Religions and Meditation
Study Day Padua, 13 December 2024

This study day, held in Padua, was jointly promoted by the Istituto Superiore di Scienze Religiose (ISSR) of Padua, affiliated with the Theological Faculty of Triveneto; the Postgraduate Program in Contemplative Studies (The Practice of Meditation: From Traditions to Contemporary Applications) at the University of Padua; the Italian Buddhist Union (UBI); and the UBI Research Center.

The initiative was divided into two parts: a seminar segment titled "Four Paths of Meditation" (16:30–18:30), reserved for registered participants, and a public roundtable "The Paths of Meditation" (19:00–20:30).

Four Paths of Meditation
Parallel SeminarsI – 16.30 – 18.30

Introduced by Marcello Ghilardi (Associate Professor of Aesthetics, University of Padua), the seminars covered four major meditative traditions:

Christian Tradition: Lorella Fracassa (ISSR Padua), on the Desert Fathers’ approach to meditation.

Islamic Tradition: Anna Canton (University of Palermo / Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies), on meditation in Islam.

Zen Buddhism: Sara Noventa (ISSR Padua), on meditation in Sōtō and Rinzai schools.

Tibetan Buddhism: Chiara Mascarello and Francesco Tormen (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice), on day and night meditation practices.

The Paths of Meditation
Public Roundtable

The second part of the day took place at the Aula Tesi of the Theological Faculty of Triveneto, with a public round table entitled The Paths of Meditation.

Opening remarks were delivered by:

Andrea Albertin, Director of the ISSR of Padua
Francesco Tormen, Co-Director of the UBI Research Center
Chiara Mascarello, Academic Coordinator of the Postgraduate Program in Contemplative Studies, University of Padua

The main contributions were offered by the lecturers in the afternoon seminars, who presented short papers on their respective meditative traditions. The round table discussion was moderated by Giulio Osto, permanent lecturer at the ISSR in Padua.

The title of the round table was inspired by the book The Paths of Meditation. Vie cristiane, induiste e buddhiste (Edizioni Qiqajon, 2024), edited by Matteo Nicolini-Zani, which includes contributions by scholars such as Maciej Bielawski, Patrick Goujon, Benoît Standaert, Axel Bayer, Jean-Marie Gueullette, Pinuccia Caracchi, Francesco Sferra, Chiara Mascarello, Mauricio Yūshin Marassi and Jacques Scheuer.

Reference was also made to the open access publication La possibile via. Meditation and prayer, edited by A. Bertazzo (Triveneto Theology Press, 2024), which further explores the theme of interreligious dialogue and contemplation.

Context and Future Perspectives
This initiative is part of a broader collaboration between academic institutions and religious communities engaged in contemplative studies. The event referenced the interreligious seminar The Contemplative Dimension of Life, held in Rome on 7 May 2022 and promoted by the National Office for Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), in collaboration with the Italian Buddhist Union, Italian Hindu Union, and the Italian branch of the Monastic Interreligious Dialogue.

The study day aimed to provide tools to better understand meditation in its religious diversity, offering a comparative look at two Western paths (Christianity and Islam) and two Eastern ones (Zen and Tibetan Buddhism). Future editions may expand to include additional meditative traditions, such as Judaism, Jainism, and Mahāyāna Buddhism.