12th Conference of the European Network for Buddhist-Christian Studies: Meditation in Buddhist-Christian Encounter: A Critical Analysis Report of the 12th Conference of the European Network for Buddhist-Christian Studies (ENBCS) held from 29 June to 3 July 2017, at Montserrat, Spain.

The 12th Conference of the European Network for Buddhist-Christian Studies, held from 29 June–3 July 2017 in Montserrat ("sawn mountain," sanctuary and monastery) in Spain, critically analyzed the role of different forms of meditation in Buddhist-Christian encounter. It drew over sixty participants from different parts of Europe, Thailand, and the USA to what was a most evocative setting. In the Middle Ages, Montserrat became a popular place of pilgrimage because of miracles attributed to Mary, who is depicted as a black virgin in the basilica, and thousands of pilgrims continue to come.

The conference topic was examined through five themed sessions, each from the perspectives of both traditions: Meditation/Contemplation in Traditional Buddhism and Christianity; Christian-Buddhist Encounter through Zen Practice; Christian-Buddhist Encounter through Mindfulness; The Hesychast Tradition and its Affinities to Buddhism; Meditation and Action in Buddhism and Christianity.

Elizabeth Harris (Birmingham University), the President of ENBCS, delivered the introductory lecture, "Meditation in Buddhist-Christian Encounter: Different Contexts, Different Expressions." She surveyed some "moments" in the Christian encounter with Buddhist meditation and the Buddhist encounter with Christian contemplation in order to show how changing conditions influenced the relationship between adherents of both traditions as well as their attitudes toward meditation. She began her account with Ippolito Desideri, SJ (1684–1733), who was a missionary to Tibet from 1716 to 1721. He learned the language and appreciated the "sweetness of contemplation in a Buddhist hermitage," even though he declared Buddha to be an "infernal lawgiver." Her other "moments" included Protestant missionaries in nineteenth-century Sri Lanka under British colonialism and their contesters, and twentieth-century rapprochement. The former generally exhibited an exclusivist attitude and did not understand central Buddhist notions such as dukkha. D. J. Gogerly (1792–1862), for example, collected, studied, and translated Pāli texts. Although he tried to be fair to Buddhism, he perceived Buddhist meditation as a form of "mesmeric trance," taking concepts from spiritualism. In reaction to the negative attitude of these missionaries, Anagārika Dharmapāla (1864–1933), who was educated in Christian schools and later influenced by theosophists, criticized the Christian god as violent and capricious and dismissed Christian prayer as a poor substitute for purity of life. In the late twentieth century, on the other hand, Christians in the West began to rediscover contemplation, mysticism, and Ignatian spiritual practice, and monks such as Thomas Merton inspired Buddhist-Christian inter-monastic dialogue. On the Buddhist side, Lance Cousins (1942–2015) compared Teresa of Avila and Buddhaghosa, and the Buddhist nun, Ayya Khema (1923–1997), toward the end of her life, equated God and nibbāna. More recently, Buddhist monks involved in inter-monastic dialogue wrote a commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict, resulting in a publication entitled Benedict's Dharma (2002).

Within the first theme, "Meditation/Contemplation in Traditional Buddhism and Christianity," Karl Baier (University of Vienna) clarified the Christian terminology of prayer, meditation, and contemplation, demonstrating that their roots reached back to Hebrew, Greek, and Roman traditions and that their meanings had changed throughout history. Quoting John of Damascus, he explained prayer as "raising the mind to God" and meditation and contemplation as spiritual exercises. Meditation could be conceived as activating the soul, will, and mind (Ignatius) with an element of ruminatio ("repeated chewing"), and contemplation, as calming down the mind's activities in order to become open to God (Eckhart). They, therefore, correlated in polarity. After the sixteenth century, the practices were separated, and, in the next century, contemplation was marginalized to be rediscovered by individuals and groups, such as the "centering prayer movement," in the twentieth century.

Sarah Shaw (Oxford University), within the first theme, introduced "Meditation and Contemplation in the Southern Buddhist Tradition." Beginning with the Buddha biography, she stressed that the Buddha's contribution was to teach a graduated path of meditation that not only involved the mind but also the body...