Document Type
Dissertation
Publication Date
8-1981
Department
Religion and Philosophy
Abstract
"If persons on different sides of the glove were independently to discover that bodies fall at the rate of sixteen feet per second squared, this would be taken as evidence that they had learned something about nature -- about the world and how it works. We see something like this at work in the sadhanas (spiritual paths) of St. John and Dogen. Though the Christian saint and the Zen master are leaves on quite different trees, similarities between then [sic], qua contemplatives, exist at a level profound enough to encourage the exploration of common ground. Ultimately this common ground invites us to go beyond San Juan and Dogen to the contemplative gesture in its universal nature. In other words, though San Juan and Dogen stand in the foreground of this thesis, they are, in the end, only doorways. We are seeking what their lives and teachings open onto: the essential elements of the human contemplative gesture and its psychotransformative power." ~ from the text
Rights
Copyright © 1981 Philip Novak. All rights reserved.
Chapter I. The Lives of St. John of the Cross and Dogen.pdf (475 kB)
Chapter II. The Context of Contemplative Practices.pdf (1195 kB)
Chapter III. Contemplation and Emptiness - The Role of Attention.pdf (1355 kB)
Chapter IV. Contemplative Attention - John Dogen and the Actualization of Will.pdf (1123 kB)
Chapter V. Empty Willing - The Psychotransformative Significance of the Contemplative Gesture.pdf (2381 kB)
Notes and Works Consulted.pdf (614 kB)
Included in
Buddhist Studies Commons, Christianity Commons, Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons