Welcome and Intro

Welcome one and all! Namaste! Over the last several years since becoming a Buddhist, I have had many people ask me things like why, how, and most commonly what the heck are you talking about :-) So, in a way this blog is to help me put my thoughts down in one place. If it helps anyone else out there, that's a good thing. It is a meritous thing to spread the Dharma.....

My first couple of post will be about the most important tenants in Buddhism and Zen. No, Buddhism and Zen are not the same thing. There are several 'flavors' of Buddhism if you will. Zen (Japanese translation of the Chinese C'han) is know as the sudden enlightenment school. Zen is a subset of Mahayana Buddhism. LOL, ok another term there :-) There are three major categories or types of Buddhism. They are Theravada, Mahayana and the Vajrayana or know to most as the Tibetan path.

I am a C'han practitioner affiliated with a Chinese temple in my area. As a C'han practitioner I have more religious "things" going on then a Zen purist would. Trust me, it's convoluted, but i Will explain to the best of my ability as time goes on. So hang on, it just might be a very bumpy ride :-) Here is a great overview of Buddhism from Wikipedia. LINK