The Search For Enlightenment

With the weather being the way it is, I spent much of the morning finishing The Water Road, a great book about a four month, event filled, narrowboat odyssey around the extensive British canal network. I then started re-reading William Woollard’s The Reluctant Buddhist, a superb book if you are looking for a good grounding in Nichiren Buddhism.

The great thing about William’s book, is that he explains his own path into Buddhism in such a way that you can easily relate it to your own journey. Sixteen chapters of beautifully explained Buddhism principles, all annotated with his own feelings of doubt and reticence as he slowly grows into the philosophy.

My own path started with many years of Buddhist study into New Kadampa Buddhism. Although the ideas of quietening the mind and removing feelings of desirous attachment were very interesting, the deities never sat well in my mind. It was only when I discovered, if that is the right term, Nichiren Buddhism through Jason and Karen Jarrett’s A Buddhist Podcast and the serialisation of William’s book, that I realised I had found the right life philosophy for me.

Every time I read, or listen to The Reluctant Buddhist, I get a little more from the book. Of course, many of the aspects covered are common with those in The Buddha, Geoff and Me or The Buddha in Daily Life, but each book covers them in a slightly different way. I think that by comparing and contrasting the different views gives me a better and more complete understanding of the principles.

I love reading and the World of Learning. It gives me a great feeling of academic satisfaction as well as the joy of expanding my knowledge of the anchor of my life, my own Practice.