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Other meditation places (continued)

Slangenburg, 1977

In this Benedictin Monastery near Doetinchem, the Netherlands, the monks, guided by father Helwig, practise Zen as a deepening of their Christian tradition. My mother and I went there for a weekend of Zen. The meditators were invited to join the order of the day with the regular monks. The Gregorian chanting was impressive. We followed the mass. Persons that felt like receiving the holy communion were invited to do so. My mother did. Later she mentioned to father van der Linden that she was not baptized as a catholic and hoped this was no offense to them. ``As if there is anything to offend!'', was his sincere answer. Father Helwig, during his lecture on Zen, mentioned that we had to search for the Transcendental aspect of meditation. At the time I found that a rather Christian interpretation of Zen.

Pomaia, 1978

Paris, 1979

Cambridge (MA), 1980

Green Gulch, 1982

Ookayama, 1983

Shaolin, 1992

Bangalore, 1993



Henk Barendregt
2005-07-11