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From: Merle Lester <[email protected]>
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, 4 August 2012 8:12 AM
Subject: Re: [Zen] Samadhi
mike..meaning what?...do not be so quick to judge..there are christians and
christians...just as there are buddhists and buddhists..
. not all folk who meditate and sit cross legged for hours waiting for the
"light" they too are not the "perfecto"..you are so desiring to be
lighten up.
.accept that christianity to may have something to offer if you take the time
to examine
merle
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MEL: That is quite true..there are those who are holy, and those who are
holy..and irrespective of whatever religious inclination they follow.
Christianity and its 2 other cousins from the Oriental Near East have so much
to offer, but only through study of their respective scriptures. Each of these
Big 3 from the above mentioned region have so much to offer if time is taken to
examine as such..but how much time does one have? The Buddhist writings
themselves are so vast that it would take more than a lifetime to cover them
As I was sitting typing here, a young and blind-drunk Pacific Islander kid of
no more than 15 or 16 (compared to my 50) ranted on about how much of a 'holy
man' as such he was. So it's quite true. The kid looks like a church-going type
who would never dream of telling his mother where to go(SWEARING, in other
words), but he looked messed up. I've seen him in his high school uniform with
the rest of the other regular street gangs in the mid-afternoon peak hour after
school, and that to me tells that he can read (including scripture) instead of
just relying on the drivel from the pulpit. Without that full scripture
knowledge and acceptance of both OLD and NEW, how can one know what this god
they speak of wants?
I can continue being a Quaker and attend the Sunday morning meetings, and then
be with the Sangha at the local Soto Zen temple in the evenings. Which way
should one go? One has to eventually make the choice....and that's something
the Big 3 above makes pretty clear from the beginning. I'll be truthfull here
and say there is beauty in being a Quaker who lives life according to
scripture, but there's much less stress and indeed more peace in the world of
Zen...even without reading the Buddhist writings. I've read up to First Book of
Kings, but I've only read ZEN MIND BEGINNERS MIND (quite a few times) from the
Buddhist side. Sometimes, less is indeed better
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MIKE: Merle,
Guess I met too many Christians.
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MEL: And this is just me personally, but the problem with a lot of
evangelistics from all the Big 3 is that they seem to be more interested in
filling not only the house and yards at both sides, but the whole street and
even neighborhood. First of all, one must clean one's own house before filling
it with anything, and sometimes, less is better. A clear space....Buddha(or Tao
if you prefer)...
________________________________
From: Merle Lester <[email protected]>
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, 4 August 2012, 0:58
Subject: Re: [Zen] Samadhi
godfathers, mike..you live in a world where there are millions of christians
and your not the least interested or curious to find out the nitty gritty of it
all....... why?..merle
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MEL: The one thing that so many Christians out there forget is to study
scripture, and that means both OLD, and NEW TESTAMENTS(and for the keen, they
may add APOCRYPHA if they wish). My understanding of that 'nitty gritty' as
such is the reading material itself. Without the study, one is basically just
one of the mindless herd
