Almost two decades ago, due to psychosomatic complications (a very complex panic attack), my doctor recommended meditation. This was in El Salvador, around 1995, a time before Amazon and YouTube, so my options were extremely limited.
By those coincidences (which are not really coincidences), each day on my way to work, I passed by a Buddhist center. Following my doctor’s advice, a bit of curiosity, and a strange internal call, I decided to knock on the door, and I was welcomed with great affection. The moment I first stepped into the Buddhist center, I felt at home. Indeed, I had found my home because, although I am no longer a member of that particular community, almost twenty years later, I continue to root myself in that wonderful world.
Let’s return to our little journey through time, in the 90s. The community of Salvadoran Buddhists was very, very small, bilingual Buddhists even smaller, and bilingual Buddhists who dared to translate for the masters when they graced us with their presence were exceedingly rare. Thus, I began to forge a close relationship with these wonderful people and delved deeper and deeper into the world of Buddhist teaching and practice.
An avid reader since childhood, I threw myself into books with such vigor that in a few years, I was assigned as the teacher of the Introduction to Buddhism course at the center. The majority of my students would ask: “Where can we read about what you have taught us?” This propelled me to write the book “Buddhism: Starting the Path to Truth,” which, to everyone’s surprise, especially mine, was very well received, not only in El Salvador but also globally through the then-existing and functional Amazon.com.
But as you can imagine, Brio has little to do with Buddhism. How did the change happen, and how did I end up in Madrid? I hope you read the next blog entry…