Advice for the young layperson

[flowerbudh]

Perhaps one day I will become a nun, but for now I am living in the secular world filled with the plagues of passion and ignorance. I have set my heart completely on liberating myself and all others from suffering... can any of you link me articles on how others have done this or provide your own insight... so, essentially, being a layperson (esp. young) and how to handle it. Thanks guys! <3

[Adamantine]

Perhaps one day I will become a nun, but for now I am living in the secular world filled with the plagues of passion and ignorance. I have set my heart completely on liberating myself and all others from suffering... can any of you link me articles on how others have done this or provide your own insight... so, essentially, being a layperson (esp. young) and how to handle it. Thanks guys! <3

I actually haven't read this one but I plan to. It seems like it has what you are looking for in a book. http://www.amazon.com/Shambhala-The-Sac ... 1590304519Check it out!

[tigerh98]

Try to get a book of a buddhist nun or try googleing for woman who have become a nun

[mikenz66]

Hi flowerbudh,

You might find the talks by Ajahn Vayama, a Theravada Nun in Western Australia, interesting. She was Abbot of the Nuns' Monastery there until 2011. I've always found her talks inspiring.
http://www.dhammaloka.org.au/downloads/ ... ayama.html

Some of the talks are about historical nuns, which you might find some encouragement from. For example:

• Taming The Untamed: The Enlightened Nun Dantika
  Bhikkhuni Abhirupa Nanda
  Advice To The Bhikkhunis
  The Story Of Kisa-Gotami

It's been a while since I listened to her talks, since she stopped doing talks over two years ago, but I always thought that they were excellent.


Mike

[Alfredo]

Wanting to get enlightened is a bit like wanting to levitate. There are all kinds of stories, and some people will promise you that they know the right way, but I would warn against believing in religion too much. Live a normal life, and be kind to others. Follow your heart, in combination with your head. Fit your Buddhist practices around that, don't turn it into a cult thing.

[Tsongkhapafan]

The practical way to liberate oneself from the mental poisons of attachment, hatred and ignorance is to practice Training the mind teachings. There is one great Tibetan Teacher of this practice called Geshe Chekhawa who said "train in the three difficulties". This means that we should make effort to accomplish three difficult things - to recognise the delusions within one's own experience, to oppose them with the methods that are explained in Buddha's teachings (overcoming attachment with renunciation, hatred with love and patience, and ignorance with wisdom realising emptiness), and then finally to remove the seeds of delusions from our mind by realising ultimate truth, emptiness. If you can obtain a practical explanation of how to do this, a commentary to Geshe Chekhawa's Training the Mind in Seven Points it would certainly help you to practise as a layperson who wants to destroy her delusions.

[shaunc]

Follow the 5 precepts & practise your meditation.

[Lindama]

Dear Flowerbud,

You seem very young so I would encourage you to take life step by step and see what happens. You clearly have a caring and compassionate heart, just stay open to where life may take you. You need not make any decisions yet, just follow your heart.

If you have an interest in Tibetan practice, please look up Tsultrim Allione and her work:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsultrim_Allione

http://taramandala.org/

I have spent some time at Tara Mandala. You might want to explore that when the time is ready. I trust that you'll know when that is.

all the best
linda

[lobster]

I have set my heart completely on liberating myself and all others from suffering...

Seems like a plan.
What advice would you offer yourself?

[jzpowell93]

I am also a young layperson I might also want to become a nun one day, but not right now, I don't think...

Still, I've been worried about how exactly I will fit Buddhist practice into my daily life. I've already gone away from it once because it was too much, and then I skipped meditation today... I would appreciate any advice too ^^;

OP, maybe we could talk and figure out ways to help each other, if you don't mind it would at least be nice to have someone to talk to!

[Paul]

Dzogchen is perfect for the layperson as practicing it is not dependent on circumstances such as living as a renunciate or having lots of free time to learn and practice rituals etc.

[ClearblueSky]

The "world filled with the plagues of passion and ignorance"? Sounds like you could be talking about a monastery too. You'd be surprised, they're not an instant ticket to enlightened living where everyone's perfect
The next step you may want to take is try looking at some various Dharma centers in your area (of course some places have more than others, but hopefully there's at least some). Sometimes meeting some teachers and fellow practitioners can give us a big boost in addition to studying books, and maybe it'll be the next best thing to joining a nunnery. Maybe it'll be better even, who knows.

As for specifics you might like the book Dharma punx. It's all about working towards enlightenment as a young person, in a crazy samsaric culture. It's a bit more of an autobiography than a specific teaching per se, but I found it inspiring and entertaining. Also, the Podcast "Against The Stream" would probably be of interest, a lot of good teachers on there. Free on itunes (there's actually a bunch of good Buddhist podcasts out there).

[Astus]

There's nothing special about being young or a layperson. Buddhism offers the same to everyone. The difference lies in the level of commitment. You can simply call yourself a Buddhist without any content. You can take one, two, three or dozens of precepts and follow them to the best of your abilities. You can read nice books and ponder about the meaning of life. You can do some sort of meditation regularly or not so regularly. And many many more. It is really up to you. You can follow a single teaching, a single practice, or you can follow a complex teaching with a variety of methods. Being young and a layperson has meaning only to you, as you define your level of interest in the Dharma.

The Mahayana has the six paramitas as the basic description of the path of the bodhisattva. You can read about them from Nagarjuna in this book: Nagarjuna on the Six Perfections. Shantideva's inspiring poem is also a very good introduction to Mahayana: The Way of the Bodhisattva. And the Vimalakirti Sutra is a great example of how lay life and Buddhism can come together, not to mention it is a quite funny scripture: PDF.

[Palzang Jangchub]

If you get involved with a local Dharma center in your area, it is my experience that you should be prepared to be accepted and indeed welcomed as the youngest person in the local Sangha. Perhaps it's this way more in the Southeastern U.S., but the groups I've become part of have all tended to be made up of folks middle-aged on up.

That said, there are plenty of resources out there for young Buddhists. One of my personal favorites is the Karmapa Youth Community. They are dedicated solely to "inspiring youth through the activities and aspirations of Karmapa!" http://karmapayouth.wordpress.com/ & http://www.facebook.com/?_rdr#!/groups/ ... p&refid=18

[KonchokZoepa]

yah, usually dharma center people are quite old if your in your early twenties or younger.

[Malcolm]

I have set my heart completely on liberating myself and all others from suffering... can any of you link me articles on how others have done this or provide your own insight... so, essentially, being a layperson (esp. young) and how to handle it. Thanks guys! <3

No one has ever managed to do this [i.e. liberate all others from suffering], not even the Buddha. But you can try.