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Monkey Mind: Masao Abe Page 1 of 3 Monkey Mind: Masao Abe Page 1 of 3 SEARCH BLOG FLAG BLOG Next Blog» Create Blog | Sign In MONKEY MIND ADVENTURES AND RUMINATIONS OF JAMES ISHMAEL FORD, MOSTLY FEATURING REFLECTIONS ON RELIGION (PARTICULARLY UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISM AND ZEN BUDDHISM) AS WELL AS A LITTLE ON POLITICS (MOSTLY PROGRESSIVE). THIS BLOG IS ALSO A COMMONPLACE BOOK WITH A RANDOM SPRINKLING OF QUOTES, MOSTLY ABOUT THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. MONDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2006 ABOUT ME Masao Abe JAMES FORD NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS, US I've just learned of the passing of one of my teachers, Masao Abe Sensei. During my sojourn at the Pacific School of Religion Professor I've been a UU Abe was a visiting scholar. I took several of the classes he offered and minister for just shy was one of a gaggle that provided secretarial services to the old of sixteen years, serving teacher. congregations in Wisconsin and Arizona before coming to Massachusetts. I'm currently senior He was the one who taught me that Zen practice and scholarship minister at the First Unitarian were not incompatable... Society in Newton. I've been active in Zen for nearly forty years, and a Zen Masao Abe, 91 teacher for the last decade. I'm Leader in Inter-religious Dialogue currently a senior teacher at Boundless Way Zen and an adjunct Obituary by teacher with the Pacific Zen the Reverend Doctor James Fredericks, Institute. I'm married to Jan Professor Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University Seymour-Ford, a librarian. We round out our family with my auntie, Julia Professor Masao Abe, a pioneer in the international dialogue among Bernard and two cats. (I should add Christians and Buddhists, died in Kyoto, Japan, on 10 September. He that while I try to live an integrated was 91 years old. Professor Abe was given a quiet funeral service life and speak from pretty much the reserved to family and close friends, according to sources in Kyoto. same place in whatever venue I may occupy, the views I express here are After the death of his mentor, D.T. Suzuki, Abe became a leading my own, and may not necessarily exponent of Zen in the West and a driving force in the encounter represent the views of the First between Buddhism and Christianity. Abe must be credited with much Unitarian Society in Newton nor its of the intellectual vitality of this dialogue, as well as its relevance to members. Except, of course, when contemporary social problems. they do...) VIEW MY COMPLETE PROFILE http://monkeymindonline.blogspot.com/2006/10/masao-abe.html 7/6/2007 Monkey Mind: Masao Abe Page 2 of 3 Abe was a tireless exponent of the Buddhist doctrine of emptiness as the standpoint for realizing the True Self, yet was also willing to place this basic Buddhist teaching in dialogue with Christianity. Rejecting PREVIOUS POSTS the notion that Christianity and Buddhism were either fundamentally Six Weeks On similar or completely different, Abe saw in inter-religious dialogue an of koans and murder mysteries opportunity for the mutual transformation of dialogue partners and Upside-Down Zen pursued dialogue to help Buddhists and Christians in confronting the Rumination of a bad back threat of nihilism of the modern world. An Image of the Liberal Church On Teaching Zen (in a Classroom) In the ruins of post-War Japan, Abe began his studies with Hajime A Reflection on Cultural Tanabe at the University of Kyoto, a prominent figure in the Kyoto Appropriation in Religion... school of contemporary Zen Buddhist philosophy in Japan. But it was Dear Diary and the Heathen his encounter with Shin¹ichi Hisamatsu, another philosopher of Zen Preacher at the University of Kyoto, that would be decisive for Abe¹s turn to Zen. In a series of Zen retreats with Hisamatsu at Myoshinji Temple George Orwell and Writing as Spiritual Practice in western Kyoto, Abe was forced to confront the reality of nihilism within himself and eventually resolve this problem by entering the This and That With an Emphasis on Zen standpoint of emptiness, wherein the enlightened self arises. Buddhist Film At age 40, Abe left Kyoto for New York in order to study at Union Theological Seminary with two of the most prominent Christian theologians of his day, Paul Tillich and Reinhold Niebuhr. This began a distinguished career of teaching, writing and, above all, dialogue with leading Christian thinkers, including David Tracy, Langdon Gilkey, Rosemary Radford Reuther, Jurgen Multmann and Hans Kung. Abe served as visiting professor at the University of Chicago, Purdue, Claremont, Columbia, Princeton, the University of Hawaii and other schools. In Germany, Abe taught at Heidelburg, Tubingen, and Munich. In addition to his many Japanese publications, Abe wrote extensively in English. These works include Zen and Western Thought, an award- winning collection of essays and a ground-breaking reflection on Christian belief in Christ interpreted from a Buddhist perspective, ³Kenotic God and Dynamic Sunyata.² This essay appeared in conjunction with responses from several Christian and Jewish theologians, making the book itself a dialogue. Abe also engaged Jewish intellectuals with his Buddhist reflection on the Holocaust. In 1984, Abe and John Cobb convened a group of Buddhist and Christian intellectuals from Japan, North America and Europe for http://monkeymindonline.blogspot.com/2006/10/masao-abe.html 7/6/2007 Monkey Mind: Masao Abe Page 3 of 3 dialogue in depth over a sustained period of time on a number of fundamental issues. He was also a guiding influence on the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies, which continues his work of dialogue today. Masao Abe is survived by his wife, Ikuko Abe, his constant companion in a life of sojourn and dialogue in the West. POSTED BY JAMES AT 8:33 AM 0 COMMENTS: POST A COMMENT << Home http://monkeymindonline.blogspot.com/2006/10/masao-abe.html 7/6/2007.
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