On The Dialogue With Buddhists In Thailand
Apr 16, 2005
Chiara Lubich’s first meeting in Thailand was with Cardinal Michael Michai Kitbunchu, the Archbishop of Bangkok who, when informed about the programme of her visit, assured her of the Church’s blessing.
(focolare.org, 1998) On the 3 January a meeting with the Supreme Patriarch of Thai Buddhism, Somdet Phra Nyanasanvara, took place.
Also present was the Master Thongrattana Thavorn with two young monks. The meeting was held in an atmosphere of the utmost affability and serenity.
The Patriarch, who is 83, radiates a deep spirituality. He gave his assent and his encouragement to the dialogue of Chiara and the Focolare Movement with the Grand Master Ajahn Thong - a leading figure in Thai Buddhism, known internationally for his translation of the Buddhist Canon - and the Master Thongrattana Thavorn.
The Patriarch spoke of his great desire for harmony and peace between religions and expressed his great respect for the Pope.
Then on the feast of the Epiphany and on 7 January Chiara visited Thailand’s second city, Chiang Mai (700 km from Bangkok, in the north of the country), a city rich in an extraordinary religious tradition which still today is alive and flourishing.
Chiara arrived in the Auditorium of the Mahayulasachu Buddhist University, which was full to overflowing, mainly with young Buddhist monks. Several other rooms were linked up on closed circuit TV. Altogether there were about 800 young people present.
"This is an historic moment," exclaimed the Abbot of the Temple Wat Rampoeng, "for this temple and for this university: Chiara is a ‘world-person’, a leader of interreligious dialogue of international standing."
Then the Grand Master Ajahn Thong invited her to tell her spiritual experience, so that it could become the subject of deep reflection at the university. And Chiara, leaving aside her prepared text, spoke spontaneously to those young people who were so attentive, who have such a rich interior life and such purity of heart.
She told them about various experiences she had lived, demonstrating how the Gospel law of love has become the secret of a new life. She explained the four points in this art of loving: love everyone; be the first to love; "make yourself one with the other", love them as yourself ... Her words were received in a deep way by the young people, accustomed as they are to listening to and putting into practice the "noble virtues" of Buddhism.
She went on to speak about the growth of the Focolare Movement, the fruit of this experience, right up to the new blossoming of interreligious dialogue revealed during her visit.
There then followed an intense dialogue. There was a lively desire to get to know more about this spirituality, and about Christianity, and to build kinship between the faithful of all religions.
Chiara ended by inviting the young monks to "aim high". They gave their assent in a very lively way with a choral expression of thanks.
On 7 January, the appointment was at the monastery of the Grand Master Ajahn Thong, with its meditation centre of which he is the teacher, and with its precious library of Buddhist texts which, as a special privilege, Chiara was allowed to visit.
The Grand Master introduced Chiara to more than 100 nuns in their white habits and to 70 monks and lay men and women (some of them European) who were there to spend some time in a Buddhist monastery. It was the first time that a Christian and a woman, had addressed them. "The wise person," said the Grand Master, "is neither man nor woman, neither child nor adult ... When someone switches on a light in the dark, you don’t ask who it is. Chiara is here to give us her light."
Chiara recounted the beginnings of her spiritual adventure to an audience which was listening intently. Afterwards there many profound questions and answers.
The Grand Master invited Chiara to speak about Loppiano, the Focolare international town near Florence, where he spent some time with the Master Thongrattana Thavorn. The latter stood up and spoke about what he had found in the Focolare: "love which responds to love" and he invited them all to "go to Loppiano to see what love is".
Cardinal Francis Arinze, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, commenting on this event, said: "When you meet the faithful of another religion, if they are people with a great spiritual depth, open to the action of God, immersed in their faith, then something marvellous happens. Because that spiritual depth, that language of the heart, arrives where the head does not arrive. So, Divine Providence can do much."
On The Dialogue With Buddhists In Thailand