Some people are very attracted to it. It is nevertheless a false religion. Buddha was a false teacher. Read what the Holy Bible says about those who teach errors.
Instead of seeking peace in pagan practices (like yoga and altered state of conscience) let us seek the true peace that Christ gives.

Resisting buddhism...I have NO desire to practice that religion but I DO strongly suggest you practice zen meditaion. All people need to be centered and act with a clear mind and sound body. So when God calls we can hear Him and react accordingly.

I strongly feel that the great Catholic mystics did reach a state of enlightenment either through long hours in silent meditation, meditative pray or other means. Only then could they understand Gods greatness and live the life of a mystic acting through the Holy Spirit.

The practice of Zen spirituality is contrary to Christian spirituality.

Zen designates a school/technique of meditation that arose within Mahayana Buddhism in China in the 6th century A.D. Zen is characterized by its radical orientation to attain "enlightenment", understood as a super-clear experience of the original unity of being. It has two fundamental elements: Zazen and Koan.  Zazen is simply the Japanese term for the upright sitting position with legs crossed used by the practitioners of Zen.  (This position of itself would seem to posit no particular problem, except for the fact that it can serve as an enticement to other elements of eastern spirituality which are irreconcilable with Christianity).  Koan exercises, on the other hand,
express the monistic (i.e., all things are one; no essential difference between man and God) worldview of Mahayana Buddhism, and insofar as they do this they cannot be accepted. Also, as the technique is often practiced, it differs essentially from Christian meditation in that its focus is on the self rather than on God.

Catholic saints did not pray in the sitting position with their knees crossed. They prayed the proper Christian way which is the kneeling position.

Catholic saints did not reach enlightenment as acheived by Zen. They reached a greater union with God (this enabled them to understand the mysteries of the faith to a greater degree and thus to love God to a greater degree). Furthermore, their ecstasies and revelations did not come from thier spending hours of prayer and meditiation. It came from supernatural grace that was freely given by God, separate from their own efforts.

Catholics should not be practicing Zen in any form or shape!

The protestant monarch Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany had a dream that an eastern religion was coming to take over the West. He later commissioned a painting of his dream to be done. The painting shows Buddha (the human face of Naturalism) coming with a thunderstorm and covering Europe and what appears to be St.Michael calling all the nations of Christendom to repel it.

[Take note it was Buddha and not Mohamed in his dream.]

Today we are far more in danger of becoming a Buddhist/Gnostic/Naturalist rather than a Muslim. The evidence is that you see fifty yoga/meditation centers for every one mosque in the city. This is why I believe we need to forget our "21-century crusade against the Muslims" fantasies and resist the forces of Naturalism that Fr.Denis Fahey warned us about.

Im afraid not. I've tried searching for the painting online several times and came up with nothing. The only place I've seen and read about it was in a book on syncretism, but I cant scan it because it's lost. Hopefully somebody will have better luck searching for the painting. :sad:

Sorry to be a cop, Uriel, but let's put two of your statements side by side ( the quote feature is not working now for some reason ):

"Resisting buddhism...I have NO desire to practice that religion but I DO strongly suggest you practice zen meditaion."
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"You can practice seated meditaion without all the Eastern religious 'stuff.'"

Uh, Zen IS the "Eastern stuff."  Then after you are corrected by Alex, who told you that the proper position for Catholics is to be on our knees, you go right back into defending "seated meditation."  You repeatedly insist on this.

"Just because one practices seated meditation does NOT mean they are practicing any Eastern, or otherwise, religion!"
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"Seat yourself and let your eyes fall apon what they will. Try not to start ANYTHING nor stop ANYTHING that happens. You will be amazed at all the trash in ones head that comes forward."

Unless you are seated in a pew, Catholics do not practice "seated meditation," and even then we occasionally get down to kneel.  I cannot imagine a Catholic sitting on the floor, meditating.

As for "Try not to start ANYTHING nor stop ANYTHING that happens," this is bad advice.  Don't worry, I've given some myself, but please apologize and recant.  Why would anyone want "trash" -- demonic images -- to come forward?  

Catholics do not empty their minds as you are suggesting.  Do you really not know that this is the way practitioners of Eastern mysticism open our spirits to the devil?  What you are saying is exactly what John Lennon was saying when he said "Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream."  

Catholics are the opposite and our meditations are decidedly active.  We devoutly contemplate the life of Christ, Mary and the saints, the eternity of God, as well as praying for those in purgatory and our family and friends and others.  

The more grace God gives you, the more intensely filled with love these prayers will be, and that is our mysticism.  For instance, Mary was said to be so filled with the love of her Son that she burned to a degree that could not be supported by a human body without supernatural assistance.  I have felt very, very minor approximations of that, a sort of ecstasy, though mine is not continuous but lasts for maybe five minutes at a time.

I neither try to stop anything nor start anything

What if, for example, an image enters your mind or a thought that tempts you to lust. If you do not cast that image out, it is my opinion as a layman that you commit a mortal sin, because impure thoughts lead to impure actions. You put yourself into an occasion of sin if you just let anything into your mind without stopping it or casting it out.

Quote from: Vladimir

In Buddhism, monks train for years to empty their minds of all thoughts, a foreshadowing of what they one to hope to accomplish - extinguish their consciousness and themselves from existence, thus is the ultimate goal of a follower of the abominable Buddhist sect.

Who would want to extinguish themselves from existence?! That would be a scary thought for me - to never exist again after I die. I would live my life in total obsession and fear of dying.

Buddhism teaches that existence is suffering, so they seek to free themselves from existence, and thus suffering. They use a term meaning "to blow out like a candle" to describe this.

I don't think what you're saying is right Uriel and you are getting obstinate about it.  You wrote:

"Call it what you will...seated or kneeling does not matter. Heck you can practice meditation on your back."

Yet in some famous prayers it says:

"O good and sweetest Jesus, I cast myself upon MY KNEES in thy sight..."

Not on my back in thy sight.

"For me who am the least among men, KNEELING before thee in supplication..."

Not Indian-style before thee in supplication.

Are you differentiating prayer from meditation, saying these are two separate practices?  That would make more sense, except why meditate at all when you can pray?

Sometimes ( okay, often ) I will feel impatient while praying and need to take time to let that feeling of antsiness and boredom pass.  Maybe this is what you refer to as fizz escaping from a soda can.  But I'm not emptying out my mind.   I also don't think "silence and calm" is the goal but rather rapt, intense concentration on Jesus, Mary, the saints, those you are praying for, etc.  How can you pray for the souls in purgatory in "silence and calm."  Silence, yes, but I think the prayer should rather be more fervent.

You're ringing my alarm bells here.  Your terminology doesn't sound altogether Catholic.  "True mind"?