Where to start?

mickmacdublin

Since it appears that most of the people who currently read this list are not Buddhists but have an interest I thought I'd stick down a few of my own thoughts for people bewildered by the vast variety of Buddhist traditions available in Ireland today as the board links show.

Currently in Ireland there are 3 different Tibetan schools, Japanese Zen, Thai Theravada, and several other "Western", "New" or "non-denominational" traditions available to anyone interested in Buddhism - where does one begin?

Obviously read around as much as you can - though be wary as there is a lot of new age crap around passing itself off as "Buddhist meditation instruction". Have a look on the internet - maybe at the list of sites posted by Yoda - see if anything catches your eye that is relatively close to you - certainly in Dublin you have a lot of choice.

At some point though if you are serious you'll want to visit a Buddhist centre to learn more. A few pointers:

Try visiting a few different centres just to begin with to get a bit of a feel for the different traditions and see what attracts you.

What are the people at the centre like? Are they "normal"? Are they pious "holy joes"? Do they try to "lovebomb" newbies? Is there a bad atmosphere with people bickering? Do they ignore you completely? If you are going to attend meditation and classes at a centre you going to want to like the people there.

Is there an over-emphasis on money? Most or all of the Buddhist centres in Ireland run on a wing and a prayer. They may be hiring/renting the space they use or if not will still need to pay for heat/light/insurance/maintenance/tea and biccies. If there is an invited teacher the centre will need to pay their travelling/food/board expenses as well as usually making an offering in return for the teachings. So no doubt you will be asked to part with some dosh at most centres. It's important not to expect something for nothing given most centres' overheads but are they asking too much or is there a repeated insistence on getting donations and offerings out of you? This may be a personal thing but it put me off one group I attended when I first got interested in the Dharma.

What is the groups relationship to other Buddhist groups? Again this may be a personal thing but I think it is a good indicator if a group has friendly relations with other groups and is willing to recommend other centres if someone cannot make it to their centre. Personally I would avoid any group that suggests it's teachings are superior to all others or where there is over-emphasis on the teachings of one teacher to the exclusion all else. Others may disagree.

Is the teacher any good? This may be difficult to tell when you don't much yourself so visiting a few centres to compare and contrast is always good. Even if the Buddhist tradition they teach is authentic it is important for the teacher to have several years retreat and study experience (to say nothing of general life experience!) in my opinion.

Many Buddhist centres in Ireland are linked to other centres and groups in the the East or at least in the UK. Find out more about any group you wish to join on the internet. What facilities and teachers may be available to you outside Ireland should you wish to do retreat for example?

Above all - wherever you go do not be afraid to ask questions.

Anybody got any views?

Mick

god's toy

First off, a big thank you for all your hard work! yourself and Yoda, You the man!! Anyway... yes I am a Buddhist, and only woke up to that fact about 2 years ago. I am what you call a returning Buddha, a person who was in the last life, and living this life the same way just not having a name for it until about 2 years ago… (Long story) I respect the path anyone may have chosen to follow in this life and I wish you to only find peace, love and happiness on your way to enlightenment. I have not gone down anyway one way of Buddhism yet I feel there is still much to learn & understand about the different ways and paths. I have a spiritual teacher, (Bhante, a Buddhist monk) and it was he who gave myself a gift of the Buddhist name -Sumedha-(that has good wisdom), and now I feel like he is with me and always helping me to find my way on this path. I have just under gone the Ritual of the seven meritorious practices, and feel a lot more in focus now then of the last few years. It makes me happy to see this on boards.ie and I will be around here a lot to keep up to date on all things Buddhist.
Thanks agen,

May the triple gem bless you

With metta,

Sumedha.

(Irish name is peter)