Hi Drewsky. Your topic seems interesting, and I just wanted to give my two cents worth regarding Buddhism. From what little I understand, the whole goal of Buddhism is to break the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, called samsara. One breaks the cycle by achieving Nirvana which basically means "extinguished" or "put out like a candle". To achieve Nirvana one must follow the Eightfold Path- right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.
"Thus the goal of basic Buddhist practice is not the achievement of a state of bliss in some heaven but the extinguishing of tanha (desire, thirst, craving)".
I have no idea if what I have said has helped, confused or exacerbated the problem that you have. But, anywho, good luck on finding the answers to your questions.