Tibetan Buddhism and Carmelite Spirituality
In the past two decades, the International Teresian-Sanjuanist Center at the University of Mysticism in Avila, Spain has been sponsoring occasional conferences on interreligious dialogue. The most recent of these was held from July 23-28, 2024 at the university’s campus just outside the old walls of the city and focused on the theme “Tibetan Buddhism and Carmelite Spirituality.” Invited speakers came from various universities in Spain and from the Centre of Buddhist Studies of the University of Hong Kong.
In addition, there was an international competition for papers submitted in any one of six major European languages, with those who won awards in this competition being invited to present shorter summaries of their papers on the next-to-last day of the conference. The first-place award was given to James Wiseman, O.S.B., abbot of St. Anselm’s Abbey in Washington, DC. His paper, “Two Spiritual Masters,” compared the teaching of the Carmelite mystic St. John of the Cross (d. 1591) with that of a prominent Buddhist spiritual master of the twentieth century, Nyoshul Khenpo (1932-1999), author of several works in English translation. These include Natural Great Perfection, a selection of Nyoshul’s own teachings and vajra songs about the Dzogchen tradition, which offers its practitioners the ability to experience consciousness, or “mind,” in its essential nature.
Abbot James’ paper focused on the following topics: the ways in which the two men described the ultimate goal within their traditions; the paths to that goal, including the need for detachment, for an experienced teacher, and for humility, love, and a desire for solitude; and an insistence that the ultimate goal is truly ineffable, whatever be the value of practices or objects such as statues, paintings, mantras, and visualizations of a sacred person or object.
All papers that won awards in the competition will be included in the conference proceedings, which are scheduled to be published in 2025.