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Leto, my starting point in Buddhism was the Dhammapada. From there, I read a few intro texts that were written for secular readers. I've read a number of books by high-profile practitioners, including Pema Chodron, Thich Nhat Hanh, and the 14th Dalai Lama. The selection I've read were for no particular audience other than a Western audience, but the focus was on Buddhist philosophy and how to apply it to everyday life and how it can work through wider problems such as war and global strife.
But I really need to read and study Shantideva's Bodhicaryavatara if I want to get closer to the source.
In my own situation, Buddhism has helped me formulate my moral beliefs and practices. It has informed my humanistic tendencies. Its essentially atheistic foundation (i.e. personal enlightenment, rather than a creator) based on observation, practical reasoning, and compassion is what drew me to it as a non-religious person curious about how to live a life with meaning.
In terms of its views of good and evil, it's really quite simple: Do what you can to help others; if you cannot, at least do no harm.
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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön
Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot
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