[ThomasMannfanny]

I never really announced it to anyone. Only a couple family members even know, and that's only because a conversation directly led to it. Otherwise, it's not really anyone's business. I don't mean that in a disrespectful way, I just mean religion, spiritual beliefs, etc are of a deeply personal nature and so I tend to keep it personal unless someone has a genuine interest or asks.

My mother doesn't know and I have no interest in discussing it with her either. But in fairness, we are not in touch anyway. My father does know, but probably already forgot. He and I sat ONCE and chatted about religion. He told me how he started believing in God after his second marriage (his wife is a devout Christian). I said I was happy for him and then in turn shared my beliefs and practices in Buddhism. To my surprise he showed a fair amount of interest, and he gave me some nice feedback about how logical it sounds. Another relative who knows is a cousin with whom I am very close, and he has never passed any judgment nor shown any interest, and the third living relative who knows is my Aunt who I am also very close with.

We have much in common, but religion is NOT one of them. We only debated about Buddhism once, because she kept claiming that I "worship a God named Buddha". In an attempt to prove her point, she pulled out some of HER religions' printed books, which sure enough, has The Buddha listed as a god, and a false one at that of course. Not knowing of a polite way of telling her that her religion's book was just plain wrong in that regard, I suggested we agree to disagree and we have never discussed it since. We each make *occasional* references to our own religions if a discussion really calls for it, otherwise we don't approach the subject at all. Fortunately, we love and respect each other despite it and find plenty of other things to chat about.

Then there is my beloved Uncle, now deceased, who is the one who introduced me to Buddhism as a child. He was a Zen Buddhist and I took an unlikely interest in his meditation as a little girl. He was my first (and only) teacher, and was a wonderful mentor. Ironically, now that he has passed, I continue to practice (and struggle with) the transient nature of all things, including the loss of him. He was the one person who I could truly relate to, in regard to Buddhism and many other aspects of life.

Other than that, the rest of my family doesn't know, or care, I suspect. The bottom line for me, is how I feel about Buddhism, not what my family or anyone else thinks of it. I feel for anyone who tries to share their beliefs with a discouraging family, that must be very frustrating.