Christian Insight Meditation: Following in the Footsteps of John of the Cross, by Mary Jo Meadow, Kevin Culligan and Daniel Chowning

(267 pp., Wisdom Publications, 2007)

This book blends Theravada Buddhist insight meditation and the framework of contemplative prayer found in Catholic Carmelite spirituality. The authors, three Christian practitioners of insight meditation, update their earlier book, writing about their Christian “Silence and Awareness Retreats” based on vipassana. Their perspective is pastoral and practical, primarily for skeptical Christians, and their message is clear: the simple Buddhist practice of contemplation is compatible with Christian prayer, and Christians who apply themselves to it will discover the benefits of inner peace and healing. The book’s four parts include historical outlines of both vipassana and Carmelite prayer, meditation instructions, a comparison of interior purification according to the teachings of John of the Cross and the Buddha, and answers to questions on using insight meditation as prayer. The authors’ insights will be of particular interest to hyphenated Buddhists and former Christians who have adopted meditation into their lives. Students of Buddhist-Christian dialogue will find this essential reading.

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From the Spring 2008 issue of Inquiring Mind (Vol. 24, No. 2)

© 2008 Rev. Heng Sure

American-born Rev. Heng Sure ordained as a Buddhist bhikshu (monk) at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Northern California in 1976. He is the senior monk disciple of the late Ch’an Master Hsuan Hua, director of the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery, and teaches Buddhist-Christian dialogue at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California.