#inter-faith

‘To what degree do you think being Christian is compatible with being Buddhist?

I think it is quite possible. There are also things Buddhists can learn from the experience of our Christian brothers and sisters. Recently, during a visit to a Catholic monastery, I found that the monks I met there had many things in common with Tibetan Buddhists. With some aspects, such as poverty and contentment, I find the ways of the Christian monks to be better than those of our own monks. I think some Tibetan monks have perhaps a bit too much comfort. Just as Tibetan monks could learn a few things in this respect from Christian monks, Christian followers could in turn learn certain techniques for developing love, compassion, one-pointed concentration, and for improving altruism, from their Tibetan counterparts. I think with these topics it is possible to borrow those techniques specific to Buddhism, and I have Christian friends who do this. When different religions come together, there is a great deal they can learn from each other.’

I don’t even know where to start. I think it is best that I do not tackle this topic just yet other than to express my upset at how the church (as a whole, not the Catholic church particularly) has behaved. 

We are witnessing the collapse of Western Christianity as a culture-creating force. The beliefs and principles upon which the West was built and which it exported to the inestimable benefit of the rest of the world are disappearing in the area in which they took hold to greatest effect. The future of Christianity lies in Africa and Asia, whilst in the West, Europe and the English-speaking nations…