Dharma at Home

Buddhism is my religion, and will be a large part of what I blog about here. I began my investigation into Buddhism about 3-4 years ago, mostly through the power of the interwebs. I was a member of SGI for about a year, but felt that it wasn’t the path for me. I am currently without a school/lineage, and prefer to simply call myself a Buddhist. Someday that might change, but for now I will just study and design a practice that works for me and challenges me. I view Buddhism as more of a process than anything else, and as such I am in the early stages of mine.

Given my rural location and responsibilities at home, it is unlikely that I will join a formal sangha anytime soon, hence “dharma at home”. And when given choice between attending a week long retreat and vacationing with my family, I’ll take camping in the redwoods 100% of the time. I currently engage my practice mostly through study, but also through this blog and communication online with other practictioners that help form the greater “iSangha”.

With the advent of the internet, I am able to find nearly any sutra I want free of charge, as well as access teachers and other practitioners. Here are some of the resources that I use:

Urban Dharma – lots of great resources (make sure to sign up for Kusala’s email)

Access to Insight – tons of free ebooks and learning materials.  An absolute must for study.

Wikipitaka – a wiki for the Tipitaka

Buddhanet – includes a world Buddhist directory to help you find a local Buddhist center as well as much more (like some great audio dharma talks)

Buddhism on wiki – a great starting point with plenty of links/resources to use as stepping stones. But don’t rely on it too heavily (it’s wiki).

Dharma Dots – hear what some of the best of the Buddho-blogosphere have to say at this aggregator/feed site.

Cheers.