Brief members bios - please contribute!

[Wayfarer]

I'm now 61 (how time flies) I started practicing meditation in 1978 or so, following instructions given by a kind of awareness training group lead by Walter Bellin (salutations to him) who taught mantra meditation and also, as I say, self-awareness training. I thought he (and then-wife Gita) were really good, Gita was my first (or maybe second) spiritual teacher. But I'd been intensely reading a lot of spiritual books before that time, all of the 60's classics - Krishnamurti, Alan Watts, Suzuki (S and D T) and many others - I was one of those types always hanging out in the spiritual books section (when not trying to be guitarist.) I actually learned some vital information through that experience, and then discovered Vipassana meditation (not via Goenka although did a 10-day retreat in 2007) and went on my first short retreat at Wat Buddha Dhamma in about 1979 or so (when Phra Khantipalo was head teacher there, salutations to him also).

Oh yes, around that time I also heard one of the last Sydney talks by Lama Yeshe, who was an electrifying presence, and who I think had a big influence on my subsequent development (even though only saw him once - salutations to him also.) At this time I was enrolled as a mature-age student at the University, studying Comparative Religion, Philosophy, Anthropology, Psychology and History, eventually graduating with an Hons in comparative religion, which was a superbly useless degree to get, and left me casting about for what to do for a living for years afterwards. (I eventually found my way into the technology industry and am now a tech writer.)

From that time on I carried on a daily meditation practice, albeit fitfully at times. Got married in 1983. Next milestone was getting To Meet the Real Dragon by Nishijima-roshi (salutations to him.) I even wrote to Nishijima-roshi, way back before there was email, and got a nice reply from him (I never did get the follow-up he mentioned, although I'm still up for it).

Anyway I've stayed with the daily practice since then (actually my 'meditation app' tells me I have had a session on 69% of days since I first downloaded it in 2013) and continue to learn through it. In 2007 or so I started going to an informal 'dharma sharing group' which is now based at the Buddhist Library in Sydney; we meet every second month on a Sunday and someone does a presentation. (Our blog is here.) And I did a Master of Buddhist Studies at the University of Sydney in 2011-12 under the able guidance of Mark Allon (salutations to him.)

I have a lot of interest in traditional (as distinct from modern!!) philosophy and have a strong affinity for what is called 'neo-platonism', which is mainly only understood by academics and Eastern Orthodox monastics nowadays. But there are many parallels between neo-platonism and Mahayana Buddhism, as discussed in books such as the Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation and also Thomas McEvilly's The Shape of Ancient Thought.

But my daily practice is very simple, based on Nishijima-roshi and Suzuki-roshi's guidelines: bow, chant, sit. And repeat.....Curiously, if I just do that, everything just works. The only obstacles are inevitably those which I create.

Thanks for reading.

[Ayu]

It seems, I have nine lifes like a cat. I'm starting the seventh now maybe. They could be named briefly:
- the redhaired little girl
- the thoughtful teenager full of doubts
- the seeker and finder of meditation, young mother
- the gardener and singer in times of change
- the gardener and singer in better times
- the buddhist, singer and old mother.
My husband is a wonderful person and I have three sons, who are adult and teenagers.

I'm a practical person and a dreamer at the same time - and no intellectual, although I enjoy thinking. My mothertongue is German, my father was Swedish. I love painting and learn to play ukulele slowly.
Right now in our A Capella group we are working on building our new programme, but I'm sceptical, if we can be successful with that. But in my life things always turn out differently than expected. That's how I learned not to believe in my expectations.
My precious buddhist teacher is a Gelugpa, follower of the Dalai Lama. I practice Ngöndro right now and studied the Lamrim.


There are pictures of my face on my website.

[Johnny Dangerous]

I'm 38, married with two young kids, I've lived in Olympia, Washington for about 13 years, grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

I do experimental music you can find here:

https://zachzinn.bandcamp.com/
https://soundcloud.com/zach-zinn

I have done martial arts most of my life, mainly Okinawan Karate (which I teach actively), but I have spent some time in Judo as well, and also actively train in Jujutsu.

Getting into Dharma was a long process for me, I first started reading about Buddhism in high school, and (maybe like a lot of folks) my first exposure was Goddard's A Buddhist Bible. I remember thinking "hmm, that's interesting, and true." At the time though, girls and drugs really sounded a lot more appealing than Dharma practice. I spent a number of years just reading on and off, the Diamond and Heart Sutras, and Turning The Wheel of Dharma Sutta were some of my favorites. For years this was pretty much my practice, reading those, and commentary etc. on them. I would not have called myself Buddhist at that time. A few years later I started sitting at a kind of rebel Soto Zen place. I did that for a number of years but really could never bring myself to a daily practice, and wasn't terribly inspired by it, though I liked my teacher a lot. So, I ended up looking into Vajrayana mainly because I am an art and music guy, and have always been profoundly affected by the aesthetics of it. I found a local (Sakya - though very ecumenical) center which really feels like home, took refuge there, and have also been lucky enough to receive some initiations from phenomenal teachers at Sakya Monastery in Seattle, as well as great teachings locally from the Loppon and others at my center. I have also been a couple times to Saraha Nyingma center in Eugene, like it, and plan on going back when i'm in that town, which I am pretty frequently.

Here's a recent picture of my wife and I in New Mexico, at a beautiful place full of old ruins called Atsinna:

[明安 Myoan]

Hello, all! Nice to "meet" you

I'm Erik, a soon to be 29-year-old living in Portland, Oregon, on the southeast side. I began practicing Buddhism in 2011 as merely a way to try to treat depression. I found Henepola Gunaratana's book "Mindfulness In Plain English" and took up a basic mindfulness practice. After that, I bounced around to pretty much every major Buddhist school, taking advantage of Portland's vibrant Buddhist community to visit lots of temples. I took formal refuge in the Kagyu school, attempted a Goenka retreat (and left), and I finally landed in the Pure Land school April 2014. Being logical and fairly stoic in daily life, it's been an ideal practice to get out of my own head.

I'm married to my partner of 10 years. We have two cats we raised from the same litter who'll be 5 in August. I work as a TV captioner for the deaf, writing the captions for live programming such as news and sports, but sometimes on-site events like graduations or seminars. For fun, I play piano (jazz mostly), write music, work in our large corner lot garden, take walks, speak French and Esperanto, and play some video games (Super Smash Bros and Mario Kart). I'm also a big Star Trek nerd for TNG, Voyager and DS9 with the latter being my favorite You can find some of my (older) original music here: https://soundcloud.com/lumi

Figuring out what Buddhism looks like in my actual life has been an interesting challenge. I can see many sides to issues, so it's very easy to talk myself into one practice or view, then talk myself out of it the next day. Only the nembutsu seems to be the place I can return to, though I have great respect for the methods of Bhante G. as well as the Mahasi noting technique, which I sometimes employ. Right now, I'm trying to just take it easy and stop thinking myself crazy!

I'm on DW because it's the only dharma contact I have. No temple I've gone to has really clicked, and Pure Land practice is such that one's ordinary daily life is the focus anyway. I've learned a lot from everyone here and hope to keep enjoying everyone's company for a while

[conebeckham]

I will be 50 in February. I grew up in New York, in the Hudson River Valley. I've been reading the Dharma since I was 12, in sixth grade, when my teacher gave me a copy of the Dhammapada to read--I was doing a report on "Thailand" and she told me I couldn't understand Thailand without understanding Buddhism. This was my intro to Buddhism, and the beginning of my engagement with the Dharma. I spent a good deal of time reading what was then available, in the 70's and 80's, and did a short Zen retreat in 1985, and studied Madhyamika as intepreted by Tsong Khapa, with a Gelukpa geshe whose name I don't recall, in 1986, while in college. I also studied and practiced Lam Rim meditations based on books from Wisdom Publications, who were really the earliest "authentic" Tibetan publishers I encountered back then. I also read voraciously, and found my niche after reading books by Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche.

I have called myself a "Buddhist" since High School, but it wasn't until the early 90's, after moving to CA to pursue a career as a professional musician (a Rock Star, that is!), that I took refuge and began my practice with Kagyu lamas, principally my "Uncle-in-Law," Lama Lodru Rinpoche. I lived at his Dharma center from January 1994 until 2000, and was UmDze there for much of that time. I also met my root Guru, Kyabje Dorje Chang Bokar Rinpoche, as well as Khenpo Lodro Donyo Rinpoche, Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, Venerable Yongay Mingyur Dorje Rinpoche, and other wonderful teachers, while living there, raising a family (I have a grown son and a High School-aged daughter), and working in the Workers' Comp insurance industry--the only ethical part of the insurance business, IMO. My wife, daughter, and I live in the East Bay and have since 2000, and I work in SF. I'm a bass guitarist, and I listen to a lot of Jazz, and all sorts of music. I travel to India, to Sikkim mainly, every few years.

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[conebeckham]

Oh, yeah...this was my band. (Someone asked; I'm not plugging.....I don't see any of the "royalties anymore, anyway!!LOL)
http://www.amazon.com/Such-Animal-The-R ... B00003GNX3

[Wayfarer]

As there are some other musicians here, this is my music page.

[Ayu]

If there wasn't this worldwide distance, we really could form a Dharmawheel-Jazz-Band.

[Jim1]

Looks like I'm not nearly as serious about all this as most others on here. I do have the music thing though(was the drummer for a rock band in high school). Now I'll be 44 in less than 3 weeks. I got really into Buddhism in about 2006 when I read "Being Peace" by Thich Nhat Hanh. But I've never had a teacher or anything serious like that. I grew up in upstate ny and lived in Buffalo most of my adult life. I now live in western nc, near the tennessee border. Currently my practice just consists of daily(almost) meditation, and taking refuge in the Three Jewels.. with this board serving as my 'Sangha' and, in my Dharma study, putting special emphases on the Noble Eightfold Path. Oh and I've been a vegetarian since 2001, vegan since 2003(animal rights reasons).

[gloriasteinem]

Hi Folks!

I thought it could help build a warmer more congenial environment if we actually knew a bit about each other. Especially members who've been posting for a while, but also newbies who feel moved to go beyond the usual Intro - please share some info about yourselves, your practice and anything else that's important to you.

Here's a bit from me.

I'm 41, been a Buddhist for probably 2 decades now out of which I practiced under a teacher for the last 12 years. My intro to Buddhism was Allan Watts The Way of Zen and Blofield's translation of Huang Po and after reading and re-reading them a few times very enthusiastically, I had thought I had Zen basically figured out. The mistake was to take Zen as a philosophy and intellectual understanding for realisation. But luckily I met my teacher, who trained in Korea in classical Seon, and bit by bit I was disabused of the notion that I had anything figured out. I hope I stay that way!

My day job has been at a Uni - teaching and researching in mathematics, though this is coming to an end, so I'm at a cross-roads - a good time to practice. I'm married to a thoughful caring and supportive partner and we have 3 kids, so you can imagine that there are the usual pressures and constraints but also a wonderful opportunity to practice. To learn to have the practice flow through life is my major ongoing lesson, and as much as I am a slow learner, it is still a wonderful blessing and a joy when I'm able to truly be there for my family. And a lot of the time I fail - get distracted, irritated, down - I've had my share of stuff-ups and tough times. But fall down seven times, get up eight, as the Japanese saying goes.

Apart from that I worked for several years as a Buddhist Prison chaplain which was an amazing experience as well as a Buddhist Religious Education teacher at a local primary, both in my spare time, mostly volunteer things. My other passion is photography and art and I'm in the process of sprucing up my website. Maybe will share later.

As far as the Fora go, my aim is simply to help foster a friendly constructive environment conducive to learning and sharing the Dharma. I don't have an agenda to push and prefer minimal external moderation, but rather for the members to moderate themselves. It is always a pleasure to have the core of sincerely learned and dedicated practitioners leading by example and I think we have that. Hopefully more will come!

Sorry about the long rant - now your turn!!!

_/|\_
dan

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Hey, great topic! I think I am very religious and Buddhist since I remember myself although I didn't know about Buddhism back then and was baptised also trying to be a good Christian! I think I had some idea about eastern philosophy from a very young age probably due to my grandmother and parents. They were very believing although living under communism they didn't have the chance to practice (even going to church was not allowed), so after democracy came we very quickly found our way into Daoist and Qi Gong courses. For me it was very much part of the way, and I was really thoughtful of this from ... 3 or 4 years old. I think my parents thought me to be very companionate and true, to say the truth, and be honest, also very intellectual, and lately I am only having thoughts of why I am not so thoughtful and considerate as before. I should be.

However I discovered Buddhism only after Hinduism. And funnily, I did through my friends who showed me how to be indeed very companionate for all creatures not only those you can see around, and told me about lord Shiva. I wouldn't say everything was very smooth or one-directional, at the same time I had someone in my life who showed me Christian justice and higher "light", that's the only way I could explain it. So after wondering for a while I found myself Buddhist with a very much shivaistic influence and admiration to Christian justice. So I have these all with me, together with Daoist which I honestly find essential. So there is a lot I am practicing and believing obviously but I wouldn't call myself an expert and I probably don't even know many of the names and terms you are using. For me it was almost about observation of other people's achievements. Practitioners or even I'd say "angels", also as you already know I have bad times when I do stupid things like going around in a Tshirt when is cold or something, or exhausting myself, and when it gets really bad, because I am mostly alone on my own I pray a lot, or simply cry and I guess I have a lot of help sometimes especially when I am hopeless I can confirm it is not simply that I feel like I have help, sometimes it is very easy to recognise that suddenly I feel well.

But before that I always do a double thought of my behaviour because believe me it doesn't work otherwise. And, this is it.

Also in 2008 a bit after the financial crisis or before that I had this bad feeling of something coming so I believe very much in prophecies. I didn't before. To be honest, we studied a bit in highschool literature class Bible apocalyptic literature and while I read a few pages I didn't spare much time contemplating on it. Neither I thought much of Buddhist eschatological prophecies. I just read them for information. And that's all. Well, things changed and I am afraid I am a bit nervous ever since for the much disappointment of my teacher I don't try much to behave well and usually regret about it esp. in days like today and yesterday when I felt that maybe I don't know. And because I think much of the apocalyptic suffering should be already gone (I am a very optimistic person after all), I think the time of second coming or new Buddha should be near and only stuff that bothers me is : 1. Me not being honourable enough for this 2. Some fake prophets or fake / deluding events that might disturb people. The second bothers me a lot. I do care about these things but usually it goes out as ranting. And I apologise for it.

For me Buddhism is about inner realisation of things, understanding, compassion and true joy and happiness.

[Admin_PC]

"Brief" is not my strong point, but I'll give it a shot...

Moved to Japan in high school, started doing kung fu my junior year around 1994. Got exposed to a lot of Taoism, (Chan) Buddhism, and Confucianism. Liked the Tao Te Ching, but the I Ching, the 5 elements model, and the quest for the elixir of immortality weren't my thing. Liked what I learned about Chan (and Pure Land), but didn't have access to much literature on it at the time. Confucianism was just how kung fu etiquette was handled.

Finished high school, went to college in late 1995. Tried to study some Buddhism on my own while I was there. Picked up a book that was supposed to be a survey of traditions (Entering the Stream). Also have pocket-sized copies of Tibetan Book of the Dead, Dharmapada, and Zen Koans but I'm not sure when I purchased them - could've been much earlier. While I loved the Dharmapada, my reaction to Entering the Stream was different. Not sure what it was about the book, but I got this really bad taste for Buddhism from it. I guess I wasn't ready yet. Seemed way too life negating and it was hard to see how people interested in having a family fit into the whole thing.

Re-approached Buddhadharma later as an adult almost 4 years ago, after finally deciding, once-and-for-all that the religion of my youth was just not something I could reconcile with (after many, many attempts). With a little more experience under my belt, it made a lot more sense. At the time, there were a few Buddhist documentaries on Netflix. I liked watching the talks of Joseph Campbell & Robert Thurman. They helped me see the teachings in a different way than I'd initially gotten from that book.

I started visiting various groups around town. I'd actually been getting quite a bit of exposure to Theravada from my muay thai coach since 2008, but at the time it was a bit too "foreign" to me to really get a feel for it. I studied Lam Rim with a Vajrayana group, I attended a service at a Rissho Kosei Kai center, I went directly to the Thai temple where we performed for Thai New Year every year to ask the monks for instruction, and started attending Sunday evening services at a Vietnamese temple that I was invited to by one of my coaches. Of them all, the Vietnamese temple felt the most familiar, even though I have little to no connection with Vietnamese language or culture. It reminded me most of the Chinese Buddhism I'd encountered through kung fu. I ended up sticking with that group and through them started learning about Pure Land (which I actually didn't like when I first started reading about it).

Moved to Georgia a year and a half ago. All the Dharma centers are on the opposite side of the metro area from where I live. I try to make it to the Pure Land center (associated with Ven Chin Kung's Amitabha Society) whenever I can. Last year I was able to go all of two times and I haven't been yet this year. Meanwhile, I've been taking Buddhist correspondence courses online & following along with online broadcasts of Dharma services, both in Japanese Pure Land traditions. Otherwise, I just read a lot and practice as my schedule allows.

I work in computer security, I have a wife and two kids. My hobbies are martial arts (mainly muay thai these days), Japanese language (which I've been studying since high school), and Okinawan style drumming (which has its roots in Japanese Pure Land practices).

My hope for the forum? To see it be a place where people share all the information they've researched and the wisdom they've earned through practice in a constructive manner. Not really sure how I fell into being a mod, there are a lot of people with a lot more experience than me, but I'm always willing to learn and I'm hoping that my impact will be a positive one.

[Loren Enders]

Loren, 43 years of age. Computer technician by trade. Introduced to Buddhism through the writings and music of Ram Dass, Genesis P-Orridge, and David Michael Tibet. My ex-wife's practice and her gift of the books of Jack Kerouac set me on the path. Some Theravada but mainly practice Drikung Kagyu and Dudjom Tersar lineages.

Someday hopefully will be living on the coast of California bouncing around between Pema Osel Ling and Vajrapani Institute. Have a step-son named Soren and an 11-year old named Asher who is more interested in computer games than Buddhism. Here is Asher's contribution to the bio:

Peace.

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[Johnny Dangerous]

Funny random anecdote on the David Tibet thing Loren: I remember having a copy of As The World Disappears by Current 93, which had song titles and other stuff written in Tibetan. At the time I worked with this zany characer, ex-monk with a mischievous sense of humour who worked as night auditor and asked him to translate...so technically Current93 was involved one of my first experiences with Vajrayana too;)

[Lazy_eye]

Nice thread topic -- thanks, Dan! It's interesting to see so many affinities among DW members.

I'm 48, born in Illinois but grew up in Maryland, where I currently live. Experimental music was my first point of contact with the Dharma; when I was a teen, my dad bought me a copy of John Cage's book Silence. I was also really absorbed in the music of Stockhausen -- there's a Buddhist influence in some of his works, such as "Mantra" (which, coincidentally, was performed here in the DC metro area last weekend).

I didn't go into music, though; I ended up becoming a writer and editor. That's primarily what I do now. Current gig is at a small college, and I also moonlight as an adjunct professor, teaching writing classes to cybersecurity students. I've become used to telling people that I'm married and have two small kids, but it dawned on me recently that they're actually big kids now -- 11 (son) and 8 (daughter).

Although I've been around on the forae for awhile (I met some of you on E-Sangha), my practice is still extremely limited. Most of the time it's just focused on ethics and mindful behavior in everyday settings. My sitting practice (when I'm able to keep up with it) is just basic breath meditation, though I've been experimenting with some of the exercises in Shaila Catherine's Focused and Fearless. My former job required a longish commute, during which I listened to talks from Dharma Seed and other sources. If I decide to begin a more formal practice down the road it will most likely be either in a Zen or insight Meditation context.

What else? I write poetry and (very occasionally) blog. During my late twenties I taught in Korea and had the opportunity to visit several temples, including Pomosa, Haeinsa, and Songwangsa. A few years ago i was in China visiting in-laws (my wife is from the PRC) and was able to visit Shaolin, two temples in Kaifeng, and a big Vajrayana temple in Beijing. All memorable places, though I liked the Korean ones best.

[Malcolm]

Funny random anecdote on the David Tibet thing Loren: I remember having a copy of As The World Disappears by Current 93, which had song titles and other stuff written in Tibetan. At the time I worked with this zany characer, ex-monk with a mischievous sense of humour who worked as night auditor and asked him to translate...so technically Current93 was involved one of my first experiences with Vajrayana too;)

Many years ago I was to affiliated with TOPY. The first time I heard thighbone trumpets was on PTV's Force the Hand of Chance, circa 1984.

[Johnny Dangerous]

Funny random anecdote on the David Tibet thing Loren: I remember having a copy of As The World Disappears by Current 93, which had song titles and other stuff written in Tibetan. At the time I worked with this zany characer, ex-monk with a mischievous sense of humour who worked as night auditor and asked him to translate...so technically Current93 was involved one of my first experiences with Vajrayana too;)

Many years ago I was to affiliated with TOPY. The first time I heard thighbone trumpets was on PTV's Force the Hand of Chance, circa 1984.

[dzogchungpa]

Many years ago I was to affiliated with TOPY.

OK, now it all makes sense.

[Malcolm]

Many years ago I was to affiliated with TOPY.

OK, now it all makes sense.

[Crazywisdom]

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My gramps was big on yoga and I was the only kid that thought he was cool. I studied many texts any I could get since I was able to read. I first saw Buddha sutras at that time. I found it hard to understand but also I could tell it was higher. I always researched what I could until I met Drubpon Gonpo Dorje Rinpoche seven years ago and from there I have met many teachers and received many transmissions. I can't credit any one teacher as my exclusive root guru. Each one showed me something different. And I combine all. Since we are considering Dzogchen and Mahamudra are the same I claim Vajrayana and all nine yanas as my path. I'm also 41 geezers

[Schrödinger’s Yidam]

I spent the late '70s living at the Santa Cruz Karmapa center, which was effectively Rime' at the time. We would have lamas from any sect come teach. Thus I had the privilege to meet many of the great lamas from the late 20th century that would tour California (plus a handful of duds). Although the lamas were generous and Dharma became credible, I felt like Vajrayana was too hard for someone like me.

After that I spent 35 years in L.A. trying to get my personal life and career together. Stupidly I went through a substance abuse scenario in the mid '90s. When I came out of it I saw that there were ignorant and unsophisticated people that made great strides in spirituality through 12 step programs. I thought to myself, "Well, if those people can make something out of spirituality, then so can I." I used my NgonDro practice to get clean and sober instead of a 12 step program, so understandably I see similarities. I post here at DW about it sometimes.

I still suck at meditation, it's even harder than I thought. But I'm 60 now and I don't care so much about the fact I'm not good at it. Remarkably I will say that at this stage of life I am one of the happiest people I know--or even know of--and it's thanks entirely to the Dharma teachers of my youth.