I was reading the book Cracking the Walnut by Zen master Thich Nhat Hahn, in which he shares the story of getting a letter from a German Christian priest. In this letter the priest spoke about his Christian journey and how he eventually was drawn to Buddhism. Citing how much Buddhism enhanced his spirituality, he asked whether he should reject Christianity and become a Buddhist.
However, Thich Nhat Hahn’s response was that he should not become a Buddhist. Instead, he told the priest to think of Christianity as the first floor of his spiritual home. This home has nurtured him and sheltered him for many years. Perhaps, Nhat Hahn pondered, Buddhism has become a staircase that will allow him to get to the second floor of his home and spirituality.
I’ve been thinking about this analogy all week and wonder if it might be a helpful model for the interreligious work our office is doing.
We often talk about helping our students engage in a spiritual path that brings them life, wholeness, and fullness. However, we do this together. Thus, one can become a fuller Christian by learning from a Muslim while a Muslim student can become a fuller Muslim by learning from a Buddhist.
We actually need our religious neighbor to help us understand the fullness of our own religious tradition. The more we learn about our religious neighbors and their religions, the more we learn about the fullness of God. We need the active engagement of religious difference. Therefore, instead of religious diversity or religious pluralism as a problem, it can be seen as a gift and promise. Such religious diversity allows us to see the multiplicity of the Divine life, as theologian John Thatamanil argues.
This is why we had our Interfaith Panel Discussion yesterday evening. Bringing together a Rabbi, two Christian pastors, and a Unitarian Universalist minister, we learned about their personal spiritual journeys, what convinced them to become spiritual leaders and guides, and how we can better engage with others from different religious traditions.
Hopefully, all of this will allow us to see there is a staircase that can lead us to spiritual rooms we have yet to explore.