I’m a retired government employee and grew up in San Francisco.  I starting attending the San Fran Dhammaram Temple (Wat San Fran) in 2011 or 2012.  It seems like an eternity ago.  Or maybe I’m just old and my memory is fading.  My introduction to Buddhism happened in 2007 when I started dating my now wife.  We met in the South Pacific in 2005 on an island called Saipan.  We were friends on island.  After I left in February 2006, we would correspond via email.  Near the end of 2006, she went back to Thailand.  I started visiting her in Bangkok in 2008.  While in Bangkok, she would take me to a temple in Pak Chong were we would spend weekends meditating.  I found it very peaceful there and liked the energy at the temple.  I admired the monks there because they lived a simple life and seemed happy.  I longed to be able to live a simple life.  During this time, I started buying books on Buddhism and doing some reading because I wanted to learn more and the monk at my wife’s temple didn’t speak English.

My wife immigrated to the US in 2010 and in 2011 or 2012 we started to attend Wat San Fran.  One day I noticed on the bulletin board that  they had dhamma classes on Saturday afternoons and I started attending.  At first I was confused about what they talked about, but I was happy to have a place where I could learn about Buddhism.  I continued to go and slowly understood Buddhism principles.  Their method of teaching, which followed that of the late Venerable Acariya Thoon Khippapanyo, emphasized wisdom over meditation.  This filled the gap in my quest to learn more about Buddhism.  Overtime I started to understand “impermanence” and “internalization” which has helped me tremendously in my practice.  I would explain it here, but this entry is just to give a short intro about me.  I’ll save the lessons for the other entries in my blog.  In the few years I have practiced Buddhism, I have noticed that I have become a more happier and compassionate person.  It has also shown me how little I know about myself and why I behave the way I do.

Please understand that I’m only a baby in my practice of Buddhism.  So I was surprised when I was asked by Phra Anandapanyo Bhikkhu (my teacher) to participate in a blog.  What I have learned from my teachers at Wat San Fran, and have applied to my life, has opened my eyes.  I guess I could “regret” not finding this temple sooner, but that is not the case.  I am glad that I found this temple.  And that I have become a student and a contributor to it.

The purpose of this blog is to share my observations about life and how it applies to my dhamma practice.  If by reading my blog you learn something about yourself or see life differently, even if it is just a minuscule piece, it will have fulfilled it’s purpose.