Christian Zen

When Christian Zen was first published in the early 1970's, it was reviewed enthusiastically in many parts of the world. A subsequent edition added new material from the author's experience. This latest edition, from Fordham University Press, includes a new Preface by the author and a letter to the author from the Christian mystic Thomas Merton, written shortly before Merton's untimely death. William Johnston presents a study of Zen meditation in the light of Christian mysticism.

This book is an attempt to contribute to interfaith-dialogue initiatives spearheaded by the Catholic Church with Zen, one of the major and fast-growing spiritual traditions in East Asia. In recent years, the Catholic Church has emphasized the importance of interfaith dialogue in its missionary activities and has encouraged all to take part actively. The number of conferences organized, discussions held, and articles written on interfaith dialogue has escalated. However, interfaith dialogue remains mostly in the realm of specialists. The majority of ordinary believers/laity have not yet become part of interfaith-dialogue activities. Many are unaware of such activities because often they don't take place where ordinary people spend their daily lives. Others shy away because interfaith-dialogue activities are too specialized. But Joseph's experience growing up in a multireligious context in India taught him that the participation of ordinary believers is necessary if interfaith dialogue is to achieve its intended results. Christian - Zen Dialogue focuses on narratives of faith in Christianity and Zen. Can these sacred stories--gospel stories of Jesus and Chan/Zen stories (K_ans)--be a starting point for dialogue between the two faiths? The book focuses on two aspects: First, what model of interfaith dialogue can help Catholics and Zen followers of all walks of life engage in faith dialogue while remaining in their own life situations? Second, how can they make use of the common elements found in their narratives of faith as the most appropriate starting point for dialogue between them? To achieve the intended results, Joseph applies the hermeneutic phenomenological approach of Paul Ricoeur.

The pursuit of the inner Christ mind appropriate for traditional Christians, New Thought advocates and spiritual seekers; an East/West spirituality is emerging.

A study of the Gospel of Thomas, exploring what Jesus was really like and what he stood for. It demonstrates that Jesus's teaching is akin to Zen, in that it has an emphasis on direct seeing rather than endless cognition.

A new revised edition of the classic title on Zen and Christian living. Zen Spirit, Christian Spirit is a study of the intersection between Zen Buddhism and Christianity. Robert Kennedy explores how Zen can help us to live deeper lives and how we can return from a study of Zen to a more profound understanding of Christian living and practice. "What I looked for in Zen," says the author, "was not a new faith, but a new way of being Catholic that grew out of my own lived experience and would not be blown away by authority or by changing theological fashion." Kennedy is unique in being competent in both Catholic and Zen practice and who responds to people who are drawn to this form of prayer and life. This is a refreshingly simple but also most beautiful book.

Brother Lawrence's famous work, The Practice of the Presence of God, is broken into bite-size pieces and paired with the writings of some of the greatest Zen teachers, from the Buddha to the Dalai Lama. The result sheds new light on this great Christian classic, offering profoundly practical insights for the spiritual life.

Robert Kennedy is one of three Jesuits in the world who answer to both the titles "Father" and "Roshi," or venerable Zen teacher. In 1991, after ten years of practicing Zen meditation, he was installed as a Zen teacher at the recommendation of his teacher, Glassman Roshi, and of Glassman Roshi's teacher, Maezumi Roshi. Today, he directs a dozen groups of people from many religious persuasions--even atheists and agnostics--who sit weekly in Zen meditation throughout the greater New York metropolitan area. This book is specifically addressed to the Christian practitioners of Zen meditation or those who are curious about it. It is structured around ten well-known ox-herding pictures that have been a consistent source of inspiration to Zen students for centuries. Each picture represents a specific Zen insight to life, and these insights, says Kennedy, are not only fully compatible with Christianity but can help Christians achieve the spiritual goals enshrined in a Christian classic. For example, "The Cloud of Unknowing:" to be silent and attentive, to be wholly present to life, to be able to separate one's true self from one's false self, the self-seeking part of the personality that so often brings on pain.

No prior knowledge of Zen philosophy is necessary for this reader-friendly guide, which offers Christians a way to incorporate contemplative practices into their lives without compromising their beliefs.