In the Company of Friends: Exploring Faith and Understanding with Buddhists and Christians

Chapter 7: Colloquia in Faith

73 7 Colloquia in Faith In the age of communication satellites, cell phones, nonstop flights around half the world, interreligious marriages that endure, old reified conceptual entities thought of as distinct religions are dissolving . Persons are meeting now, happily, not religions. And persons are becoming more engaged not in arguing or converting as was the practice of self-denying and courageous Christian missionaries of a century ago, but in speaking among ourselves about ourselves, of learning from each other in the company of friends. MOVING BEYOND DIALOGUE Leading representatives of the major religious traditions have been talking about dialogue for half a century or more. We have come a long way, indeed, from the days of public debates, from a time of studying another religious tradition in order for some to know its strengths, contributing to a sense of respect for it, in order for others to know its weaknesses so that one might present more effectively one’s own religious views. We have arrived at the stage of dialogue. But nowadays, people tend to think of dialogue, instead of its basic sense of communication, to be, rather, a discussion between two parties, suggesting that those speakers who are participating in the discussions are engaged in their activity primarily insofar as they are seen as representing two positions. And straightway we have “dialogue conferences” in which we invite a few Christians to talk about Christianity and a few Jōdo Shinshū Buddhists to talk about Jōdo Shinshū, or even Buddhism, and before we have had time to read the papers of the conference, or even the newspapers the next day, we are told that dialogue is underway between Christianity and Buddhism, or, in those refined reports or newspaper accounts, between Christianity and Jōdo Shinshū or Shin Buddhism. This is interesting, to say the least. There is no person alive today who knows all that there is to be known about Christianity; no one alive who knows everything about Jōdo Shinshū. 74 I n t he C om p a ny of Fr ie nd s Have we given thought to the procedure by which a person or a committee goes about selecting or inviting a scholar to represent a position? How do we pick the scholar to “speak on behalf of” Christianity? How do we select and to whom do we turn to “speak on behalf” of Jōdo Shinshū? Usually, and recently, for international conferences two requirements have been proposed: (1) some knowledge of the tradition from which one speaks, and (2) a command of the English language. It appears that, rather recently, a third requirement has been added; (3) some familiarity with the other tradition that is being “represented” in the dialogue. We have entered the so-called Buddhist-Christian dialogue phase of our global human religious history, with some sense of accomplishment and not a little fanfare. But, alas, it appears that this phase has already passed us by and we are being called upon to enter an even newer phase. This more recent phase is even more demanding of us: we are called upon to enter into a multifaceted colloquium that at one and the same time beckons us to speak about ourselves among persons of other religious traditions and also among ourselves within our own religious heritage. Let me take Jōdo Shinshū as a case in point. There is some excitement in some circles now about Buddhist-Christian “dialogue,” meaning, in this particular case, Shin Buddhist and Christian “dialogue.” But one is struck by an apparent absence of Shin Buddhist and Zen Buddhist “dialogue,” or—and stand by for this one—Jōdo Shinshū and Nichiren-shū “dialogue.” As students might put it, “Why aren’t Buddhists getting their act together?” One wonders why.1 And further, there are conferences already scheduled for a continuation of Jōdo Shinshū Buddhist and Christian “dialogue,” conferences that are important and suggestive of ways of developing and deepening our self-understanding in the future. But one wonders why we have not yet seen a conference on Jōdo Shinshū Buddhist and Theravāda Buddhist “dialogue.” I wonder whether those of us who are Jōdo Shinshū Buddhists have had a conference on why we want to have conferences with anyone, especially why we want to have conferences with Christians? And which Christians? Has there been a conference within the past three decades among Japanese Jōdo Shinshū ministers and Japanese Christian ministers—priests, monks...