Confessions…

Dear Doctor,
I'm not a Buddhist, but I'm very interested in spirituality. I am a Christian, my grandson is torn between Islam and the Bible. Should I be worried about this back and forth? Likewise, he suffers from an incurable disease. What answers does Buddhism provide in terms of suffering?

Doctor Dinh Hy Trinh: Dear Madam,
From my point of view, all religion is psychotherapy. It does not matter whether it is Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or otherwise, the main thing is that it brings relief and hope. That's what your son is looking for, and I don't think you have anything to worry about (unless he was a fundamentalist, of course!).

What Buddhism can bring more particularly is the practical teaching of the Buddha: suffering is an inherent phenomenon of existence, it is up to each person to strive to eradicate its causes and to relieve themselves. even. With lucidity and perseverance, one manages to reduce one's suffering, by putting it into perspective, by realizing that it is in fact insignificant, in an immense interdependent and interconnected universe.