What You Can Do
Step1
Contact a Buddhist community near you. Some of the most popular forms of Buddhism in the West are Nichiren, Pure Land, Shingon, Tendai, Theravada, Vajrayana, Yogacara and Zen.
Step2
Learn one of the Buddhist styles of meditation.
Step3
Celebrate the Buddha's life during Wesak, which occurs in May or June.
Step4
Commemorate the Buddha's first sermon, when he taught the principles of Buddhism. This celebration is called Dhammacakka and it happens in July.
Step5
Learn how Buddhists deal with the life-changing events they encounter, including birth, initiation, marriage, renunciation and death.
Basic Tenets
Step1
Begin your study of Buddhism with the basic teachings of the Buddha himself. Foremost are the four noble truths: All existence is suffering; all suffering is caused by craving; all suffering can be ended; suffering is ended by practicing the noble eightfold path.
Step2
Follow the eightfold path of right views, aspirations, speech, behavior, livelihood, efforts, thoughts and contemplation.
Step3
Emulate the Buddha's "Middle Way" between extreme hedonism and extreme asceticism. In the affluent western world, hedonism is the greater spiritual danger, although we act a bit like ascetics from 9 to 5.
Step4
Acquaint yourself with the Buddhist worldview and philosophy. Creation and time are cyclical, and humans are attached to the created world by their sense of selfhood and desires. Actions in one lifetime affect the type of rebirth in the next. Through self-perfection, one can eventually achieve a state of Nirvana or strive until all humans achieve it.
Step5
Study the Tri-Pitaka, or "Three Baskets" of early Buddhist scripture. They consist of the discourses of the Buddha, the rules for Buddhists monks and nuns, and all further knowledge - the "great teaching basket."
Step6
Follow Buddhism's developments as it encountered cultures of the Far East, particularly China and Japan.
How To Learn More
Step1
Get your hands on Buddhist scriptures; they're more authentic than modern Buddhist manuals. The most popular scriptures include: The Discourses of the Buddha, The Dhammapada, The Diamond Sutra, The Heart Sutra, and The Lotus Sutra. Authoritative scriptures of later Chinese and Japanese Buddhism include The Platform Sutra and Dogen's meditation manuals (Soto Zen). Some of these can be downloaded (pay a visit to a major search engine like Yahoo! or Google and type in the name of the scripture).
Step2
Try to be challenged by your encounter with Buddhism. If you only absorb what you already know, you aren't learning anything new.
Step3
Browse informative websites, find more literature, and contact a Buddhist community in your neighborhood.