Buddhism--like its sister Indian religions, Hinduism and Jainism--is a way of liberation. It teaches that we are trapped by our negative emotions--greed, anger, hatred, fear, desire, and the like--in an illusory world of suffering that has much in common with a nightmare. Just as there is no escape from a nightmare except to awaken to the higher level of consciousness that is wakefulness, there is no escape from samsara, as this world of pain is called, except to awaken to the higher level of consciousness known as nirvana. This awakening, called enlightenment, is the goal of Buddhist practice.
---The Great Compassion: Buddhism and Animal Rights, by Norm Phelps---
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