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In Spanish-speaking countries, Buddhism is situated in the midst of the history of Christianity. The relationship between the two religious cultures – Buddhism and Christianity – covers a broad spectrum: from mutual rejection to fruitful dialogue, passing through various levels of mutual indifference. In relation to the two spiritual traditions, Ana Maria Schlüter Rodés exhibits what she aptly calls “religious bilingualism.”

In an interview with Daniel Millet Gil of Buddhistdoor Global, translated into English and published on www.buddhistdoor.net on February 27, 2020, Ana Maria talks about her spiritual path and Zen practice in the context of Christianity.

Ana María Schlüter Rodés was born in Barcelona in 1935 to a German father and a Spanish mother. Because during World War II, she lived in Germany from the age of 2 to 14, and in Spain after 1949. She studied philosophy and literature in Barcelona, Hamburg, and Freiburgim Breisgau (Germany), in Nijmegen and Utrecht (Netherlands), then she did her doctorate in Barcelona, with a thesis on the topic “Why Do Some See and Others Look But Do Not See?” [Why Do Some See and Others See Without Seeing?] Since 1958, she has been a member of the religious organization Women of Bethany, living in the Netherlands, the country where the organization was born, from 1958 to 1965.

Ana Maria was a lecturer on ecumenism at various Spanish universities until 1987, invited by a lecturer at the Higher Pastoral Institute in Madrid to a meeting on solidarity organized by Swedish journalists in Sigtuna in 1968. At that time, she lived in a suburb of Madrid, maintaining a deep social commitment, including serving as secretary of her neighborhood association.

Ana Maria became an assistant and interpreter for the Jesuit and Zen Master Hugo Enomiya-Lassalle (1898–1990) in 1976. In 1985, after a long stay in Japan, Yamada Kōun Roshi ordained her as a Zen teacher, and a few years later Kubota Jiun Roshi ordained her as a Zen master. Together with several disciples, she founded the Zendo Betania Centre in Brihuega (Guadalajara, Spain), where she has lived since 1988. Today, she accompanies many people on the Zen path in Spain and Mexico. She also speaks at conferences, publishes articles, and publishes books.

Buddhistdoor en Español: She is a devout Catholic and a practitioner and teacher of Zen. Tell us about the spiritual path that led a Catholic to become recognized as a Zen Master.

Ana María Schlüter Rodés: I have indelible memories of my childhood, like a small yellow flower in the dew-covered grass, in my grandparents' garden. And the earthy smell of picking chestnuts among the fallen autumn leaves in a dense chestnut garden sparkling with drops of water, to exchange them for rapeseed oil. The mystery of kindness and simplicity, which one recognizes in a flower and a forest… And later, the memory of a mountain completely hidden in clouds and the walk high above the mist into a space full of mystery, the Montserrat mountain range. A shortened Bible, among the few books on the windowsill, reinforced my awareness that man is never abandoned and is always protected, in the midst of everything, and accompanied by Someone who blesses him.

My studies and the development of reason led to a period of crisis of this “dark faith”, based on an experience that reason alone cannot explain. Until I understood, thanks to Blaise Pascal (Pensées), that the noblest function of reason is to recognize its limits. Then, something very vivid and at the same time, a very simple, invisible awareness of God's Love, can happen.

At this moment, so important in my life, two questions gradually resounded within me:

1. How can I nurture this experience so that it matures?

2. How can I help others awaken to this reality?

This led me to the Community of Women of Bethany, a life of devotion in the world. In another area, I wrote my doctoral dissertation on the subject “Why Do Some See and Others See but Not See?” But I did not fully find what I was looking for until I discovered Zen.

My first contact was with Jesuit Enomiya-Lassalle, a pioneer in interfaith dialogue. He opened the way for Christians to practice Zen and was a recognized Christian Zen teacher by the Japanese Zen master Yamada Kōun Roshi. He established a Zen center called Shinmeikutsu (Cave of Divine Darkness). He went to Spain in 1976, invited by Ignacio Oñatibia, professor of theology in Vitoria (Basque Country) and the religious community Reparadoras de Los Molinos in Madrid.

Enomiya-Lassalle worked with Vatican II in writing the text, contained in the council document Ad Gentes, chapter 18, which reads, “Carefully consider the reception of ascetic and eremitic traditions in the religious life of Christians, whose seeds were frequently dispersed among ancient cultures before the proclamation of the Gospel.” The first draft was explicitly about Zen and yoga, although he later left it open to more traditions.

Enomiya-Lassalle introduced me to Yamada Kōun Roshi and, after a long stay at San’un Zendo in Kamakura, Japan, he accepted me as a Zen master in 1985.

BDE: How did Zendo Betania come into being and what is its function?

AMSR: Together with my disciples, we founded Zendo Betania in Brihuega, Spain. We searched for the perfect location, guided by the text on Zazen Yojinki by Keizan Zenji: “In an isolated valley… near a clear stream… near a river – under a forest… far from centers of power and prosperity, far from those who want to fight and dominate.” Furthermore, in our case, it was necessary to have sufficient finances and not be more than 90 kilometers from the center of a large city, so that we could travel there with relative ease, not as a monastery but as a Zen center where believers could come, who worked and lived in Spain and beyond.

Through meditation, Zendo Betania aims to help modern humanity rediscover its own deep roots in an atmosphere of harmony and respect for all people and all faiths, and in harmony with the Christian faith. It leads to cultural projects and links with disadvantaged peoples and peoples, both inside and outside Spain.

The encounter between Buddhism and Christianity is a very important historical event of our time. It has implications for the peace and well-being of humanity and the Earth.

As in all genuine human encounters, the Buddhist-Christian interreligious dialogue changes both parties; neither loses their identity. They rediscover it at a deeper level and it even ennobles them. For this reason, Buddhists must truly be Buddhists and recognize themselves as such, and Christians must truly be Christians and recognize themselves as such.

Only from this perspective can interreligious dialogue be understood; a dialogue between two spiritual traditions in one person, as is the fact that at Zendo Betania, Christians practice Zen without creating a Christian Zen or a Zen Christianity.

This encounter between Zen and Christian faith produces a twofold transformation: on the one hand, it makes possible an entry into the Zen perspective and, on the other, it leads to the discovery of a deeper dimension of Christian faith itself. More profoundly, the unwavering belief that the Divine is present in all human beings with goodness. Christians, inspired by Him, feel great happiness whenever they recognize His presence in humanity and this awakens in them the desire to learn from everyone and to know and love God, the Father of us all, more deeply and more deeply.

The Second Vatican Council of the Catholic Church, held in 1965, advocated “that through dialogue and cooperation with the followers of other religions, carried out with prudence and love and bearing witness to the Christian faith and life, they recognize, preserve, and promote the good, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found in these people.” (Nostra Aetate 2)

BDE: Could you tell us a little about the existence of Zendo Betania in Latin America?

AMSR: In September 1990, in response to repeated invitations, I went to Mexico City for the first time to introduce Zen, and I continued to visit the place until 2014. After 25 years, during which time Zendo Betania had also been established in other cities, I appointed an authority to take my place at these introductions and sesshins. Two others helped with these introductions, in Mexico City and Nezahualcóyotl, separately. At this time, my contacts continued by Skype with students and local groups, mainly in Mexico City, Nezahualcóyotl (a state of Mexico), Monterrey (capital of Nuevo León state) and Torreón (capital of Coahuila state), as well as initially in Tampico. Many students went to Brihuega in Spain to receive further training.

In 2002, Pedro Flores, a Zendo Betania teacher, came to Argentina and continued to visit annually until 2018. Today, Zen continues to be present there, with groups in Buenos Aires and in Argentine Patagonia, with two people responsible for the introduction. There are also people from Argentina who come to Zendo Betania in Spain. There is a Zendo Betania student in Bogota, Colombia, and people from many Latin American countries have contacted me directly.

In 2016, a Zendo Betania teacher, who has traveled to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Ecuador, split from Zendo Betania after 30 years and is now part of the Sanbo Zen lineage.

The quarterly magazine Pasos, produced by the Zendo Betania School -- with an internal circulation -- has several main goals of extending the guidance on the path to sesshin, and helping to establish the Zen path within the Western and Christian cultural traditions.

BDE: How would you describe Zen?

AMSR: At present, I dedicate myself to the work of “cultivating the land of the mind,” so that it becomes sensitive and penetrates to the deepest depths of reality.

I believe deeply in the light of consciousness of all human beings. Two great men have explained this clearly, at very different times in history, also geographically and culturally distant from each other: Gautama Siddhartha and Saint John of the Cross, a 16th-century Christian mystic. The first proclaimed his awakening, when he became a Buddha: “All beings have the potential for enlightenment, but because of their wrong thinking and attachment to themselves, they do not realize it.” Saint John of the Cross wrote, “This light is never lacking in the soul, but because of forms and veils” (Ascent of Mount Carmel II, 13,4).

What path does Zen propose for achieving the awakening of the light of mind or -- more accurately described in Zen language -- the root or essence of man and all things? According to the teaching attributed to Bodhidharma that summarizes the essence, Zen is:

A separate transmission outside the teachings
Not based on words
Directly pointing to the human mind
Seeing one's nature and becoming a Buddha

The following dialogue took place in 8th century China: The great master Yakusan Igen (Yakusan Igen) was sitting in meditation and a monk approached him and asked, “What do you do while you are sitting in meditation like that?” Yakusan replied, “I am sitting in the inconceivable (fu shiryo tei).” The monk asked again: “How can one sit in the inconceivable?” Yaoshan replied: “No thought” (hi shiryo). This is the essential art of zazen: sitting, without thinking, in the inconceivable, beyond all thought. Centuries later in Japan, Zen Master Dogen added: “And this inconceivable helps me.”

I would add that Zen is “the way home,” in the words of Zazen Yojinki by Keizen Zenji. It is not a method or a technique, but an art. A pianist must know the notes of the piano very well, but this in itself does not make him a pianist; he does not begin to be a pianist until he no longer thinks about the notes—then only music is truly present. In a nutshell, Zen is not meditation, in that one cultivates the senses and the places of the mind, but rather what St. John and Mother Teresa refer to as contemplation.

BDE: How does the practice of Zen help one live a deeper Christian experience?

AMSR: As I slowly went deeper into the Zen path, I continued to discover that not only was I learning a new method of diving into the mystical – which transcends the limits of objective thinking – but I was also learning something else, something that I could not have imagined at first: a new “language” that led me to explore and express myself in new ways, which opened up new horizons that offered new possibilities for understanding certain dimensions of experience. Thus, although ultimate and ineffable reality is one and the same, the religious framework in which it is experienced influences the possibility and mode of experiencing it, as well as the interpretation of experience.

All cultural and religious frameworks are expressions of experience and, in turn, foster particular ways of perceiving reality and interpreting experience. A new framework, such as Zen Buddhism for Christians, provides new linguistic possibilities for explaining what is experienced and also creates new cognitive possibilities, as well as new means of rescuing from perceived oblivion.

Michael Amaladoss SJ assigns a prophetic meaning to Christians who come to Zen or other paths. Not to create a third and superior religious identity, but rather to live in tension between Zen and Christian faith, to support a dialogue that is needed more than ever today to counteract the biblical fundamentalism.

And for Zen there is no true awakening or enlightenment unless it leads to compassion.

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