This is the first of a series of blogs that Jane Dawson, a student of Bede Griffith and member of the Sangha Service Committee, will write every other month, starting in August 2024. Sections from The One Light, a Collection of Bede's Principal Writings edited by Bruno Barnhart, OSBcam, are featured. Jane opens with an encapsulation of Chapter 91, entitled “The Perennial Philosophy and the Unity of Religions.”
This Chapter speaks to us about what unifies all of the great world religions, the monotheisms, among them Hinduism, Taoism, Buddhism, Judaism, and later, Christianity and Islam. Bede states: “One of the greatest needs of humanity today is to transcend the cultural limitations of the great religions and to find a wisdom, a philosophy which can reconcile their differences and reveal the unity which underlies all their diversity.”
He describes how each of these Faiths, in addition to embracing monotheism, also began to explore the inner life that a human being must pursue to develop, at first, glimpses of a transcendent state of being and then a more ongoing and continuous relationship with the Divine. “The rishis (seers) of Hinduism came to focus not on the ritualistic fire outside (the sacrifice), but on the inner fire of the spirit. The spirit of man, the atman, the inner self, was seen as one with brahman, the spirit of the universe. Later Gautama Buddha, pierced through with his mind beyond all phenomena, which he described as transient (anitta), sorrowful (dukka), insubstantial (anatta) to the infinite, eternal, unchanging reality which he called Nirvana. In China, the author of the Tao Te Ching (The Book of the Power of the Way) discovered the nameless mystery, which he called the Tao, as the subtle source of all wisdom and morality. Finally, the Hebrew prophets, rejecting the God(s) of the ancient world, revealed the presence of a transcendent Being whose only name was 'I am'.” Bede concludes: “Thus in India, China, and Palestine, at almost the same time, the discovery of the ultimate reality, beyond all the changes of the temporal world, dawned on the human race.” Later, in Greece, the teachings of Plato and Socrates became influential in the growth of both Christianity and Islam. Bede again: “The Greek fathers, Clement, Origen, and Gregory of Nyssa, building on the mystical insights of St. Paul and St. John, developed a profound mystical theology which flowered in the mystical tradition of the Middle Ages (from the 3rd to the 16th century).”
Bede then observes the role of Western science since the 16th century in creating a new belief system that was not identified with a religion of any kind. Not God, but science, would direct humans in solving the problems of daily life. He (pp. 410-11) implores us to take seriously that the philosophy of science cannot give life meaning. Nor is science designed to guide the individual on a path to the evolution of the individual soul. Thinkers like Bede Griffiths create roadmaps that the Seeker can use to develop a deeper Union with the Divine.
Sangha Shantivanam of Santa Cruz seeks to do this by reading and discussing works such as Bede's. We study the texts and philosophy and the path of spiritual development of the world's major religions, including the Earth based. We study the practices of contemplative teachings, as well. There are many more paths available to the individual seeker today than ever before our time.
In October 2024, this blog will focus on Bede's writings on Yoga: “The Way of Union”, “Stages on the Yogic Path”, and “The Yoga of Faith and Love.”
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