Contending For The Faith---Part 39

 

In St. Jude 1:3, we read, "Dearly beloved, taking all care to write unto you concerning your common salvation, I was under a necessity to write unto you: to beseech you to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints." [Emphasis mine]. Contending For The Faith is a series of posts dedicated to apologetics (i.e.,  the intellectual defense of the truth of the Traditional Catholic Faith) to be published the first Monday of each month.  This is the next installment.

Sadly, in this time of Great Apostasy, the faith is under attack like never before, and many Traditionalists don't know their faith well enough to defend it. Remember the words of our first pope, "But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect..." (1Peter 3:16). There are five (5) categories of attacks that will be dealt with in these posts. Attacks against:

• The existence and attributes of God
• The truth of the One True Church established by Christ for the salvation of all 
• The truth of a particular dogma or doctrine of the Church
• The truth of Catholic moral teaching
• The truth of the sedevacantist position as the only Catholic solution to what has happened since Vatican II 

In addition, controversial topics touching on the Faith will sometimes be featured, so that the problem and possible solutions may be better understood. If anyone had suggestions for topics that would fall into any of these categories, you may post them in the comments. I cannot guarantee a post on each one, but each will be carefully considered.

The Error of "Being Zen"

I wish to acknowledge the many sources I utilized in the composition of this post; both online and in print. I take no credit except for condensing the material into a terse and readable post---Introibo

On a personal note: Please pray for the repose of the soul of my spiritual father, Fr. Gommar A. DePauw, JCD who went to Judgement  twenty years ago this May 6th.  

I was working late in my office and almost everyone at the firm was gone for the day. I work best when things are quiet, but I put on some "forest sounds" which I find soothing. A young associate must have heard the noises, as he opened the door and stuck his head inside. "Oh, it's you with those nature sounds! I like it; it's very Zen." The young man pulled his head out, shut the door and abruptly left. He's a member of the Vatican II sect. I hear lots of so-called "Catholics" of the Vatican II sect and other "Christians" saying this quite often here in New York City. 

According to Merriam-Webster, to "be Zen" means having or showing qualities (such as meditative calmness and an attitude of acceptance) popularly associated with practitioners of Zen Buddhism. Few who use the term are actual Buddhists, although some may practice pagan yoga and a large number perform some kind of pagan meditation. Being "Zen" is meant as a compliment, but if someone truley Christian knew about Zen, they would not find it agreeable at all.

Defining Zen depends on one’s perspective. For some, Zen is a philosophy of life. For others it is religion not philosophy. According to one expert, “Zen is an intuitive religion and not a philosophy or way of life.”​ (See John Blofeld, The Zen Teaching of Huang Po, on the Transmission of Mind [1958], pg. 10). Zen is inherently self-contradictory.

A good illustration of the problem can be seen at ibiblio.org/zen/faq.html. Read the “Frequently Asked Questions from alt.zen.” Here are the first three questions and partial answers. Question one is, “What is Zen (the simple question)?” We are told that Zen is sometimes called a religion, sometimes a philosophy. “Choose whichever term you prefer, it simply doesn’t matter.” Question two is, “What is Zen (the real question)?” One reply is that the essence of Zen is, “Have you eaten yet?” Question three is, “Why do people post such nonsense to this group?” The answer is that, according to Zen’s intuitive understanding, “words and sentences have no fixed meaning, and logic is often irrelevant.” The “Empty Gate Zen Center” (See emptygatezen.com/) is part of the International consortium of Zen centers known as the Kwan Um School of Zen, founded in 1977 by Zen master Seung Sahn. At its website, it describes Zen as follows:

 “Zen is keeping don’t know mind always and everywhere.”(Whatever that means). 

So how should Traditionalists define Zen? Perhaps most simply as an unusual sect of Buddhism that stresses enlightenment attained by mystical technique, contradiction and intuition. Zen is usually practiced by some form of meditation to make the mind blank and "become one with the universe." This is achieved by repeating a nonsensical question called a koan over and over. The most famous koan is, "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" Therefore, Zen is based on the heresy of pantheism; that God and the universe are one and the same.

There is much wrong with thinking God and the universe are one. The Vatican Council (1870), infallibly condemned the idea:

3. If anyone shall say that the substance and essence of God and of all things is one and the same; let him be anathema.

4. If anyone shall say that finite things, both corporeal and spiritual, or at least spiritual, have emanated from the Divine substance; or that the Divine essence, by the manifestation and evolution of itself, becomes all things; or, lastly, that God is a universal or indefinite being, which by determining itself constitutes the universality of things, distinct according to genera, species and individuals; let him be anathema.

5. If anyone does not confess that the world, and all things that are contained in it, both spiritual and material, have been, in their whole substance, produced by God out of nothing; or shall say that God created, not by His will, free from all necessity, but by a necessity equal to the necessity whereby He loves Himself; or shall deny that the world was made for the glory of God; let him be anathema.

At one level, Zenists will argue that a "Catholic" (Vatican II sect member) can practice Zen to great benefit. At another level, the Zen doctrine of oneness makes Zen believers religious syncretists: all religions are believed to contain the same essence (Zen). While at odds with the Traditional Catholic Faith, Zen comports well with the teachings of Vatican II.

The heretical document Gaudium et Spes falsely attributes to pagan sects, like Hinduism and Buddhism (of which Zen is part), that they believe in God as the Creator of the universe. Paragraph #36 states: "...[All] believers of whatever religion have always heard His revealing voice in the discourse of creatures." The Eastern pagans completely ignore the idea of a God who created from nothing and who reveals Himself in His creatures. This is because these Eastern religions are convinced that reality proceeds through the emanation of an impersonal, cosmic, eternal force which is identically replicated in all things; from which force all comes, and to which all returns, becoming a part of it, and dissolving into it. That teaching of Vatican II isn't merely heretical, it's an outright lie easily detected by anyone familiar with pagan teachings. 

Vatican II is VERY Zen

Fr. Robert E. Kennedy, S.J. was born June 20, 1933 and was ordained a priest  (validly) as Vatican II was ending in 1965. He is also a Zen roshi ("Master") recognized by Buddhists as such. Here is his bio:

Robert E. Kennedy, S.J., author of Zen Spirit, Christian Spirit and Zen Gifts to Christians, is one of several practicing Catholic men and women who are recognized by the Buddhist community as zen teachers. He is a licensed psychoanalyst and professor emeritus of theology at St. Peter’s College in Jersey City. 

As a Christian Fr. Kennedy has found meaning and deep reverence in the practice of zen. He is active in interfaith work, teaching zen to persons of all faiths, conducting retreats in the United States, Mexico, Ireland and England. 

He studied zen in Japan with the Japanese master Yamada Roshi. He continued his study under Maezumi Roshi in Los Angeles and Bernard Tetsugen Glassman Roshi in New York; in 1997 he received inka, the formal seal of approval, from Glassman Roshi and received the title Roshi, or Master. He holds doctorates in Theology from the University of Ottawa and from St. Paul University in Ottawa, a Masters in Theology from Sophia University in Tokyo, and a Doctor of Ministry in Psychology and Clinical Studies from Andover-Newton in Boston. He is a graduate of the Blanton-Peale Institute of Religion and Health in New York. 

Roshi Kennedy [Notice his disdain for the noble title "Fr." preferring the pagan title Roshi] has written two books on Zen and Christianity: Zen Gifts to Christians and Zen Spirit, Christian Spirit.

In 2017, Roshi Kennedy received two honorary doctorates, one from St. Peter's University, and one from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. (Emphasis mine). 

In his book, Zen Spirit, Christian Spirit, Kennedy informs the reader:

...not all Christians will be interested in practicing Zen because of its disagreement with Christianity on theological and philosophical issues. Even though that may be the case, Zen can remind us of essential truths in our own Christian religion, which, because of our daily distractions, we tend to forget.(pg. 17; Emphasis mine).

In the opening chapter, Zen and the Jesuits, the apostate priest states:

Often I am asked by Christians, “How can you as a Christian Jesuit Catholic [remember when Jesuits were Catholic and Catholics were the only true Christians by definition?] priest teach us about the practice and beauty of Zen Buddhism? Wouldn’t it be more Christian to teach us about the practice and beauty of our own faith?” In attempting to answer these questions, I point to the fact that Jesuits believe that we are more Christ-like—not less so—when we reach out to the vast non-Christian world with admiration and collaboration. (Emphasis mine). 

Kennedy is applying the principle of Vatican II spelled out in Nostra Aetate. That document tells us in paragraph #2, The Catholic Church (sic) rejects nothing that is true and holy (vera et sancta) in these religions [pagan, non-Christian religions; principally Hinduism and Buddhism]. She looks with sincere respect upon those ways of conduct and of life, those rules and teachings which, though differing in many particulars from what she holds and sets forth, nevertheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men. This is the false ecclesiology of Vatican II whereby all religions are more or less good because they "contain some truth." We now have millions of souls heading for Hell as they follow these false pagan religions to their eternal perdition.

After assuring us Zen is not pantheism, Kennedy states:

Zen reminds us that in our Christian tradition the risen Christ does not stand apart from us, objective to us, in heaven, even though many of our prayers use this kind of imagery. Zen Buddhists teach that only for the deluded is Christ a sentient being or concealed within sentient beings. For the wise and awakened a sentient being is Christ. Indeed Zen Buddhists understand the complete joy we experience as Christ grows greater and greater, and the “I” less and less. (Emphasis mine). God is not objective to us but within; welcome to pantheism. 

The truth is that Zen does attack God, precisely because it understands the implications of belief in the Christian God. Zen is pantheistic and you cannot separate the two.  Werner Erhard, founder of the Zen driven EST/The Forum declared that “the greatest single barrier to God is belief in God.” The famous psychoanalyst Erich Fromm observes that in Zen, “I truly follow God’s will if I forget about God.”​ (See Erich Fromm, Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis, [1960], pg. 252).

Zen and the Occult

Historically, there is little doubt as to the reality of demons operating behind the mechanism of idolatrous practice. In Zen, as in yoga, chanting and physical postures may become vehicles to open the door to the supernatural world:

To help awaken us to this world of Buddha-nature, Zen masters employ yet another mode of zazen, namely, the chanting of dharani and sutras. Now, a dharani has been described as “a more or less meaningless chain of words or names that is supposed to have a magical power in helping the one who is repeating it at some time of extremity.” Anyone who has recited them for any length of time knows, in their effect on the spirit they are anything but meaningless. When chanted with sincerity and zest they impress upon the heart and mind the names and virtues of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas enumerated in them, removing inner hindrances to zazen and fixing the heart in an attitude of reverence and devotion.... Dogen attached great importance to the proper position, gestures, and movements of the body and its members during chanting, as indeed in all other modes of zazen, because of their repercussions on the mind. In Shingon Buddhism particular qualities of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are evoked by the devotee through certain positions of his hands (called mudra) as well as body postures, and it is probably from the Shingon that this aspect of Dogen’s teaching derives. In any event, the prescribed postures do induce related states of mind.... Conversely, each state of mind elicits from the body its own specific response. The act of unself-conscious prostration before a Buddha is thus possible only under the impetus of reverence and gratitude.​ (See Philip Kapleau, ed., The Three Pillars of Zen, [1967], pg. 45; Emphasis mine).  

Zen’s emphasis on idolatry, mystical chanting, altered states of consciousness and psychic development can become vehicles to spirit contact. In Zen meditation, and in Eastern meditation generally, the practices adopted sooner or later bring one to the realm of psychic phenomena and spirits. As one expert admits:

Here we shall mention only one of the so-called negative effects: the phenomenon of makyo (literally, world of spirits), that is to say, apparitions, fantasies, or illusory sensations. Figures or things not actually present appear to the person meditating. They can be of a pleasant or an unpleasant nature. Sometimes Buddhas appear; at other times the mediator may face the specter of a wild animal or something just as terrifying; or lights may appear to play before the eyes. Less often sounds are heard, but at such times a person may seem to hear his name called out clearly.... Zen masters explain these effects as natural products of the mind.​ (See H. M. Lassalle, Zen Meditation for Christians, [1974], pgs. 39-40)

While such phenomena could at times be entirely mental, they could also at times involve covert or overt consorting with the biblical “principalities and powers.” Since all Zen practice is the same kind of meditation (sitting, breathing, concentration, chanting, etc.), it is simply a matter of who wishes to use these powers, not whether they occur. In part, these powers seem to come by Zen’s particular method of pagan concentration (joriki): The cultivation of certain supranormal powers is also made possible by joriki, as is the state in which the mind becomes like perfectly still water.... The state of blankness in which the conscious functioning of the mind has been stopped. Now, although the power of joriki can be endlessly enlarged through regular practice, it will recede and eventually vanish if we neglect zazen. And while it is true that many extraordinary powers flow from joriki, nevertheless through it alone we cannot cut the roots of our illusory view of the world.​ (See Op. cit. pg. 47). To be clear, joriki is a form of "mindfulness meditation" wherein the mind is "stilled" leading to altered states of consciousness, like shamans do before invoking "spirit guides" (demons). 

In The Three Pillars of Zen we find an in-depth discussion of psychic powers (somewhat reminiscent of mediums) and how one is to view and approach them: Makyo are the phenomena—visions, hallucinations, fantasies, revelations, illusory sensations—which one practicing zazen is apt to experience at a particular stage in his sitting. Ma means “devil” and kyo “the objective world.” Hence makyo are the disturbing or “diabolical” phenomena which appear to one during his zazen. These phenomena are not inherently bad.... Broadly speaking, the entire life of the ordinary man is nothing but a makyo.... Besides those which involve the vision there are numerous makyo which relate to the sense of touch, smell, or hearing, or which sometimes cause the body suddenly to move from side to side or forward and backward or to lean to one side or to appear to sink or rise. Not infrequently words burst forth uncontrollably or, more rarely, one imagines he is smelling a particularly fragrant perfume. There are even cases where without conscious awareness one writes down things which turn out to be prophetically true. Very common are visual hallucinations. You are doing zazen with your eyes open.... Without warning everything may go white before your eyes, or black. A knot in the wood of a door may suddenly appear as a beast or demon or angel.... Many makyo involve the hearing. One may hear the sound of a piano or loud noises, such as an explosion (which is heard by no one else), and actually jump....(See Kaplan, pg. 99). 

Does Roshi/Fr. Kennedy want Vatican II sect members to believe this is not demonic? 

Prevalence of Zen

As the Vatican II sect defends and admires paganism, the list of influential Zenists/Buddhists is quite impressive:

• Sports stars Tiger Woods and David Beckham
• Movie actors Richard Gere, Keanu Reeves, and Harrison Ford (think: Star Wars and George Lucas)
• Rock and pop singers Courtney Love (widow of the wretch Kurt Cobain, whose band was named Nirvana), and the late Tina Turner
• Even politicians like former President Bill Clinton, although not a convert, hired a Buddhist monk to teach him meditation. 

Why the attraction? There are several reasons:

• The pantheistic belief that "God is all" puts insects, plants, and even inanimate objects on the same level as humans. Tree-hugging environmentalists love it, even though the vast majority see nothing wrong with abortion
• Terms like "inner tranquility" and "enlightenment" are "spiritual" without being "religious." Therefore, atheists can hop on board and deny a Personal God for an impersonal force that allows them to still use the term "atheist" loosely
• There are no Commandments for ethics. Who am I to judge? (sound familiar?) Moral absolutes are absent and Hell is denied 
• Reincarnation is often taught which further erodes morals because if you live like a heathen, there is no Hell, just another life to try and "get it right" and achieve nirvana, which is basically extinction--so no one suffers in the end 
• Meditation and yoga are ubiquitous, with the Vatican II sect supplanting true meditation based on the spiritual masters (like St. Ignatius of Loyola) with pagan yoga-meditation. This "mindfulness" meditation is being taught in their schools and churches. Pagan meditation can open a person up to demonic forces as I've written above
• Many Vatican II sect clergy openly promote Zen

Vatican II "Popes" and Paganism

Vatican II's Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, Nostra Aetate, promulgated on October 28, 1965 by Montini ("Pope" Paul VI). It made apostate pagan monsters like Roshi/Fr. Kennedy possible, and why people now think it's good to be "Zen."  Vatican II sect members can look to their false "popes" for guidance.

• Almost exactly 21 years after Nostra Aetate, on October 27, 1986, with permission of John Paul II, the Dalai Lama and the  Tibetan Buddhist monks of his sect placed a small statue of Buddha over the tabernacle of St. Peter Church in Assisi at the first Assisi Prayer Meeting for Peace with all the false religions. 

The True Church teaches: "And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish," (Deuteronomy 8:19).

• Upon his arrival to celebrate a "mass" at a stadium in New Delhi, India, John Paul II receives a "blessing" from a Hindu religious woman for protection from their demon "gods." 

The True Church teaches: "Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods," (Joshua 24:16).

• Under Ratzinger ("Pope" Benedict XVI), The "Pontifical Council For Interreligious Dialogue" wrote in 2007: "As Diwali approaches, your religious feast, I am sure all of you in your respective families, neighborhoods and communities will be taking time to share your joy with one another. On behalf of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue I am happy to have this opportunity, for the first time since taking office, to send you my greetings. Sensitive to your religious feelings and respectful of your ancient religious tradition, I sincerely hope that your search for the Divine, symbolized through the celebration of Diwali, will help you to overcome darkness with light, untruth with truth and evil with goodness." (Emphasis mine)

"Diwali" is the pagan Hindu festival of lights celebrated in autumn each year (October 20, this year of 2025). It symbolizes the victory of "light over darkness." Yet the light of Christ has no place in their demonic religion. "Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness?" (2 Corinthians 6:14). 

• Bergoglio ("Pope" Francis) "canonized" Wojtyla ("Pope" John Paul II). 

"Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. " (Isaiah 5: 20). 

I shudder to think what Bergoglio's successor as leader of the Vatican II sect will do.

Conclusion

The Vatican II sect has welcomed pagan pantheism into the world. It even bases their spirituality on these pagan meditation practices. Zen is growing ever more popular and expanding its influence on our culture of the formerly Christian West. The problem lies (where else?) at the doorstep of the Robber Council and its false teachings and equally false popes. 

Traditionalists must stay strong by attending the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, receiving Holy Communion often, going to Confession, and praying the Rosary in Christian mediation. To "be Zen" is to be pagan and open oneself to demons.