I'm a Buddhist. I'm always surprised people are surprised when I say this. I consider my religion to be as close to me as any Islamikaze or Christofundowackamole, but, well, I guess I just don't look "buddhish".

The other thing I find is people just don't seem to know much about it. Oh, they know there's this funny little guy with glasses who talks to Richard Gere a lot and upsets the Chinese, and there's a lot of chanting involved in there somewhere and didn't Keaneau Reeves make a phone booth stop somewhere nearby? Well, yes, sort of, at times anyway, but there's a whole lot more to it. And that's what, in 1000 words or less, I'm here to tell you about.

Personally, I was looking for something to give me spiritual comfort, challenges, and meaning without forcing me to accept the science, laws, and lifeways of six-thousand-year-old goatherds or fourteen-hundred-year-old merchants. Buddhism works for me because:

• It does not consider the origins nor the ends of the world to be central to its doctrine. Oh, there are origin myths in Buddhist tradition, but they're not even of second- or third-tier importance to its core beliefs. In fact, in many ways buddhist doctrine is remarkably easy to reconcile with modern scientific theories.
• It does not proselytize, nor does it ostracize people who do not accept its doctrine. One of the hallmarks of Buddhism is its practicality. "Try it", the doctrine says, "if it's right for you, you'll know".
• It does not require a God to be at the center of everything (what it does require is a lot more complicated, but this could, and sometimes has been called "God" before, which is an over-simplification).
• It in no way condones, accepts, or promotes violence in any shape form or fashion. Violence in the name of belief, even in defense of belief, is anathema to Buddhism.
• It sees all living things as holy and important, and abhors cruelty to animals. True story: a Buddhist monastery in New York City had become infested with roaches. At first the monks simply lived with the problem, indeed denied there really was a problem, until the local health department threatened to condemn the building and shut them down. It was only after many long meetings and several elaborate rituals that exterminators were allowed to clean the place out.
• It does not care what the sex, color, nationality, even religion of the person you love is, so long as you love them.
• It discourages unthinking belief, the lynchpin of fanaticism, and encourages inquiry and discussion.
• It does not see doctrinal differences as "outcast". There's no such thing as heresy or apostasy in Buddhism. As long as the main core is upheld (see below), Buddhism doesn't care how you go about the particulars of your worship.

So, what, you might wonder, does a Buddhist actually believe? Well, as with most true religions, the core beliefs are surprisingly easy to summarize:

1. No one can deny suffering is a primary condition of the human experience
2. The reason human beings suffer (NOTE: suffering is not pain) is because they desire
3. Suffering ceases when desire ceases
4. The way to cessation of desire is through the practice of the eightfold path.

Which is:

1. Right View
2. Right Thought
3. Right Speech
4. Right Action
5. Right Livelihood
6. Right Effort
7. Right Mindfulness
8. Right Contemplation

Of course, the next question would be "well, what is 'Right View', or 'Right Livelihood', or 'Right Contemplation'?", and from those simple questions an entire religion was born.

Buddhism gives me great comfort, but it also challenges me. To succeed as a Buddhist I must learn to love everyone regardless of their actions. I must learn to accept the impermanence of everything, and because of that meditate frequently on death and dying. I must learn to live forever in the present moment, letting go of past grievances and forgetting future worries.

Am I good at it? Well, not really. Another primary tenet of Buddhism is you can't learn it from books, and I'm too chicken to walk into a monastery or temple and ask for help. Simply writing about this has revealed to me how poorly I've done following these beliefs. But, in spite of this, I still hold them, and this has helped form the spiritual center around which I have built my own life.

In a funny sort of way it's lead me to a place very similar to the one a fundamentalist inhabits. Like them, I too have come to believe a human being isn't really whole without some form of spiritual practice in their lives. Like them, I too have come to believe a human being without some form of spirituality in their lives often experiences life as a cold, cynical horror. Like them, I too went through a revelation, a "rebirth", before I came to truly understand these ideas.

Unlike them, though, I don't want to hit you over a head with a rock just because you don't agree with me. And I don't think my soul or yours will be in a better place if I blow myself up because you don't agree with me. And I don't think your final destination will be any better or worse just because you don't agree with me.

And that, my friend, makes all the difference.