Reflections on the Fourth Buddhist-Christian Conference

Abstract

Buddhist-Christian dialogue now flourishes as never before as a global encounter of two religious traditions. In many respects, the relationship between Buddhists and Christians serves as a model for what contemporary interfaith dialogue can achieve in terms of the scope and sophistication of the other conversations.1 Contemporary Buddhist-Christian dialogue (hereafter BCD) can be divided into three main types of activities: the dialogue of life; the dialogue of meaning; and the dialogue of the heart.2 Yet, as we shall see, there is always room for improvement and expansion. Part of the reason for the harmonious nature of the dialogue derives from the previous history of Buddhist-Christian interaction. History always plays a pivotal role in dialogue even if it is sometimes a painful topic. For instance, dialogue among Christians, Jews, and Muslims has to account for the centuries of conflict, distortion, and misunderstanding-not to mention mutual contempt, slaughter, and the Holocaust. While most Christians, Jews, and Muslims will deny that their religions intrinsically have anything to do with promoting these terrors, there is little doubt that religion in theory and practice lies at the root of much of this communal evil between those the Muslims call the People of the Book. At the other end of the spectrum, we can contemplate the relatively easy relationship among Christianity, Buddhism, and other East Asian traditions such as Confucianism, Taoism, and Shintoism.3 The first caveat about BCD is that it is usually initiated by academicians or contemplatives. This means that the participants and the audience are inevitably educated members of the middle class. While there is nothing fundamentally disturbing about this, there is a frequently voiced desire to find some way to enlarge the circle of conversation beyond those already convinced of the positive nature of the interchange.4 This is especially the point when the conversation moves from scholarly or spiritual interests to the question of social action. Along with the desire to expand the circle of conversation beyond the academic and contemplative world is the recognition that the participants need to discover ways to invite new people to join the dialogue. BCD must escape becoming a comfortable club where the partners talk only to each other.