Bede Griffiths

Presentation:  April 10, 2010

Fr. Cyprian Consiglio, OSB CAM

Brief Description of Presentation

In this presentation Fr Cyprian will give an overview of the life, teaching and impact of Bede Griffiths. Fr Bede was an Oxford educated English Benedictine monk who spent the second part of his life in India, first as founding member of two separate monastic foundations before becoming the third “founder” of Saccidananda Ashram, Shantivanam in Tamil Nadu. There, following the pioneering work of Frenchmen Pere Jules Monchanin and Dom Henri le Saux (Swami Abhishiktananda), Fr Bede turned this Hindu-Christian ashram into an internationally known center for dialogue and inculturation. As he immersed himself in the great literature of the world’s spiritual tradition, Bede then taught through his writing and his countless talks about the universal call to contemplation through the sanatana dharma–the eternal teaching, what is known in philosophy as the perennial philosophy, the great deposit of wisdom that the mystics of all traditions share.

Through his monastic life of prayer, meditation and study, Fr. Bede was able to re-imagine and re-articulate the truths of Christianity and the church in a new language, the language of the mystic, the universal language of union with God, accessible to all as the vine is accessible to the branch. In this way he drew many who felt left out of the church to once again drink from the fountain of the Wisdom. We will explore specifically four areas: his life, and his approach to advaita–non-duality, Christology, and monastic life lived as a Christian sannyasi.
 

Prayer Exercise

Fr. Cyprian will lead the meditation period with a form of prayer related to the topic.

Preparation for Session and Bibliography

Click below for preparation article for the lecture.
“Bede Griffiths’ New Vision of Reality.” The Golden String, Winter 2007-2008 Vol. 14 No.2

To find this and other articles by Fr. Cyprian on the internet, go to

http://www.bedegriffiths.com/golden-string/

and check out the back issues of The Golden String.

Books by Bede Griffiths include: (all available through Templegate)
Return to the Center
Marriage of East and West
New Vision of Reality

Recommended:

The One Light, Bede Griffiths’ Principal Writings, edited by Bruno Barnhart
all these available through Templegate

Shirley DuBoulay, Beyond the Darkness (biography of Bede Griffiths) 

About Cyprian Consiglio

Fr. Cyprian Consiglio, OSB CAM, is a monk of the Camaldolese Congregation, a musician, composer, author and teacher.  He lived for ten years and did his monastic formation at New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur, where he served as liturgist, choir director and teacher.

Cyprian earned his MA in Theology from St Johns Seminary in Camarillo, CA.  A student of the writings of Bede Griffiths and Abhishiktananda, Cyprian has a great love for comparative religion, has done work in inter-faith ritual and world music, regularly leads conferences on meditation, and has been to India and other countries in Asia several times, both studying and teaching.  He has written numerous articles and is currently working on a book on prayer and meditation.

Cyprian currently lives near Santa Cruz, California; he spends about half his time at home, and half his time on the road performing and teaching. Much of both his music and his teaching revolve around the Universal Call to Contemplation through spirituality and the arts. He has five collections of original music recorded and published through OCP Publications, three others released through the Equilibrium label with his long time collaborator, percussionist John Pennington, and two collections for MedioMedia Singapore. He also collaborated on three collections of a capella sacred music for the church year with the Collegeville Composers Group.