lets introduce ourselves

TOMSIE

Hello everbody
I had a idea why dont all those whose goal is to practice buddhism give a description of themselves mabeye a bit about there pratice so we all get to know each other a bit better.

My name Thomas 25 and have been instrested in spirtuality for about 2 and a half years currently i go to montly meeting in galway of tibetean buddhism which i enjoy alot but find it hard to get results in the meditations. I suspose the main reason i go to buddhism is to be happier and to improve myself as a person also a good bonus is to make new friends that i feel are trustworthy i am a complete begginer but hopefully when i get my car licence i will be able to go to the weekly classes.

how about you
how has buddhism improved you and your life
best wishes
Thomas

Raphael

My names Aonghus, I'm 15 and have had an interest in buddhism since I first heard about it. I've started doing some research into it recently, and I have greatadmiration for the teachings of the buddha. I would like to become a buddhist in the hope of perhaps learning self control, as I can be very rash, but I can't really find any kind of community in my area (stupid outside of any major cityness)

Yoda

Aonghus, welcome to the forum. It's been very quiet recently; indeed Thomas was the last poster and that was in June! Summer is like that.

There are some good links in the sticky with information about books and films that are inspiring in one way or another. You don't say where you are, but if there's no community in your area, you're certainly welcome here in our virtual sangha.

munkeehaven

hi everyone wow i have been waiting for someone to make a post in ths forum, i thought i was the only one interested in this philosophy. i've had an interest in buddhism ever since i did an art project based on hinduism for my junior cert 4 years ago and then i went on to finding out about buddhism....i have read a few books from the dalai lama and "the tibetan book of living and dying" by sogyal rinpoche...really interesting and thought provoking...i just connect so much with the teachings and the way of life.....i have just finished my leaving cert so i didnt have time to study it but hopefully now i can devote more time to learning more...

Yoda

A good way to do that is to post questions to this list. I myself don't have all the answers or anything -- just some experience living as a Buddhist -- and would like to see discussion going on here.

munkeehaven

Ok... Well I do have a lot of questions but I suppose I'll just start with one. As I was reading one of the books, one of the main things that was said was to remember that life is impermenance. I suppose this means that nothing is unchanging... that you shouldn't hold on to things that you know will always change, and that most of our sorrow and despair comes from the fact that we have difficulty dealing with change in any form – i.e., life is suffering. We find it hard to deal with the fact that we don't stay young forever, that everyone someday will die, when we lose something or when we end relationships, etc. I guess if everyone came to accept the small truths like this, that we would be much more happier and able to deal with the inevitable hardships of life. What do ye think?

Raphael

munkeehaven wrote:

ok..well i do have a lot of qts but i suppose i'll just start with one..as i was reading one of the books, one of the main things that was said was to remember that life is impermenance...i suppose this means that nothing is unchanging.....that you shouldn't hold on to things that you know will always change...and that most of our sorrow and despair comes from the fact that we have difficulty dealing with change in any form -ie life is suffering...we find it hard to deal with the fact that we don't stay young forever, that everyone someday will die..when we lose something or when we end relationships.etc...i guess if everyone came to accept the small truths like this , that we would be much more happier and able to deal with the inevitable hardships of life.what do ye think?

I don't mean to be offensive, but could you please try to use a little more punctuation?

It might just be the sleep deprivation, but I find that quite hard to read

keu

has been a while since I walked this path, so bare with me.
In response to Munkeehevens q with regard to impermenance, the buddhist philosophy of permanance vs impermanance is akin to chaos vs order.
The state of nirvana could be considered a point of permanance (living in the ever present) but is only obtained through understanding the imperanance of life.
Acceptance is the key to obtaining understanding, wheras it is considered that expectations lead to all suffering.

might come back and adjust this later.

Yoda

Raphael wrote:

I don't mean to be offensive, but could you please try to use a little more punctuation? It might just be the sleep deprivation, but I find that quite hard to read

Clarity is certainly a Buddhist virtue. It is not offensive to request that people spell and punctuate correctly. In this case I edited the original post for capitalization and punctuation, per your request.

Yoda

munkeehaven wrote:

As I was reading one of the books, one of the main things that was said was to remember that life is impermenance.

What the Buddha said was that everything is impermanent: sabbam aniccam if I remember the Pali. That's rather different from what you've said. Likewise, while the Buddha teaches a lot about suffering, I'm not sure it would be correct to say that he said that life is suffering. In life, there is suffering.

Hagar

Would it be fair to deduce that if everything is impermanent then suffering is also impermanent and therefore we can look forward to an end to suffering ?

Yoda

Hagar, that's exactly what the Buddha deduced. You've just recapitulated the first three Noble Truths.

Hagar

That's the first good news I've heard in a while. I must look into this a bit more.
I've read a bit about Zen, but to be honest I find the weird names to be a distraction from the message.
Could you recommend a simple text that doesn't complicate the message with constant references to the messenger?

Yoda

Personally, I favour Walpola Rahula's What the Buddha taught. It doesn't predigest the teachings: it presents them, simple or complex or what. Bibliographical informationa and a link to Amazon.co.uk is in the sticky.

munkeehaven

I'm not sure it would be correct to say that he said that life is suffering. In life, there is suffering.

i don't think it is meant literally i think it means suffering as in the usual hardships that a person goes through during life, like regret,sorrow,anger,grief,jealousy,etc.what i understood from reading the book is that once we realise that life is suffering ie that there are hardships in life, it is much easier to accept and deal with it.

for example.... death. i know some day that i am going to eventually die.i have come to accept this as inevitable.its part of the whole cycle.but i don't think that western society has come to accept mortality.look at the way the old are treated, it is like our fears are being mirrored in their wrinkled faces.why is society so afraid of ageing? look at all the silly things we do to stave off the inevitable--cosmetic surgery,anti-ageing creams,botox...the list goes on....it's like dancing around a fire, but never looking at the flames....are we in DENIAL?.

Agent Smith

hello, my name is Joe, i'm 19, and a long time brouser, first time poster here
been intrested for a while nothing much else to say really....

munkeehaven

just spit out a few theories about life...i bet they would be interesting (not being sarcastic).

Hagar

Would Nirvanha, once attained, also be impermanent ?

Yoda

"Nirvana", not "nirvanha". You are mistaking it with a carnivorous fish I think.

The Buddha's answer to this question (and others like it) would be "Try it and see; if I give you one answer or another you will just cling to that."

Enlightenment is said to take one off the wheel of causality, though.

Hagar

I hope there isn't a typing test to get to the next level

god's toy

I am a Buddhist living in Monkstown Co Dublin. Only woke up to that fact about 3 years ago but somehow I knew it al my life in the back of my mind. I am what you call a returning Buddha, that is a person who was in the last life a Buddhist, and living this life the same way but only wakening up to the fact late in life (I’m 31 now)…

I respect the path and have chosen to follow my own as it’s best for me at this point in life. I wish to only find peace, love and happiness on my path way to enlightenment but know I have a long way to walk before I understand it’s where I always was.

I have not gone down any way one school of Buddhism just yet as I feel there is still much to learn & understand about the different ways and paths first. I have a spiritual teacher, (Bhante, a Buddhist monk who now has own temple in Canada) and it was he who gave me the 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 and showing me the way. As I said before some time ago in a old post, it makes me happy to see this on boards.ie and I hope it grows and shines to the pure entity I know it can be





Thanks for reading thisJ






May the triple gem bless you

With metta,

Sumedha.

(Irish name is peter)