A Good Buddhist

well, becomes well; i.e. becomes a Buddha
(but not necessarily a buddhist)

1)Discovers things for his/her self:

2)Achieves clarity and enlightenment

clarity is seeing things for what they are, being aware and sensitive to your environment, seeing between the lines, behind the surface, behind the scenes, seeing the unseen as well. So understanding physics is big, for many Buddhists, I believe. The fusion of dualities for an enlightened being involves understanding being/matter as taking a middle ground between the view that things either exist or do not exist, for example.

enlightenment is the extinction of suffering, and dedication to helping others extinguish suffering, with the deep realization that the two are the same, so that one acts kindly, to spread kindness, countering pastma (pain agony suffering torment misery anguish) wherever and whenever it occurs, like an effective antivirus software package. Happiness is bringing others out of a state of suffering. Happiness is fighting evil (successfully).

This can be achieved through meditation, a typical Buddhist practice. There are x types of meditation:

(one type is the lotus sutra: nam-myoho-renge-kyo).
This phrase, mantra is the key to happiness, according to one Japanese monk.

3)the path to extinguish suffering involves extinguishing greed, hatred, and delusion. Clarity about suffering starts with 4 "noble" truths: there is suffering, it starts, it ends, and there is a way to end it. This way is the noble eightfold path. The 8 ways to a "cessation of suffering" are divided into 3 categories: action, thought, and wisdom.

THE EIGHTFOLD PATH
-action: have right speech, right acts, and right livelihood.
-thought: have right effort, mindfulness, and concentration.
-wisdom: have right understanding, and right thoughts.

this can be summarized as morality and mastery over a purified mind.

action
morality is right thought, word, and deed (which is a fancy way of saying everything). I consider thoughts and words to be deeds, anyway. Dudley Do-right. Just do it! But actions speak louder than words (which perhaps speak louder than thoughts). Actions stem from thoughts. It's all the same.

okay, so right mindfulness, understanding, concentration, and thought may sound like the same thing, or very similar, at first blush. As might right effort and acts. So I'll describe the subtleties, as presented on Wikipedia. Meditate on them, and absorb them, integrate them into your soul, being, identity, and life, to become healthy and become an agent for a better, healthier, happier world.

action
1)Right Speech—One speaks in a non hurtful, not exaggerated, truthful way
2)Right Actions—Wholesome action, avoiding action that would do harm
3)Right Livelihood—One's way of livelihood does not harm in any way oneself or others; directly or indirectly

thought
4)Right Effort/Exercise—One makes an effort to improve
5)Right Mindfulness/Awareness—Mental ability to see things for what they are with clear consciousness
6)Right Concentration/Meditation—Being aware of the present reality within oneself, without any craving or aversion.

wisdom
7)Right Understanding—Understanding reality as it is, not just as it appears to be.
8)Right Thoughts—Change in the pattern of thinking.

That's it! The road to wellville. Actually, I think the eightfold path may be a bit delusional. A person with neuralgia is still going to suffer. They can take away the suffering associated with the suffering by accepting it, not being averse to it, but the pain will persist. Maybe I'm wrong. Is it all in your head?

4) Perhaps only death can be the the final cessation of suffering. It seems to me Buddhism embraces death. According to Tibetan buddhists, there is reincarnation. My wife believes most buddhists believe in reincarnation. The law of karma dictates whether your next life will have more or less suffering than the previous. Living a succession of improving lives will eventually result in Buddhahood, in which you cease to be reborn, and live in heaven or something. I'm not completely clear on all this.

My own view is death IS the cessation of suffering, but we shouldn't therefore seek it, or be ambivalent toward it, and perhaps therefore take risks. We should embrace life, and seek to make our lives happy, from making other's lives better, and live a long and rewarding life. And then we make our death happy, too.

The goal of Buddhism is to become a Buddha, or a bodhisattva, if there is a distinction, which I think there shouldn't be (one sees reality clearly -the awakened one, while the other compassionately refrains from entering nirvana in order to save others). The reason I think this outlook, this distinction, is wrong, is happiness (for me, anyway) involves service. If you think true happiness and enlightenment excludes service, I think you've got a false consciousness, and your Buddhahood should be in question. I think seeing reality clearly entails that you devote your life to service, which will make you happy in itself, in an absurd world that may not get (much) better overall, but the joy is in the effort, the tangible difference, one makes for even one individual, after (or while) one conquors the demons and sufferings in oneself. Meditation is solitary, but happiness is also social, a team effort.