Christian Zen

I was futzing around the web when I stumbled upon a book by the late Thomas Hand. I’d met this Jesuit zen practitioner when I was doing my parish internship in San Jose. We had a small connection because he had once been Ruben Habito’s spiritual director when they were both Jesuits in Japan. It was he who suggested Ruben who was doing his doctoral work in Medevial Japanese Buddhism might consider meeting an authentic Zen teacher. Ruben did and has gone on to become a Zen teacher in his own right and is now one of the more respected Zen spiritual guides in North America. I count Ruben as one of my teachers. So, even though the meeting with Fr Hand was passing I was fascinated to be able to meet this person who had been influential in the life of someone very influential to mine.

I find the mess that is sometimes called Christian Zen a compelling discipline. It’s practitioners are frequently criticised by both Christians and Buddhists – which somehow I find attractive. One of these Zen Christian teachers, a Benedictine monk even enjoyed, if that is the right word, being officially silenced by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before the cardinal moved on to bigger things. Besides Ruben, two very important Christian Zen teachers in North America are Pat Hawk, with whom I’ve studied and the remarkable Robert Kennedy who has his own Dharma heirs who now have their own, creating what can only be called an authentic Christian Zen lineage.

But it’s Thomas Hand that I’m thinking about right now. While Father Hand was never formally recognized as a Zen teacher, his influence has been wide, and I think justified.

The book, edited by a Judy Hayes, a long time associate of Father Hand and a former nun in both the Vedanta and Tibetan Buddhists traditions, is titled Crossing Over Together: Walking the Zen Christian Path.

I hope you enjoy.