RELIGION begins in solitude. Not a single person was in the Buddha’s presence that night. Having expelled the army of the Lord of Delusion, Mara, who as a mysterious ogre tried to distract him, Buddha continued his meditation. Finally he arrived at “the four noble truths”.

Religion begins in stillness and a moment of awe. Buddha beneath the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, Moses on Mount Sinai, Muhammad in the Hira Cave: all these situations appea