[Magdalen] Baptism question

[Allan Carr]

Long before I tuned into Soto Zen, I had set up a small home altar with an icon of the Virgin Mary and Child. During all the years I practiced Zen at the Zen Center of LA, I also practiced it at home sitting zazen in Buddhist robes n front of that icon, which is still there.
Obviously, I don’t think there’s any issue from switching from having a Bodhisattva in a Buddhist meditation hall to having a Christian icon at home.

Allan Carr


> On Apr 11, 2019, at 3:26 PM, Marion Thompson <marionwhitevale at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I honestly believe that centering prayer is not one-size-fits-all.  I was at the weekly session this afternoon and as usual slept through most of it.  Perhaps to meditate on the icon would be better than emptying the mind!
> 
> Marion, a pilgrim
> 
> Sent from Mail for Windows 10
> 
> From: ME Michaud
> Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2019 6:12 PM
> To: magdalen at herberthouse.org
> Subject: Re: [Magdalen] Baptism question
> 
> When I went to "Buddhist class,"
> when asked, I said I was a practicing Christian and expected to remain one.
> The teacher smiled and shrugged and said that would never be a problem.
> 
> I told a nun friend once that I'd struggled & struggled with Centering
> Prayer
> and the Buddhists had taught me in just a few weeks.
> "Who knew it was a teachable skill?" I exclaimed.
> And she laughed.
> 
> I will always be grateful to that teacher.
> -M
> 
> 
>> On Thursday, April 11, 2019, Grace Cangialosi <gracecan at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> I have friends who consider themselves to be Buddhist and Episcopalian or
>> Quaker and Episcopalian, and if I had stayed in DC, I would have joined the
>> ecumenical Church of the Saviour, where I had been worshiping on Monday
>> evenings for about five years and had preached and celebrated. There was no
>> conflict, and many of their members belonged to, or were clergy in,
>> mainline denominations. My bishop was fine with it.
>> 
>> 
>