Why The "Latter Day" Buddhism Name?
Latter Day Buddhism
The religion that comes the closest to my own outlook on life is Buddhism. However, when I tell people I'm a "Buddhist," they often think of monks with shaved heads wearing colorful robes chanting in some far off land. I really don't want to paint myself into that corner and have to spend my time explaining my way out of it.
Then I thought about the Mormon religion (Latter Day Saints or LDS). LDS is a relatively new incarnation of Christianity (barely more than a century old) compared to many other Christian religions that have existed for centuries. Despite how much the LDS "latter day" beliefs and practices vary from other religions that follow Jesus Christ, LDS members still have the right to consider themselves Christians.
Thus, naming my own religious views "Latter Day Buddhism" might help others understand how Buddhism can be the core of my life even though my implementation of it may be quite different than the way others observe and practice Buddhism.
This website is a work in progress where I add things and move things around as I learn and understand more. Right now, it is mostly a reorganization of quotes from others. Since I am more in a learning stage than anything, I feel more comfortable just quoting what others have said that rings true for me, rather than putting things in my own words at this time. From time to time I'll write something in my own words when I feel I can say something more clearly than what I have read, or if I see a little different slant on the same subject. But right now, I'm mostly shuffling excerpts from different books and putting them together like a big jigsaw puzzle in a way that makes more sense to me. This is something that I've been working on a little here and there for many months.
-- Brian William Drisko
