The word "friend" is too liberally used. In reality, most of the people we know are either "contacts" or "acquaintances", but we when we talk with others, we opt for the word "friend" because it is less likely to offend.

The Buddhist understanding of a "friend" is someone who:

• is there for us in both good times and bad;
• encourages us to do good;
• we can confide in and who confides in us;
• rejoices in our happiness;
• speaks well of us.

Based on the above, how many people in your circle can you really consider your "friend"?

In Buddhism, the focus is on achieving "complete freedom of the mind" through meditation. There is a huge emphasis on "mind over matter" - Buddhists believe that the body is secondary, and if one can control one’s mind, one will subsequently be able to control one’s body.

This was what Ram Bahadur Bamjan tried to do. His attempt to meditate for six years undisturbed incurred the interest of scientists, who tried conducting studies to determine how he was able to go without food and water for an extended period of time.

I do believe that the mind is capable of much more than the body is - which is the basis of the saying "where there’s a will, there’s a way". What is of greater interest to me are the techniques one has to put to use in order to control one’s own mind. It’s not that easy - we are easily distracted and our minds naturally like to wander. I guess the key is in focusing.

Theism refers to the belief in a god. Some examples of theistic religions are Islam and Christianity. In Islam, this god referred to is called "Allah", and in Christianity, he is referred to as "God".

Buddhism is a non-theistic religion. This means that in Buddhism, there is no "god". Many people have the mistaken idea that because Buddhists go to temple and pray to a statue of Buddha, Buddha is the "god" they worship. This is not true. Statues of Buddha are not idols for worship, but rather objects of contemplation, and points on which one can focus their attention on.

A study of human history shows that human spiritual consciousness moves through three stages: polytheism, theism, and non-theism.

Polytheism: Primitive tribal peoples attribute different natural phenomena to the many gods and deities of the natural world.

Theism: As primitive tribal cultures become more civilised and structured, and form small societies governed by a monarch or single autocratic figure, they begin to favour the worship of a single entity that is deemed to be omniscient and omnipotent. Theistic religions usually advocate much preaching and evangelism to spread belief in this entity they call their god.

Non-theism: In its highest and most sophisticated stage, the human mind, through observation and a study of science, understands that phenomena occur as part of the order of nature, and not because of the actions of any deity.

As democracy and scientific thinking proliferate, and education levels rise, it is predicted that the non-theistic viewpoint will be increasingly favoured.