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What brought you to Buddhism
I’ve had a quick look over the site and couldn’t find if someone has already asked this question so I thought I would.<O:p</O:p
I would love to read peoples stories on what brought them to Buddhism.<O:p</O:p
<O:p</O:p
For me personally I was building a temporary home for a client ( my husband and I are builders) and found the atmosphere there sublime.<O:p</O:p
Each day I couldn’t wait to get there to work, the couple seemed to radiate happiness and you couldn’t help but be affected by it.<O:p</O:p
In our lunch break chats I found out that they were both Buddhists and this lead me to find out about the middle path on my own time, and I haven’t looked back.<O:p</O:p
<O:p</O:p
So if you have a spare minute and feel so inclined I’d love to read your stories.<O:p</O:p
I would love to read peoples stories on what brought them to Buddhism.<O:p</O:p
<O:p</O:p
For me personally I was building a temporary home for a client ( my husband and I are builders) and found the atmosphere there sublime.<O:p</O:p
Each day I couldn’t wait to get there to work, the couple seemed to radiate happiness and you couldn’t help but be affected by it.<O:p</O:p
In our lunch break chats I found out that they were both Buddhists and this lead me to find out about the middle path on my own time, and I haven’t looked back.<O:p</O:p
<O:p</O:p
So if you have a spare minute and feel so inclined I’d love to read your stories.<O:p</O:p
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Comments
As young teenager I used to spend time by myself in the woods or at the creek. From those experiences I began to develope a sense of the "oneness" and "interbeing" of everything I observed. This was contrary to the values of the world I was living in.
When I was forty I developed an interest in growing Bonsai trees. This was where my "search" began. Once again I began to sense the" inter-relatedness" of all aspects of nature. My search led my to Buddhism.
Gregg
This and I am a person of extremes and contradictions, i've searched as long as I can remember for something to keep my grounded and content about myself and my life. I've tried drugs, friends, hardcore gaming, all sorts of things just to keep some peace of mind. Nothing ofcourse worked, till I found buddhism. Slowly, bit by bit i'm more confortable in my own skin and I'm starting too like life more and more, suffering included.
I quit tai chi about two years ago, just boxing nowadys and daily meditations.
Then I read about the noble truths and impermanence and thought Oohhh, the Buddha figured this path would lead one to the end of suffering did he? Yeah... I'm like 90% sure it does after trying it.
That's my story.
That sounds nice.
The first time I heard of buddhism came from a documentary about H.H. the Dalai Lama. I was probably about 12 years old back then. I grew up without any kind of religious upbringing. Never went to church, never read the bible or any other religious texts until my puberty. While I had the preconceived notion that all religion was filled with superstition and dogma, I also found that I should research it for myself.
So during my puberty I read the Bible, the Satanic Bible by Anton Lavey, the Tao Te Ching, The Tibitan book of the dead, and "Open your heart" from H.H.the D.L ,and I remember being drawn to both Buddhism and Taoism, but was never ready to fully comit myself into studying them.
Now, being 20 years of age and studying to become a social worker, I've had many up' s and downs. My internship, working with refugees was very stressfull and I failed to show that I could handle the stress. I didn't show enough, internal rest. I love working with people and I did good work, but the stress was to much for me to handle. I hope that practicing meditation and understanding buddhist philosophy will help me coping with stressful situations. So, here I am
Peace,
Dirk
That's the cold sterile side of the story I guess, but anything else that brought me to Buddhism is difficult to put into words really.
P
Now I understand that it is people's delusions that make them harm others and that we should show them compassion and love.
I was not aware that these public teachings were on but went along to see HH.
I was firstly taken by how peaceful he looked.
As I listened to HH and later spoke with monks I found myself drawn to learn more about Buddhism.
It just seemed to make so much sense to me.
Eventually I began visiting countries like Thailand and Myanmar,attending temples and learning meditation.
I have called myself Buddhist for about eight years now,and although I practice in the Theravada tradition(different strokes for different folks)I greatly respect the other traditions and the Tibetan tradition and HH have a special place in my heart for first showing the path to me.
The funny thing is once the mind and heart are at peace, the question disappears.
I got into Buddhism, because a Tibetan Tulku blessed me at same moment that his death occurred over 1,000 miles away. Had a witness with me, saw it too. Too strange, unexplained. I decided that maybe it would be a good idea to go to a Tibetan Buddhist society in my city. That was over 10 years ago. Still going.
NIce one...
I was slowly becoming angry and depressed in my life due to dissatisfaction. I was at university and had a lengthy period consisting of about 6 years where I experimented with various substances. I disliked the general mentality of the country I was in, how everything was so money orientated and selfish. How many people were shallow and materialistic but I just knew at this point I did not like what I saw.
One day I watched a film with my flat mate, 'spring summer autumn winter.' Maybe some of you are familiar with this movie? It is about a buddhist monk who teaches a boy through the many years of their life. It is quite profound and has little dialogue. I was instantly captivated and intrigued. I was an atheist before hand and had always disregarded religion.
I began to read into some of the teachings and found that it was a lot deeper than I had expected. It had a lot of logic, many interesting teachings and made a lot of sense to me.
I have made a small amount of progress from that point but have learned quite a lotof valuable aspects to life. It has taught me patience, compassion, to lead an honest and pure life. It has shown to me that all religions are in fact essential in society and should not be disregarded, and many other things as the list would continue on and on.
Tom
it's on my shelve
Life went on for me after this and I started to read about Buddhism after I had a heart attack in 2007. I found that the Dhammapada offered wisdom that surpassed both science and religion and resonated with me as pointing out truths that I had known all my life (but didn't know it at the time, if that makes sense).
About a year ago I began practicing meditation and have found new meaning in myself, my relationships and my life.
Then I encountered Buddhism at the library, specifically Zen Buddhism. It was a story about some guy putting a shoe on his head. I said "well that is just plain ridiculous!", and dismissed it. Then looked at other eastern religions, then at other types of Buddhism. Nothing really fit. Then came back to the guy with the shoe on his head and said "Hmm, what does that really mean? It can't just be stupid nonsense." Turns out, it's not. Although it certainly appears that way at first!:D
She is a cool lady.
I still have a trace of issues within my mind that I need to sort out and confront with time, I have been studying them and listening to teachings with relation to these problems from a buddhist point of view. But it is hard to change your life, especially your mind. Most probably one of the hardest things to do in life. You seem to be getting on really well with your issues by the sound of things, it is encouraging to see, tom
Thanks for the encouragement, Tom! And which movie edged you onto the train? I'm always looking for some uplifting flicks.
Also if you want to have an 'uplifting nudge' then maybe take a look at some of the talks ajahn brahm gives on youtube, very inspiring in my opinion
http://www.youtube.com/user/BuddhistSocietyWA#p/u/23/LmlQ9qGomG0
metta to all sentient beings:)
Anyway, I had a professor who taught philosophy and she told us that she had been a catholic nun for years before switching to be a Buddhist. Her life stories always intrigued me and over the course of ten years I'd find that Buddhism would pop back up into my life at random intervals.
Last year I finally decided that because Buddhism had been appearing in my life that it was obvious that that was the path I should choose. It feels right to me. I haven't looked back since.
I got cancer at 21 and found that while I had a strong faith in Wicca, the Buddha's teachings and meditation centred and calmed me while I was undergoing my treatment. In the years that have passed (14 years) I have always had an ebb and flow effect with Buddhism. I would cling to it while the going got tough, then tended to relax my practise in the "good times". About six months ago I decided I needed to really commit to having a daily practise ALL the time.
And that's what I've been trying to do (with varying degrees of success).
Namaste,
Raven
Stripping the Gurus.
I was a Jehovah's Witness too, but I was not raised one. I hope getting out did not cause you much suffering.
I was in a different group before I came to Buddhism. I was experiencing suffering in it and noticed that others were as well. A friend of mine, who was not in the group, asked me if I wanted to go listened to Thich Nhat Hanh speak in San Diego. I went with her and noticed immeditately the peace that he had and his compassion. I was impressed. When I left the yogic group that I was in I went the same day to Deer Park and lo and behold he was there. When he walked into the room tears formed in my eyes. I didn't stay with his group but went to another, and when my husband and I moved away and I left the practice. there are no Buddhist groups here, but I still found a teacher, so I have returned to Buddhism.
That movie, Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall (order may be wrong) is one of the best movies. I own it. It is not only inspiring but beautiful as well.
I'm enjoying reading these stories as well, 1,000 different beginnings for 1,000 different people
i heard that, and said amen.
Is Christianity that bad? or disappointing? ive noticed alot of people here have been once christians and have changed. I was, (well...sometimes i wonder if I would call Jw's christians in the same sense as say..Catholics?) and i was really disappointed,hurt,and felt a echo in my brain when I prayed to god. (forgive me..i have a weird way of saying things)
I was exposed to Buddhism education when I went to college (Buddhist club) and I instantly got hooked. Perhaps it was because of interest in science (I am an engineer) thus I like to understand facts and I love to control my own life and path. Buddha taught us to think for ourselves and choose what is right and what is wrong. I love Him thus I chose to follow his teachings.
Buddha bless.
---
www.d-kidz.com (The First Story Based English Children Buddhist Songs)
I don't think it's Christianity the teachings of Jesus that are bad or disappointing (my own personal belief is that Jesus is a great Boddhisattva), but rather the PEOPLE who twist the teachings, "run" the church and mislead those who do not have the impetus to seek for themselves the true meanings of Jesus' teachings.
My own personal view is that today's Christianity should be rename the Churchian path. Far too many people get hung up on what the "Church" wants and says rather than what Jesus taught.
In Metta,
Raven
I discovered Buddhism several years ago, but dismissed it in favour of theism. I think it just took me a while to realise that theism doesn't really make sense, or at least offers no real practical help to life's problems. So I started exploring Buddhism again.
Bahaha, i love this!!
I came across Buddhism when I was a kid. I always knew i was a creature of nature, believed everything happened because of how you treated others, and always had this big knot in my heart that grew when i couldn't help people...someone asked me once, If I was a Buddhist, and I didn't know what it meant...i did some research, saw it as interesting but never pursued it.
Recently I had been going through some struggles personally, feeling anger, and feeling like I was destroying myself. I gained a bunch of weight, lost it, gained it again, lost it again..Then i had a surgery, and felt worse than I ever had in my life..just really down and I started blaming people for things that happed my past that they didn't even know about. Just when I thought everyone had given up on me, a friend (who i wasn't even REALLY close to at the time) told me to try meditating, and helping myself. She told me she was a Buddhist, and helped me through my struggles with Buddhism, since then i've been happy, free, and light..problems still come and go, but at least I can see the bigger picture now, and can manage them appropriately. I guess its safe to say Buddhism found me...Twice
Metta to all sentient beings
But the more i looked at my own mind, the more i researched the ideas that i was interested in, the more i learned about myself and the world, the more i kept bumping up against Buddhism. I kept having coincidences involving Buddhism or i'd say "you know, it really seems to me that x, y, z etc" and someone would say "oh, that's a really Buddhist thing to say."
Eventually I looked into Buddhism directly and the talk in my mind as i learned more about the ideas behind it ran something like this "ya. ya. right. right. right. of course. ya. Hm. I've always been a Buddhist and never known it!" I already thought most of what i was learning, it was fabulous. it felt like coming home, but better.
what brought me to Buddhism....
several years ago, sometime in the early '90's, i bought a book by the improbably named author christmas humphrees, the wisdom of Buddhism.
because i had never heard anything about it before, when i got to the part about suffering, i got quite turned off by it.
a handful of years later, i began reading books on wicca/paganism. must have found something there, because i studied/practiced, but mostly read about it for the next 13 years or so. nothing really serious, because with each book i read, it seemed i either needed more supplies or more of an understanding of astrology for it to be effective. for about the last 3-4 years, i tried to find a tradition that reflected more of what i really was looking for. no success, of course.
April 2010
by chance, i heard about the pbs movie, the buddha. a couple of days befor that, i looked up some things online about it. read that suffering is not 'suffering'. watched the movie, loved it. bought the spring issue of the buddhadharma, and read about theravada buddhism and a monastery in california, abhayagiri, in the tradition of ajahn chah. got a book called 'the island', which was excerpted in the magazine. downloaded almost all of the pdf books they had. so far, so great!
admittedly, i'm a bit obsessed right now. i've also found a retreat center here in michigan in the thai forest tradition. i'm getting set to go there next weekend. so i think iv'e finally found that which i've been searching for all these years. there's so much more i want to say, but for now, i won't.
During a trip I experienced ego death and timeless states that I could not understand. In my search to make some sense of it, I stumbled upon the works of Alan Watts, and then Zen Buddhism.
It's too bad that the topic of psychedelics is censored on this forum.
The Thai Forest tradition is great ! Go for it my friend, you won't be disappointed.