Religion!? Thinking of becoming Buddhistt?

Unlike most other spiritual traditions, Buddhism is primarily a practice tradition.

Buddhism focuses mostly on what you do (meditation and other practices), not on what you believe. (Which is to be expected since Buddhism has no doctrine, creed or other belief system.)

Buddhist practice develops the important human qualities of compassion, wisdom, generosity, kindness, creativity and helpfulness.

The best way to learn Buddhist practice is to go to a temple or center near you. Most Buddhist centers offer free instruction and support. (Two good lists of such centers are below).

However, because of your age and family situation, that might not be possible for you. If that's the case, then you can certainly take some important steps on your own.

First, you might read one of the several excellent introductory books. Of these, I recommend "It's Easier Than You Think" by Sylvia Boorstein. This short book avoids jargon and sectarian bias in describing the basic teachings of Buddhism. It also shows how these teachings connect to everyday, modern life. (Oh, and books are almost always better than websites.)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000H2MEGY?tag=oxher-20&...

Second, you might try meditating every day for 10 minutes. Fortunately, many Buddhist meditation techniques are very easy to learn (the challenge comes in doing them consistently!) Here's a great video that describes how to do Zen meditation, a very common form of Buddhist practice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csyCrcpDs58&feature...

Third, you might try to incorporate the Five Precepts into your life. The Buddha offered these precepts as guidelines for behavior because he saw that they promoted happiness and reduced suffering. Here's a good discussion of the precepts:

http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/qanda04.htm

Given your background, you might also be interested to know that a number of Catholic priests and nuns practice Buddhism, especially Zen Buddhism. In fact, several have become recognized as Zen masters, while maintaining their Catholic vows. Here's info on two of these people:

http://kennedyzen.tripod.com/

http://www.tricycle.com/web-exclusive/sitting-serm...

Best wishes on your path!

Paula to get a more quality answer it may take some time and maybe not. I would recommend exploring christianity a bit more. Going to some pentacostal /charismatic churches or even Lutheran Baptist , Jehovahs Witness give them a run.

Than if you have access go to a Synagogue and see what the Jews are up too. Next up go to a Mosque and check out the Muslims

Hindus, and others should be on the list. The reason I am saying this is I would recommend reading and tasting. Try and imagine yourself for one week as a ( insert demonation here) Christian than the next week as a Jew than the next week as a Muslim ect.... and think how it would effect you emotionally spiritually and your life style and some of your choices.

When you do that you maybe able to give a better thought by the way I'm Muslim (from Protestant Chrisitan background)

But I wish you all the best in your journey to find truth and peace.

I use to be Christian and I looked into Buddhism. I just told my parents i didn't believe in God and stopped going to Church. Buddhism is very different from Christianity. Its hard to find this religion's true from because western culture apparently changed it. I read Buddha for Beginners which taught what Buddhism really was and how it came about. There is no god in Buddhism, Buddha is a teacher, you don't worship him. You don't have a soul if you believe in Buddhism. To reach nirvana you must let go of all materials and moderation is huge. You become very humble and see yourself as just a random living organism in the universe. There is reincarnation but i was very confused about it. There's also Karma.

Unless you live in a fairly big city, you may have trouble finding a Buddhist group to join. However, you can find plenty to read!

http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/5minbud.htm

http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/2001/06/What-Mahay...