(these are passages I marked as I read, finding them evocative or especially eloquent or momentarily noteworthy in some way that might or might not be transitive to other readers)

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SWEDENBORG: BUDDHA OF THE NORTH (SWEDENBORG STUDIES)
SUZUKI, D.T.

Foreword

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Suzuki rejects the idea of a deistic universe in which a detached God sits and looks at his handiwork from the outside. Indeed, Suzuki prefers the term "Truth" to "God," as a closer representation of the concept of Great Wisdom. He also asserts, with other Buddhist scholars, that the universe, in terms of its totality, has neither cause nor effect. The earth turns by its own power; plants grow and perish by themselves. Life is a priori and not a created force.

Introduction

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although Suzuki was undoubtedly influenced by Swedenborg, he first viewed the Swedish mystic through a lens already shaped by Buddhism; Emerson's transcendentalism; German idealism; Monism; and, finally, the philosophy of William James. Sorting out the influences and affinities among these different strains of thought would be a long exercise in unraveling what largely comes down to a "chicken-and-egg" question.

Chapter 1: Introduction

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In this world of ours, there seems to be a spiritual realm separate from that of the five senses; and when we enter a certain psychological state, we apparently can communicate with that realm. Even if we think that the circumstances of this other realm have no moral connection whatsoever to the mundane world, there is plenty that is of interest to science and philosophy. This is a second reason to examine Swedenborg. Swedenborg's theological doctrines greatly resemble those of Buddhism. He taught that, having discarded the proprium, 2 one must act in accordance with the workings of the Divine, that true salvation is the harmonious unification of belief and action, and that the Divine manifests itself as wisdom and love. Furthermore, he says that love is greater and more profound than wisdom and that there is nothing great or small that is beyond the reach of divine providence.

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because his statements concern a world that is separate from our world of the senses, ordinary people find many of them difficult to believe.

Chapter 2: The First Half of Swedenborg's Life

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I purpose afterwards to give an introduction to Rational Psychology, consisting of certain new doctrines, through the assistance of which we may be conducted, from the material organism of the Body, to a knowledge of the Soul, which is immaterial: these are, the Doctrine of Forms; the Doctrine of Order and Degrees; also, the Doctrine of Series and Society; the Doctrine of Influx; the Doctrine of Correspondence and Representation: lastly, the Doctrine of Modification. From these doctrines I come to the Rational Psychology itself; which will comprise the subjects of action; of external and internal sense; of imagination and memory; also, of the affections of the animus. Of the intellect, that is, of thought and of the will; and of the affections of the rational mind: also, of instinct. Lastly, of the Soul; and of its state in the Body, its intercourse, affection, and immortality; and of its state when the body dies. The work to conclude with a Concordance of Systems. From this summary or plan, the reader may see, that the end I propose to myself in the work, is a knowledge of the soul; since this knowledge will constitute the crown of my studies... In order, therefore, to follow up the investigation, and to solve the difficulty, I have chosen to approach by the analytic way; and I think I am the first who has taken this course professedly...

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As a result of meditation and esoteric practice, his mind's eye gradually grew clearer, and he apparently gained the wondrous ability to enter and leave the realm of the Divine at will.

Chapter 6: General Views and Statements

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After some time I again heard from the lower earth, as before, the cries "O how learned!" and "O how wise!" And I looked around to see what angels were then present, and lo! those were there who were from the heaven immediately over them that were crying "O how learned!" And I spoke to them about the cry. They said, "These 'learned' are they that merely reason whether a thing is or is not, and rarely think that it is so, and therefore are like winds that blow and pass away, or like barks upon trees without a heart, or as shells of almonds without any kernel, or rinds upon fruits with no pulp. For their minds are without interior judgment and are united with the bodily senses only. If therefore the very senses do not judge, they can form no conclusion. In a word they are merely sensual, and by us are called 'reasoners' because they never come to any conclusion but take up whatever they hear and discuss whether it is, by perpetually contradicting. And they like nothing more than to attack very truths, and so by bringing them into dispute to tear them in pieces. These are they who believe themselves learned above all in the world."
...
Hearing these things I asked the angels to conduct me to them. And they brought me to a cavern from which steps led down to the lower earth. We descended and followed the cry "O how learned!" and behold, some hundreds were standing in one place beating the ground with their feet. Surprised at this at first, I asked, "Why do they thus stand and beat the ground with the soles of their feet?" and said "They may thus hollow out the ground with their feet." At this the angels smiled and said, "They appear to stand thus, because they do not think concerning anything that it is so, but only think and discuss whether it is, and as the thought makes no further progress they appear merely to tread and grind a single clod, and not to advance."
...
"You are anything but learned, for you are only able to think whether a thing is, and to turn it this way and that. Who can become learned unless he knows something for certain, and goes forward in that as a man advances from step to step, and so on successively into wisdom. Otherwise you do not so much as touch truths with the fingernail, but put them more and more out of sight. To reason only whether a thing is, is it not like arguing about a cap which is never put on? or a shoe that is never worn? What comes of it except that you do not know whether there is anything? That is to say, Whether there is salvation? Whether there is eternal life after death? Whether one religion is more effective than another? Whether there is a heaven and a hell? You cannot think of anything about these things so long as you stick fast in the first step and beat the sand there, and do not set foot beyond foot and go forward. Beware lest your minds, while they stand thus without outside of judgment, grow hard within and become statues of salt, and you, friends of Lot's wife."

Part Two - Swedenborg's View of Heaven and "Other-Power"

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Self-love means grabbing pleasure from others and gathering it only to yourself. Worldly love is the desire to make another person's possessions your own. Those in the midst of this sort of love may wish to share their own enjoyment with others; but since the focus of that motive is still themselves, they do not increase the enjoyment of others, but instead reduce it.

Afterword - The Dharma of Emanuel Swedenborg: A Buddhist Perspective

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Having given up the love of self, and let go of the sense of self, we do not attain some other reality but realize the true nature of this one, which is all we need.

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To be spiritual is nothing more than being open to, and thereby united with, the whole: that is, to accept one's position and therefrom manifest the whole, in contrast to self-love (Swedenborg) and the delusion of separate self (Buddhism). The essential point is that this is not something that can happen only after we die. We are in heaven right now if our internals are open, according to Swedenborg, and nirvana is to be attained here and now, according to Sakyamuni Buddha.

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the bodhisattva, who, being un-self-preoccupied...

Location 2085 Both traditions deny that salvation is effected by performing rituals, or faith alone, or deeds alone, or even by having mystical experiences. To be spiritual is to live a certain kind of life, in which love of self is replaced by selfless love.

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All "I" can do is to open up to the spiritual influx by my ego getting out of the way, that is, letting-go of myself, whereupon this influx necessarily fills me, just as the sun shines when the clouds dissipate. But this let-ting-go is rarely easy: insofar as the self is the problem, it is not something that the self can do. In Zen, for example, letting-go is not subject to my willing; during zazen, I learn how to "forget myself" indirectly, by concentrating on and becoming-one-with my meditation practice.

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Sunyata, then, invites interpretation as a formless spiritual potential that is literally no-thing in itself yet functions as the "empty essence" that gives life to everything and enables it to be what it is. Such an influx is experienced as "empty" for two reasons: it has no particular form of its own/ in itself, and insofar as I am it, I cannot know it. This is consistent with Swedenborg's understanding of the Lord as constituting the life in all of us, the heat and light that flow into us to the extent that we are receptive to it. On the Buddhist side, this also helps to avoid the nihilistic interpretation of sunyata that the rather-too-negative term has sometimes invited.

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very similar experiences may be subjected to different and incompatible explanations, according to the tradition one is familiar with.

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Swedenborg, who naturally understood his own experience in terms of the developed Christian tradition that he had grown up within, centered on the idea of an absolute Lord.

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there is no need for anyone to be a Christian or a Swedenborgian or a Buddhist, except insofar as those teachings and communities help us to turn away from self-love and open up to the influx of self-less love and wisdom.

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Swedenborg's central insight is that people suffer or are rewarded not for what they have done but for what they have become, and what we intentionally do is what makes us what we are.

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I am my predominant intentions, which means that habitually acting in certain ways is what constructs me.