I am becoming Buddhist, anyone have tips?

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[quote]O mighty Zebra who seeks the Truth,[quote/]
Hello Alexander the solitary. I like how you call me that.

[quote]I was half-Buddhist once. I still do not drink alcohol (other than a sip of watered wine once a week, Sundays to be precise lol, with other incidents few and far between like that sherry outside a theatre or that glass on New Year's Eve some years back at the house of some friends of my parents - anyway I have) try to be kind to fellow-humans and representatives of other species (surely that includes refraining from deliberate harm, unless you are talking "cruel to be kind," I seek to keep a reasonable reign on my temper (is sublimating anger into creating fantasy worlds a "good way" or only a "lesser of a thousand evils" kind of way?). I am wholely Christian now, but know that I am not very good at all, just improving unevenly in fits and starts.[quote/]

What you do/did what you mentioned up there, I think is a good way of being a good person, even if not a Buddhist. Thank you.

[quote]Have you heard of the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism? The first has been well paraphrased by Westley from "The Princess Bride" (the film; in the book it is Fezzik's [sic] mother who renders this excellent advice): "Life is pain, Your Higness (obviously that address is only in the film) and anyone who says differently is selling something."[quote/]

I like how you say that one of the Four Noble Truths was in "The Princess Bride" and I also like the way you put it. Life indeed is and can be pain and we must live in present life.

[quote]Do you wish to be a monk? I have nurtured this desire (along with some mutually exclusive ones) in the past, and still think of this wish with fondness. The rules for Buddhist monks differ according to which school or branch of Buddhism you adhere to, just as with the religious orders of the Roman Catholic Church (I do not know much about monasticism amongst the Greek, Russian, Coptic or Ethiopian Orthodox churches - any information would be much appreciated). For the Orthodox Christians (at least the Greeks and Russians; incidentally the Copts probably have the longest history of CHRISTIAN monasticism (obviously not of Hindu or Buddhist monasticism - though it is not a competition) one can be a married priest or a celibate monk (like post-19th century Anglicans in a welcome reversal of the Dissolution of the Monasteries back in the 16th, though Anglican bishops can also be married, whereas I think Orthodox bishops, metropolitans and patriarchs tend to be chosen from the monastic orders).[quote/]

It depends how I feel when I become Buddhist, although I don't think I will consider it, I prefer to stay at home and love my family, Thich Nhat Hanh asks in "True Love", "Do you have time to love?" I am now trying to make that time, luckily there are points of my life which I can love my family, especially as I am still technically a child.

[quote/I hope this was either helpful, informative, entertaining, or all of the above.[quote/]

It was all of those four words, thank you very much! Now I AM writing this to you Alexander the Solitary, even if it is on the discussion board, so if you reaad this maybe we could exchange private messages and stuff.

Regards, mightyzebra

beware of buddhist-styled cults... if they want you to go and chant with them at their center, and buy a scroll to put in a shrine in your house with fruit and incense, and ask you to bring in new members, run away fast... i've had a few friends get brainwashed by this cult and then disappear into sweatshops, never to be heard from again... don't remember the name of the cult, but their initials were NSA