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1. What would you say are the most important components of the Buddhism faith? core buddhism is not a "faith". buddhism is a scientific diagnosis & explanation about the laws of nature pertaining to human suffering & the eradication of human suffering. the core component of buddhism, i.e., the most important component, is the diagnosis of how suffering occurs and, more importantly, the way of practise to live (& die) free from suffering

2. How has your faith impacted your life? reduced/eliminated suffering, confusion & unsatisfactoriness. brought peace, vision, understanding & contentment

3. What holidays and celebrations do you observe? personally, none. however, i do reflect on the meaning of the traditional buddhist holidays when they occur

4. In your own words, how would you summarize Buddhism? buddhism is a scientific diagnosis & explanation about the laws of nature pertaining to human suffering & the eradication of human suffering.

Buddha himself summarised his teachings as: "avoid evil (harming); do good (beneficial action); and purify the mind (from 'self-view')

5. What made you choose to follow Buddhism? i tried it out & it worked. if it did not work to bring peace & wellbeing, i would not choose it. if it does not work for you then try something else

6. What are some of the challenges within practicing Buddhism? for me, none. Buddhism explains the actual path to freedom from suffering. if it was not the actual path then it would be a challenge. because it works, for me, it is not a challenge.

7. What are the traditions of Buddhism, and how have these traditions changed over time? Buddhism began with the orthodox tradition, now commonly called "Theravada", although Theravada itself is an aberration. Theravada does preserve the original teachings in its scriptures but the Theravada doctrine is found in its commentaries which are for the most part an idiosyncratic interpretation of the scriptures. later other schools, such as the Mahayana schools emerged due to (1) contact with other cultures; and (2) expanding the scope of the audience, due to Theravada losing popularity in India

8. What effect has the Western culture had on Buddhism? not much

9. How does karma and reincarnation work? many Buddhist schools teach reincarnation but Buddha did not. Buddha taught about "rebirth", which means the mind "born again" in a state of suffering it must resolve. karma means 'action'. action performed with self-view reaps a result (called 'vipaka'). example, you do good action for another person but that person betrays you. although you did a good action, if there was self-attachment in that action, then your mind will reap suffering. but if that good karma was free from attachment then there will actually be no karmic result. karma is not actually a core Buddhist teaching. it is a teaching taught prior to Buddha. what Buddha taught uniquely was the "karma that ends karma". buddha taught the Noble Eightfold Path is the karma that ends karma.

10. How would you compare Buddhism to other faiths? Buddhism is the final evolution of what you are calling "faith". the evolution of "faith" accords with the evolution human insight rather than from relevations from "God". the evolution of modern religion began with morality, i.e., karma. the earliest modern religions, such as Judaism & Brahmanism (Hinduism) taught morality for the purpose of creating perfect societies (which never succeeded). then the Brahmins in India discovered the liberation of the human mind via the practise of unconditional love. then Buddha discovered the destruction of human suffering via emptiness of 'self'. Christianity was the introduction to the West of the law of liberation via love, hundreds of years after it was discovered in India. Islam was a reversion back to the moral laws of Moses. thus, the moral religions, such as Islam, try to minimise human suffering by keeping people moral. but morality alone cannot completely eradicate suffering. similarly, Christianity tries to minimise human suffering by keeping people moral & by teaching them to love unconditionally & to forgive. this brings much greater liberation of the human mind than the moral religions but it cannot fully eradicate suffering. only Buddhism, can fully eradicate suffering by instructing morality, unconditional love & emptiness of "self". where a faith does not encourage its followers to abandon "self-view", that faith cannot fully eradicate suffering.

kind regards