Lying for God

[Dr H]

Probably that's the cause of your negative feelings: you didn't believe in Buddhism strongly; didn't you?

I agree with a lot of the basic (non-theistic) principles like the Four Noble Truths, but the particular group I tumbled into was derived from the Mahayana tradition rather than the Theravada side.  It came with a large side order of woo-woo, attributing supernatural qualities to a mantra and a scroll.  My onboard BS detector prevented me from accepting that aspect of the practice, and eventually I just walked away.

Studying Buddhism taught me how to meditate.  Of course I could have learned meditation in other ways, without the mantras and the mandalas and the koans... but since I was studying Buddhism, at least I took something useful with me when I left.  I can't unequivocally make the same claim about Christianity.