the Equinox - The Hermetic Library

THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON THE KING
Suffering.” These consist of the above Three Characteristics
with the addition of the Noble Eightfold Path, which contains
as we shall presently see the whole of Canonical Buddhism.
Up to this point, save for the denial of the Ego, the whole
of the above doctrine might have been extracted from almost
any of the Upanishads. But there is a difference, and the
difference is this. Though the Vedântist realized that Ignorance
(Avidyâ) was the foundation of all Sorrow, and that all,
possessing the essence of Change, was but illusion or Mâyâ, a
matter of name and form;* Buddha now pointed out that the
true path of deliverance was through the Reason (Ruach) and
not through the senses (Nephesh), as many of the Upanishads
would give one to believe. Further, this was the path that
Gotama had trod, and therefore, naturally he besought others
to tread it. The Vedântist attempted to attain unity with the
Âtman (Kether)† by means of his Emotions (Nephesh) intermingled
with his Reason (Ruach), but the Buddha by means
of his Reason (Ruach) alone. Buddha attempted to cut off all
joy from the world, substituting in its place an implacable
rationalism, a stern and inflexible morality, little seeing that
the sorrows of Earth which his system substituted in place of
the joys of Heaven, though they might not ruffle his selfconquered
self, must perturb the minds of his followers,
* We have seen how in the Chândogya Upanishad that all things, including
even the four Vedas, are called “nâma eva”—mere name. Now in “The Questions
of King Milinda” we find Nâgasena stating that all things but “name and
form,” the difference between which lies in that “Whatever is gross therein is
‘form:’ ” whatever is subtle, mental, is “name.” But that both are dependent
on each other, and spring up, not separately, but together. “The Questions
of King Milinda,” ii. 2. 8.
† It must not be forgotten that in its ultimate interpretation the Âtman is
the Ain, however we use this reading as seldom as possible, as it is so very vague.
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