My last attempt

Icon said

I pity anyone who goes through life thinking this is all it's really about. What an empty existence.

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And yet finding your peace right here and now is the essence of Buddhism. Buddhism is not atheistic but rather non-theistic. The Buddha neither confirmed nor denied the existence of a God, but said "All created things must decay. Work out your own Salvation with diligence". The Buddha believed that salvation could be found in the here and now by apprehending the moment as it is. We remember the past incorrectly and we anticipate the future incorrectly, so the only chance we have to get it right is in the here and now.

When pressed by one of his followers for the answer to the question "What happens when I die", the Buddha responded cryptically "What happens to your lap when you stand up? What happens to your fist when you open your hand?

Enlightenment, or Nirvana (which means "going out") is to be found in the elimination of Karma and the accompanying craving/aversion that bedevils us all. The extinction or "going out" of Enlightenment is the extinction of the very damaging notion that we are all separate discreet entities. Instead, Enlightenment focuses on finding unity with reality as it is, and not as we wish it to be, as this world is indeed a temporary illusion.