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When did you know when this path was right for you?
I am very curious to find out the answer to this question. I would like to know from the experienced as well as the novice.
What religion did you practice?
Did you give up one for the other or did you continue to practice simultaneously?
Was there ever a point in your life where you felt you did not know yourself and your true purpose in life?<O:p</O:p
Does your family practice Buddhism as well?
What religion did you practice?
Did you give up one for the other or did you continue to practice simultaneously?
Was there ever a point in your life where you felt you did not know yourself and your true purpose in life?<O:p</O:p
Does your family practice Buddhism as well?
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Comments
I began to read it one day, and couldn't put it down.
from that first page on, I knew where I belonged.
I'd somehow developed the unacknowledged and not quite conscious belief that there must be something fundamentally defective or broken in me because I suffered so much. You can imagine my relief when I learned that suffering was a natural part of life and that no one (other than Buddhas) escapes it. You can also imagine my relief when, as I continued reading, I learned that not only was there a clear reason for this suffering but a way out of it as well. That was the best day of my life.
Namaste
Gradually, I came to the realisation that I personally, could not practice both in tandem, and one day, dropped one, in favour of Buddhism.
It was perfectly logical, sensible and right for me, and I don't regret it for a moment.
I have combined all your different threads into one post, because jumping from one to the other was difficult.....
may I ask....
Why the interest?
Are you interested in pursuing a Buddhist path yourself?
Are all these questions relevant to your situation?
Is this a school project? (we're very used to those!)
When did you develop an interest in Buddhism specifically?
Have you accessed this website or others as well?
See? much easier, isn't it?!
And now at 48 as I put other aspects of my life in order I finally decided to get serious start reading, and that led to practicing, which led to joining a Sangha (based on Thich Nhat Hanh's teachings of the Budda), which has led to a complete change of life for me.
I practice being mindful every moment that I am able, read every day and meditate in the morning and night rarely missing a day. The way I see it at my age I still have time to follow my path for another 20, 30, 40 years so it's certainly not too late and I bring the comforts of a middle aged professional the experience and the insight that I have accrued throughout my life.
I was raised more or less Christian...we didn't go to Church, but religion was discussed frequently and certainly we were made well aware of Jesus.
However my Mother believed in reincarnation so that was also presented as a possiblity.
When I was around 10 my Mother was clinically dead for a time and had the white light experience which was very transforming for her, although not in a sectarian sort of way. This impacted me fairly deeply as well.
For myself I first became interested in meditation at age 12 due to my being a devoted fan of the Beatles, and becomeing aware of their experiments with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
At that time my mother bought me a copy of "The Teaching of Buddha" which I quite liked, but did not become Buddhist at that time.
At 13 I embarked on a 5 year drug habit, but it was not like I was a wild party type. It was largely artistically motivated and had a quasi-spiritual element to it.
At 18 I found that all the music I was into at the time seemd to have a connection to Paramahansa Yogananda, so seeking my own musical inspiration I read Autobiography of a Yogi, and by the time I was half way through I had stopped using drugs and become a Vegetarian
A couple years later I got sick and became somewhat alienated with the Self Realization Fellowship, and became an atheist. I then became an Anglican...although my motivation was primarily a very attractive girl singing in the choir.:o
Ultimately I found Christianity too limiting in scope...it's insistance on exclusivity for example I found impossible...given probability of life elsewhere in the universe it seemed impossible to me Jesus was the only way. (the girl was a bit of a psycho too as it turned out!
I found many Hindu ideas creeping back into my conciousness, so I studied a bit of Vedanta and Vaishavism. Then I read the three pillars of Zen, and there was no turning back. I studied and practiced Soto Zen on my own until going to a local Jodo Shinshu Temple.
Today and for the last 17 or so years I am Jodo Shinshu, but still somewhat influenced by Soto, and Thich Nhat Hanh.
I have often felt that life is meaningless and empty. Life is suffering. I get that very, very clearly.
I didn't. I never made the conscious decision to say "hey, I think this is the right path for me." I'm not the kind that sits there idle wondering what my path is in life. Not saying it's good or bad either way, I just always "knew" what I was doing, despite my multiple shifts in philosophical adherences and phases. I constantly advance and refine my views and go with what rings true.
Though, I was convinced of the truth of Buddha during my World Religions class where my professor talked about Buddha's response of silence to people who asked metaphysical questions. I had previously, before the class, already been impressed by a few great quotes of Buddha, but that was the turning point. After realizing his immense wisdom and after researching his teachings further, they truly resonated with me.
In order:
Christian (from my early years til I was 17)
Deist
New Age
Pantheist
Buddhist Atheist
Never. I always was aware that my new philosophy was incompatible with my previous.
No.
Nope.
.
One flowed into the other
There was always a sense of purpose but that was more around artistic pursuits. <O:p</O:p
Buddhism was "normal" in the family with older siblings leading the way. My Wife and I met through practice.
I was a catholic.
I gave it up.
I don't believe in a true purpose in life. For me, we choose our purpose and it can change anytime. I am not saying its a completely free choice but that is another story.
In my opinion, you are what you do, so its really easy to know who you are based on this concept. :P
No.
What religion did I practise? I was non-religious at the start of life then I turned to Christianity, then nothing, then my made up religion, Spirology. Then I turned to looking for something real so I found Buddhism in the school library after getting the idea from The Simpsons. Eventually I toyed with Wicca and then a mix for a while then went on and off Wicca ect. Then I became Unitarian Universalist, then a Wiccan and now I'm an Eclectic Buddhist-Wiccan-Unitarian Universalist type person LOL.
In life I think everything does a job to keep thing working for atleast something, although life Itself is pointless and should always be enjoyed
My family are non-religious.
All the best
I've been agnostic or atheist as long as I can remember.
>>Did you give up one for the other or did you continue to practice simultaneously?
I still don't believe in God, so I guess simultaneously.
>>Was there ever a point in your life where you felt you did not know yourself and >>your true purpose in life?<o>:p</o>:p
Oh absolutely. For a long time, actually. I met this feeling mostly with varying degrees of fear.
>>Does your family practice Buddhism as well?
No not at all. And I think my dad thinks it's kind of a cult.
As for why I got into Buddhism, I guess it's for a variety of reasons. But basically I met with a lot of suffering, not from external causes really, but from myself. Severe anxiety and depression. That sorta combined with an annihilation of my ultimate goal in life which was to find a partner and "live happily ever after." Yeah, doesn't exist. I always used to say "I want the kind of love that does not exist." But even then, I still wanted it. Then one day somebody called me immature and it hit me. I was being immature. And that's all it was. Crying to the heavens because *gasp* things weren't the way I wanted them to be!! And once I started to realize what I was really doing, it finally seemed silly to me. And I began to look for ways to really come to terms with reality the way it is. Luckily I'd already found Buddhism, so I came back to it in a more serious manner. Before I had just used it to help with my anxiety, but now I realize that this is all there is. And the path is for life, not a band aid.
Mtns
Quite unlike any other religion, none of which is a cult at all, right? I once went to a funeral at a fundamentalist evangelical "Christian" mega-church (something like 10,000 members) in Florida. The service was over an hour long, and never *once* did I hear the word "God" uttered. "Jesus" was uttered probably a thousand times. And that's not a Jesus cult?
Mtns
I was born christian, but it never made sense to me. If there was an all powerful, all knowing gods why would he care if we worshiped him? and punish us if we didn't, when he himself being infallible could make us do either, and how could Lucifer rebel if god was infallible, and why would a 1/3 of the angels follow him? Also, the ideas of heaven and hell seemed kind of baseless. So I was going through life just kind of being an christian born atheist. I read about Buddhism in High school, and liked the philosophies but didn't think much of it. I also has a crippling depression, and after a particularly bad night in college, I was desperate for something beautiful, as I was an artist and when I felt bad cheered myself up by looking for things aesthetically pleasing. Finding nothing I went to the library and was just wandering when I came about the religious section. I liked religion but only academically, and while wandering depressed found "The Art of Happiness", which was the most important book of my life, because not only was it by the Dalai Lama, but it was written by a western doctor based on his conversations with the Dalai Lama. So it was the first religious book I've ever read that had actual science and psychology supporting the ideas of a religious leader. I looked for others but none of the other religions had such strong evidence on it's side, and also, that combination of the two made sense to me on a personal level in a way religion had never done before, so I started reading buddhism books like mad. It also helps that I tried something in the book and it actually worked like the book said, which never happens in any other religious books (or in most books for that matter). I haven't suffered a single night's depression since I started practicing either, and all my school work seemed to become easier as well since I gave up procrastinating tools like the TV and the constant task of trying to have a "college experience" (aka chasing girls and drinking enough to put myself in a coma).
So yeah, that's how it happened with me, my family doesn't even know I'm a Buddhist. I can't tell them because they'll think it's a phase or something, and I see no reason they really have to know.
EDIT: I should note that "The Art of Happiness" for those who haven't read it isn't a Buddhist text really, it's more a doctor asking the Dalai Lama how westerners who aren't Buddhists can be happy. So I should say it made me a believer in the Dalai Lama more than Buddhism, but it lead to me wanting to know more about the religion of such a wise man.
Have you also read Destructive Emotions- How Can We Overcome Them? by HHDL and Daniel Goleman?
http://www.amazon.com/Destructive-Emotions-Scientific-Dialogue-Dalai/dp/0553381059/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276983806&sr=8-1
What religion did you practice?
I practiced yoga (meditation), having learned from my mother who had taken lessons in the 1930's from a swami named Paramhansa Yogananda.
Did you give up one for the other or did you continue to practice simultaneously? I stopped practicing yoga for a very specific reason in my late 20's, so there was no overlap between yoga and Buddhism.
Was there ever a point in your life where you felt you did not know yourself and your true purpose in life?<o></o> No. I have always believed in karma, rebirth, right action, and spiritual effort.
Does your family practice Buddhism as well? My sister practices Tibetan Buddhism also, both of us discovering it some years after our parents had died.
From there I graduated to Don Juan, although I still had to go to church.
And from that I read seven arrows. Graduated to the Nag Hammadi. But like you say. Buddism is with you always. It is here and now and gives you exercises here and now.
It is best because it is with us. It is good and true and fullfilling. It is a balm for us in this world and it has never tried to drown me in a Baptismal.
The book was so eye opening and amazing and the way it talked about reality and life itself, were so refreshing and resonated so much with me, that I just HAD to dive deeper into the philosophy where this kind of meditation stemmed from (Zen).
This lead me to do some online research on the different Buddhist traditions, the 4 Noble Truths, Eightfold Path, etc, and by now I just feel this is where I belong.
I hadn't tried many other religions before. I was raised a Catholic but I considered myself an agnostic for years before I discovered Buddhism.
Sometimes my mind still reverts to "thanking god" for good things (like a conditioned "reflex"), since Catholicism was so deeply programmed into my brain and heart since childhood.
I have to admit I did enjoy that religion at some point (in my childhood mainly), but then became jaded and disgusted with the things I saw in religion in general as I matured. Namely, the dogmatic, self-righteous attitude, the guilt, etc.
Lighwithin, I have to agree with you! There is so much I'm right your wrong, and I'm like if everyone's so sure they're correct, well... your probably not! And some religions like some African religions are so incredibly absant of common knowledge and deprived of any education what so ever they think a woman tried to sow more grain than she should have and while cutting it seperated heaven from earth and so you should blame women! Admittedly I despise stupid people and I know that's totally unfair but that's usually only if they can go to a school and are only below average because they can't be bothered to do anything, so I don't really despise them but it's still totally unfair
All the best
I just hate it when people say things are just phases, Mtns. Like every single child care advisor, and child, will tell you to never ever say that :-/
All the best
None specifically
I'm still open
Plenty, Its not like the movie Antz where purpose was decided for me, I guess I decide my own, although I have trouble deciding sometimes
No
FoibleFull I am curious if your mom met Yogananda or if she took the correspondence course.
In the last year some odd events have lead me back to Yogananda and I am currently practicing kriya yoga. I'm still extremely active at my Buddhist temple though.
Heh you could've sent a PM.
True dat. Even though FoibleFull hasn't been here since September...
Yup. Send a PM. Thanks!