Zen in the Not Zen: Three women “mystics” from three different faith backgrounds.

What is genuine inter-religious dialogue? And how can a deeper understanding of other
faiths be helpful with the first vow: Numberless beings, set free?

In Jeff Shore’s Foreword to Bernadette Robert’s book “What is Self? A Study of the
Spiritual Journey in Terms of Consciousness”, he makes the following comments:

“As far as I can see, no-self is the common denominator in the depths not only of Christianity
and Buddhism but of all genuine religion.” (p. xvii)

“Can we truly speak across spiritual traditions? We must avoid facile or hasty agreement
based on a patchwork of similar-sounding notions and vague universals. Such agreement is
worthless. It is less than worthless, for it is really tacit agreement to mutually muddle on in
our self-delusions. It is no small thing to truly speak across traditions. We must have the
courage, the confidence, and the compassion to truly open up to the other, wherever they
stand.” (p. xix)

Bernadette Roberts (1931-2017, California, Catholic) entered a Carmelite monastery when

she was 17 and spent 8.5 years there. She subsequently studied at the University of Utah, and
then the University of Southern California. She married, had four children, worked as a
teacher, divorced and raised her children as a single working mother. Her spiritual home in
the last 40 years of her life was through doing annual extended retreats with the Camaldolese
Monks. She wrote a number of books regarding the Christian Contemplative Path.

“Self is not our true life or our real nature; it is but a temporary mechanism, useful for a
particular way of knowing, and in every way equivalent to our notion of original sin. Self may
not be a sin, but certainly it is a cause of sin, and what needs to be overcome is not the effects,
but the cause itself. To be forgiven is not enough; we must put an end to the very need to be
forgiven.” (The Experience of No-Self, p.133)

“Union with God then, is not complete until there is nothing left to be united” (The Experience
of No-Self, p. 178).

“Christ is not the self, but that which remains when there is no self.” (The Experience of No-
Self, p. 140).

“In the unitive state the divine IS the deepest experience of self and the singular experience of
being; thus to dissolve the experience of the divine is to dissolve the deepest experience of self.
Calling this the “experience of no-self” is not a name or title given after the experience, it is
not a mental deduction or an approximation; rather, “no-self” IS the experience. This is its
exact nature and an exact statement of its truth.”(What is Self? p.45).

“The first question that arises following this event is “What remains when there is no self and
no divine?” Discovering the true nature of “what remains” is virtually the journey from death
to resurrection….” (What is Self? p.47).

See pages 189-190 of “What is Self?” regarding “God-Awful”.

Etty Hillesum (1914-1943, Netherlands, Secular “Jew”, initially atheist) had a troubled and
chaotic childhood, with little interest in organized religion or conventional religious practice.
She undertook tertiary study in Law and Slavic languages. Her diaries start during the
German Occupation in March 1941. Initial explorations of inner turmoil give way to spiritual
transformation. She was interned in Westerbork transit camp in July 1943. In September
1943, Etty and her family were deported to Auschwitz, where they died in November 1943.
Some have referred to her as “Mystic of the Holocaust.”

“Such words as 'God' and 'Death' and 'Suffering' and 'Eternity' are best forgotten. We have
to become as simple and as wordless as the growing corn or the falling rain. We must just
be.” p. 179

Truly, my life is one long hearkening unto myself and unto others, unto God. And if I say that
I hearken, it is really God who hearkens inside me. The most essential and the deepest in me
hearkening unto the most essential and deepest in the other. God to God.” p.236

“I am going to read St Augustine again. He is so austere and so fervent. And so full of

simple devotion in his love letters to God. Truly, those are the only love letters one ought to
write.” p.239

“What a strange story it really is, my story: the girl who could not kneel. Or its variation:
the girl who learned to pray. That is my most intimate gesture…” p. 240

“And though I am sick and anaemic and more or less bedridden, every minute seems so full
and precious… [ ] I rejoice and exult time and again, oh God: I am grateful to You for
having given me this life.” p. 241

“You know, if you don't have the inner strength while you’re here to understand that all outer
appearances are a passing show, as nothing beside the great splendour (I can’t think of a
better word right now) inside us – then things can look very black here indeed.” p. 253

“Everywhere things are both very good and very bad at the same time. The two are in
balance, everywhere and always… [ ] everything is fine just as it is.” p. 254 (August 1943,
from Westerbork)

“At night too, when I lie in my bed and rest in You, oh God, tears of gratitude run down my
face, and that is my prayer.” p. 255 (August 1943, from Westerbork)

Jopie Vleeschouwer writing of Etty and her family’s deportation to Auschwitz, in September
1943. “And there she stepped on to the platform… [ ] Talking gaily, smiling, a kind word
for everyone she met on the way, full of sparkling humour, perhaps just a touch of sadness,
but every inch the Etty you all know so well. “I have my diaries, my little Bible, my Russian
grammar and Tolstoy with me and God knows what else. …” [ ] a cheerful ‘bye’ from Etty
in No. 12 and they were gone.” p. 276
Rabi’a al-Adawiyya (of Basra) (714-801 CE, Iraq, Sunni Muslim Saint, Sufi Mystic) Born
into a poor family, and probably sold into slavery after being orphaned. Little is known of
her life of devotion, asceticism and semi-seclusion. Her first biographer wrote 400 years
after her passing, and so much of what is attributed to her is ‘legendary’.

This Choir
So amazing this choir of
Socks, shoes, shirt, skirt, undergarments,

Earth, sky, suns and moons.

No wonder I too, now, sing all day.

(Love Poems from God, p. 86 Kindle Edition)

My Poems Attempt
All
of what
I would want my child to know
my poems attempt.

We are infants before each other,

are we not,
so vulnerable to each other’s
words and movements.

At school I sat in cured me of

hurting others.

I have come to see that all are

seated at his table, and I
have become His servant.

Sometimes God is too shy to speak in public

and He pinches me.

That
is my cue –
to fill in the blanks of your understanding
the best I
can.
(Love Poems from God, p. 58 Kindle Edition)
It Works
Would you come if someone
called you
by the wrong name?

I wept, because for years He

did not enter my arms;
then one night I was told a
secret:

Perhaps the name you call God

is
not really His, maybe it
is just an
alias.

I thought about this, and came

up with a pet name
for my Beloved I never mention
to others.

All I can say is –

it works.
(Love Poems from God, p. 53 Kindle Edition)
References (and further reading for anyone interested):

Bernadette Roberts:
What is Self? A Study of the Spiritual Journey in Terms of Consciousness. Bernadette
Roberts. First Sentient Publications edition 2005.
https://ia903206.us.archive.org/15/items/roberts.what-is-self/roberts.what-is-self.pdf

The Experience of No-Self: A Contemplative Journey. Bernadette Roberts. State University

of New York 1993. (Kindle or Paperback at amazon.com or available to be borrowed on
Internet Archive – at archive.org)

Etty Hillesum:
An Interrupted Life: The Diaries of Etty Hillesum 1941-1943 and Letters from Westerbork,
Etty Hillesum. New York: Washington State Press 1985. (Available to be borrowed on
Internet Archive – at archive.org)

Rabia of Basra:
Love Poems from God. Daniel Ladinsky. Penguin Books. 2002.
Note: There is some debate about the translational quality of this work.

This website of poetry is properly referenced:

https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/R/RabiaalBasri/ThroughThrou/index.html

Doorkeeper of the Heart – Versions of Rabi’a. Charles Upton. Threshold Books 1988.
(Available to be borrowed on Internet Archive – at archive.org)

Muslim women mystics: the life and work of Rabi’a and other women mystics in Islam.
Margaret Smith. Oneworld Publications. 2001. (Available to be borrowed on Internet
Archive – at archive.org)

Serious religious practice:

Jeff Shore – Religious Experience in the Light of Zen Buddhism: Zen Buddhism in the Light
of Religious Experience (2007)
https://beingwithoutself.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/religiousexperience.pdf (Especially
page 6 onwards)