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By Michael Saso, March 2, 2010 7:24 am

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The Jiao,醮 an ancient Chinese word for offering wine and incense, developed over two millennia of Daoist practice, to become a rite for renewing and re-uniting humans with the nourishing presence of Dao in nature. You may now watch this dramatic liturgy on YouTube, as well as on www.michaelsaso.org).

To prepare for the liturgy of renewal, the Daoist uses the I-ching 易經 (Yi Jing) to become aware of Dao, gestating (元 yuan), nourishing like a mother hen 亨(heng), emptying the mind (Li 利), and writing on the heart with flaming presence (zhen 貞). Years of meditation are needed to perfect “inner tranquility” awareness.

Daoists must also meditate on the “Yin-yang Five Element” 陰陽五行 philosophy, to understand nature’s eternally recycling changes, symbolized in Jiao renewal ritual.

Most important of all, the 81 Chapters of Laozi’s Daode Jing, and the Zhuangzi Inner Chapters must become an essential part of the Daoist’s life and practice.

A wide variety of elements, literate as well as folk culture in origin, are combined into the dramatic Jiao liturgy, so the men and women of China’s towns and villages can see and understand these symbolic meanings.

Scrolls which show the Daoist “Three Pure Ones” (Sanqing 三清) i.e., Dao as Gestating, Mediating, and Indwelling, are hung on the north wall of the Tan壇 sacred area, with military and literary officials to the left (west) and right (east) respectively. The scrolls showing this appear in Part One of the video.

The Daoist Master, with his/her cantors and acolytes, sings, dances sacred steps, and meditates in the very center of the Tan 壇 altar during the Jiao festival. Inner alchemy meditations (neidan內丹) accompany the Daoist Master’s Jiao liturgy.

The lay people in the temple, “orphan souls” in purgatory, and the unrefined, even impure spirits of the folk religion, watch from the south of the sacred Tan altar.

The Jiao rituals are shown here in 6 “five minute” video segments, as follows:

1.) Rites of entrance: Announce (fa biao發表) to the spirits of the 3 realms, heaven earth, and underworld, that a Jiao rite of renewal will take place. Invite (qing shen清神) the spirits to be present; and purify the sacred Tan altar (jin tan 禁壇) by using esoteric “5 Thunder-Vajra” chants 五雷法 and sacred “pacing the void” 步虛 dance . *

2.) The Daoist “plants” the 5 Lingbao Sacred writs, (An Lingbao zhenwen) 按靈寶五真文 to renew the “5 Elements” in the cosmos. The Daoists use the Ming tang 明堂 ancient Confucian “Book of Rites”, Monthly Commands chapter (Li Ji Yueling 禮記月令) as the model, for which reason Daoists were always appointed to the Board of Rites, to perform the rite for the emperors 5 times a year. The Daoist name for the Rite is “Su Qi” 宿啟 to hide its imperial origins from scholars and mandarins.

3) Fen Deng 分燈 “Lighting the (3) lamps with a new fire,” the Daoist master chants the 42nd chapter of the Lao-zi, “The Dao gives birth to the One” (lights first candle); “One gives birth to Two” (2nd candle); “Two gives birth to Three” (3rd candle); ”The 3 (feminine Dao, water, womb) gives birth to the Myriad Creatures.” At this point all of the lights in the temple are turned on; the brass bowl (yang) and wooden fish (yin) are sounded separately, then in union, rebirthing the world. The Dao of Wu Wei, now present, grants inner audience to the meditating Daoist.

4) Sending off the ShuWen 疏文 “Memorial Rescript” to the “Jade Emperor” in the Heavens (玉皇大帝),and to the “Three Pure Ones” (San Qing 三请), bringing the people’s petitions to the Jade Emperor, and to the Three Highest Daoist spirits in Daoist Heaven. The late 64th generation Celestial Master is seen performing the ritual; the drum represents “Taiji” (太極), the stringed instruments are Yang, and the hollow wind instruments are “Yin.”

5) Floating the Lanterns 放水燈 This colorful “folk religion” ritual is shared by Buddhists as well as Daoists throughout East Asia, including Japan, all of China, Korea, and the Chinese of Southeast Asia. The souls of the deceased are released from the punishments of the Buddhist – Daoist underworld, by lighting candles or oil lamps, and floating them out to sea.

6) The Dao Chang or Zheng Jiao 道場正醮 . The climax and meditative conclusion to the 3 day Jiao liturgy completes the meditative process of “returning to the Dao.” The Daoist sees the “Dao” as an infant, (chi zi 赤字) dwelling as a ruddy child within the “womb” center of the body. Union with the Dao is now achieved. A sacred rescript (shuwen) is carried down from the heavens by the “Du Jiang” Chief Cantor, and presented to the Master, who then performs the sacred dance called “Pacing the Void” Bu Xu 步虛 in thanks. “One with Dao” is now realized.

N.B., The Video does not show the Morning, Noon, or Night Audiences, when the “Three Fives” (East’s 3/wood + south’s 2/fire; Center’s 5/earth; west’s 4/metal+ north’s 1/water) are refined into the Three Life Principles, Qi, Shen, Jing ; nor does it show the final “Pu-Du” rite for freeing all souls from the underworld, then thanking, and seeing off the spirits. These rites will be posted soon.

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By Michael Saso, February 11, 2010 3:26 pm

“In the Footsteps of Matteo Ricci”; The Legacy of Fr. Yves Raguin S.J.’

(Asian Catholic Prayer in Buddhist and Daoist dialogue).

The year 2010 marks a worldwide movement to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the legacy of Matteo Ricci, SJ, who passed away in Beijing, China, in 1610. Ricci is acclaimed by historians for introducing western science to China, and adapting Chinese cultural and spiritual values to Jesuit missionary work in Asia. During the ensuing 400 years, the Jesuits were “suppressed” (1762 to 1810) by those who opposed Ricci’s vision.

The work of Fr. Yves Raguin, SJ, and his quiet, less publicized movement to adapt Asian forms of prayer to Catholic/Christian spirituality, continues until today, transcending and going far beyond Ricci’s original “Confucian limited” vision.

A report on the “Monastic Interreligious Dialogue,” which occurred between Sep 18-22 1995, gives a concise account of the teachings of Fr. Yves Raguin, SJ, on Asian Catholic prayer. The following report on “Prayer of the Name and Prayer of Silence,” organized by the Commission of the Secretariat “Aide Inter-Monasteres,” took place at the abbey of Bec-Hellouin in France. ,” A special session, given the title “Dialogue Interreligieux Monastique was called, to study the question of “meditation without object.” The input of Fr Yves Raguin SJ was the core and main topic of this session.

The essence of Asian meditation, Fr. Raguin suggested, was: “meditation without object, without theme, without reflection, without image and frequently without rite.” It was Fr. Raguin’s life long mission to show that such meditation has a place in the spiritual, monastic, as well as Lay Christian tradition

The question is of even greater importance for Christian prayer when it comes into contact with other religions, particularly Buddhism and Daoism. The Catholic Church in Asia must face squarely the question of the relevance of pre-Christian Greek and Roman cultural “weltanschauung” (world view), when dialoguing with men and women versed in Asian forms of apophatic prayer. This can be seen as one of the benefits of dialogue with other Asian religions, Fr Raguin suggested.

I. The “Departure” of Christ

The 1995 conference was based on an earlier talk, given on October 15, 1978, when Father Raguin spoke at the Notre-Dame conference on prayer in Paris. The title was: “Ways of Contemplation—Encounters between East and West.” After the conference Raguin was assailed with multiple questions. One of the auditors objected “but, Father, it is necessary that we center on Christ and make Him the object of our meditations and contemplation.” Father Raguin spontaneously responded with the words of Christ: “It is expedient that I go away. If I do not depart, the Holy Spirit will not come to you” (John 16:7). The “departure” of Christ, and the “taking away of the presence of God the Father” is indeed an essential part of Christian spirituality, as seen in the 3rd week of St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises, as those versed in the Ignatian way of prayer know well. He went on to say: “We no longer see Him before us as an object of thought. Henceforth it is He Himself who through His Holy Spirit turns our regard toward the Father and makes us cry: “Abba, Father.”

That is to say, only after “departing from us,” as seen in the Ignatian 3rd Week, can Christ invite us to share in the 4th Week of the Spiritual exercises, the “Via Unitiva,” which is indeed an attentiveness to the divine presence within us, an awareness that would have been impossible without experiencing Christ’s sense of abandonment in the Gospel. “Meditation without an object” is not a meditation. It is a pure attention which becomes awareness of who we are, children of God, made in His image, following in His footsteps, including the experience of apophasis, or “kenosis.”

Buddhist, Daoist, and Christian mystics agree that this attention is without object; it is pure attention, total silence, void of all thought. The organizers of the session at Bec-Hellouin posed to Father Raguin the question of whether this “meditation without object” has a place in the spiritual and monastic Christian tradition. The question almost totally overlooked the tradition of apophatic prayer in the western Church. It is precisely the mystical tradition of the Church, which offers the basis and the pathway for dialogue with other religions such as Buddhism and Daoism. Just as Buddhism refers its faithful to the experience of the Buddha, so it is necessary that Christians model their prayer on the experience of Christ.

II. The Spiritual Experience of Christ

Jesus’ awareness of His filiation and “Union with the Father” was affirmed as He grew. Again, paraphrasing Fr Raguin’s talk, “At the age of twelve, while in the temple, which was the place of the presence of His Father, He gained a new awareness of the fact that He was the Son of the Father. When His mother said to him: “my child, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been searching for you (loss of a sense of Jesus’ presence) with concern,” Jesus responded very simply: “Did you not know that I must be in the house of my Father?” (Luke 2:48-49).

The years spent at Nazareth were a time of “increasing in wisdom and stature before God and men.” Just as He grew in awareness of Who He is, so the Christian too must grow in awareness that he/she must also experience Thabor, the ascent to Jerusalem, the agony in the Garden, the Cross, the Resurrection, the Ascension. Christian prayer is thus a growth in awareness that Christ Himself pursued throughout His whole life. And this growing awareness cannot happen without a “prayer without object,” an experience shared in all mystic forms of spiritual cultivation.

III. The Discovery of the Word

Again, quoting the words of Fr Raguin, “In this process of becoming aware of Himself, in this “prayer without object”, there surfaced “the Word”. Christ became aware that He is the “Word of the Father, the word in which the Father knows Himself.” He knew Himself as the Word of the Father and this Word of the Father was to inform and model His humanity. He became the perfect image of the Father. This is why He could say: “Whoever sees me, sees the Father” John 14:9).

When Christ is the wordless object of our contemplation, this contemplation “brings us into silence in the face of He who is. He reveals Himself as the source springing up within.” Fr Raguin suggested that this is what Christ wanted us to understand in the allegory of the vine. Seeing the fruit invites us to be aware of the flow of sap, which rises from the roots. In the same way the word invites us to become aware of the current of life, which rises from the depths of God. “But such a prayer is truly a prayer without object, for it flows out of a simple awareness that God, by His spirit, animates our whole life. In this way we join ourselves with the prayer of Christ as it was spoken of above.”

It is this kind of prayer which contemplatives share and live in Christian, Buddhist, and Daoist context, without even being aware of it, since attention is totally given to “presence” in itself. It is in mind and heart’s silence, whether through Zen contemplation, Daoist “centering” prayer, or Christian mystic experience, that one passes from prayer with object to prayer without object, the passage from self-expression to simple awareness.

(The above quotes are taken from an article entitled “Christian Spirituality and Spiritualities of Other Religions,” published in Bulletin of the Secretariatus pro non Christianis, Rome, 1988, XXIII/2 #68.

IV The Doctrine of No-Thought, No-Attachment in Ch’an (Zen) Buddhism and the Christian Experience.
(From a talk given by Fr. Raguin in October 1988, “Bulletin 33”)

“The Zen experience,” Father Raguin taught, “is based on a few very simple principles, which are quite well known:
1) The way to the ultimate experience of oneness with the Absolute Reality is not based on a relationship to God through a mediator. The way to this ultimate experience is through the realization of the oneness of our original nature with “the Buddha-nature” in Buddhist prayer, and with the “Absolute reality,” in the Christian mystic experience.
2) At the depth of our human being lies our “original nature,” which is absolutely pure. When the Zen monk, or Daoist Monk/nun sit in meditation, he/she become aware of Absolute presence in oneself, as well as in all of nature—in the Daoist sense as “gestating” or “birthing”, in the 3 western traditions (Judaic, Christian and Islamic) as “creating.”
3) We cannot reach, understand, or “will” the experience of Absolute presence. We can only wait for it to manifest itself and shine at the depth of our human being. This manifestation, which will be a real enlightenment, is beyond our power, because by our original nature we are in fact open to this awareness.
4) To arrive at this form of wordless, “apophatic” enlightenment, the best we can do is to sit in pure attentiveness to our original nature. We cannot think about it, and still less imagine it. This is the reason why the great masters of Zen and of Daoism teach the principles of the method: no thinking, no relying on, no attachment. This creates a real “emptying” of the “heart,” which becomes void. This does not mean that the Zen or Daoist contemplative faces “nothing.” He/she faces original nature through void mind and heart empty of selfish desire (心斋坐忘 “heart fasting, sit in forgetfulness,” in the words of the Zhuangzi, Ch. 4).

Again, we listen to Fr Raguin speaking: “From Zen practice, I learned not to search for a God on high, a transcendent level, but I turned toward my inner being, facing my human nature. Since my human nature is God’s image, I simply wait for this image of God to manifest itself to me. Being a child of the Father, I learned from Christ to be simply attentive to my inner mystery, knowing that I cannot see myself as God’s child, unless the Father enlightened me by His Spirit.

The practice of Zen, as well as Daoist meditation can teach all who practice it, Christian as well as other faiths, to stay in pure attentiveness before the inner mystery. “No judgment, no thought” makes one realize this inner mystery. Buddhist, Daoist, and Christian mystics agree that one cannot rely on any thought, any desire, to reach this presence of “God within me.”

In Father Raguin’s words (from a private letter written to a Nun in Macao): “When I was told not to think, not to rely on anything, I was a little disturbed. I was not allowed to think of Christ. Then I realized, after some years, that the last step of the Gospel was not only to follow Christ, but to imitate him.” These are necessary steps, but the last step of the Gospel is taken when Christ says: “It is good for you that I go.” We would comment: “You will not see me any more before you, you will not be able to rely on my external presence, but I will be in you.”

In the book of an anonymous 14th Century Benedictine, The Cloud of Unknowing, Christ is not seen as an object of contemplation, but as the one who, living in us, stirs in us this intent of love which turns our attention toward God Himself, the God which cannot be known by knowing, but only by unknowing.

The way of prayer of Jesus when he was alone was of the “Zen” or Daoist type. He was simply aware that all his life was filled with the awareness of sharing the life of his Father. “This is why I dare to say that the practice of Zen led me to a deeper understanding of God’s presence in me and of Christ’s way of prayer.”

(The above quotes are based on a series of lectures first given at the Institute of East Asian Spirituality, Taipei, from 1977 to 1982, and later published in a four-volume series called Ways of Contemplation East and West).

In 1976 the Archbishop of Taipei invited Fr. Raguin to teach a course at the Institute of East Asian Spirituality. He was asked to teach “the method which emphasizes sitting,” i.e., not sitting physically but “any attitude of prayer in which one does not face a person or object.”

Fr Raguin explains his method as follows:

“In my development of the topic I decided to make East and West meet but not in a syncretic manner; Christ would be the center and way from start to finish. The whole course began to appear to me as a highway leading to God. The central experience would be Christian, but as I moved ahead I would meet Buddhists, Taoists, Yogists and many others. Christ would help me understand them, while their experience would help me deepen my understanding of Christ. To my amazement, this is what actually happened.”

The course, comprising four parts, has been published. Its basic outline is as follows: 1) The Structure of the Spiritual World; 2) Methods and Powers; 3) Spiritual Writers and Works: A Parallel between East and West; 4) Chinese Spirituality: Important Authors and Works.

The work of Father Raguin has had a profound influence on nuns, lay people, and members of varying faiths in Asia, who are on a spiritual path. Fr. Raguin hoped that his legacy would encourage and assist all those eager to participate in inter-religious dialogue on spirituality and inner contemplative practice. In celebrating the legacy of Matteo Ricci over the past 400 years, surely Fr Yves Raguin must rank as one of those who furthered and expanded, even transcended the impressive work of the early Jesuits in China, truly one of those whom Fr George Dunne SJ would rank as “A Generation of Giants.” (University of Notre Dame Press, 1962).

For a continuation of this theme, please see the recent work of Thierry Meynard, SJ, “Following the Footsteps of the Jesuits in Beijing,” (St Louis: 2006)

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By Michael Saso, February 3, 2010 4:00 pm

Daoist Ordination Manual,  “龙虎山师传法派“ 1868， Library of the 61^st Celestial Master

15 folio pages;  pg. 1  the 40 character poem that identifies a Daoist master of the “3 mountain Drop of Blood Alliance,”  三山滴血派 i.e., Mao Shan, Gezao Shan, and Longhu Shan; Wugang Shan Daoists add 10 more characters to the poem. One character is advanced for every generation that the ordination titles are transmitted; at present, the 29^th and 30^th characters “Da 大,” and “Luo 羅” are in use. The manual is preserved at Longhu Shan, Mao Shan, Wudangshan, and Baiyun Guan in Beijing .

Pg. 2. (Folio 32b and Folio 33a), the registers or “Lu”籙 transmitted by the 3 mountains;

Pg 3. (Folio 33b) the rules for transmission; immoral behavior (Fangzhong) and bad tempered disciples may not go higher than Grade 6, “xian guan” 仙官。

Pg. 4-8, samples of titles given to Daoists in the past, who came for ordination.

Pgs 9-15, the ordination titles, Tan altar, Gongcao 攻曹 Patron messenger spirit for each ordained Daoist, according to the year, month, day and hour in a 60 year Jia Zi 甲子 cycle; the “talisman” at the foot of each title is drawn with the tip of the tongue on the hard palate, beyond the upper teeth, and saliva “swallowed”, in order to summon the Jiazi Gongcao spirit.

This mijue 秘诀 manual may not be sold, used for profit, or ritual-meditative purposes, unless taught by and licensed from a recognized Daoist master.

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By Michael Saso, February 1, 2010 11:15 pm

Dao in a Nutshell

We are needed, the bodhisattvas (enlightened beings who relinquishes passing into the Pure Land until all sentient beings are freed from suffering) teach us. God/Dao/Fo is immediately with us, when judgment ceases. Zhuangzi says, in Ch. 4, “renjian shi” 人间事， “心斋坐忘“. “Fast in the heart” (ie, no selfish desires), and “sit in forgetfulness (no judgments at all), and then you will be “One with Dao” 与道合一。

The book of Genesis in the bible states almost the same thing. Adam and Eve could not stay in the Garden of Happiness, talking straight to God, when they “ate the fruit of judging good and evil.” So the moment we stop judging good and evil, we are back in Eden-paradise, the Daoists say. And when we start forgiving others, we are back in paradise too.

Patience (quiet inner awareness) attains everything, Teresa de Avila said. The book “Zen is For Everyone” (tranquil-awareness meditation) or”taza shikan” 打坐止观 teaches how to meditate in this manner. Dzogchen in Tibet, Shikan in Japan, and Daoist “Centering,” focusing in the “Lower Cinnabar field,” (the body’s center of gravity, just below the belly button, 3 inches in), teach this method.

One of my favorite stories from Chuang-tzu (Zhuangzi) is in Ch 7. “Baby Yin and baby Yang used to love to play inside Hundun, 混沌 (primordial awareness of God/Dao presence).  They felt sorry for her (i.e., Hundun female dao), ie, she had no eyes, ears, nostrils, or mouth. So each day, for seven days, they drilled a hole in Hundun (Dao/God inner presence). On the 7th day, Hundun died.” I.e., our 7 apertures, 2 eyes, 2 ears, 2 nostrils, and mouth, when used to judge or seek outer things, lead us away from God/Dao presence. So focus on Dao presence, in the belly, and stop all judging, all selfish desiring, even the desire for spiritual perfection, or heaven. Dao will be there of “herself,” waiting.

If you look at the wood block print of the Daoist body, you will see that Spinning girl is in the belly, eternally spinning out “QI” Dao/God awareness/vital energy. Cowherd boy is in the heart, holding the Pole Star in his hands (ie, focused on the Dao as center of the heaven, and center of my life).   If her wisdom energy reaches him in the heart, then the heart of the male is filled with compassion, and the wisdom of the female Dao in the belly reaches him too.

Daosm is profound, far more than we ever expected. We must read and put into practice the Lao-tzu Dao De Jing, 老子道德经， as well as the Zhuangzi 莊子.

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By Michael Saso, January 11, 2010 5:11 pm

New Year “Zen Koan” Resolutions, for the Year of the Tiger, 2010!

Reverend Ara Ryokan is Bishop of Tendai Betsuin Temple, Honolulu, Hawaii. His art is renowned world wide. He has published many books of Buddhist images, Zen humor, and wise sayings. Here is a selection of aphorisms, from his latest book of Zen humor. Each saying is accompanied by a sketch of two aging monks, telling Koan to each other.

2. What is the greatest hell of all? An ocean of fire? A mountain of needles?  No, it is the hell of inner loneliness.

3. Whether busy or free, there is not one day in this short life of ours not filled with the joy of being alive.

4. There is no shame in “I haven’t finished it yet.”  Shame comes from saying “I didn’t do it.”

5. To lean on others makes one hated. To be leaned on makes us despised.

6. Wind, rain, storms, lightning, can’t do without them.

7. I say “I do it for a living.”  “ So,” you say, “Why do you work so hard?”

8. Water makes a boat float; water makes a boat sink.

9. Seeds planted bear fruit. Think happy, hardship disappears.

10. Misfortune, and great blessing come from little things.

11. “No talent” really means “not enough hard work.”

12. We offer all sorts of reasons, but it all comes down to one thing. (#11)

13. Twisted mind makes a twisted body; honest mind stands straight!

14. What makes a child? To have no talents that parents hope for, but gifts the parents never understand.

15.People treated as ”Useful” turn into foolish human beings.

16. “I had to do it” makes me feel sad; “I chose to do it” makes me happy.

17. “I can take it or leave it,” means a big heart, with real strength.

18. “Do it because others do,” loses.  “Let’s work with one mind” succeeds.

19. Nothing lasts forever; happiness, sadness, sorrow, joy, good health, sickness all will pass!

20. How come we remember insults and injuries, but forget good times and good things!

Five paintings of Ara  Sensei’s paintings made in Muogao Caves, Dunhuang, Gobi Desert.

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By Michael Saso, December 1, 2009 3:47 pm

Zen is for Everyone

Zhi Yi wrote these brief ten lessons in “how to do Zen” in 580 AD. It has been a best seller since then. Still popular in modern Japanese bookshops, the book also goes by the title “Sho Shikan” , Brief lessons in “Stop” “Look” Zen meditation. Written in a modern, readable style, the book is widely used today as a manual for teaching and practicing Zen (Chan) meditation – one can actually practice Zen while sitting, standing, walking, or even lying down. Healing, expelling evil, and openness to understanding other forms of spiritual practice, are included in the brief “Sho Shikan” text.

Zen is for Everyone click here to purchase.

Buddhist Studies in People’s Republic of China 1990-1991

This “cutting edge” selection of contemporary Buddhist Studies in China is a marvelous tool for understanding the intellectual as well as the spiritual rebirth going on inside China today. Originally published as a textbook for upper division and graduate level studies, it soon became popular with the general public, as a means to understand the great legacy of China’s unique contribution to Buddhist spirituality in Asia. “Shen Xiu and Northern Zen (no different from the southern school), “Minority” Chinese Buddhist intellectuals, “Daoist Zhuangzi and the spread of Buddhism,” and “Buddhist Art Imagery,” are among the themes covered by the book’s authors.

Buddhist Studies in People’s Republic of China click here to purchase.

Velvet Bonds: the Chinese Family

This carefully researched and documented study shows how and why the Family has been the very core and sustaining force in China’s 5000+ year-old cultural history. The statistical segment of the book uses the analytical methodology developed at Stanford University, by the noted contemporary scholars Arthur and Margery Wolf, Huang Chieh-san, and the NSF sponsored staff. Velvet Bonds covers a 100 period history of change and growth in 4500 families, with 20,000 family members. 4 distinct patterns appear, which preserve the family institution through peace, war, and the social upheavals of the past century. Urban and agriculture based villages have differing statistical structures. The study then shows case studies of 5 Taiwan, 5 Mainland, and 5 ethnic minority families, including Tibetan, Islamic, the lesser known Muosuo matriarchy, as well as primitive Aini-Hani mountainside terraced irrigation villages. The study concludes with an exhaustive TAT (Thematic Apperception test) analysis of cultural differences between Chinese, Japanese, SE Asian, and American students, who attended University lectures that dealt with the “Velvet Bonds” statistical record. Lower and upper division university courses, graduate seminars, and the general public have purchased and enjoyed the stories and social values, showing the strength of the Chinese Families portrayed in Velvet Bonds.

Velvet Bonds: the Chinese Family click here to purchase.

T’ien T’ai Buddhism and Early Madhyamika

This fascinating study by Professor Yu Kuan Ng is one of the very best and clearest explanations of the famous “Middle Way” school of Mahayana, in East Asian Buddhism. The Middle Way, known as the Madhyamika in Sanskrit, was formulated in India by a monk named Nagarjuna, and developed into a full spiritual practice system by the Chinese monk Zhi Yi (Jr Yi), the founder of T’ain-t’ai Buddhism in China. Zhi YI made the “Middle Way” into a more practical, “emptying” form of meditation in China. The book has helped College students, and the general public, understand this basic spiritual path of Asia.

T’ien T’ai Buddhism and Early Madhyamika click here to purchase.

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By Michael Saso, December 1, 2009 12:31 pm

Reflections from Beijing

Five inches of snow (downtown) to a foot of snow (suburbs) blanketed Beijing last night, in contemplative splendor. It is now early morning. I look out from my window towards the north, where the Temple of Heaven recalls a time when Emperors worshipped Shang Di 上帝  the “Highest Deity” in the Heavens.  The first Jesuits in China, Ricci, Schall, Verbiest, Aleni, used the philosophers of China, much as Augustine and Thomas used the Greeks (Plato and Aristotle) as fertile soil to sow the seeds of Christian spirituality.

Confucius taught five basic virtues that define what it is to be human: love between parent and child, loyal friendship, benevolence (literally, wishing good things) to all others, respect for all others, and “keeping the heart in the center” (“balanced,” unprejudiced). Matteo Ricci found these values consonant with the Gospel message. Confucius also wrote a manual for emperors, with rituals used to ask Shang Di to bless the nation, at the Winter Solstice, and the beginning of Spring (Chinese New Year).

Daoism teaches that an Eternal, Transcendent Act (The Dao of Wu Wei, Transcendent, or “Non” Act) gestates, mediates, and indwells or nourishes all of nature.   Daoist spirituality teaches us how to be always aware of this gestating and nourishing presence, just as Ignatius of Loyola taught the “Contemplatio ad Amorem”   (Contemplating Divine Love).

Buddhism, which came from India to China, was immensely successful because it adapted itself to Chinese cultural values. Instead of just praying for one’s own ancestors, Buddhism taught the Chinese to pray for All Souls; to be compassionate and respectful not only to all humans, but to all living things as well, preserving the natural beauty and “living quality” of nature. Buddhist metaphysics (Yogacara Idealism and Madhyamika Realism) was popular from 4^th to 12th century China, at the same time that the two great Greek philosophers, the Idealism of Plato and the realism of Aristotle, were popular in Europe.

One great difference in Europe and China is that the Chinese accepted all 3 systems, Confucius for ethics, Buddhism for compassion, and Daoism for finding Dao working always in nature, whereas Europe allowed “belief” in only one of its three systems, the Judaic Bible, the Christian “New” testament, or the Islamic Quran. The Chinese have always wondered why the three great western religions can’t get along with each other, just as the 3 great systems of China are seen as “3 teachings, One Culture.” 三教归一。

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By Michael Saso, November 27, 2009 11:43 pm

Inter-religious dialogue

To carry on inter-religious dialogue in Asian and other contexts, we may perhaps be as profoundly and deeply moved by including the writings of “real” spiritual masters, in other than Greco-Roman contexts – e.g., Daoist, Buddhist, and Confucian philosophers of East Asia, for instance, whom early Jesuits felt were as appropriate for China, as Plato and Aristotle were for Rome, are crucial to inter-religious understanding.

We would like to suggest other than pre-Christian Greek thinkers, i.e., the works of Asian teachers, Confucius, Lao-tzu, Zhuang-tzu, and the various Buddhist masters of spiritual cultivation, are relevant to inner cultivation as well as to inter-religious dialogue. Ricci was all for Confucius, but other great Jesuits wanted Daoist and Buddhist philosophers included, as relevant to Christian, as well as other inner cultivation practices.

The “catholic” (.e., universal) mind is the mind open to everything true. In the words of Thomas Aquinas (& Aristotle, Jewish Maimonidies, Islamic Avicenna), “Omne ens est verum” “Every being is true.” It is the very nature of mind as such to recognize the “true” (ie factual existence) of all nature/creation. Augustine was particularly concerned with those philosophers who resonate with the “koan” found in Christianity. “Everything that is true,” is precisely the point for inter-religious dialogue. Daoist Lao-tzu, Zhuangzi, as well as the I-ching follow Ignatius’ and Gregory of Nyssa’s 4 steps to unitive experience. Spring’s 元 primordial purifying/ ploughing, is the purgative way; summer’s heng 亨nourishing with sacred image, is the kataphatic illuminative way; “li” 利 autumn cutting is apopathic emptying way; winter’s zhen 貞 unitive way, is when God/Dao writes on the soul in flaming characters.

Anyone concerned with inter-religious dialogue must, I think, begin with finding what is common to all religions as a point from which to initiate discussion. This common point is, we propose, the “3^rd” was of apophatic emptying (kenosis).

In most of Asia, for instance, “religion” does not mean a belief system with a creed, but rather, the rites of passage (the “7 sacraments”) and the annual festivals and customs. 3 forms of teachings, Confucian for human-to-human relations/ethics, Buddhism for compassion, and Daoism for human relationships to Transcendent (*Wuwei) Dao gestated nature, are taken as 3 teachings (not religions) that comprise one culture. The philosophers of these 3 systems were seen by the early Jesuits as teachers, like Plato and Aristotle, providing a fertile field ready for the seeds of faith, compatible with Christian spirituality. It is not necessary for Asians of any religious system to read Plato or Aristotle to be “true” Christians, Confucians, or Muslims, except when taking university level philosophy courses.

The obvious starting point for all inter-religious dialogue is a universal spiritual experience. The via apophatica, a no-judgment, no concept, no image of the Transcendent, is a common starting point for Daoist, Buddhist, Christian, Islamic, and Judaic dialogue. “Noche Oscura”, the Agony in the Garden, “why hast thou forsaken me”, are shared aspects of Transcendent God awareness, from Jesus’ own prayer experience, in Christian teaching.

The famous quote from Augustine, “Our minds were made for Thee O Lord, and will not rest until they rest in thee,” suggests that our minds “rest”/cease in God’s presence. The common point for dialogue here is the “heart fasting, sitting in forgetfulness” of the Chuang-tzu (Zhuangzi, Ch. 4), and the 3^rd step “annihilation” of selfish focus of Buddha’s  4 noble truths.  Theresa de Avila, Zohar’s Kabala, Attar’s “Conference of the Birds,” further describe a seven stage process through the experience of apophasis.

Modern “western” philosophers tend to see Aristotle’s Metaphysics as portraying a “god” who does not “need” human love or worship. Our dialogue might perhaps suggest that this may be a misreading of Aristotle’s text; the meaning in the Greek version of Meta.12/6-9 is simply that God’s gestation-creation can only be motivated by “love”, not “being alone,” since the transcendent ultimate Act already has “absolutely” all that Absolute Itself needs – to exist, “tw `eivai” is a verb,” as the Zohar, and Sufi Attar assure us.

Another point for dialogue, from human-ethology (and other modern scholar’s view) is the data, which shows that the very brain structure of the atheist and the religious believer are different, ie location in the brain of atheist, vs believer activity are different.  The apophatic way would suggest that the cessation of all sense-derived negative judgment in the mind is necessary before the human psyche can evolve to a stage where Divine or Absolute Presence can be recognized, for believer or atheist, a state also known as “wisdom,” or “belly centered” rather than heart (selfish) or judgment-mind focused, in Daoist cultivation.

One of the best sources for dialogue is the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius de Loyola. In the 1^st and 2^nd week of the Exercises, conceptual imaging is required for spiritual cultivation. In the Via Kataphatica image and word are crucial, ie, special to each religious tradition, and therefore not open to dialogue. In the 3^rd an 4^th week, the Via Apophatica, ie, the cessation of judgment and desire, leads to union. Thus reason is sublimated in the 3^rd and 4^th week.  Please look at the illustration that Juan de la Cruz puts at the beginning of his work, “not” philosophy, “not” theology, for direct contemplation of Divine Presence. We must read and do the Spiritual Exercises again, for dialogue in this context. Teresa de Avila said explicitly that only those trained in the Sp. Exercises could be adequate spiritual advisors in prayer.

Another point for common discussion is that a “Trinity” aspect of the Absolute is an essential part of all spiritual traditions, ie God/Dao as gestating, mediating and indwelling is basic to all spiritual cultivation experience.  The Incarnation is also one of the most easily understood doctrines to ordinary people, not involved in the Neo-platonic and Gnostic heresies of the 4^th-10^th centuries. Thank God for Francis of Assissi, who saw how easy it was to Love Jesus as a child, or feel the suffering of Mary holding her crucified son. Renaissance art is one of the greatest vehicles for dialogue in Asia. “Art as Sacred Image Encounter,” is the very foundation of the 2^nd, and 3^rd weeks of the Exercises.

Another point for discussion: Greco-Roman influence on Christianity is enhanced and complimented by the Asian prayer of “total body” experience. Intellect knows, heart loves, belly is for intuitive awareness of presence, “gut” feeling; God is here, right now, creating me, every largest and smallest thing in nature, given to me, — again found in the “Contemplatio ad Amorem” of Inigo de Loyola – a Spanish spiritual context where Kabala, Sufi, and Catholic mysticism flourished in proximity to each other. The whole point of Ignatius’ exercises is that the WHOLE BODY, all the senses are used to pray, not just the intellect.

Could we not say, as well, that faith does not need reason to believe, ie, “blessed are you because you have not seen, and still believe.” Reason diminishes the spiritual experience of immediate “now” awareness of presence. In this sense, what is in the intellect is essentially always in ”past” tense, having passed from the sound emitted by the speaker, or written word seen by the eye, through the senses of the hearer/seer, into the brain and then into intellect judging and storing, ie the “idea” itself is irretrievably in past tense, just as the heart/will is always in future tense (until the willed object is attained and contemplated). Thus wisdom as “now” experience of Divine Presence cannot happen as long as the intellect and will are active. All Christian mystics, including Paul 1^st Cor., assure us of this. “The eye cannot see, the ear cannot hear, the mind cannot conceive,… the Divine Image.”

Professor Jim Schall SJ, Georgetown University scholar observes: “Much modern rationalism, under the guise of method, wants to limit reason to what is now called “scientific” reasoning. This step narrows the meaning of reason and excludes large portions of reality that the method cannot touch because it limits itself to the measurable in terms of quantity. If God and the soul are not `quantities,’ this method cannot deal with them.” This is, indeed, very true! Could we not then say that both science and reason in the presence of God, Divine Love, Beauty, are both irrelevant? God as Love, or living presence, felt interiorly, totally renders useless the use of mind or reason; it is equally out of the range of observed measurement that defines science, as well as “Christian” reasoning that judges ill of all others who disagree with one or another interpretation of biblical meaning.

In this sense, modern atheism is a phenomenon especially dominant in European thinkers, tired by centuries of “matter and body hating” neo-platonic clericalism, which condemns all bodily feelings as impure, even when directed towards prayer experience. As Nietzsche predicted, (confirmed by Marx, Feuerbach, and today’s science based agnostics), “if God is dead – Christians (and immoral clergy) have killed Him.”

A phenomenon found universally in inter-religious dialogue includes this physical experience of Divine or Absolute presence. Margeurite de Porete’ was burned at the stake in Paris in 1310 by “dogma” minded Dominicans, because she wrote a book called “A Mirror for Simple Souls” in which she paraphrased John’s epistles on Divine Love as something that all Catholics should physically experience. Ignatius was jailed when he first taught the physically seeing, feeling, sensing, touching the mysteries of Christ’s life in the Exercises. Plato’s seeing of the material body as somehow “evil” or to be separated from the body at death to return to the “spiritual” realm, negates one of the basic Christian doctrines, ie, the body is also going to heaven (found in the late 1^st Century “Apostle’s Creed”).

Thus, the physical feeling of “devotion” in the presence of sacred image, followed by “apophasis” or the emptying of all image and desire, and then the experience of “union” as immediate presence, are common phenomena that act as the basis for dialogue with religions that at one time or a other were “at war” with each other.   It is the apophatic (no word) rather than the kataphatic (faith prescribed word-image) that must define peace bringing dialogue between the World’s great, and less known religious systems.

Michael Saso.   Nov. 27, 2009

Copyright, Mystic, Shaman, Oracle, Priest: 2009