Welcome to Year 2016. I am sorry this greetings come late.
Anyway, I am more and more convinced that the mind that chants the Mani mantra, the mind that immerses in Amitabha Buddha's Name, the mind that has the objectless object awareness and the mind that investigates the kung-an - they are all capable of reaching the same state of mind. Whatever method is used, the same nature of mind is reached. Only the what I call "side-effects" are different.