JAROSŁAW M. DURAJ, S.J. 

Abstract

　　The dialogue between wisdom traditions is one of the most remarkable phenomena of our times. In this article, we reflect on the contribution of Fr. Yves Raguin, S.J. (1912-1998), to the dialogue between Asian wisdom traditions. He was a French Jesuit, sinologist, Buddhologist, theologian and the founder of the Ricci Institute in Taipei. Raguin’s encounter with Asian traditions, especially with Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, shaped his own personal spiritual itinerary and resulted in his personal transformation. For many years, he worked tirelessly as a spiritual guide and intellectual figure, exploring bridges of understanding between the spiritualities of the East and the West. He promoted the praxis of meditation and contemplation as an essential dimension of this encounter and a precondition for a fruitful interreligious dialogue. This way, he helped many Christians and non-Christians in their spiritual process of self-realization by reaching the depths of their proper identity and cultural heritage.

INTRODUCTION

　　Christian evaluation of other religious traditions has experienced significant transformation since Vatican II (1962-1965) by modifying often negative approaches towards them, appreciating their values and recognizing their salvific relevance for the believers. Many Catholic theologians, philosophers, and scholars of religions embarked on a fascinating journey of sincere study of other traditions with respect and openness to dialogue. Many of them not only studied but also practiced oriental methods of prayer to understand other religions from within and integrate some compatible elements of those religions with the Christian method of inculturation. One of those personalities was Fr. Yves Raguin, S.J. (1912-1998), a French Jesuit, sinologist, buddhologist, theologian and the founder of the Ricci Institute in Taipei.^[1] He greatly contributed to the research and to the promotion of dialogue between Christianity and wisdom traditions such as Buddhism, Taoism, or Confucianism. His teachings and publications helped many Christians and non-Christians to understand and respect other religious traditions, as well as to deepen their own spiritual practice (Saso, 2010, p.180).

HERMENEUTICS OF RELIGIOUS PLURALISM

　　Yves Raguin lived most of his missionary life in the Far East, where he encountered a variety of religions and cultures. Those experiences quite early on helped him to realize that for a missionary work and dialogue to be fruitful, he had to embark on the difficult task of knowing other religions as well as understanding the nature of religious pluralism in the context of the history of salvation. The task was challenging because of the negative assessment of other religions that dominated Catholic theology for centuries. He realized that his encounter with Asian spiritualities demanded from him a profound transformation in terms of evaluation of other spiritual traditions and recognition of limitations present in Catholic theology. As a matter of fact, Raguin was hesitant to acknowledge the rationale of the Christian theology of other religions. This Christian approach to other religions, even though theologically useful for Christian apologetics, may not be very helpful in nurturing relations with other traditions, especially those much older than Christianity.^[2]

　　Soon he understood that the encounter with wisdom traditions requires humility and empathy, which echoes to a great degree what Simone Weil intuited that “the comparison of religions is only possible, in some measure, through the miraculous virtue of sympathy” because we may gain real knowledge about them if we “transport ourselves for a time by faith to the very center of whichever one we are studying” (Weil, 1992, p.137).

　　Being aware of this challenge, Raguin undertook this arduous but rewarding spiritual and intellectual journey of exploration by becoming deeply acquainted with Chinese religions, spiritualities, and philosophies. He has found enormous potential for dialogue based on similar experiences of Ultimate Reality, even though reflected and identified quite differently at the core messages of great religious traditions. Following the spirit of postconciliar theology of religions, Raguin was fully convinced that other religions constitute different valid ways (means) of salvation for non-Christians and should be respected because the Holy Spirit, in some mysterious way, has been present in them even long before the dawn of Christianity. He went as far as to say that “not to recognize the fact that all the religions are agents of salvation is to deny the whole plan of God.” Yet “to recognize that religions are historical agents of salvation has to go along with the recognition that Christ as Word of God and His Spirit are the ultimate agents of this salvation provided in history through and by many different religions” (Raguin, 1983, p.168).

　　The traditional negative approach to religions had to be corrected by a positive appreciation of them in connection with a consideration of the universal, God’s salvific will for all humankind. Religions are not just containing “glimpses of truth,” but they are the result of an enormous spiritual effort by human beings as pilgrims of truth. What could be the response of Christians to this phenomenon? Raguin states that they should neither despair nor fall into a “childish syncretism” but rather intensify the contemplation of God’s mystery glimpsed in other religions (Raguin, 1971, p.8).

　　For Raguin, strictly speaking, nobody is saved by his own religion. Rather, religion should be intended as just place or context where the grace of God is operating together with human forces (Raguin, 1978, p.86 [652]). In light of this, Raguin believed that different religions have always something to contribute to a universal quest for truth about divine revelation to humanity and to the spiritual purpose of human existence. For him, this would equally concern Buddhism, even though it was not founded on any supernatural revelation or the concept of God, yet its astonishing anthropological and ethical depth can contribute enormously to understanding human nature and the world. Christianity has much to learn from the encounter and dialogue with Buddhism and other religions. Buddhism enjoyed privileged attention from Raguin so at one point he stated succinctly that “Christianity has nothing to fear in being compared with other religions. The result of such a comparison should be both a greater esteem for Buddhism and a deeper understanding of the uniqueness of the revelation made by God himself in Christ” (Raguin, 1974, p.4).

　　Raguin was convinced that the encounter with the Buddhist thought, and other traditions can help us reflect on our own Christian faith and the necessity of its inculturation in the Chinese context. Thanks to this challenge, he observed how we became “more aware of the fact that Catholic theology has to be seen now against the background of Chinese culture, especially in relation with Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism” (Raguin, 1985, p.3). The richness of cultures, religions, and spiritualities challenges traditional theology, which is unable to provide the adequate answers to the complexity of religious pluralism. It seems probable that Raguin would agree that there is a need to rethink the theology of religions, which should lead to the formulation of a pluralistic theology of religions based on contemplative spirituality as it was already suggested by Henri Le Saux (1981).

BETWEEN CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE AND INTRARELIGIOUS DIALOGUE

　　The encounter with Asian traditions strengthened Raguin’s conviction that the western form of Christianity needs to undergo a deep spiritual renewal. He was fully aware of the religious crisis in the West. Among many reasons for this phenomenon, there was a fundamental lack of spiritual depth and limited practice of contemplation among the believers, who were not helped by an excessively institutionalized and dogmatized form of religion. Raguin rediscovered the treasure and importance of spirituality through his encounter with oriental traditions. His diagnosis was that in the last few centuries occidental spirituality took the direction of “exteriority” pretending to remain spiritual, while the orient kept alive this “interiorizing” tradition that is preserved in Zen (Raguin, 1977, p.47). Because the West insisted more on the way of transcendence in a form of ecstasy, our encounter with the East, with its insistence on immanence, can balance this spiritual disproportion. Raguin’s work, La profondeur de Dieu (The Depth of God), answers this urgent need and aims at developing the way of interiority according to which the deeper knowledge of man will lead to recognizing the depth of God. This way, we may be able to harmonize two dimensions of human life: immanence and transcendence (Raguin, 1973, p.9). Indeed, the whole enterprise of Raguin can be explained by the opening words from The Depth of God that there is a fear of transcendence, but still, our epoch is attracted by the depth of man and the universe (Raguin, 1973, p.13). By penetrating these depths through the mediation of Christian and Chinese spiritualities, Raguin was able to encounter the depth of God himself (Bielawski, 2013, p.12).

　　He understood that his missionary credibility and interreligious commitment requires life based on spiritual depth. Consequently, he undertook an intensive spiritual journey called the “path of interiority” by comparing the heritage of Christian mysticism with Oriental spirituality. For him, it was especially Christian contemplative tradition and Zen Buddhist meditation, which invite us to follow this “path of interiority” and help us to be profoundly aware of the depths of our human nature. One of the most remarkable fruits of the encounter between Christianity and Buddhism is this recovery of interiority, because Buddhism has an influence on Christianity especially in the dimension of interiority (Raguin, 1977, p.44).

　　For Raguin, a true encounter with Asian religions is possible especially through this “path of interiority” (Criveller, 2019, p.76). He believed that concrete commitment to interreligious dialogue should be preceded by an inner dialogue being the result of a person’s “path of interiority” where one is not only deeply familiar with spiritual insights of his own faith but becomes open and empathetic toward the faith of others (Raguin, 1998, p.252). Therefore, the most fundamental dialogue is this inner dialogue, which “takes place as I move into the depth of myself as I study other religions, and on the road meet people of other faiths” (Raguin, 1998, p.251).

　　Raguin stresses that the formal interreligious dialogue can bring real fruits if it is preceded by the interior dialogue, which will prepare a person for an authentic encounter with members of other religions. For this process, Raimon Panikkar coined the term intrareligious dialogue, which is much deeper than just a formal dialogue because it penetrates our innermost self and helps to remove false religious masks and accretions as obstacles to dialogue between religions. Panikkar states that this dialogue is not simply a soliloquy or investigation into other religious beliefs or worldviews, but rather “intrareligious dialogue is, of its very nature, an assimilation – which I would call eucharistic. It tries to assimilate the transcendent into our immanence” (Panikkar, 1999, p.xvii).

　　For Raguin any authentic dialogue should be based on various principles. The conditions for dialogue are humility, appreciation, acceptance, knowledge, understanding, and self-reflection. The first step in dialogue is knowing and understanding. But this presupposes appreciation of others’ beliefs, acceptance of the differences, and finally reflection on one’s own expression of faith. Dialogue can lead to reevaluation, reconsideration and reappreciation of the mystery and of our perception of it (Raguin, 1990, p.3). Raguin promoted the spirit of dialogue and the cultivation of respect towards Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. He applied in his approach a hermeneutical circle that helped him go deeper into the experience of dialogue. In this regard, he states as follows:

I decided to make East and West meet but not in a syncretic manner; Christ would be the center and way from start to finish. (…) The central experience would be Christian, but as I moved ahead I would meet Buddhists, Taoists, Yogists and many others. Christ would help me understand them, while their experience would help me deepen my understanding of Christ. To my amazement, this is what actually happened. (Raguin, 1997, p.v)

TOWARDS PLANETARY HUMANISM AND COSMIC THEOLOGY

　　Yves Raguin’s experience of dialogue and inculturation deepened his conviction that the traditional theological approach needs to undergo transformation if the dialogue with wisdom traditions should bear fruits. Raguin emphasizes the importance of spirituality for dialogue with other religious traditions. He thought that the complexity of the world with its multicultural and multireligious phenomena should be approached from the perspective of “planetary humanism” and “cosmic theology.” He gives importance to a careful and profound reconsideration of anthropological questions from a cross-cultural perspective. Without a proper understanding of the human condition in its cultural idiosyncratic manifestation, we will not be able to dialogue and to commit fruitfully to a process of inculturation. This anthropological, psychological, and philosophical horizon is a sine qua non condition of a fruitful dialogue. Once he confessed: “Were I speaking to non-Christians, I would not start out by the discovery of God in Holy Scripture, but with human psychology. I would try to lead them along the road taken by so many men as they set out to find God” (Raguin, 1982, p.44).

　　Intercultural and interreligious approaches require a much more inclusive spirit which will respect the existing differences. A new way of interculturality shall be rooted in the new anthropological form Raguin calls “planetary humanism.” It requires deep respect and care for the natural environment, and it cultivates global solidarity and responsibility, recognizing our shared humanity and interdependence across all borders and cultures. Moreover, it rejects narrow, nationalist, or anthropocentric perspectives in favor of a holistic, interconnected view of the world and the place of humanity within it. The vision of this new, planetary, and global humanism will be “unique but not uniform” (Raguin, 1966, p.358). It will somewhat draw on the innovative and modern humanism of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, promoting this ongoing renewal based on the discernment of divine will as manifested in human reality. This humanism cannot be modeled in abstract terms; rather, it “will take shape from the deeper movements of the evolution of the world, movements that we cannot control, but which we can certainly help to guide” (Raguin, 1966, p.370). This humanism will use an effective method of both action and contemplation, as two sides of the same reality. It will define an individual as a very interior person who is exploring the deepest dimensions of man and structures of the world. That person will be “made for action, and his action is in every way contemplation. If we realize this vocation, we will not risk being the defenders of an outdated humanism: because what we will seek in ourselves and for all men is life” (Raguin, 1966, p.371).

　　Apart from anthropology, theology should also find its new language and method of dialoging with cultures and religions. This is especially relevant in the context of cross-cultural encounters. Raguin sees the need to develop a universal and even “cosmic theology,” what seems to echo the approach of another Jesuit scientist, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. The theological renewal should include both the cataphatic (the way of affirmation) and apophatic (the way of negation) approaches to supernatural reality^[3] as well as should be in constant dialogue with science, cultures, and the great religious traditions of humanity. Raguin saw a huge potential coming from the encounter of Christianity with Asian spiritualities. He prophesized that at the dawn of the Third Millennium, we may witness “a blossoming of new interpretations of the ineffable mystery of Christ. We should not be afraid of it” (Raguin, 2001, p.343). Encountering and penetrating the mystery of Asian traditions helped Raguin to enlarge and to deepen that theological perspective of Christ that he inherited from the West. Inspired by eastern spiritualities, Raguin’s theology wants to complement dogmatically burdened Western theology. He realized that the language of occidental Christianity does not speak to Asian audiences and will not clearly communicate the Christian message unless we adapt the Asian ways of thinking so that the Gospel becomes truly inculturated. He believed that the true universal and “cosmic theology” is still to come, as it is necessary for today’s religious pluralism (Raguin, 1971, p.4). This will have its implications for the way of proclamation in the age of pluralism. For Raguin, the presentation of the Gospel “will penetrate only if it is made in dialogue that pre-supposes a real knowledge of the interior world of the one we speak to” (Raguin, 1971, p.10).

　　In many respects, the Church must work toward an elaboration of a theology open enough to be able to embrace a plurality of religious insights and experiences profound enough to grasp at the same time how Christ is the fullness (Pleroma) and the ultimate revelation of God (Raguin, 1971, p.10). The universal theology Raguin dreamt about was the one which will include in one general vision the universal spiritual efforts of humanity. To achieve this, there must be a common effort by many who practice contemplation and commit to a religious search for the divine in the context of the contemporary world. This will need to include the encounter and dialogue between religions, however, not in a syncretic manner. In this process, what is needed is that “Christians make themselves sensitive to the riches of other religions and become aware of the great effort that they represent in the search for God. What future syntheses will be no one can tell, but we know that Christ is the One in whom the efforts of man in his search for God culminate” (Raguin, 1971, p.11).

　　Raguin underwent significant transformation in order to come to terms with the mystery of religious pluralism. He believed that the true universal and “cosmic theology” is still to come, as it is necessary for today’s religious pluralism (Raguin, 1971, p.4). He had to struggle with finding the universal ground for different religious traditions into one vision of unity in diversity. Yet, as the task of theology is also to contemplate the differences and dissonances reflecting the imperfections and complexities of the wounded world, one may wonder whether in Raguin we can find enough efforts to address this tension “between the passion for unity and listening to dissonance” (Vermander, 2015, p.14). Considering Vermander’s suggestion, it might be helpful to elaborate a missionary theology as “theology of dissonance,” which addresses various problems in societies. This “theology of dissonance” seems to be not much present in Raguin’s approach, of which socially engaged relevance appears to be rather limited. If the vision of the unitary and “cosmic theology” is balanced by such a “theology of dissonance,” then we may see on the horizon a new quality of missionary presence^[4] in the middle of other cultures and religions, presence sensitive enough and awakened to the reality of frontiers or boundaries indwelt by many who await spiritual liberation.

CONCLUSION

　　Fr. Yves Raguin was a Chinese scholar, a missionary and spiritual leader. His life-mission was a dialogue with Chinese wisdom traditions. His long life spent as a missionary challenged his view of other religions, which he inherited in the West. Gradually, by entering dialogue with other religions, studying their sacred scriptures and practicing contemplation, he was able to reevaluate other religions and understand the significant contribution wisdom traditions can make to the spiritual awakening of humanity. In his academic and pastoral activities, he aimed at authentic spiritual encounter between the spiritual traditions of the West and the East. Drawing on his experience, especially from Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism, he practiced and promoted contemplation based on the “apophatic” approaches to the mystery. For him, this constituted a privileged place for interreligious dialogue and an opportunity to deepen an experience of spiritual traditions. The path leading to this was to be found through the process of interior dialogue having transformative effects on the life of a practitioner. He believed this experience would open minds and hearts of participants in dialogue and lead to a deeper understanding and sensitivity about the universal spiritual aspirations of humanity. Moreover, this would help in formulating a new spiritual vision built upon “planetary humanism” transcending limited anthropocentrism and opening to a “cosmic theology” that embraces and contemplates the mystery of reality with its unfathomable richness.

^[1]For a more complete introduction to the life and work of Yves Raguin see Isabelle Pommel, Yves Raguin 1912-1998. L’expérience missionnaire et spirituelle d’un jésuite en Asie (Christus), Lessius, Bruxelles 2015.

^[2]“It is difficult to say whether there is a Christian theology of other religions. We do not have the right to measure these other religions with the measuring tape of our still imperfect theology. We are all in search of the truth.” (Raguin, 1971, p.11).

^[3]The cataphatic approach stands at the basis of cataphatic theology, which approaches God or the Divine by affirmations or positive statements about what God is. It forms a pair together with apophatic approach as the basis of apophatic theology, also known as negative theology, which is a form of theological thinking and religious practice that attempts to approach God, the divine reality, by negation. The apophatic tradition is often, though not always, allied with the approach of mysticism.

^[4]In this regard, Vermander states that “the missionary is increasingly the agent of an ‘alternative’ globalization, a globalization which is not intended to be based on financial and cultural power but on patient weaving of personal relationships, of tinkering with local resources, of micro development projects, of interreligious advances whose outcome always remains uncertain — he is the agent of a globalization based on companionship” (Vermander, 2015, p.16)..

JAROSŁAW M. DURAJ, S.J., is Researcher of The Macau Ricci Institute (MRI),
Assistant Professor in The Faculty of Religious Studies and Philosophy at The University of Saint Joseph (USJ), Macau (S.A.R.), China.

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