Fr Thomas Hopko has spoken with Buddhists about the similarities/differences between Buddhism and Orthodoxy at various times. Maybe you could dig up some info from old theological/quasi-theological journals like "Parabola"(?) on this. or find more stuff on the internet or in a good theological library.
James Bob
Fr. Hopko took part in the First Naropa Buddhist-Christian Conference, in the early 1980s (1981, perhaps?). Some excerpts from an article (written by Daniel J. O'Hanlon, S.J., from The Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, and published in
Buddhist-Christian Studies, Vol. 3 (1983), pp. 101-117) about that conference:
"When the Tibetans left Tibet in droves at the time of the Chinese Communist
invasion at the end of the 50's, a number of them in time found their way
to the United States and established teaching centers. One of them, Chogyam
Trungpa, eventually founded the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado,
where Christians and Buddhists gathered for a five-day "Conference on Christian
and Buddhist Meditation" from August 7 to 11 of this year. This article is
a report on that conference."
"There were eight principal faculty persons, four Christians and four Buddhists;
in addition, His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, though not an ongoing
participant at the conference, gave two evening talks."
"The choice of meditation as the central theme of the conference proved to be a
wise one. Despite the sometimes confusing diversity of terminology, here was
solid ground for dialogue and mutual enrichment. Christian speakers more
than once expressed their gratitude for the rich abundance of time-tested practices
in the Buddhist tradition, considerably more numerous and varied than
we have in our Christian tradition. From the other direction, the Christian contribution
to Buddhists in this area of meditation had more to do with the large
general direction and meaning than with methods, or so, at least, it seemed to
me."
"For Father Hopko, the representative of Easter Orthodox Christianity,
prayer was the act of uniting the whole person with God in a conscious,
aware, awake manner. Prayer, he said, is not only
something we do, but something we
become,
because that is what we by nature
are. If we could allow ourselves
to
be what we
are, we would
be prayer. So meditation,
liturgy, chanting, vigil, and all the other practices are only means, not
prayer itself. Prayer itself is the conscious uniting of will and heart with God,
and although the Jesus-prayer is one widely used practice among Orthodox
Christians, there is no single set method."
"The spokesman for Orthodox Christianity, in his light brown robes, was
Father Thomas Hopko, an Orthodox priest, and retreat master for St. Vladimir's
Orthodox Seminary. This was Father Hopko's first experience with Buddhists,
and he confessed at the end that he had been very nervous when he
began to talk. Indeed, he sometimes spoke at machine-gun speed, he was so
full of what he wanted to say. But he was always clear, and enormously knowledgeable
about the Orthodox tradition. Though he claimed to speak only
about what he had read and seen in others, and not from his own experience, it
was obvious that he had a lot of firsthand acquaintance with what he was talking
about. It was a pleasure to watch how he felt more and more at home day
by day as the conference progressed.
Significantly, his talk was not on meditation, but on prayer. He modestly insisted
that he spoke not from his own experiences, but as one describing the
experience of others. "I speak from ink and from other's blood," was the way
he put it. Prayer, in the Orthodox tradition, is the central essential act of the
creature. Contemplation is usually the result of prayer, yet always remains a
free gift. There are no guarantees of such a result. And
meditation is a particular
way of thinking-not just thinking
about, but letting ideas and words enter
within and have their way with us. The aim of prayer is to seek the true God,
who lies beyond all idols or words and concepts. The primordial struggle is between
love of self and love of the other. Selfish
spiritual ambitions are the worst
of all."
"In speaking of the Jesus-prayer, he distinguished between it and hesychast
prayer. Hesychast prayer is a very specialized discipline and not for everyone
Indeed, in nineteenth-century Russia its practice was forbidden. But the simple
restful synchronization of breathing with the name of Jesus is a practice which
can be taught even to little children."
"When Mother Tessa introduced her distinction between sexuality and genitality,
Fr. Hopko expressed his uneasiness. As a married man with five children,
he seemed to feel that this distinction put him in an inferior position. In
response to the young woman who asked for compassionate help in maintaining
pure mindfulness during sexual intercourse, he asserted that this was possible
only within marriage. He drew attention to two ikons in the Orthodox
Church which affirm the holiness of physical married love. One is for the feast
of the conception of St. John the Baptist, the other for the feast of Sts. Joachim
and Anne, the parents of Mary. Both ikons show the saints, husband and wife,
on the bed embracing."
"Fr. Hopko began his discussion of God by noting that God is always essentially
hidden from us. If God could reveal what he is in himself he would not be
God. With frequent citations from the Fathers of the Church he insisted that to
identify any word, image or concept with God is to build an idol. Pseudo-
Dionysius speaks of God as not only beyond substance or essence (
ousia), and
beyond the Good (a favorite neo-Platonic word) but even beyond God!"
"Nevertheless-and here is the Christian extra-this ultimate reality is constantly
radiating himself to us. He has come to us in Jesus and given us the
boldness to dare, without being destroyed, to call upon this superunknowable
as Father, Abba, Daddy." [It was unclear whether Hopko said this, or if this is commentary
by the Jesuit writer of this article.]
Hopko also took part in the second and third Naropa Buddhist-Christian conferences (1982 and 1983).
Has Hopko spoken in depth about his experiences in these conferences? He has briefly mentioned them in his Ancient Faith Radio podcasts, but just briefly, without going into detail, but he seemed to have regretted participating in these conferences.
