Exploring the intersection of Christianity and Buddhism, the author shares insights gained from over 25 years of engagement with Buddhist spirituality. Drawing on personal experiences in Buddhist countries like Sri Lanka and meaningful conversations with practitioners, the book highlights how Buddhism can provide valuable wisdom for addressing the challenges of a violent and fractured world. It advocates for a pluralistic approach to spirituality, suggesting that enriching one's understanding through diverse religious perspectives can lead to personal and communal healing.
In the last fifty years, Buddhists and Christians have come together in inter-monastic exchange, joint meditation retreats, dialogues concerning the relationship between meditation and social action, cross-tradition pupil/teacher relationships and joint academic explorations into the parallels between Buddhist and Christian spiritual practice. The practice of meditation has been important in all of these encounters and has become one of the most significant ‘grounds for meeting’ within contemporary Buddhist-Christian relationships. This book critically analyses the role in Buddhist-Christian encounter of the variety of practices embraced by the term ‘meditation’. The contributors use the academic tools of historical inquiry, sociology, cultural studies, philosophy and comparative textual study. The result is an interdisciplinary contribution, which takes the religious experience of those involved in Buddhist-Christian encounter seriously, without reifying it above its cultural and socio-political contexts. With contributions by: Ursula Baatz, Karl Baier, Thomas Cattoi, Elise DeVido, Sybille Fritsch-Oppermann, Elizabeth Harris, Leo Lefebure, John Makransky, Andreas Nehring, Thao Nyugen, Robert Sharf, Sarah Shaw, Elizabete Taivane, Nicholas Alan Worssam.
Would the dialogue between Buddhism and Christianity be changed if both religions seriously engaged with the insights of modern historical consciousness? Could there be greater honesty, openness and humility, or a greater commitment to a reciprocal search for truth, if this was done? This book focusses on five themes central to the issue of ‚history‘ in the two traditions: traditional conceptions of salvation and/or liberation history in Christianity and Buddhism; Jesus and the Buddha: fact and fiction; Buddhist and Christian historiography; ‚Dangerous Memory‘ within the histories of Buddhism and Christianity; Permitting historical consciousness in Buddhism and Christianity. With contributions by Eve-Marie Becker, Mark L. Blum, Rita M. Gross, Elizabeth J. Harris, Jan-Olav Henriksen, Armin Kreiner, Jude Lal Fernando, Robert Mayer, Terrance Merrigan, John O’Grady, Perry Schmidt- Leukel, Catharina Stenqvist, John S. Strong.
'Hope' is a contested term in both Buddhism and Christianity. For some Buddhists, the very mention of the word 'hope' smacks of a Christian rather than a Buddhist agenda - an agenda that is theistic and, by necessity, theological. For these, confidence in the teaching of the Buddha makes hope unnecessary. But is this the only Buddhist view and, if not, how have other views been articulated and lived? For Christians, hope is not an easy term either, in spite of its apparent centrality within the tradition. It is not optimism or the belief that life for the Christian will hold no difficulties. It is not the belief that humans can escape the consequences of their deeds through divine intervention. It involves confidence in God's promises but what does such confidence mean in a world threatened with climate chaos and corporate greed? The contributors do not hide the differences or the touching points between Buddhism and Christianity. They open up a dialogue that encourages mutual understanding between Buddhists and Christians, and, potentially, cooperation in working compassionately for a better world. With contributions by: Sathianathan Clarke, Mitsuya Dake, Sybille Fritsch-Oppermann, Richard Gombrich, Werner Jeanrond, Anthony Kelly, Sallie King, Peggy Morgan, Hiroshi; Munehiro Niwano, Justin Ritzinger and Notto Thelle.
