I didn’t stumble into Buddhism after a crisis or dramatic life event.
There was no breaking point, no overnight awakening.
I was a teenager—already drawn to the philosophical and contemplative—and Buddhism felt like a language I somehow already understood. Not in its rituals or cultural expressions at first, but in its view of mind, of suffering, of possibility.
Over time, that quiet recognition deepened into study, practice, and eventually full ordination. I lived as a Buddhist nun for twelve years. And although I’ve since returned to lay life, the path continues—inner, steady, often invisible.
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To speak of a “Buddhist lifestyle” is delicate. In the Vajrayana tradition, we tread lightly around titles. We don’t declare ourselves practitioners as if it were a badge. Instead, we return again and again to the ground of practice—not to prove something, but because we’ve seen what it opens.
This isn’t a prescription. It’s a reflection.
Here are a few threads from the fabric of this path.
1. The Choice Not to Burn
There’s a story I return to, again and again—not as a myth, but as a mirror.
Akshobhya, the blue Buddha of the eastern direction, made a vow:
Never to act from anger.
Not to suppress it. Not to pretend it wasn’t there. But to meet it so fully, so honestly, that it would have nowhere to root. In Vajrayana, he embodies the transmutation of aggression—not into passivity, but into clarity, mirror-like awareness. Still water. Unshaken.
Most of us aren’t there. But we can begin.
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Someone offends you. Something feels unfair. And the body tenses, ready to react. In that very moment, before words form—there is breath.
Take one.
Then another.
Place a hand gently on your belly or chest, and ask:
“What part of me needs presence right now?”
This is not delay. It is discipline.
It is stepping into the luminous field before the mind collapses into habit.
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To live this way doesn’t mean you’ll never feel anger.
It means you may not be owned by it.
And in a world addicted to outrage, your choice to pause is an act of fierce compassion.
2. Letting the Excess Fall Away
In the West, we tend to confuse fullness with meaning. But a Buddhist lay life often begins by making space—not out of asceticism, but to hear what’s already speaking beneath the noise.
Letting go isn’t only about possessions. It’s about the identities we polish, the stories we carry, the opinions we hold so dear, the arguments we rehearse silently for years.
You might begin with:
- Saying no to a conversation that drains.
- Ending a task before it’s perfect.
- Placing your phone down without checking it one more time.
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Simplicity in Vajrayana isn’t just functional—it’s symbolic. Every gesture, every object, every word can become a mudra, a mantra, a gateway. But only if it’s chosen. Only if you are present to it.
When we let the excess fall away, even the most ordinary moment can become an offering.
3. Walking in Compassion, Not Concept
It’s easy to talk about compassion. Harder to live it when you’re exhausted, or annoyed, or wounded in places you’ve learned to hide even from yourself.
But this path asks us to meet it all—without turning away.
Not to indulge. Not to collapse. But to remain.
In Vajrayana, we are invited to see beings not as they appear, but as expressions of awakened nature, however obscured. This isn’t idealism. It’s a practice of perception. A kind of disciplined tenderness.
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Try beginning the day with a quiet wish:
“May I meet this moment with warmth, openness, and a steady heart.”
Then extend that same aspiration to someone who unsettles you.
Not to excuse behavior. But to stay awake to the truth of interbeing.
Compassion isn’t sweet. Not always.
Sometimes it’s quiet endurance.
Sometimes it’s fierce boundary.
But always, it’s a refusal to exile parts of reality—even the uncomfortable ones.
To live that way is not perfection. It is participation.
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If you’d like to deepen into this practice of compassion and loving-kindness, I’ve made one chapter from my eBook Triyana – Keys to Sustainable Transformation available as a free gift.
It’s called Loving-Kindness: Fierce and Tender, and it’s an invitation to work with the heart—not to soften it, but to strengthen it with presence.
📥 Click here to receive your free chapter »
Where the Path Continues
A Buddhist lifestyle isn’t something you adopt. It’s something you return to—in the middle of a sentence, in the turning of a spoon, in the way you say goodnight.
It’s not about self-improvement. It’s about remembering the nature of mind, again and again, until that remembering starts to shape your gestures, your choices, your gaze.
Sometimes it looks like a shrine and a bell.
Sometimes it looks like washing your face slowly in the dark.
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But underneath it all is the same invitation:
To wake up.
To be kind.
To live as though every moment is worthy of full attention—because it is.
And maybe, if we’re lucky, to meet the world with just enough stillness
to see it clearly.
With you,
Lama Chimey
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Lama Chimey 
The kindness really resonate with me. Thank you! 🙏
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