I think I'm a Buddhist

The evidence?

Well, there's Samye Ling, a lovely Tibetan Monastery in the hills of Dumfries and Galloway. I love visiting there, it's so peaceful. Plus, yaks. (cool)

Next? Well, earlier in the year I read 'Mao- The Unknown Story' as I have no knowledge of history (any era, area, philosophy of, etc) and was quite interested in China's history.

The book is a slog, but very interesting. I took me about two months to read. An average sized book usually takes me 4 days to a week. Ususally when I read a book it leads to other ideas and a quest for more knowledge. In this book it was Tibet and Taiwan, history of.

Also for the longest time I have been wanting to connect with a 'cause'. But nothing really spoke to me. There is/was:

Amnesty International, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Christian Aid, Send-a-Cow, Bernardos, NSPCC, Mind, Shelter, and so on.

Last week, when browsing in a cool bookshop with Sharon (check her blog) I came across a book called 'For Tibet with Love' (a Beginner's Guide to Changing the World).

It's written by Isabel Losada and is a personal story about her quest to change the world. It's funny, emotional and true. I like her. It's the kind of book that I would liked to have written.

I won't tell you any more, I will just tell you to buy it and read it. Soon. Now.

So she has started an organisation called Act for Tibet. And the very last bit is when she gets to meet the Dalai Lama. And she asks a question about the courage to change the things that you can. (To me this was- what do we do? and who do we do it for?) 'But how do you know the difference? Between what you can change and can't?'

And the Dalai Lama says (and I quote):

'Through experiment. Research. Calculate what you can acheive on a mental level, then experiment.'

I really liked that. I can identify with that. And now, more experimentation.