Buddhism

Basic Guiding Principle: All life is suffering. Suffering is caused by desire. To remove suffering, remove desire. To remove desire, follow the Eight Fold Path (Right actions, Right Words, Right Thoughts).

Founder/Prophet: Siddhartha Gautama, the most widely known Buddha. Anyone who attains enlightenment and then helps teach others, however, is also a budda.

Holy Writ: The Vinaya Pitaka, containing disciplinary rules for Buddhist monks and nuns; The Sutra Pitaka, containing the actual discourses of the Buddha; The Abhidharma Pitaka, containing commentaries on the Buddha's teachings.

Deity: There isn't really one, although the Buddha is highly revered and in some sects viewed as a psuedo-god.

What happens when you die?: Reincarnation. Eventually, the soul will reach Nirvana, and the cycle will end.

Proselytism: Passive. Telling your friends about Buddhism is great, but so is not telling.

Hostility towards Non-Believers: None.

Things I Liked: Very mellow, low stress belief system. Also, does not preclude having another religion, as is really more of a lifestyle than a religion.

Things that Bugged me: The 'All life is suffering' bit. That's a little depressing. I was aiming for positive.