Healing Breath: Zen for Christians and Buddhists in a Wounded World
This book by a former Jesuit priest and Christian Zen master opens by presenting Zen Buddhist practice as a means to heal a "wounded" world. An introductory chapter with footnotes ranging from Heidegger to the World Watch Institute details myriad ways the world needs fixing. None of that is particularly fresh. What is fresh, however, is Habito's interpretation of Christian orthodox beliefs through a Zen lens: for example, Jesus' mystical body may be fruitfully compared to "this very body" of the Buddha. Given this parallel, both enlightenment and what Christians term "the reign of God" are already at hand. From a Buddhist point of view, there is nothing to attain; for a Christian, beholding God can happen right now rather than only in the afterlife. For both, the interconnectedness of all beings becomes apparent, and a statement like "God is love" can express a moment of enlightenment. These kinds of comparisons enrich and unlock the challenging and sometimes mysterious language of Christianity. For a Zen master, Habito sometimes writes too much like an academic ("A diagnostic view of the human problematic and its resolution"). This book's highest value is as Zen apologetic for Christians.(Oct.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.