| Bede Griffiths |
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* Summary of paper presented at International Symposium 2000
Doubt: John Cassian, the Desert Fathers and Zenby Kevin Hunt In the meditative traditions of both the Zen Buddhists and the early Christian monastics the experience of doubt is encountered. The traditions, because of the different cultures from which they emerge articulate this experience in different ways. Both traditions developed methods to utilize this experience to further enter into the reality of their practice. In this paper I explore the writings of four of earliest authors who wrote on prayer and meditation. The first is the Life of Anthony written by Athanasius of Alexandria which served as a model for those who wanted to follow the new way of living as Christians. The Life was written shortly after Anthony died in 356 CE and was influential in spreading the monastic way of living the Christian tradition in both the Eastern and Western halves of the Roman Empire. Anthanasius portrays Anthony as the model Christian monastic who leaves the world of order to enter into combat with the demons who inhabit the world of chaos–the desert–to win from them that which had fallen under their control because of the sins of men. The second writing are the work of Evagrius Ponticus, the first Christian who attempted to develop a systematic way of meditation. His works–the Praktikos and the Chapters on Prayer–are one of the basic sources on Christian meditative practice although it is only in the past few decades that some of his works were recognized as belonging to him. Then looking at the Sayings of the Desert Fathers I explore how the teaching of Evagrius and the model of Anthony was made use of by the first Christian monastics. These Sayings are a compilation of the experience of the earliest Christian monks who lived in the Egyptian desert and written down in the fourth thru sixth centuries of the Common Era. There we'll see that both Anthony and, more especially, Evagrius are seen as practical examples of meditative practice. Finally I discuss the work of John Cassian whose writings became one of the primary documents of Western Christian monasticism by its influence on the Rule of St. Benedict. Benedict highly recommends the reading of the Conferences of Cassian for his monks in his Rule. This Rule for monks is read regularly; at least once a year in may monasteries, as common reading for those monks who live according to that Rule. We will see that doubt, under one form or other, is a constant in the life of prayer and meditation. As many modem meditators are disconcerted when they experience doubt there is much that we can learn that will be a great help in our own practice. Also, we can learn from the Buddhist tradition which utilizes the reality of doubt to enhance the way of meditation.
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