Hello from France

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jinsog
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Joined: Wed May 31, 2023 1:38 pm

Hello from France

Post by jinsog »

Greetings,

I'm an American living in France and a relative newcomer to Buddhism. I started opening up to things like integral yoga and Ram Dass 3 years ago, but turned to Buddhadharma a year and a half ago when I started going to meditation at a local Kagyu center. After making progress with shiné, attending some teachings and short retreats (all Kagyu), and doing lots and lots of reading (as well as lurking here on DW), I became more committed to Tibetan Buddhism.

I've learned a lot from my experience with Kagyu folks around me, but somehow I never felt I had found a teacher or a path to commit to, and the Karmapa split has bothered me. My center follows OTD, but most other places around here follow TTD, and I've had positive experiences with teachers and practitioners on both sides. But I never felt any kind of connection with or confidence in OTD, especially not after the recent scandals. I felt a bit more drawn to TTD as a teacher, but there are things that bothered me, such as his proximity to Ole Nydahl and Diamond Way, and the implicit conflict with HHDL. I would also feel conflicted following TTD when doing weekly meditation with an OTD sangha. I tried to look beyond it, but I felt it really prevented me from committing in a more serious way to the lineage, like taking refuge.

For these reasons I decided to start looking beyond Kagyu, and immediately I felt strongly drawn to Sakya and Nyingma, but especially Sakya and HH Sakya Trichen. For now I am devouring books and podcasts, trying to cover the basics, but also delving into deeper Sakya stuff, and I might attend teachings of HH 43 Sakya Trizin and HH Sakya Trichen in France this summer, perhaps taking refuge with one of them, if possible.

At any rate, I just wanted to introduce myself, and I'm sorry if this was a bit long. I've really learned a lot from lurking here and wanted to thank you all for your thoughtful posts and hope to participate in the conversations in a positive way.

:hi:
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Ayu
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Re: Hello from France

Post by Ayu »

Welcome to Dharmawheel. :smile:
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DNS
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Re: Hello from France

Post by DNS »

Welcome to DW!

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