Is Buddhist meditation compatible with other religions

The question is often asked is Buddhist meditation compatible with other religions In other words. Can you be a Christian of a certain denomination or a moslem a Jew Hindu and so forth and still practice quote Buddhist meditation.

You'll get different answers from different Buddhist teachers, but I think.

If you took a consensus the answer that you would get is yes.

And certainly if you were to ask me the answer would be yes, big time.

Not only is it compatible with any belief system or lack of belief system. It's compatible with a rationalist. Humanist skeptical point of view, and I would say it's compatible with.

Any religion that I know of including the more fundamentalist forms of religion believe it or not might think that that's a little strange, but I see it as compatible I remember.

Eh.

Teacher that I knew in LA.

She was of the shingle in school, which is the school that I was ordained in originally as a Buddhist monk in Japan and he's the one that gave me my letter of introduction to go to Japan.

His name was Bishop Takahashi. They used Bishop in English to translate a Japanese term.

He was the head of the koya. San debts Eleonora Koya, San Branch Temple in Los Angelus. So he wrote me this letter of introduction that allowed me to get into the original Koya San in Japan. In 1970 to be ordained as a Buddhist monk in that tradition. One of the things I remember him, saying was that what Buddhism was about was vis-a-vis other religions was not want you to be a Buddhist.

Convert to Buddhism, etc. It was about.

Let's see if I can remember the exact words used in Japanese.

Chi shoes regarding more jibboom known meaty of cameo. I think was what he said. This is a long, long time ago, meaning we're not interested in converting People were interested in allowing them to deepen the path they already have.

And that's a very interesting perspective, an interesting way to put it after his lifetime of living in the United States teaching Buddhism. In this country and of course, encountering all the religions that already exist here that was sort of his take on it. I'm not trying to get People to be Buddhist. I'm trying to help them deepen the path there already on.

And I totally concur with that way of looking at things.

If you look at what is core in Buddhism?

You'll see that it's about developing concentration power.

It's about developing sensory clarity, it's about developing equanimity.

It's about using those qualities too.

Become free from ones quote ego to become free from suffering and become free from the screwed up behaviors that are the result of suffering.

Certainly no one can object to this kind of core Endeavour and it would be useful.

Applicable appropriate for a follower of any religion.

All around the world, you'll see that there's a core mystical tradition.

In each of the major spiritual traditions.

Early Buddhism.

Simply extracted that core essence.

Then later on around that grew up a religion called Buddhism that can stand in Contra contradistinction to other religions. I think it is perfectly valid to eliminate the religious aspects of the Buddhist religion and go back to the original core, which is compatible.

With or at least the original core practice, which is compatible with any religion. the Buddha believed things that are not compatible with every religion. He believed in reincarnation, he believed in the gods and so forth. He was a person of the 6th century BC his culture.

So some of the Buitres believes I would not say are compatible with all religions.

But one of the refreshing things about the Buddhist tradition, which makes it utterly distinct from others. Is it doesn't require a complete by and you don't have to buy the whole package.

All you have to we say, Well, take what works for you.

Take what works for you, if you don't believe in reincarnation than 5.

Don't believe in reincarnation at least I as a teacher who has been strongly influenced by Buddhism would say that maybe other Buddhist teachers would disagree and that's fine. But I would say take the parts that work for you. I'm not alone in this regard Mister Goenka for example, a very prominent and.

In some ways very traditional Buddhist teacher in the deep personal many it says essentially the same thing to everyone in their first retreat, he said. Well, you know you might not buy in the global system. Just take the parts that work for you.

He has a very nice metaphor for that, if a child was eating porridge.

And the child thought there was a stone in the porridge.

But it was actually the cardamom spice.

What would the mother do the child says I don't want to eat the porridge it has a stone the mother knows well. It's not really a stone. But the child thinks it's a soulless. Tizi citizen so fine, the mother would say just.

Take it out you don't have to eat it with the stone. Maybe someday in the future. You'll that stone will have a taste for you and you'll like that. Or maybe not. Maybe you'd prefer the porridge without ever having that stuff, so I think if we take the core practice of early Buddhism and define it in terms of concentration clarity equanimity and positive behavior changes associated with those then.

But that's compatible everywhere.

It is possible to be a fundamentalist Christian.

And be profoundly.

Influenced by Buddhist practice so I would give as an example of a very conservative Christian, who was profoundly influenced in his spiritual experience by Buddhism.

I would give the example of the Anglo American poet, TS Eliot. I highly recommend his poetry is a little bit heavy, but it's very deep and he was absolutely a conservative Christian.

And absolutely profoundly Buddhist in his practice.