Eastern practices
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Zazen |
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Zazen
is a romanized Japanese term. Za
literally means ‘to sit’ or ‘sitting,’ zen
means ‘to meditate’ or ‘concentrate.’ Therefore zazen means ‘sitting in meditation’. ‘Zazen - say the experts on
zazen - is a practice of concentration, with a focus on following or counting
the breath. But more than just meditation, zazen is a powerful tool of
self-inquiry, boundless in its scope and ability to reveal the true basis of
reality. Through zazen, we realize the unity of the self with the ten
thousand things, which has the potential to transform our lives and those of
others.’ In other words, zazen is the means through which one can achieve enlightenment
(satori). Through zazen one sees
into his ‘own nature’ or Buddha-nature, ‘which is from the very beginning,
pure and calm, and every being in the world has it…. This is what the Buddha
declared when he had just attained his Supreme Enlightenment and was recorded
in the Avatamsaka-sutra (The Flower Ornament Scripture) and repeated in the
Mahaparinirvana-sutra. When you see into your own nature, you know who you
are, you know what and how every thing and being in the world really is. From
this, your action and reaction will be in harmony with the whole and in
situations around you.’ (ChonTri, Zazen
practice: a guideline for beginners, 2001, from www.zenguide.com). |
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There
are several sitting postures in zazen, the best one
is called full-lotus posture: ‘This
is the best sitting posture in zazen. ‘First, you have to put your right foot
with the sole up on your left thigh and then put your left foot with the sole
up on your right thigh. Your two knees touch the pad. Next, with your two
palms up, the left one upon the right one with the ends of two thumbs lightly
touch each other and with the pointing fingers make a small oval circle,
which lay on your lap and closed to the area under the navel. Your backbone
must be straight up but not stiff. Your nose should be in line with your
navel; your left ear should be in line with your left shoulder and the same
with your right ear and shoulder. In this position, your head is already in
vertical position with your backbone. This posture will give you the most
secure in sitting zazen.’ (Ibid.,) After one has sat in zazen, he must begin
to count his breaths out and in, then he must follow
his breaths out and in with his mind’s eye. Then comes
the practice of silent illumination: ‘In this practice, you just sit with
your awareness, always be awake. You just sit like a mountain, immovable,
with an immense faith in that your own nature or Buddha-nature is manifesting
in itself and you will realize it at any moment.’ (Ibid.,).
Instead of counting or following their breaths, some practitioners of Zen
Buddhism work with koans. The koan is usually from a saying of the Buddha, a
Zen master, a conversation which happened between a student and a Zen master,
or a story from the fact of everyday activity. The Zen master picks it up and
gives it to the student to work with as a means to concentrate his mind’s
power to break through his own deluded mind and get in the world of enlightenment.
Those who work with a koan need to become one with it, in order to attain enlightenment.
Now, you may ask, ‘What is the enlightenment alike?’ Well, Hui-neng, the
sixth patriarch of Zen school, said: ‘It’s like a person who drinks the water
will know it’s cold or hot.’ Someone else has said: ‘It’s like a person who
was in a bad dream and felt very unhappy. Suddenly, his head fell off the
pillow and he woke up. There is no more dream or unhappiness.’ From a
religious standpoint this enlightenment or satori is considered by some
experts on Zen a new birth through which one begins to regard all things as
an illusion, one ceases to look at things in a dualistic way for his mind is
emancipated from the arbitrary practice of partitioning his mind. |
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Zazen
is the cornerstone of Zen Buddhism, which is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism, that in these last times has become widely known
in the West. Zen was founded by an Indian Buddhist monk called Bodhidharma
who came to |
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Zen
Buddhism denies the existence of a personal and living God,
and the existence of sin and asserts that man does not need a Saviour.
According to Zen Buddhism man is unhappy because he looks at things in a
dualistic way, that is, because he considers one thing right and the other
wrong, one thing good and the other evil; so the root of man’s unhappiness is
his wrong way of looking at things, and in order to become happy a man must
extirpate this root, that is to say, he must cease to look at things in a
dualistic way, becoming one with all the things which are around him. How can
he extirpate this ‘evil’ root? Well, the answer is, ‘Through Zen meditation,
that is, by meditating while sitting in zazen, seeing into one’s nature,
keeping one’s mind from looking at things in a dualistic way.’ In other
words, by emptying his own mind. Therefore men must search for peace and
happiness inside themselves not outside. According to Zen, no help can come
from outside, happiness comes only from within, out
of the mind of man. Therefore, man must have absolute faith in his own inner
being, not in a God outside him. |
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Confutation |
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I
have written two articles to confute zazen. |
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First
article |
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The
Bible, which is the Word of God, teaches that a man, in order to be
enlightened (that is, in order to see the light and walk in it), must acknowledge
his own sins (and therefore he must acknowledge with his mind that he has
sinned against God, which thing Zen excludes totally for it considers evil or
sin an illusion), and repent of them and believe in Jesus Christ. For Jesus
said: “Repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark |
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Zen
meditation therefore is a work of the devil, who through it takes hold of the
mind of many people, luring them into thinking and considering things in a
way which is contrary to the Word of God. |
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Beware
of it and expose it. |
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Let
me say something now about the meditation which must be practiced by
Christians (the enlightened ones). Christians must not meditate in order to
reach a mental emptiness or a state of mind in which good and evil become one,
nor to free themselves from the illusion of being separate from the universe
or to come to the conclusion that all is an illusion, for all these aims,
being false aims conceived by the devil, are not among the aims of the
Christians. We must meditate for this is the will of God for us, as it is
written: “Meditate on all his wonderful acts” (Psalm 105:2 – Translated by
myself from the Italian Bible Riveduta Version), and again that blessed is
the man whose delight “is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates
day and night” (Psalm 1:2 – NKJV), and since this kind of meditation is the
will of God for us, it surely does not bring us to wrong conclusions, but
only to right conclusions which are in accord with the teaching of the
Scripture. In addition, the biblical meditation brings about great joy in the
heart of the meditator for it leads him to consider the greatness of God, His
power and His wisdom. |
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Second
article |
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Zen
is from the devil, there is no doubt about that, for it lures man into
thinking that his unhappiness is caused not by sin, which is in them and of
which he is a slave (Zen denies the existence of sin and substantially
affirms that those who believe in the existence of sin are wrong), but by a
wrong way of thinking and the solution of his unhappiness is within him (so
he just needs to find it) and not in Christ Jesus. In other words, through Zen
meditation the devil deceives people into thinking that man is not a sinner
who breaks the law of God and that his unhappiness is caused by his thinking
in a dualistic way, but in him there is such potential that when it is
discovered it eliminates unhappiness and brings happiness and enlightenment. So
the devil, through Zen meditation, keeps people far from God, which is his
goal for he wants people to go to perdition. No wonder that Zen Buddhism is successful
both in the East and the West, therefore, for we
know that it is supported by the prince of this world, that is, the deceiver.
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The
Holy Scripture very clearly affirms that unhappiness and spiritual darkness,
which are in the world, are not caused by a wrong way of thinking (I refer to
the dualistic way of thinking of which Zen speaks) for actually all is an
illusion and thus it is harmful to consider one thing right and the other
wrong; but they are caused by sin, which is the transgression of the law that
God has given to man and which is an undeniable reality. Sin entered the
world through Adam when he broke the commandment of God in the Garden of
Eden. It was on that day that man began to be unhappy,
it was on that day that man plunged into darkness, for through sin he came to
know good and evil. And sin reigns in man, so he is a slave of sin; he can’t
help sinning for sin has dominion over him, he serves sin and it repays him
with death, for “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Therefore the
unhappiness and dissatisfaction which are in man are due to his rebellion
against God, and because of his rebellion his conscience accuses him (Zen Buddhism
tries in vain to eliminate the sense of guilt from the mind and heart of
man). How can a man become happy then? By doing good deeds? No. Maybe meditating,
concentrating, controlling his breath, and assuming certain postures? Not at
all. Man can’t reach happiness by doing these things, for he can become happy
only in this way, that is, by repenting and
believing in the Gospel of the grace of God, as it is told in the Bible.
Someone will ask, ‘How is that possible? Well, that is possible because God,
who created all things, has prescribed so. Know this, that even though this
way seems to be absurd, it is the right way; many people all over the world
bear witness of this for they, having repented of their sins and believed in
the Gospel, have found happiness. Let me say something else about this way:
to repent means to change one’s way of thinking, but this has nothing to do
with the change of one’s way of thinking prescribed by the Zen masters, for
when one repents he is sorry about his sins, that is to say, he is grieved
because he has transgressed the commandments God. Man is foolish, rebellious,
and wicked by nature, e he takes pleasure in sinning, and for this reason he
is an enemy of God and the wrath of God is upon him. Therefore he must repent
of his sins, acknowledging that they are an abomination in the sight of God
and make him an enemy of God; when he does this he repents. However, it is
not sufficient to repent, for he must also believe in the Gospel so that he
may be reconciled to God. The Gospel says that Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
he who knew no sin for he was born without sin and lived a sinless life, in
the fullness of the times gave His life for us who were sinners, so that
through the blood He shed all our sins we committed against God might be
forgiven us and we might be reconciled to God. He was crucified so that the
Scripture might be fulfilled; He was buried, but the third day God the Father
raised Him from the dead and He showed Himself to
many people and gave many convincing proofs that He was alive. Anyone who
repents and believes in the Gospel receives the remission of all his sins and
he receives a new spirit, that is, the Holy Spirit, whose fruit is joy.
Happiness therefore proceeds from God, who infuses it into man by His Holy
Spirit when he repents and believes in Him. But when a man repents and
believes in the Gospel, another thing takes place in him, for he is
spiritually enlightened, thus the light of God enters him and darkness
vanishes away, for God, who is light, enlightens him. He comes to know what
was hidden from him before; why he was unhappy, who is the One that can make
man happy, what to do in order to receive this happiness from God, just to
mention some of the things he comes to know. This is the true enlightenment;
that which is experienced through faith in Jesus Christ. While the enlightenment
of which Buddhism Zen speaks is thick darkness! Of course, it is called
light, but it is called light wrongfully; we are not surprised at this, for
this is the device of the devil, to pass off darkness as light! |
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Those
who have been enlightened by God feel bound to speak to others about the way
man can reach this glorious enlightenment, for the love of Christ compels
them. We are among those who have been enlightened by the grace of God, and
we speak with sincerity to men about this way. |
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Men
and women who practice this form of meditation, come to your senses, do not
see into yourselves as if something good may come out from you, for in you
nothing good dwells. You are sinners in the sight of God, who created you and
whom you do not know, that’s what you must acknowledge: your unhappiness is
due to the fact that you rebel against God. After that believe in the Gospel,
which tells the love that God manifested towards men. Believe in it with all
your heart, then your sense of guilt will vanish for
the blood of Jesus will cleanse your conscience from dead works, and you will
find plenty of peace and joy for you will know that you are sons of the Most
High by the Spirit that will come to indwell you. |