Navigating the Path Between Buddhism and Christianity: My Personal Experience
Like in Buddhism awareness and mindfulness are essential aspects of Christian spirituality
Being a mindfulness meditation practitioner/teacher and a practising Christian within the Catholic tradition, I sometimes find myself treading the path between two belief systems, Buddhism and Christianity. Because of this, I sometimes feel torn and conflicted inside, as if I am doing something wrong following and practising aspects from two different contemplative traditions simultaneously.
When this happens to me, I always return to the book by Fr Anthony de Mello (1931-1987), a Jesuit priest and his book “Awareness: The Perils and Opportunities of Reality”. Fr De Mello here emphasises the importance of awareness even as Christian Catholics and uses a similar example to the Zen ones mentioned in the blog I wrote on the meaning of mindfulness beyond non-judgemental attention.
Similarly to the Zen examples, Fr De Mello (1992) writes how a disciple went to their master and asked,
“Could you give me a word of wisdom? Could you tell me something that would guide me through my days?” It was the master’s day of silence, so he picked up a pad. It said, “Awareness.” When the disciple saw it, he said, “This is too brief. Can you expand on it a bit?” So the master took back the pad and wrote, “Awareness, awareness, awareness.” The disciple said, “Yes, but what does it mean?” The master took back the pad and wrote, “Awareness, awareness, awareness means—awareness.” (ibid. p. 28)
This refers to the act of self-observation of being watchful of your actions, words, and thoughts. As Fr De Mello continues to say,
“When you talk to someone, are you aware of it or are you simply identifying with it? When you got angry with somebody, were you aware that you were angry or were you simply identifying with your anger? Later, when you had the time, did you study your experience and attempt to understand it? Where did it come from? What brought it on?” (ibid. p. 28)
Here De Mello is pointing to two things, awareness and mindfulness, but not mindfulness as a “non-judgemental attention”, But mindfulness as “sati” as understood within the Buddhist tradition as a faculty of awareness that “recognising between wholesome and unwholesome states to minimise unwholesome one and cultivate wholesome ones”.
Although Fr de Mello does not directly mention “mindfulness,” implicitly, he relates this writing,
“I don’t know of any other way to awareness. You only change what you understand. What you do not understand and are not aware of, you repress. You don’t change. But when you understand it, it changes.” (ibid. p. 28)
And many Christian teachings in the Bible point to the importance of awareness and mindfulness in a Christian spiritual context.
For example, the Christian teaching on awareness is represented in the old testament Psalm 46:10 in the context of “be still and know that I am God”. This reflects the practice of quietening the minds and hearts in order to fully drop into the presence of God.
While a prominent example from the new testament is Jesus’s teaching on the importance of awareness of present experience with a mindfulness that “recognises between wholesome and unwholesome states to minimise unwholesome states and cultivate wholesome ones”. In Matthew 6:28-34 Jesus urges us to reflect on,
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew, 6:25-33, NIV)
The early Monastic Desert Christian Father also place emphasis on awareness and mindfulness as,
Learning to become adept at recognising and responding to these shifting and often-treacherous thoughts ( logismoi ), which revealed so clearly the competing impulses within the monk’s inner life, became critical to the monk’s journey toward an integrated and free self, alive in God. (Burton-Christie, 2015, p. 49)
The logismoi are sometimes referred to as “demonic” but not in the sense of “demonic” as being attacked from outside but something that is part of our thoughts, desires and wants that would be unwholesome and non-virtues. Burton-Christie (2015) comments how when Abba Poemen, an early Christian monastic father, was ask
“How do the demons fight against me?” Poemen responded: “The demons fight against you? . . . Our own wills become the demons, and it is these which attack us”. (ibid. p. 49)
And within the Christian tradition, similarly to Buddhism, it is having an undisciplined mind which ultimately makes us follow the logismoi, unwholesome thoughts and desires. Indeed, it is these logismoi, unwholesome thoughts and desires, that eventually separate the Christian contemplative from God (Christie, 2012).
Similarly, to Buddhism, which uses contemplative practices like mindfulness meditation, the early Christian monastic Fathers also had contemplative practices which where developed to cultivate awareness and mindfulness to liberate ourselves from the logismoi.
These were known as the contemplative practice of “prosoche” (attention) and “diakrisis” (discernment) (Burton-Christie, 2015; Christie, 2012). Curiously, these practices seem to parallel the Buddhist contemplative practices of “samatha” (concentration) and “vipassana” (insight).
Overall, the Christian contemplative emphasis on awareness or mindfulness is often linked to the idea of being present to God and receptive to the movement of the Holy Spirit in one’s life. The early Christian contemplatives used to do this through the practice of “prosoche” (Christie, 2012).
The practice of “prosoche” is similar to how “prosoche” was understood in the stoic tradition as “attention to self” in being vigilante, aware, with a presence of mind (Christie, 2012; Hadot, 2016). Leyko (2005) Narrates how an early desert father, Abba Poemen, says,
“No matter how holy the person, vigilance is demanded at every moment, so cunning and clever are the evil spirits: “Vigilance, self-knowledge and diakrisis; these are the guides of the soul” (ibid. p. 48).
Like mindfulness meditation, when practising prosoche, when the mind wanders away, you bring it back to a point of focus. Within mindfulness meditation, the most common point of focus used is the breath, while in Christian “prosoche”, this is usually a phrase from scripture (Christie, 2012).
Then when the mind is disciplined and vigilant, this focus is applied in the practice of “diakrisis”, which was known as the “discernment of spirits” or “distinguishing between spirits” (Burton-Christie, 2015). This refers to an awareness of how logismoi/unwholesome thoughts arise and a basic discernment of good and evil which was thought to result in a growing internal awareness of the habits of mind (Christie, 2012). This with the ultimate aim of reducing unwholesome states of mind to cultivate wholesome states of mind. In the video below, Fr Spyridon explains this “discernment of spirits” from an Orthodox Christian contemplative context.
So in Christian contemplation, the cultivated awareness is used for the practice of “examining the conscience,” which involves being vigilant, attentive and aware of one’s thoughts, words, and actions. This in order to discern whether they align with God’s will.
This practice of mindfulness of the inner life and discernment is thought to help the Christian contemplative to change as needed in order to grow in virtue and holiness, and move closer to God. This is by not being subject to “logismoi”.
In the Christian contemplative path, it is the discernment of spirits (logismoi) that gradually help us move closer to God and take on his image, and awareness or mindfulness can be seen as a way of staying connected to God and cultivating a deeper relationship with “Him” (Burton-Christie, 2015; Christie, 2012; De Mello, 1992). It is understood that through being attuned in the moment and growing in God’s presence, the Christian contemplative can experience spiritual growth and great peace and joy.
So, although, like in Buddhism, mindfulness and awareness are present in Christianity. Counter to Buddhism, where mindfulness and awareness practice can be seen as a “means to an end”. In the Christian context, mindfulness and awareness are not ends in themselves, but rather a means of deepening one’s relationship with God and growing in spiritual maturity (Christie, 2012; De Mello, 1992).
And this is why sometimes I find myself torn and treading the line between Buddhism and Christianity. However, when I reflect on this, I eventually realise that they are both pointing to the same thing “the liberation from suffering”. The difference between these two contemplative traditions is that Christian contemplation takes a more theistic path, while Buddhist contemplation takes a non-theistic approach.
Bibliography
Burton-Christie, D. (2015). Early monasticism. In A. Hollywood, & P. Z. Beckman (Eds.), The Cambridge companion to Christian mysticism (pp. 37-58). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CCO9781139020886.003
Christie, D. E. (2012). Prosoche: The art of attention. In The blue sapphire of mind: Notes for a contemplative ecology (pp. 142-178). New York: Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199812325.003.0005
De Mello, A. (1992). Awareness: The Perils and Opportunities of Reality. (F. Stroud, Ed.) New York, NY: Doubleday.
Hadot, P. (2016). Philosophy as a Way Of Life: Spiritual Exercises from Socrates to Foucault. (A. Davidson, Ed., & M. Chase, Trans.) Oxford: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Hollywood, A., & Beckman, P. Z. (Eds.). (2015). The Cambridge companion to Christian Mysticism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Leyko, J. (2005). Cassian’s prayer for the 21st century. Scranton, PA: University of Scranton Press.
Matthew, 6:25-33 NIV - Do Not Worry - “Therefore I tell you, - Retrieved January 26, 2023, from Bible Gateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%206:25-33&version=NIV