Zen for Christians: a beginner's guide by Kim Boykin

Author:Kim Boykin
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Religion & beliefs, Relations, Christianity, Buddhism, Spiritual life, Christian life & practice, Spiritual life - Zen Buddhism, Buddhism - Zen, Meditation - Zen Buddhism, RELIGION, Kim, Religion - World Religions, Spiritual biography, Christian Life, Self-Help, Christianity - General, Christianity and other religions, Boykin, Zen Buddhism, Religious, Zen, General, Comparative Religion, Christianity and other religions - Zen Buddhism, Zen Buddhism - Relations - Christianity, Christianity and other religio, Biography & Autobiography, Non-Christian Religions, Christian Theology
ISBN: 9780787963767
Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : Jossey-Bass, c2003.
Published: 2003-04-11T05:00:00+00:00

The Fruits of Liberation and the Role of Effort

But what about reducing the amount of pain or sin in our own lives and in the world? What about selfless compassion for all sentient beings? What about love of God and neighbor? These are obviously good and important things, so where do they fit in?

At least some strains of Buddhism and Christianity say that these good and important things flow out of our liberation. We commonly make the mistake of thinking that practicing in accordance with the values of our tradition will help us attain liberation. But no, we've got that backward. Spiritual practice and love and compassion do not earn us liberation; rather, they are the fruits of our liberation. A good tree bears good fruit. This is another similarity between Zen and Christian observations of human experience.

In Zen, our buddha-nature-that is, our awakened or enlightened nature-is always already present. Practices such as meditation and following the Buddhist precepts are fundamental to Zen, but not because they will help us earn or achieve or create our buddha-nature. Our buddha-nature is always right here, right now. Meditation and following the precepts are expressions and manifestations of our inherent buddhanature. The practices of Zen can perhaps help us awaken to our inherent enlightenment, help us realize that the enlightenment we've been seeking is already here-and this realization can be transformative. The "actualization" of our buddhahood in our actions in the world flows out of this realization. Increasingly (in the ideal case), we will act with selfless compassion for all sentient beings. Our meditation and our compassionate action do not earn us buddhahood; rather, they are the fruits of our inherent buddhahood.

Likewise, in Christianity, our salvation, or "justification," is freely offered by God to those who simply turn in repentance and accept God's overflowing love and saving work, accomplished in Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit. Christian practices such as prayer, worship, studying the scriptures, and striving to be loving and moral human beings are, of course, central to Christianity. But we cannot, by doing all those good things, earn or achieve or create our justification. The practices of Christianity are ways to express and incarnate the amazing good news of God's love for us. And they can be ways, perhaps, to discover and accept God's gracious and salvific love-and this acceptance can be transformative. Our "sanctification"that is, our growing saintliness, our growing faith, hope, and love-flow out of our justification. Increasingly (in the ideal case), our actions will manifest love for God, neighbor, and self. Our faith, hope, and love do not earn us justification; rather, they are the fruits of our justification.

So in one way, human effort is irrelevant. In both Zen and Christianity, liberation cannot be earned or achieved. But this doesn't mean, of course, that human effort is irrelevant to the religious life. Even though our efforts cannot help us earn or achieve salvation or enlightenment, they might help us open to the realization of our inherent enlightenment or to the acceptance of God's free offer of salvation.

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