Wisdom Roads

Author(s): Lorrence G Muller
Publisher: Continumm New York

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INTRODUCTION
This is the case with Bhante Gunaratana. I first met him a decade ago, and his progressive vision for the Bhavana community continues to guide its steady growth. Though I met Laurence Freeman and Shree Chitrabhanu in New York, and Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche in Charlottesville, only for the first time last year, it is fair to say that these leading exponents of the Christian meditation, Jain, and Bon traditions already feel like old friends.
But on the other hand, I have known the Cistercian monk Father Edward McCorkell, who lives and teaches at the very same Holy Cross Abbey—where the Tibetans visited—for about ten years now. He is always available to lay retreatants at the monastery, many of whom are intent on learning and developing the practice of contemplative prayer. As a teacher, he utilizes the Cistercian insights of Thomas Keating and Thomas Merton. Also, Father Edward can certainly claim a deep understanding of, and long-term expertise in, the ongoing Christian dialogue with Buddhists and Hindus.
As it happens, my own personal Camaldolese Benedictine connection—I have been a Camaldolese lay oblate for the past eight years—and my journalistic reporting on the annual “Being Together” conferences held in Virginia, which recently marked their ninth anniversary, all played a part in my meeting with Brother Wayne Teasdale. He is a Christian sannyasi and leading disciple of Dom Bede Griffiths, who himself was both a sannyasi and Camaldolese Benedictine monk, and who was the guiding light of a Christian ashram in south India-Shantivanam Saccidananda Ashram—for some twenty-five years, until his death in 1993.
Several happy encounters with the wonderful sannyasis of Yogaville, both at their central Virginia ashram and at “Being Together," led eventually to my conversation with Swami Satchidananda, who this past year celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his receiving Sannyasa. I also was fortunate to meet Swami Shankarananda, of the Divine Life Church of Absolute Oneness in Baltimore, during his period of teaching of Advaita Vedanta in the Shenandoah Valley.
The conversational nature of these interviews with the eight Wisdom Roads meditation masters seeks above all to contribute to that spirit of dialogue among the world religions and spiritual traditions. The book also celebrates the value and importance of deep abiding friendship on the meditative journey. These eight meditation masters must be counted among the “soul friends” who help us recharge our spiritual batteries, as we continue to walk the spiritual path. Without such friendships, it seems that all too often the
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