Posted on 07/14/2004 6:59:26 PM PDT by Land of the Irish
Fr. Kevin Hunt Installed as Zen Teacher On April 17, 2004, Fr. Kevin Hunt, OCSO, a Trappist monk of St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts, and a former member of the MID board, was installed as a Zen teacher (Sensei) in a ceremony held at the abbey. The installation was led by Fr. Robert Kennedy, S.J., who is the only North American Jesuit who is also a Zen Master (Roshi) and who served as Fr. Kevin’s teacher. The installation was witnessed by the abbot of St. Joseph’s and the rest of the monastic community as well as by over seventy guests, including Zen teachers and members of Catholic religious orders from around the country.
Fr. Kevin thereby became the first Trappist monk who is also a Zen teacher. In recognition of this unique event, letters of commendation were written by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and by Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, the superior general of the Society of Jesus. Fr. Kolvenbach wrote, “Many Christian have found Zen to be a valuable instrument for progressing in the spiritual life. By coming to focus on the present moment through the practice of the techniques of Zen meditation, the Christian can become aware of God’s immediate loving presence.”
Fr. Kolvenbach’s remarks reflect the commitment made by the Jesuits at their 34th General Congregation to foster dialogue with other religions, an activity that they called “a shared commitment to a transformation of the cultural and social life within which people live.” Noting that Pope John Paul II has wished to make interreligious dialogue an apostolic priority for the third millennium, Fr. Kennedy said that his work with Fr. Kevin was one way in which this priority could be carried out. He added that this installation ceremony points to “the unity and cooperation between the Jesuits and the Trappists as well as to the friendship and mutual esteem between Buddhists and Christians.” He also sees it as a continuation of the dialogue between Christians and Buddhists that has been fostered over the past half-century by persons such as Thomas Merton, himself a Trappist monk.
LOL!
ROFL!!!
Your Catholic Zen meditation for today.
Cloudy mountains, fold on fold,
How many thousands of them?
Shady valley road runs deep,
All traces of people gone
Green torrents, pure clear flow,
No place more full of beauty;
Birds sing my own heart’s harmony.
- Shih-Te (c. 730)
Disclaimer-Please keep in mind that words have no meaning and forget logic so you can interpret this any way you like. OOPS-forgot. Sola Zen scriptura is not Catholic tradition. Perhaps the good Zen Father can interpret it. ;O)
God grant us holy priests. Saint Pius X pray for us.
"By coming to focus on the present moment through the practice of the techniques of Zen meditation, the Christian can become aware of God’s immediate loving presence.”
I deal with the New Agers who constantly speak of the god within themselves and others who also use imagery and meditation groups to heal. It works.
It also reminds me every single moment of the day that I have to trust Jesus alone. I have to put everything before Him, accept what comes as from Him, and give him Lordship as a servant. It isn't easy but has become easier over the years.
Zen is also a way of communicating with the god-within.
As you already know, Karol Wojtyla has eagerly endorsed the construction of a heathen anti-Roman Catholic temple dedicated to the worship of pagan/false gods, as well as animals deified by Hindus, false writings of muslims, and every manner of heathen worship - on consecrated grounds at Fatima!!!
God give us holy priests. Saint Pius X pray for us.
Heh.
When broadsword used the term "Dorkmada", he wasn't referring to you. There are a few here that belong to an imaginary club they call the "Torquemada Gentleman's Club" or some such. The only requirement for membership seems to be a keen desire to bash the priestly Society of Saint Pius X.
I am glad I go into my small room, lock the door and close the windows and pray to my Lord. Reading and hearing such apostacy gets my BP even higher.
A day of reckoning is close at hand. Our Lord is a loving God but also a just God. Pray that He spare the Saints.
>>Many Christian have found Zen to be a valuable instrument for progressing in the spiritual life. By coming to focus on the present moment through the practice of the techniques of Zen meditation, the Christian can become aware of God’s immediate loving presence<<
I prefer to practice the presence of God according to the writings of Brother Lawrence. I find it far more direct and effective to continually communicate with God, instead of falling back on Zen techniques which were never intended to be used in a Christian context.
Christendom is filled with much thinking on prayer and meditation. Personally, I think it best to use what I find in it first before attempting to "fit" the practices of another religion.
LOL. "The loving presence of divine justice about to be executed." Yes, it would be very salutary for more Jesuits (and Trappists -- and the rest of the bunch) to experience that.
Dead wrong. Zen is a way of communicating the demons within. Zen is absolutely unable to lead you to God.
"Good and evil have no self nature.
Holy and unholy are empty words.
In front of the door is the land of stillness and light."
It is simply not possible to reconcile this kind of approach with Christianity, which is as diametrically opposite as it's possible to be, based as it is on the concept that Good and Evil DO have natures of their own and in fact are persons, and that holy and unholy are much more than empty words.
I know from personal acquaintance with some of these people that you're not far off the mark. However, it wasn't the smoking that addled their brains, but the psychedelics. They were mostly ex-hippies who had done a lot of acid. And then later, ecstasy became popular among them, because it fit in with the environment in which Zen meditation paralyzes your critical moral faculties and creates an ethic of "Everything is holy to the enlightened being."
methinks the Trappists have gotten into their reserve. The brew, that is.
"Zen is also a way of communicating with the god-within."
Ummm, yeah I know that. That's why the lower case g.
okay, okay - give the guy a motorcycle already - just get him out of here!:-)
Perhaps you communicate with the god-within, but there is no god in Zen. There is no god in any school of Buddhism. In Buddhism, if you have some cummunication with god, whether within or without, you are under an illusion. You must renounce all cummunication with god; you must renounce god. There is no god in Buddhism.
Why do you distort Zen in order to explain your experience of God?
There was a time when Christians would sooner die than spinkle a little incence to false gods sadly those days are long gone. (Sigh)
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