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PRESS RELEASE
EAST-
WEST DIALOGUE AT NEW CAMALDOLI
The Camaldolese Benedictine monastery
in Big Sur was the site of a significant event in the continuing
conversation between Christians and representatives of the Asian
spiritual traditions.
From June 25 through July 1,
2000, thirty participants
exchanged the wisdom of their respective traditions on the subjects of
purity of heart and contemplation. This was the first major event held
by the Camaldolese Institute for East-West Dialogue. Among the invited
participants were monks, nuns and scholars from a variety of traditions:
Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian and, of course, Christian.
Participants traveled from Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, England, Hawaii,
Canada and various parts of the U.S. to attend the conference.
The program continued for five busy
days, with four separate presentations and discussions each day. The
conferences and discussions were carried on within the framework of the
daily monastic program of prayer and meditation. On one occasion,
evening prayer was celebrated in the form of an interfaith service,
combining readings from Eastern and Western traditions, and
incorporating the Indian ritual of arati, a native American
blessing of the four directions of the earth, and the chants of
Shantivanam. Shantivanam is the south-Indian ashram of Bede Griffiths,
the English Benedictine pioneer in Hindu-Christian dialogue, which
belongs to the Camaldolese congregation. Until now it has been primarily
Father Bede (who visited New Camaldoli several times before his death in
1993), his writings and his Indian-Christian ashram, which have
attracted the Camaldolese to the East-West Dialogue.
While Christian-Buddhist dialogue has
been going on continually in the decades since the Second Vatican
Council, a dialogue between Christian monastics and representatives of
the Chinese traditions of Confucianism, Taoism and Ch'an Buddhism is
only beginning. The Symposium was a significant forward step in this
direction. Professor Chung-ying Cheng, a philosopher currently teaching
at the University of Hawaii, presented a Confucian view of the human
person and the process of self-cultivation. Sr. Donald Corcoran, a
Camaldolese nun from Windsor, N.Y., made an original comparison between
central virtues in two traditions: Benedictine humility and Confucian
sincerity. Prof. Liu Xiaogan, from Singapore, told the group about
Taoist meditation and the process of transformation which it promotes.
Fr. Joseph Wong, a Chinese from
Hong-Kong, theologian and monk of New Camaldoli, was the organizer of
the symposium, and the Chinese presence, unusual in Christian-Asian
dialogue events until now, is due to his efforts and personal
connections. Fr. Joseph himself presented an interesting paper comparing
the relation of detachment to contemplative vision in Chuang Tzu and
Meister Eckhart.
Norman Fischer, former abbot of the
San Francisco Zen Center, presented to the delighted participants his
fresh zen-like translations of a number of the biblical psalms. Rev.
Taigen D. Leighton spoke on the theme of 'Sacred Fools and Zen
Rule-Bending', stressing the primacy of compassion in Zen Buddhist
cultivation of the person. Rev.
Myo Lahey, prior of the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, Buddhist neighbor
community of New Camaldoli, could be present for only part of the
Symposium but made some trenchant interventions.
Three participants, Rev. Heng Sure,
Dr. Martin Verhoeven and Steven Tainer, are members of the Institute for
World Religions in Berkeley. They presented teachings on Ch'an Buddhist
meditation and the practice of bowing as a way of purification and
contemplation. Heng Sure and Martin were the two monks who walked all
the way from Los Angeles to San Francisco on a bowing peace pilgrimage
in 1978. Rev. Heng
Sure also spoke to the group about the United Religions Initiative,
which was holding a foundational meeting in Pittsburgh and other cities
at the time of the Symposium.
Sr. Mary Margaret Funk, a Benedictine
sister from Indiana, Executive Director of the Benedictine board for
Monastic Interreligious Dialogue, and Fr. William Skudlarek, Benedictine
monk who is president of the same board, dramatized an imagined
conversation between Sr. Mary Margaret and Thomas Merton on the subject
of purity of heart. Merton had borrowed from the Islamic tradition the
term 'point vierge', or virgin point, for the deep place of divine
presence in the soul. The colloquy was a refreshing break in the series
of conferences and actualized in the middle of the gathering Merton's
spiritual vitality and sensitivity.
Hinduism was represented by three
papers. Pravrajika Vrajaprana, of the Vedanta Society community in Santa
Barbara, spoke on purity and meditation in the Indian tradition. Two
Camaldolese monks, Thomas Matus and Cyprian Consiglio, spoke on 'Heart
Yoga' and on Bede Griffiths' conception of the 'Spirit' in the human
person.
Fr. Laurence Freeman, Director of the
World Community for Christian Meditation and a Benedictine monk of the
Monastery of Christ the King, in London, recounted for the group the
history of a dialogue which began between the Dalai Lama and John Main,
founder of the Christian Meditation movement, many years ago. The
dialogue continues still between the Tibetan religious leader and
members of the meditation group.
The presence of Brother David
Steindl-Rast, monk of Mount Saviour monastery in New York and presently
a hermit, who has been a pioneer in Christian-Buddhist dialogue and
resided at New Camaldoli for many years, was appreciated by the many
participants who know him. Brother David had a long and intimate
involvement with the Zen Buddhist community in California. Through his
lectures, retreats, books and taped conferences, he has helped countless
people to rediscover a spiritual life.
Dr. John Borelli, Secretary for
Interreligious Relations of the
National Conference of Catholic Bishops, brought to the conference his
long experience both of studying and teaching the Eastern traditions and
of the East-West dialogue itself.
Fr. Tom Hand S.J., who spent years in
Japan and is now retreat director and spiritual teacher at Mercy Center
in Burlingame, contributed with gentleness and profundity to the
contemplative focus and climate of the gathering.
Fr. Bruno Barnhart, former prior of
New Camaldoli, brought the conference to a conclusion with a reflection
on the rebirth of unitive consciousness in Christianity as a fruit of
the contemporary dialogue with the Asian traditions.
Participants remarked on the freshness
and the lively energy they experienced during the week. Everyone seemed
to manifest a sincere interest in hearing about one another's
traditions. We are clearly in a new era.
The twenty papers which were presented
at the Symposium are to be published as a book. Tapes of the talks will
be available at the Hermitage Bookstore.
Bruno Barnhart
New Camaldoli Hermitage
62475 Coast Highway 1
Big Sur, California 93920-9656
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Camaldolese
Institute