Taking Jesus Seriously: Buddhist Meditation for Christians

by John Cowan

Overview

In Taking Jesus Seriously, the words of Jesus become clearer when matched with the practices and insights of Buddhist meditation. This book presents a Christian way to implement the words of Jesus by looking inside to see what stands between the reader and God's kingdom. Cowan connects everyday examples and Jesus' words to the method of Buddhist vipassana or insight meditation by offering instruction, perception, and guidance. With practice, readers can begin to notice what is actual, leave anxiety to the Father, accept pain, and see the world as a child would. This book is designed to be read over twelve weeks while practicing 20 - 30 minutes of daily meditations. Each chapter includes questions and answers.

Chapters in Prelude are The Reign of God, Escaping Delusion," *The Practice: Observing Delusion and Reality, - *Replacing Delusions with Material Reality, - and *Escaping the Delusion that We Are Our Feelings and Thoughts. - Chapters in First Interlude: What Am I Doing Here? are *The Delusion that Happiness Results from Fulfilling Desires, - *Distinguishing the Reality of Pain from the Delusion of Suffering, - *The Delusion of Permanence, - and *The Delusion of Person. - Chapters in Second Interlude: The Delusion of Two are *Empty of Delusion, - and *'Now'as Reality, 'Past' and 'Future' as Delusion. - The chapter in Third Interlude: Intention, is *Evolution and the Reign of God. - Also includes Postlude on the Christian Life, My Book Shelf, and an index.

John Cowan has been a student of Zen for over forty years. Currently, he is an Episcopal priest and an interim rector at St. Anne's in Sunfish Lake, Minnesota.

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814627587
Publisher:	Liturgical Press, The
Publication date:	01/28/2004
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.37(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

John Cowan has been a student of Zen for over forty years. Currently, he is an Episcopal priest and an interim rector at St. Anne's in Sunfish Lake, Minnesota.

Table of Contents

	Prelude	v
1	The Reign of God, Escaping Delusion	1
2	The Practice: Observing Delusion and Reality	14
3	Replacing Delusions with Material Reality	26
4	Escaping the Delusion that We Are Our Feelings and Thoughts	40
Interlude 1	What Am I Doing Here?	55
5	The Delusion that Happiness Results from Fulfilling Desires	58
6	Distinguishing the Reality of Pain from the Delusion of Suffering	75
7	The Delusion of Permanence	89
8	The Delusion of Person	105
Interlude 2	The Delusion of Two	123
9	Empty of Delusion	127
10	"Now" as Reality, "Past" and "Future" as Delusion	145
Interlude 3	Intention	159
11	Evolution and the Reign of God	164
	Postlude on the Christian Life	177
	My Bookshelf	185
	Index	189

Editorial Reviews

Thank you for Taking Jesus Seriously. Its practical teaching on meditation is superb. It reminded me of a lot that I had forgotten, and helped me understand some things I'd never understood, and taught me a good deal I never knew.
The Reverend Paul Bayes, National Mission & Evangelism Adviser, Archbishops' Council, England

In this world of attractions and delusions, we are blessed when someone finds a way to help us to see ourselves clearly, to learn to be content with who we are, and to be open to new perceptions. Here is the Jesus who encountered life in all its fullness and welcomes us in. John Cowan, with his years of experience in both Eastern and Western forms of meditation, offers a guide for the traveler and a bridge between traditions.
Rt. Rev. James Jelinek, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota

Cowan's work contributes a perspective of radical Christianity to the growing number of books dealing with the interaction of Buddhism and Christianity. . . . This book could help some Christians get beyond preconceptions about Buddhism and Jesus.
Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

Cowan's work contributes a perspective of radical Christianity to the growing number of books dealing with the interaction of Buddhism and Christianity. His is the Christ of the Jesus Seminars, stripped down to revolutionary, life-changing sayings and stories, and his Christianity is correspondingly light on traditional doctrines, since some historical doctrines flow from gospel sayings deemed inauthentic in this view. He offers a similarly slimmed-down version of Buddhism that makes concessions to Western meditators who need a goal to motivate them to sit on a meditation cushion to attain liberation from goal-seeking. He thereby softens some of the paradoxical power of Buddhism's noble insight about desire as a cause of suffering, even while nodding to it. Yet his understanding of essential Christianity is bracing enough in its insistence on Jesus' challenge not to do business as usual but to drop everything and follow him. Question-and-answer sections at the end of each chapter strive sincerely to give plain-language help. Given the book's Christian emphasis, the author should have made some effort to examine contemplative prayer for Christians seeking the direct path to God. ("It may be my limitations," he writes in begging off fuller discussion of it.) The author's conversational diction is free of mystical fog, though some may find its familiarity annoying at times ("Life is going to be hard, Sweet Pea"). This book could help some Christians get beyond preconceptions about Buddhism and Jesus. (Jan.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly