Interview with Fr. Gabriel Bunge

OrthoChristian: DOES ORTHODOXY NEED MONASTIC ORDERS? by Schema-Archimandrite Gabriel Bunge, Vasily Tsuper
Schema-Archimandrite Gabriel (Bunge) speaks about Catholic reforms, Orthodox tradition and the most important objective of monasticism

Meanwhile...

A New Book by Anthony Clark

CWR Dispatch: Can Catholics be Buddhist? New book compares Jesus and Buddha
Saying that Buddhism and Christianity lead to the same place,” says Dr. Anthony E. Clark, author of Catholicism and Buddhism: The Contrasting Lives and Teachings of Jesus and Buddha, “is like saying that two maps leading to different cities lead to the exact same city; this is nonsense.”

Susan Brinkmann on Mindfulness

CWR: Catholicism and Mindfulness: Compatible practices or contrary spiritualities? by Carl E. Olson
“The Church’s mystical tradition is rarely, if ever, addressed from the pulpit,” says Susan Brinkmann, author of a new book on the practice of mindfulness, “which leaves many vulnerable to being drawn into eastern forms of prayer that are not compatible with Christian prayer.”

Too Much Mind, Not Enough Heart?

Rod Dreher believes there are some similarities in the spirituality of Byzantine Christianity and Buddhism: Robert Wright’s Buddhism. Would Syriac Christianity have the same similarities? Byzantine monks are often the first to reject any sort of similarity as being only superficial.

St. Nicholas of Japan on Buddhism

St. Nicholas of Japan on Buddhism by Deacon Giorgi Maximov (print)

To What Purpose?

Catholics, Buddhists begin new round of dialogue.

Posted by Vatican Radio - English Section on Tuesday, June 23, 2015

The President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, said on Wednesday he...

Posted by Vatican Radio - English Section on Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Popular Buddhism

Courtesy of TED, of course.

Post by TED.

Zenit: Message to Buddhists on Vesak
"Witnessing to a Spirit of Poverty"

Zenit: Vatican Greetings to Buddhists for Vesakh

Vatican Greetings to Buddhists for Vesakh

"We Continue to Work Together to Build a Better World"

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 29, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is the message Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, sent to Buddhists on the occasion of the festival of Vesakh. The note is titled "Christians and Buddhists: Caring for the Planet Earth."

* * *

Dear Buddhist Friends,

1. On the occasion of the festival of Vesakh, I am writing to you and your communities worldwide to convey my own warm greetings, as well as those of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.

2. It gives me much joy to recall the positive relationships that Catholics and Buddhists have enjoyed for many years. I am confident that this foundation will serve to strengthen and deepen our understanding of each other as we continue to work together to build a better world not only for ourselves but also for the entire human family. Experience teaches us that dialogue fosters the desire within the person and the community to share the goodwill and harmony which already exists, and indeed to reach out ever more courageously to others, ready to embrace the challenges and difficulties that may arise.

3. Pope Benedict XVI, in his 2008 Message for the World Day of Peace, observed: "For the human family, this home is the earth, the environment that God the Creator has given us to inhabit with creativity and responsibility. We need to care for the environment: it has been entrusted to men and women to be protected and cultivated with responsible freedom, with the good of all as a constant guiding criterion" (no. 7). The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2008 as The International Year of Planet Earth. As inhabitants of the earth and believers, Christians and Buddhists respect the same creation and have a common concern to promote care for the environment which we all share.

4. Preservation of the environment, promotion of sustainable development and particular attention to climate change are matters of grave concern for everyone. Many governments, NGOs, multi-national companies, and research and tertiary institutes, in recognizing the ethical implications present in all economic and social development, are investing financial resources as well as sharing expertise on biodiversity, climate change, environmental protection and conservation. Religious leaders, too, are contributing to the public debate. This contribution is of course not just a reaction to the more recent pressing threats associated with global warming. Christianity and Buddhism have always upheld a great respect for nature and taught that we should be grateful stewards of the earth. Indeed it is only through a profound reflection on the relationship between the divine Creator, creation and creatures that attempts to address environmental concerns will not be marred by individual greed or hampered by the interests of particular groups.

5. On a practical level can we Christians and Buddhists not do more to collaborate in projects which confirm the responsibility that falls to each and everyone of us? Recycling, energy conservation, the prevention of indiscriminate destruction of plant and animal life, and the protection of waterways all speak of careful stewardship and indeed foster goodwill and promote cordial relations among peoples. In this way Christians and Buddhists together can be harbingers of hope for a clean, safe and harmonious world.

6. Dear Friends, I trust that we can promote this message within our respective communities through public education and our good example in respecting nature and acting responsibly towards our one common planet Earth. Once again let me renew my heartfelt greetings and wish you a Happy Feast of Vesakh.

Jean-Louis Cardinal Tauran
President

Archbishop Pier Luigi Celata
Secretary

John B. Buescher, Tibetan Buddhism inside out

Everything Is on Fire
Tibetan Buddhism inside out.
by John B. Buescher

Chun-Fang Yu, Some Ming Buddhist Responses to Neo-Confucianism

SOME MING BUDDHIST RESPONSES TO NEO-CONFUCIANISM

Chun-Fang Yu

Being asleep and unconscious

Why wouldn't being asleep or unconscious or in a coma be considered an attainment of the Buddhist ideal? Would not the response entail some sort of desire, striving? (At the very least consciousness and voluntariness, which would imply desire and striving.)

E-sangha

e-sangha

Introduced to me by muikhim...

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