Compassion and Meditation

COMPARATIVE RELIGION "Jean-Yves Leloup is that rare Christian who has mined the spiritual depths and mysteries of Christianity. His Christianity is neither staid nor boring, but alive and deep, fresh and ancient. Buddhism takes on new meaning in this context so that we learn how the wisdom of each tradition, East and West, allows the Great Mystery to become grounded in our own being and from there into active compassion to our broken world." --Matthew Fox, author of Original Blessing, A New Reformation, and One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths In Asian spiritual traditions the mountain traditionally symbolizes meditation while the ocean signifies compassion. Jean-Yves Leloup uses this metaphor to compare Buddhist and Christian approaches to meditation and compassion to reveal the similarities and divergences of these profound practices. Emphasizing their complementary nature, Leloup describes how Jesus and Buddha are necessary to one another and how together they form a complete system: Jesus as awakening through love, and Buddha as awakening through meditation. Where Buddha represents the forests, Jesus represents the trees. Buddha is brother to the universe, whereas Jesus is brother to humanity. Nevertheless, these two religious traditions have a profound common ground. Compassion is, in fact, central to Buddhism, and meditation practices have been central to many Christian traditions. Both view murder, theft, and the destructive use of sexuality as great barriers to realizing our essential being, and both agree on the need to rise above them. Here, however, Leloup suggests that both faiths could benefit from the precepts of the other. The complementary aspects of Christianity and Buddhism offer the possibility for a truly profound ecumenical religion whose interfaith relations are based on deep understanding of the true meaning and practice of meditation and compassion and not merely shared goodwill. JEAN-YVES LELOUP is a theologian, French Orthodox priest, Coptic translator, and founder of the Institute of Other Civilization Studies and the International College of Therapists. His other books in English include the bestselling The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, The Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Philip, Judas and Jesus, and The Sacred Embrace of Jesus and Mary. He lives in France.