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Volume XV:1 January - June 2025
Mother Escolástica presenting a copy of the Rule of Benedict to Abbot Genshō.
Brazilian Benedictine Nuns Host a Retreat of Buddhist Monks and Nuns
Invited by Abbess Escolástica Ottoni de Mattos, seventy-eight Buddhist monks and nuns from Daissen Ji, a Soto Zen monastery in Florianopolis, made a three-day sesshin at the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Mary in São Paulo in November 2024.
Mother Escolástica’s introduction to Buddhist monasticism came about in 2018 when, at the invitation of DIM•MID, she took part in a meeting of Buddhist and Catholic nuns held at Fo Guang Shan, the largest Buddhist monastery in Taiwan. The conference, organized by the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue in collaboration with Fo Guang, the Association of the Major Superiors of Religious Women in Taiwan, and DIM·MID, brought together seventy Buddhist and Catholic nuns from Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Cambodia, the Philippines, Brazil, Italy, Germany, Norway, and the United States.
Upon her return to Brazil, Mother Escolástica began reaching out to Buddhist communities in São Paulo and beyond, welcoming individuals and small groups of Buddhists to visit the monastery. A recent expansion of the monastery’s guesthouse and conference center made receiving a group as large as the Daissin-Ji Sangha possible.
An English translation of testimonies written by the abbot, a nun, and a monk of Daissen Ji follows. The Portuguese texts can be found here.
Different Remedies for Our Lives
Sangha is the Buddhist word for the monastic community. I would like to talk about our deportment—the way we act—within the Sangha. I would also like to say something about the origin of this Buddhist jewel.
When we are in a place for spiritual practice, such as the Chapel of St. Mary's Abbey, we bow to the altar as we enter and leave. This is the way we show deference to those who share with us a commitment to spirituality.
On the internet, it is common to find both formal and informal claims that the Buddha was not a Buddhist and Christ was not a Christian, and so on. That is simply not true. These two great leaders acted in a similar way, and what they did led to the creation and perpetuation of an institution that has rules that are to be followed and that give value to the practicing members of the institution.
Let's look at some things that are common to both the Buddha and the Christ.
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First, they gathered a group of special disciples around themselves. Buddha had ten great disciples, and each possessed a special, outstanding quality. Then, in the course of events, these disciples came up with rules to prevent disharmony. In our time there continue to be communities that follow the rules of these disciples.
There are more than fifty Daissen centers around the world. Our mission is to welcome with love all who come to us and lead them to awakening. For this to happen, the jewel that is the community, the Sangha, needs to be strong in its fidelity to these rules and precepts.
We are now taking part in a sesshin, as our retreats are called, at Saint Mary's Abbey. We are deeply grateful to the nuns for their hospitality. Like us, they are committed to maintaining a welcoming institution to lead people to liberation.
Within Catholic Christianity, there are many wonderful monastic traditions. Saint Benedict, the founder of Monte Cassino, offers us much to reflect on and contemplate. If you read the writings of great Christian mystics like Saint Teresa of Avila, Saint John of the Cross, or Meister Eckhart, you will find in them a Christian Dharma. It is important to recognize that Dharma—i.e., law, wisdom—does not belong only to Buddhism. Dharma exists and can be accessed through different paths. For example, it is easy to see that Dharma was present in the life and teaching of Thomas Merton, a brilliant Trappist monk.
The story of the vehicle that is needed to cross a river to reach the other bank (i.e., wisdom) tells us that Buddhism is just a method, a path. At the end of the Heart Sutra, we chant, “All together to the other shore, enlightenment, hail.” Buddhism regards itself as one of many boats or rafts that can be used to cross a river. Buddhism then says, “Once you have crossed the river, do not continue to carry the boat on your back. Leave the boat behind and go on.”
Buddhism is a method for liberation; once one has arrived at the other shore, it no longer needs to be employed. It is a good method, and we can teach it to people for whom this method is suitable. But there are other people for whom another method might be better. There are many remedies, and that’s a good thing, because those who are ill are afflicted with many different diseases.
Monk Genshō
玄祥
Abbot of Daissen Ji
Zen Buddhist Community
Living Silence
A retreat begins when preparations for it start to take over our daily lives. For us, a retreat begins with the choice of venue and only ends when the last participant leaves the house that has welcomed us.
With every wish that “God bless us,” with requests introduced by “If you would be so kind,” with every message exchanged, every detail adjusted . . . in everything we can see the spiritual devotion to a Path that intersects with ours; a Path for all beings to achieve peace.
The blue garments that the sisters regularly wear when gardening also show us that their care for all beings—birds, dogs, flowers, the earth—resembles our own, and is a way of showing respect that is also part of our practice.
On the day the retreat began, we had the privilege of meeting the Abbess. We were not able to meet her the last time we were here because she was traveling. One of the first things she said was, “Saint Benedict sees guests as if they were the Lord Jesus himself entering our homes”. Our human nature is nothing else than the divine nature that we should always recognize in each other.
Our capacity to love without receiving anything in return is like that of the Buddha who, after attaining his Awakening, decided to bear witness to the truth by compassionately teaching the Way for the rest of his life. The same is true of Jesus who, knowing that he would soon be killed, told his disciples before he went out with them across the Kidron Valley to a place where there was a garden, that he was not only praying for the disciples who were there with him, but also for those who would one day come to believe in him (John 17).
As the days go by, as we share the same space in silence, we are graced with wisdom and clarity. When we look at our brothers and sisters eating quietly, walking in silence, doing samu in silence, meditating, we can understand the truth of the saying, “Even fools who keep silent are considered wise; when they close their lips, they are deemed intelligent” (Proverbs 17:28). By training the mind in a certain way, by assuming a mental posture, we become that way of being. At first, we simply imitate the exalted conduct of our masters; but by repeatedly doing that, we are eventually transfigured.
On the afternoon prior to the end of the retreat, we were invited to attend Vespers with the sisters and were thus able to share with them a moment of intense devotion. Hearing voices so perfectly in tune, lulled by the verses, comforted by the prayers, we experienced a profound sense of togetherness.
Who would have thought that one day we would be sitting side by side with Benedictine nuns! As Saikawa Rōshi, the master of Genshō Rōshi, said, “Life shows itself at every step.” The ways that life can reveal perfect wisdom and knowledge are difficult to predict. As the abbess, quoting a verse of the Bible, said to us that afternoon, “How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Romans 11:33).
Nun Kakuji
覚慈
Nun at Daissen Ji
Soto Zen School
Ora et labora
Facing the wall, in deep silence, the dawn is sensed.
The drum marks the hours, and the tolling of the bell, accompanied by the sound of wood being repeatedly struck by a hammer, reminds us of the fragility of human experience.
Each moment is precious, unique, and contains the entire universe.
More than seventy practitioners line up and reverently carry their bowls to the dining hall. Before lifting each portion to their mouths, they are invited to reflect on “the innumerable efforts required to bring us this nourishment.” Food is regarded as medicine: we take just enough to allow us to continue our practice with and for all beings.
Benedictine nuns, our hosts, offered us this simple, nourishing food. Always smiling, they welcomed us, the abbess explained, as they would have welcomed Christ himself.
“Ora et labora” said the Italian monk later known as Saint Benedict. “A day without work, a day without food” was the teaching of Pai Chang, the Chinese monk who established many of the rules for Zen monasteries. On the day we arrived, we discovered that the abbess is very fond of gardening. In the days following that first meeting, our daily work, samu, consisted of pulling weeds from the abbey's flower and vegetable gardens.
Before nightfall on our last day, the office of Vespers united Zen monks, lay practitioners, and Benedictine sisters. Their voices bring tears to our eyes, and at the end of the ceremony, everyone put their hands together and bowed in reverence to those who so sweetly welcomed us.
The Catholic abbess handed a copy of the Rule of Saint Benedict to the Zen Buddhist abbot. They both smiled broadly, their eyes radiant.
Each moment is precious, unique, and contains the whole universe.
Monk Muryo
無量
Monk at Daissen Ji
Soto Zen School
Translation by William Skudlarek |
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