Welcome to Gaia! ::

My name is Amy. i'll be 22 on the 15th. I'm interested in buddhism, but not budhist myself. Perhaps someday, perhaps not.
I live in California, but sunny weather is unusual in my town.
What i mean is, i live on the coast of CA, in a valley.
So that's why it's usualy cold, foggy, windy, or rainy here.
But it's also nice becuase it hardly ever gets hotter than 80 degrees.
(but who knows with global warming?)

I am the youngest child of three. I have had many bf's. most i have known online.
Of those, i only met 2 in person.
I once had a bf that i met in highschool, a "real" bf.
The short version of the drama is:
I broke up with an e-bf, that i had met in person, to be with the boy i met in highschool. than, highschool boy dumped me for someone he knew online.
(talk about what goes around comes around, right?)

anyway, i'm done with dating online. Nothing personal against men who live far away...i just want a bf that i could actualy hug whenever i want =s

but that will never happen unless
A) a guy actualy notices me and talks to me and even asks me out
B) i build up more self esteem and confadence and ask a guy out

Welcome Zachary and other newcomers! This is just a little aside to mention that you college students have excellent access to hard-to-find (and common) Buddhist works in the university libraries. If your university is anything like mine, there'll be a hefty section with 100+ good books to check out.

Of course, university libraries are among the best on the planet for a wide range of scholarly subjects, and I tend to get lost for an afternoon if I go through the rows browsing mrgreen

Hello, my name is Alex and I live in the U.S.A. I am 13 years old and have just not found out about Buddhism. I have many questions, and still have a long way to go before I pledge myself Buddhist, but I hope to get some information from this guild. Buddhism caught my eye because I have herd of it and that I have recently turned away from Christianity, and do not wish to become part of a biased religion like judaism or Islam or christianity. I think Buddhism will help me out a lot!!!

Hi my name's Jen. I live in California, am 20 years old, and an art major at my college.
I was raised a Christian (non-denominational, I think) for most of my life and although I loved to sing the songs, I was always unsure about whether or not I was 'saved'. Finally around my freshmen/sophemore year, my uncertainty combined with some other things (such as questioning the legitmacy of Christianity based on what I knew about mythology, and my conflicts with my more religious friends about issues such as homosexuality and evolution) I broke away from Christianity and became...well... an arrogant hard atheist (not saying that being a hard atheist makes you arrogant, just that I was arrogant sweatdrop ) Unfortunately, I was terrified that I would end up wrong and went into depression, but still maintained the outlook that I was confident. It remained this way until I read a few books about Buddhism. The feeling I had when I was reading the books are pretty undescribable. It was just incredible to find something that seemed to fit with a lot of my beliefs, and to find ideas that I had not thought of before but made a lot of sense 3nodding .
Right now I guess I'm more of a soft atheist, but I am very interesting in Buddhism. I do find it hard to practice, being as my parents are fairly religious, and expect me to be a Christian (yes, I live with my parents, it's cheaper that way during college). I'm sure that they have seen my Fat Buddha statue (a gift from a Buddhist friend heart ) but at most they'll lecture me about 'straying from God' and about titheing to the church.
Mostly, I've come here because although I know some general things about Buddhism, I would like to get into the specifics about different sects, practices, and such. Thanks, and sorry for the long post. I don't post often, but sometimes when I do I end up typing a lot.
PS. There are at least two things I know I need to work on: patience and ego.

Welcome newcomers! Feel more than free to post in the forums; the more discussion the better!

I'm also interested in Tibetan Buddhism, so feel free to ask me if you have any questions. There are also at least a few members of the guild that are Tibetan Buddhists (with live gurus, unlike me) who can help.

Hello. My name is Zach and I am 16. I have been going to a Lutheran church with my dad all my life and only in the past year or so have I become interested in religion/philosophy. I don't have a proper title or category for my beliefs, but I have found that Buddhism includes many of them. I hope to learn more about Buddhism and myself.