The cross isn’t the lotus” “” “

“The choice between the Lotus and the Cross is not the simple choice between two spiritual journeys that help man to free himself of his own egocentrism. It’s a choice between the coherence of the Buddhist way and the mystery of the Cross and the resurrection of Christ, essential and inseparable elements of the Christian faith… The fact that I have chosen to remain faithful to the Cross” is especially “thanks to the Fathers of the Church and the generations of pastors and theologians who succeeded them. I am fascinated by the idea of belonging to a community that is inspired by their love, their rigour and their courage”. So says (in an interview published by the French Catholic daily “La Croix”) Dennis Gira , assistant director of the Institut Catholique in Paris, in whose department of sciences and theologies of religions he teaches Buddhism and relations with Japan. Speaking on the conclusion of the international Meeting promoted in recent days by the St. Egidio Community at Aachen, which ended with an appeal to peace and dialogue signed by 500 exponents of all the world’s religions, Gira said that he was convinced that Christians and Buddhists have “much in common, in particular in terms of their solidarity with suffering humanity”. But at the same time he declared that “fundamental differences exist between them” and that “genuine dialogue must be founded on the coherence and depth of the various convictions”. Yes to dialogue, no to syncretism. In Europe, according to the statistics, Buddhism has almost a million sympathisers. The most significant presence is in France, where the Buddhist Union comprises some 300,000 members, half of them French, the rest Chinese immigrants and refugees from South-East Asia, “even though in Buddhism – explains Gira – the equivalent of the baptismal register does not exist”. In the league table of followers of Buddhism France is followed by the UK (180,000) and Germany (170,000). There are estimated to be some 75,000 Buddhists in Italy, 33,000 in Holland and 25,000 in Switzerland. The diffusion of this religious practice in Europe, long a matter of concern to bishops, was at the centre of two consultations promoted, respectively, by the Pontifical Council for interreligious dialogue in Rome in 1999 and by the CCEE (Council of European Episcopal Conferences) in Strasbourg in 2002. On both occasions, the need was reaffirmed for Christians to seriously prepare themselves for mutual understanding and dialogue with Buddhism, but to avoid any risk of syncretism. “Lay ethics”. “The spirit of hospitality, harmony, service to others, the commitment to avoid any situation of conflict”: these, according to Gira, are the elements of Buddhism that are common to Christianity and that attract many Westerners, who are also fascinated by Buddhism’s “presentation of itself, albeit in its various currents, as a path to wisdom, a system of lay ethics devoid of dogmas in which everything is explained without God, and according to which the object of life is to be at peace with oneself by mastering one’s emotions and fears and practising justice and compassion”. “Reductive” view of man. But, warns Gira, in contrast to Christianity that “places the emphasis on the uniqueness of man created in the image and likeness of God, and on the centrality and freedom of the person”, according to Buddhism “the person, in the majority of cases, exists solely through his relationships and his family and professional ties”; the “prevalence of the group over the individual” is implicit. And the individual “is nothing but the transient and apparent aggregation of provisional, impersonal and anonymous elements”. Also lacking in Buddhism is “the idea of God the creator, who is revealed to man through his own Son and who continues to speak to us through the Holy Spirit”. Lastly, the Buddhist nirvana – explains Gira – “is compatible neither with the communion of saints nor with the Christian promise of resurrection for each individual”.