Expert: Justin Choo - 5/8/2007

Question
when one decides to become a Buddhist, does one visit the Buddhist temple regularly? what is it for?
What do i do if I wish to be Buddhist?  

Answer
Hi Dena,

Thank you for asking me.

A Buddhist temple is a place where one goes to learn Buddhism, to participate with the activities such as chanting and meditation.  It is also a place where one can associate with people of like minds.  How often one goes will depend on one's preference.  There is no hard and fast rule about this.  

Welcome to the path of inner peace and happiness.  To become a Buddhist means to practise the teachings of the Buddha.  If you practise the teachings of the Buddha, then you are a Buddhist. Just that simple.  

So the first step is to study the teachings of the Buddha.  Then bearing in mind there are three main traditions which you can choose to follow: they are Theravada, Mahayana, and Tibetan.  If you have Buddhist friends then it makes things easier for you.  Otherwise, you have to search for yourself.  The best place is to start with the Buddhist sites in the internet.  Please take your time to surf through the sites below.  The "mother" of all Buddhist sites is www.buddhanet.net which gives you all the worldwide links on different traditions and the locations.  Having done that you can identify the temples nearest you. Visit them and feel which one appeals to you and go from there.  I would recommend that you spend serious time studying the various traditions to know their differences and similarities.

The journey will be a long but rewarding one.  As we travel along the path, we learn to experience happiness and inner peace through the three processes of learning, practising, and experiencing the positive results.  With this experiencing, it further encourages us to put more effort to continue learning and practising.  Have a pleasant journey, and if you need more info please come back.

Smile from justinchoo :-)

These are the Buddhist sites:

 http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/whatbelieve.pdf
"What Buddhist Believe"  by Ven. K Sri Dhammananda.  This book explains the Buddhist perspective on life's general questions.
Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda was my revered teacher. His writings have benefitted countless people throughout the world.  He had recently passed away (18 Mar 1919 -- 31 Aug 2006)

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=12,2800,0,0,1,0
Film about Chief : Ven. K Sri Dhammananda

http://www.ksridhammananda.com
Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda is my revered teacher.  


http://www.geocities.com/wave_books
You can obtain excellent publications from them.

http://www.buddhanet.net  (The “mother” of all Buddhist web sites)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism
http://www.dharmanet.org
http://www.buddhism.about.com
http://www.parami.org/buddhistanswers/index.htm
http://www.nibbana.com
http://www.triplegem.net
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv
http://www.bswa.org
This site is in Western Australia where Ajahn Brahmawamso resides. He is an English monk and is a very popular speaker. You can listen to his talk through this site.


http://dharmaavenue.com/home.htm  
http://www.thebuddhistsociety.org
http://www.budsas.org/index.htm
www.fundamental-buddhism.com
http://www.maithri.com/index.asp
http://www.parami.org/buddhistanswers/
http://www.abhayagiri.org/
Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery, the first monastery in the United States to be established by followers of Ajahn Chah, was founded in 1996 in the mountainous forests north of Ukiah, California.
http://www.watnongpahpong.org/indexe.php
www.dhammasukha.org