Blackfriars, Oxford invited HHDL to visit:
Norbu
"It seems as if Merton thus succeeded in communicating one of the central teachings of Christianity to the Dalai Lama and that he has pondered it ever since."
"It was a wonderful moment for Blackfriars. The Dalai Lama had joined the community for midday prayer before the colloquium: his prayerful reverence towards the altar, the tabernacle, and the brethren, was very deeply moving. He spoke as powerfully in the way he was present with us and to us as he did by his words."
These two quotations make me wonder if the Blackfriars (or at least the person writing this text) were as interested in the Dalai Lama’s point of view as in making certain that he understood theirs. I do hope so~
God and "ultimate reality"
the person writing [was] as interested in the Dalai Lama’s point of view as in making certain that he understood theirs.
I think that the Dalai Lama would be very careful to not promote the central Buddhist philosophical position which comes from negating the existence of a permanent soul and a monistic creator God.
In his address given the next day at the Sheldonian he talked of his friendship with a Christian who said he was a "good Christian" and his reply was: "If he thinks I am a good Christian, he is a good Buddhist!"
Also from the link about the visit to Blackfriars:
In speaking about Buddhist contemplation His Holiness said that he could agree with all that had been said by the Christian speakers if the term 'God' were substituted with the phrase 'ultimate reality'.
The most fascinating question was whether the reality that is sought in prayer, whether it is called 'ultimate reality' or 'God', is a reality that seeks us.
It would be nice to have a transcript of this discussion but normally a Buddhist would consider that only delusion arises from awareness constructing a self from subjective experience of objectified perceptions. Understanding the nature of this delusion and the delusions this self then projects can help the practitioner to deconstruct this nexus of delusions so that ultimate reality can be experienced.
The reason HHDL can call his Christian friend a good Buddhist is because his friend was recognising that it was the heart of compassion that made a good Christian and that the conceptual framework and the practice that lead to the cultivation of compassion are only conventions which is the Bddhist position. In saying this the Christian friend would be admitting that "God" was a convention used to assist the practitioner's realisation of "utlimate reality."
Norbu