Japan congratuates new pope

[dimwit]

New Pope...... Oops! wrong Benedict

Kyodo new via Japan Today

TOKYO — Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda on Wednesday expressed Japan's congratulations to Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected to the papacy in the Vatican on Tuesday

http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=1&id=334800

For a very interesting primer on the Catholic Church in Japan today

Some interesting ideas about interfaith exchanges that I had never heard about.

Interest in Zen spread among Catholics and many began to use methods of Zen meditation in their own prayer life. Dialogue with Buddhists, especially Zen Buddhists, developed in many places and led to Oriental-Occidental spiritual exchanges. The first of these took place in September 1979, when 51 Buddhist monks experienced a month of monastic life in contemplative Catholic monasteries in Germany, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. For the second exchange, in October 1983, 17 contemplative European monks, mainly Benedictines and Trappists, came to Japan to spend a month in Zen monasteries. Thus far there have been four such spiritual exchanges, with the participants traveling to each other's countries to get first-hand experience of religious life there.

[Ketou]

Interest in Zen spread among Catholics and many began to use methods of Zen meditation in their own prayer life. Dialogue with Buddhists, especially Zen Buddhists, developed in many places and led to Oriental-Occidental spiritual exchanges. The first of these took place in September 1979, when 51 Buddhist monks experienced a month of monastic life in contemplative Catholic monasteries in Germany, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. For the second exchange, in October 1983, 17 contemplative European monks, mainly Benedictines and Trappists, came to Japan to spend a month in Zen monasteries. Thus far there have been four such spiritual exchanges, with the participants traveling to each other's countries to get first-hand experience of religious life there.

F*ck the blind leading the blind.

[gomichild]

Interesting....

[dimwit]

Interesting....

What. the resemblance or the post number?

[Narcoleptic]

There's actually a weirdly large amount of Catholic-Buddhist dialogue. The first Buddhist retreat I went on (more in the Theravada vipassana tradition than Zen) was in the oldest Catholic monastary in Germany. The woman leading the retreat was an 80-year-old ethnically Jewish German Buddhist nun (the Ven. Ayya Khema, if you're interested) who emigrated pre-Hitler. The head monk even came in and meditated with us sometimes. Since then, I've gone on three other retreats at monastaries and convents.

Meanwhile, a lot of the more ecumenical Western practioners of meditation coming out of the Buddhist tradition often like to talk about St. Teresa of Avila as an early Christian example of meditative prayer and insight. If you read her accounts of her experiences it does indeed sound a lot like what Buddhists call the jhanas or meditative absorptions. Based on what I've seen, a significant number of contemporary Catholics are rediscovering Christian meditative practices from early Christianity.

It's actually always been pretty shocking to me just how open-minded a lot of elements of the Catholic church can be, since when I think of the Catholic Church, I tend to think of the really conservative elements (the current Pope, Cardinal Mahoney, Law, etc.), the sex scandals, historical antisemitism and just generally being out of touch and mildly tacky at that. Of course, if you're a monk or a nun, maybe you just naturally relate to somone else who's chosen poverty, celebacy and spiritual devotion over, say, the things most of us think about 24-7. Also, sharing space with Buddhists has got to be a good way to make a little extra cash since you don't see a lot of younger monks and nuns rushing to be ordained these days.

[Mulboyne]

It's actually always been pretty shocking to me just how open-minded a lot of elements of the Catholic church can be

Ironically, the phrase "catholic taste" is almost synonymous with an open mind although the church "Catholic" has a different set of meanings.

[Charles]

Oops, wrong Benedict.

[nullpointer]

Seems like everyone is posting their favourite Benedict, Here's mine.

[FG Lurker]

Seems like everyone is posting their favourite Benedict, Here's mine.

Interesting. I didn't know that is what his middle name was!

He's gained some weight too. Not that I haven't though.

[nullpointer]

I didn't know that is what his middle name was!

Which reminds me of a story.....
Once I ran into a fanboy, you know the kind I am talking about, the nanchatte FOSS evangelists. He was almost frothing at the mouth with no idea in hell what he was talking about, a tybical slashbot.I ask him, Do you know the middle name of your god? That shut him up. To him it was the ultimate insult. He thought of himself as the trivia king of FOSS. Was pretty funny at the time.

[FG Lurker]

Which reminds me of a story.....
Once I ran into a fanboy, you know the kind I am talking about, the nanchatte FOSS evangelists. He was almost frothing at the mouth with no idea in hell what he was talking about, a tybical slashbot.I ask him, Do you know the middle name of your god? That shut him up. To him it was the ultimate insult. He thought of himself as the trivia king of FOSS. Was pretty funny at the time.

Lots of people take themselves (and life in general) way WAY too seriously... Even a few here on the board who do.

[bunchoffuckinggoofs]

Lots of people take themselves (and life in general) way WAY too seriously... Even a few here on the board who do.

You don't say, Dale?

[FG Lurker]

Lots of people take themselves (and life in general) way WAY too seriously... Even a few here on the board who do.

You don't say, Dale?

And then there are those who are just natural assholes.

Prefer somewhere in the middle myself. (Doesn't mean I always manage to find that middle ground.)

[bunchoffuckinggoofs]

Lots of people take themselves (and life in general) way WAY too seriously... Even a few here on the board who do.

You don't say, Dale?

And then there are those who are just natural assholes.

Prefer somewhere in the middle myself. (Doesn't mean I always manage to find that middle ground.)

Oh, Dale, you are so charming, so restrained, and so sure of your own judgements. Humane uncertainty? Ever heard of it? Nah, you wouldn't read Tinder. How's Frank Oz these days?

[dimwit]

My favorite Benedict

[FG Lurker]

Lots of people take themselves (and life in general) way WAY too seriously... Even a few here on the board who do.

You don't say, Dale?

And then there are those who are just natural assholes.

Prefer somewhere in the middle myself. (Doesn't mean I always manage to find that middle ground.)

Oh, Dale, you are so charming, so restrained, and so sure of your own judgements. Humane uncertainty? Ever heard of it? Nah, you wouldn't read Tinder. How's Frank Oz these days?

Uncertainty? No, I've never heard of that.

Oh wait...Isn't "uncertain" the state that losers with no life spend most of their time in? Yah, thought I'd heard of it somewhere.

I'll leave the uncertainty to you.