Enlightenment and Faith: Existential Mysteries Beyond Reason
The mysteries of the above two religions, namely enlightenment and faith, are existential experiences that lie outside reason. Enlightenment in Zen Buddhism is related to the external world and the internal world, that is, inner experience. Mainly, this realization is about experiencing the ultimate truth, which is that “the truth that everything comes from the mind”, and the insight into phenomena and essence, everyday experience, and spiritual enlightenment are not separated from each other.
Christian faith does not come from humans, but comes from the calling of God. In other words, God must give us faith. This faith is explained entirely in terms of the concept of God’s gift or grace, and has the existential experience of becoming a ‘life of faith’ and a ‘Christian.’
Hoyoung Ahn, a professor at Dongguk University in Korea, explains Eastern and Western religions separately. First, the Latin word ‘religio’ is etymologically focused on religious rituals that involve repeatedly reciting verbalized words by ‘reuniting with God’ and ‘re-reading God’s words’, and secondly, it is said to mean “the highest teaching” through the Chinese ideograph ‘宗敎’.1
The mystery of religion creates existential experience. According to Sartre, phenomena and essence exist through existence.2 Phenomenology provides knowledge through the experience of ‘here and now.’ “What comes first? Mystery? When asked, “Does existence come first?”, I would like to answer that existence comes first. The unspeakable mystery is your life.
- 안호영, 「선불교(禪佛敎)와 평화의 두 원천: 금강경(金剛經) 을 중심으로」, 『종교교육학연구』, 한국종교교육학회 제59권, 2019, pp.16-7., Ref. ↩︎
- Jean Paul Sartre, L’être et le néant , Édition Gallimard, 1943, p.25. Ref. ↩︎
[Reference]
- 안호영, 「선불교(禪佛敎)와 평화의 두 원천: 금강경(金剛經) 을 중심으로」, 『종교교육학연구』, 한국종교교육학회 제59권, 2019.
- Jean Paul Sartre, L’être et le néant , Édition Gallimard, 1943.