Book Review: Contemplation and Sitting in Silence
Contemplation and Sitting in Silence
Ricci Institute for Chinese Studies
1994
This book is based on a series of lectures first given at the Institute of East Asian Spirituality, Taipei, from 1977 to 1982, and was then published in a four-volume series called Ways of Contemplation East and West.
In 1976 the Archbishop of Taipei invited Fr. Raguin to teach a course at the Institute of East Asian Spirituality. It would be a two-year course on Contemplation and Sitting in Silence. He understood contemplation a broad sense as meaning any kind of contemplation according to Western or Eastern traditions and sitting in silence as any method which emphasized sitting, not sitting physically but any attitude of prayer in which one does not face a person or object.
The course was to run for two years, at two hours a week, thus totaling about 100 lessons. Fr Raguin explains his method in the Introduction:
“In my development of the topic I decided to make East and West meet but not in a syncretic manner; Christ would be the center and way from start to finish. The whole course began to appear to me as a highway leading to God. The central experience would be Christian, but as I moved ahead I would meet Buddhists, Taoists, Yogists and many others. Christ would help me understand them, while their experience would help me deepen my understanding of Christ. To my amazement, this is what actually happened.”
He worked on the project for five years. Later he decided to print the lessons as they were given. The first two volumes are now available and the third is due out any time. In sum, the course comprises four parts: 1) The Structure of the Spiritual World; 2) Methods and Powers; 3) Spiritual Writers and Works: A Parallel between East and West; 4) Chinese Spirituality: Important Authors and Works.
Anyone familiar with the works of Fr. Raguin will be eager for these lessons and will recognize the value of them for all who are involved in spirituality and in dialogue.
The course was to run for two years, at two hours a week, thus totaling about 100 lessons. Fr Raguin explains his method in the Introduction:
“In my development of the topic I decided to make East and West meet but not in a syncretic manner; Christ would be the center and way from start to finish. The whole course began to appear to me as a highway leading to God. The central experience would be Christian, but as I moved ahead I would meet Buddhists, Taoists, Yogists and many others. Christ would help me understand them, while their experience would help me deepen my understanding of Christ. To my amazement, this is what actually happened.”
He worked on the project for five years. Later he decided to print the lessons as they were given. The first two volumes are now available and the third is due out any time. In sum, the course comprises four parts: 1) The Structure of the Spiritual World; 2) Methods and Powers; 3) Spiritual Writers and Works: A Parallel between East and West; 4) Chinese Spirituality: Important Authors and Works.
Anyone familiar with the works of Fr. Raguin will be eager for these lessons and will recognize the value of them for all who are involved in spirituality and in dialogue.
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Fr. James Conner was for many years the editor of the AIM/MID bulletin and has reviewed many books for the bulletin over the years. He is a monk at Gethsemani Abbey, Kentucky and took part in the “Monks in the West” conference in 2004. He is a member of the Board of Directors of MID.
Fr. Yves Raguin (1912-2000) was a leading authority on Chinese religion and on spirituality East and West; he wrote more than 20 books on these topics. With other Jesuits, he founded the Taipei Ricci Institute in 1966 and remained its director until November 1996.