Christian "Emptiness"

[frankbeenaround]

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In 1999 I came back to the Church after an absence of 35 years. During much of the “time away” I investigated Buddhism – first Zen, then Theravada, then the Vajrayana of the Tibetans. So, a lot of traveling in abroad.

In returning to Catholicism I brought certain elements of the Dharma with me: most important, the truth of impermanence, and of “sunyata”, or emptiness. That is, emptiness of any fixed, permanent selfhood. Recently I came across this quote from a work by Thomas Merton. It seems to frame the sunyata concept in Christian terms, and beautifully so. The quote in below.

Peace, All

~ Frank

"The conviction of one’s “self” as a static, absolute and invariable reality undergoes a profound transformation and dissolves in the burning light of an altogether new and unsuspected awareness. In this awareness we see that our “reality” is not a firmly established ego-self already attained that merely has to be perfected, but rather that we are a “nothing”, a “possibility” in which the gift of creative freedom can realize itself by its response to the free gift of love and grace. This response means accepting our loneliness and our “potentiality” as a gift and a commission, as a trust to be used – as a “talent,” in the language of the parables. Our existence is then at once fearsome and precious because radically it belongs not to us but to God. Yet it will not be fully “His” unless we freely make it “ours” and then offer it to Him in praise. This is what Christian tradition means by “obedience to the Word of God.”​

Merton & Hesychasm: The Prayer of the Heart & the Eastern Church (The Fons Vitae Thomas Merton series) by Gray Henry, Jonathan Montaldo and Bernadette Dieker (Jan 1, 2003)

 

[Grailseeker]

I have read and enjoyed the works of Thomas Merton (including his translation of Chuang Tzu). I also read “Christ the Eternal Tao” by an Eastern Orthodox monk named, I believe, Damascene. The “Philokalia” and “The Way of a Pilgrim” were also quite good. The eastern perspective offered in these works and that of Dom Aelred Graham’s “Zen Catholicism” were very interesting and in some cases quite enlightening but they must be read with a discerning eye and I would never recommend these works for anyone not already thoroughly grounded in orthodox Catholicism.

 

[fpesce]

.
In 1999 I came back to the Church after an absence of 35 years. During much of the “time away” I investigated Buddhism – first Zen, then Theravada, then the Vajrayana of the Tibetans. So, a lot of traveling in abroad.

In returning to Catholicism I brought certain elements of the Dharma with me: most important, the truth of impermanence, and of “sunyata”, or emptiness. That is, emptiness of any fixed, permanent selfhood. Recently I came across this quote from a work by Thomas Merton. It seems to frame the sunyata concept in Christian terms, and beautifully so. The quote in below.

Peace, All

~ Frank
[/QUlOTE]

I would definately devote more time to reading the Word of God (Holy Bible) with guidence from the Holy Spirit, He will guide you to all truth. From there you will receive the power to overcome all evil with love. The Holy Spirit will guide you from “Glory to Glory”. No, more ups and downs. No more joy to depression then joy, just joy and more joy. Glory to God forever! Amen.

 

[Grailseeker]

Yes, the Holy Catholic Church, embracing Sacred Scripture and Sacred (Apostolic) Tradition, transmits the fulness of the Faith and the Holy Spirit opens our hearts to receive and to act on those profound teachings of the Church. And I find that my understanding of the Church’s wisdom has benefited significantly from certain things I learned from Merton and Graham. An eastern perspective that is in line with the teaching of the Magisterium is a definite boon. I am very happy that you are back in the fold and I believe your experience may benefit many others.

 

[Vouthon]

Dear Frank,

Thank you for your thread. I have long been interested in Buddhism as a philosophy. I personally think that, provided it is done sensitively and in clear avoidance of syncretism that would be offensive to both Buddhists and Catholics (the integrity of our different faiths), that Indian and Chinese philosophical systems can be an excellent medium for expressing the timeless, revealed truths of Christian faith just as Greek philosophy was to the Early Church Fathers.

Blessed Pope John Paul II stressed this in an encyclical.

“…In preaching the gospel, Christianity first encountered Greek philosophy; but this does not mean at all that other approaches are precluded…My thoughts turn immediately to the lands of the East, so rich in religious and philosophical traditions of great antiquity. Among these lands, India has a special place. A great spiritual impulse leads Indian thought to seek an experience which would liberate the spirit from the shackles of time and space and would therefore acquire absolute value. The dynamic of this quest for liberation provides the context for great metaphysical systems. In India particularly, it is the duty of Christians now to draw from this rich heritage the elements compatible with their faith, in order to enrich Christian thought…”

***- Blessed Pope John Paul II, FIDES ET RATIO, 1998 ***

On “emptiness” in general, Blessed Jan Van Ruusbroec taught that when the memory, will, intellect and all the faculties of the soul are emptied of their powers through a kind of self-forgetfulness during contemplation, God comes to fill the void with Himself, with his “divine resplendence” which is akin to the “Uncreated Tabor Light” of God which the Hesychasts speak of:

“…Here reason
no less than all separate acts
Must give way,
For our powers become simple in Love;
They are silent
And bowed down in the Presence of the Father.
And this revelation of the Father
Lifts the soul above the mind
Into the Imageless Nudity.
There the soul is simple, pure, spotless,
Empty of all things;
And it is in this state of perfect emptiness
That the Father manifests His Divine radiance.
To this radiance neither reason nor sense,
Observation nor distinction,
Can attain.
All this must stay below;
For the measureless radiance
Blinds the eyes of the reason,
They cannot bear the Incomprehensible Light.
But above the mind,
In the most secret part of the understanding,
The simple eye is ever open.
It contemplates and gazes at the Light
With a pure sight that is lit by the Light itself:
Eye to eye,
Mirror to mirror,
Image to image.
This threefold act makes us like God,
And unites us to Him;
For the sight of the simple eye is a living mirror…”

- Blessed Jan Van Ruusbroec (1293 – 1381), Flemish mystic & Augustinian priest

Perhaps the above could be reinterpreted through a Buddhist lens while not changing it dogmatically (as with Greek philosophy)?

John of the Cross also refers to emptiness of the faculties quite frequently:

“…God greatly esteems having brought them to this solitude and emptiness of their faculties and operations, that He may speak to their heart, which is what He ever desires. If you only wait upon God with loving and pure attentiveness (detach the soul from everything and set it free) God will feed your soul for you with heavenly food, since you are not hindering Him. When God brings the soul into that emptiness and solitude where it can neither use its faculties nor make any acts, it sees that it is doing nothing and strives to do something. Therefore it becomes distracted and full of aridity and displeasure. Although it is doing nothing, it is nevertheless accomplishing much more than if it were working, since God is working within it. The deep caverns of sense, with strange brightness, give heat and light together to their Beloved. ‘Together’ because the communication of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit in the soul are made together, and are the light and fire of love…”

***- Saint John of the Cross (1542 – 1591), Spanish Carmelite mystic & Doctor of the Church (The Living Flame of Love) ***

On this uniquely Catholic “emptiness” Ruusbroec and John of the Cross clearly experienced the same thing, even though they employ different language.

 

[frankbeenaround]

Dear Vouthon,

Thank you for the very beautiful, wise quotations from John of the Cross and others (I particularly like John-Paul II’s observations on the spirituality of India).

And these thoughts of your own:​

“I personally think that, provided it is done sensitively and in clear avoidance of syncretism that would be offensive to both Buddhists and Catholics (the integrity of our different faiths), that Indian and Chinese philosophical systems can be an excellent medium for expressing the timeless, revealed truths of Christian faith just as Greek philosophy was to the Early Church Fathers.”​

I’m not sure if I’m guilty of syncretism or not. The basic Buddhist teachings on impermanence, suffering, emptiness, virtue, meditation, etc.are still very much a part of me. My reason for returning to the Church, inasmuch as I have at all, is my love of the Mass and the Eucharist. I missed them very much during my 35-year absence. But I can’t honestly say I have literal belief in the teachings. For me, the Catholic path is overwhelmingly symbolic, representational, metaphorical – except for the experience of the Eucharist and, of course, acts of love and charity, and penance as both sacrament and practice.

Thank you again for your good thoughts and the words of John of the Cross an others.

Peace,

~ Frank

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[Daedalus761138]

In Mahayana Buddhism, sunyata is a tool to mysticism, a negation of all concepts There may be similarities with certain mystical theologies in Christian tradition - for instance Eastern christianity has a high regard for negative or apophatic theology similar to Buddhist philosophy. However, the Christian faith has different presuppositions about reality, that everything is impermanent is not necessarily one of those.

What I find important about Christian mysticism isn’t tools or techniques like apophatic theology, but the emphasis on person and relationship as fundamental to reality, and love as the creative and redeeming force at work in the world (whereas Buddhism can often take a negative view towards love).

 

[Forkfoot]

OMG what an awesome thread!

I too left the faith to immerse myself in Eastern teachings, and keep feeling pulled back to the Eucharist, and to Mary. It perplexes a lot of the folks I’ve met in spiritual enlightenment discussion forums that I’ve been going to Mass and the Perpetual Adoration chapel around the corner of late, but I see no conflict between what I’m doing and what I’ve realized. At a certain point the apparent conceptual contradictions between the various traditions just started looking irrelevant and uninteresting to me. People can thump their Bibles and Catechisms and vedas and suttas about it all they want; life just watches it come and go with a smile and a nod.

 

[Gary_Sheldrake]

So, it seems that a number on this thread have integrated some form of eastern spiritualism into their thinking. How might any of this have changed your understanding of your relationship to God, and the world around you, or has that remained the same?

 

[Forkfoot]

So, it seems that a number on this thread have integrated some form of eastern spiritualism into their thinking. How might any of this have changed your understanding of your relationship to God, and the world around you, or has that remained the same?

It’s changed both radically in my case. Not that Catholic spiritualism couldn’t have done the same thing; it’s not what the eastern teachings *say *that effected the change, it’s the experiential reality that they point to. Coulda probably happened from within the Christian contemplative tradition too.

 

[Gary_Sheldrake]

It’s changed both radically in my case. Not that Catholic spiritualism couldn’t have done the same thing; it’s not what the eastern teachings *say *that effected the change, it’s the experiential reality that they point to. Coulda probably happened from within the Christian contemplative tradition too.

Thanks Forkfoot. In what ways did it change your thinking about God and your relationship to God? Did you have a set view or perception of God beforehand and then have something of a different view afterward, or did that remain the same? For instance, do you see a more integrative relationship between the organic world and it’s creative force, or do still perceive them as separate?

 

[Forkfoot]

I don’t think I’m comfortable talking about that here, but you can PM me if you wanna talk about that stuff.

 

[frankbeenaround]

Yes, the Holy Catholic Church, embracing Sacred Scripture and Sacred (Apostolic) Tradition, transmits the fulness of the Faith and the Holy Spirit opens our hearts to receive and to act on those profound teachings of the Church. And I find that my understanding of the Church’s wisdom has benefited significantly from certain things I learned from Merton and Graham. An eastern perspective that is in line with the teaching of the Magisterium is a definite boon. I am very happy that you are back in the fold and I believe your experience may benefit many others.

I’m not sure I know what “the fold” is anymore, I mean in any formal, organizational way. The real thing is very personal and doesn’t fit exactly into anybody else’s trip. In a general way, okay – “Catholic”, “Muslim”, whatever. But it’s uncomfortable to sit inside a box, constantly reminding oneself that you’re right and the others aren’t quite, or at all.

During the years I was away from Catholicism I accidentally (providentially?) happened onto Zen and then the larger field of Buddhism and got a taste of non-faith-based, mostly experiential religion and common sense. It was a very powerful,a revolution for me, with a minimum of symbolism, abstraction, etc. It consisted mainly of group meditation, work and mindfulness practice. Every experience had strong and/or subtle physical elements, with the beauty of ordinary things that a busy mind misses. Of course, in back of the whole thing were some very conceptual Buddhist teachings, but in Zen at least these were not the main business, and I never got any organized, specific Dharma teaching from Zen. But there’s plenty of it with the Tibetans and with the Theravada Buddhism of South Asia.

Peace,

~ Frank

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[Forkfoot]

I dig the buddhist emptiness teachings cuz they seem to effectively steer clear of a lot of the traps and conceptual sticking points other enlightenmenty teachings are so rife with, like identifying as awareness or the Absolute or chasing after some lofty, special future state. They point very clearly to what’s here and now in a way that can be seen by anyone and everyone and not just a rare few who are lucky/holy enough to “get it”.

 

[frankbeenaround]

I dig the buddhist emptiness teachings cuz they seem to effectively steer clear of a lot of the traps and conceptual sticking points other enlightenmenty teachings are so rife with, like identifying as awareness or the Absolute or chasing after some lofty, special future state. They point very clearly to what’s here and now in a way that can be seen by anyone and everyone and not just a rare few who are lucky/holy enough to “get it”.

Here’s from the Thomas Merton quote that opened this thread last week:

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“In this awareness we see that our “reality” is not a firmly established ego-self already attained that merely has to be perfected, but rather that we are a “nothing”, a “possibility” in which the gift of creative freedom can realize itself by its response to the free gift of love and grace.”

---

For me this is a sensitive, beautifully-put theistic parallel to Buddhist emptiness and the non-existence of any permanent, personal selfhood (in Buddhism there’s no self to “save” for eternity or even a moment). Merton’s version is subtly different. There’s a mysterious movement of freedom – not so much of an ego or entity but a possibility that comes to awakening via love and grace. So, the deepest spirituality begins if I put aside my soul-saving project with its emphasis on sin, pardon, religious exercises, etc., and begin to enter the quiet where a “gift of creative freedom” can find its place.

~ Frank

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[Grailseeker]

If you have not read “Christ the Eternal Tao” you may find it to your advantage to do so. If you do read this and have handy a good translation of the Bible (such as the RSV 2nd Catholic Edition) as well as a copy of the Tao Te Ching (John Wu has a very readable translation) I think you may find it very enlightening.

 

[frankbeenaround]

If you have not read “Christ the Eternal Tao” you may find it to your advantage to do so. If you do read this and have handy a good translation of the Bible (such as the RSV 2nd Catholic Edition) as well as a copy of the Tao Te Ching (John Wu has a very readable translation) I think you may find it very enlightening.

Sounds good, Grailseeker. I’m looking into it. Reader reaction at Amazon are interesting. I tend to be suspicious of “Tao” oriented books because so much fuzzy stuff has been written in that department, but this could be different. Thanks.

~ Frank

 

[Michael_Mayo]

Self emptiness is probably one of the most important spiritual cocnepts across religions. Decline of self-ishness and growth in self giving, whether in contemplation or in action, is the heart of surrender.

Our own understanding of ourselves is especially prone to aberation. Who I think I am is most likely a long way from who God intends me to be. I must be willing to get go of it.

 

[Forkfoot]

“First, there is a self-forgetfulness which is so complete that it really seems as though the soul no longer existed,”

-Quote from The Interior Castle, chapter 3

 

[Vouthon]

“First, there is a self-forgetfulness which is so complete that it really seems as though the soul no longer existed,”

-Quote from The Interior Castle, chapter 3

Wonderful quote from St. Teresa.

Compare:

“…When will this sort of elevation be felt that, inebriated with divine love, the mind may forget itself, making itself like a broken vessel…? To lose yourself, as it were, like one who has no existence, and to have no self-consciousness whatever, and to be emptied of yourself and almost annihilated, belongs to heavenly not to human love. It is deifying to go through such an experience. As a little drop of water, blended with a large quantity of wine, seems utterly to pass away from itself and assumes the flavour and colour of wine, and as iron when glowing with fire loses its original or proper form and becomes just like the fire; and as the air, drenched in the light of the sun, is so changed into the same shining brightness that it seems to be not so much the recipient of the brightness as the actual brightness itself: so all human sensibility in the saints must then, in some ineffable manner, melt and pass out of itself, and be lent into the Will of God. How will God be all in all if something human survives in man?. …”

***- Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153), Catholic mystic, Cistercian abbot & Doctor of the Church ***

And:

“…We should abide within ourselves: there we feel that the Spirit of God is driving us and enkindling us in this restlessness of love. And we should abide above ourselves. And then we feel that the Spirit of God is drawing us out of ourselves and burning us to nothingness…that is, in the Superessential Love with which we are one, and which we possess more deeply and more widely than all else. This possession is a simple and abysmal tasting of all good and of eternal life; and in this tasting we are swallowed up above reason and without reason, in the deep Quiet of the Godhead, which is never moved…And therefrom follows the last point that can be put into words, that is, when the spirit beholds a Darkness into which it cannot enter with the reason. And there it feels itself dead and lost to itself, and one with God without difference and without distinction…”

***- Blessed Jan Van Ruusbroec (1293-1381), Flemish Catholic mystic & Augustinian priest, “The Sparkling Stone” ***