The Search For Enlightenment

Every story has a beginning, so let me tell you how mine started.

I was at a Mind, Body, Spirit fair in the Town Hall in Reading, just to take a look around.

On entering the building, a beautiful old Victorian place, the type they just don’t build anymore, I was surprised to see a Buddhist monk, in robes and Doc Martin’s going into one of the meeting rooms off the main hall. I made a few enquiries and found that he was giving a lecture on Kadampa Buddhism.

Like many people, I was intrigued by Buddhism, what I then thought of as being a curious exotic religion of The East.

The monk’s name was Kelsang Pelgae (sp?) and he was in his early twenties. Short hair, naturally, and with a constant smile on his face, his lecture had a profound effect on me. How was it, I thought, that this young man, half my age, had wisdom beyond his years. Having forsaken all his worldly possessions, he has happier than me, who at the time had everything in abundance.

I made a point of talking with him after the lecture, found out that his given name was Bret, and that he came from Manchester. He had come a long way in his short life and I wanted to know more about how that had come about.

After a little digging, I found that he held meditation classes, at a school in Reading, in the evenings, so I went along.

Each week he would cover different topics and I found them interesting, informative and relaxing. I was happy to find, that the other students were just like me, ‘normal’ people from normal backgrounds, doing normal jobs (or not), but all looking for that ‘something’ that might help them cope with the stresses of modern-day living.

To be honest, looking back, at that time I had nothing to be stressed about, but it’s almost expected these days isn’t it?

I attended weekend study sessions in the Shantideva Buddhist Centre in Maidenhead and always felt welcome, even though I was new to the practice.

I bought, and read, many of the teachings of Geshe Kelsang Gyatso and so my knowledge of Buddhism grew.

My only concern, as an atheist, was the proliferation of statues of Buddhist Gods, some of whom were angry, scary individuals. I loved the teachings about Karma, about quieting the mind and about behaviour, but those statues never sat well in my mind.

Time moved on, life changed, and my practice slowly drifted away. Then one day, shortly after I got my first Smart Phone, I was browsing through the podcast directory and stumbled across A Buddhist Podcast by Jason and Karen Jarrett and it sparked my interest anew.

I downloaded a few of the podcasts, some by William Woollard who I had admired, for his science programs and the like, for some time. The podcasts of the chapters of his book, The Reluctant Buddhist are fantastic and although I have the book, hearing William tell his own story is amazing. I was captivated by the simple messages, on an admittedly complicated series of topics, and started  to relate to what was being said.

Jason and Karen’s site holds an ever increasing series of podcasts about Nichiren Buddhism and is a fantastic resource and spring board for the experienced and novice alike.

I found that the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin held all the facets of teaching to which I could relate, without any gods or supernatural entities. The religion, or philosophy as I feel it is more correctly described, centres on personal growth and responsibility for ones own life, behaviour and happiness.

In the relatively short time I have been studying and practicing, it has made a real difference to the way I approach all aspects of life, be those joys, problems, people or whatever. I hope my posts will give you an idea of my progress (or lack of it at times) and maybe stir an interest for finding out more for yourself.