2-Day In-Person Workshop
Saturday 8/29/26 & Sunday 8/30/26
with Gordon Peerman

For people following the in Buddha’s path, Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, is not simply an historical figure, however remarkable and world-changing his teaching. The Buddha is a living and vital presence, a refuge and inspiration for the cultivation of deep compassion and vast wisdom. And for those who follow the Christian way, Jesus of Nazareth is both a Jewish teacher who lived at a particular time and place, and the living Christ whose presence embodies a love that knows no boundary and finds expression in works of justice and mercy.

Bede Griffiths, a Catholic Benedictine monk who lived in a Christian ashram in India in the last century, once said about interspiritual dialogue between traditions, “Acknowledge the differences, and emphasize the similarities.” He would point to the differences between each of the fingers on his hand, and then invite his listeners to note that these very different fingers grow from a common palm. How is the teaching of the Buddha and the Christ both different and similar? How does meditative practice bridge these the two traditions? Especially for those of us who have a foot in both traditions, or engage in interspiritual conversation more generally, how do the Buddha and the Christ exemplify what Ken Wilber calls Waking Up, Growing Up, Cleaning Up, and Showing Up?