Are there any ATRLers here who practice Buddhism and the dharma? If so, please share your journey and current practices here! Would love to connect and for this thread to be a resource hub for those who are interested as well (I will update this post with links/information in due time).

Edited June 23, 20251 yr by White Rabbit

not really but i meditate and believe in reincarnation

I don't practice it regularly but I've grown up around Buddhists. I'm from the same place where the Dalai Lama permanently lives so that also played a role. Buddhism, Wicca and Hinduism are the religions I feel close to.

14 minutes ago, DaphneGuinness said:

I don't practice it regularly but I've grown up around Buddhists. I'm from the same place where the Dalai Lama permanently lives so that also played a role. Buddhism, Wicca and Hinduism are the religions I feel close to.

Same. I'm starting to learn more about it, and I feel more connected to myself and my surroundings than I ever did 

I have been falling asleep to a lot of Thich Nhat Hanh's videos on Youtube this year, like this one for example: 
 

 
I got into his work as he has a book on Mindfulness for Teachers/Educators and have been listening to his teachings to become more patient with my annoying students  For example, I know tell that many of my colleagues are much more strict or agressive (like yelling at or mocking students) in their classrooms, which made me question my own practice (of trying to remain calm at all time). But watching this video below has helped me made peace with it:

 

Edited June 23, 20251 yr by HealerKirby

I'm an Ex-Buddhist. Unfortunately it's another religion with unverifiable claims and you are gaslit with karma and rebirth. It's fear mongering. Buddhism is also the perfect vehicle to make people complacent whilst the elites continue to do as they want. 

Edited June 23, 20251 yr by BjorkIsMyMom

I'm currently reading "When Things Fall Apart" (cuz girl, they're falling apart) and am really interested in a lot of the ideas/messages that Buddhism conveys. I guess I'm practicing/dabbling more in what people call "white Buddhism" or "western Buddhism" where I'm picking and choosing what works for me — for example, I don't necessarily believe in re-incarnation — rather than subscribing to traditional Buddhism.

I am a thai buddhist, so, I think maybe I can give you some interesting aspect of buddhism. Here in Thailand buddhism is in almost every aspect from the monarch practice to praying for a lucky number to win lottery. Although, from my perception, the core of buddhism has so little to do with all that.

 

From my aspect, the practice of buddhism is to let go of everything of yours, literally, everything including your body, your feelings, your memories, your belongings, your faves , your loved ones, and the hardest one, yourself.

The goal is to be free from suffering, which we hcannot avoid it because everything will change and will be gone eventually, and these changes, we are not gonna like them. 

But, what about the good changes that cause good feelings? Well, we buddhists will not fall for that, the good things will change and will be gone someday. That will make us linger to them and will cause us suffering, that's why we cannot keep them.

So, when we can let go of all of them the good and the bad, we will be able to accept when the changes come, and will not feel bad and also not feel good. Feeling nothing is the correct answer to this.

 

To practice this, you have to focus on your mindfulness, knowing what you are thinking. We see that our senses is the door that we let the outside factors influence our feelings. Therefore, we have to notice whatever come through our senses and how they affect our feelings. The simplest way is noticing what we feel by our senses, like we let our mind completely stay with our body. The next step is to see if we feel that we like or dislike. Remember, the goal here is to feel nothing, we will not like or dislike anything.

 

Howver, buddhism came all the way from India to Thailand, changing and adopting new cultures here and there, little by little. Now it fills with supernatural stuff and new interpretation of letting go by benevolent action. Especially, the benevolent action is not really means letting things go anymore, it now feels more like collecting your good deeds as they will pay you off in future. The core as I said above has not been recognized by the vast majority, and that's bad.  

 

Anyway, I practiced as a monk this year and there were so many rules for the things that we cannot do and one of them is listening to music. At first, I really hate this rule since I really love music, like I can't live without it. But now, I really understand why, what if one day I cannot listen to music anymore, I will feel really suffered, so, deal with it you can do it by not feeling that much desire at first. And letting my attachment to music go, then I will handle it better if that day comes.

 

That's all it's 1 am here, I cannot fight my desire to go to sleep. Goodbye