Hello from Wisconsin!

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TessaHenley
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 5:06 pm

Hello from Wisconsin!

Post by TessaHenley »

Hello Everybody,

My name is Tessa Henley. I am currently living in Wisconsin, USA. I am 20 years old and I am very interested in Buddhism. I read as much material as I can, and I started daily meditation last week. I absolutely want to commit to this education/philosophy/lifestyle, but I do have questions and would like to reach out to others that are more evolved than I. My first and largest question is how does one go about practicing Buddhism on a daily basis? Is it just meditation and following the Eightfold Path? I know and understand the Three Refuges also, but is there more out there that I'm not finding? I feel like I can meditate, follow the Eightfold Path, and take refuge in the Three Refuges, but I am not changing anything in my daily life (except meditationg everyday). I've read of a practice that chants 9 times a day to help stay focused. Are there any other practices to help keep everything in mind?

I apologize, I'm probably very overwhelming. I just am so curious and I really want to channel myself to Buddhism!

Thank you very very much in advance and I look forward to this journey with you all.
Tessa Henley
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LonesomeYogurt
Posts: 900
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2012 4:24 pm
Location: America

Re: Hello from Wisconsin!

Post by LonesomeYogurt »

Welcome!

All you have to do to "be" a Buddhist is take refuge in the Triple Gem. Try and observe the five precepts, follow the Noble Eightfold Path, and set aside some time for meditation. May I ask what type of meditation you are currently doing, or if a certain teacher interests you?
Gain and loss, status and disgrace,
censure and praise, pleasure and pain:
these conditions among human beings are inconstant,
impermanent, subject to change.

Knowing this, the wise person, mindful,
ponders these changing conditions.
Desirable things don’t charm the mind,
undesirable ones bring no resistance.

His welcoming and rebelling are scattered,
gone to their end,
do not exist.
- Lokavipatti Sutta

Stuff I write about things.
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bodom
Posts: 7216
Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2009 6:18 pm
Location: San Antonio, Texas

Re: Hello from Wisconsin!

Post by bodom »

Welcome Tessa!

:anjali:
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.

- BB
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cooran
Posts: 8503
Joined: Tue Jan 06, 2009 11:32 pm
Location: Queensland, Australia

Re: Hello from Wisconsin!

Post by cooran »

Welcome Tessa! :group:

It is probably easier if you start threads in the sub-forums on particular topics. Look forward to reading your posts.

with metta
Chris
---The trouble is that you think you have time---
---Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe---
---It's not what happens to you in life that is important ~ it's what you do with it ---
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Ben
Posts: 18438
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 12:49 am
Location: kanamaluka

Re: Hello from Wisconsin!

Post by Ben »

Hi Tessa and welcome!

Sounds like you are doing well. I recommend a residential meditation retreat to get you established.
We can discuss that and other options in another thread.
kind regards,

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

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TessaHenley
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 5:06 pm

Re: Hello from Wisconsin!

Post by TessaHenley »

Thank you all so much for the input! To carry on this conversation, I started a thread under the General Theravada Discussion.

I titled it, "Trying to gain more insight..."

:namaste:
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DNS
Site Admin
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Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 4:15 am
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, Estados Unidos de América
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Re: Hello from Wisconsin!

Post by DNS »

:hello:

Welcome to Dhamma Wheel!

:buddha1:
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