Expert: Laurie McLauglin - 2/26/2010

Question
I have recently found a lot of comfort in books by Thich Nhat Hahn, Pema Chodron and others, as well as from listening to Dharma podcasts.  They have touched me in a very important way and I've been thinking about the possibility of exploring Buddhism as my spiritual path.  I grew up Catholic, but haven't practiced in 25 years.

How does one go about the process of becoming more active in Buddhism?

John

Answer
Thank you for letting me answer your question, John.

I myself came to Buddhism from Catholicism. I am glad that you have found peace in reading Buddha’s teachings from wonderful teachers like Thich Nhat Hahn and Pema Chodron.  

I am glad you are looking into Buddhism. It is certainly useful whether you adopt it as a religion or just use it to make your life better and keep your current religion. His Holiness the Dalai Lama suggests not to forsake your old religion to become Buddhist unless your old religion simply is not working for you.

It appears that you, like myself are drawn to the Mahayana Buddhist Path.

So in order to become a more active Buddhist, it is good to find a Buddhist Center around where you live where you can attend class and get the teachings and attend pujas and the like. The main organization I take teachings from is the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, or FPMT. So you can look on their website, www.fpmt.org to see if there are any centers near where you live.

If not, you can use the internet to search for other Mahayana Buddhist centers near you.
You have already found the benefits of reading the dharma but there is also great benefit in having a center to go to to be able to talk face to face with other practitioners, get teachings from qualified teachers, Geshes, lamas and the like and share in the practice of the rituals with fellow Buddhists and generally share fellowship with your dharma brothers and sisters.

Then when you are ready, you can take Refuge Vows to officially accept Buddhism as your religion.
By taking these vows, you are stating that you are going to turn for refuge to The Three Jewels: the Lord Buddha, himself; Dharma: The teachings of Buddha and Sangha: Some say that Sangha is just the Buddhist spiritual community, but more accurately, Sangha means those in robes; the ordained and/or those who have had a direct realization of emptiness.

Taking refuge means that we depend on these three jewels to help guide us along our spiritual path and to provide refuge or shelter for us from any negativities we encounter while on the path. One can take refuge with a monk or nun but it is suggested you take refuge with no one lower than a geshe.  A geshe is someone who has earned the equivalent of a doctorate in Buddhist studies.

In most of our Mahayana practices (rituals), we begin the practice by reaffirming our refuge vows.  The verbiage of the vows is always a variation on this: “ I go for refuge until I am enlightened to the Buddha, The Dharma and The Sangha (sometimes also called The Supreme Assembly). By virtue of my giving and other perfections, may I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings.”

As you know, a Mahayana practitioner is someone who wants to become enlightened for the sake of all sentient beings, but there are many different types of Mahayana practices.  They range from the simple and austere Zen tradition which focuses on meditation, the Pure Land tradition which focuses on chanting to the elaborate and colorful Tibetan Geluk (Gelug or Gelugpa – I believe all these are synonymous) tradition which is what I practice.  And even within the Geluk tradtion, there is the Nalopa (I think) which is what His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama practices (and is my tradition) and the New Kadampa Tradition, which is very similar, except the one the Dalia Lama practices still uses much of the traditional Tibetan customs and chants in Tibetan, plus they do not do the Dorje Shugden practice, because His Holiness, the 14th Dalia Lama feels it is not proper. Whereas the New Kadampa Tradition chants almost exclusively in English and has westernized its practice more than the Nalopa tradition and they do the Dorje Shugden practice. Besides the Geluk, there are also three other Tibetan Mahayana traditions; Nyingma, Kagyu and Sakya. Then there is a Chinese school, Hua-yen, Japanese, Nichiren.

So, you see there are a variety of choices and things to think about when deciding which Mahayana practice would work best for you.  It is recommended pretty much across the board from every tradition I have spoken with that one should not jump from one practice to another, but research till one finds the one that feels right for them and stick with it. The reason is that so much if what they all teach is so similar but they all use different vocabulary and the differences are often small enough to be confusing if you switch traditions and time will be lost in ones practice getting up to speed and understanding the differences. And time to lose is one thing we don’t have in developing a spiritual practice.

Of course one can practice on their own as well. Whether practicing in a dharma community or alone,  you will want to set up an alter or shrine of some sort where you live. A basic shrine has three things on it; an image of the Buddha, a stupa or a photo of a stupa (which represents the mind of the Buddha)and a book of Dharma, or the Buddha's teachings.  And then it is common to have offering bowls or water bowls which you can but and use the for offerings to the Buddha.

You should probably also, if you have not already begin a meditation practice once or twice a day even if it is only for a few minutes a day.  Then you will want to take what you have practiced and what you learned while meditating and put it into practice every day.  Then at night review your day and decide what worked and what didn’t and how to correct that.  And you will also want to keep reading and studying books from the specific lineage of Buddhism you have chosen to follow.

And eventually, one is going to want to find a specific teacher or teachers with whom one resonates that one can take as their spiritual guide. If one does not actually meet and take classes with that teacher, one should contact them to see if they will be willing to be your spiritual guide. It is suggested that one does have such a spiritual mentor to help you along the path.

I hope this begins to give you some ideas about how to begin your practice.  If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to ask.

And I wish you much happiness with your dharma studies.

Namaste - Laurie