Religions of the East. A Christian approach. Thoughts on the book by Rev. Alexander Men’ “Outside the Gate of Silence"

Abstract

The renowned book by the late Rev. Men' has recently been published again. This work deals with the origins of the Religions of the East, in the first instance the Buddhism. The Publisher has left the text without any comments, which would make the views of the Reverend more distinct. The present article is an attempt to fill in this gap. One has to say that the views of the Russian Orthodox priest regarding this phenomenon are far from being neutral. Some of his postulates invite negative comments of the specialists. However, his subjective approach provides a learned reader with a clear view on the common as well as distinctive features as applied to these world religions especially with regard to the technical terms used and description of the world order. In particular these are the metempsychosis (or re-incarnation) as seen by a modern Western reader and by a practicing Buddhist.