Merton, Meditation, and More: Buddhism in the West

Buddhism is well-established in the US, among Buddhists and others, such as Catholic monk and author Thomas Merton, who engaged in Buddhism without conversion. Middlebury College religion professor Elizabeth Morrison considers what has emerged from the West’s encounter with Buddhism.
more at www.retn.org/br...

[@JesseSaintJesse]

I've been studying Buddhism, meditation, and Christianity for years and I found this fresh, informative, and very interesting - thanks so much for a terrific talk!

[@monus782]

I grew up Catholic and until a few years ago I followed a very conservative form of that religion so as a result I was a bit suspicious of Merton (as I was also very skeptical of the ecumenical movement even though I accepted Vatican II, I knew some people who didn't) but I still found him to be interesting and I own a copy of his Seeds of Contemplation that I've yet to read. Although I've left the Church altogether more recently I turned back to Merton because I've become interested in Tibetan Buddhism (I got attracted to its meditation methods when I first had mental problems) and since I'm familiar with Catholic monasticism (I stayed at a Benedictine monastery for a few days while figuring out my vocation several years ago) I figured that perhaps he may be the bridge I was looking for (I've read somewhere that supposedly the Dalai Lama thought of him as the Christian who knew Buddhism the best), so thank you for this lecture. Southern Dharma reminded me of the time when I tried the Eastern Orthodox churches as many of their parishes are also multiethnic out of necessity even though they'd be separate back in eastern Europe mostly due to language differences as well, maybe this is a common pattern for many religious communities that are not well established in the US (in my city I've heard that both Sunni and Shia Muslims are sharing the local mosque) like the mainline Protestant churches. In one Zen podcast I heard that in Japan there's no such a thing as a "Zen center", there's just the temples, and the best analogy I could think is that basically going to a Zen center is like going to a chapel or a very small parish in the Catholic sense but going to Rome is a very different experience in comparison. I've heard another scholar use the term "spiritually fluid" to refer to people who belong to more than one tradition and I switched to the Unitarians who have a long tradition of syncretism (and they were some of the first Americans who became interested in the Dharma back in the 19th century) so I guess I'm a "sympathizer" for now.

[@jhonsmith2274]

Good presentation. Thanks for uploading on KZbin.

[@paulhudson4254]

Buddhism leads to Good, but not to God! Warning from love! 🌺✝️🌺

[@CAVEDATA]

This isnt buddhism. Its just real christianity.

[@paulhudson4254]

🚧🛑🚧 Yes, Buddhism leads to Good but not to God! ✝️