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Press Release | Symposium Summaries

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM 

 Purity of Heart - Contemplation

A Monastic Dialogue between Christian and Asian Traditions   
Organizer: Camaldolese Institute for East-West Dialogue
Place:  New Camaldoli Hermitage
Date: Held June 25 – July 1, 2000 (Sunday through Saturday)

Papers:

  • General (1 paper)

  • Dialogue with Hinduism (3 papers)

  • Dialogue with Buddhism (10 papers)

  • Dialogue with Confucianism and Taoism (5 papers)

***
Participation: By invitation. 
(Including participants presenting papers and discussants)
(The organizer intends to publish the papers.)

Participants Presenting a Paper:

 Camaldolese: 

  • Fr. Bruno Barnhart, OSB Cam

  • Sr. Donald Corcoran, OSB Cam (Windsor, NY)

  • Fr. Thomas Matus, OSB Cam (Camaldoli, Italy)

  • Fr. Cyprian Consiglio, OSB Cam

  • Br. Bede Healey, OSB Cam

  • Fr. Joseph Wong, OSB Cam

 Benedictines/Trappists:

  •  Fr. Laurence Freeman, OSB (London, UK)

  • Sr. Mary Margaret Funk, OSB (Beech Grove, IN)

  • Br. Nicholas Koss, OSB (Taipei, Taiwan)

  • Fr. William Skudlarek, OSB (Fujimi, Japan)

  • Br. David Steindl-Rast, OSB (Pine City, NY)

  • Fr. Kevin Hunt, OCSO (Spencer, MA)

Scholars from Asian Traditions:

  • Rev. Norman Fischer (Green Dragon Temple, Sausalito, CA)

  • Rev. Taigen Dan Leighton (GTU, Berkeley, CA)

  • Dr. Francis Cook (Zen scholar/practitioner, Riverside, CA)

  • Rev. Heng Sure (Institute for World Religions, Berkeley, CA)

  • Dr. Martin Verhoeven (GTU, Berkeley, CA)

  • Pravrajika Vrajaprana (Hindu nun/scholar, Sta Barbara, CA)

  • Paul Crowe PhD Cand (Fung Loy Kok Inst of Taoism, Vancouver)

  • Prof. Liu Xiaogan (Taoist scholar, National U of Singapore)

  • Prof. Cheng Chung-ying (Confucian scholar, U of Hawaii)

Discussants:

  • Fr. Peter-Damian Belisle, OSB Cam (New Camaldoli, CA)

  • Dr. John Borelli (Interrel. Relations, NCCB, Washington, DC)

  • Sr. Pascaline Coff, OSB (Osage Monastery, Sand Springs, OK)

  • Fr. Tom Hand, SJ (Mercy Center, Burlingame, CA)

  • Fr. Thomas Hart, OSB (St. Vincent, Latrobe, PA)

  • Dr. Emily John (Evanston, IL)

  • Rev. Myo Lahey (Zen Mountain Center, Tassajara, CA)

  • Dr. Pat Mitchell (St. John’s Seminary, Camarillo, CA)

  • Steven Tainer (Institute for World Religions, Berkeley, CA)

  • Prof. James Whitehead (Loyola University, Chicago, IL)

Presentations - Discussions
Monday (June 26): On Hinduism

9:00 am

 Introductory Session -- Raniero Hoffman, Robert Hale, Joseph Wong, Heng Sure

11:00 am

 Thomas Matus -- “Heart Yoga: A Comparison of Two Texts, Pratyabhijna-Hridayam (Kashmir, 11c) and Kaivalya-darsanam (West Bengal, 19c).”

2:00 pm

 Pravrajika Vrajaprana -- “Regaining the Lost Kingdom: Purity and Meditation in the Hindu Spiritual Tradition.”

4:00 pm

 Cyprian Consiglio -- “The Space in the Lotus of the Heart: The Anthropological ‘Spirit’ in the Writings of Dom Bede Griffiths.”
Tuesday (June 27): On Buddhism
9:00 am William Skudlarek -- “Zazen as a Path from Judgment to Love.”
11:00 am Norman Fischer -- “Zen Songs: The Psalms as the Music of Enlightenment.”
2:00 pm Kevin Hunt -- “Doubt: John Cassian, the Desert Fathers and Zen.”
4:00 pm

Heng Sure – “Bowing and Samadhi: Purifying the Mind with Buddhist Bowing Contemplations.”
*8:00 pm James & Evelyn Whitehead – “Chinese Responses to Christianity Today.”
Wednesday (June 28): On Buddhism
9:00 am

Taigen Dan Leighton -- “Sacred Fools and Monastic Rules: Zen Rule-Bending and the Training for Pure Hearts.”
11:00 am

Nicholas Koss – “Mystical Experience as Text: The Literary Expression of Transcending in the Cloud of Unknowing and the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch.”
Thursday (June 29): On Buddhism/Taoism
9:00 am Mary Margaret Funk -- “Dialogue toward Purity of Heart.”
11:00 am Bede Healey -- “Purity of Heart and the Recreation of Desire.”
2:00 pm

Martin Verhoeven – “Glistening Frost and Cooking Sand: Unalterable Aspects of Purity in Ch’an Buddhist Meditation.”
4:00 pm Joseph Wong -- “Through Detachment to Vision: Chuang Tzu and Meister Eckhart.”
*8:00 pm Laurence Freeman – “The Way of Peace: A Dialogue with the Dalai Lama.”
Friday (June 30): On Taoism/Confucianism
9:00 am Liu Xiaogan -- “Taoist Tradition of Meditation: History, Transformation, and Comparison.”
11:00 am

Paul Crowe -- “Chaos: A Thematic Continuity Between Early Taoism and Taoist Inner Alchemy.”
2:00 pm

Chung-ying Cheng -- “A Confucian Theory of Human Self: Self-Cultivation and Free Will in Confucian Philosophy.”
4:00 pm Donald Corcoran -- “Benedictine Humility and Confucian Sincerity.”
Saturday (July 1): Impacts on Christianity
9:00 am Bruno Barnhart -- "Christian Self-Understanding in the Light of the East: New Birth and Unitive Consciousness."
11:00 am Concluding Session
* Informal Presentations


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