The Ground We Share: Everyday Practice, Buddhist and Christian

by Robert Aitken, David Steindl-Rast

Are Christianity and Buddhism just "two paths leading to the top of the same mountain" - or are they fundamentally irreconcilable? As Buddhism takes root in the West, this question arises with ever greater frequency, sparking intriguing discussions but eluding easy answers. These conversations between Robert Aitken Roshi and Brother David Steindl-Rast offer a fresh approach to the question, one that begins with the intimacy of everyday practice rather than with philosophical and theological concepts - and one that benefits from the respect and good-will the two friends bear for eachother's traditions, even as they challenge them.

Genres: Buddhism, Spirituality, Nonfiction, Christianity, Religion, Eastern Philosophy, Christian

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Robert Aitken was a retired master of the Diamond Sangha, a Zen Buddhist society he founded in Honolulu in 1959 with his late wife Anne Hopkins Aitken.

A lifetime resident of Hawai‘i, Aitken Rōshi was a graduate of the University of Hawai‘i with a BA degree in English literature and an MA degree in Japanese studies. In 1941, he was captured on Guam by invading Japanese forces, and interned in Japan for the duration of World War II. In the camp, he met the British scholar R.H. Blyth, who introduced him to Zen Buddhism. After the war, he practiced Zen with Senzaki Nyogen Sensei in Los Angeles, and traveled frequently to Japan to practice in monasteries and lay centers with Nakagawa Sōen Rōshi, Yasutani Haku'un Rōshi, and Yamada Kōun Rōshi. In 1974, he was given approval to teach by the Yamada Rōshi, Abbot of the Sanbo Kyodan in Kamakura, Japan, who gave him transmission as an independent master in 1985.

Aitken Rōshi is the author of more than ten books on Zen Buddhism, and co-author of a book-length Buddhist-Christian dialogue. In Hawai‘i he was instrumental in founding the Koko An Zendo, the PĀlolo Zen Center, the Maui Zendo, and the Garden Island Sangha. A number of other centers in Europe, North and South America, and Australasia are part of the Diamond Sangha network.

Aitken Rōshi is co-founder of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship (now with a local East Hawai‘i Chapter) and serves on its international board of advisors. He has been active in a number of peace, social justice, and ecological movements, and his writing reflects his concern that Buddhists be engaged in social applications of their experience.

Aitken Rōshi has given full transmission as independent masters to Nelson Foster, Honolulu Diamond Sangha and Ring of Bone Zendo in Nevada City, California; John Tarrant, Pacific Zen Institute in Santa Rosa, California; Patrick Hawk, Zen Desert Sangha in Tucson, Arizona, and Mountain Cloud Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Joseph Bobrow, Harbor Sangha in San Francisco, California; Jack Duffy, Three Treasures Sangha in Seattle, Washington; Augusto Alcalde, Vimalakirti Sangha, in Cordoba, Argentina and Rolf Drosten, Wolken-und-Mond-Sangha (Clouds and Moon Sangha), in Leverkusen, Germany. He authorized Pia Gyger, One Ground Zendo in Luzern, Switzerland, as an affiliate teacher of the Diamond Sangha. He joined with John Tarrant in giving transmission as independent masters to Subhana Barzaghi in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; and to Ross Bolleter in Perth, Western Australia.

As a retired master, Aitken Rōshi worked with a few long-time students, and continued to study and write. His work, Zen Master Raven: Sayings and Doings of a Wise Bird , was published by Tuttle in 2002 [review]. His more recent publications, The Morning Star: New and Collected Zen Writings , and a new edition of A Zen Wave: Basho's Haiku and Zen , were released in October, 2003, by Shoemaker and Hoard.

Reviews

[Joe Tedesco · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read. If you're Christian this may help you understand your religion better and if you're Buddhist this may help you understand your religion better. or more importantly we can witness how to spiritual traditions converge in a relationship between two fine people. It was a pleasure to read of the thoughts, experiences, and traditions of these two mature teachers having a conversation.

[Kathy Mcconkey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The human capacity for religion is fascinating to me. This conversation between a Catholic monk (the religion of my youth) and a Buddhist teacher (my current practice) was of enormous interest. The two men try to find the common ground between the two spiritual paths and succeeded in some places but not all. I would prefer to find some joy in my religious roots, rather than rejecting in out of hand, and this book helped with that. I must say however, that I consistently found the thoughts and ideas of Robert Aiken (the Buddhist) to be the most compelling for me. No surprise.

[Lyndi Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the conversation between Zen and Catholic teachers Aitken and Steindl-Rast. I like to read spiritual books, history of religion and and always learn amazing things. Steindl-Rast's responses were often a surprise, as I'm unfamiliar with Catholicism. It kept my interest and posed many new concepts.

[Mel]

Another book on my shelf that I browsed through earlier in the year, now placed in my year-end donation pile.