Finding Awakening in All Things

As Santa Clara prepares to host the Dalai Lama on Monday, Feb. 24, it is worth examining the surprising parallels between the writings of St. Ignatius of Loyola—the founder of the Jesuit order—and a Buddhist text that played an important role in the spiritual formation of the Dalai Lama, The Way of the Bodhisattva by the eighth-century monk Śāntideva. While Ignatian spirituality and Tibetan Buddhism are radically distinct traditions, a close look at the core teachings of St. Ignatius and Śāntideva reveals a deep spiritual kinship on the notions of finding the divine in all things, the importance of selfexamination, and the way in which sin alienates us from our own potential. Symbol of Peace by Peig Fairbook and Adele Fox, part of a traveling exhibit called "The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama." Photo courtesy "The Missing Peace."