This conference is part of a Three year course on Christian Mysticism which will end in 2010. It is sponsored by Ecumenical Contemplatives.

All are welcome to come for this talk and for the round table lunch that follows. Registration available onsite.

In this presentation Fr Cyprian will give an overview of the life, teaching and impact of Bede Griffiths. Fr Bede was an Oxford educated English Benedictine monk who spent the second part of his life in India, first as founding member of two separate monastic foundations before becoming the third founder of Saccidananda Ashram, Shantivanam in Tamil Nadu. There, following the pioneering work of Frenchmen Pere Jules Monchanin and Dom Henri le Saux (Swami Abhishiktananda), Fr Bede turned this Hindu-Christian ashram into an internationally known center for dialogue and inculturation. As he immersed himself in the great literature of the worlds spiritual tradition, Bede then taught through his writing and his countless talks about the universal call to contemplation through the sanatana dharmathe eternal teaching, what is known in philosophy as the perennial philosophy, the great deposit of wisdom that the mystics of all traditions share.

Through his monastic life of prayer, meditation and study, Fr. Bede was able to re-imagine and re-articulate the truths of Christianity and the church in a new language, the language of the mystic, the universal language of union with God, accessible to all as the vine is accessible to the branch. In this way he drew many who felt left out of the church to once again drink from the fountain of the Wisdom. We will explore specifically four areas: his life, and his approach to advaitanon-duality, Christology, and monastic life lived as a Christian sannyasi.
 

Prayer Exercise

Fr. Cyprian will lead the meditation period with a form of prayer related to the topic.

Preparation for Session and Bibliography

Click below for preparation article for the lecture.
Bede Griffiths New Vision of Reality. The Golden String, Winter 2007-2008 Vol. 14 No.2

To find this and other articles by Fr. Cyprian on the internet, go to

http://www.bedegriffiths.com/golden-string/

and check out the back issues of The Golden String.

Books by Bede Griffiths include: (all available through Templegate)Return to the Center Marriage of East and West New Vision of RealityRecommended:

The One Light, Bede Griffiths Principal Writings, edited by Bruno Barnhart
all these available through Templegate

Shirley DuBoulay, Beyond the Darkness (biography of Bede Griffiths)