Welcome!

Welcome, Jack! I've found this group to be thoughtful and supportive, so please feel encouraged to be as active as your time and interest permits.

So glad to see your lovely, smiling face here! We’re really hopping on this forum these days, so sit back, put your feet up, and stay awhile.

Hello everyone,

My name is Sam, I'm a 28 year old married grad student in chemistry living in Boston, MA. When I'm not working I like to play guitar, read, surf the internet, play video games, hang out with my wife, explore the city, and meditate. I have been practicing for 2 years with The Mind Illuminated (mostly). I have been somewhat involved in other online dharma communities as well as occasional sitting with some local groups. I would like to find a place where I can get to know people who share my unique interests, and perhaps get a practice log going. I have worked with a couple of wonderful teachers, and they have guided me to great success in my practice, but currently I am not regularly meeting with a teacher due to budget constraints. I am delighted to find this community, and I hope I can make some sort of contribution and get feedback from others on my practice.

Hi, I am John.

I am just a usual person, on the path, fettering out the fetters Starting to dedicate a lot of hours towards it. The ultimate paradox of wanting enlightenment but if I gain it I won't be enlightened because there is no I to be enlightened.

Wow doesn't that sound complicated?

Hi everyone, I'm Malcolm. Some of you might know me as 'curious' on DhO. I'm really grateful for all the help and guidance that has already come my way from many of you.

Anyway, here I am, and looking forward to being part of this group. I live a conventional kind of life as a professional, husband, and father of three beautiful daughters. But I've had dharma disease for a few years now. And loving it! I took refuge as a teenager, although that didn't mean so much to me at the time. But seeing the mindfulness movement a few years ago encouraged me to dig in behind it, and see what it was all about. I found a lecture series from Bikkhu Bodhi that I listened to bit by bit, as I went cycling by the river. Then I read lots of internet resources, and eventually I stumbled on MCTB. I've read pretty widely since, and practiced on my own in quite a few varied ways. MCTB has had a huge influence on me, although I practice anapansati and satipatthana rather than Mahasi-style noting. Anyway, the dharma is a huge part of my life, so it would be great to have some closer companions in the journey. I guess I started as a materialist atheist with a psychological bent, but these days I'm more open to other kinds of thinking.

Looks like my handle might include my full name. That's ok - I don't want to be anonymous. But I will ask Tom to truncate it, as I would prefer not to show up in google searches from the other communities I participate in.

Welcome Malcolm!

Good to have you here "curious"/Malcolm!

Hello!

Hi everyone,

I begun reading the welcome topic back in 2010 so I guess that were the times I started the journey and I recognize to a certain extent the outlook I kind of adhered at that moment so to speak.

9 years fast forward and skipping the 27 pages or so of the Welcome I got here and I believe there is something to that relating to what the Welcome topics back in 2010 said. So yes kind of misfit and kind of sensitive to authority. I abide to authority where I see love without strings attached so I usually surrender on that occasions other than that I tend to rebel ... which I haven't been able to moderate too extensively ... Perhaps maybe a tint.

This is like a midlife point and a moment where all the first years of life seem to come to a certain conclusiveness in way that I can coherently discern to a certain point. So I am now a student in Eckhart Tolle School of Awakening, following Deepak Chopra and Roger Gabriel closely and I attend a meditation practice for about 7-8 months now. I am following Richard Rohr's Newsletter now. I took part in satsangs organized by Ram Dass and Jai Dev Singh and learned Surya Kriya and Isha Kriya.

Being involved in so many practices and traditions brought some confusion and I am hopefully finding a way out of it. I find relief in meditation and satsangs and I usually tend to get involved in topics which are not the mainstream note of the forums I follow. On Philokalia I posted articles with Eckhart and Richard Rohr, in SOA I posted transcripts with OSHO, in Jai Dev Singh community I posted links from Jack Kornfield and on Ram Dass Facebook Community I posted also something from I do not remember and I met some resistance. So I guess that's how I ended up here. A man in SOA, named Grace Anew was kind to point this forum to which I immediately subscribed not knowing exactly what is it all about.

So I am glad to meet you!

Welcome Vlad!

Hi! My name is Linda, but I’m used to being called Polly Ester or Polly online so it sometimes feels strange when people use my birthname. You are welcome to use any of the names. Presenting myself feels slightly uncomfortable because once the story is out there one may get trapped by the construction. In a forum like this, the risk is probably smaller, though. Still, I’m unsure of what to say. Feel free to ask!

Some loosely attached labels that say something about me are: neurodivergent; cross-disciplinary researcher in the field of dementia, could be described as a communication ethnographer; parent of a teenage son; catlover; happily in love with a number of persons; polyamorous, pansexual and non-binary; and since six months back I’m very much a meditation and yoga nerd and apparently a phenomenology junkie.

MCTB2 gave me my life back.

I’m currently working with Michael Taft as my coach and going through an intense development. I think I’m in my first review phase since a few days back, but I know that it is very common to mistake other things for the real thing so it is my very preliminary assessment. I haven’t even had the chance to talk to Michael about it yet, so he might disagree. Whatever it is, I’m enjoying it. I’m most grateful to everyone who have shared their knowledge and offered advice, and happy to be alive.

Howdy, fellow poly-person! I'm queer myself, and a little gender variant. You're welcome here!

Welcome! Glad to have you here.

Welcome, great to have you here.

Welcome! Wot they said innit.

Hi, my name is Frank. Thank you for the interesting content you've all added over the last years. As a longtime lurker, I've been able to get much inspiration from your posts.

I practice mostly alone, regularly but with varying intensity over the approx. 8 years of my formal sitting history. So far I have attended retreats and seminars from a number of teachers, including Christopher Titmuss, Shaila Catherine, Leigh Brasington, Akincano Weber and Bodhipaksa. In addition, for the last 3 years I've met with a diverse group of German-speaking practioners, so far 3x 10-day retreats and a couple of weekend seminars, led by Martin Stern. I'm also a member of a small local practice group here in Hannover, Germany. I have recently started to meet with dharma friends on Zoom and I would certainly like to do that more often in the future.

The registration process for this site asked for my teachers and I mentioned Thanissaro Bhikkhu and Rob Burbea. Although I have not met or spoken to either of them personally so far, I've listened to many hundreds of hours of their dharma talks and read a lot of their books. I always take Rob's "Seeing that frees" with me for retreats. If I had to name one teacher of all the many ones I've been exposed to via talks, books, articles and posts, I'd say that RB is the most dear to me and has had the most influence on my path of practice.

It doesn't feel awkward at all when I say that I love the dharma. I'm grateful to live in these times, with such a breath and depth, in terms of traditions and practices. I feel very much at home with Early Buddhism, but I regularly dabble with other traditions - - I have a pick-and-choose approach to practice which takes me often into new areas. Free-climbing in the bodymind is fun. I am also very interested in phenomenology, both as a branch of philosophy and the "how it feels like" in practice.

I am looking forward to engaging with you.

Hello!

Good to have you here, Frank.

Hi everybody!
My name is Eduardo, I am 56 years old and I live in the Canary Islands, Spain.
I have been interested in non-duality in general and in Buddhism in particular for many years. I have read a lot in many different traditions, but my practice has been poor and inconstant. When living on an island, direct contact with teachers is limited, I have only attended short meditation courses from a Soto Zen group and a Tibetan group.
I have been studying intensely this year and listening to all kinds of dharmatalks, I have learned a lot. The book that opened my eyes was Daniel Ingram's MCTB, especially the second time I read it.
So much information has caused me some confusion, so, in an attempt to focus my practice, I am currently following the beginner's guide of the Reddit Streamentry group, reading and listening to Thanissaro Bhikkhu and Rob Burbea with attention, very interesting, and meditating daily (two 20 minute periods).
I resonate with the Theravada tradition and Zen. I am not a particularly religious person and tend to pragmatism, but I feel that traditional teachings somewhat make the practice more rounded and deep. I would like to try Mahasi style meditation, but I still don't understand too well the maps and the system (and without a teacher I am afraid to take false paths).
It is very enriching to read about the experiences of others in this type of forums, thank you very much for allowing me to participate