Buddhist Boom - a Catholic perspective
April 18th 2007 00:23
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There is no need to look East to find whatever you are seeking.
Apparently the allure of the wisdom of the East is fascinating to many.
It is spurred on by the visit of the Dalai Lama to the US this month.
Bill Burns, seemingly a re-committed Catholic speaks of the seduction to the Buddhist view of life in the following terms.
“The cosmology and psychology appealed to me in that it offered what I thought to be a freer mindset,” Burns said. “While Buddhism affirms many of the constraints on personal behavior that traditional Catholicism holds, it does so without the emphasis on personal sin.”
That is worth thinking about.
"Father Walter Kedjierski of St. Catherine of Sienna Church in Franklin Square, N.Y. “The first thing the Christian must do is recognize that Buddhism is Buddhism, not Christianity,” said Father Kedjierski, a student of Asian religion and culture who has written on evangelizing Buddhists. “Buddhists think in very different categories, process things in very different ways, and understand the spiritual in a way that is very different from Christianity.”"
"Anthony Clark, an assistant professor of Chinese history at the University of Alabama and a noted Catholic expert on Buddhism, urges Catholics to show respect but not receptivity. “As Catholics, we should not allow our respect to evolve into a belief of sameness,” Clark said. “We’re not the same.”"
"The Buddhist love of beauty, though, is a way to reach out to adherents of the Eastern religion, he said. “Bring to them peace and beauty, and they would be attracted to it and be converted,” Clark said. “[This is] one of the more important reasons to make the liturgy beautiful as Catholics. A beautiful liturgy is a way that we evangelize in the same way Buddhists do.”"
I am neither Buddhist nor Catholic but I find considering of all of these aspects fascinating but for a full record of the article and acknowledgement of its authors go to the following link
I do hope you enjoy discussion of these things, which seems to be important in an increasingly violent world.
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