Thank you for your response, Thomas. I have never considered Buddhism as a “religion,” for this is the misapplication of a Western concept to a far Eastern cultural tradition. You don’t have to “believe” anything to engage in Dharma practice, which is what the Buddha called his own teachings. That is, there is no “ism” in the (Western-coined) concept of “Buddhism.” It is simply a set of mind-training techniques grounded in ancient Indian wisdom traditions, but stripped of any cultural accretions or ideological balderdash. These teachings have persisted simply because they work!