I am very interested in learning more. Can you suggest any books? There are a million on Amazon and it's kind of confusing.

Hello, Suzanne! Welcome!

One good book is "How to Practice" by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Interestingly, "Buddhism for Dummies" is a pretty good general introduction to Buddhism.

You could also try "The Heart of the Buddha's Teachings" by Thich Nhat Hanh.

For meditation as BooBear described it, I'm going to check out "Full Catastrophe Living," by Jon Kabat Zinn (sp?).

Yeah, there are a million books! And some are better than others.

Jay

One of the books I read is "Awakening the Buddha Within" which is an interesting book but you do have to look past the arrogance of the author. "How to Practice" sounds interesting and I'll need to look at that one.

DH is currently reading "The Universe in a single atom" which I will read after he is done. He says it was a little dry in the beginning but is starting to get good. DH has another good book but I'll have to find it.

As Suzanne 3FC pointed out, there are a million books! Some are very advanced--so the ones I've suggested are for general readers who don't know very much about it and want to know more.

Jay

Yup there are a million books :) I'm more interested in the philosophy aspect so I don't think I've read a basic info book on buddhism. I'd like to though.

Originally Posted by BooBear2071:
I used to be addicted to boards and challenges and *getting to goal* -- I can't tell you how that hurt me. Even now when I feel myself getting impatient I have to dial it back and focus on what I am doing in the moment... I can't control the weight I lose -- I can control what I eat and drink today. The common weight loss practice of journaling is death for me. It gets me so lost the the *future* and *plans* I can't see what I am doing right now and I start letting food come back in.

Oh, man, direct hit! I grew up in the "Power of Positive Thinking" era where there was always a PLAN to accomplish a goal and did that ever mess with my head! I'm still trying to deal more effectively with my temptation to view things as a contest and any kind of notion that I can actually control an outcome.

What I've learned is that my goal is to be happier with myself and my world. One way I do that is by working out and eating right. The by-product is that I'm losing weight. Losing weight is not the goal. However, when I get tired, I slip back into the earlier, unproductive mindset.

Thanks for the reminder!

New and Interested
 

Hello!

I am new to 3FC and pretty new to Buddism. I have dabbled and read about Buddism and really appreciate the peaceful concepts. I really enjoyed learning more reading all the thought proking messages you all wrote and you gave me quite a bit to research and to reflect. I think I will enjoy this forum for its thoughtfulness and support.

Thank you all for your thoughts so far.

Janet


Life may not be the party we hoped for... but while we are here, we might as well dance!

Hey Janet! :welcome:

We are about to start a new thread--this one is getting long--so join us on Buddhist Support #3!

Namaste,
Jay