Sangha
Buddha, Dharma , Sangha The three jewels and man are they the three jewels for a reason. I say this because I am often reminded of this fact. Take Sangha I started out in the Theravada school of Buddhism. It is what first made since to me. I liked this idea of shutting up sitting down and meditating to uncover and clear away the delusion from my heart. I liked the fact at least from my limited view at the time that there was not a lot of ritual in it. There was a lot of emphasis on quiet meditation and the four noble truths and the eight fold path. I had a few friends that where of the Vajrayana school. I often would go to The Sakya monastery in Seattle to meditate and do Chenrezi practice. Never really committing to being one school of Buddhism or another, To me Dharma is Dharma it all came from one source there are just many different roads to the same ends. Or so I thought time went on and I kept up with the Sakya I really enjoyed the chanting, the … Continue reading
Growing up the way I did left me angry and bitter at the whole world around me. The survival skills I had adopted not only kept people who would hurt me away. They also cut off any help that would come my way. It was constantly not what I felt I needed or wanted. I always ended up trying to depend on them too much or demanding total control.
Let me start out this by saying. I have always listened to Ani Difranco. Growing up in the area I did every ooh rah chick I knew listened to Ani as some kind of Affirmation of being a strong women. Me being a man, I did feel a little odd listening to Ani and enjoying it as much as I did. No big deal however I was ok with this.
In the ten years I have really been a committed practitioner of the dharma. I say it like this because most of my life I have been a Pseudo follower of the dharma but never really wanted to give up any of my shiny Samsaric Distractions drugs, sex, and alcohol you name it I liked it and wanted to keep it. So ten years ago I was at the end of my rope. I had truly hit bottom my life looked very close to a demilitarize zone and there was a lot of suffering. I had a moment of clarity where I saw things as they really where and I decide to make a change. I got sober.