specifically Christianity, more palatable. I took a hard look when my
daughter was born and still did not feel right about Christianity. Shortly thereafter I began working for a company based in Israel. I had been semi-joking for years that if I did pick up religion as a part of life it would be Judaism. I had even checked out several books on the subject and honestly it seemed much closer to the way i felt about religion and "God" than Christianity did. But, it still never clicked...I just did not feel fulfilled thinking about it.
I have been a fan of the band Faithless for years. Maxi Jazz, being older yet very hip, has been a constant fascination. I am impressed not only with his skills as a musician, but his attitudes about life and drive to be a good and socially aware person. I had not thought much about Buddhism, honestly, but when reading his Wikipedia entry and discovering that he is an active Sōka Gakkai buddhist I began to get interested. I did some research on the web and one day headed to the library to see if I could find any books published by Sōka Gakkai. I was disappointed to not find any, though I did find Encountering the Dharma: Daisaku Ikeda, Soka Gakkai, and the Globalization of Buddhist Humanism. Ultimately I shied away from Sōka Gakkai as it really struck me as more of a olitical movement than just being spiritual. I have since opened my heart a little more to accepting that practicing the Dharma comes in many forms, but at the time it just did not mesh with me.
I headed over from the library to an awesome little store we have in Frederick, MD called Ten Thousand Joys. I also did not find any books there on Sōka Gakkai. Though one book did catch my attention. However, now is a good time to share something else that was going on in my life. My wife and I had been together for 13 years. Right about the time it seems many couples have issues connecting. She also has a lot of issues stemming from her childhood that seemed to come to a head right at that time. When you add additional stress from me becoming estranged from my best friend of 12 years, our marriage was close to a breaking point.
I wandered through the "relationships" books and nothing caught my eye. But I also did not want to leave empty handed. Something was drawing me through the store. As I wandered back to the Buddhism books again I semi-embarrassed looked at that book I had found on my first round. I casually pulled it down and began flipping through it. It was When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chödrön. I am not sure why I was so embarrassed to pick the book up. Worse was looking at it. But i could not put it down. I was flipping through it reading maybe 1/4 page at a time and everything she said just made sense. But this was not Sōka Gakkai, this was Tibetan Buddhism. But, I bought it. And I took it home. And I began to read. And I discovered Tibetan Buddhism, Pema Chödrön style.
With all the press etc related to Tibet I
initially felt a little like drawing away from Tibetan Buddhism as well. But the
more I learned about Buddhism the more and more I kept coming back to
Tibetan Buddhism.
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