Christian Contemplation and Zen
Enlightenment: Are They the Same?

The number of Christian students who have completed koan training under the direction of the late Zen master Koun Yamada is an indication of a deepening of the Christian-Buddhist dialogue from the perspective of practice. David Loy, himself a student of Yamada Roshi, addressed a questionnaire to his fellow students, and discovered "the most interesting result... was a division among Christian Zen teachers... between those who want to maintain a strong distinction between Zen practice and Christian practice, and those who see them at aiming at the same thing and therefore to be eventually united - which seems to mean using mostly Zen practice with Christian terminology." (Buddhist-Christian Studies, 1989, p. 53, note 2)

Yamada Roshi, for his part, addressed the following questions to his Christian Zen students: "First, why did you not just continue doing meditational practices following your own Christian tradition instead of coming to Zen? Was there something lacking in Christianity that led you to seek something in Zen, or did you have some dissatisfaction with Christianity that led you to Zen?" And also a question to Christians who have had the Zen experience through the Mu koan: "How would you express this experience in your own Christian terms?" (Habito, R., Total Liberation, p. 87)

Both David Loy's survey and Yamada Roshi's questions appear to me to point to the deeper underlying question about the relationship between Zen enlightenment and Christian contemplation. Are they the same? What do you think?

Now it is your turn to contribute to this discussion.

(from the innerexplorations.com web site; gratitudes to Jim and Tyra Arraj)