Abstract
The goal of this chapter will compare and contrast two allegorical traditions of lectio divina, focusing on the Byzantine author Maximos the Confessor (580–662) and the Tibetan master Tsong kha pa (1357–1419). In the first part of the chapter, I will outline their respective approach to the reading of sacred texts, map** their understanding of allegorical interpretation as a strategy to preserve doctrinal continuity. The second part of the chapter will offer a constructive reflection on the potentiality of interreligious lectio divina for the purposes of interreligious dialogue and understanding. Specifically, I will reflect on what Christian theologians can learn from a Buddhist sacred text and on the specific significance that the allegorical readings of sacred texts can have in an interreligious context.
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Notes
- 1.
The literature on Maximos is immense and constantly growing. A useful starting point is Andrew Louth, Maximus the Confessor (London: Routledge, 1996), as well as Hans Urs von Balthasar, Cosmic Liturgy: The Universe According to Maximus the Confessor, trans. Bryan Daly SJ. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2003). A recent biographical work on Tsong kha pa, meant for the contemporary reader, is Thupten **pa, Tsong kha pa: A Buddha in the Land of Snows (Boulder, Colo.: Shambala, 2019). See also Thomas Cattoi, Divine Contingency: Theologies of Divine Embodiment in Maximos the Confessor and Tsong kha pa (Piscataway, N.J.: Gorgias Press, 2009).
- 2.
For these three works, see Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and Makarios of Corinth, The Philokalia. Vol. 1–4. Trans. G.E.H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, and Kallistos Ware. (London: Faber & Faber, 1979–92). The fifth and final volume is still forthcoming.
- 3.
For these three works, see Philokalia, Vol. 2, 48–113; 114–163; 164–284.
- 4.
For these two works in full, see Maximos the Confessor, On Difficulties in the Church Fathers, Vol. 1 and 2. Ed. and trans. by Nicholas Constas. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2014); Quaestiones ad Thalassium. Ed. by C. Laga and C. Steel. CCSV. (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols Publishers, 2018).
- 5.
One of the best introductions to the topic is Charles Kannengiesser, ed., Handbook of Patristic Exegesis (Atlanta, Ga.: SBL Publications, 2016).
- 6.
On Origen’s exegesis, see Jean Daniélou, Origen, trans. by Walter Mitchell (Wipf and Stock, 2016), 138–74.
- 7.
Maximos the Confessor, Fifth Century of Various Texts, 1.
- 8.
Ibid., 2.
- 9.
See the discussion of the Transfiguration in Amb. 10 discussed in Louth, Maximus the Confessor, 115–9.
- 10.
Fifth Century of Various Texts, 16.
- 11.
Ibid., 17.
- 12.
Ibid., 24.
- 13.
Ibid., 24–25. It is alas impossible to determine which specific group is intended here—perhaps some Christians who had reverted to Old Testament practices; or, like other authors of the time, willfully misrepresented Jewish religious obligations as inferior and “carnal.”
- 14.
Origen, De Principiis, Book 4, 2–4 (PG 11, 341–50).
- 15.
On the cosmic presence of the Logos, see Thomas Cattoi, “Liturgy as cosmic transformation: Maximos’ Mystagogia and the Chalcedonian redemption of difference,” in Pauline Allen and Bronwen Neill, eds., Oxford University Handbook of Maximus the Confessor (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 414–37.
- 16.
Fifth Century of Various Texts, 35.
- 17.
Ibid., 36–8.
- 18.
Ibid., 46.
- 19.
Ibid., 50.
- 20.
Maximos the Confessor, “Commentary on Our Father” in George Berthold, Maximus the Confessor: Selected Writings (Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1985), 99–126.
- 21.
Fifth Century of Various Texts, 32.
- 22.
Ibid., 37.
- 23.
Ibid., 49.
- 24.
For an introduction to Madhyamaka, see Jan Westerhoof, Nāgārjuna’s Madhyamaka: A Philosophical Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009); for the debates on the interpretation of Madhyamaka around the time of Tsong kha pa, see Sara McClintock and George Dreyfus, eds., The Svātantrika-Prāsangika Distinction: What Difference Does a Difference Make? (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2002).
- 25.
See Paul Williams, Mahāyāna Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations, 2nd ed. (London and New York: Routledge, 2009), 55–62.
- 26.
Ibid., 63–83.
- 27.
See John Makransky, Buddhahood Embodied (Albany, N.Y.: SUNY Press, 1997), Ch. 5, 85–108.
- 28.
This continues to be the case in the Tibetan traditional monastic education curriculum. See Tsenzhab Serkong Rinpoche II, The Gelug Monastic Education System, Study Buddhism, accessed on April 13, 2021, https://studybuddhism.com/en/advanced-studies/historyculture/monasteries-in-tibet/the-gelug-monastic-education-system.
- 29.
This is the concern that motivated Tsong kha pa’s extensive discussion of ethical practice in the Great Treatise; see Tsong kha pa, Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 2002).
- 30.
The chief scholarly translation of the Legs bshad nying po is found in Robert A.F. Thurman, The Central Philosophy of Tibet (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1984). This version was a milestone in the introduction of Tibetan texts to a Western audience, though the translator’s choice to find English equivalents for all technical terms paradoxically makes the work less accessible to contemporary Buddhist studies scholars, who are more used to using the original Sanskrit or Pali terminology.
- 31.
See Tsong kha pa’s discussion of Madhyamaka thought in Robert Thurman, The Central Philosophy of Tibet, 253.
- 32.
Ibid., 255.
- 33.
Ibid., 256–7.
- 34.
See Paul Williams, Mahāyāna Buddhism, 150–7.
- 35.
On the tensions caused by the Mahāyāna redefinition of the notion of nirvāna, see John Makransky, Buddhahood Embodied, 345–62.
- 36.
See Robert Thurman, The Central Philosophy of Tibet, 258.
- 37.
Maximos the Confessor, Second Century of Various Texts, 47.
Bibliography
Primary Texts
Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and Makarios of Corinth. The Philokalia. Vol. 1–4. Trans. G.E.H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, and Kallistos Ware. London: Faber & Faber, 1979–92.
Thurman, Robert A.F. The Central Philosophy of Tibet: a Study and Translation of Jey Tsong kha pa’s ‘Essence of True Eloquence.’ Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1984.
Other Texts and Secondary Literature
von Balthasar, Hans Urs. Cosmic Liturgy: The Universe according to Maximus the Confessor. Trans. Bryan Daly SJ. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2003.
Cattoi, Thomas. Divine Contingency: Theologies of Divine Embodiment in Maximos the Confessor and Tsong kha pa. Piscataway, N.J.: Gorgias Press, 2009.
_____“Liturgy as cosmic transformation: Maximos’ Mystagogia and the Chalcedonian redemption of difference.” Oxford University Handbook of Maximus the Confessor. Eds., Pauline Allen and Bronwen Neill, 414–37. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
Daniélou, Jean. Origen. Trans. Walter Mitchell. Eugene, Or.: Wipf and Stock, 2016.
**pa, Thupten. Tsong kha pa: A Buddha in the Land of Snows. Boulder, Colo.: Shambala, 2019.
Kannengiesser, Charles, ed. Handbook of Patristic Exegesis. Atlanta, Ga.: SBL Publications, 2016.
Louth, Andrew. Maximus the Confessor. Early Christian Writers. London: Routledge, 1996.
Makransky, John. Buddhahood Embodied. Albany, N.Y.: SUNY Press, 1997.
Maximos the Confessor. On Difficulties in the Church Fathers. Vol. 1 and 2. Ed. and trans. by Nicholas Constas. Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2014.
_______. Quaestiones ad Thalassium. Ed. by C. Laga and C. Steel. CCSV. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols Publishers, 2018.
_______. “Commentary on Our Father.” In Maximus the Confessor: Selected Writings. Ed. and trans. by Gorge Berthold, 99–126. Classics of Western Spirituality. Paulist Press, Mahwah, N.J., 1985.
McClintock, Sara, and Dreyfus, George, eds. The Svātantrika-Prāsangika Distinction: What Difference Does a Difference Make? Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2002.
Origen. De Principiis. Book 4, 2–4 (PG 11, 341–50).
Tsenzhab Serkong Rinpoche II. The Gelug Monastic Education System. https://studybuddhism.com/en/advanced-studies/history-culture/monasteries-in-tibet/the-gelug-monastic-education-system. Accessed April 13, 2021.
Tsong kha pa. Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment. Lam Rim chen mo. Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 2002.
Westerhoof, Jan. Nāgārjuna’s Madhyamaka: A Philosophical Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Williams, Paul. Mahāyāna Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations. 2nd ed. London and New York: Routledge, 2009.
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Cattoi, T. (2023). Transcending the Letter, Awakening the Mind: Maximos the Confessor and Tsong kha pa and the Challenge of Textual Supersessionism. In: Shafiq, M., Donlin-Smith, T. (eds) Mystical Traditions. Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Mysticism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27121-2_9
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