The Raft is not the Shore

Thursday 6/28/2025

Thầy wrote in The Raft Is Not The Shore - Conversations Toward A Buddhist-Christian Awareness

A conversation with Daniel Berrigan - A Jesuit Priest who was a well-known peacemakers of the twentieth century.

One time I meditated on the meaning of the Eucharist. Suddenly I found that message of Jesus so clear. The disciples had been following Him and had seen Him, had the chance to look at Him, to look in His eyes, to see Him smile, to see Him in reality. But it seems to me that they were not capable of being in real contact with that marvelous reality. Then He broke bread and poured the wine and said, "This is My flesh, My blood, Drink it, take it, eat it, and you will have life eternal" I think the message is so clear, so clear to a Buddhist monk. We eat a lot, we drink a lot, but what do we eat? We eat phantoms, we drink ghosts. We don't eat real bread-reality. We don't drink real wine. But if Jesus said, "This is My flesh, this is My blood," it's a very drastic way of awakening man from forgetfulness, from ignorance.

So I think when you perform the rite of Eucharist you have a role that is very similar to the act of Jesus. Your role is to bring back life and reality to a community that is participating in the worship. There have been times when I was not able to see the awakening happening in the Eucharist. Then I said, "There must be something wrong, It's not because you perform the correct act and say the correct words that a miracle happens. No. You have to be able to awaken reality, to bring back reality. And that depends on who you are as a person depends on your being life.

One time I spoke at a Buddhist meeting: I said, In order to save the world each of us has to build a pagoda.

Berrigan asked: To build a pagoda?

Thầy replied: Yes. To build a pagoda. There were people who thought that I was urging them to build more pagodas so Buddhism would become a national religion. But this pagoda cannot be built by stones and sticks and things like that because this pagoda is a sanctuary where you have a chance to be alone and to face yourself, the reality of yousrelf. If you don't have a pagoda like that to go into each day, several times each day, then you cannot protect, the Eucharist, you cannot protect yourself, and you cannot protect the world from destructions