Report on Robert Kennedy's Visit
See below for report, poems and pictures from the event
The Christian Experience of Enlightenment
By Phil Kerrison
Buddhism is just rice and tea - Some guest speakers might double as guest preachers but not so Father Robert Kennedy. He came to us as ‘Teacher’, ‘Sensei’, ‘Travelling Companion’ and ‘Friend’ to share his experience of Zen, a gift he describes as ‘an open door through which anyone who wants to can enter’. He didn’t seek out Buddhism or enlightenment but life took him to Japan where he encountered ‘Zen Buddhism’ and he now strives to live as an enlightened Christian. We are delighted to have had the opportunity to spend time with him and – to soar with an eagle’s joy.
The white flowers in the moonlight you must see for yourself - Father Robert’s teaching over the weekend was developed around a series of koans - questions or statements, the meaning of which cannot be understood by rational thinking. These were followed by meditation and at the end of each session the forum was opened for shared discussion.
I sit before mystery in silence and gratitude - The insights Zen meditation offers can complement our Christian way of living and deepen our understanding of the divine. During meditation, we were encouraged to allow words, ideas, images and thoughts to disperse so that the wisdom of the moment might be revealed. We are all living in God and He in us.
Heaven and earth are of the same root - The ‘Zen Way’ is not ‘The Way’; the ‘Zen Way’ is gentle but provoking, inspiring but not imposing, expansive but not dogmatic, nourishing but not a diet. Zen is inclusive – there is no conflict. We’re encouraged to live life courageously, ‘to live the deed and to live it in the Now!’
Poems by Tim Lenton, inspired by the event
FOR JUST SUCH AS YOU
For just such as you,
standing on a precipice,
stepping from pole to pole
or hole to hiding hole
For just such as you
stagnant in this absence of dragons,
crushed by inertia
For just such as you
I have come, because
you are filled with light
I am the light,
and for just such as you,
disinterred and dancing,
I have come
Tim Lenton
SEND SOMEONE ELSE
Spring sun fixes river margins
like a photograph,
and nothing moves,
not even yesterday’s prayers
No muse comes
into this silent, country crucible
created for the focusing fire of God
Fear weighs us down,
feet shackled by inertia,
and we forget to listen
as the beauty of reality calls
Send someone else, we say
Tim Lenton
MOONLIGHT
Hearts that do not ripen
are cursed
never to see white flowers
in moonlight
Tim Lenton
THE BELL
Bare, thin branches
against a flatfish sky
as winter bites back
Feet planted firmly in mid-air,
leaning against all kinds of emptiness,
you try to see the future
or change the past
Across the marshes,
torn sails repainted,
adorned with ribbons,
going nowhere
And you caught by time and place,
see the bell ring
but hear nothing
Tim Lenton
IN PROGRESS
Rejected by those I love,
I am a work in progress
falling upwards,
looking for a way
round the law
Will you also leave?
Tim Lenton
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