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There’s been some ongoing controversy about the latest thing in Christian living: contemplative prayer. I say this as if it’s a fad, but it is at least a new practice that more and more are learning to do.

Ultra-conservative Christians, however, are not thrilled about this type of prayer gaining in popularity. Contemplative prayer, they say, is Christianized Zen Buddhism.

So, of course, I had to read an evil book so I could make up my mind. I chose to read Being Zen: Bringing Meditation to Life by Ezra Bayda, so I could compare it to The Lost Art of Practicing His Presence by James Goll.

The following is what I figured out:

Likenesses between Zen and Contemplative Prayer

Both disciplines teach us to be. In Luke 10:38-42, we find the story of Martha and Mary. Martha invited people into her home, and Mary sat at the feet of Jesus. When Martha complained that Mary should be helping her, Jesus told her she was “distracted by many things” and that there was “need of only one thing.” Mary, He said, knew what was better.  This illustrates that being in God’s Presence is better than focusing on the doing that overtakes so much of our thinking.

Both disciplines teach us to focus. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee: . . .” (Isaiah 26:3)

Both disciplines teach us to let go of anxiety. “Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you.”  (I Peter 5:7)

Differences between Zen and Contemplative Prayer

Zen focuses on the body and physical environment. Contemplative prayer teaches us to focus on God and His Word. Jesus may have used Mary as an example of being, but she wasn’t focusing on her breath. She was sitting at the feet of Christ with rapt focus, absorbing His every word.

Zen focuses in order to empty the mind. Contemplative prayer teaches focus in order to fill the mind with God and His Word.  ”But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law does he meditate day and night.” (Psalm 1:2)

Zen is Godless. This is the biggest difference of the two. There is one part in Being Zen where Bayda states that a practitioner gets to a level of meditation where he loses a sense of self. This, without God, is occult. There a person is, in deep meditation, and he loses a sense of self.  The Presence of God is not there, so who is there instead? Let’s remember there are spiritual entities that would like to inhabit the void in a person’s mind. This is what disturbed me most about Being Zen.

The potential for demonic influence is why a common objection to contemplative prayer is the altered state of mind. The assumption is that any altered state is occult.

But the Bible is full of people who talked to God while in an altered state. When Peter had his rooftop vision, the Scripture says he fell into a trance (Acts 10:10); and Daniel was asleep and dreaming when he had most of his visions. There are so many examples of altered states scattered throughout the Bible that it would take too much article space to tell them.

My point being it is not the altered state that is evil, but the Godless altered state. And a Godless altered state is what you get with Zen Buddhism.

Putting all of this together, I am not disturbed by contemplative prayer if it is done properly. A Christian should always engage in this type of prayer with the sole purpose of filling his mind with God and connecting with his Creator.

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Tags: evil book, meditation, prayer, relationship with God

This entry was posted by Denise Miller Holmes on Monday, July 13th, 2009 at 5:56 am and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.