Saturday 7 April 2018

Axor, Adzel And Faith

We can discuss two Terrestrial religions by comparing two of Poul Anderson's alien characters:

Adzel, a Wodenite convert to Mahayana Buddhism, practices meditation;

Axor, a Wodenite convert to Jerusalem Catholicism, practices Christian faith.

Since I was educated as a Roman Catholic and now practice Zen meditation, which is part of the Mahayana, I have some personal interest in both of these traditions.

"Faith" is central to Christianity whereas meditation involves practice and experience, not acceptance of doctrines. I accept "karma," because I experience actions and their consequences but do not accept "rebirth" because I have not experienced memories of previous lives.

However, meditation involves trust in the practice and in other practitioners. I do not dismiss the experiences of others but am cautious about accepting accounts of post-mortem states because of their diversity.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

while I have respect at least for the purer, less garishly outlandish forms of Buddhism (Tibetan Buddhism strikes me as very "garish"), I still find the idea of meditation as an end in itself rather odd. The goal of Christian meditation is, ultimately, the contemplation of God, which I believe makes sense.

Sean