This post comes with a warning – if your sensibilities are easily offended, then I'm not talking to you.
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The title is from the words of Linji Yixuan, the 9th century sage of the Hongzhou school of Chan (Zen) Buddhism:
"If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him."
There are numerous commentaries on the meaning of this statement, but mine would be, if you come across any of the many and popular assertions about the Dominican monk and speculative mystic Meister Eckhart and his teachings – then kill them – because they are most probably not only wrong, but offer such a distorted view of where the man was coming from as to lead the inquirer astray.
I write this in reference to a link provided by @TheLightWithin.
The first is: Why a 14th-century mystic appeals to today’s ‘spiritual but not religious’ Americans
An early statement I found a bit flakey:
"Seven centuries ago, Eckhart embraced meditation and what is now called mindfulness."
Did he though? 'Mindfulness' evokes a lot of ideas in the public consciousness, but I doubt any of them match what Eckhart was doing. Rather, he was proposing an advanced stages of Lectio Divina, or perhaps the better-known Centering Prayer.
"Although he never questioned any of the doctrines of the Catholic Church, Eckhart’s preaching eventually resulted in an official investigation and papal condemnation."
This latter is something of a 'badge of honour' in our anti-institutional, a-dogmatic, a-doctrinal, self-oriented culture, but it needs be understood in context.
The impetus behind the accusation was no doubt political and professional jealousy, but there was a pastoral element of concern that, if his most profound teachings were bandied about among the unschooled laity, they would get the wrong impression, and draw the wrong conclusion. History, and the plethora of guff on social media channels lionising Eckhart today, has done just what was feared ...
The article validates itself towards the end when it points out:
"Eckhart’s teachings (are) as part of a long and ancient Christian contemplative tradition ... the apostle Paul, Augustine and Hildegard of Bingen."
(I would add some glaring omissions: St John, St Denys (the pseudoAreopagite), Maximus the Confessor, Johannes Scottus Eriugena.)
"Eckhart ... did not preach an individualistic, isolated kind of personal enlightenment, nor did he reject as much of his own faith tradition as many modern spiritual but not religious are wont to do."
Meister Eckhart has some important lessons for those of us trapped amid today’s materialism and selfishness, but understanding any spiritual guide – especially one as obscure as Eckhart – requires a deeper understanding of the context."
Eckhart was a high-ranking administrator for his order, with a direct commission from, and only answerable to, the head of the Dominican Order, reforming those religious houses that had drifted into error. He was twice elected as Magister at the University of Paris, with only one other Magister being invited for a second term, Thomas Aquinas – so the idea of Eckhart teaching at odds with the Church and his Order is a nonsense – he was utterly orthodox in the basics of the Faith.
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OK ... well I decided to cut this short here, so not as challenging as I might have been ...
+++
The title is from the words of Linji Yixuan, the 9th century sage of the Hongzhou school of Chan (Zen) Buddhism:
"If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him."
There are numerous commentaries on the meaning of this statement, but mine would be, if you come across any of the many and popular assertions about the Dominican monk and speculative mystic Meister Eckhart and his teachings – then kill them – because they are most probably not only wrong, but offer such a distorted view of where the man was coming from as to lead the inquirer astray.
I write this in reference to a link provided by @TheLightWithin.
The first is: Why a 14th-century mystic appeals to today’s ‘spiritual but not religious’ Americans
An early statement I found a bit flakey:
"Seven centuries ago, Eckhart embraced meditation and what is now called mindfulness."
Did he though? 'Mindfulness' evokes a lot of ideas in the public consciousness, but I doubt any of them match what Eckhart was doing. Rather, he was proposing an advanced stages of Lectio Divina, or perhaps the better-known Centering Prayer.
"Although he never questioned any of the doctrines of the Catholic Church, Eckhart’s preaching eventually resulted in an official investigation and papal condemnation."
This latter is something of a 'badge of honour' in our anti-institutional, a-dogmatic, a-doctrinal, self-oriented culture, but it needs be understood in context.
The impetus behind the accusation was no doubt political and professional jealousy, but there was a pastoral element of concern that, if his most profound teachings were bandied about among the unschooled laity, they would get the wrong impression, and draw the wrong conclusion. History, and the plethora of guff on social media channels lionising Eckhart today, has done just what was feared ...
The article validates itself towards the end when it points out:
"Eckhart’s teachings (are) as part of a long and ancient Christian contemplative tradition ... the apostle Paul, Augustine and Hildegard of Bingen."
(I would add some glaring omissions: St John, St Denys (the pseudoAreopagite), Maximus the Confessor, Johannes Scottus Eriugena.)
"Eckhart ... did not preach an individualistic, isolated kind of personal enlightenment, nor did he reject as much of his own faith tradition as many modern spiritual but not religious are wont to do."
Meister Eckhart has some important lessons for those of us trapped amid today’s materialism and selfishness, but understanding any spiritual guide – especially one as obscure as Eckhart – requires a deeper understanding of the context."
Eckhart was a high-ranking administrator for his order, with a direct commission from, and only answerable to, the head of the Dominican Order, reforming those religious houses that had drifted into error. He was twice elected as Magister at the University of Paris, with only one other Magister being invited for a second term, Thomas Aquinas – so the idea of Eckhart teaching at odds with the Church and his Order is a nonsense – he was utterly orthodox in the basics of the Faith.
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OK ... well I decided to cut this short here, so not as challenging as I might have been ...
Indeed, he's more circumspect than I was.
