以基督宗教與禪宗的神聖故事的靈性作為信仰對話起點：以解釋現象學觀點論述=Spirituality of Sacred Stories in Christianity and Zen as a Starting Point for Interfaith Dialogue: The Hermeneutic Phenomenological Approach
We live in an era of religious pluralism. It does not mean that religious pluralism is a phenomenon of recent origin. Religions/spiritual traditions are as old as humanity itself and they co-existed harmoniously, despite tensions. Today religious fanaticism, with its violent execution of extreme ideologies, has made spiritual traditions appear monstrous. Religious insensitivity and intolerance threaten our very existence and hence the urgency of interfaith dialogue.
Interfaith dialogue occupies an important role in the missionary activity of the Catholic Church after Vatican II. The Church suggests four forms – of life, action, theological exchange, and of religious experience – of interfaith dialogue. There have been many interfaith activities and writings of specialists in the area of theological exchange. The role of the laity and their spiritual experiences receive very little attention in interfaith dialogue, even today.
This study focuses on the importance of sacred stories in interfaith dialogue. In all spiritual traditions, people express their spiritual experiences through sacred stories. This study analyzes sacred stories from two spiritual traditions – gospel stories in Christianity and kōans in Zen. Since, sacred stories are the best carriers of spiritual experience, a comparative study of them could help us to discover common elements (‘spirituality of sacred stories’, as I call them) that would serve as the most suitable experience-based starting point for interfaith dialogue, especially for the laity.
目次
DEDICATION ABSTRACT AUTHOR’S DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS x INTRODUCTION Chapter Page PART I 1. INTERFAITH DIALOGUE: FOCUS ON AN EXPERIENCE-BASED STARTING POINT 1.1 The urgency of interfaith dialogue 06 1.1.1 World today 07 1.1.2 Present-day Taiwan 08 1.1.3 Ecclesial initiatives 08 1.1.4 Congregational demands 10 1.2 Forms/models of interfaith dialogue 10 1.2.1 Life 12 1.2.2 Deed/Action 12 1.2.3 Specialists/Theological exchange 12 1.2.4 Religious experience 13 1.3 Focus on religious experience 14 1.4 From a theology of dialogue to a spirituality of dialogue 16
2. STORIES: CARRIERS OF EXPERIENCE 2.1 Significance of stories 26 2.2 Stories in spiritual traditions 28 2.3 The New Testament literature and literary types 31 2.4 The Zen literature and literary types 33 2.5 Functions of gospel stories and kōans 42 2.6 Stories as carriers of experience 45 2.7 Stories as classics 45
3. INTERPRETING STORIES: THE HERMENEUTIC PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH 3.1 Self and narrative 48 3.2 Language as discourse 50 3.3 Discourse as text and the need of hermeneutics 53
PART II 4. STORIES: ULTIMATE-ORIENTED 4.1 Describing the ultimate 62 4.2 The ultimate in Christianity: The Trinity – The God experience 63 4.2.1 Demonstrating the experience 64 4.3 The ultimate in Zen: Satori – The Enlightenment experience 71 4.3.1 Demonstrating the experience 73 4.3.1.1 The Rhetoric devices 80 4.3.1.2 The Lineage obsession 82 4.3.1.3 Certificate of enlightenment 83 4.4 Spirituality of ultimate-oriented stories 85
5. STORIES: HUMAN-CENTERED 5.1 The problem of evil/suffering 92 5.1.1 Approaches to the problem of suffering 93 5.1.1.1 The Christian approach 94 5.1.1.2 The Buddhist approach . 103 5.2 Compassion 107 5.2.1 The Origin of Christianity 108 5.2.1.1 Jesus and his mission of compassion/mercy 110 5.2.2 Mahāyāna Buddhism: Theories of origin 112 5.2.2.1 The Bodhisattva ideal 116 5.3 Salvation/Liberation 119 5.3.1 Salvation in Christianity 119 5.3.2 Liberation in Buddhism 125 5.4 Spirituality of human-centered stories 126
6. STORIES: NATURE-INCLUSIVE 6.1 ‘Burden of guilt’ 128 6.1.1 Christianity and the otherworldly eschatology 129 6.1.2 Zen and iconoclasm 131 6.2 Nature imageries in gospel stories and kōans 132 6.3 Spirituality of nature-inclusive stories 140
PART III 7. INTERPRETATION OF THE SPIRITUALITY OF SACRED STORIES： EMERGENCE AND APPROPRIATION OF THE NEW WORLD 7.1 Spirituality of sacred stories: Emergence of the new world 144 7.2 Appropriation of the new world 146 Chinese Glossary 150 References 153
