13。被范学德追捧为属灵导师的梅顿(牟敦)是异端分子

作者:小草

20世纪颇为出名的天主教修士梅顿(牟敦,Thomas Merton,January 31, 1915 – December 10, 1968 )是个信奉宗教大合一的离经叛道的异端分子。但在这末后的世代,宗教大合一已形成一股暗流,梅顿这种人在这种情形下也就有了市场。当然,很多人在推崇梅顿时主要都是说他是灵修大师,而对他真实的信仰背景并不多加说明。

1968年11月 梅顿到印度与那位喇嘛会面,同年12月份梅顿就在印度意外地去世

范学德对梅顿就十分的赞赏,梅顿的话频频地出现在他的文章里,并以梅顿为他的属灵导师,还声称梅顿的书是他的最爱之一,就摆在他的案头上。范学德写的推崇和赞誉梅顿(牟敦)的文章有:《永远的兄长——纪念梅顿一百周年诞辰》,《神秘的Trappist 修道院及梅顿》,《为我兄弟——自然的美善做见证——读牟敦笔记之一》,《上帝在万物中置放了他的喜悦——读牟敦笔记之二》,等等。

首先梅顿并不是新教徒,虽说是天主教徒,但梅顿从年轻时就很兴趣东方的宗教。后来更是着迷于东方宗教,在他死前不久还声称自己是个佛教徒和印度教徒。下面就是转载来的梅顿所发表过的一些言论,中译是我自己加上的。从梅顿的这些言论就可看出他根本就是个信仰混杂的异端分子:

Merton also said that he was both a Buddhist and a Hindu:

(梅顿说他是佛教徒也是印度教徒:)

“I see no contradiction between Buddhism and Christianity. The future of Zen is in the West. I INTEND TO BECOME AS GOOD A BUDDHIST AS I CAN”

(我看不到佛教和基督教有什么矛盾。道教的未来是在西方,我要尽我所能的成为一个好的佛教徒。”

(David Steindl-Rast, “Recollection of Thomas Merton’s Last Days in the West,” Monastic Studies, 7:10, 1969, http://www.gratefulness.org/readings/dsr_merton_recol2.htm, this report contains quotations from Merton’s talks at the Our Lady of the Redwoods Abbey in Whitethorn, California, in late 1968 on his way to Asia where he died).

“You have to see your will and God’s will dualistically for a long time. You have to experience duality for a long time until you see it’s not there. IN THIS RESPECT I AM A HINDU

(你必须二元地来看你的意志和神的意志,这会是很长的一段时间,直到你再也看不到。从这意义上来说,我是个印度教徒。)

[here he was saying that he believed in Hindu monism rather than Christian dualism; that God is all and all is God]. Ramakrishna has the solution. ... Openness is all”

【梅顿在这里说的意思是,他相信印度教的一元论而不是基督教的二元论,也就是,他认为上帝是一切,一切是上帝】Ramakrishna (19世纪的印度瑜伽行者) 有解决的方法。。。开放是一切。

(“Recollection of Thomas Merton’s Last Days in the West,” Monastic Studies, 7:10, 1969, http://www.gratefulness.org/readings/dsr_merton_recol2.htm).

“Asia, Zen, Islam, etc., all these things come together in my life. It would be madness for me to attempt to create a monastic life for myself by excluding all these”

(亚洲,道教,伊斯兰教等,所有这些都一起在我的生命中。如果排除所有这些来过修道的生活,对我而言将是疯狂的。)

(quoted by Rob Baker and Gray Henry, Merton and Sufism, p. 41).

“I believe that by openness to Buddhism, to Hinduism, and to these great Asian traditions, we stand a wonderful chance of learning more about the potentiality of our own Christian traditions”

(我相信通过对佛教,印度教,和对这些伟大的亚洲传统的开放,是更多地学习我们自己基督教传统潜能的好机会。)

(quoted by William Shannon, Silent Lamp, 1992, p. 276).

“I think I couldn’t understand Christian teaching the way I do if it were not in the light of Buddhism”

(我认为如果不是在佛教的光中,我不可能理解基督教教导我做的方式)

(Frank Tuoti, The Dawn of the Mystical Age, 1997, p. 127).

--- From “THOMAS MERTON: THE CATHOLIC BUDDHIST MYSTIC” excerpted from the book Contemplative Mysticism: A Powerful Ecumenical Bond.

摘自《冥想神秘主义:强大的普世联合》一书