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Document Details :

Title: Zen Buddhism and Sufism
Subtitle: An Interreligious Encounter
Author(s): MASSOUDI, Mehrdad
Journal: Studies in Interreligious Dialogue
Volume: 19    Issue: 1   Date: 2009   
Pages: 102-123
DOI: 10.2143/SID.19.1.2036231

Abstract :
A recent study in which a spherical model of spirituality, describing a pluralistic perspective of the world’s religions within the framework of interreligious dialogue is used to bring out certain similarities between (Ecstatic) Sufism and Zen Buddhism. Interreligious Dialogue rarely occurs on the level of the circumference; it is usually fruitful and beneficial when the participants practice the inner ways. The concept of the center is also discussed within the two traditions. The present essay is an attempt to apply this three-dimensional pluralistic model and show how the two distinct religions of Buddhism and Islam fit into this interreligious framework. It provides a brief review of the various ways of looking at the different approaches characterizing Sufism and attempts to develop and justify the need for describing Sufism according to its methods of practice.

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