Solitary Retreat in American Buddhism and Buddhist-Christian Dialogue

Intensive meditation has always been a central feature of Buddhism, even if it has been variously practiced. Such is not the case with the Christian tradition. Learning about intensive meditation in the Buddhist tradition-its history, theory, and practice-can helpfully inform Christians who may discover useful parallels. One way to begin this discovery is to read about a typical one-month Buddhist meditation retreat as a way of seeing new possibilities for Christian spiritual practice. INTENSIVE MEDITATION IN BUDDHISM AND THE CONTEXT OF DIALOGUE Meditation within Buddhism is most simply characterized as the development of awareness through the practice of silent, mindful attention to the phenomena of body and mind. As is well known, this practice is espoused throughout the tradition as the heart of Buddhist spiritual life. Most Westerners think of Buddhist meditation in terms of the relatively short periods of quiet sitting, typically carried out in the midst of other responsibilities, that characterize most lay or monastic life throughout Asia and now in the West. Yet this was not the original way in which meditation was practiced in Buddhism. In fact, for the Buddha as well as for the other great saints of the tradition, meditation meant withdrawing into solitude for extended periods of time and practicing meditation intensively. Westerners who do know about retreat practice in Buddhism tend to regard it as a more extreme version of daily meditation, which they see as the norm. However, from another viewpoint, retreat practice can be taken as the norm, and the short periods of meditation that layand settled monastic people can generally manage are a reflection and foretaste of the retreat experience. From this angle, in order to appreciate the intention of meditation in Buddhism fully, it is necessary to understand its historically original form in the context of intensive retreat. If meditation is the core of Buddhism, retreat practice is the core of meditation.1 Buddhist-Christian Studies 16 (1996). ? by University of Hawai'i Press. All rights reserved. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.192 on Wed, 24 Aug 2016 04:21:47 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms