Do you think that Christians can also be Zen Buddhists?

As I understand it, most Zen Buddhists do not worship Buddha as a god. The practice of Buddhist meditation is exactly like some of the most spiritual Christians’ description of prayer without words. Breath prayer has been an ancient practice for Christians.

How many passages in the Bible speak of mindfulness, of staying awake and aware? How many tools does modern Christianity as practiced by most protestants in America really given us to be able to do that?

Zen Buddhists, do you think that Christians belief in a God by necessity means that they (we) can’t also practice Zen Buddhism?

Technorati Tags: belief, bible, breath prayer, buddha, buddhist meditation, christianity, christians, god, google, mindfulness, passages, practice zen, prayer without words, protestants, script type, text javascript, zen buddhism, zen buddhists

Lama Surya Das lists the following among his reasons:
It’d be great to have a president for once who practiced right speech, right actions, right intentions and right livelihood, as Buddha taught.
Buddhist meditation and mindfulness training is good for both physical and mental health.
Buddhist practices of mindful anger management and nonviolent conflict resolution could make him an enlightened leader
Buddha was the world’s first ecological leader and protector of animals as well as human beings.
(Obama could rename 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue “The Green House”)
Buddha has for 2500 years taught change and inclusivity.
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/176174/july-14-2008/barack-obama-s-church-search—lama-surya-das

Technorati Tags: 1600 pennsylvania avenue, anger management, barack obama, buddha, buddhist meditation, buddhist practices, church search, colbert report videos, google, green house, human beings, july 14, lama surya das, mental health, nonviolent conflict resolution, right livelihood, right speech, script type, speech right, text javascript

Lama Surya Das lists the following among his reasons:
It’d be great to have a president for once who practiced right speech, right actions, right intentions and right livelihood, as Buddha taught.
Buddhist meditation and mindfulness training is good for both physical and mental health.
Buddhist practices of mindful anger management and nonviolent conflict resolution could make him an enlightened leader
Buddha was the world’s first ecological leader and protector of animals as well as human beings.
(Obama could rename 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue “The Green House”)
Buddha has for 2500 years taught change and inclusivity.

Technorati Tags: 1600 pennsylvania avenue, anger management, animals, buddha, buddhist meditation, buddhist practices, google, green house, human beings, lama surya das, mental health, nonviolent conflict resolution, right livelihood, right speech, script type, speech right, text javascript

I am very interested in Buddhist meditation, but I have a curious doubt. How do Buddhists suggest that one gets asleep? I can identify the following differences between the Mindfulness of Breathing and falling asleep:
- if meditation requires to be relaxed but with standing spine, sleep would imply relaxation but not standing spine;
- if meditation requires following thoughts but not sticking to them neither driving them off, sleep would require (I assume, since there are no indications) letting the mind free to wander. Maybe not to follow disturbing thoughts, though.
These differences are too few to prevent me from meditating when falling asleep; however, that would NOT be meditation, because meditation requires awareness and wakefulness. Could a person following Buddhist practice, especially in the West, tell me what they do to fall asleep? I know the question sounds strange, but an answer would allow me to better understand the matter and to both meditate better and fall asleep better. Thank you!
Keywords: Buddhists, Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, Samadhi, Mindfulness of Breathing, Loving Kindness, Meditation, Meditating, Getting asleep, Get asleep, Falling asleep, Fall asleep, Sleeping, Sleep.

Technorati Tags: buddhist meditation, buddhist practice, buddhists, disturbing thoughts, doubt, google, loving kindness meditation, mindfulness, relaxation, samadhi, script type, sleep, spine, text javascript, tibetan buddhism, wakefulness

I want to start Buddhist meditation. Should I start out with mindfulness meditation? What are the exact steps in doing it?

Technorati Tags: buddhist meditation, exact steps, google, script type, text javascript