Glocal Christianity

How (not) to Christianize Zen

Not so long ago I wrote some articles on Christian yoga. Firstly, in How (not) to Christianize Yoga, I outlined a basic methodology. Secondly, in Yoga Body Yoga Spirit, I outlined some specific challenges, namely, how we understand Spirit (pneumatology) and how we understand union with God (soteriology).

So, having stirred the pot on Yoga and Hinduism, I now what to turn my attention to Zen and Buddhism. To what extent can we Christianize Zen? Again, there are good ways to Christianize a non-Christian practice ... and there are not so good ways. Again we can find a multitude of less than inspiring examples. But before we begin, I have a confession to make, I am actually a former Zen Christian … of the distinctly syncretistic, mix-n-match kind. So when I say there are some "not so good ways", I cite my own inital practice as a prime example.

You see, when I converted to Christianity out of the New Age Movement some 16 or so years ago now, there was not much guidance available in those days. So I had to figure things out for myself, and I made many mistakes getting to that point. It took me some time to realize that any Zen, any dhyāna, any meditation, that can be authentically called Christian, will be grounded in Christ and Christ alone, before anything and everything.

Following this, in exploring Zen as Christians there is a sense in which we need to develop our own Christian Buddhology. In the same way Buddhists see the need to articulate a Buddhist understanding of Christ, Christians need to articulate a Christian understanding of Buddha. And here is the crux of it: if we seek to practice meditation in an authentically Christian way, the Buddha can never be granted the same authority as Christ. His perspectives may prove useful, but we cannot never hail him co-master, so long as we wish to remain Christ-centered that is.

That's enough for now, I'll return to this topic soon.

Listening to God, self and others

There are many ways to incorporate listening into your spiritual practice; here are three broad ways.

Listening to God. If prayer is a conversation with God then surly we should listen to God as prayerful as we talk to God? I often begin my prayers with the words of Samuel, "Speak Lord, your servant is listening." (1 Samuel 3:10) Some times I listen through scripture, lectio divina style, other times I just listen, simply listen. Not just in solitude either, it is also good to listen in the midst of action.

Listening to self. Of course, self awareness is an important dimension of spiritual practice too. In this I am guided by the words of the Psalmist, "Search your hearts and be silent" (Psalm 4:4) Listening to self is a journey into humility but also a journey into self discovery. You have a unique relationship with God because you are unique. Some personal contextualization is required here.

Listening to others. Then of course, we should listen to others. God challenged Cain, "Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground." (Genesis 4:10) We should not be deaf to the pain of this world. In practice this means listening to other cultures, including Christians from other cultures, and listening to other religions, including the irreligious. Listening is essential to loving.

The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism

This afternoon I had an interesting conversation with a good friend about "The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism", an anthology of Christian mysticism that has been fascinating him for some time now.

Reading the introduction I think I am now hooked too. Unlike some books on Christian mysticism, this book acknowledges that life transformion is more important for the Christian mystic than the peak experiences. It also acknowledges that we miss much of the Christian mystic tradition if we restruct ourselves to the language of "union" and "contemplation". When he finally finishes (he is REALLY chewing on this) I think I'll be keen to chew on it too.

So,

• What is your experience of Christian mysticism?

• Would you consider yourself a mystic?

• Would you like to explore mysticism some more?

Christ beyond our imaginations

In the New Seeds of Contemplation, Thomas Merton observes:

"Every one of us forms an idea of Christ that is limited and incomplete. It is cut according to our own measure. We tend to create for ourselves a Christ in our own image, a projection of our own aspirations, desires and ideals. We find in him what we want to find. We make him not only the incarnation of God but also the incarnation of the things we and our society and our part of society happen to long for." 

"Therefore, although it is true that perfection consists of imitating Christ and reproducing him in our own lives, it is not enough merely to imitate the Christ we have in our imaginations." (p155-156)

Meditation on Christ, therefore, should include the deconstruction of our own pseudo-Christs. It reminds me of the Zen koan, "If you see the Buddha on the road, kill him." It speaks of our propensity to cast idols in our own image rather than let God be God.

A Protestant Mystic Speaks

Nothing hath separated us from God but our own will, or rather our own will is our separation from God - William Law

How does Christian meditation differ from eastern meditation?

How does Christian meditation differ from eastern meditation? One answer that seems to be pretty popular amongst Christians these days is that Christian meditation is about “filling the mind” whereas eastern meditation is about “emptying the mind”.

But this answer has always struck me as overly simplistic, to the point of being downright misleading. I suppose it kinda makes sense if transcendental meditation is the only form of eastern meditation you know about. But there are forms of eastern meditation that involve complex visualizations, and even the most text-centred forms of Christian meditation involve emptying the mind of distracting thoughts, so there are too many exceptions for this to be a good guideline for every situation.

Drawing on my own experience, with both eastern and Christian meditation, I would suggest the more significant distinction is the different ends which they are directed towards. More significant than the different methods is the different motivations, more significant than asking “how” is Christian meditation is different is asking “why” Christian meditation is different. 

Quite simply, biblical meditation is NOT aimed at enlightenment.

Contemplation and Community

“Transformation into Christ is not just an individual affair:

                                there is only one Christ, not many.”

Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation, p156-157

Visualization in Meditation

In his masterwork, New Seeds of Contemplation, Thomas Merton (p154) writes:

“It is faith and not imagination that gives us supernatural life, faith that justifies us, faith that leads to contemplation … Imagination only enters into it accidentally. If you need to use your imagination in order to remind yourself of the Christ in whom you believe, go ahead and use it. But if you can exercise your faith in him without the bother of always conjuring up some picture of him, so much the better: your faith will be simpler and purer.”

As with all Christian practice, trust is far more important than technique, and who you are orientated towards is far more important than what path you follow.

Christian Meditation: It's About Relationship, Not Rules

Do you sometimes get frustrated that the Bible has no proscriptions for meditation practice? Here are a few comments from M. Basil Pennington's article, "A Christian Way to Transformation":

Periodically there are persons who make the rounds. They go to the ashram and learn what they can of the eight limbs of Yoga. They spend some time at the meditation center learning insight meditation. And then they knock at our door and ask, "What is your method?"

My usual answer is that our whole life is our method. As the early Christians expressed it, we have entered into "The Way." Our Master and Lord, who spoke of himself as "the Way and the Truth and the Life," coming from the fullness of the Jewish tradition, summed up his way in the two great commandments: "The first and greatest commandment is this: You shall love the Lord your God with your whole mind, your whole heart, your whole soul, and your whole strength. And the second is like unto this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." He went on to modify the second, saying: "I give you a new commandment: You shall love one another as I have love

This response, that our whole life is our method, usually does not satisfy insistent inquirers. They have found among the Hindus and Buddhists a seemingly rather concise method or practice and they are looking for the same among the Christians. At this point, insisting always that the practice must nurture a full pursuit of "The Way" and that outside of such a context it may well be fruitless in the deepest sense of that word -- we are to judge a tree by its fruit -- I tell our inquirers that our method is lectio.

Most striking about this Christian way to transformation is its simplicity. We have but to open ourselves to the revealing and all-powerful Word of God and he will do the rest. It is simple, but not easy. For such openness implies making time and space to hear. Making time is difficult enough in our busy lives. Making space in our cluttered hearts is more difficult, for if each day we do take the next step in faithfulness to his revealing word, in the end we will have to give up everything. But this is only in order to have the space to find everything, with him and in him, in all its potential fullness and magnificence, no longer bound by the confines of our limitations. In this way we come to live the first great commandment to love the Lord our God with our whole mind, our whole heart, our whole soul, and our whole strength, and the second, which is like unto it, to love our neighbors and the whole creation as we love ourselves in that first great love. It is to be wholly in "The Way," identified with the Way, who is the way to the Father in the Holy Spirit of Love.

I think this is very true. Christian meditation is about relationship, not rules; a person, not a practice. We can describe methods, but we can't proscribe them.

God Imitation

Thought for the day: Christian practice is about God imitation. But only where Christ imitation and God imitation are understood as being essentially the same thing.

Are we saved by God imitation? No! As God was focused on giving, so we should be focused on giving. We should not be focused on gaining anything through God imitation.

Esoteric Christianity versus Mystical Christianity

Ah, here's a guy who understands the difference between esoteric Christianity and mystic Christianity and can actually articulate it fairly well:

Esoteric Christianity is often, as in the case of this table, seen to be synonymous with Mystical Christianity. However, the fit is not quite exact. Esotericism is characterised by two main features: (1) an inner body of knowledge or interpretation of exoteric religious forms that were (2) taught to an inner group of students or practitioners. Mysticism, the practice of conscious personal communion with the Divine, can and is practiced by Christians who are not esoteric in the traditional understanding of that word and whom are not part of any inner tradition. Moreover, the majority of Christian mystics have never heard of Leadbeater and would be disturbed by much of his Christology which is reproduced in this table.

I commented on the same table elsewhere, as similarly, I feel it is unclear whether mystic Christianity should be labelled esoteric or exoteric under this schema, given that it is both orthodox and inner directed. You see, I'd quite happily accept the mystic label myself, but I'd feel very uncomfortable with an esoterical label (given the contemporary associations with reincarnation) but also with an exoteric label (given the contemporary associations with dry institutionalism). 

Christian Meditation - in theory and practice

I was recently asked for my thoughts on Christian meditation, from someone seeking a critical but sensitive response in order to introduce others to the whys and hows of Christian meditation practice. The reality is my commentaries on Christian meditation and mysticism are spead out over a number of threads and posts. Here's my (somewhat incomplete) summary.

Christian meditation threads
http://mattstone.blogs.com/glocalchristianity/meditation/
http://mattstone.blogs.com/journeysinbetween/meditation/
http://mattstone.blogs.com/journeysinbetween/god/

Christian meditation posts which raise some critical issues
http://mattstone.blogs.com/glocalchristianity/2008/08/faithful-mysticism.html
http://mattstone.blogs.com/journeysinbetween/2008/03/christian-medit.html
http://mattstone.blogs.com/journeysinbetween/2007/10/mysticism.html
http://mattstone.blogs.com/journeysinbetween/2005/06/trading_up_your.html

I realise that last post could have been more sensitive (in defence it is one of my early ones) but it raises the important point of integrating the actual practice of meditation with a biblical theology of meditation.

Have you had any experience with integrating theory with practice?

Missional Meditation

I expect this may sound like heresy to some, but I think the contemplative prayer movement needs to move beyond Celtic Christianity if its ever going to be truly missional in this multireligious and multicultural world of ours.

Its just too ethnocentric, too colonial,  and dare I say it, too Catholic.

More missional approaches to meditation are called for, and that means rethinking both our practice and our understanding of Christian and non-Christian meditation.

Love Meditation

Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love.

Psalm 48:9

Jesus in Every Breath

Stillness is worshipping God unceasingly and waiting on him. Let the remembrance of Jesus be present with your every breath. Then indeed you will appreciate the value of stillness…

John Climacus, The Hesychast