Frithjof Schuon - Treasures of Buddhism

World Wisdom
The Library of Perennial Philosophy

The Library of Perennial Philosophy is dedicated to the exposition of the timeless Truth underlying the diverse religions. This Truth, often referred to as the Sophia Perennis or Perennial Wisdomfinds its expression in the revealed Scriptures as well as the writings of the great sages and the artistic creations of the traditional worlds.

Treasures of Buddhism appears as one of our selections in the Writings of Frithjof Schuon series.

The Writings of Frithjof Schuon

The Writings of Frithjof Schuon form the foundation of our library because he is the pre-eminent exponent of the Perennial Philosophy. His work illuminates this perspective in both an essential and comprehensive manner like none other.

English Language Writings of Frithjof Schuon

Original Books
The Transcendent Unity of Religions
Spiritual Perspectives and Human Facts
Gnosis: Divine Wisdom
Language of the Self
Stations of Wisdom
Understanding Islam
Light on the Ancient Worlds
Treasures of Buddhism (In the Tracks of Buddhism)
Logic and Transcendence
Esoterism as Principle and as Way
Castes and Races
Sufism: Veil and Quintessence
From the Divine to the Human
Christianity/Islam: Essays on Esoteric Ecumenicism
Survey of Metaphysics and Esoterism
In the Face of the Absolute
The Feathered Sun: Plains Indians in Art and Philosophy
To Have a Center
Roots of the Human Condition
Images of Primordial and Mystic Beauty: Paintings by Frithjof Schuon
Echoes of Perennial Wisdom
The Play of Masks
Road to the Heart: Poems
The Transfiguration of Man
The Eye of the Heart
Form and Substance in the Religions
Adastra & Stella Maris: Poems by Frithjof Schuon (bilingual edition)
Autumn Leaves & The Ring: Poems by Frithjof Schuon (bilingual edition)
Songs without Names, Volumes I-VI: Poems by Frithjof Schuon
Songs without Names, Volumes VII-XII: Poems by Frithjof Schuon
World Wheel, Volumes I-III: Poems by Frithjof Schuon
World Wheel, Volumes IV-VII: Poems by Frithjof Schuon
Primordial Meditation: Contemplating the Real

Edited Writings
The Essential Frithjof Schuon, ed. Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Songs for a Spiritual Traveler: Selected Poems (bilingual edition)
Ren Gunon: Some Observations, ed. William Stoddart
The Fullness of God: Frithjof Schuon on Christianity,
ed. James S. Cutsinger
Prayer Fashions Man: Frithjof Schuon on the Spiritual Life,
ed. James S. Cutsinger
Art from the Sacred to the Profane: East and West,
ed. Catherine Schuon
Splendor of the True: A Frithjof Schuon Reader,
ed. James S. Cutsinger

A New Translation with Selected Letters

by

Frithjof Schuon

Includes Other Previously Unpublished Writings

Edited by

Harry Oldmeadow

Treasures of Buddhism:
A New Translation with Selected Letters
2018 World Wisdom, Inc.

All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission, except in critical articles and reviews.

Translated by Mark Perry and Jean-Pierre Lafouge

Published in French as Trsors du Bouddhisme, 1997 and Images de lEsprit: Shinto, Bouddhisme, Yoga, 1961, 1982

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Schuon, Frithjof, 1907-1998, author. | Oldmeadow, Harry, 1947-editor. | Perry, Mark, 1951- translator. | Lafouge, Jean-Pierre, 1944- translator.
Title: Treasures of Buddhism : a new translation with selected letters / edited by Harry Oldmeadow.
Description: Bloomington, Indiana : World Wisdom, 2018. | Series: The writings of Frithjof Schuon | Published in French as Tr?esors du Bouddhisme, 1997 and Images de lEsprit: Shinto, Bouddhisme, Yoga, 1961, 1982. | Includes bibliographical references and index.|
Identifiers: LCCN 2018008596 (print) | LCCN 2018018174 (ebook) | ISBN 9781936597598 (epub) | ISBN 9781936597581 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Buddhism. | Buddhism--Japan.
Classification: LCC BQ4012 (ebook) | LCC BQ4012 .S3813 2018 (print) | DDC 294.3--dc22
LC record available at https://url.emailprotection.link/?aQIGj4lOvUgMGIEdjJ2U_yFmWwJ1b54v7TRd5g7Btmug~

Cover:
Wat Phan Tao, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Printed on acid-free paper in the United States of America

For information address World Wisdom, Inc.
P.O. Box 2682, Bloomington, Indiana 47402-2682
www.worldwisdom.com

Treasures This compilation of Frithjof Schuons essays on Buddhist themes provides a conspectus that fully respects but transcends the exoteric religious understandings of the various schools and branches of this great tradition. It presents a peerless exposition of many particular doctrines, symbols, and rites as well as illuminating the nature of Shinto and its relation to Buddhism. Furthermore, and most importantly, it brings Buddhism to the reader as a living spiritual force.

Along the way the author banishes many misunderstandings that are widespread in the West amongst both the advocates and opponents of what is understood to be Buddhism. Consider the salutary remarks opening the chapter Originality of Buddhism:

Whoever sets out to define a spiritual phenomenon situated in the still quasi-heavenly era of the great Revelations has to beware of assessing it according to the impoverishing categories of a later age or, still worse, those belonging to the completely profane free-thinking world. Buddhism, which is so often reduced to the level of a base philosophical empiricism, has in fact nothing to do with an ideology that is purely human and thus devoid of any enlightening or salvific quality; to deny the celestial character of Shakyamuni and his Message is tantamount to saying that there can be effects without a cause, and this remark applies moreover for all Avatra s and all sacred institutions (p. 15).

The status of this tradition, so to speak, is a subject that has caused untold confusionamongst the adherents of other religions, amongst those who champion atheism and agnosticism, amongst many Western converts, and even, in these later times, amongst practitioners within the Buddhist homelands whose thinking has been adulterated by modern influences. No doubt these misapprehensions arise from many sources, but four are readily apparent: firstly, from a Hindu vantage-point Buddhism presents itself as a heterodoxy; secondly, Buddhism is problematic in the perspective of any exoteric theism; thirdly, the spiritual methodology of Buddhism rests on the metaphysic of the Void, misunderstood as a kind of nihilism of which the doctrine of no soul ( anatta ) is seen as another scandalous instance; lastly, many Westerners attracted to Buddhism, often unaware of its close affinities with the Christian tradition which they have repudiated, laud it as rational, empirical, scientific, humanistic, and the like, and disavow its religious trappings. They sometimes claim that Buddhism is a way of life or a philosophy rather than a religion. What does Frithjof Schuon say about these matters?

On the question of Buddhisms relation to the Hindu tradition out of which it emerged:

The first question to be asked concerning a doctrine or tradition is that of its intrinsic orthodoxy; that is to say one must know whether this tradition is in conformity, not necessarily with another given traditionally orthodox perspective, but simply with Truth. As far as Buddhism is concerned, we will not ask therefore whether it agrees with the letter of the Veda or if its non-theismand not atheismcan be reconciled in its expression with Semitic theism or any other, but simply whether Buddhism is true in itself; which means, if the answer is in the affirmative, that it will agree with the Vedic spirit and that its non-theism will express the Truthor a sufficient and efficacious aspect of this Truthwhereof theism provides another possible expression, opportune for the world it rules (p. 16).