I started my spiritul/contemplative life in the fall of 1973. At that time I began reading books on the subject which I was finding at local used bookstores. It just so happens I started with books by Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross. I quickly moved onto the Autobiography of a Yogi by Yogananda, which led me to other Indic literature which included various popular works on Buddhism where I was introduced to core Buddhist concepts such as the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eigfhtfold Path. At that time I also read the Bible, Gospels, Essene scrolls and Nag Humadhi texts all of which were in translation. So, to me the "thou shalt not covet" of the Torah is consistent with the 'craving' (tanha) of the Four Noble Truths.
However, early on I was aware the translations of Buddhist literature consistently translated the term 'samadhi,' the term used in the Pali Canon for the 8th fold of the Noble Eightfold Path, as concentration; whereas, Hindu literature consistently used ecstatic terminology, such as bliss, joy and ecstasy in translation. So, there was a profound disconnect between those 2 religious points of view. I had also read Teresa of Avila's Interior Castle which clearly defined 7 stages of spiritual experience in such ecstatic terms.
So, from 2003-2005 I spent a few years camped in the wilderness meditating deeply and studying the Pali Canon in translation, and studying the Pali language (Magadhi) and in that work I realized that there was a profound translation error at work in almost all published Buddhist literture, which gave birth to my various web pages and forums.
