 |
 These pages are from a book which originally evolved from a series of questions and answers. The questions came from young people from all religious backgrounds wishing to find out more about Buddhism. Generally they had written to the monastery either for the purpose of completing school work or just out of personal interest. |
|
| The answers were written 'as the questions came' and not with any thought of trying to cover all aspects of Buddhism so there may be some areas not covered and some repetition. I wrote them over about two years and some days the sun was shining and other days maybe not, but hopefully there is some consistency visible as you read through each section. |  |
|
| The answers are from a personal perspective
and quite likely other monastics of this tradition would have answered some questions
differently. Also, being a monk, my thoughts have come from that perspective so I haven't
presented much from the nuns' point of view. The roots of our tradition are in the
wandering, forest-dwelling life of Asia but as I live in a fairly large, mixed-gender,
multi-cultural community in England my replies have also come through that. I haven't
presented much of the 'technical' side of the teachings but answered more from my personal
experience which has come from practising with and reflecting on those teachings. The
classical forms are an important starting point if you are interested in deepening your
understanding of Buddhism and there are many books available. (See Bibliography at the
back of this book.) Buddhism is a vehicle to be used on the voyage in search of truth. We all start from different places, and may even choose different vehicles, but there is no way to avoid the journey. The Buddha completed his odyssey and his teachings can be seen as a kind of map. But like a classical, old treasure map it must be studied carefully. The information is there but knowing how to read it is half the problem. Hopefully my answers will provide a few clues. Happy hunting. My grateful thanks go to: |
||