There is something approaching a tradition of Zen Catholicism. We could cite Thomas Merton, whose exchanges with D.T. Suzuki became Zen and the Birds of Appetite. Pablo d’Ors, in talks and in books like Biography of Silence, has cast light on the uses of Zen to ordinary Christians. And we could mention the priest Willigis Jäger, a teaching Zen master who founded a centre at Münzerschwarzach Abbey. This tradition — if we can describe it as such — sprang from the boom in Western interest in Zen in the mid-20th century, helped by the Beat Generation. And in Zen Catholicism, Dom Aelred Graham grapples with two questions that this explosion in interest raised. What is the attraction of Zen to Westerners? And might it be found in their own tradition — that is, Christianity?
The Two most Famous Buddhist Verses in Zen Buddhism
Zen Buddhism, also known as Chan Buddhism, is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China. It is characterized by its emphasis on…