I do believe in what Buddha taught if he existed doesn't really matter because the meditation techniques and lesson have worked for me and I have served at meditation retreats and laypeople's sanghas @machhour and have seen the same results from other people. I had night terrors since I was a small child and PTSD from being sexually molested, physically and mentally abused by my stepfather. No matter how much therapy I worked through and pills to help me, I couldn't let go of the trauma conditioning.

I let go of my trauma after my second meditation retreat back in 1993, and I haven't suffered anxiety or night terrors since that time. I do still get anxious, but that is typical anxiety that everyone suffers from being a social creature.

I've had to work at learning new ways of reacting to sense data without hooking into old conditioning. No one, no magic spell, no god, no pill can do this kind of work. Conditioning is deeply rooted, I think it may even be imprinted in our genes which we pass onto our offspring. The meditation techniques remove the imprints permanently. I needed to build a new framework for my life, and I used the information from the stories and lessons Buddha taught to rebuild my life for the better.