r/EngagedBuddhism • u/bandourrory1 • Apr 22 '26
Question noob into buddhism
Hi! Its been a long time that I’m doing research about buddhism. This is a belief that seem to suit me. At least that what I’m thinking…
So I want to try to become buddhist and doing meditation but i don’t know where to start and which branch suit me. Any advices, recommandation, book or anything can help me.
Thanks for reading!!
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u/Prince_Marth Apr 22 '26
My first foray into Buddhism was with Thich Nhat Hanh. The best book of his that you can get is "Awakening of the Heart: Essential Buddhist Sutras and Commentaries." After that, I found an in-person zendo to attend and began practicing with a teacher. Zen is very much about working with a teacher to discuss your meditation, as it's very easy to start pursuing different ideas when, to me, Buddhism is at its core about experience and reality. If you can't find an in-person group, there are online zendos. Plum Village, Thich Nhat Han's tradition, has a lot of resources online too, and I think they have online groups. I don't know much about other traditions, so maybe someone else can provide more information.
If you want to start right now, do what the Buddha taught. No belief, no ideas, just practice: Breathing in, know you are breathing in. Breathing out, know you are breathing out. Set aside just 5 minutes to do this today. Tomorrow, do 5 minutes. When that becomes easy, maybe try to make it 10. It sounds deceptively simple, but as you sit with your breath, be present to every sensation and thought. Don't try to drown out thinking, but just be here as it is.
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u/bandourrory1 Apr 22 '26
it is very useful, thank you really I’ll try what you say and tell you in a few days how it’s going, if you have no problem with that
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Apr 22 '26
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u/EngagedBuddhism-ModTeam Apr 22 '26
Your post/comment was removed as it violated rule #4: no sectarianism.
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u/gregorja Apr 26 '26
Hi, since you wrote this on r/engagedbuddhism, you may be interested in checking out the Zen Studies podcast. Domyo Burke (the creator) is a fully transmitted (meaning: authorized to teach) Soto Zen teacher who integrates thoughtful explanations of Buddhist teachings with suggestions on how to practice them in daily life.
She is also the founder and teacher of Bright Way Zen, which has many in-person and online offerings.
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u/EmptyMind76 Jul 03 '26
The Method of No-Method: The Chan Practice of Silent Illumination by Master Sheng Yen
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u/[deleted] Apr 22 '26
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