Zen, Christianity, and Koans

[bohonato]

from Heinrich Dumoulin, Zen Enlightenment: Origins and Meanings, trans. John C. Maraldo (New York: Weathermill, Inc, 1979), 76.

"It comes as no surprise, then, that advocates of Christian Zen look for Christian koans. H. M. Enomiya-Lassalle is convinced of the benefit of the koan for meditation and feels that for Christians certain problems arising from the Christian faith are suitable koan exercises, insofar as they are not rationally soluble. They can help one break through to higher states of consciousness. The Irish Jesuit William Johnston, who likewise lives in Japan, finds the Christian koan epitomized in the Bible. Many enigmatic passages in the Scriptures can become koans in his view. Johnston cites the beginning of the first letter to the Corinthians, then passages from the Gospels such as 'Let the dead bury the dead,' 'Who loves his life shall lose it,' or 'I am the grapevine, you are the grapes.' Indeed the entire Bible is a koan in Johnston's view, and he finds confirmation in a Buddhist monk who told his Christian friend that Christians too would gain enlightenment if they knew how to read their own Holy Scriptures."

(emphasis mine)

[gypsyjoker]

I need to read this one again
very interesting
I am responding from geezer memory at this point

the bit about
the fig tree
I rolled that one around in my thoughts quite a while with joel
or tried to
If I get to zen he seemed defensive

(to zen, I don't know what I mean, I guess too god less for joel he seemed to get defenses, go on about the sacred blood of Jesus and all that, I would back off, I wonder how joel is doing, probably busy with his new flock, I hope he has some cool old folks in it. )

okay I was saying about the fig tree,
there must be a koan in there somewhere when he cursed that tree.

I agree with this these sentiments one hundred percent BOho

he finds confirmation in a Buddhist monk who told his Christian friend that Christians too would gain enlightenment if they knew how to read their own Holy Scriptures

not only christians
my nephew calls himself a zen-judist.

my pockets full of irony
I knew it was sink or swim
The Humor of Christ by
Christ's humor is pretty ironic according to Elton Trueblood.

The woman at the well
another koanish bit

[bohonato]

I almost quoted another part from a little earlier in that same book as well with you in mind, so here it is now:

"In this context, Martin Buber's remarks on Chassidism and Zen Buddhism are of great interest. Buber was aware of the distinct character of the Zen way, and called the koan 'a genre absolutely peculiar to Zen'. But at the same time, he was deeply impressed by the resemblance he saw between Zen and Chassidism. Both contained for him 'legendary anecdotes' combined with a completely unique master-disciple relationship. In fact, some Chassidic tales might be taken for episodes in the koan literature. A disciple of Baalschem, for example, when asked what his deceased teacher considered most important, replies: 'Whatever he was just doing.' Or another disciple, asked what had been of upmost significance for his teacher, Rabbi Moschevon Kobryn, answers: 'At all times, whatever he happened to be doing.' A Zen disciple disciple might well have made the same reply."

Interestingly enough I was raised ELCA Lutheran (the same that Joel is a member/pastor of, I believe), and went to church at least once a week with my family. I was taught that the Bible was largely metaphorical, or at least that's what I thought they were teaching me. I find I don't have a lot in common with most Christians anymore anyway, religiously speaking.