From: National Catholic Reporter | Date: August 9, 1996| Author: Savary, Louis M. | COPYRIGHT 1996 National Catholic Reporter. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

About 25 years ago in Berkeley, Calif., when Eastern religions were taking California by storm, I was asked as a Catholic theologian to give a talk at an East-West conference. The topic assigned to me was "Jesus as a Zen Master." Zen masters taught their aspirants to meditate on a koan, a contradiction or paradox, such as, "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" To prepare for my lecture, I opened the New Testament looking for a koan or two from Jesus. To my surprise, before I was ...