Buddhism

I'm really nervous about making next steps. There's not really anything near me in English for Buddhism and I would really like someone to be a guide or a pen pal.

1. I enjoy games, is bluffing such as in poker forbidden? I don't gamble.

2. Where do I start?

3. I don't understand meditation. Maybe I'm not doing it correctly?

4. Where does the Buddhist code vs religion start. For example I was told you could for example be a Christian/Muslim/Jew/Tao/Hindu/exct and Buddhist.

5. Why do you personally feel this religion is real? Is there something that made you drawn to it?

IN BUDDHISM, it is said that love and compassion are made out of one substance, which is called "understanding." If you understand, you can love. But if understanding is not there, it is impossible for you to accept and love someone. Why did he act that way? Why did he say those things? You should look deeply into these questions, and then you will see the causes of what you are dealing with.

With this understanding, you stop blaming and criticizing. Your compassion is born of your understanding of the situation.

7 Why We Suffer

WHEN WE LOOK deeply at the nature of things, we see that in fact everything is impermanent. Nothing exists as a permanent entity; everything changes. It is said that we cannot step into the same river twice. If we look for a single, permanent entity in a river, we will not find it. The same is true of our physical body. There is no such thing as a self, no absolute, permanent entity to be found in the element we call "body." In our ignorance we believe that there is a permanent entity in us, and our pain and suffering manifest on the basis of that ignorance. If we touch deeply the nonself nature in us, we can get out of that suffering.

Our you carrying the weight of your ancestors or lightening the load?

Day 193 from Your One True Home by Tich Nhat Hanh