INTERVIEW: Ven. Thom Kilts, B.C.C.
Ven. Thom Kilts, B.C.C., is the Director of Spiritual Care at the John Muir Medical Center‘s Concord, CA, campus. A minister in the Nyingmapa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, as well as an endorsed and commissioned interfaith chaplain, he is also an Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (A.C.P.E.) certified supervisor.
A practicing Buddhist for most to all his life, Thom has received empowerments and blessings for his work from numerous teachers, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tulku Thondup Rinpoche, Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, and Lama Surya Das. He is a member of the International Dzogchen Community, whose leader, Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche, is his main guru.
Active in professional chaplaincy for over eleven years, Thom is board-certified by the Association of Professional Chaplains (A.P.C.). He previously served as Director of Pastoral Care and Education at Griffin Hospital in Derby, CT, and worked at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, CA.
Thom’s writing about Buddhism and chaplaincy has appeared in PlainViews, The Mirror, and the Journal of Pastoral Care and Counseling (forthcoming).
The two of us met recently at the 2007 Buddhist Spiritual Care Symposium. Thom was one of the keynote speakers, and I was very struck by what he had to say–I wanted to interview him immediately. Happily for all of us, he agreed. We “spoke” last week via e-mail.
DANNY FISHER: In a piece you wrote for PlainViews, entitled “A Prophetic Opportunity for Buddhists”, one of the things you recommend for Buddhist students in Clinical Pastoral Education (C.P.E.) programs is that they and their supervisors “become aware of and participate in the ACPE Buddhist Network.” Can you tell us something about the history and present status of the ACPE Buddhist Network?
THOM KILTS: The ACPE Buddhist Network was started by Chaplain Mikel Monnet. He is still the main contact for the network to this day. He established the network as a way for Buddhist chaplains to contact each other and help each other out possibly if the need arises. There was a meeting of the network in Portland, ME during the ACPE Conference [that] became one of supervisors and students from different traditions [talking] about how to supervise Buddhist students. There was talk about changing the general direction of the ACPE Buddhist Network, but it was thought best to let the originator, Chaplain Mikel, keep his original vision. So the long answer to a short question, I don’t have much to do with the ACPE Buddhist Network and actually don’t know it’s present status.
D.F.: In that same PlainViews piece, you explained ways C.P.E. could assist Buddhists processing tension between East/West cultural values. In particular, you focused on “the integration of healthy western values of identity with the essence of Dharma teachings.” The issue of identity seems like the most primary one for Buddhists entering C.P.E. training, but I’m curious: Besides working on the issue of identity, what other “prophetic opportunities” do you think C.P.E. offers to Buddhists? How else can C.P.E. have a “profound and positive effect” on the shape Buddhism takes in America? Also, do you think an influx of Buddhist participants and their ideas might have an effect on the shape of C.P.E. training in the future? If so, how?
T.K.: I think there are many prophetic opportunities that C.P.E. provides for Buddhists. I think these days I focus more on the call to leadership that this training can fulfill for Buddhists. The C.P.E. movement has always been about giving those who in their own denominations lack the opportunity for leadership roles an opportunity to find and exercise their sense of call to religious leadership and authority. In the ’60s and ’70s, it was a great place for women who in their denominations were denied ordination to follow their call to religious leadership. These days, it is a great place for members of the GLBT community who are denied leadership in their denominations to fulfill their calls. In the Buddhist world, we are quite limited by how we allow those who are qualified to fulfill their call to religious leadership. I think becoming chaplains is one way that some of us have found a way to follow our call as Buddhist leaders; not everyone necessarily wants to be a Dharma teacher or translator. I think Buddhism has already impacted the C.P.E. movement in terms of [teaching it] how to deal with and work creatively with the diversity of religious expression. This coming fall in PlainViews, I have an article coming out, entitled “A Non-theistic Perspective on Theology.” I think having Buddhists as part of the C.P.E. movement has forced the movement to take another look at the assumptions that come when people use the word God. I think having non-theistic faith traditions in the movement helps to keep members more sensitive to different understandings of God and theology, and forces the membership to have to ask more questions rather than provide so many answers.
D.F.: Thom, in your address at last year’s Buddhist Spiritual Care Symposium, you talked about three kinds of authority important for chaplains: “received authority”, “exercised authority”, and “conveyed authority”. Can you say something about each of these and why they’re important?
T.K.: Well, I will start with “received authority”, because that is the area most Buddhist communities are deficient in. When people from other faith traditions come to C.P.E., they have at least a sense of received authority from their denomination. That way, they can work on the more important aspects of the formation process–which is learning how to exercise and convey authority effectively to others. So many Buddhists are left at a disadvantage, spending their precious C.P.E. time trying to work out endorsements with their faith communities. Without a clear sense of received authority, it can be hard to stay focused on how to effectively exercise authority and convey it to our patients. For many Buddhists, [it's only] when they get their endorsements all worked, become certified, or find a job [that they] feel the sense of received authority. That is backwards to me, and I would like to see more Buddhist denominations become more progressive [around] how ordination is understood and practiced. “Exercising authority,” is learning how to skillfully practice with an awareness of our own use of power and authority–developing better intentions in our ministry practice and more positive uses of authority to effect change in the world. “Conveying authority” is essentially empowering those in our care to follow the mind’s natural inclination to find meaning in illness and life transitions. It’s like giving our patients permission to work with the “hard stuff” that those around us usually would rather see us avoid.
D.F.: During your talk at the Buddhist Spiritual Care Symposium, you also encouraged those in attendance to read two books. One of those recommendations was John Makransky and Roger Jackson’s anthology Buddhist Theology: Critical Reflections by Contemporary Scholars. I was especially pleased to hear you say this; I wrote my masters thesis about how I thought that book and the Buddhist critical-constructive reflection movement within Buddhist Studies offered Buddhist chaplains useful tools for thinking and writing about their work. I imagine we’re excited about many of the same things in the book, but would you tell us why you recommended it so strongly to your fellow Buddhist chaplains? How do you think Buddhist theology can serve us?
T.K.: I recommended this book highly because too often as Buddhists we dis-invite ourselves from the table when it comes to theological discussions, when it is clear (to me, at least) that the Buddhist perspective is a theological one–it’s just based in non-theistic principles. I think it is important for Buddhists to understand that there is a lot of disagreement and scholarship devoted to the varied perspectives of God. There is no better place to witness this then in the hospital as a chaplain. Each patient has his or her own “theology” that may or may not be in cohesion with their own faith tradition. [As Buddhists, we] have a view of God: one that states that we neither posit the existence nor posit the non-existence of God. That is a theological perspective; [Buddhism is] not a religion that has no “theology.”
D.F.: Lastly, would you share something about how your personal practice in the Dzogchen tradition influences your personal approach to the practice of chaplaincy?
T.K.: There is a common misunderstanding among westerners that the three yana approach of Vajrayāna Buddhism is a critic of other denominations. Many think that Dzogchen in particular is the pinnacle of all teachings and that everything gets left behind once we are initiated into the “good” stuff. In actuality, the three yana approach is the practice in and of itself. Many people will go to a Dzogchen training weekend and find themselves disappointed because the majority of the time was spent talking about Hinyāna and Mahāyāna principles when they were expecting some grand entrance into the enlightened realms. Dzogchen is about having the correct view, while at the same time not neglecting the relative world. It’s a living and breathing practice of having one foot in heaven and one foot on earth, and at the same time remembering that ultimately you have no feet at all. In chaplaincy, it is important to have the proper view and perspective of the work, while still being able to exist in the complex and very earthy healthcare system. Being a chaplain means doing our own work continually (Hinyāna), while conveying our compassion and care for the well being of others (Mahāyāna), while holding the view that ultimately it is out of our hands–or, as I like to call it, having “healthy hopelessness” (Vajrayāna). As a lineage holder in the Celtic Buddhist tradition, I believe in the universality of the [Gaelic] concept anam cara–to be a “spiritual friend.” Being someone that is not afraid to confront, clarify and/or support you on your journey is the essence of chaplaincy care. The anam cara principle helps me feel and be connected to a long lineage of chaplain practitioners.
