Eastern Thought
"Therefore it is given to abide in you; the record of heaven; the Comforter; the peaceable things of immortal glory; the truth of all things; that which quickeneth all things, which maketh alive all things; that which knoweth all things, and hath all power according to wisdom, mercy, truth, justice, and judgment." (Moses 6:61)
From a blog post: Part 2 of Passing Up the Heavenly Gift,
“Mormonism is a faith which simply cannot be confined to a single tightly controlled confession of faith, because it was always designed to "comprehend all truth." Think about that for just a moment. If it encompasses all truth, then it is vast in scope. Endless, really. So, at any given moment, Mormons will include those who are beginning to study the faith, those who have brought a background in Buddhism, those who have a foundation in science, or any number of other pre-conversion talents, capacities and preferences. These new believers will use those backgrounds to search into the Gospel.
“Those varieties of talents were always intended to be a blessing, even a strength, to the restoration. Any requirement for absolute uniformity will not permit those who have vastly different capacities to share in faith, even though they are honest, believing and acceptable to God.” (Denver Snuffer)
From Road to Emmaus:
“If we’re straight and narrow, we must be rigid. You know sometimes, the best to conform to the surface is to be limber, is to be adaptable, is to be willing to accept some new ideas….
“I think that what we have restored to us anticipates that there will be other streams of thought which converge with our own, and as they converge with our own, those other streams of thought are going to inform us about ideas we haven’t quite got our hands around yet.
“I think as we grow into the Buddhist world, Buddhist converts to the church are going to bring to our attention understanding about the Book of Mormon that we don’t penetrate just yet. I believe that Islam is going to bring to us some understandings and insights from the Book of Mormon that we won’t get without them. I believe that the Gospel program was intended to welcome these divergent streams of thoughts and to help us flush it out and to help us see, ‘Ah, there’s more to this than we in our little narrow, western vantage point have yet been able to discern.’” (Denver Snuffer, Road to Emmaus, questions and answer session. Disk 3, Track 3-4)
From blog post: Friends and Spokesmen
I have friends who are Buddhist/Mormon or Mormon-Buddhists. They think their study of eastern mysticism gives them an advantage in enlightenment. I have had several conversations that illustrate the difficulties of a mere transcendent enlightenment experience.
In visionary encounters, friends have seen themselves as an enlightened beings, and in that role experienced peace, joy and love. They have overcome the pains, jealousies and distress of the mortal sphere, and believe this reflects great credit upon themselves. In fact, almost all come to see themselves through enlightenment as having independent worth, no longer in need of a savior or the Christ. They think themselves equal to the Christ and responsible for their own salvation.
The frequent comment I have heard from these transcendental meditation practitioners is that there is no need of a savior. We are all god.
With newfound enlightenment they have become more dissatisfied with LDS Mormonism than before, ceased activity, and within a few years disassociated altogether from Mormonism. This has caused problems in their family relationships as they seek for something more.
We all have need of a savior. None of us come to the Father apart from Christ. Salvation depends on our rescue by Him. Seeing ourselves in that role does not make it our role. We are given a glimpse of what He is like for the purpose of making us appreciate Him, seek for Him, model Him, and understand Him. When we are relieved of pain it is because He knows how to succor each of us in our weakness and sin. (Alma 7:12) Experiencing that relief is not to make us proud and independent, but to draw us closer to Him.
These Buddhist friends, as many others who seek for and obtain visionary encounters, neglect their responsibility to then take what has been shown them and integrate the understanding of it into the pattern set out in scripture. If they use the scriptures to guide their understanding they would have known that Christ is the only one who can deliver us, forgive sins, heal afflictions and provide us comfort. Instead of accepting the truth in scripture, many of them assume the newfound Buddhist explanation negates the need for a savior. But it is the Lord, not mere man, who was God. And abandoning Christ because of an encounter with “enlightenment” is going backward, not forward.
From Communication From the Lord:
"The closest image I have seen to the glory shown by a resurrected, glorified, celestial personage is the upper pattern, in gold, imprinted onto the Dome of the Rock Mosque. When I saw it for the first time a few months ago, I was startled by the pattern and its radiant glory. It is the closest earthly pattern I have seen to depicting a Celestial Glory. I do not know who fashioned the pattern, but they were depicting something that I recognized to be inspired by what lies beyond the veil and patterned after Celestial Glory itself.
"(I'm talking about the interior finish, with the pattern shown there. The appearance of the pattern is very much like the "cloven tongues of fire" which one sees in Celestial Glory. I apologize that I don't have a link to give where you can see that artwork. But it is interior, not the exterior.)"
"The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:20-21)
"There is a tree growing out of a granite cliff in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho. It has been twisted and contorted by the winds that whip around the granite outcropping. That yellow pine tree persisted in its upward reach, pointing to God who created it, despite the opposition of the wind and elements and the difficulty of growing out of a granite wall. These forces produced a spiral tree, twisted by opposition, yet still pointing upward to God. It preaches a sermon louder than words by testifying through its very being. Reflecting on this tree and its testimony of competing forces, God and persistence in life, brought me to a state of rest and meditation. You no doubt have something similar in your own experience. Some profound moment of insight and meaning that can be used to the same effect. The Celestial Room was intended for this purpose. But any moment of similar peace can be used in the same way. Remember such a feeling, and duplicate it when dealing with life’s stresses and challenges. Try to feel your way back into that experience by pondering on it daily. Quiet reflection and meditation will accomplish the same thing, whether in the Temple or in nature. God is in the Temple. He is in the redwoods, too." (The Second Comforter, Chapter 15)
This is so similar to Buddah as he remembered his father plowing rows on his farm.
"I heard someone comment on how all these fellowships gathered here are remarkably diverse. That is because people are diverse. God went to the trouble of making very tree unique. Every snowflake is unique. Every living organism is unique. Every fingerprint is unique. I suspect when we are at last able to distinguish on that scale we will find that every atom of this universe is likewise unique." (DS)
"Lose yourself, your pride, self-will and meaningless individuality in something much greater." (The Second Comforter, ch. 9)
