I want everyone to notice the part I bolded and underlined. This is my actual evidence that Arach stalks others on the forum, rather than trying to promote honest discussion.

Now, as to the actual topic. If you go to the Tipitaka, Buddha's words (if they actually are his) are not very complex. The lessons he teaches are in everyday language that virtually anyone can understand. Most of the lessons are taught in allegories (and not taught as facts). It is later teachers (such as monks)...

My Creed:

Many Westerners don’t understand that Buddhism is a religion (in fact, is it a religion or a philosophy?) not based on commandments. I see Buddhism primarily as suggestions that help one lead a moral life, make decisions based on mindfulness, and – perhaps most importantly – reduce suffering.

The first component of Buddhism is The Four Noble Truths. First that life always involves suffering. Some of the suffering we will experience in life is unavoidable....

First, note the question mark after the title. I don't claim that this experience proves past lives, but I just don't know any other way to explain it.

The year was probably 1990, give or take. I was spending another long summer (7 weeks) in Thailand, and I had decided a day trip via train to Lopburi, a small city 90 miles north of Bangkok. I had a rather rustic, hand-drawn map of the city that I had torn out of an old magazine and a list of about a dozen temples (both Hindu and...

When I was a teacher, I had certain rules for myself. Rules about how I did my job. How I treated students. How I treated colleagues. How I treated parents. When I became a vice principal, I had to develop a somewhat different set of rules for myself as my job changed. When I became a principal, I had to develop a somewhat different set of rules for myself as my job changed. And even within each of those time periods, the rules I set for myself would evolve. Learn by doing. Then, there were the...

None of the major world religions have it “right”, but many of the major world religions have some principles that are worthwhile to understand and, perhaps, after personally testing them, those select principles might be incorporated into one’s personal path through life.

Religionists should stop preaching the “facts” in scriptures that are thousands of years old. Few of the facts are supportable, and it’s impossible for us to determine what is fact and what is fiction,...