1) British writer Vincenzo Oliveti wrote, “God revealed to theProphet Muhammad the Holy Qur'an, the Sacred Book of Islam. Thereligion this created, however, was not a new message but simply afinal and total Arabic restatement of God's messages to the HebrewProphets and to Jesus.†Based on what you know about Judaism andChristianity would you agree with this statement? You may read moreof Oliveti’s text in The 500 Most Influential Muslims
2)  The first nobel truth of Buddhism is “all issuffering.†The goal of practicing Buddhism, then, is to eliminatepersonal suffering through extinguishing our desires and ourattachment to the idea of “self.†There are no distinctions betweengood desires and bad desires, for all desires lead to suffering. Towhat degree do you think this is true? Is it possible that somekinds of desires are good and even necessary to life? Read throughthe material about Buddha and his teaching athttp://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/bits/bit-2.htm (read The FireSermon [#73] and The Great Retirement [#6, only down to the namingof Rahula]). Then wiegh on this Question.
