> Is buddihsm real? Does it have any basis in scientific and objective reality? Or is it fiction?

These are Buddhist questions. :)

The Buddha famously told his followers not to accept his teaching merely because he said it, instead he told them to "go and see for yourself." The point is that if you want to know if buddhism is real, try out the practices and see if they make sense to you and make a difference. If the practices work, adopt them, if you find them worthless, abandon them.

You get free will and karma in Buddhism. Great 2-for-1 special.

Another way to come at it is to consider the good old Four Noble Truths. There are different ways to say them but this is how I learned them:

* Life is full of suffering

* Suffering is caused by attachment to desire

* There is a way beyond attachment

* Meditation and Buddhism is the way beyond attachment (or to Enlightenment, if you prefer)

+1 on most of this. A small note: I think “suffering” is an unfortunate translation as it connotes dire circumstances or real pain, whereas I understand dukkha to include simple discontent, dissatisfaction, and stress. I take the Buddha to have said roughly, “I teach the origin of unhappiness and how to liberate yourself from it.”