There a few really good books that discuss the relationship bewteen Christianity and Buddhism. One by Thich Nat Han, a Vietnamese Buddhist Monk, is especailly good and I would recommend it highly. It is called "Living Budda, Living Christ".

Your concern about your own faith and some of the martial art's traditions is, by no means, uncommon. The fact that the Asian MAs were greatly influenced by Eastern religion are part of thier mystique, but also a source of frequent misunderstanding. Far from involving any type of "religious instruction", these practices involve the development of "spirituality" from a different perspective. This is not spirituality in the western Christian sense but, ultimately, your own beliefs have a bearing on it. Do lots of reading. Dave Lowry is an MA and excellent author who seems to have been able to bridge the East/West gap. He speaks to much of this.

It can take some time to sort all of this out. Good luck on your journey.

- KiDoHae [IMG]http://www.fightingarts.com/forums/ubb/cool.gif[/IMG]

If you asked the same question in a forum about christianity (or your priest or something like that) the response might be a little less encouraging, or perhaps you already have?
This place is for zen/meditation so there's little risk somebody would advice against such, don't you think?
(just a thought)

Nenipp - No I haven't posed the question in a Christian forum, but I will. I will ask one of the pastors at my church that is a bit more academic than the others. To answer your other question, I wasn't looking for advise against it, I was merely looking for perspective.

Thanks for the post.

Hi, I guess the second question was more or less rethorical, to underline what I meant with the first.
It would be interesting to hear about the responses you get at the mentioned places, if you'd care to share with us!

How can you fill a glass with water when it is allready filled with milk?

I thought it was about emptying the glass?

I am a Christian Martial Artist. I graduated from Boston University School of Theology and attended additional course work at Andover Newton School of Theology. I have NO PROBLEM with any meditation, philosphy, qigong exercise with meditation or anything else I have learned in the martial arts. It is all good. If it provokes you to ask yourself questions, your ministers questions or post questions on forum then it is better still. I just erased suporting stories from this post 3 times and needed to remind myself that this is a MA forum and that I am not preaching worship. I'll conclude simply. Enjoy the journey.

A zen monk in the mountains of korea said to my master you are western so breathe and meditate to your god, we are eastern and we breathe and meditate to our god.

Thanks Underdog and ajacks. Great words of wisdom from both of you. Underdog, I'd very much enjoy your stories. My email address is in my profile.

And what about those who are agnostic or even atheist, what would we meditate to? Would being agnostic or atheist affect meditation?