Encorporating other practices into your Zen practice such as Vipassana, Kundalini, Tantra, T.M.

I see no problem whatsoever with this because these type of "arts" or practices of the body and ritual are not really Worldviews or Religions.

One of the best Zen "institute"/school/monestary experiences I've had was not at one of the few Zen centers I have visited but at a 10-day silent Vipassana retreat where they did a different form of meditation than Zazen which I don't use anymore but it was valuable to learn. I still use T.M. with the mantra given to me just as it was taught, almost as "stretching" prior to then doing Zazen or to get balance but they also reach how as the mantra naturally becomes subtler then disapears so the progression from T.M. to Zazen seems appropriate.

Kundalini Yoga is where I have had no training except from books but I associate it- the "Serpent Power" if you are familiar with that thing, or call it Chi, etc.- I associate it with intense trance states and sacrament drugs of a cathartic and (as all things cathartic, undulatory, tumultuous, and healing) serpentine, reptilian. (Double-helix of snakes 🐍 on medicine staff, this general Archetype which pertains to a visionary and spontaneous expression of what may only fairly be refered to as something like "snake-lightning-magic" or what have you. None of this could make sense to anyone who has not reclaimed the Snake Archetype as hero stolen and turned an inverted symbol in Genesis of Christianity, so Faceless won't be a fan of this I suspect haha. He's still a Christian at heart haha.

But none of these are Worldviews so I encorporate them at my leisure. I consider Vipassana more a physical technique like a yoga. These practical ritual systems of the body all lead back into metaphysical systems but they don't really rise to the level of Religions. I DO see a problem with encorporating genuine hard-core worldview/ideologies/religions like Christianity, Islam, etc. with sacred texts and personal gods" into Zen practice. It would not really do well to blend Zen with any other officiol faith or philosophy at all. This I think applies even to Buhdism... in fact, especially to Buddhism because that is the one Zen is most commonlt at risk for being of being absorbed into by association!

I would be I interested to know which practices you retain from other studies and find beneficial to add to your strixtly Zen doings, or maybe all this is voodoo.

Submitted February 15, 2022 at 12:59AM by Mossmaster https://ift.tt/y5NAMeH