I’m interested in what you’ve said here… I’ve always understood that Buddhist meditation to be about an emptying of the mind, not a meditating ‘on’ something. I’ve recently been involved in publishing a book on Christian Mindfulness (https://amzn.to/3z0ehnC) and these practices are found throughout church history. They certainly involve …
I’m interested in what you’ve said here… I’ve always understood that Buddhist meditation to be about an emptying of the mind, not a meditating ‘on’ something. I’ve recently been involved in publishing a book on Christian Mindfulness (https://amzn.to/3z0ehnC) and these practices are found throughout church history. They certainly involve the meditating ‘on’, rather than an ‘emptying of’. I would suggest that our encounter with the ‘ultimate other’ (God) in Christian mindfulness (the meditation of the psalms?) is what enables us to more deeply connect with those who appear ‘other’ to us, or who we are urged to ‘other’. Is there something specific to Buddhist meditation that you think is able to achieve something over and above what Christian mindfulness / meditation enables us to reach? You seem to imply that Buddhism has a monopoly on meditative practices, and therefore any attempt to separate cognition and emotion is Buddhist, which would mean Christian contemplation etc. is ultimately Buddhist. Is that what you’re suggesting? I’d be interested in your thoughts…
You may want to read Evan Thompson's Why I Am Not a Buddhist. He offers a thoroughgoing critique of what he terms "Buddhist exceptionalism." Bob is one of his interlocutors in the book, and both have a great discussion about their respective viewpoints here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heSq98tNTlM
"Modern" Buddhism, based on recent translations of Buddhist text that are are usually diffracted through a Western lens, is great at articulating of what plagues us, i.e., why we suffer and seek conflict even in life circumstances that by most measures are very comfortable. But if one delves a little deeper into philosophy (and theology), one can see that Buddhist positions and contemplative approaches aren't all that different from, say, those of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim mystics (e.g., Meister Eckhart, Martin Buber, or Rumi).
It would be inappropriate to conflate all of these very rich traditions by saying that they're all the same thing--they're not, but they may offer different gates to get to the same place ultimately. We're very complex beings owing to our cultural heritages and that's reflected in this wonderful diversity.
I’m interested in what you’ve said here… I’ve always understood that Buddhist meditation to be about an emptying of the mind, not a meditating ‘on’ something. I’ve recently been involved in publishing a book on Christian Mindfulness (https://amzn.to/3z0ehnC) and these practices are found throughout church history. They certainly involve the meditating ‘on’, rather than an ‘emptying of’. I would suggest that our encounter with the ‘ultimate other’ (God) in Christian mindfulness (the meditation of the psalms?) is what enables us to more deeply connect with those who appear ‘other’ to us, or who we are urged to ‘other’. Is there something specific to Buddhist meditation that you think is able to achieve something over and above what Christian mindfulness / meditation enables us to reach? You seem to imply that Buddhism has a monopoly on meditative practices, and therefore any attempt to separate cognition and emotion is Buddhist, which would mean Christian contemplation etc. is ultimately Buddhist. Is that what you’re suggesting? I’d be interested in your thoughts…
You may want to read Evan Thompson's Why I Am Not a Buddhist. He offers a thoroughgoing critique of what he terms "Buddhist exceptionalism." Bob is one of his interlocutors in the book, and both have a great discussion about their respective viewpoints here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heSq98tNTlM
"Modern" Buddhism, based on recent translations of Buddhist text that are are usually diffracted through a Western lens, is great at articulating of what plagues us, i.e., why we suffer and seek conflict even in life circumstances that by most measures are very comfortable. But if one delves a little deeper into philosophy (and theology), one can see that Buddhist positions and contemplative approaches aren't all that different from, say, those of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim mystics (e.g., Meister Eckhart, Martin Buber, or Rumi).
It would be inappropriate to conflate all of these very rich traditions by saying that they're all the same thing--they're not, but they may offer different gates to get to the same place ultimately. We're very complex beings owing to our cultural heritages and that's reflected in this wonderful diversity.