Catholicism and Zen

ISBN 978-1-896559-35-3
210 pages, paperback, 6.14 x 9.21 inches (royal octavo), includes Glossary
Christian/Buddhist dialogue, Zen, Catholic Zen teachers, History, Biography

Also available as an e-book: ISBN 978-1-896559-43-8

CATHOLICISM and ZEN

by Richard Bryan McDaniel

Foreword by Ven. Mitra Bishop, Abbot, Mountain Gate

Ever since Catholic priests from Portugal and Spain entered Japan in the 1500’s on missions to convert the Japanese to Christianity, a quiet transformation has been taking place, beginning among those Jesuit missionaries and spreading into the present day among American and European Catholics, lay and ordained alike. As Rick McDaniel writes in this important book, in seeking to understand the Japanese mind so as to know better how to convert the Japanese to Christianity, these early – and later – priests undertook Zen practice.

Although there are a number of books written on Christianity and Zen, including several by Catholic clergy, this is the first to take it from its origins with the Jesuit missionaries sent to Japan, to interviews with the many contemporary Catholic clergy – priests and nuns both – who maintain their Catholic faith and practice and find it enhanced by their Zen training. Many of these men and women have done extensive Zen practice under recognized Zen masters and have become authorized themselves to teach Zen practice – and see no conflict with their Christian faith. The author himself was raised Catholic and has practiced Zen for several decades, thus having a unique background through which to explore the congruencies between the two, and his research has resulted in some fascinating insights into the accord between the two religions. Read on! – From the foreword by Ven. Mitra Bishop, Abbot, Mountain Gate

CONTENTS

Forward
Overture in Montreal
Beginnings
Hugo Enomiya-Lassalle & Koun Yamada
William Johnston & Thomas Merton
Thomas Hand
Ruben Habito
Willigis Jäger
Elaine MacInnes
Intermezzo: A Conversation with Bodhin Kjolhede
Maria Reis Habito
Pat Hawk
Greg Mayers
Robert Kennedy
Janet Richardson
Day Star Zendo
Oak Tree in the Garden
Finale in Oaxaca
Acknowledgements

Glossary

ACCLAIM

Rick McDaniel’s Catholicism and Zen offers a glimpse into the experience of Zen through the eyes of Catholic teachers, lay, clergy, and religious. Based on a series of interviews with Catholic practitioners of Zen, it offers insight into a complementary relationship that can exist between Zen and the Catholic spiritual experience. For the Catholic who has little experience of Zen, this work provides an accessible introduction. Father John Jennings, Dept of History (Ret.), Saint Thomas University, Fredericton

Rick McDaniel’s study, interviews, and writing shed an abundance of light on all that many of us have learned thus far from the West. Deep gratitude is offered to Rick as we continue to make use of much of what he has unearthed from the East. Sr. Pascaline Coff, OSB, Benedictine Sisters Our Lady of Rickenbach 

Reading Catholicism and Zen you’ll hear categories collapsing – Christian/Buddhist, East/West, and mysticism/daily life. Rick McDaniel brings to life a most remarkable development in religion through the real-life stories and perspectives of women and men engaged in the spiritual quest who discover and enliven the meaning and form of awakening beyond traditional constrictions. Dosho Port Roshi, Nebraska Zen Center

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

   Richard Bryan McDaniel taught at the University of New Brunswick and Saint Thomas University before starting a 27-year career in International Development and Fair Trade. He is the creator of the YMCA Peace Medallion. A long time Zen practitioner, he lives in Fredericton, NB. This is his fifth book in a series on the evolution of Zen Buddhism as it moved from China to Japan and the West.

His other two books published by Sumeru are The Third Step East: Zen Masters of America and Cypress Trees in the Garden: The Second Generation of Zen Teaching in America.