. They consider the structural similarities between Christian contemplative prayer and zazen is relevant. Even for practicing lay Christians, Zen insights manifest quickly, because they are not starting from zero in terms of moral or spiritual discipline.

A lack in Zen practice is being remedied with the Brahmaviharas, or four sublime states that are being reintroduced. I see this and think, “I learned that in kindergarten.”

The language people choose to express the ineffable is very personal. Buddhist language is fine if we can really master it. Christian language is not very dissimilar in meaning when we deepen our understanding.

But do not fool yourself. The words are not the experience. The “emptying” that Yamada Kōun speaks about and the “divine union” Enomiya-Lassalle prepares for are indescribable. You can just as well remain silent and just live it. I do not envy the teachers who try to communicate about it.

I don’t claim that Christians have some kind of advantage when it comes to morality. Long before Christianity, the Buddha set out a detailed ethical and moral Eightfold Path. The thing is that morality is not like a winter coat, that you put on when you’re cold and take off when you’re hot; it’s a much more intimate piece. When we have grown up with a particular form, it’s a part of us.

Carl Jung would say,”One cannot simply ‘become a Buddhist’ because the religious and psychological framework is too deeply rooted in a different cultural and historical context.”

But we can all come to recognize the emptying. For that we don’t need Buddhism or Christianity or any belief at all—we only need right zazen. After all, the fruits of this emptying: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, have to come from within.

They are not a cape to sling over our shoulders.

 

Photo: Pixabay

Editor: Dana Gornall

 

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