Contemplative Dialogue

These papers were presented during a remarkable week of interfaith dialogue held at New Camaldoli Hermitage, Big Sur, California, June 25-July 1, 2000. The twenty papers which were presented at the Symposium are to be published as a book. Tapes of the talks are available at the Hermitage Bookstore.

By Thomas G. Hand, S.J.

Geographically the setting for the international symposium was both symbolic and naturally superb. Built on a mountainside rising up from the Big Sur coast the monastery looks down on the Pacific from an elevation of 1300 feet. Since it is a totally non-violent place, not only the redwood and oak trees, but also the quail, jays, foxes, deer and, hidden in the hills, even the mountain lions were our close companions all during the week. One truly symbolic element was that during the whole time we never once saw the ocean itself. Night and day it was covered by a sea of low-lying cloud. Sometimes the fog would rise all the way up to the monastery and make mystery of everything. In general, though, we were in the bright sun above the clouds. Only on the last morning did the deep blue ocean and the white breakers on the coast reveal themselves. The symbolism comes from both East and West. The East loves the "cloud sea" (Ch. yun hai; Ja. un kai). One of the special attractions of the Yellow Mountains in central China is the cloud sea and its sense of mystery. In the Judeo-Christian tradition the deepest mysteries of reality are in and above the clouds which veil our world. To rise into and above the cloud of unknowing is to ascend into higher, even the Highest Truth. All during the week of dialogue we were touching this Truth and being mutually enlightened. We were riding on the clouds of each tradition: Hindu, Buddhist, Daoist, Confucian and Judeo-Christian. Daoists often picture their fully realized sages, the Immortals, as riding the clouds. Each participant in the symposium was certainly elevated above our ordinary cloudy way of seeing reality by the enlightening energy of the group.

Another feature of the geography of the hermitage was an accurate metaphor of the event. Both physically and symbolically the background of the monastery stretches across the whole American continent to Europe and the Near East with its long tradition of Christian monasticism. In front, all the monastics and others gathered for the dialogue were facing across - the ."Peaceful Ocean"- to China, Japan, even to India and the whole East. This means that the representatives of the East-Hindu, Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian-were from their side facing West. This meeting was Pacific, broad and deep. When the first missionaries went and faced Japan they sometimes cast down the Buddhist "idols." Nowadays the idols that tumble are those of illusion and attachment, so as to reveal the purity of heart shining out from all spiritual traditions.

The depth of the dialogue was immensely promoted by the rich hospitality and profound liturgies of the Camaldolese monks. Also, the silent sitting we did together made us of one heart like nothing else. The energy of place, people and program was amazingly effective, to say the least.

The word energy is deliberately used to describe the movement of the dialogue. Energy, formed by Aristotle from en and ergein and meaning "at work", is appropriate because the Spirit was certainly at work in each presenter and in all the respondents and discussants. Using an Eastern word, the whole dialogue took place in the realm of (Ch. Xin, i.e. Hsin; Ja. Shin). The short discussion we had about how to translate this Chinese ideogram into English highlighted the quality of the energy movement and indicates how a person can best read these papers. They are to be read with one's whole hsin.

For many years hsin was usually translated as Mind (with a capital M). But anyone who knows Chinese or Japanese knows that this is too restrictive a rendering. Lately many translate it as heart/mind or even as psyche. The point is that hsin is an extremely big, all encompassing word. Besides meaning the physical heart and the vague "heart of a person", it also refers to all the interior faculties and activities of the human person: intuiting, conceptualizing, reasoning, willing, imagining and emoting of all kinds. This multiplicity of meanings is somewhat indicated in the Sino-Japanese term for psychology, hsin li hsiieh (Ja. shinrigaku), the study of the activities of the psyche. As the papers of this compilation were presented, all the powers of our psyches were activated. Academic as it was, the symposium was much more. The whole hsin (heart/mind) of each of us was touched and transformed.

These chapters can be read with academic eyes, but it is the hope of the Camaldolese Institute for East-West Dialogue and of all the members of the symposium that they be also read with the eye of the heart, in its full and rich meaning, and that lives will be re-shaped.

The general theme of the whole project can easily and surely carry us beyond the merely academic, valuable as it is. The theme was taken from the sermon on the mount, Blessed are the pure of heart, they shall see God. Purity of heart leading to contemplation speaks to the mind, heart, psyche and lives of every human being. It was certainly no mere coincidence that the symposium was held at a hermitage/monastery dedicated to the Imaculate Heart of Mary, and that it ended on this very patronal feast day itself. Another rendition of this title of Mary is the Most Pure Heart of Mary (Ch. chwen hsin; Ja. jun shin). This was the gift, to some degree, that we all returned home with. Our very psyches were purified and changed. Again, it is with this in mind that we offer this collection of papers on purity of heart leading to contemplation.

An interesting set of terms came out early in the week: intra-dialogue and inter-dialogue. The latter is that between two or more persons of different traditions, whereas intra-dialogue takes place within an individual as one seriously and openly studies and experiences both one's own and others spiritual practice and teaching. On the last day it was remarked' that the future of Christian spirituality is to be found in dialogue such as we had just had. It would seem that true and holistic dialogue is an important, even essential movement for the revitalization of all the spiritual paths of our global village.

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