whats first?

amylynn518 · December 2010

Ok So I've posted a few threads and realized that I want to really emerge myself in the Buddhist way of life. I have read a lot lately on the basics of Buddhism, and different aspects of it. I'm reading a book currently that gives a more complex look at the eightford path. I haven't spent too much time on meditation but I feel like that might really help me. Through my reading, I've learned that I need to learn to be compassionate, and to realize i deserve happiness and sufferring to cease, in order to truly feel that way towards others. I'm sort of on an information overload. I've got a lot of questions but I guess my first one is.. Where do I start? Where do you think a good place to begin this journey is?? Should I focus on meditation or the eightfold path? Or maybe really focus on staying in the present moment? I need to quiet my mind to a place where I can really begin to understand all of this information and apply it to my modern life. In your opinion, where do I go next?

Cloud · December 2010

For any tradition, learn as fully as possible the Four Noble Truths and each factor of the Noble Eightfold Path. Not just simple definitions, but the details from as many angles as possible. There's a lot more to them than many give credit. If you study these thoroughly enough, what you should do next should arise of its own accord, since you will know fully each of the path factors and what you can do.

Uphold the five precepts, be mindful of your thoughts/feelings/sensations/etc. in your everyday life, and learn/practice a meditation technique that will allow you to gather insight into the reality of all phenomena (I prefer Vipassana, or insight-meditation).

Do some studying of the different traditions, their histories and what makes them different. It's likely that the best course of action would be to choose one and go with it (unless you change your mind at some point), and to find a teacher if possible. You don't want to just rush in though, hence the study. Each form fits a particular culture, and not every form may suit an individual.

Once you've studied enough and know the direction you want to go, tradition and the like, if you still have questions there are practitioners here of every tradition to help you!

Study material for all schools: http://www.buddhanet.net
Study material aimed toward Theravada: http://www.accesstoinsight.org

Namaste

TheDoctorDonna · December 2010

The number one thing in my opinion

Find a qualified Teacher.

Ask around, do some research and find an authentic, unbroken lineage.

Cloud · December 2010

Shouldn't that be maybe number two?

You'd want to study up on the different traditions first, and then find a teacher of the tradition you prefer.

TheDoctorDonna · December 2010

Cloud wrote: »

Shouldn't that be maybe number two? You'd want to study up on the different traditions first, and then find a teacher of the tradition you prefer.

True, good point

[DeletedUser] · December 2010

You can simultaneously pray wholeheartedly to Buddha for direction of a qualified teacher :rockon:

Dazzle · December 2010

amylynn518 wrote: »

I haven't spent too much time on meditation but I feel like that might really help me.......... In your opinion, where do I go next?

Hi amylynn,

If you are on information overload at the moment then I suggest that meditation might be the best way forward. If we don't meditate then Buddhism just becomes an intellectual exercise.

I would suggest also that you find an offline centre or Buddhist meditation group. We can sometimes get a whole range of different kinds of advice in internet groups from well meaning people at varying levels of understanding - and that's the nature of the internet. Even if you're not near enough to a centre to go every week - regular visits and offline interaction with others can still keep you grounded.

Getting back to meditation again, this is a good Buddhist meditation series and is certainly worth a try if you're not able to go to an offline meditation class. The first one is the introduction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd7a9Ur2x0o

kind wishes,

Dazzle

seeker242 · December 2010

amylynn518 wrote: »

I need to quiet my mind to a place where I can really begin to understand all of this information and apply it to my modern life. In your opinion, where do I go next?

That is exactly what meditation is for.

fivebells · December 2010

I nth the meditation recommendation.

ShiftPlusOne · December 2010

I (n+1)th it.

federica · December 2010

Wilfred wrote: »

You can simultaneously pray wholeheartedly to Buddha for direction of a qualified teacher :rockon:

But Buddhists don't pray to Buddha.
He's a man, not a god, and can do nothing that we cannot do for ourselves.....
Praying to Buddha will do nothing, except possibly transfer your expectations from yourself onto an outside influence.
And that's just not Right View.....

Jeffrey · December 2010

I think you got a very good start. May those who are not fully awakened find full enlightenment.

But personally I would keep reading and practice in my own way through the day. Scope out the centers in your area. I get scared by facebook lone practitioners but I guess I couldn't get too confused. I mean mind is basicly clear and it clears up eventually. Because behind the thoughts we can choose. I've heard the opposite but I am trying to say something.

Epicurus · December 2010

Study the words.
Try meditation.

I see the "teacher" recommendation come up recurrently, but really...if you read on buddhism, you'll find it's usually telling you that you are your best teacher. Which is the whole point of meditation.

genkaku · December 2010

Amylynn -- Patience is perhaps your greatest ally. So gently but firmly, be patient.

Perhaps 10 or 20 minutes a day of meditation will make things less confusing -- more concrete.

Perhaps a little investigation of centers that might be near you that you could visit.

Perhaps a little reading on topics that interest you.

But through it all, take your time and be constant. Nothing happens overnight and, since you're not going someplace else, there is no real need to hurry.

Ch-an_noob · December 2010

Epicurus wrote: »

Study the words.
Try meditation.

I see the "teacher" recommendation come up recurrently, but really...if you read on buddhism, you'll find it's usually telling you that you are your best teacher. Which is the whole point of meditation.

Buddha is a teacher. Monastic and well cultivated practitioners are proffessionals who carries on his teachings, most of them have enough wisdom to use skillful means to teach each person based on their abilities. This ensures new disciples don't practice Buddhism the wrong way and instead gets lead down the path of the Mara.

You do need to rely on yourself to realise the way and experience it for yourself, but how do you do that when your ignorant to the way? An engineer need to have studied to be called an engineer, a doctor need to have the qulifications to be a doctor. Hence most people need to start with a teacher. Otherwise you just saturate yourself with Buddhist knowledge and not practice, since you only pick what your deluded mind wants to learn and interpret the teachings in your own ways. Wise teachers steps in to save you from getting confused, develope wrong views and become arrogant.

2500 years ago people in India are alot more intelligent and wise than us in term of spiritual knowledge, yet they still realised they are completely ignorant after learning from the Buddha.

Epicurus · December 2010

I'm not saying a teacher can't help people. But there is no way for your ignorant self, like you put it, to know the difference between a good and a bad teacher.

I personally don't even have Buddhist teachers were I live. So I'd always have to do it on my own. But then again, I'm not a buddhist per se. I'm on my own spiritual journey, but I recognized the merit of the buddhist path in a lot of ways.

Cloud · December 2010

That's true, an ignorant mind can't know a good teacher from a bad teacher. But, it's also true that you can tell if a teacher is good or not by how much their teaching helps you. That's the only way to know if any of the teachings are right; by applying them, seeing if they lead to truth and the lessening and eventual cessation of suffering.

[DeletedUser] · December 2010

federica wrote: »

But Buddhists don't pray to Buddha.
He's a man, not a god, and can do nothing that we cannot do for ourselves.....
Praying to Buddha will do nothing, except possibly transfer your expectations from yourself onto an outside influence.
And that's just not Right View.....

That your inner Buddha, if praying for Buddha transfer expectations to an outside influence, then breathing methods and other Buddhism methods are the same as well - externalist. in fact meditation is the settlement of the "dusts" so that the inner nature buddhahood prevails, and achieve a pure Buddha to Buddha mindfulness. Sincere prayer to "external" Buddha serves this function for a beginners, an expediency that should not be taken it lightly.

There is good and bad teachers outsides, Buddha nature has no good and bad teachers.

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According to Mahasamgata Sutra, it reveals that in the Dharma-ending age, there will be countless practitioners of lower capacity or potential, so very few will succeed in attaining liberation. However, Pure Land sect provides the most simple, reliable and effective way in the attainment of liberation.

Shakyamuni Buddha urged his father, the King Suddhodana and sixty thousand members of his Sakya clan to seek rebirth in Pure Land - Translated by Dharma Master Kumarajiva (343-413).

A brief explanation of the characteristics of the Four Lands.<o></o>
If you recite the Buddha-name without cutting off your delusions of views and thoughts, depending on how scattered or how concentrated you are, you are reborn in the level of the Land Where Saints and Ordinary Beings Live Together.<o></o>
If you recite the Buddha-name to the point of singlemindedness (phenomenal level), your delusions of views and thoughts are cut off and you are born in the land that is the fruit of practicing expedient means: the Land of Expedient Liberation [where Arhats live]. <o></o>
If you recite the Buddha-name to the point of singlemindedness (noumenon or inner truth level), and you smash from one to forty-one levels of delusion and ignorance, then you are born in the Pure Land of Real Reward [where Bodhisattvas live]. <o></o>
If you recite the Buddha-name to the point that ignorance and delusion are totally cut off, this is the highest reward and you will be reborn in the Land of Eternally Quiescent Light [where the Buddhas dwell].

<o></o><o></o> :om:

FoibleFull · December 2010

Find a teacher.

It does not matter which tradition, because all schools lead to Nirvana.
You may find, after some months, that you do not care for this teacher, or that you do not care for this particular school ... you haven't signed a life contract. Change. However, be aware that for a thinking individual, no school is likely to fit you like a glove.

An ignorant mind cannot assess the degree of advancement of a teacher. But you don't need to assess how close they are to enlightenment ... all you need to assess is if the teacher is:
1) Doing a better job of following the 5 precepts than you are. Certainly, you will notice a teacher who doesn't: one who belittles others, is impatient, is haughty, comes to teach intoxicated ...
2) Knows the material, can answer questions from the class without have to look up the answers.

A teacher helps you understand your practice better, can recognize when you are going down a "blind alley" and help pull you back to the path, and models the behavior that you are trying to develop in yourself. This last benefit is the most important, because we rarely see it modelled in our daily life by the people we know or run across, and it is the HEART of our practice. It is where we learn to actually comprehend the "feel" of the practice and the path.

Find a teacher. If there is not one in your area, many dharma centers have periodic weekend or short-term retreats that you could attend as your annual vacation. This site is a good reference for where dharma centers are located:
http://www.dharmanet.org/listings/

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