Just started to read this. It about a very rich and successful lawyer who gave up everything and went to India to find Enlightment after a lawyer friend took a heart attack. I was a bit reluctant to start reading this. Buddhism is not really so much a religion as a philosophy which sees suffering as an illusion. For the Catholic suffering , the Cross most certainly an illusion but at the centre of all the path to Resurrection and mostly certainly a religion. It is sad that our Catholic Faith is very often not seem as mystical and people go all the way to India to discover the Truth(S).
Padraig, your mention of Buddhism reminded me that I was wondering recently if you'd read any of Fr. William Johnston's books over the years. From your part of the world, Belfast originally, he spent over 40 years in Japan and was very familiar with Buddhism. However, he remained deeply rooted in his Catholic faith and was one of the writers who, early on, brought the reality, mystery and Truth of the faith home to me. One of his books, a slim volume called Letters to Contemplatives, I thought was very good.
I did read some of his books but that was nearly 50 years ago though as I recall he was Orthodox unlike other Catholic writers like Thomas Merton who went way off the rails. A Irish Catholic Abbot visited a Catholic Monastery in Japan one time and he told me he asked the Japanese Abbot why that place was decorated and built in traditional Roman fashion. The Japanese replied that Buddhist Monasteries were two a penny in Japan but a real Catholic Western one fascinated his countrymen. I think that is why young people are often drawn to Buddhism, that it is foreign and different.
With the price of petrol going the way it is, I think I’ll sell my Ferrari, too! As the saying goes, I’ll apologise and get my coat.
I think you're right. My introduction to Zen Buddhism, Taoism and Krishnamurti came from a teenage fascination with Bruce Lee's movies and later on the philosophy behind his 'style' of martial art, Jeet Kune Do. At the time, I'd never seen anything like him, an exciting and exotic breath of fresh air in (what seemed) a fairly 'dull' time here. Then, reading more about his short life I found that he was interested in and inspired by some of those equally exotic philosophies mentioned. Krishnamurti in particular was influential to him and following from that I reckoned if he thought it was good, there must be something worthwhile there. Interestingly, Bruce Lee had attended a Catholic school as a boy in Hong Kong, (his mother was Catholic) so I felt some connection there too. That was in the mid 70s, so pretty much 50 years ago also. Early in the 80s I became very interested in the life of Padre Pio, Alexandrina da Costa, Marian apparitions etc., so for a long time there was a kind of 'parallel' interest in these two seemingly opposite viewpoints. Over time it has resolved into a much stronger sense of the Truth of our Catholic faith.
There is a great danger in seeing all religions as being the same. That we are all of us climbing the same mountain just climbing it in different directions. But this is not true. Jesus really was the Son of God. The mystical always is attractive. When we look at Eastern practices they are so different we can get a little starry eyed about them. I read something from Thomas Merton years ago that made me think. He was in a hotel room in New York with the Zen Buddhist world expert Dr Suzuki and others and they were looking down at Times Square at a line of people waiting to get into a theatre. One of the ones in room said to the other one how blessed they were not to be lost and confused like the people below because of their own Meditative/prayer state. Two wrong things hit me with this. Jesus said if we are invited to a feast we should always take the lowest seat. But here with this comment they seemed to be taking the highest seat. That they were assuming they were better than those outside. Another thing was that the assumption that Zen Buddhist Meditation was just as efficacious or good or the same as Catholic prayer. This is very,very false.
But in the book the lawyer is very successful in terms of his job, but goes into burn out and takes a heart attack. After this he turns to a more spiritual path to underpin his life and heads to India for answers. It seems to me that this underpins all conversions. That the floor on which we walked caves in and forces us to change.
I haven't read the book and don't know much about the author but I had a look online to find out a bit more. Lots of reviews of the book (mostly positive). Also saw this recent interview with Robin Sharma which gives a good idea of his background, ideas etc. He seems to be well known as a 'self help' guide to leading a 'happier' and more 'fulfilled' life, rather than a Spiritual teacher. Link to interview below: https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/robin-sharma-consistency-interview-2025
The author speak of a hidden Monastery high in the Himalayas full of wonderful enlightened people, rather like the legend of Shangri la. The German Mystic Tereasa Neumann speaks of a place in the Himalayas were sacred relics are kept safely such as the Holy Grail and St Josephs staff. But before believing in Shangri la I would need some proof and there isn't any really. Buddhism is gnostic really. It is all about gaining knowledge that makes things better and better. Also I think about mind conditioning. Anyhow it is very different from and incompatible with Catholicism. So I think I will leave this book incomplete and get another one out.
Vajrayana buddhism is super polytheistic ,even if (within their advanced teachings) gods don't exist. Dzogchen is philosophically fascinating. The "most" similar to christianity ,is pure land buddhism (faith\chants to amitabha buddha to be reborn in his paradise. however the pure land is just a training ground to become full buddha). I think original buddhism as preached in India doesn't exist anymore. the first monks wouldn't recognize zen, nichiren, esoteric buddhism etc. at all
As I understand it Buddhism is about self perfecting the soul. It does not rely on God's grace but on practices done diligently to raise the soul to the great heights. But it is always about doing it ourselves. No God as we know God through His revelations.
I was debating whether to introduce this into the conversation but it may be of interest to some people. I mentioned in an earlier post that it was Bruce Lee's interest in Krishnamurti's ideas which made me aware of his writings. I read a lot of his books as a teenager and then became very interested in his early life and preparation by the Theosophical Society to be the new World Teacher, in the early 1900s. K went along with this plan until he decided to renounce this role and break away from the TS in 1929. From then until his death in 1986, aged 90, he travelled to various parts of the world each year to speak to audiences about his ideas and thoughts on consciousness and the human condition. In the '90s I was trying to resolve the apparent contradiction between K's ideas and the traditional Catholicism of Padre Pio and Marian apparitions and messages, which I felt to be true. An uncle of mine, who was a religious brother, asked if I'd heard of Anthony De Mello or read any of his books. At the time I hadn't, so the next evening I called into a bookshop after work to see if they had any of his works. They had a few and the first one I opened had a dedication which included an acknowledgement of J. Krishnamurti and his contribution to De Mello's ideas. This surprised me and I took it as a good sign. Having read some more I found that Fr. De Mello often brought Krishnamurti books into his talks and would read directly from them. Later on I became aware of Fr. Raimon Panikkar, the son of a Hindu father and Spanish Catholic mother. I watched some videos and read a bit about him and it transpired the he too was familiar with Krishnamurti and valued his teaching highly. At this point I believe the Truths of the Catholic faith but find it difficult to dismiss K entirely as some kind of charlatan or fraud, who hoodwinked people with his early reputation. He was 'discovered' as a young boy while playing on the beach at Adyar near the headquarters of the TS by CW Leadbeater, who apparently had some psychic gifts and may also have been a paedophile. The young Krishnamurti was 'vague' and 'dreamy'. Some considered him to be intellectually challenged. One of his school teachers met and spoke to him as an older man and said he couldn't believe how he had developed from the boy he had known. It is a curious, almost 'mythical' life story. I'm still not sure what it represents. It could of course be from the 'dark side'. K himself spoke of the Sacred, the Immeasurable and of Intelligence beyond the limited conditioning of human beings. A mystery to many who knew him personally for many years, he continues to pose questions rather than provide easy answers.
I think Krishnamurti, along with others like Aurobindo, Vivekananda are "neo hindus"- which is a good thing io, since "trad" hindus( eg; shankaracharya of puri, kanchi) believe in caste system, untouchability, sati, animal sacrifice, etc I wish I could enter the religious anthropology\history career, but the uni. is in another city. Just know that ironically that neo hindus are nicer, because traditionalist ones (eg; Nischalananda alive today) believe in nasty things. like justifying systemic inequality for birth.
Krishnamurti was born in 1895 into a Brahmin family and therefore was of the priestly class but he considered himself to be outside of all traditions whether Hindu, Buddhist or Christian. He spoke of the Religious life, the Religious mind and heart but it doesn't seem to have been in any particular stream.
I read a lot of Spirtualist and New Age and all kinds of books when I was young. But after a while a big thing that put me of them is that they kind of contradicted each other. For instance clairavoyents who said they spoke to the souls of the dead. Then these souls gave words of Wisdom and insight. Well all that seemed fine until at last it was plain to be seen that they contradicted each others in really major matters. I met a clairavoyent lady one time and asked her about this. That really, really important figures in the Spiritualist movement gave these accounts which contradicted each other. She just sat there with her mouth open not having an answer. One thing about demons that really stands out is that they are such liars.
From J. Krishnamurti's book The First and Last Freedom (1954) Foreword by Aldous Huxley. A fairly representative quote from Krishnamurti, if anyone was wondering what sort of things he spoke about.
