I'd like to hear from some other DU'ers about their particular path and traditions.

[GliderGuider]

1. I'm a salad-bar semi-Buddhist

I came in through the door held open by St. Alan Watts in the 60s, then went back out for 40 years while my ego was busy earning me a living. I came back in when the suffering became too great.

I'm for shit when it comes to formalism, tradition and ritual though, so I never subscribed to any particular school. Even going to a local Zen sangha was too much structure for me.

The parts of Buddhism that appeal to me include Thich Nhat Hahn's concept of interbeing (big time!), some forms of meditation (mostly vipassana), and of course the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. I like the idea of Vajryana (thunderbolt enlightenment). I'm a fan of Tantra in the ways that it's similar to karma yoga - everything in life is grist for the mill.

The scriptural parts of Buddhism don't appeal to me. I don't sit for meditation regularly any more, though I use normal daily actions as opportunities for mindfulness. I think psychedelic drugs - especially the classic "big three" of LSD, psilocybin and mescaline - can be invaluable tools, but only if they are used mindfully towards that end. If the use is not mindful you wind up in the "hippie trap".

My Buddhism has been heavily commingled with other flavours of non-dualism, mainly Taoism, Advaita and jnana yoga. I also use a lot of depth psychology as part of my inner work.

I got serious about non-attachment, non-dualism and being on a path in general about four years ago following a multi-year "Dark Night of the Soul" that caused me great suffering. The "thunderbolt" of awakening that ended my DNS was a very short vision following a session of holotropic breathwork. Following that transformation, the inner work and deepening awareness of Buddhist principles has cemented the shift.

As the next step on the journey I'm now experimenting with the possibility of giving up all beliefs entirely. That seems like the logical extension of non-attachment.

So I'm not a "good Buddhist" by any stretch of the imagination, but in my view the point of it all is not the adherence to specifics but simply the fact of being on a mindful journey.