Buddhism

I have recently been learning about the religion of Buddhism in more detail than I have before, and I am fascinated by it.  Some of my notes on the subject, in particular about the Four Noble Truths:
1.  Existence is suffering (also known as Life Is Pain)
2.  All suffering is the result of attachments
3.  Suffering can be stopped through the cessation of attachments
4.  The way to stop attachments is the Eightfold Path to Enlightenment

Now, these truths are not too terribly different from a boiled-down version of Christianity:
1.  Life is pain
2.  Pain is the result of relying on earthly things
3.  Rely on God to stop pain

There are several interesting similarities and differences:
1.  Buddhism relys on the will of the individual and recognizes free will, as opposed to relying on God
2.  Both the Eightfold Path to Enlightment and the proscriptions of the Torah, Bible, and Koran preach compassion as a way to understand or emulate the divine
3.  Buddhism recognizes a "spark of the divine" in all conscious creatures, which can be nourished into enlightenment, while a "Holy Spirit" appears in the "big three" monotheistic religions, which accomplishes much the same thing.  (An interesting thought: was Pentecost the disciples becoming enlightened?)
4.  Buddhism preaches rebirth, or "Transmigration", through which people can go through life as many times as they need to achieve enlightenment, while in monotheistic religions, all one has is a single lifetime.

More on this as I think about it...