And I can't drive yet, and there is no way my parents would let me check out a book on buddhism.
Any suggestions? I have already researched it a little bit online, but I don't want to choose buddhism based on things I have read online.|||Honestly, for beginner/intermediate learners of Buddhism, the internet is the best source to learn about Buddhism. *http://www.buddhanet.net/ is one of the most reliable and accurate websites to learn about Buddhism, and to gain wisdom: http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/inde鈥?/a> *You may wish to consider checking out the book on Buddhanet called: "What Buddhists Believe" By: Dr. K. Sri Dhammanada http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/whatbe鈥?/a>
And, as mentioned - "Mindfulness in Plain English" By: Ven. Henepola Gunaratana: http://www.vipassana.com/meditation/ is an excellent book to learn how to practice Mindfulness Meditation. *Henepola Gunaratana-in his book "Mindfulness in Plain English" covers what meditation is, what it isn't, attitude, the practice, what to do with your body, what to do with your mind, structuring your meditation, set-up exercises, dealing with problems, dealing with distractions, sati or mindfulness, mindfulness vs. concentration and mindfulness in everyday life.
Thubten Chodron-an American Buddhist Nun-has a very good
website to learn from: http://www.thubtenchodron.org/
Thubten Chodron has authored an excellent book called "Buddhism For Beginners" - which teaches the Essence of Buddhism, the Life of The Buddha, Love and Compassion, Beginning Meditation, Impermanence and Suffering, Selflessness, Science/Creation/Rebirth, Karma: the functioning of cause and effect, The Buddhist Traditions {ie: Theravada, Mahayana, Pure Land, Zen, Vajrayana, etc.), Steps Along the Path, Working With Emotions, Dharma in Everyday Life, Women and The Dharma, Family %26amp; Children, Spiritual Teachers, and Prayers and Rituals. She has also authored a very good book called: "Open Heart, Clear Mind" which is a beginner/intermediate Buddhist book.
Andrew Weiss, who is ordained in both Thich Nhat Hanh's Order of Interbeing and the White Plum Lineage of Japanese Soto Zen Traditions, has an excellent beginner's book called: "Beginning Mindfulness: Learning The Way of Awareness" which teaches Mindfulness of Breathing, Walking Meditation, Mindfulness Meditation, Tonglin: the Art of Practicing Compassion, and Mindfulness in Everyday Life.
-Best Wishes on your Journey.|||go to wikipedia and stuff and just type in Google ... buddhism and whatever you want to research. the internet has TONS. you just have to look a lot|||Mindfullness in Plain English is a free E-Book that you can download and actually distribute for free.
It focuses on Vipassana Meditation and was written by a very learned Buddhist Monk.
Also, I think another good beginner book is called Lotus Sutra.|||Say you're going to check out different books. Get three books: and when carrying them home, sandwich the buddhism one in the middle. Read alone in your room and lock your door so your parents can't find it. Take the keys with you.|||There's a lot more online than you have probably already seen. I would say you would get a lot more info online than on a book, and by your standards, I think online is your best option. Just go to a website all about religion and Buddhism. One sight off the top of my head is Religionfacts.com, which has basically every religion know to man and then some on it. Hope you find something you like.|||There are plenty of good sites online to learn about Buddhism from. I suggest you keep at it online for now. Seems your best option. There are even some which teach courses via email that are completely legit.|||research more. lots of buddhist monks on youtube giving lectures on buddhism.|||DO NOT LOOK ON WIKIPEDIA!!!!!
Sorry, but wiki sites are ones where anybody can go a write whatever they want.
I would stick to the internet for the time being. Start off with www.religioustolerance.org that will describe some things about Buddhism and it will even give you websites to further investigate for yourself.
Would your parents take you to a Buddhist temple? They are always wonderful and the monks there are (in my experiences) always such sweethearts who are prepared to answer any question.|||I commend you for being a seeker of truth at such a young age.
From what you've said, I do believe the internet is the answer for you. You might also try a search on His Holiness the Dalai Lama -- this is where I started my Buddhist practice.|||I'm assuming you are a student. Can you get yourself assigned a paper or report on Buddhism or something pertaining to Buddhism? Your parents would insist on you doing it if it were homework. They would be proud of you for learning enough to get a good grade.|||You have some very good links given already; www.buddhanet.net is very big and has virtually everything there is to know about every kind of Buddhism. I also like to refer people to www.thebigview.com/buddhism only because it is concise, offers the basics, and is easily navigated. After you go there and you get some general ideas, then go to buddhanet and you'll find it easier to find what you seek.|||If you go to the following world-wide online forum with loads of more or less knowledgeable members of all forms and colours (also including lamas, monks, nuns, experienced lay practitioners, professional buddhologists, beginners and just normal people interested in buddhism), you can ask any questions you want about buddhism, from the details of the Buddha's teachings to questions about different Buddhist traditions, groups, centres and teachers: http://www.lioncity.net/buddhism/
There are many good Buddhist websites on the Internet, but also many that are not reliable. The problem for a beginner is how to know which is good and which is not. The E-sangha at the website I mentioned is by most serious Buddhists considered the number one site of them all, and helps you understand how to find which websites, groups, teachers, and so on, are reliable, and which is surely to avoid.
And if you for some reason don't want to actually ask the questions, you can probably find the answers to most of them just by reading what is already being discussed. :)
http://www.buddhanet.net/ mentioned above is also a good site, but not by far as extensive and active as the E-sangha.
The e-Sangha is an excellent place to browse around also if you don't know which kind of Buddhism you feel more connected to. There are people from different Chinese, Japanese, Tibetan, Theravada and more Western traditions.
The following recommendations on the other hand are more from the Tibetan perspective (except the first book), simply because that's the tradition I know and practice myself. Nevertheless, I think they are all still relevant regardless of which tradition you may later end up in.
As for books, I have four suggestions to start with:
1. Read about the Buddha's life, including his teachings, in the wonderfully poetic prose biography "Old Path, White Clouds" by the famous Vietnamese Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh:
http://www.wisdom-books.com/ProductDetai鈥?/a>
2. Read the accessible introductions to Buddhism by the American nun Thubten Chodron, Buddhism for Beginners" (answers and questions style) and "Open Heart, Clear Mind" (more focusing on how Buddhist psychology is relevant for modern Westerners):
http://www.thubtenchodron.org/Publicatio鈥?/a>
You can also find many interesting texts on her homepage, including everything you need to know about meditation:
http://www.thubtenchodron.org/
http://www.thubtenchodron.org/Meditation鈥?/a>
3. Any book by the incomparable and unconventional Tibetan teacher Lama Thubten Yeshe (the "hippie lama", as he called himself). On this site you can find many texts online, and also order a number of excellent books for free (donation suggested):
http://www.lamayeshe.com/index.php
4. The somewhat more traditional, but still highly relevant and accessible explanations of the basics of the Buddhist teachings by HH the Dalai Lama, in for example "How to Practice. The Way to a Meaningful Life" (a short but not superficial overview of the entire Buddhist path) and "A Simple Path" (an exceedingly beautifully illustrated explanation of the Four Noble Truths, the foundational teaching of all Buddhism):
http://www.wisdom-books.com/ProductDetai鈥?/a>
http://www.wisdom-books.com/ProductDetai鈥?/a>
Anorther website that is totally fabularious in its wealth of information, on all levels from total beginners to very advanced, tantric levels, is the Berzins Archives (Alex Berzin has lived and studied with Tibetan masters in India for decades, translated for the Dalai Lama on numerous occasions and now lives in Berlin):
http://www.berzinarchives.com/web/en/ind鈥?/a>
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