Scholarship and popular culture have been interested in the historical Jesus and in the accuracy ... more Scholarship and popular culture have been interested in the historical Jesus and in the accuracy of Jesus’ words for hundreds of years; however, what is lacking from this research is an analysis of Jesus as a teacher and his transformational pedagogy. There is a wealth of scholarship on the Wisdom Traditions, wisdom teachers or sages, and documents describing how to act and teach like a wisdom teacher, and yet there is the missing element of experiential, lived knowledge of the teacher-student relationship in the gospels. Tibetan Buddhism, as a living tradition with a strong emphasis on the teacher-student relationship, offers the role of the guru or wisdom teacher and provides a lens through which to view Jesus as a teacher in the gospels. Our understanding of Jesus as a teacher must be complicated if we are to begin to understand not just what Jesus said, but how Jesus taught it. It is said that the Buddha had over twelve main teaching techniques from speaking in parables to miracle healing stories; like the Buddha, Jesus’ teachings are diverse and purposeful. Moreover, as master teachers, both the Buddha and Jesus used upaya, skillful means, in educating disciples.
Page 1. A Study of the History of Jewish Meditation: Theory and Practice Grace O'Keeffe Fina... more Page 1. A Study of the History of Jewish Meditation: Theory and Practice Grace O'Keeffe Final copy, May 8, 2009 Honors Thesis 1 Page 2. I have but one request; may I never use my reason against truth. Rebbe Mikhal of Zlotchev Introduction ...
Both the verses of the Dalai Lama and The Song of Songs use fruit metaphors to engage our collect... more Both the verses of the Dalai Lama and The Song of Songs use fruit metaphors to engage our collective and individual memory of the sensuous act of eating fruit, and also evoke the potent sexual intimacy and spiritual connotations associated with fruit. Both use these images and metaphors to describe their lover with a hint of excessiveness (the ever-turning peach tree of the Sixth Dalai Lama and the lush locked garden of The Song of Songs) and a direct everyday interaction like Bernard Cooke suggests in “Christian Marriage: Basic Sacrament”: “God has revealed, not just some truths about ourselves and our world, but about God’s own way of being personal in relation to us” (Cooke, 84). These relationships, whether it be understanding of buddha-nature for the Dalai Lama or a soul-and-God in The Song of Songs, are insights into the divine. Both The Song of Songs and the verses propose a direct trusting relationship with reality as it is. Human relationships, friendships to lovers who share physical intimacy, are absolutely needed as we experience one another. Pleasure (whether literally derived from fruit and potent scents or metaphorically “plucked”) is not devoid of the divine. Attempts at reading these verses devoid of sensory pleasure from “ordinary” things is missing the utter power that can be derived from desire and sexuality.
For both texts, sexuality and spirituality are interdependent: they rely on each other, they feed each other, they expand when one is lessened, they contract when one increases, they add tension for one another, they provide balance for each other. One without the other would leave it hollow. Sexuality feeds into the spiritual, and the spiritual feeds into the sexual. While some interpretations may convincingly advocate for one more than the other or even exclusively, this is not inherently a problem as long as the interdependence of language and metaphors is acknowledged. In 4:9-15 and Verses 5, 6, 35, and 63 of the Sixth Dalai Lama, descriptions of their lovers through fruit, garden metaphors, and potent fragrances powerfully reveals the interconnected nature of sexuality and spirituality. These verses are meant to be read, sung, experienced, embodied, remembered, placed into our mouths noticing any scents or tastes, chewed, digested, they are meant to become us. Herein lies pure power, utter essence, the livewires of the universe.
Most people associate Jewish mysticism with the Kabbalah, but fail to recognize the schools prese... more Most people associate Jewish mysticism with the Kabbalah, but fail to recognize the schools present within the study of the Kabbalah. This is due to the different understandings of the Kabblah, that is, the meditative study, the practical study and theoretical study. One key figure is Rabbi Abraham Abulafia (1240-1295) who spent time in meditation and wrote prophetic books post-meditation, one such being Book of the Sign (Sefer HaOt). Abulafia received his meditation techniques through secret societies that persevered after the close of the Talmudic period. Abulafia employed divine names and their permutations for meditation, though he also used contemplation and the levels of mysteries. In 1290, the Zohar was published and while meditation techniques were not described, the experiences and information derived from meditation were explicated. After the Zohar’s publication, most Kabbalists were busy with intellectual and theoretical understanding, yet during the sixteenth century, Rabbi Isaac Luria (known as the Ari) showed that letter combinations within the Zohar were meant to be used as meditative devices. Both Rabbi Abulafia and the Ari will be used extensively in order to more fully understand the topic at hand. Hasidism, the numerous courts (or communities) within Hasidism, and Rebbes (or Masters) each take up how to treat Jewish meditation. Founder Rabbi Israel (commonly known as the Baal Shem Tov) employed meditation techniques from earlier meditative Kabbalah texts. During the eighteenth century and into the nineteenth century, members of the Hasid community regularly practiced meditation and often described the states in which they reached. The Jewish Enlightenment and its focus on theoretical and intellectual pursuits, contributed to the decline of use of meditation. In my study, I will also make use of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, the great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov who regularly employed Hitbodedut (self-seclusion) meditation, or inner directed meditation. Rabbi Nachman also wrote numerous meditative and contemplative stories that will be used to enhance understanding of experiences in meditation. I will explore Jewish meditation by integrating descriptions of these methods of meditation, historical happenings to the Jewish people, meditative experiences as experienced in the Torah and Zohar, in addition to supplementing it with phenomenological understanding as contributed by philosopher and Jew Martin Buber and the contemporary Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz.
Scholarship and popular culture have been interested in the historical Jesus and in the accuracy ... more Scholarship and popular culture have been interested in the historical Jesus and in the accuracy of Jesus’ words for hundreds of years; however, what is lacking from this research is an analysis of Jesus as a teacher and his transformational pedagogy. There is a wealth of scholarship on the Wisdom Traditions, wisdom teachers or sages, and documents describing how to act and teach like a wisdom teacher, and yet there is the missing element of experiential, lived knowledge of the teacher-student relationship in the gospels. Tibetan Buddhism, as a living tradition with a strong emphasis on the teacher-student relationship, offers the role of the guru or wisdom teacher and provides a lens through which to view Jesus as a teacher in the gospels. Our understanding of Jesus as a teacher must be complicated if we are to begin to understand not just what Jesus said, but how Jesus taught it. It is said that the Buddha had over twelve main teaching techniques from speaking in parables to miracle healing stories; like the Buddha, Jesus’ teachings are diverse and purposeful. Moreover, as master teachers, both the Buddha and Jesus used upaya, skillful means, in educating disciples.
Page 1. A Study of the History of Jewish Meditation: Theory and Practice Grace O'Keeffe Fina... more Page 1. A Study of the History of Jewish Meditation: Theory and Practice Grace O'Keeffe Final copy, May 8, 2009 Honors Thesis 1 Page 2. I have but one request; may I never use my reason against truth. Rebbe Mikhal of Zlotchev Introduction ...
Both the verses of the Dalai Lama and The Song of Songs use fruit metaphors to engage our collect... more Both the verses of the Dalai Lama and The Song of Songs use fruit metaphors to engage our collective and individual memory of the sensuous act of eating fruit, and also evoke the potent sexual intimacy and spiritual connotations associated with fruit. Both use these images and metaphors to describe their lover with a hint of excessiveness (the ever-turning peach tree of the Sixth Dalai Lama and the lush locked garden of The Song of Songs) and a direct everyday interaction like Bernard Cooke suggests in “Christian Marriage: Basic Sacrament”: “God has revealed, not just some truths about ourselves and our world, but about God’s own way of being personal in relation to us” (Cooke, 84). These relationships, whether it be understanding of buddha-nature for the Dalai Lama or a soul-and-God in The Song of Songs, are insights into the divine. Both The Song of Songs and the verses propose a direct trusting relationship with reality as it is. Human relationships, friendships to lovers who share physical intimacy, are absolutely needed as we experience one another. Pleasure (whether literally derived from fruit and potent scents or metaphorically “plucked”) is not devoid of the divine. Attempts at reading these verses devoid of sensory pleasure from “ordinary” things is missing the utter power that can be derived from desire and sexuality.
For both texts, sexuality and spirituality are interdependent: they rely on each other, they feed each other, they expand when one is lessened, they contract when one increases, they add tension for one another, they provide balance for each other. One without the other would leave it hollow. Sexuality feeds into the spiritual, and the spiritual feeds into the sexual. While some interpretations may convincingly advocate for one more than the other or even exclusively, this is not inherently a problem as long as the interdependence of language and metaphors is acknowledged. In 4:9-15 and Verses 5, 6, 35, and 63 of the Sixth Dalai Lama, descriptions of their lovers through fruit, garden metaphors, and potent fragrances powerfully reveals the interconnected nature of sexuality and spirituality. These verses are meant to be read, sung, experienced, embodied, remembered, placed into our mouths noticing any scents or tastes, chewed, digested, they are meant to become us. Herein lies pure power, utter essence, the livewires of the universe.
Most people associate Jewish mysticism with the Kabbalah, but fail to recognize the schools prese... more Most people associate Jewish mysticism with the Kabbalah, but fail to recognize the schools present within the study of the Kabbalah. This is due to the different understandings of the Kabblah, that is, the meditative study, the practical study and theoretical study. One key figure is Rabbi Abraham Abulafia (1240-1295) who spent time in meditation and wrote prophetic books post-meditation, one such being Book of the Sign (Sefer HaOt). Abulafia received his meditation techniques through secret societies that persevered after the close of the Talmudic period. Abulafia employed divine names and their permutations for meditation, though he also used contemplation and the levels of mysteries. In 1290, the Zohar was published and while meditation techniques were not described, the experiences and information derived from meditation were explicated. After the Zohar’s publication, most Kabbalists were busy with intellectual and theoretical understanding, yet during the sixteenth century, Rabbi Isaac Luria (known as the Ari) showed that letter combinations within the Zohar were meant to be used as meditative devices. Both Rabbi Abulafia and the Ari will be used extensively in order to more fully understand the topic at hand. Hasidism, the numerous courts (or communities) within Hasidism, and Rebbes (or Masters) each take up how to treat Jewish meditation. Founder Rabbi Israel (commonly known as the Baal Shem Tov) employed meditation techniques from earlier meditative Kabbalah texts. During the eighteenth century and into the nineteenth century, members of the Hasid community regularly practiced meditation and often described the states in which they reached. The Jewish Enlightenment and its focus on theoretical and intellectual pursuits, contributed to the decline of use of meditation. In my study, I will also make use of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, the great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov who regularly employed Hitbodedut (self-seclusion) meditation, or inner directed meditation. Rabbi Nachman also wrote numerous meditative and contemplative stories that will be used to enhance understanding of experiences in meditation. I will explore Jewish meditation by integrating descriptions of these methods of meditation, historical happenings to the Jewish people, meditative experiences as experienced in the Torah and Zohar, in addition to supplementing it with phenomenological understanding as contributed by philosopher and Jew Martin Buber and the contemporary Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz.
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Papers by Grace O'Keeffe
For both texts, sexuality and spirituality are interdependent: they rely on each other, they feed each other, they expand when one is lessened, they contract when one increases, they add tension for one another, they provide balance for each other. One without the other would leave it hollow. Sexuality feeds into the spiritual, and the spiritual feeds into the sexual. While some interpretations may convincingly advocate for one more than the other or even exclusively, this is not inherently a problem as long as the interdependence of language and metaphors is acknowledged. In 4:9-15 and Verses 5, 6, 35, and 63 of the Sixth Dalai Lama, descriptions of their lovers through fruit, garden metaphors, and potent fragrances powerfully reveals the interconnected nature of sexuality and spirituality. These verses are meant to be read, sung, experienced, embodied, remembered, placed into our mouths noticing any scents or tastes, chewed, digested, they are meant to become us. Herein lies pure power, utter essence, the livewires of the universe.
Hasidism, the numerous courts (or communities) within Hasidism, and Rebbes (or Masters) each take up how to treat Jewish meditation. Founder Rabbi Israel (commonly known as the Baal Shem Tov) employed meditation techniques from earlier meditative Kabbalah texts. During the eighteenth century and into the nineteenth century, members of the Hasid community regularly practiced meditation and often described the states in which they reached. The Jewish Enlightenment and its focus on theoretical and intellectual pursuits, contributed to the decline of use of meditation. In my study, I will also make use of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, the great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov who regularly employed Hitbodedut (self-seclusion) meditation, or inner directed meditation. Rabbi Nachman also wrote numerous meditative and contemplative stories that will be used to enhance understanding of experiences in meditation.
I will explore Jewish meditation by integrating descriptions of these methods of meditation, historical happenings to the Jewish people, meditative experiences as experienced in the Torah and Zohar, in addition to supplementing it with phenomenological understanding as contributed by philosopher and Jew Martin Buber and the contemporary Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz.
For both texts, sexuality and spirituality are interdependent: they rely on each other, they feed each other, they expand when one is lessened, they contract when one increases, they add tension for one another, they provide balance for each other. One without the other would leave it hollow. Sexuality feeds into the spiritual, and the spiritual feeds into the sexual. While some interpretations may convincingly advocate for one more than the other or even exclusively, this is not inherently a problem as long as the interdependence of language and metaphors is acknowledged. In 4:9-15 and Verses 5, 6, 35, and 63 of the Sixth Dalai Lama, descriptions of their lovers through fruit, garden metaphors, and potent fragrances powerfully reveals the interconnected nature of sexuality and spirituality. These verses are meant to be read, sung, experienced, embodied, remembered, placed into our mouths noticing any scents or tastes, chewed, digested, they are meant to become us. Herein lies pure power, utter essence, the livewires of the universe.
Hasidism, the numerous courts (or communities) within Hasidism, and Rebbes (or Masters) each take up how to treat Jewish meditation. Founder Rabbi Israel (commonly known as the Baal Shem Tov) employed meditation techniques from earlier meditative Kabbalah texts. During the eighteenth century and into the nineteenth century, members of the Hasid community regularly practiced meditation and often described the states in which they reached. The Jewish Enlightenment and its focus on theoretical and intellectual pursuits, contributed to the decline of use of meditation. In my study, I will also make use of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, the great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov who regularly employed Hitbodedut (self-seclusion) meditation, or inner directed meditation. Rabbi Nachman also wrote numerous meditative and contemplative stories that will be used to enhance understanding of experiences in meditation.
I will explore Jewish meditation by integrating descriptions of these methods of meditation, historical happenings to the Jewish people, meditative experiences as experienced in the Torah and Zohar, in addition to supplementing it with phenomenological understanding as contributed by philosopher and Jew Martin Buber and the contemporary Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz.