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The Raft is Not the Shore: Conversations toward a Buddhist/Christian Awareness
Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso
139 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1975
23 people are currently reading
1162 people want to read
About the author
Daniel Berrigan
154 books50 followersDaniel Joseph Berrigan (May 9, 1921 – April 30, 2016) was an American Jesuit priest, college professor, anti-war activist, Christian pacifist, playwright, poet, and author.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
November 3, 2014
"Each of us has to build a pagoda. 'This pagoda cannot be built by stones and sticks and things like that, because this pagoda is a sanctuary where you have a chance to be alone and to face yourself, the reality of yourself. If you don't have a pagoda like that to go into each day, several times each day, then you cannot protect the Eucharist, you cannot protect yourself, and you cannot protect the world from destruction."
"We cannot say when the fruit of such an act will come, because there are things that need time in order to be set right. There are things that the Buddha or Jesus said thousands of years ago; they may begin only now to have an effect."
"Something in you tells me that you're eager to try and precent pessimism from prevailing. Indeed, it is not a good thing to be a pessimist, to say that there's nothing beyond that. One Bodhisattra, described in the Lotus Sutra, is a traveler who does nothing except come to every person to say, Well, i do not dare to take you lightly, i know that you are a buddha and you have the capability of being a buddha."
"When medical students and nurses are about to graduate, they think very much of helping the poor- those who have not enough money to go to fully equipped hospitals, facilities like that. But after graduation, after a few years in their careers, many of them begin to act like machines and pay no more attention to the poor and oppressed. The nurses become irritated at poor patients. The doctors become insensitive to the sufferings of the poor. It's very sad. To love is a difficult thing when the people try to cheat and trick you, to get the most of you if you show compassion, goodwill; when they try to get the better of you, because you show concern. So, at one point you cannot love them any more, and you begin to treat them as you treat objects. I think such things happen frequently. Our goodwill, our intentions, play one role; social conditions play another. And there are the political and economic systems. If we try to do things faithfully, in accord with our best instincts, we have to go against all these forces. If you are in power, they will try to bring you down. So, you make a compromise in order to be able to continue. You compromise to the point that you become like those whom you opposed before you came to power. "
"the time when you feel least a stranger is when you return to yourself, even during your dreams, because when we dream I think we live more inside ourselves."
"each thing in the universe has it's own weight and will always find its own place."
"One of the last things the buddha said was, light your own torch, carry your own light, and go."
"people can become so bewildered with the mass of information and news brought down on them that they're unable to move, they're paralyzed. So, the question of selecting, meditating, having some interior life of one's own in the midst of all this, becomes quite important. Especially in times as these, to have a modest estimation of one's own life- that's a very important form of sanity. Just to keep the big world or the big lie at a distance; in order to be available to a few people, in order to do one's work well."
"understanding and trust can be built only very slowly, step by step. Sometimes we fail and have to withdraw to find another way. But, fear and hatred are so easily sown."
"I think that coping with the fear they try to inspire is one fo the largest tasks of all. And helping people to live by other means than their fear, whether it's fear of one another, fear of the enemy, fear of the authorities, fear of prison, fear of disgrace, or fear of seperation from families. In the last decade, it was a great project for us in communities to try to cope with this. Because the realities were never as gruesome as one's fear of the realities. It was that inflation of reality that the government was able to play on, until people could no longer recognize the difference between their fear of what might happen and what was actually happening."
"i think fear does two amazing things; maybe they are just aspects of one thing. First, it creates the impression that a person is facing a god, usually a god of war or god of violence; fear makes the adversary look superhuman. Secondly, it creates a new psyche in one's self- a very disrupted, distracted, terrorized person, the opposite of a stable, self-aware person. Two aspects, one fear. If one's soul is so enslaved as to bow to the god, one is already destroyed."
"to be constantly active is the only thing that is considered meaningful by some people. Actions need energy. You get energy where? From dissatisfaction, from hatred. The more you hate, the more you become strong, much stronger than you were. "
"The fact is that to have compassion, love, concern, for your fellow human beings, to bring these sentiments to birth in yourself or in someone else, is more difficult than to awaken anger. "
"I look for communities of resistance-- beautiful, healing, refreshing both in surrounding and in substance. In such communities you meet people who symbolize a kind of freshness, their look, their smile, their understanding, should be able to help. That is why a requirement of a community of resistance is the presence of at least one person who can offer than kind of atmosphere."
"if you want two persons, you should have one person first."
"sometimes a hasty judgment might lead you to cut off a relationship with a person. So, in my tradition we are taught to look at a tree or something like that for a long time. At first you don't know what use it is to look at a tree like that. You have to look until you can truly see it. And one day, the tree reveals itself to you as a very substantial, real identity. It is not that you have a new tree or that the weather is better so that you can see the tree clearly, but something in oneself has changed so there is a new kind of relationship between you and the tree. Wether we can see the tree of not depends on us. And whether one can be sad or sorrowful or joyful depends on the tree. So, a kind of wonderment arises. When i think of the relationship between two human beings, it's like that.
"The notion of the way is very misleading. Most people think a way presupposes a distance and is like a rope linking one to a point in space, in time. Between two points, there is a distance and a link. When we detect a way to arrive at our destination, it is as though we made reservation on a flight. But is is commonly thought that we remain the same, here and there. That is not the case, I believe. Because if you are not transformed on the way, you remain at the point of departure all the time, you never arrive at the destination. So, the way must be in you; the destination also must be in you and not somewhere else in space or time. If that kind of self-transformation is being realized in you, you will arrive."
"There was one time when I underwent a crisis, and with me there was only a cat to look at me; and that helped a lot."
"We cannot say when the fruit of such an act will come, because there are things that need time in order to be set right. There are things that the Buddha or Jesus said thousands of years ago; they may begin only now to have an effect."
"Something in you tells me that you're eager to try and precent pessimism from prevailing. Indeed, it is not a good thing to be a pessimist, to say that there's nothing beyond that. One Bodhisattra, described in the Lotus Sutra, is a traveler who does nothing except come to every person to say, Well, i do not dare to take you lightly, i know that you are a buddha and you have the capability of being a buddha."
"When medical students and nurses are about to graduate, they think very much of helping the poor- those who have not enough money to go to fully equipped hospitals, facilities like that. But after graduation, after a few years in their careers, many of them begin to act like machines and pay no more attention to the poor and oppressed. The nurses become irritated at poor patients. The doctors become insensitive to the sufferings of the poor. It's very sad. To love is a difficult thing when the people try to cheat and trick you, to get the most of you if you show compassion, goodwill; when they try to get the better of you, because you show concern. So, at one point you cannot love them any more, and you begin to treat them as you treat objects. I think such things happen frequently. Our goodwill, our intentions, play one role; social conditions play another. And there are the political and economic systems. If we try to do things faithfully, in accord with our best instincts, we have to go against all these forces. If you are in power, they will try to bring you down. So, you make a compromise in order to be able to continue. You compromise to the point that you become like those whom you opposed before you came to power. "
"the time when you feel least a stranger is when you return to yourself, even during your dreams, because when we dream I think we live more inside ourselves."
"each thing in the universe has it's own weight and will always find its own place."
"One of the last things the buddha said was, light your own torch, carry your own light, and go."
"people can become so bewildered with the mass of information and news brought down on them that they're unable to move, they're paralyzed. So, the question of selecting, meditating, having some interior life of one's own in the midst of all this, becomes quite important. Especially in times as these, to have a modest estimation of one's own life- that's a very important form of sanity. Just to keep the big world or the big lie at a distance; in order to be available to a few people, in order to do one's work well."
"understanding and trust can be built only very slowly, step by step. Sometimes we fail and have to withdraw to find another way. But, fear and hatred are so easily sown."
"I think that coping with the fear they try to inspire is one fo the largest tasks of all. And helping people to live by other means than their fear, whether it's fear of one another, fear of the enemy, fear of the authorities, fear of prison, fear of disgrace, or fear of seperation from families. In the last decade, it was a great project for us in communities to try to cope with this. Because the realities were never as gruesome as one's fear of the realities. It was that inflation of reality that the government was able to play on, until people could no longer recognize the difference between their fear of what might happen and what was actually happening."
"i think fear does two amazing things; maybe they are just aspects of one thing. First, it creates the impression that a person is facing a god, usually a god of war or god of violence; fear makes the adversary look superhuman. Secondly, it creates a new psyche in one's self- a very disrupted, distracted, terrorized person, the opposite of a stable, self-aware person. Two aspects, one fear. If one's soul is so enslaved as to bow to the god, one is already destroyed."
"to be constantly active is the only thing that is considered meaningful by some people. Actions need energy. You get energy where? From dissatisfaction, from hatred. The more you hate, the more you become strong, much stronger than you were. "
"The fact is that to have compassion, love, concern, for your fellow human beings, to bring these sentiments to birth in yourself or in someone else, is more difficult than to awaken anger. "
"I look for communities of resistance-- beautiful, healing, refreshing both in surrounding and in substance. In such communities you meet people who symbolize a kind of freshness, their look, their smile, their understanding, should be able to help. That is why a requirement of a community of resistance is the presence of at least one person who can offer than kind of atmosphere."
"if you want two persons, you should have one person first."
"sometimes a hasty judgment might lead you to cut off a relationship with a person. So, in my tradition we are taught to look at a tree or something like that for a long time. At first you don't know what use it is to look at a tree like that. You have to look until you can truly see it. And one day, the tree reveals itself to you as a very substantial, real identity. It is not that you have a new tree or that the weather is better so that you can see the tree clearly, but something in oneself has changed so there is a new kind of relationship between you and the tree. Wether we can see the tree of not depends on us. And whether one can be sad or sorrowful or joyful depends on the tree. So, a kind of wonderment arises. When i think of the relationship between two human beings, it's like that.
"The notion of the way is very misleading. Most people think a way presupposes a distance and is like a rope linking one to a point in space, in time. Between two points, there is a distance and a link. When we detect a way to arrive at our destination, it is as though we made reservation on a flight. But is is commonly thought that we remain the same, here and there. That is not the case, I believe. Because if you are not transformed on the way, you remain at the point of departure all the time, you never arrive at the destination. So, the way must be in you; the destination also must be in you and not somewhere else in space or time. If that kind of self-transformation is being realized in you, you will arrive."
"There was one time when I underwent a crisis, and with me there was only a cat to look at me; and that helped a lot."
January 24, 2022
Sweet to return to this in a time when Naht Hanh was transitioning. This book is two spiritual giants profoundly shooting the shit about religious community, resistance, and how to be most alive in times of immense suffering and fear. Which obv feels relevant for where we are at today. It makes me feel a renewed sense of how I want to show up in this world in these times.
July 31, 2018
"The Raft is Not the Shore" is a five star rating in terms of its value as inspiration. I gave it 4 stars because it is a conversation and, by definition, not organized or edited as it would otherwise be. At the same time, it is the spontaneous dialogue between this wonderful exiled monk and ex-con peace activist priest that makes for magic. The conversations in the early 70s are as relevant today, maybe more so, than they were during the Vietnam War. Most importantly, the book provides an important framework...it becomes so clear that we have been heading to this moment for decades -- and that the only way out is to challenge the very fact of unfettered capitalism and its destructive influence on our personal authenticity, community spirit, and democratic values.
Could not recommend more highly.
Could not recommend more highly.
June 9, 2013
Amazing, amazing book by 2 activists, one Christian and one Buddhist, on the intersection of thought and philosophy between Buddhism and Christianity. Both religions, while having significant differences and interpretations, also have closer parallels that you might think
January 26, 2023
"The destruction of illusion is a necessity." This phrase early on in the book resonated with me and I dwelled on that and found that I totally agree. This conversation between the famous exiled Vietnamese Buddhist monk and a liberal catholic priest (Daniel Berrigan) is very eye opening, though these conversations were held over 45 years ago and started as an outcry over the Vietnam War. But reading it today, it is just as pertinent, for war is always everywhere. But the book delves much deeper than that. It talks about tolerance and justice and looks straight into the Dharma (reality) of our world and our place in it. Ironically, they are skeptical of government and organized religion and believe that both of these foment injustice, fear and acceptance of the status quo and how neither sees the bad side of violence they help create.
To create positive change and speak the truth no one wants to hear, one must be willing to be unpopular and alienated from society; an outcast; an exile. The hypocrisy of both institutions are laid out quite well but it also shows the power of following your conscience against all odds. The conversation focuses on active non-violent resistance to fight the powers that be and also searching for oneself in this insane world. We cannot give in, give up or stop trying. The "raft" is THE WAY but it is NOT the shore. The struggle is continuous and ongoing (and often unbearably hard) to find that "shore". But that shore is our only way to find peace, awareness and true Nirvana. Perhaps unattainable but always worth fighting for. Soon we shall find our way home, to paraphrase Blind Faith.
To create positive change and speak the truth no one wants to hear, one must be willing to be unpopular and alienated from society; an outcast; an exile. The hypocrisy of both institutions are laid out quite well but it also shows the power of following your conscience against all odds. The conversation focuses on active non-violent resistance to fight the powers that be and also searching for oneself in this insane world. We cannot give in, give up or stop trying. The "raft" is THE WAY but it is NOT the shore. The struggle is continuous and ongoing (and often unbearably hard) to find that "shore". But that shore is our only way to find peace, awareness and true Nirvana. Perhaps unattainable but always worth fighting for. Soon we shall find our way home, to paraphrase Blind Faith.
January 1, 2025
Finished this on New Year’s Day and I’m going to restart it and reread again through 2025. This book is a ballast.
July 7, 2009
Great book! I love Thich Nhat Hanh. He is so inspirational and it makes me want to become a buddhist. I also quite liked the Christian monk Beringer. I thought he had an interesting perspective on christianity.
September 23, 2024
“I think that life always is ambiguous. This we accept, the human situation being murky and conditioned by the past. But what we look for, as Camus says, is at least a world in which murder will not be legitimate. We don't look for a world in which murder will not occur, that seems unrealistic. But we don't want murder to be looked upon as virtuous and legitimate. Maybe that's a minimal definition of the kind of change we work for.”
January 17, 2025
One of his most important books, along with his translations of the heart Sutra and the lotus Sutra. I would put these three before all the other books. All these Mindfulness beginner breakdowns just take extra money. From my studies in Bhutan and definitely my studies with one of the world's experts on Buddhism, these are enough.
January 23, 2021
Somehow very timely and modern. Addresses the relationship of the church to the state.
September 14, 2022
This is a beautiful book written during the Vietnam War, and in response to it. I found the chapter on self-immolation, which some people did in protest against the war, particularly interesting.
October 14, 2022
“people
can put up with a great deal that doesn't immediately cross
their plans, or insult their sensibilities.”
can put up with a great deal that doesn't immediately cross
their plans, or insult their sensibilities.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 4, 2023
“The destruction of illusion is a necessity”
“Maybe the real thing continues to happen”
“Maybe the real thing continues to happen”
Want to read
May 31, 2024ملاحظة لي - لم اقرا الكتاب بعد
about confessing one's shortcomings and how it helps him to be a better person (not necessarily literally confessing, but reviewing ones' own shortcomings)
about confessing one's shortcomings and how it helps him to be a better person (not necessarily literally confessing, but reviewing ones' own shortcomings)
September 18, 2025
Beautiful book. Published 50 years ago, its message of resistance has not faded. I might buy a bunch of copies of this to give as gifts.
June 12, 2015
I have come to really enjoy Thích Nhất Hạnh's writings. Unfortunately, the coauthor is Daniel Berrigan, who has a loathsome background. The book is essentially a transcript of a recording of the two discussing their perspectives on how politics and the state have usurped religion for their agenda. The talk was held after the Vietnam war, but still pose some thoughts in light of radical ISIS today. Berrigan, in my opinion is so full of himself, that he pontificates throughout the book (discussion) to where he states clearly that any 'state' that identifies itself with a specific religion does so only to use that religion to justify its existence as a state, and rationalize its use of war and death. He makes several broad-brushed comments so off-putting that I couldn't decide if I wanted to invest further in the book. "All prison chaplains", "all of the Jews in Israel"... Odd coming from a Jesuit, though excommunicated, to be so myopic, narrow minded, prejudiced, and resentful, quite literally to the very end of the book.
I read the book anyways, even with my 10 years in the Marine Corps, and years as a minister, for a hunger of what the title and slipcover suggested. Common ground of Buddhism and Christianity. Instead I sadly found a book mostly of political negativity, stereotyping, resentment and bitterness.
Nhat Hanh's content made the read worth while none the less, particularly in the last two chapters.
If you can muddle past Berrigan, who shockingly misses Thich's points to where Thich has to repeat them and re-direct Berrigan, there are some very challenging, unsettling things I have to sort through in my beliefs about war, conflict, and religion.. and that is why I read the book, and that is why I return to Nhat Hanh's writings.
If you bought the book to read more wisdom from Nhat Hanh, pass on this one. Berrian seems so caught up in himself that he seems to miss the point or moves on to what he thinks is more important many times throughout the book. It is also shocking when he compares his own life as as difficult at times in the context of exile, as what Nhat Hanh and generations of Buddhists have faced, and only to use the Garden of Eden as a theological comparrison, as if it would be too difficult for him to use the story of the Jews and the 40 years in the dessert.
Sadly, the entire book can be summed up in the context of Berrigan, as what he is against, and as usual for Thick Nhat Hanh as what he is for.
"To be constantly active is the only thing that is considered meaningful by some people. Actions need energy, you get energy where? From the dissatisfaction, from hatred. The more you hate, the more you become strong, much stronger than you were.
But when you are angry, you are not lucid enough for your action to make sense. Even in violent revolutionary doctrine, they talk of the calmness needed for making decisions. So, if you have to be calm in order to make a decision, you must guard against anger."
I read the book anyways, even with my 10 years in the Marine Corps, and years as a minister, for a hunger of what the title and slipcover suggested. Common ground of Buddhism and Christianity. Instead I sadly found a book mostly of political negativity, stereotyping, resentment and bitterness.
Nhat Hanh's content made the read worth while none the less, particularly in the last two chapters.
If you can muddle past Berrigan, who shockingly misses Thich's points to where Thich has to repeat them and re-direct Berrigan, there are some very challenging, unsettling things I have to sort through in my beliefs about war, conflict, and religion.. and that is why I read the book, and that is why I return to Nhat Hanh's writings.
If you bought the book to read more wisdom from Nhat Hanh, pass on this one. Berrian seems so caught up in himself that he seems to miss the point or moves on to what he thinks is more important many times throughout the book. It is also shocking when he compares his own life as as difficult at times in the context of exile, as what Nhat Hanh and generations of Buddhists have faced, and only to use the Garden of Eden as a theological comparrison, as if it would be too difficult for him to use the story of the Jews and the 40 years in the dessert.
Sadly, the entire book can be summed up in the context of Berrigan, as what he is against, and as usual for Thick Nhat Hanh as what he is for.
"To be constantly active is the only thing that is considered meaningful by some people. Actions need energy, you get energy where? From the dissatisfaction, from hatred. The more you hate, the more you become strong, much stronger than you were.
But when you are angry, you are not lucid enough for your action to make sense. Even in violent revolutionary doctrine, they talk of the calmness needed for making decisions. So, if you have to be calm in order to make a decision, you must guard against anger."
August 27, 2012
Buddhist-Christian awareness...begins with a meditation on death....what it is...what it's not
Merged review:
A quiet, deep and rich book exploring a variety of topics drawing from each mans creative interpretations of their respective religious traditions. Together they express themes of mutual interest: death, exile, value and dark side of religious traditions, community, government and religion, economics and religion, forming communities of resistance in a violent world.
This book should be read, discussed, re-read and discussed again and again!
Merged review:
A quiet, deep and rich book exploring a variety of topics drawing from each mans creative interpretations of their respective religious traditions. Together they express themes of mutual interest: death, exile, value and dark side of religious traditions, community, government and religion, economics and religion, forming communities of resistance in a violent world.
This book should be read, discussed, re-read and discussed again and again!
January 23, 2012
I'm re-reading this book which came out at the end of the Vietnam war -- a fascinating dialog between radical Jesuit priest Daniel Berrigan and the Vietnamese Buddhist monk and teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh. In the 70s, I read this as a young Catholic and activist, who was considering his calling. (I was thoughtful enough to not answer that problematic and patriarchal phone call!) The times have changed (or have they?) The messages here haven't lost their resonance.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews