Dr. Fabrice Blée

Blée came to Canada from France (Épernay, Champagne) in 1989. After studying Protestant Theology and Ethnology in Strasbourg (1987-1989), he obtained a Master's Degree (MA) and a Doctorate in Theology (PhD) from the University of Montreal. He began studying theology at 18, motivated by his quest for wholeness as a layman and to share its fruits in a balanced relationship between knowledge and experience. Early on, his research led him to intrareligious dialogue with Tibetan Buddhism and later Zen Buddhism. He followed the teachings of Lama Sherab Gyaltsen Amipa (Sakyapa) at the European Institute of Tibetan Buddhism (Sakya Tsechen Ling), near Strasbourg, from 1987 to 1989, then those of Geshe Kenrab Gajam (Gelugpa) at the Temple of Tibetan Buddhism in Montreal from 1989 to 1993. This dialogical experience led him to write a Master's thesis on death in Bokar Rinpoche's teaching and the theology of Karl Rahner, for which he received an award, le prix du centenaire (1992). He then concentrated his doctoral research (1993-1999) on the experience of monastic interreligious dialogue, which gave rise to several publications, including Le Désert de l’altérité (2004), translated into Italian (Il deserto dell'alterità, 2006) and into English (The Third Desert, 2011). This work is the first in a nine-volume series on intrareligious dialogue he directed from 2004 to 2009 (Mediaspaul Publications). He continued working on spirituality in dialogue during two post-docs: at Vidyajyoti Theological College in Delhi (2001), then at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University in Washington, DC (2003). Thus, he deepened his understanding of the Christian spiritual path, especially in light of his time at the Ryutaku-ji Zen Rinzai Monastery (Mishima, Shizuoka, Japan), under the direction of Kyudo Nakagawa Roshi (2000-2002) and his Vipassana retreats in India (2001). A few years later, during his time in India, he discovered Kashmir Shivaism (B. Bäumer, L. Silburn) and his similarities with the work of Madame Guyon, a Christian mystic of the seventeenth century: Pure love according to Madame Guyon : Origin and Consequences of a Misunderstanding (Novalis, 2010). His expertise has earned him invitations to teach at various institutions: University of Montreal, Concordia University, University of Sherbrooke, Institut de pastorale des Dominicains de Montréal (Canada), University of Salzburg and Bildungshaus St. Virgil (Austria), and Facoltà di Teologia, Pontificio Ateneo S. Anselmo (Rome, Italy).