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Do you live near a river or pond? If so, go there. Stand at the edge of the water, pick up a pebble and throw it into the water. Observe what happens.

Certain life experiences helped me relate to sone of the teachings of Buddhism. My story is fairly typical of that of a lot of Western Buddhists - deep, dark, interpersonal stuff.

Perhaps. But Buddhism is incompatible with the idea of an external influence. It's all about the karma we create, not divine intervention. And Shakyamuni Buddha invented that whole negative thing? Not really, it was just a cultural thing. In the West we find it easiest to explain things in...

Every religion concerned with the idea of a Creator god, you mean.

Actually, you are taking a risk. What if a different idea of God is correct? What about samsara? Simply believing in God is not enough to save you from coming back again and again and again... A lot of religions acknowledge the idea of coming back again and again until liberation. In fact...

100% Theraveda Buddhism and 95% Mahayana Buddhism, although I lean more towards Mahayana in practice.

Agreed.

Suppose you're a Christian and tomorrow you die. Allah's little cronies ask if you're a Muslim. You say, "Uh..." Allah says, "No, he wasn't." The little cronies take you to a window that lets you get a glimpse at Paradise and them you're damned for all eternity... or at least until the whole end...

If you put it that way it almost sounds like a prediction of Buddhism's migration into the West, where the teachings have changed rather dramatically in some circumstances due to major cultural differences.

What if God does not exist? You can't be sure either way. What if some other theory is correct? What if a God different to your chosen God exists? And I don't believe in Heaven and Hell. Samsara, baby. To me that's a lot scarier.

Misconduct is open to interpretation. Of course it includes adultry, and if you look at it from a Middle Path point of view it would include over indulgence. You can be attached to sexual gratification in the same way you can be addicted to good food, expensive clothes and so on. As I said...

For Buddhism I'd check BuddhaNet. You'll find it at http://www.buddhanet.net/ Taoism? Grab yourself a copy of the Tao Te Ching. http://www.wikipeda.org/ has a free translation and you should be able to find it at your local library. For Confucianism, grab the I Ching - the book of change...

I've seen someone around here who wishes people "metta," the Buddhist term for "loving-kindness."

"Money is truly the king in the Muslim world"? Actually, that's Capitalism for you. Money is the be all and end all of our system. It is not a problem specific to any one religious belief system. It is an increasing issue in all Capitalist societies that people aren't able to spend more time...

I would not say that followers of Jesus Christ and followers of the Noble Eightfold Path are at odds. There are some people who are... disgusted at the idea of "heathens" having a lot in common with Christians, but well, it's the truth. Christ and Gotama both expressed values of love...

It's not what someone does in a church or temple that counts, it's what they do outside.

A teacher at the Buddhist centre I go to has talked about the Dalai Lama with me. We've come to an agreement that the Dalai Lama, as much as we respect him, says... a lot of things. He has some really conservative views one day and the next he's preaching equality for everyone, no matter what...

I believe that each and every human being is different. What is right for one person is not right another. There is no reality as such, there is no absoloute "right" - we all view the world in different ways. We have unique experiences, beliefs and upbringings that make the truth for each of us...

Buddhism has only been a recent thing for me. I attend a Western Buddhist centre (one that is affilated with the FWBO), although I do lean heavily towards Zen. I count Western Buddhism as a seperate school. As you know, Buddhism changed depending on the culture it was introduced to. It...

There's a quote that sums it up very well, I think. I can't remember it exactly, but it stated that we're all atheists, but some of us reject one more god than you do. When you understand why you reject all of these other possible gods, you'll understand why I reject yours. Myself? I'm an...