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<\/a><\/p>\nI was futzing around the web when I stumbled upon a book by the late Thomas Hand. I\u2019d 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\u2019s<\/a> 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<\/a> 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.<\/div>\n
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I find the mess that is sometimes called Christian Zen a compelling discipline. It\u2019s practitioners are frequently criticised by both Christians and Buddhists \u2013 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<\/a> 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<\/a>, with whom I\u2019ve studied and the remarkable Robert Kennedy<\/a> who has his own Dharma<\/a> heirs who now have their own, creating what can only be called an authentic Christian Zen lineage.<\/div>\n
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