Initial Findings
The program included teacher-student sessions in August 2005, which incorporated action-reflection groups and interviews with the researchers. The goal was to develop personal narratives of how being exposed to the other community’s teachings and practice transformed their own. Participants agreed that the two traditions can be mutually enriching, and that they share visions of social justice that the world needs.
Summary of Findings
- Mutual Respect and Transformation: Zen and Sufi practitioners experienced deep respect from each other, which allowed each tradition to nurture and transform the other, resulting in a new alliance of spiritual practice and insight around justice.
- Modeling by Teachers: The history of friendship and respect between the teachers laid a foundation for the above transformation, especially as teachers served as direct examples of spiritual experience, practice and wisdom.
- Teachings and Practices fundamentally from within: The contemplative practices of both traditions reinforced a shared commitment to the movement of social justice, first from within, then outward toward relationships and the world.
- Arising of Awareness: The Visceral Energy Created: Telltale signs of transformation and building community came through a process of mutual deepening—in sharing each others’ practices and learnings and in the visceral energy that resulted.
- Contemplative Quality and Language of the Heart: The western language of social justice was transformed by these contemplative communities into a language of the heart mind and spirit, which emphasizes that social justice arises from right intent and clarity of action. Ultimately, the challenge for humanity lies in learning to be as well as do the social good.
