In a February comic strip, "Between Friends," one friend declares that Buddha teaches that we are not in control of our lives and when we accept and let things be, we will be happier and balanced people.

Her friend comments that she likes Buddha's teaching.

On the face of it, it was a positive statement about Buddha and Buddhism. However, the overall perspective can be misunderstood. The cartoon strip could be interpreted to mean that Buddhi-sm teaches resignation to our life conditions and we must accept them to be happy.

However, Buddhism does not teach resignation or that there is nothing we can control. It is not a fatalism, which means that everything is pre-ordained. Fatalism is a common popular thought.

Buddha's teaching, however, assumes that we are free to make choices. It has a very high evaluation of human life, saying birth as a human being is rare. If we do not use this opportunity to move toward enlightenment, we may continue to wander in the stream of births and deaths until we come to understand our true condition. Other animals are under the control of their sensate life and instincts, but lack the mental faculties to move toward enlightenment. Choice is the presupposition of all Buddhist discipline and practice, whether the Noble Eightfold Path or the Six Perfections.

Buddhism, as all other major religions, understands that we live in a larger order of things that places limits — physically, materially and mentally — on what individuals may be capable of. In Chinese thought it is "Heaven" or "Tao." In western and the Mideast religion, it is "God" (Allah) who rules over all.

We are all different but physically we must obey the law of gravity; we all have a genetic heritage (which in Buddhism may be seen as past karma) which places limits on our individual abilities. We are as we find ourselves in the world. But we can act within those limits.

Within our particular situation, we have the capacity to distinguish good and bad; to reason, reflect and decide. While there may be past karma constantly coming to fruition in our lives, it is the Buddhist view that our present choices, whether good or bad, can influence our future course. In the ongoing philosophical discussion of free will and determinism, Buddhism opts for free will, while understanding that our choices and actions all have a context that conditions those acts.

A realistic understanding of our situation gives us freedom to choose effectively. But it never teaches resignation and acceptance of things just as they are. Such a choice leads to indifference, passivity and rarely happiness. Resignation gives up what is most distinctive of human life, the ability to contribute to the outcome of one's future.

Buddhists can affirm the oft-stated prayer: O Lord, give me the courage to chan-ge what can be changed; the patience to accept what cannot be changed; and the wisdom to know the difference.

The Rev. Alfred Bloom, a professor emeritus of religion at the University of Hawai'i, recently released "A Life of Serendipity," an American Buddhist Studies Center Publications book.