Just a quick introduction and gratitude for the existence of this site!
I've been studying/practicing since late February 2016 after many many years as a self-avowed agnostic (but never so certain as to call myself an atheist), raised in the Assemblies of God as a pulpit-pounding preacher's son - a tradition I grew up in but fortunately was under no obligation to follow as my father also defected from fundamentalism when I was in my teens (whew!)
For months prior to February, I would find myself in difficult situations at home or work, and especially if I reacted poorly, I would find myself asking "what would the Dalai Lama do?"
HHDL being the only prominent man of wisdom I could conjure. And when my mind's eye would then play a movie of HHDL doing the opposite of what I had done / I was inclined to do in that difficult situation, I found myself wondering what it was about Buddhism that motivated my imaginary Lama to act that way.
I discovered my mother-in-law's Thich Nhat Hahn book "Being Peace" in my bookcase at home and began reading, and the floodgates opened from there.
After reading and listening voraciously, exploring the history and basics of all the various forms of Buddhism, I have settled on the Theravada Thai Forest tradition as being the one I can relate to the most, partly due to the focus on the original suttas without lots of the cultural window-dressing that comes with later forms, but also because my local Dhamma center (http://www.pdxdhamma.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) hits all of the criteria I had for location, children's programs, and community (there are LOADS of Buddhist centers in Portland OR as you can imagine, but most of them didn't satisfy one criteria or another - too superstitious, too complicated, no kid's activities, too far away, etc. etc. etc.)
So here I am! My favorite current activity is listening to podcasts from Ajahn Chah via Ajahn Amaro's podcast, and I just discovered Ajahn Sujato's Dhammanet. I'm also reading daily from ATI and have my copy of Ajahn Thiradhammo's "Working With the Five Hindrances."
And of course I'm meditating daily, usually 30 minutes in the evening, and trying to remain mindful and live by the Five Precepts every minute of the day!
Greetings to all and thanks again for being here.
