I’m not a Buddhist, but as I learned how his faith helped him, I discovered how its tenets and practices can help others—believers and nonbelievers alike. I learned that people can change and how but also that transformation comes in fits and starts. The journey forward isn’t linear but cyclical, and it’s hard. I learned something else that was even more profound: that the process and goal are different from what many of us expect. Instead of working to change our true nature, we must find it. Instead of running from suffering, we must embrace it.
