Yes, there is a lot of complexity to what you mentioned.
That is why I bracketed it: in the Buddhist context. The Buddha came out of the Vedic tradition (ancient Hinduism) so I agree that meditation practice is sourced from there. I cannot speak to what other Gurus were doing at that era.
Believe it or not there are deities (devas) in Buddhist Cosmology. The deity Brahma appears in much of early Buddhist scripture. Gods were not eliminated, but reduced in terms of importance.
In the West the “sit and do nothing practice” was extracted from the Shikantaza practice of the Zen tradition.
The problem is Zen includes all practice as part of meditative practice. There is no separation. This is not exclusive to Zen either. It is how Buddhism has been practiced in monasteries for over two thousand years.
This kinda comes off as criticizing food for not being authentic.
It so happens that there's something useful in the roots of meditation's legacy that can be extracted from the religious—as many of us would consider it—chaff.
Like taking ayahuasca without a shaman to confront problems in your life. Turns out you don't need a shaman's spiritual rituals to benefit from the DMT experience.
That is why I bracketed it: in the Buddhist context. The Buddha came out of the Vedic tradition (ancient Hinduism) so I agree that meditation practice is sourced from there. I cannot speak to what other Gurus were doing at that era.
Believe it or not there are deities (devas) in Buddhist Cosmology. The deity Brahma appears in much of early Buddhist scripture. Gods were not eliminated, but reduced in terms of importance.
In the West the “sit and do nothing practice” was extracted from the Shikantaza practice of the Zen tradition.
The problem is Zen includes all practice as part of meditative practice. There is no separation. This is not exclusive to Zen either. It is how Buddhism has been practiced in monasteries for over two thousand years.