Will you give up the Buddha for love?

I am always disappointed when I know of anyone who was a Buddhist but who has now converted to other religions because they have married someone who is not a Buddhist. In my opinion, it shows that the Buddha is not so important to him/her than love. Love is more important. However, when trouble comes, love is unable to save the person. He/she has forsaken the Three Refuges and has decided to take refuge in love instead. If buddha is not important to you, how then can your prayers to him come true? How then can you ever escape from life's suffering?

As a Buddhist, I may not be able to save someone else from suffering, and my own prayers may not come true sometimes. However, I am convinced the Four Noble Truths is true and I see the only way to the end of suffering and ensuring a better control of our future rebirths is through reliance on the Buddha dharma.

So, to seek a girlfriend or boyfriend from another religion and convert after marriage is ridiculous, at least for me. Not because I think there is anything wrong with the other religions. Rather, I see people as appreciating less of their own religion, i.e. Buddhism. Therefore, I am disappointed. However, having said that, if the person who converted has not been a practising Buddhist and knows little if not none of any Buddhist teaching, and after he/she converted, he/she became a better person, then I guess it is good that he/she had converted. Nevertheless, you must remember, to distance yourself from the Three Refuges is to distance yourself karmically from the Buddha's path also in the future lives. The effect is the person who left Buddhism may not be able to meet with the Buddhist path again in the future. And this is because the person who converted had inadvertantly created the karma himself/herself that separates him/herself from Buddha dharma. Karma is self-created, not cursed or created by someone else.

So, when a muslim fell for me many years ago, I knew I didnot want to give up Buddhism and that relationship didnot even get to start. I will never give up the Three Refuges for love at all.... even if I were to stay single my entire life. Hehehehe....but I am not single and I married a Buddhist. :)