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in
    parentheses):
    Dhammadassin
    Siddhatta (Siddhārta)
    Phussa
    Vipassi (Vipashyin)
    Sikhī (Shikin)
    Kakusandha (Krakuchchanda)
    Konāgamana (Kanakamuni)
    Kassapa (Kāshyapa)
    Gotama (Gautama) [the historical Buddha]
    Metteyya (Maitreya) [the Buddha yet to come]
    In Hinduism there are ten principal Incarnations ( Avatāra s)of the
    God Vishnu. One may see a certain analogy between the Hindu and
    Buddhist series of ten Incarnations: in each series, the second-last per-
    sonage is precisely Gautama Buddha, and the last is the “apocalyptic”
    Incarnation (Kalkior Maitreyarespectively).
    *
    * *
    Following the example of the Buddha himself, the final goal of the
    Buddhist religion is the attainment of Nirvāna (the “Unconditioned”
    or “Divine State”) from the starting-point of samsāra (the world)—in
    other words, the attainment of the Absolute from the starting-point of
    the relative. According to Buddhist doctrine, the principal hindrances
    to the realization of Nirvāna are the five “attributes of individuality”
    ( skandha s).These are:
    body ( rūpa )
    sensations ( vedanā )
    thoughts ( samjñā )
    desires ( samskāra )
    individual consciousness ( vijñāna )
    Opposite page : Gautama Buddha, Gupta Dynasty, Sārnāth, India

    40
    An Illustrated Outline of Buddhism
    The five skandha scause man to be susceptible to the three klesha s
    (“poisons” or “passions”), which are the very source of suffering ( duh-
    kha ).These are:
    ignorance or il usion ( moha )—symbolized by a pig
    greed or lust ( lobha )
    —symbolized by a cock
    anger or pride ( dvesha )
    —symbolized by a snake
    Illusion, lust, pride (“the world, the flesh, the devil”): these are the
    basic existential veils—or moral evils—to which all others can be re-
    duced. The three symbolic animals are usual y depicted swallowing
    each other, thus indicating the apparently hopeless predicament of
    those who are their dupes. The only release is in the merciful Buddha
    and in the Way he preached: the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold
    Path. Thus may one transcend the skandha s(egoism) and overcome
    the klesha s(passions), and so escape the thralldom of samsāra .(For the Mahāyāna doctrine of the Bodhisattvaand the “six virtues” or
    pāramitā s,see pp. 67-68 and 77.)
    One who, through spiritual striving and the grace of the Buddha,
    attains the virtuality or actuality of the state of Nirvāna isknown as
    an arhat or arhant (Sanskrit, “worthy one”), arahat (Pali), lohan (Chinese), or rakan (Japanese). These terms may be loosely translated as
    “saint”. There are of course many degrees and modes of union with
    Ultimate Reality, and this is something of which Buddhism takes full
    account.
    Nirvāna is as it were incarnated by the Buddha and this recal s
    the famous formula of St. Irenaeus—the definitive expression of the
    central role of the Logos in all spiritualities or mysticisms: “God be-
    came man, so that man might become God.” In the case of Buddhism,
    this may be paraphrased as follows: Nirvāna became samsāra , sothat
    samsāra might become Nirvāna .
    This insight comes from Frithjof Schuon.2 Elsewhere Schuon
    writes:
    The invocation of the Buddha Amitābhaisfounded on a doc-
    trine of redemption. Amitābhaisthe Light and the Life of
    2 See “The Perennial Philosophy”, in The Unanimous Tradition ,ed. Ranjit Fernando (Colombo: Sri Lanka Institute of Traditional Studies, 1991), pp. 22-23.

    The Nature and the Teachings of Buddhism
    41
    T’hanka of the Wheel of Life ( Bhavachakramudrā ),
    with the three klesha s represented at the center, Tibet

    The Nature and the Teachings of Buddhism
    43
    the Buddha; in invoking Amitābha,the devotee enters into a
    golden halo of Mercy, he finds security in the blessed light of
    that Name; he withdraws into it with perfect surrender and
    also with perfect gratitude. The Name of Amitābhacarries the
    devotee towards Sukhāvatī (“the Western Paradise”).3
    This is a