I am not a Catholic, but I have read many of Pope Benedict XVI’s works, and read them thoroughly. I have a respect for his depth of thought, clarity in communicating theological ideas, and his unusual combination of scholarly crispness and poetic expression. In some places I do think he grows a little vague and generalizes the opinions of others, and although I disagree with him on many points about religion and ethics, I am a “reader” of Pope Benedict XVI - perhaps more so than any other Christian author except for my favourite Catholic monk: Thomas Merton.

An interesting passage from the Pope is his warning against living as if there was no God, that is, living life disregarding religion as a part of life and not as the ground of life itself. I would agree with this very general assertion since religion tacked on to life is more of a gimmick or an escape from boredom or misery, whilst life lived through authentic, mindful (and not fanatic or close-minded) religion is true life. Here, I would like to bold a sentence that, to me, speaks of the Pope’s implicit affirmation of a Buddhist truth that goes “beyond” God:

‘Theology must go back to being truly “theo-logy,” speaking about and with God. The one necessity (unum necessarium) of man is God. Everything changes, whether God exists or not. Unfortunately, we Christians also often live as if God did not exist (”si Deus non daretur“). We often live according to the slogan: “God does not exist, and if he exists he does not belong”‘ (Moynihan, 2005, p. 88).

Everything changes - no contingent things are permanent or last in themselves. This is the fact that Buddhism takes as a basic doctrine of its philosophy and no matter how one chooses to speak of God, gods, or anything else, one must first acquaint and familiarize oneself with impermanence. Knowing impermanence cultivates courage, open-mindedness, wisdom, and compassion. Impermanence, as envisaged in the Buddhist teachings, is a universal spiritual truth that all spiritual leaders, including the Pope, have no choice but to acknowledge. Does this make spirituality an exercise in futility? Does it render the idea of God powerless? Or does the truth of impermanence point toward something higher, something greater than the travails that we project onto this universe?