Sufi and my Buddist Hindu meditation temple questions?

[Riders]

Uh ok here goes. See theres this Indian restaurant in Dallas Tx, my guy friend took me several years ago its actually pretty close to the Hare Krishna Temple . Its pretty cool the Cosmic Café, I love the food and the music.

Anyways they have meditation classes and yoga classes. They use to at one time even have Kirtan service which is a Hindu service.

But they have it upstairs I cant climb it and with my obesity I cant sit on the floor either.
But they have Sufi Zen poetry one night a week down stairs. Ive always wanted to get into touch with the Zen Buddhist community sense I practice at home and go to the community through 2nd Life virtual reality world on the net.

Anyways one of my teachers on the net told me to go to the zen poetry session to stay in touch with other Zenists you know. So anyways Ive been kind of scared to go because well theyve got a laughing meditation, and Sufi dancing. It kind off freaks me out sounds odd and the picture they have of sufi dancers looks like they've got a uniform on.

But I went. I love Cosmic Café. I liked everyone there. But its odd, because I guess ive had it in my mind its a place to meditate and do hindu type stuff like Yoga and they have Kundalini Yoga,

But when I got there we talked for awhile it was good then we read, Rumi potery which was really good I liked it . But there was a lot of talk about God in it. I read on the net hes a Sufi mystic right?

So I guess what I'm asking is, they seemed a little more religious or maybe I'm imagining it but is it possible that they have a hidden religion agenda behind the Zen meditation and Yoga?

ARe they going to try and convert me to Suffi? If so is Suffi still connected to the Muslim faith? Why mix Sufi with Yoga Zen and Hindu??????I mean am I in trouble here? Theyre not gonna convert me to the Muslim faith are they? WHats the deal with mixing Sufi with the other religions is that permissable?

Don't get me wrong I loved the meetup it was awesome I like Cosmic Café. I just want to make sure I know what I'm doing when I go back.......................They did seem to be interested in getting me into their group and was selling me on it but it was a good group I like the mysticism.I like the reading. I don't know these people though so .

 

[Kirran]

If I could weigh in in a foreign DIR - perhaps this lot are in a place in the Sufi spectrum more towards Universal Sufism - there's a lot of variation within Islamic Sufism itself also, and there are Islamic Sufi teachers who'll accept students who aren't Muslims.

The tariqats vary quite a bit. The Naqshbandiyya are pretty orthodox, but there'll be groups among the Mevlevis, Qadariyya and especially the Chishtiyya or who'd be OK with drawing on different paths - I have worshipped alongside a Mevlevi Sufi Muslim in a Hindu temple. Don't know about Bektashis or the other groups.

 

[Papoon]

I call myself a zensufi. At one stage I had to choose between a Mevlevi Sufi teacher and Kagyu Buddhist lama. I was attending both. I went with the Kagyupa, but it could have gone either way.
I think of it like this - there is the idealistic path and the realistic path, so to speak. The god stuff is idealistic and symbolic. But in the end you are exploring consciousness and finding your heart either way.
My religion is listed as Sufi here. It was hard to decide which label to adopt. I decided that being free to talk to Muslims about Buddhism might be more valuable than talking to Buddhists about Sufism, looking at the DIR rule business. So there you go.

 

[Riders]

Well its pretty cool group I mean I liked the poetry.I guess its a Universal Sufi type group.So I'm sure its ok.

 

[Papoon]

Well its pretty cool group I mean I liked the poetry.I guess its a Universal Sufi type group.So I'm sure its ok.

Rumi's poetry is extraordinarily beautiful and insightful.
I suggest you investigate his life story in detail to get the context.
It is impossible to tell from here if this group has some 'religious agenda', but keep your eyes and mind open whoever you deal with.
I just wanted to let you know that in my life, I chose to follow the Buddhist meditation path formally for some years, but I found lots of inspiration and insight in various Sufi teachings. And I am not pushing any hidden agendas. So there doesn't seem to be any cause for concern IMO.
I wouldn't go mixing the practices together however. Choose a method, be it zazen or zikr, and stick with that. But reading widely and taking inspiration from various sources promotes a balanced view.