A Tibetan Buddhist-Catholic
Scholastic Debate?

"Here were rooms full of thousands of priceless scrolls, some a thousand years old... In the libraries were all the records of Tibetan culture and religion, 7,000 enormous volumes, some of which were said to weigh eighty pounds. Some were written on palm leaves imported from India a thousand years ago." The Dalai Lama in My Land, My People

In the world of Buddhist-Christian dialogue I think it is fair to say that up until now Zen Buddhism has been more heavily represented than Tibetan Buddhism. This can be attributed to any number of factors, which include the pressing need for Tibetan Buddhists to preserve their religious traditions and culture, the vast energy it has taken to translate Tibetan Buddhism to the West, language difficulties, the complexity of Tibetan Buddhist thought, and so forth.

But such a dialogue has intriguing possibilities. Tibetan Buddhism possesses what could be called a scholastic tradition of doctrine and debate with medieval roots where metaphysical questions about the existence and nature of the soul have been debated with great vigor. But Catholicism has its own well-developed scholastic tradition, which is rooted in medieval times, as well. What if these two traditions could meet for metaphysical discussions, by which I mean metaphysics in the best sense of the term, as held by both traditions.

Try the following reading to get an idea of what I have in mind.

Now it is your turn to contribute to this discussion. Send us your questions and comments: arraj@innerexplorations.com

How to contribute to this discussion

Reading: A Buddhist-Christian Discussion of Metaphysics?
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