Welcome back to Budability, a weekly interview series about the amazing ability we all have to change our lives and the world if we're brave enough to tap into it.

I'm your host, Ji Jhi Jolly.

Today we're talking about how Buddhism can help you find the wisdom to overcome anything in life.

In particular, the challenges that sometimes come with love and relationships.

Our guest is Bryant Rios Niño of Connecticut, who shares his parallel journeys of developing his Buddhist practice

and learning what love, relationships, and supporting your family truly takes. I'll let Bryant

share the rest. So my name is Bryant's Rios Ninoino and I'm 27 years old and I'm currently calling in from

Grodin, Connecticut and I'm in the Navy.

Amazing.

Well, thank you again for taking the time to talk today.

I know we're going to get into some personal stuff. So I'm sure

people will be really encouraged to hear your journey with Buddhism. So I was thinking we could

start at the beginning because I always like to ask people sort of how they got interested in

Buddhism, why they started chanting Namyo Hōringekeo. So if you could just tell me that brief

story, like how did you first hear about

Buddhism? And then when you decided to chant yourself, like what was going on in your life at

the time that you were interested? Okay. Yeah, so I started, or no, I've first learned about

Buddhism from my parents. So I grew up, like, always around the practice, but never really like took it on

for myself until I got a little bit older. But I would like chant like Namya Hōding

and go here and there like whenever I was scared or something. But I started chanting when I was

17. And it was about a girl. So I was, you know, I was like, kind of like, you know, weird place, like just struggling in my life.

And I met this person and I really wanted to be with them.

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