Say What?? - Orthodox Prayer and Buddhist Mindfulness

[Barbara]

Joasia, it's so commendable that you are so active in registering complaints when there are questionable things said on these media shows. I guess now we realize that when you are quiet here, you are probably out there on a campaign to draw attention to mistakes made so that others do not fall into wrong ideas about Orthodoxy !
Good for you.

As a side note, back to that reference to "Zen", to me that was the most cold, unappealing belief out there when many people I knew were praising it back in the 80s. Does anyone remember that 'popular' book entitled "Zen in the art of Motorcycle Racing" ? I never read it, nor cared to.
But I want to offer an idea that Buddhism in Amerca is not even Buddhism as practiced in Buddhist countries.
My guess is that it is totally different. So we almost need to be discussing "American Buddhism" versus "Chinese Buddhism"
or Tibetan / Mongolian Buddhism. There is NO comparison ! I would wager that 99 % of the so-called "American Buddhists" are phonies, attached to projecting the same kind of "cool" image that that book I mentioned must have aimed to present.

The chanter type of "Buddhists" are essentially cults. They don't have beliefs or doctrines but only chant the same things over and over. Those are the MOST dangerous. I always think to myself that if someone one meets tells one that they were in that particular type of "Buddhist group", stay WAY away !

Zen brings back associations with that the super cool "Esalen" which was probably another one of these fronts for ruining young souls.

Anyway, you are doing a good job with being a voice for Orthodoxy at a time when even priests are scoffing at the Peter and Paul Fast, surprisingly !

[joasia]

Joasia, it's so commendable that you are so active in registering complaints when there are questionable things said on these media shows.

I follow my conscience. And thank you for expressing your view that I am "commendable". I now have that in writing. 

I

guess now we realize that when you are quiet here, you are probably out there on a campaign to draw attention to mistakes made so that others do not fall into wrong ideas about Orthodoxy !

Don't give false impressions, my dear. I'm not on any 'campaign'. I'm just open and honest wherever I converse. And the responses I send are to people who already are providing "wrong ideas about Orthodoxy". As for my quietness, I did need a break since my mother was diagnosed with cancer from last August. It has been a difficult year. But, she is recovered now and I feel my energy reviving. Thanks be to God and Vladika St. John's prayers and his oil.

But I want to offer an idea that Buddhism in Amerca is not even Buddhism as practiced in Buddhist countries. My guess is that it is totally different. So we almost need to be discussing "American Buddhism" versus "Chinese Buddhism" or Tibetan / Mongolian Buddhism. There is NO comparison ! I would wager that 99 % of the so-called "American Buddhists" are phonies, attached to projecting the same kind of "cool" image that that book I mentioned must have aimed to present.

That's exactly what Fr. Brendan was explaining in his lecture. The Americans have a water-downed version of Buddhism. They incorporate their self-serving needs for satisfaction. It's an escapist mentality.

[Barbara]

Sorry, Joasia, about your mother. You have certainly had more than your share to deal with, along with your young cousin.
I am glad that St John has come through every time for you !
That does explain why you were not participating. I had wondered.

I just glanced at a story I have read several times over the years. It never ceases to amaze me. A family in Portland [perhaps a priest and his matushka ? - OCA ?? I tried to check but the tale was from 1986, so there was no reference on the internet to that family] was backing out their driveway in a heavy station wagon. Their son got caught under the back tire. To make the story quick, the vehicle was so heavy that the tire left actual treads on the boy's limb. But instead of broken bones, fractures or even a bruise, after prayer to St John, no marks showed on the leg. The boy was FINE !
The mother did not apply St John's oil, as perhaps it was more rare at that time, 29 years ago this month.

[Maria]

The modernist movement also includes ecumenism and the inclusion of Christian Zen, etc.

Considering Buddhism from a Christian perspective, Father William Johnston wrote, "I believe that there is a basic enlightenment which is neither Chriistian nor Buddhist nor anything else. It is just human" (Christian Zen, Harper & Row, New York, 1971, p. 97). He continues, "the surprising thing about the meeting [near Kyoto at a Zen temple] was lack of any common faith. No one seemed the slightest bit interested in what anyone else believed or disbelieved, and no one, as far as I recall, even mentioned the name of God" (ibid, p. 69).

What is alarming is the lack of discernment in Zen Buddhism or Zen Christianity, when Johnston writes, "I myself believe that within us are locked up torrents and torrents of joy that can be released by meditation--sometimes they will burst through with incredible force, flooding the personality with an extraordinary happiness that comes from one knows not where" (p. 88).

Could the source of this joy be Satan, that great deceiver, who can appear as an Angel of Light (Lucifer)?

Have I experienced Buddhism? The answer is a resounding "No." To participate in any non-Christian religion, including Buddhism, would be to renounce my Lord and God Jesus Christ. I cannot do this. I am not going to play stupid and go and meet the devil as did the Young Goodman Brown. I know where Christ is, and He is in the Holy Church, not a Buddhist temple.