Enter the Stream

MindGate

Please forgive me for my childish behavior on this subject, but...

I think I'm ready. Ready to walk the middle path. I'm been trying to act Buddhist-like, I've been part of this forum for three months discussing the dharma, I've been reading 4 different books on Buddhism, been studying its different parts, and I've been calling myself a beginning Buddhist.

But I think I'm actually ready to put forth all effort now and I'm ready to take the 3 refuges.

Alas, though, I wish to study more into a specific sect of Buddhism because I don't feel as though my knowledge, of even the basics, is complete. I don't know what I want to be. Anyone know where I can find a compare/contrast of the sects? And what each one sort of believes? And where I can study that sect specifically?

Comments on anything I said here?

:-/

ShiftPlusOne

http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhistworld/schools1.htm
http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma3/theramaya.html
http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/snapshot02.htm

That should get you started.

Best of luck.

ravkes

don't enter the stream. enter the creek.

mugzy

Forget the creek, enter the ocean.

ShiftPlusOne

Forget the ocean, go to a couple of temples... see what feels right for you.

DaltheJigsaw

Forget the stream,creek,ocean, temple and begin inside yourself and go from there. Just sit an hour a day, then chant 15 min and then do some prana breathing and then take a walk. Once you do that try to read a few suttras and repeat.

mugzy

Forget everything :nyah: J/K. I agree with @LeonBasin - the best place to start is right where you are. Continue to do your research on Buddhism, there are plenty of books written about different sects and practices. @ShiftPlusOne had some good websites to get you started.

Cloud

Forget yourself. There. Just had to join in the "forget"-mongering.

ravkes

Forget yourself. There. Just had to join in the "forget"-mongering.

Real talk.

federica

MindGate, if it's any help - I didn't commit to a specific school/Tradition/sect, until I had been followeing Buddhism for well over a decade. Well over.

It's not an obligation, it's not something you have to commit to.
Really, the best thing to do is to continue listening, reading, watching, discussing, learning and thinking.
Chill.
It's not an urgency you must fulfil, and Taking Refuge is also something you can do quietly, in private, at home, in your own specific, personally-conceived 'ceremony'.
I did.
It was great!

Now-Is-reality

I like this. But also I have to say that everyone has a buddhist nature... it just is, you have or are realizing it and you're growing from that. It's not a neccesarilly urgent as Federica was saying, everything will come and fit together... sect/ school of thought and all. You've already begun to realize this inherent nature in all of us... have patience as you journey down the rest of the path. Learn. Love. Have compassion.

Forget the stream,creek,ocean, temple and begin inside yourself and go from there. Just sit an hour a day, then chant 15 min and then do some prana breathing and then take a walk. Once you do that try to read a few suttras and repeat.

I agree with the first part. But also you're still a kid, so as much practice as you can or you feel you need. You don't always need to sit to meditate or to be mindful, just be gradual... start with trying to be mindful throughout the day, notice more, etc. Then when you are ready to devote more and more time to sitting as LeonBasin suggested, then do it. There is no rush, and you don't want to dive in so fast you wear yourself early. Just be gradual and everything will piece together. I am glad to hear you want to up your practice. Congrats and I hope everything works out smoothly.

Namaste
Ashley

DaltheJigsaw

I like this. But also I have to say that everyone has a buddhist nature... it just is, you have or are realizing it and you're growing from that. It's not a neccesarilly urgent as Federica was saying, everything will come and fit together... sect/ school of thought and all. You've already begun to realize this inherent nature in all of us... have patience as you journey down the rest of the path. Learn. Love. Have compassion.

Forget the stream,creek,ocean, temple and begin inside yourself and go from there. Just sit an hour a day, then chant 15 min and then do some prana breathing and then take a walk. Once you do that try to read a few suttras and repeat.

I agree with the first part. But also you're still a kid, so as much practice as you can or you feel you need. You don't always need to sit to meditate or to be mindful, just be gradual... start with trying to be mindful throughout the day, notice more, etc. Then when you are ready to devote more and more time to sitting as LeonBasin suggested, then do it. There is no rush, and you don't want to dive in so fast you wear yourself early. Just be gradual and everything will piece together. I am glad to hear you want to up your practice. Congrats and I hope everything works out smoothly.

Namaste
Ashley

Agreed!
Mindful and focused in whatever you do.
That is the real meditation.

MindGate

MindGate, if it's any help - I didn't commit to a specific school/Tradition/sect, until I had been followeing Buddhism for well over a decade. Well over.

It's not an obligation, it's not something you have to commit to.
Really, the best thing to do is to continue listening, reading, watching, discussing, learning and thinking.
Chill.
It's not an urgency you must fulfil, and Taking Refuge is also something you can do quietly, in private, at home, in your own specific, personally-conceived 'ceremony'.
I did.
It was great!

Thanks, Fed. The reason I felt as though, I should take up a sect is because I thought, like, my beliefs would be more secure and complete. Like I'm just not on my own trying to think of everything. Thats sort of hard now. Like, I feel at my wits end like I'm just about to give up thinking. I don't know what reality life, what life is, what the point of it is, or anything. I can't find the answer anywhere inside me. I sort of feel like I need guided and I felt like a sect would help me.

federica

Let me ask you this, (bearing in mind I'm in my 50's and I've been around the block so many times I'm getting dizzy.....)

...What's the hurry?

I recognise you have a great deal on your plate right now.
Please don't take what I'm about to say, as patronising. Quite the opposite in fact - I'm on your side....

First of all, you are at a transitional stage of your life: you're moving out of childhood, into the realms of being a young adult. And unfortunately, there's precious little social support, counsel or guidance for a young person in that position nowadays. You're floating out without a paddle and expected to just cope and get on with it.
Once upon a time (and in many so-called 'backward cultures, it still goes on) there was a rite of passage for young men blossoming into adulthood. There would be a formative training period, and you would have had a mentor, or guide to teach you the intricate and delicate factors needed to make the transition from child, to adult, smoothly, effectively and correctly. The move from one state to another was a lengthy ritual and cause for celebration, and it was an achievement.
Now?
No such thing.
You, and guys like you, are left to cope and just deal with it, and get over it. Kids nowadays are bombarded with so much fast-living, attention grabbing technology, that you don't have time to breathe.
The pressure on young people today to cope in a world that's moving too fast, is way too intense.

You have schoolwork to deal with, a social life to juggle (non-existent for too many kids glued to computers and playstations), parents to live with, siblings to contend with - and all the while you've got raging hormones causing complete and utter confusion.

It makes me laugh that so much study, attention and consideration is made for women (and more recently men) going through the menopause, (where there is a hormonal change and gradual close-down) but the opposite end of the spectrum - when the young are just beginning all that stuff, and everything is exploding into action - is completely ignored as being a seriously mitigating factor in why so many young people are confused, lack direction and go off the rails.

MindGate - breathe.
Stop.
Relax.
It's honestly such a huge issue for you right now, but you need to detach from this crap a bit, and not be so hard on yourself.
I understand, I really do.
But a lot of this tension, seeking, questioning and futility is Mind-Wrought.
See how confusion is generated and expanded within your own thought patterns.

Try to lower your shoulders, close your eyes, and watch the thoughts that arise and sabotage your own desires and efforts to progress.
And deal with them.

Be kind to yourself.

mzaur

Very nice advice Federica

I'd just like to add that the core of Buddhism is the same in all traditions. These are the "basics" but are actually the most advanced teachings you will find in any Buddhist school. I'm talking about the teachings on compassion, emptiness, dependent origination, no-self, mindfulness, and so on. There are many good books on this topic. I'm sure someone can recommend for you if you'd like. Or, go to a local Buddhist center and see if they have classes or if a monk can teach you.

Like I said, the essentials of Buddhism are the same in all sects, so it doesn't matter which one you learn from. They're all the same, but they have different styles and one might fit your personality more.

Cloud

@mzaur, IMHO the Four Noble Truths are the most basic Buddhist teaching. The most advanced? That would be the Four Noble Truths... (everything else stems from those)

DaltheJigsaw

Let me ask you this, (bearing in mind I'm in my 50's and I've been around the block so many times I'm getting dizzy.....)

...What's the hurry?

I recognise you have a great deal on your plate right now.
Please don't take what I'm about to say, as patronising. Quite the opposite in fact - I'm on your side....

First of all, you are at a transitional stage of your life: you're moving out of childhood, into the realms of being a young adult. And unfortunately, there's precious little social support, counsel or guidance for a young person in that position nowadays. You're floating out without a paddle and expected to just cope and get on with it.
Once upon a time (and in many so-called 'backward cultures, it still goes on) there was a rite of passage for young men blossoming into adulthood. There would be a formative training period, and you would have had a mentor, or guide to teach you the intricate and delicate factors needed to make the transition from child, to adult, smoothly, effectively and correctly. The move from one state to another was a lengthy ritual and cause for celebration, and it was an achievement.
Now?
No such thing.
You, and guys like you, are left to cope and just deal with it, and get over it. Kids nowadays are bombarded with so much fast-living, attention grabbing technology, that you don't have time to breathe.
The pressure on young people today to cope in a world that's moving too fast, is way too intense.

You have schoolwork to deal with, a social life to juggle (non-existent for too many kids glued to computers and playstations), parents to live with, siblings to contend with - and all the while you've got raging hormones causing complete and utter confusion.

It makes me laugh that so much study, attention and consideration is made for women (and more recently men) going through the menopause, (where there is a hormonal change and gradual close-down) but the opposite end of the spectrum - when the young are just beginning all that stuff, and everything is exploding into action - is completely ignored as being a seriously mitigating factor in why so many young people are confused, lack direction and go off the rails.

MindGate - breathe.
Stop.
Relax.
It's honestly such a huge issue for you right now, but you need to detach from this crap a bit, and not be so hard on yourself.
I understand, I really do.
But a lot of this tension, seeking, questioning and futility is Mind-Wrought.
See how confusion is generated and expanded within your own thought patterns.

Try to lower your shoulders, close your eyes, and watch the thoughts that arise and sabotage your own desires and efforts to progress.
And deal with them.

Be kind to yourself.

Very beautifully put!
Thank you very much!

mugzy

@MindGate don't know if you're interested or would be able to attend, but Sravasti Abbey holds a youth retreat every year in June.

Annual Young Adult Week

mzaur

@Cloud I would say that is partly true. The 8 fold path, which is just a continuation of the 4 noble truths, contain the whole of Buddhism, and specifically I was talking about the first of the 8 fold path, Right View. All of the 8 paths are important, but there is a reason that Right View is first

Cloud

@mzaur, I wouldn't say the 8FP contains the whole of Buddhism, because then you lose out on suffering, its cause, and its cure. The 8FP is the way to the cure, but you have to understand these for it to be effective. And so I stand by the Four Noble Truths (which includes the 8FP, so really, you can't go wrong).

federica

@Cloud I would say that is partly true. The 8 fold path, which is just a continuation of the 4 noble truths, contain the whole of Buddhism, and specifically I was talking about the first of the 8 fold path, Right View. All of the 8 paths are important, but there is a reason that Right View is first

Right View is often taken first for convenience. In essence there is no "first" and there is no "last". That's why, when depicted pictorially, the Eightfold Path is shown as a wheel. There is no beginning to a wheel, and there is no end. Each of the 8 "spokes" is dependent on all the others, and every spoke is dependent on The 'hub' (the Buddha, whence they all come) and the 'rim' (the sangha), which is what keeps the 8fold path in perpetual motion.

MindGate

Thank you Federica. Very wise advice. I suppose for a while I should 'just live.' Its very hard for me now because my mind has been constantly going for the longest time. Always thinking, questioning, etc.

Thanks.