Jan van Ruusbroec in Beijing

In April 1998 a meeting dedicated to the theme of Christian Mystical Experience' was organised at the Peking University (Beijing Daxue) in collaboration with the Ruusbroegenootschap. First we discussed a definition of mystical experience. A presentation was given of a new way of reading the Song of Songs by Bernard of Clairvaux and William of Saint-Thierry, by means of which they interpreted more explicitely the mystical experience as an experience of love. Next, we looked more closely at John of Ruusbroec and his teaching, especially by taking the structure of his Spiritual Espousals as a key for the understanding of his love-mysticism. In a third step, we focussed on the descriptions given by Ruusbroec of natural mysticism (in contrast with mysticism as a meeting with the Other). Attention was given both to his positive appreciation and his criticism. The Chinese participants of this session raised a number of important topics, which will be discussed in a next issue. The cooperation is continued in a number of translation projects that contain mystical texts as well as secondary literature about mysticism.