What you were before to become Buddhist?

rohit

I follow Buddhism because my mind is very aggressive. I am very volatile and i don't remember now what bad balance i had.

But now sometimes i feel i can not live as own, are my limitations and i also feels that how would i live if i had not come across Buddhism. Some time i feels all philosophy that settled my thoughts is copied from Buddhism and not my own.

What is your story?

BhikkhuJayasara

" a student of all religions, and a practitioner of none"

Steve_B

I don't think Buddhism has changed who I am. I encountered it during the journey, and find wisdom in the teachings and usefulness in the practices. Although I'm not the same person I was 30 years ago, the changes have been gradual. I can't identify a specific point, e.g. finding Buddhism, at which things changed.

This may not be true for everyone. Some people probably do have discreet circumstances or events that catalyzed a profound change. The fact that I did not, and that change has been gradual and ongoing, gives me hope that growth and insight will continue.

DaftChris

Before Buddhism, I was simply human. Flaws and all. I began to explore religion again after a few years of anti-theism, I tried way too hard to incorporate religious Buddhism (as well as Hinduism) into my life, and now I'm just taking it easy and letting whatever happens happen.

In short? After adopting Buddhism, I'm still simply human. Flaws and all.

Jainarayan

I abandoned Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox Christianity, and Hinduism.

David

I didn't become Buddhist, I discovered I am Buddhist.

Jeffrey

I was an atheist pre-Buddhism. It wasn't a bad gig, but I have benefited from both faith based practice and meditation.

matthewmartin

My mum took me to all the churches in town and was a catholico-christo-new-age-o-hindu. I eventually branched out to reading about world religions. I tried them all on for size, I only returned repeatedly to Buddhism, initially only during times of personal crisis, and now because I want to raise my son as one.

jae

Atheist till 1997 I then did two year bible study with Jehovah's witnesses ... lovely people but personally I couldn't commit, very new to Buddhism and enjoying learning, I want to find something that's not elitist... if that makes sense?

vinlyn

Methodist-Catholic-Buddhist/Christian

seeker242

I was a pothead.

vinlyn

seeker242 said:

I was a pothead.

Or as we put it today, a Coloradan.

genkaku

Looking back can be fun or depressing, depending on the memory, but I think it is a good idea to say thanks for whatever came before ... without it, how could you possibly be who you are today? No one could be a Buddhist without also being a not-Buddhist.

Invincible_summer

I attended a Catholic primary school and went to a Southern Baptist church until I was 16. So... some sort of weird Christian.

betaboy

seeker242 said:

I was a pothead.

Before Buddhism, I was a pothead. After Buddhism, I was a pot ....... wait, what? :crazy:

betaboy

vinlyn said:

Methodist-Catholic-Buddhist/Christian

I first thought you were giving a smarta$$ reply, but now I know better.

Jeffrey

genkaku said:

Looking back can be fun or depressing, depending on the memory, but I think it is a good idea to say thanks for whatever came before ... without it, how could you possibly be who you are today? No one could be a Buddhist without also being a not-Buddhist.

As TNH's commentary on the diamond sutra says:

Buddhism is not Buddhism. That is how it is the real Buddhism.

Jeffrey:

by having composing pieces of non-Buddhism it is non-self and therefore truly real. A flower is not a flower. That is how it is a flower.

federica

An unconscious Buddhist.

cvalue

Catholic/atheist

Lii

Islam

charirama

I was a wandering minstrel who had discovered that if I could get my ego out of the way and "let the music play me" there seemed to be a Universal connection between the music and the audience with me as the conduit. I wanted to learn more about that.

I began to discover that many of the musicians and other people I admired such as Herbie Hancock and Dr Gabor Mate practiced Buddhism. I wanted to learn more about that.

I had the great privilege of meeting and working with Dr Mate for a short time. We had some wonderful discussions and he recommended some books for me to read and that is how I got started.

anataman

stupidly ignorant then like @ourself

ourself said:

I didn't become Buddhist, I discovered I am Buddhist.

how

charirama said:

I was a wandering minstrel who had discovered that if I could get my ego out of the way and "let the music play me" there
seemed to be a Universal connection between the music and the audience with me as the conduit. I wanted to learn more about that.

I began to discover that many of the musicians and other people I admired such as Herbie Hancock and Dr Gabor Mate practiced Buddhism. I wanted to learn more about that.

I had the great privilege of meeting and working with Dr Mate for a short time. We had some wonderful discussions and he recommended some books for me to read and that is how I got started.

@charirama
Well from one veteran to another.....
Dr Gabor Mate was my ex partners physician and before we parted ways, she suggested that we take up his kindly offer of lunch time couples counseling.
The two things I remember most about those discussions was him saying, "But that just sounds Buddhist" whenever I opened my mouth, ( that being a few years before he became a Buddhist )..and...
the book he later wrote about himself having A.D.D. and how he seldom had the attention span to listen to the folks talking to him.

Yeeup..just what all his bat shit crazy clients pouring out their hearts needed to hear.

No diss on him though..Just funny little slices of life where we all just muddle through life doing the best that we with the cards that we're holding.

DairyLama

Catholic, atheist, communist, anarchist, tree-hugger, etc, etc....

ParlaDharma

Grew up Roman Catholic and for a while explored Paganism, Evangelicalism, and even Islam.

lobster

What you were before to become Buddhist?

Buddhism is so fashionable in some circles, in others unbecoming . . .

genkaku said:

Looking back can be fun or depressing, depending on the memory, but I think it is a good idea to say thanks for whatever came before ... without it, how could you possibly be who you are today? No one could be a Buddhist without also being a not-Buddhist.

In other words perhaps, we may be labeled by ourselves, aligned, on the Buddhist Path (wherever that is going, going, gone) or otherwise ID and idea dependent.

federica said:

An unconscious Buddhist.

What emerges from personal history is confusion and ignorance, what manifests as a Buddhist is often confusion and ignorance, leading to [any guesses . . . .] resolution.
Get into the resolution and practicing is nothing more than a convenient label . . .

http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/670

Lii

@Federica. Except that we have a particular methodology and spiritual guide.

Kundo

What you were before to become Buddhist?

Happy

ThailandTom

I was the same as I am now before I followed Buddhism, we are always on the path and I was a person caught up in samara and I still am. It is said that one should drop labels and attachment, even to things like meditation and Buddhism, when you arrive at a certain point these all fall away.

Frozen_Paratrooper

Before became a secularist and lover of Pagan Greek and Roman culture and studier of Buddhism, I was a Roman Catholic who nearly converted to Islam before returning to a severe and traditional Catholicism in school. I followed a lover into non-denominational Christianity before eventually seeing the light on Evolution and over the course of a few years, became an atheist.

Bunks

I grew up an athiest but I think I was really a buddhist but didn't know it.

I always felt the meaning of life was to be happy and I always wondered why people (including me) tried to find this happiness through external things.

Then I read a book about buddhism and went **bing**! There's an entire religion that is based on my own beliefs......how cool!

how

snoozing!!!!!