While 'Buddhism' suggests another belief system, 'dharma practice' suggests a course of action. The four ennobling truths are not propositions to believe; they are challenges to act.

Exotic names, robes, insignia of office, titles - the trappings of religion - confuse as much as they help. They endorse the assumption of the existence of an elite whose explicit commitment grants them implicit extraordinariness.

[Mindfulness] is not concerned with anything transcendent or divine. It serves as an antidote to theism, a cure for sentimental piety, a scalpel for excising the tumor of metaphysical belief. (130)

As for the law of moral causation ('karma'): this is human justice dressed up as cosmic justice and then imputed to the impersonal workings of the natural world.

In taking the everyday details of life for granted, we fail to appreciate the extraordinary fact that we are conscious at all.

Erotic names, robes, insignia of office, titles- the trappings of religion- confuse as much as they help.

This body is fragile. It is just flesh. Listen to the heartbeat. Life depends on the pumping of a muscle.