How to bring Buddhism into your life?

Scott

Hello. I'm quite new to Buddhism and all the experience I've with it so far are some basic concepts I've read about online and in a small book I own. A lot of these concepts seem to correspond with how I already think, but I believe it would be helpful to have some advice on starting this new portion of my life. I would look for a teacher but currently that would require more than an hour of travel.
One thing I've come across, but don't currently understand is taking refuge in Buddha. Any general advice about making this change would be appreciated too. Thanks in advance.

Cloud

Taking refuge is placing your faith/confidence in the Buddha's experience, his teachings that lead to the end of suffering, and the monks/nuns and realized individuals who follow his way and preserve his message down through the centuries.

It's really nothing more than that. It's an internal commitment to yourself that you will follow the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha as your guides to this life (and to the pursuit of Nirvana) above all others. It's choosing to be a Buddhist practitioner, in other words.

Here are sources of information on Taking Refuge:
http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/bs-s17.htm
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/wheel282.html
http://viewonbuddhism.org/refuge.html

GuyC

Hi Scott,

My understanding of the whole "taking refuge" thing is that it's an attitude a person takes when they trust the Buddha/Dhamma/Sangha. How do you develop this trust? By listening to what the Buddha (and those who have practiced the Path) have to say and also by paying attention to how they live.

Do the Buddhists you know seem to deal with difficulties well? If they do, maybe it has something to do with how they live their life. After a while, when you have associated with Buddhists for a while, if they are really practicing Dhamma to the best of their ability, then it might inspire you to trust that the Path they are on is worthwhile. If you believe that the Path is worthwhile, then you will naturally trust the one who discovered that Path (the Buddha).

While you can do a formal refuge taking ceremony if you feel inclined to do so, it means nothing if you don't understand why you want to take refuge. So the most important thing, in my opinion, is to develop the understanding of the benefits of taking refuge through observing other people who are well-practiced on the Buddhist Path.

Kind regards,

Guy

Scott

Thank you both Guy and Cloud for your fast replies.
@GuyC Unfortunately I live in a small town where most of the people are Catholic, and I haven't actually met any Buddhists near me. I understand stand what you're saying though and I appreciate it. Hopefully this forum can help me with that.

Mountains

Welcome Scott! As GuyC and Cloud have said, taking refuge is really a personal thing. There's no ceremony or anything official. That's one thing I like about Buddhism. It can be as informal or formal as you like it to be for yourself. Not sure where you live (in the US??), but search around - you might be surprised to find more Buddhists close to you. I live in something of a Buddhist desert too, but after a good bit of digging I found a local sangha that's full of wonderful people (and which is growing exponentially at the moment). This forum is populate with a lot of wonderful folks who will give you some great feedback for your questions though, so feel free.

Once again, welcome!

Scott

Thank you Mountains! I'm glad to see how friendly this community.

As for what you've said, that really does seem to be a good aspect of Buddhism (I've come across many others though what I've read so far as well). I'll definitely give finding more Buddhists a shoot. I live in Canada, so I don't see that being much different then it is in the US.

It's getting quite late here, so I'm going to go for the night. Thanks again to everyone for your answers!

Mountains

I live in Canada, so I don't see that being much different then it is in the US.

Except in Canada I'd be able to go to the doctor without fear of going bankrupt if he found something wrong with me

Dakini

I live in Canada, so I don't see that being much different then it is in the US.

haha! Wow, you would if the US suddenly annexed Canada! :P

Mountains

Better it were the other way around!

Dakini

Better it were the other way around!

I'm up for that! God save the Queen!

Mountains

That's God save the Queen, eh?

Scott

I live in Canada, so I don't see that being much different then it is in the US.

Except in Canada I'd be able to go to the doctor without fear of going bankrupt if he found something wrong with me

Touche Mountains, touche. I guess I'll take that back then.

vixthenomad

Scott - I found other Buddhists just by Googling 'Buddhism Brighton' (my home town). You've probably tried it already but it might be worth a shot if you haven't. (Obviously you'd need to put your own home town, not mine, hehe.)

Oh, and welcome from another newbie!

Scott

Alright, thanks vix. I have tried that, but I may try some of the other towns close to mine too.

Thanks! Welcome to you too!

sambodhi

Just read everyday, don't overwhelm yourself. Don't worry about "being Buddhist", just by simply being you are already being Buddhist.

Tosh

And for something practical to do (though it's really doing nothing) is to start to meditate. There's a wealth of information on the internet (I quite like youtube) to learn how to do 'Buddhist meditation'.

Maybe start with 10 minutes of meditation each day?

Scott

Okay. Thanks Sambodhi and Tosh.

Tosh

No problem, Scott, and if you do get bitten by the 'Buddhist Bug', there's a wealth of resources on the interweb, including 'distance courses'. I'm doing a two year foundation course in Buddhism that's ran by the Jamyang centre and it's very good. It's joining up the dots for me, giving me a better overall understanding of this religion/philosophy/psychiatry called Buddhism. And it's all done via books, internet talk downloads, and a course forum (similar to this one). But there's other distance learning courses too.

Make sure you check 'em out first though; there's some charlatans about, so I've been told.

Mountains

Hey Tosh - do you have a direct URL for that course you're taking??

Tks!

Tosh

Hey Tosh - do you have a direct URL for that course you're taking??

Tks!

Hi Mountains,

Sorry, I nearly missed this post. Here's the link:

http://www.buddhistthought.org/

It's a two year course, broken down into six subjects.

1. The Four Noble Truths (Done)
2. The Two Truths (Just about finished)
3. Buddhist Psychology (Just about to start)
4. The Awakening Mind (Bodhichitta I think)
5. Emptiness
6. An Introduction to Tantra (Geshe Tashi is working on this book now).

Each module is three months long, then you get a month to do course revision and an essay; or at least that's how it's worked so far.

You also get access to talks from Geshe Tashi; the course is structured, so you have set dates and targets to have modules completed by, and we've a course forum where we're asked questions relevant to the course, and can ask questions or share experiences.

It costs me about £30 a month, but they have concessionary places too for the low paid.

It was just what I was looking for, and the quality of the course seems to be very good.

Hope that's been some help.

Tosh

Tosh

Never keeping it in the moment; the next course I fancy is their two year one on Lama Tsong Khapa's Lam Rim text!

Lam Rim is a really clever system.