Zen and the Bible:

...Robert E. Kennedy "NOTHING TOUCHES our hearts more than the words of someone who has actually experienced what he is talking about...

...Many of the Koans nudge the human mind past human thought and understanding...

...He explains that in their existential orientations both the Christian and the Zen practitioner experience that aspect of human reality which the Buddhist calls delusive passion and the Christian, the seven capital sins...

...not the same and not separate...

...Hereby the monk is led ultimately to experience that his life and the Buddha's- to the monk the Buddha is the absolute-are though "not the same [still] not separate...

...If we interpret the Father's intent in this manner, then we have no difficulty that the cross is the resurrection, and we even can see into the Zen Buddhist's mind-teasing phrase...

...He suggests, consequently, that the Zen practice which is a prayer of the whole body and which surpasses the kind of meditation that Christians traditionally have practiced should be practiced by Christians who should make it part of their prayer life...

...It is when the Christian and the Zen practitioner reach that transcendence of self, known only to the wise, (that is, they know the place where they stand: though "not the same, [yet] not separate' ' from the Absolute) mat they are led deeper into wisdom...

...Following metanoia/gedatsu, the "newly-turned" devotee, states Kadowaki, perceives that he must return to his true self only to abandon it with all his strength...

...For his part the Christian discerns that in submitting himself to the "awful" love of the Father, he becomes aware of a profound truth: the cross is the resurrection and the resurrection is the cross...

...The cross indeed is not the same as the resurrection, yet it cannot be separated from the resurrection...

...He quickly realizes too that the author is writing about prayer with the decisiveness of one who, according to his own description of the mystic or the enlightened one, has seen, has "passed the first barrier and . . . additional Koans," and has verified for himself that "all things have the same source...

...What directly connects these two (the cross and the resurrection) with 'is'," explains our author, "is neither the logic of theology nor an illusion created by emotional conjecture...

...He senses that these prayerful yearnings do indeed originate in God who is the very center of the Christian's own being...

...Early in the book the reader is readily convinced that Kadowaki writes from personal experience...

...I recommend it for those who are disposed to be permeated by the deepening silence of this austere but fruitful method.but fruitful method...

...In all things coming back to one, there is a holding on whereby even real gold loses its color, and in the one coming back to all things, there is the affirmative meaning of letting go whereby even the pebbles sparkle...

...The Christian purifies himself through metanoia, a positive turning of his whole mind and body to God, his source...

...Likewise, the Zen prac-tioner undergoes what he calls agedatsu, an overthrowing of ignorance and a returning to his true source...

...Instead, it is an examination of what Kadowaki learned from his dealings with both religions...

...Having sold everything, the Christian understands that he cannot cling to any understanding or feeling or imaginative theory he might have of God...

...That 'is' of the cross is the resurrection, is the God/man Christ himself who died on the cross and rose again...

...He concludes that such "imaginative" meditations are for the most part shallow and contrived...

...Even more significant, explains Kadowaki, is the structural resemblance of the way each devotee-whether Chris-tain or Zen-emancipates himself from these passions...

...It is Kadowaki's contention that the Bible contains divine mysteries and that it therefore can not be comprehended solely by the unenlightened reason and will...

...Throughout the book the author oftentimes implies that his objective is to lead the serious reader to that state of mind and harmony in which he can ''examine the place where (he) stands.'' Throughout his book, Kadowaki focuses on some important similarities he notes between Christian and Zen methods of meditation...

...The author concludes remarking that the Zen method of meditation could very well lead the Christian to that higher wisdom which the Church has always treasured-Sophia...

...Kadowaki intrudes at this solemn moment to qualify the new understanding of the Christian...

...This killing sword is precisely the life-giving sword: it enables those who finally see wisdom die the Great Death and come to life again...

...And for his part, the Zen practitioner faces the "awful" face of the Master Nansen who with a single stroke of a sword "eternally" destroys man's delusive passions by striking hard against all ludicrous arguments that portray the shallow and contrived nature of man...

...Zen and the Bible demands a great deal of the reader who will be richly rewarded by this experience...

...It is at this point on his journey to self-realization, exclaims Kadowaki, that the Christian draws near to the Zen experience described in a famous Koan: A monk asked Joshu that if "all things come back to the one, where does the one return to...

...Trying to help his students comprehend the notion of "distinction in equality" the Master Omori wrote: If we make all things coming back to one, the negative side, the dying the great death, then how about it if we call the one coming back to all things, the affirmative actualization of the Great Life...

...He notes further that both religions claim these passions/sins to be the result of man's having alienated himself from his true source...

...He eventually intuits that God is not an object opposite to him, and that, therefore, the Christian's prayer can no longer be speaking to God...

...The thrust of this book is neither history nor doctrine nor a comparative study of Zen and Christian theory...

...of Sophia University, Tokyo, apply to his entire book...

...Like Kadowaki I do not recommend Zen for every Christian, nor for every Buddhist for that matter...

...Though the expressions for this profound insight differ from one religion to the other, still, whether it be the "sell everything" of Christ or the "step forward from the top of a one-hundred foot pole" of a Buddhist teacher, the reality of the perception does not...

...These words of Father Kakichi Kadowaki, S.J...

...The Father allowed His only Son to die and with Him all men so that they might be raised again to a new life...

...Having discerned this, he discovers that prayer is the Holy Spirit speaking to the Father, and mat he, the Christian, is one with the act...

...hence they can be understood by the enlightened practitioners-those who have spent years in concentration and direction...

...What brings 'is' into being is the saving act of the Father and the Son...

...Hence he experiences himself truly as son...

...The Father, our author goes on to explain, who knew the deep-rootedness of man's sin, effectively smashed the wall between God and Man...

...he knows that his life and Christ's are, in the words of the Buddhist teacher, though "not the same [still] not separate...