Originally Posted by
Stephanie
A friend asked me about Buddhism once, very early on in my engagement with it. I paused a moment and figured I'd start at the beginning, with the basics. So I started talking about the Four Noble Truths. This completely turned this friend off, who found what I was saying depressing and horrible. Oops :lol:
Over time, I think one, especially as one continues to practice, develops a more intuitive sense for how to address such questions. The main thing is not having some sort of prepared speech or systematic method, but starting with the person who's asking. Where are they coming from? What are their interests? What moves them? It's much better to begin by asking the person about what prompted their interest and what ideas they may already have about it. For example, you'd probably explain it very differently to someone who was disconsolate after a recent breakup and looking for something to make sense of the heartbreak, and someone who smokes a lot of pot and likes to contemplate the hidden meanings in Tool lyrics and was curious after Maynard said some really cool thing about Buddhism in an interview :wink: