It is not an easy thing to claim authority as a Buddhist. Although Shakyamuni Buddha taught the Dharma as a path suited to all creeds, cultures and levels of understanding, and that awakened mind – Enlightenment – is possible for anyone, in actuality, it is also said it may take lifetimes to develop. I came to this path via a journey that traversed a conservative rural Anglican upbringing, then socialism, feminism, immersion in the eco-hippy experience and later, teaching in the culturally diverse and invariably low socio-economic populations of Melbourne’s northern and western regions. The Dharma, namely the Buddha’s teachings, builds upon the existential realities of pervasive change and interdependence, requires individuals to take personal responsibility and provides a guided framework as means to do so.