An eastern
religious practice on a more popular level is offered in the book of an Irish
Catholic priest: William Johnston, Christian Zen. The author starts from
basically the same place as the author of Christian Yoga: a feeling of
dissatisfaction with Western Christianity, a desire to give it a dimension of
contemplation or meditation. "Many people, discontented with old forms of
prayer, discontented with the old devotions that once served so well, are
looking for something that will satisfy the aspirations of the modern
heart." "Contact with Zen... has opened up new vistas, teaching me
that there are possibilities in Christianity I never dreamed of." One may
"practice Zen as a way of deepening and broadening his Christian
faith."
The technique of Japanese Zen is very similar to
that of Indian Yoga — from which it is ultimately derived — although it is
rather simpler. There is the same basic posture (but not the variety of
postures of Yoga), breathing technique, the repetition of a sacred name if
desired, as well as other techniques peculiar to Zen. The aim of these
techniques is the same as that of Yoga: to abolish rational thinking and attain
a state of calm, silent meditation. The sitting position "impedes
discursive reasoning and thinking" and enables one to go "down to the
center of one's being in imageless and silent contemplation" to "a
deep and beautiful realm of psychic life," to "deep interior silence."
The experience thus attained is somewhat similar to that achieved by taking
drugs, for "people who have used drugs understand a little about Zen,
since they have been awakened to the realization that there is a depth in the
mind worth exploring." And yet this experience opens up via new approach
to Christ, an approach that is less dualistic and more Oriental." Even
absolute beginners in Zen can attain "a sense of union and an atmosphere
of supernatural presence," a savoring of "mystical silence"; through
Zen, the state of contemplation hitherto restricted to a few
"mystics" can be "broadened out," and "all may have
vision, all may reach samadhi" (enlightenment).
The author of Christian Zen speaks of the renewal
of Christianity; but he admits that the experience he thinks can bring it about
may be had by anyone, Christian or non-Christian. "I believe that there is
a basic enlightenment which is neither Christian nor Buddhist nor anything
else. It is just human." Indeed, at a convention on meditation at a Zen
temple near Kyoto "the surprising thing about the meeting was lack of
any common faith. No one seemed the slightest bit interested in what anyone
else believed or disbelieved, and no one, as far as I recall, even mentioned
the name of God." This agnostic character of meditation has a great
advantage for "missionary" purposes, for "in this way meditation
can be taught to people who have little faith — to those who are troubled in
conscience or fear that God is dead. Such people can always sit and breathe.
For them meditation becomes a search, and I have found... that people who begin
to search in this way eventually find God. Not the anthropomorphic God they
have rejected, but the great being in whom we live, move, and are."
The author's description of the Zen
"enlightenment" experience reveals its basic identity with the
"cosmic" experience provided by shamanism and many pagan religions.
"I myself believe that within us are locked up torrents and torrents of
joy that can be released by meditation — sometimes they will burst through with
incredible force, flooding the personality with an extraordinary happiness that
comes from one knows not where." Interestingly, the author, on returning
to America after twenty years in Japan, found this experience to be very close to the Pentecostal
experience, and he himself received the "Baptism of the Spirit" at a
"charismatic" meeting. The author concluded: "Returning to the
Pentecostal meeting, it seems to me that the imposition of hands, the prayers
of the people, the charity of the community — these
can be forces that release the psychic power that brings enlightenment to the
person who has been consistently practicing zazeen." We shall examine in
the seventh chapter of this book the nature of the Pentecostal or "charismatic"
experience.
Little need be said in criticism of these views;
they are basically the same as those of the author of Christian Yoga, only less
esoteric and more popular. Anyone who believes that the agnostic, pagan
experience of Zen can be used for a "contemplative renewal within
Christianity" surely knows nothing whatever of the great contemplative
tradition of Orthodoxy, which presupposes burning faith, true belief, and
intense ascetic struggle; and yet the same author does not hesitate to drag the
Philokalia and the "great Orthodox schools" into his narrative,
stating that they also lead to the condition of "contemplative silence and
peace" and are an example of "Zen within the Christian
tradition" ; and he advocates the use of the Prayer of Jesus during Zen
meditation for those who wish this. Such ignorance is positively dangerous,
especially when the possessor of it invites the students at his lectures, as an
experiment in "mysticism," to "sit in zazen for forty minutes
each evening." How many sincere, misguided false prophets there are in the world today, each thinking he is bringing benefit
to his fellow men, instead of an invitation to psychic and spiritual disaster!
Of this we shall speak more in the conclusion below.
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