The article examines parallels between Buddhist and Christian contemplative practices, arguing that specific techniques and experiential stages in meditation are comparable across traditions, challenging the constructivist view that mystical experiences are entirely shaped by cultural context. It draws on Lance Cousins' 1989 comparison of Buddhaghosa's Path of Purification and Teresa of Ávila's Interior Castle, as well as Buddhist texts like the Cūḷa-Suññata-sutta and the Christian work The Cloud of Unknowing. The author identifies similarities in contemplative exercises, the progress of the spiritual life, and the phenomenology of meditators' experiences at different stages, suggesting that these parallels support a more nuanced understanding of mysticism beyond strict cultural relativism.
The debate between perennialists, who argue mystical experiences are universal, and constructivists, who see them as culturally specific, has shaped the study of mysticism for fifty years. This article, inspired by Lance Cousins' comparison of Buddhaghosa's Path of Purification and Teresa of Ávila's Interior Castle, identifies specific parallels in contemplative exercises and the progress of the spiritual life between Buddhist meditation accounts (such as the Cūḷa-Suññata-sutta) and Christian apophaticism (as in The Cloud of Unknowing). It details parallels in techniques, approaches to contemplative practice, and the phenomenology of experiences of the meditator or contemplative at different stages.