| U.S. News

Or perhaps you’re more interested in doing a little reading before bedtime on the religious traditions of the East? Jesuit Father Robert Kennedy has just the book for you. His Zen Spirit, Christian Spirit (Continuum, $14.95) can school you in the ways of the Buddha and help reconcile your fascination with all things Asian to your Christian past.

And should you have any doubts about the compatibility of Buddhist practices with the Christian faith, look no further than Sister Elaine McInnes, whose book Zen Contemplation for Christians (Sheed and Ward, $15.95) dismisses such reservations as antiquated hang-ups from those dreadful days before the Second Vatican Council.

So, is she correct?

The simple answer is “no.” Nevertheless, thousands of Catholics and Christians from coast to coast are still buying into the belief that the best way to become a better Christian is to first become a better Buddhist. Thousands more are rejecting their Christian roots altogether and embracing the more exotic religious practices of the East.

‘Four Noble Truths’

Just what exactly is it about Buddhism that attracts these Westerners? And why do so many Christians stubbornly insist that the two faiths are compatible?

Answering those questions first requires some defining of terms, which with Buddhism is no easy task. Rather like Protestantism, there are many different types of Buddhism, with many different sets of beliefs. The most well-known in the West are Zen and Tibetan Buddhism, but the exact shape those forms take in America are different still from the shape they take in their native habitats.

Defining what constitutes a Buddhist is almost as difficult as defining Buddhism.

Because many forms of Buddhism require little to no community participation, a person can consider himself a Buddhist because he attends an occasional Buddhist retreat, practices Buddhist meditation or just attempts to incorporate the teachings of the Buddha into his daily life.

But according to Anthony Clark, a professor of Chinese history at the University of Alabama, for all the seeming and real differences in Buddhism, at their core, all forms share the same four fundamental principles. Those principles, referred to as the “Four Noble Truths,” came to the Buddha (born Siddhartha Gautama, c. 483 B.C.) while he was meditating one afternoon in the shade of a bodhi tree.

The “Four Noble Truths” are: 1) All of life is suffering.

2) Selfish desire causes that suffering.

3) Detachment from desire brings freedom from suffering.

4) Desire can be extinguished through following the “Eight-fold Path” – having right views, intentions, speech, actions, livelihood, effort, mindfulness and concentration.

Agnostic tendencies

In addition to the “Four Noble Truths,” most forms of Buddhism are agnostic – the question of whether God exists being irrelevant to the reality of the “Four Noble Truths” and the “Eight-fold Path.”

Most forms of Buddhism also deny the immortality of the soul. For Buddhists, said Clark, “The final goal is not just eradicating desire, but becoming free of suffering.”

The way they do that, he said, is by reaching nirvana, which ultimately means extinguishing the self and becoming part of the “great monad,” the universal oneness.

Buddhism also contains a strong component of relativism, viewing other religious practices and beliefs as acceptable because they are upaya, expedient means to achieving spiritual growth.

That element of relativism, Clark believes, at least in part accounts for so many Westerners’ attraction to Buddhism. “Buddhism allows you to be anything you want to be with all sorts of East Asian trappings,” he said.

Institutional ‘trappings’

Another strong point of attraction is that “Eight-fold Path.” Unlike Christianity, which puts control over the universe in God’s hands, not man’s, Buddhism gives its adherents a step-by-step plan for eliminating suffering from their lives and achieving, at least a form of, salvation.

For Phillip Harbin, who was a practicing Buddhist for almost 10 years before returning to Christianity and then converting to Catholicism, the emphasis placed on “personal effort and experience” was compelling. “It was rather like a spiritual independent study,” he said.

It also, said Harbin, is an independent study that comes with as many or as few institutional trappings of religion as the adherent likes. Monks, robes and prayer beads are there for those who want them. For those who want to practice a spirituality that brings them peace without having to conform to any institutional practices or demands, Buddhism offers that.

Father Francis Tiso, associate director of interreligious relations for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, sees at least one ...