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Introduction

Its foundation? In fact we would like to go even deeper. For example, if we were studying numbers, we would try to understand the significance not only of the number one, but also of zero.

That is why we will often speak of "nonactive prayer," of "the prayer-that-cuts," which leads to what we could also call the "zero state."

All these invented terms would have us go beyond words to the ultimate reality of prayer, which is not a human work but has its source in God. Regardless of the form it may take, one must find in it a radical annihilation of the ego (the "I"). "Those who find their life will lose it; those who lose their life for my sake will find it" (Mt 10:39).

Allow me to recall an incident that occurred when I was nine years old. As is customary in most Japanese families, we had two altars in our home, one Shinto and one Buddhist. Influenced by the example of my parents, I was accustomed to praying briefly at these altars. One day my father asked me, "What are you praying?" A little surprised by this unexpected question, I was unable to answer, and I kept murmuring, without any clear idea, "Well, ...nothing." "That's it!" my father said in a soothing, reassuring tone. "For you to remain a moment before God with a pure heart is enough to please him."

My father seems to have forgotten the incident, but it remains as fresh in my memory as if it happened yesterday. Later, in secondary school, I continued this custom of my childhood years. Every time I passed the Shinto shrine on my way to and from school, I stopped for a moment of prayer and there I experienced a great sense of spiritual freshness. During my adolescence I practiced Zen; later I became a Christian and finally entered the Carmelite Order in France. I believe it is possible to recognize throughout this spiritual journey the developing seed of my childhood prayer: saying "nothing" in prayer, just standing before God with empty hands.

In its essence, prayer is and must be very simple. This is why I symbolize this simplicity not by the number one, but by zero, for its origins are not human, but divine. It is a matter not of appropriating God, but of becoming transparent to him. Such is the conviction I would like to express through these pages, which were written not as a theological analysis, but to share the modest spiritual experience of an Asian Christian's prayer. By reading between the lines and beneath the poverty of my words, the reader will, I hope, grasp the message I wish to convey.

Ever since Vatican II Catholics have experienced a serious crisis in faith and spirituality. Some look frantically to Asian spirituality, others to the charismatic renewal or other movements for remedies that will assuage their thirst for prayer. It would seem, however, that new forms of prayer capable of responding adequately to this thirst have not yet been developed.

Nevertheless, we continue to believe in the power of the Holy Spirit, who is ever present to teach us an authentic life of prayer. According to St. Bernard, we humans have a "capacity" for God. We "find rest in God alone." And prayer is precisely "capacity for God"; in it we are seized by God so that God can be seized by us. If this little treatise helps one or more persons to find again the path to prayer, I will be very happy and my efforts will be amply rewarded.