Rote prayer is what Buddhist(and others) do..
Rote mechanical prayer to a mechanical God in a mechanistic way promises a Robot like God.. Buddhists use prayer wheels to display prayers to the Robot God.. others use beads of various sorts.. for the same purpose..
Those open to obvious and others to occluded idolatry seem to have no problems with a Robot God.. and with rote(liturgical) and/or robotic prayer..
Man, oh, Manischewitz! Do you ever not understand Buddhists OR the Rosary!
DO you KNOW any Buddhists? Any real live, sho' 'nuff Zennies? Have you enjoyed the poetry of Basho, Issa, Ryokan? Nothing mechanical there.
And the Vajrayana types, the Tibetans, the ones who use prayer wheels: I only know a few but this is a vital bunch of people, given to much laughter. A lot of fun.
And as for the Rosary, all I can say is don't judge the outward appearance. (A little Old Testament lingo there ...).
A daily Rosary (except for a really good reason) is part of the Dominican deal, and all I can say about today's Rosary (sorrowful mysteries) is that when it was done I felt like I had run the 440 while being pelted with rocks (or petrai, I forget which ...)
I'm serious. (well, serious for me.) Please don't dismiss it too readily. SURE someone can 'endure' the rosary, and tell himself that "Well, I said it in a group, so I get an indulgence, so there." And that's just sad. But today, well, I don't know. It was rugged today, it felt as rugged as the cross on which our Lord was crucified, by the time I got to the last "mystery": Jesus is crucified and dies.
Before you just blip us all out, it's time for another Catholic joke (or the same old one again):
A lady is praying a Rosary before a statue of the Virgin. Suddenly our Lord appears, and says,"My child."We know, believe me, that Marian devotion, and especially, the Rosary can be perverted. We're the ones telling the joke, after all. But the fault here is not with the Rosary but with the woman.She mumbles on, "and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, ..."
Jesus says, a little louder,"My child, it is I who speak to you."
..."pray for us sinners now and at the hour ..."
Jesus says for the third time,"My child! Your piety and faithfulness have not gone unnoticed. I am here to give you my blessing. Hear me!"
The woman frowns, puts down her beads, and says,
"Be quiet! I'm talking to your mother."
A Catholic once said to me,"It takes a lot of manure to grow roses." I'll risk being manure if somewhere roses will grow.