Acknowledgments
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My heartfelt thanks goes out to many who have ably and sacrificially helped me bring this book together.
To Don Jacobson, for the idea of a conversational-style narrative that would plumb the differences between these two systems of belief but retain respect for both.
To Rod Morris, for his sensitive and capable final edits.
To all the Multnomah staff, for their encouragement and affirmation.
To the readers who freely offered their honest suggestions.
To Margie, my wife, who is my favorite critic and editor.
To the monks and nuns, for their energetic dialogues and openness in dealing with tough issues. I will forever be grateful to them.
To the wonderful people in Malaysia, Thailand, India, and Singapore that went out of their way to host my research and make my stays memorable.
This has been a rewarding journey of thought and imagination-and for that I am grateful most of all to God.
Writing this book has been an incredible experience. I spent scores of hours in temples with monks and with instructors of students of Buddhist thought. The discussions I had were always cordial and delightful. Over many a cup of tea, we lingered and talked about life's deepest questions and contrasting answers.