# Buddhism and the Baha'i Faith *Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-20 — 1 clipping.* --- > Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Daniel Conner, Buddhism and the Baha'i Faith, bahai-library.com. > ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── > > Buddhism and the Baha'i Faith > BY DANIEL CONNER > > ALMOST 2500 years ago a gentle man preached nonviolence and a novel conception > n. walked with his disciples and taught in of the soul and founded the Jain religion. > a small state named Magadha in what is now Stirred by the teachings of Zoroaster, the > Nepal. The story of the enlightenment of the Persian empire attained its greatest extent > young prince Siddhartha Gautama is well- and challenged the Greek world. Greek phi- > known throughout the Wes tern world, but losophy was flowering with the thought of > few outside Asia have a passable knowledge, Pythagoras and Plato. The Hebrew prophets > much less an understanding, of the religion were laying the foundations of a nation based > founded by the Buddha. on strict monotheism. In this world the > The sixth and fifth centuries B.C. wit- Buddha lived. > nessed intellectual and spiritual activity un- Although miraculous tales and legends > precedented in the history of the world. abound, little is known about the historical > During this time the ethical systems that Buddha, and many of the texts attributed to > influence Chinese thought today were sys- him are undoubtedly of more recent origin. > tematized by the strangely diverse personali- Some current scholarship maintains that > ties of Confucius and the half-mythical Lao- Buddhism was initially little more than a > tze. In India Mahavira (Great Spirit) reaction against Brahmanism (out of which > 26 WORLD ORDER: WINTER 1971-72 > > Hinduism evolved). It appears that early countryside. > Buddhists were more egalitarian in their A more important reason is the remark- > beliefs than most of their countrymen: able assimilative power of Hinduism. His- > No brahman is such by birth. torically, Hinduism has been the most ab- > No outcaste is such by birth. sorptive of the world's religions; with time it > An outcaste is such by his deeds. has successfully assimilated extremely heter- > A brahman is .such by his deeds. odox elements. Even the ethnocentric Mus- > (Sutta Nipatct, 136) 1 lim conquerors found themselves in danger > They welcomed men and wome classes as disciples, a practice which aroused Mughal empire (1526-c. 1800). When the > the ire of orthodox brahmins. Like his con- Muslims invaded, Buddhism and Hinduism > temporary MahavTra, the Buddha stressed had almost merged, and the Buddha was > the doctrine of ahirrzsa (nonviolence : doing relegated to a place in the Hindu pantheon as > harm to no living thing), while animal the ninth incarnation of Vi~i:iu. > sacrifice still lingered on from the Vedic age Still more important is the fact that Bud- > of Brahmanism. dhism suffered the fate of almost every other > Due in part to a popular reaction against religion and split into numerous sects. Early > the social rigidity of Brahmanism, Buddhism in its career Buddhism had split in two: > rapidly gained a wide following, spread ing T heravadct ( the way of the elders) or Hr- > throughout India and the Central Asian nayana ( the lesser vehicle), and Mahayana > steppes. The great emperor A5oka ( c. 268- (the greater vehicle) . Theravada retained to > 233 B.C. ) was dramatically converted to a greater extent the original teachings of the > Buddhism after witnessing the carnage in an Buddha, while Mahayana claimed to have > aggressive war of his own instigation. The access to esoteric teachings of the Buddha > Faith freq uently enjoyed royal patronage and that were denied to any but his closest > continued to grow until the fifth century disciples. In their cultural function Mahaya- > A.D., when it still flourished among the na compares to Theravada much as medieval > educated and noble classes. Eight hundred Catholicism compares to early Christianity. > years later, however, follo wing the Muslim The Mahayana school regards the individual > conquest of northern India, Buddhism had search for enlightenment as a selfish ideal > virtually disappeared from the land of its and replaces it with the concept of the > birth. Now Buddhists number only a tiny bodhisattva-the savior who achieves en- > fraction of the population of India. lightenment but rejects nirva?Ja so that he > The reasons for the virtual disappearance might help the less fortunate on the path to > of Buddhism from India are several. One is salvation. The development of Mahayana has > the ferocity of the Muslim conquest. By and been greatly influenced by local animistic > large, the invading Muslims of the twelfth cults, and it has incorporated foreign deities > and thirteenth centuries left the indigenous into its pantheon, while T heravada has sur- > population to itself, but they were unre- vived relatively less changed in Ceylon and > strained in their destruction of priests, tem- Southeast Asia. Until recently M ahayana > ples, and monasteries. The Buddhists were flourished chiefly in Tibet, Central and East- > most susceptible because they were orga- ern Asia, and Vietnam, and also in China > nized. The monks tended to congregate in and Japan in the form of Ch'an (or Zen), a > centralized monasteries, while the Hindu synthesis of Mahayana and Taoism. > chaplains were scattered throughout the The sacred scriptures of Buddhism are > more numerous than those of any other > 1. William D eBary et al, eds., Sources of Indian > Tradition (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, religion-so extensive that no single scholar > 1958), I, 140. could hope to encompass them in a lifetime. > BUDDHISM AND THE BAHAf FAITH 27 > > Among the most important Theravada texts Christian values upon which much of our > are the Dhammapada and The Questions of culture is based, yet which have notably > King Menander. The latter is in the form of failed to achieve their goals. Eastern religions, > a Platonic dialogue between a Buddhist dis- so the rationale goes, offer individual salva- > ciple and a Greek satrap left behind in tion through self-improvement and lack the > Bactria by Alexander the Great. The most emphasis on social values that is fou nd in the > important Mahayana text is the Saddharma- Judea-Christian tradition. The failure of the > Ptt~idarTka or The Lottts of the Trne Law . Judea-Christian ethical system to bring about > Mahayana is the form more familiar to its ideal of lasting social justice and peace is > Westerners, since it has had the more success- regarded as being inherent in the system > ful publicists, and it offers a great variety of itself, whereas if the Oriental fai ls to achieve > wondrous tales. This form has recently en- the goa l of enlightenment, it is his fault > joyed adoption by certain segments of Amer- alone. > ican society, especially in its Tibetan or Doubtless many young people are embrac- > J apanese (Zen) forms. Anyone who has ing Oriental religions because these represent > read a little about Buddhism will recognize to them the opposite end of the spectrum > the names of its foremost exponents and ex- from the ethica l system in which they were > plainers to the West: D. T. Suzuki, the late raised. Is this polarity real or on ly apparent? > Zen patriarch, and Alan Warts, the American If real, then are Western and Eastern reli- > philosopher and student of comparative reli- gio ns reconcilable) In what ways does a new > gion. re ligion, the Baha'i Faith, reconcile them ? > A study of rhe genea logy of religions > EASTERN RELIGIONS, particularly Buddhism, shows that the so-called Eastern and Wes tern > have long held a spell of fascination for the re ligions have for the most part developed > Western world. From Voltaire through independently. Just as Christianity grew out > Schopen hauer and Hermann Hesse, Euro- of Jud aism, the Baha'i Faith grew out of > pean literature is full of speculation about Shi'ih Islam through the Babi religion, and > the nature of Eastern thought. American Buddhism g rew our of Brahmanism. This in > poets such as Emerson and Thoreau have no way implies that the above-mentioned > dabbled in Oriental mysticism, and the faiths are nor independent or revealed reli- > Western world has produced a number of gions; the intent is only to point out their > first-class Oriental scholars. But it is only historical connections. The historical roots of > recently that popular interest, especially the Baha'i Faith lie among the Western reli- > among you ng people, has been aroused . The gions, just as those of Buddhism lie among > trend has yet to gain the proportions of a the Eastern, but this does not mean that the > mass movement, bur it is evident that Orien- Baha'i Faith in itself is Western or Eastern in > tal philosophy is being adopted uncritically outlook. Indeed, the Baha'i Faith claims uni- > by certain segments of our society. versality, spanning or even transcending the > Why? Partly because Oriental philosophy traditional division of East and West. In order > has a great deal to teach us. But some to investigate this claim, let us first determine > psychologists see other reasons in the lure of whether the differences between the Eastern > the East, nor only among so-called hippies or and W esrern religions are real or apparent. > beatniks, but also among serious scholars and Ar first glance it might seem rhar Western > theologia ns. The phenomenal popularity dur- and Eastern religions have little in common, > ing the late Sixties of transcendental medita- other than the obvious features which are > tion and mysticism-and of individuals such common to all religions. This is especially > as Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and Ravi Shankar true in the realm of metaphysics. The West- > -is symptomatic of a rejection of the Judea- ern religions are rather closely related, with > 28 WORLD ORDER: WINTER 1971 -72 > > great mutual influence. The religions born results in nirvarta (the "blowing-out" of the > in India and China, on the other hand, are self). Fundamental is the doctrine of the > not only for the most part historically sepa- four noble truths: 1) life is inevitably sor- > rate from the Western religions but also rowful, 2) sorrow is due to craving, 3) > from each other. The distance between Con- sorrow can be stopped only by cessation of > fucianism 2 and Buddhism is greater than desire, and 4) this can be accomplished only > that between Zoroastrianism and Christiani- by disciplined conduct and meditation. > ty. Moreover, the Western religions are scat- Not even the Soul has abiding personality; > tered through the time dimension, whereas it too is transient. The station of the Soul is > the great Eastern religions were born mostly altered according to its karma (accumulation > between 600 and 500 B.C. of good or bad deeds) and is eternal! y reborn > Oswald Spengler wrote, "Buddhism, which in a station that befits its past lives. The cycle > only a mere dabbler in religious research of rebirth can be stopped only by attaining > would compare with Christianity, is hard ly 11irvaftct or extinction. This is done first by > reproducible in the words of the Western adop ting right views about the nature of > Languages." :: The statement contains some existence, then by careful moral discipline, > truth but is greatly exaggerated. There are and finally by prolonged meditation. > significant similarities between Buddhism Nirvartrt is the total an nihilation of the > and Christianity. Buddhism, however, has Self, but it is not thought of in negative > been judged by some scholars to be more a terms. Rather nirvarzct is a transcendent state > system of psychology than a religion. Much beyond comprehension in which the illusion > of this argument is based on the fact that of individuality is apparent. This state is not > there is no trace in the Buddha's teachings of fundamentally different from the supreme > a "God"-at least not a personal, transcen- bliss described by Hindu saints, Muslim Ittfzs, > dent god in the Christian sense. This argu- or Christian mystics. The state is inexpressi- > ment can be reduced to a matter of seman- ble, however; it can only be experienced, > tics: the Buddha taught the existence of never communicated-or, as Baha'u'llah said, > dharmct ( divine law) which governs all there are regions into which the pen will not > creation. His teachings all point to an eternal move. > reality, which, although it lacks the anthro- The later Mahayana schools, in attempting > pomorphic aspects of Western theism, is a to describe reality, postulate that funyata > creative force that is easily identified with (the Void or emptiness) is all that exists. > God. The Void, again, is not negative in the sense > of an absence of something, but rather it is > BUDDHISM TEACHES that everything in the the only abiding reality and being-it is one > universe is in a constant state of flux. Crav- with truth, nirvarza, and the Buddha Himself. > ing and clinging to permanence is the inevi- The qualities of the Void which are manifest > table cause of sorrow. Salvation is found by in existence are called tathata (translatable > the gradual loss of self-concern, until it only as "suchness"). The Void is essentially > identical with the emptiness that so troubles > 2 . Confucianism is th e most "Western" of the > Eastern religions. Ind eed, some scholars think Western existentialist philosophers. The > it is not a religion at all, but rather just a sys- difference, of course, lies in the fact that > tem of ethics. Although it lacks the m eta- Buddhists look on the Void with joy, the > physical aspect of religion (a t leas t in its ini- > ti al stages) , it fulfills th e social function of a existentialists with despair. > religion. Since it th eoreticall y allows excep- One apparent difference between Eastern > tions to its laws, and since it was born in and Western religions is their relative em- > China, I include it amo ng the Eastern religions. > 3. Oswald Spengler, Th e Decline of the West phasis on ethics and metaphysics. Almost > (New York: M odern Library, 1962), p. 184. without exception, Western religions place > BUDDHISM AND THE BAHkf FAITH 29 > > the primary emphasis on ethics, i.e., the "wholly other," while Eastern religions tend > individual's relation to society, while meta- to look for the Deity within the human > physics, the individual's relationship to God Soul. > or the Cosmos, is of secondary importance. According to this definition, does the > The essence of Judaism, for example, is Baha'i Faith qualify as a Western or an > found in the Ten Commandments; the es- Eastern religion , or is it a meeting ground for > sence of Christianity in the Golden Rule and the two traditions? Its historical roots lie > the Sermon on the Mount. Metaphysics has among the Western religions, but this, in > little place in the original teachings of either itself, does not answer the question. Speaking > Faith. Eastern religions, with the exception of of unchanging religious truth, 'Abdu'l-Baha > Confucianism, rend to place a higher value writes: > on metaphysics. It may be argued that the . .. each of the divine religions is separable > Buddha Himself rejected metaphysical specu- into two divisions. One concerns the w orld > lation; nevertheless, Buddhism-and espe- of morality and the ethical training of > cially Mahayan a-abounds in it. httman natttre. It is directed to the ad- > A second difference lies in the degree of vancement of the w orld of httmanity in > social control demanded by the religion. general,- it reveals and in culcates the > Western religions are notably more authori- knowledge of God and m akes possible the > tarian than their Eastern counterparts, a fact discovery of the verities of life. This is > which has usually given rise to a greater ideal and spiritttal teaching, the essential > degree of tolerance among the latter. Al- qttality of divine religion and not subject > though the Buddhist monk is subject to the to change or transformation. . . . T he > discipline of his superior, the follower who second classification or division comprises > has attained nirvar;a is subject to no authority social laws and regttlations applicable to > other than internal authority. He is free of human conduct. This is not the essential > concern for transgression; not even the teach- spiritual qitality of religion. It is m bject to > ings of the Buddha bind him any longer. In change and transformation according to > medieval Roman Catholicism, on the other the exigencies and requirements of time > hand, every Christian, saint or sinner,- was and place. 4 > subject ro the authority of the Pope. In It is instructive to compare 'Abdu'l-Baha's > medieval Islam the fttfis, no matter how assertion with the following selection from a > great their state of enlightenment, were still Tibetan Buddhist text: > bound by the law of the Shari'a~ . At their If the empty nature of the mind be > greatest Sr. Francis and al-GhazaH were still realized, no longer is it necessary to listen > lesser men than Christ or Mulfammad. But to or to meditate upon religious teachings. > there is nothing to stop a Buddhist saint from If the unsulliable nature of the intellect be > equaling or even surpassing the Buddha realized, no longer is it necessary to seek > Himself. absolution of one's sins. Nor is absolution > let us tentatively define a Western reli- necessary for one who abideth in the State > gion as one which emphasizes ethics above of Mental Quiescence. 5 > metaphysics and allows no exceptions to its Buddhism and Hinduism share a belief in > laws. A Western religion, moreover, usually reincarnation as part of their doctrine. This > conceives of God as remote, unapproachable, doctrine of metempsychosis is one of the > 4. Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World major stumbling blocks to their reconcili- > Faith (Wilmette, Ill.: Baha'i Publishing Trust, ation with Western religions. Regarding the > 1966 ) , p. 274. doctrine of reincarnation, 'Abdu'l-Baha > 5. W. Y. Evans-Wentz, ed., Tib etan Yo ga and > Secret Doctrines (New York: Galaxy Books, writes: > 1967), p. 88. There fore reincarnation, w hich is the re- > 30 WORLD ORDER: W INTER 1971-72 > > peated appearance of the same spirit with transmigrating! " 8 > its farmer essence and condition in this (The Questions of King Menander) > same world of appearance, is impossible The apparent differences between Eastern > and unrealisable. 6 and Western religions can be summed up by > Is reincarnation a basic doctrine of the two comparing the purported last instructions of > greatest Eastern religions-one on which the Buddha with one of the Hidden Words > there can be no compromise? The Buddhist of Baha'u'llah : > scholar, Alan Watts, thinks not : > Many Buddhists understand the Round of > birth-and-death quite literally as a process The Buddha: > of reincarnation, wherein the karma which So, Ananda, you must be yo ur own lamps, > shapes the individual does so again and be your own refuges. Take refuge in nothing > again in life after life until, through outside yourselves. Hold firm to the truth as > insight and awakening, it is laid to rest. a lamp and a refuge, and do not look for > refuge ro any thing besides yourselves. A > But in Zen, and in other schools of the > monk becomes his own lam p and re fu ge by > Mahayana, it is often taken in a more continually looking o n his body, feelings, > figurative way, as that the process of perceptions, moods, and id eas in such a man- > rebirth is from moment to moment, so ner that he conquers the cravings and depres- > that one is being reborn so long as one sions of ordinary men and is always strenu- > ous, self-possessed, and collected in m ind. > identifies himse lf with a continuing ego > \'{!hoever among m y monks does this, either > which reincarnates itself afresh at each now or when I am dead, if he is anxious to > mome nt of time. T hus the validity and learn , will reach the summit.D > interest of the doctrine does not require ( D1gha Nikaya) > acceptance of a special theory of survival. 7 > Bahi'u'llah: > 0 SON OF SPIRIT! There is no peace for > This view is supported by the Theravada rhee save by renouncing thyself and turning > scnprnres: un ro Me, for it behoveth thee to g lory in My > "Reverend Nagasena," said the King, name, not in rhine own; ro put th y trust in > Me and nor in th yself, since I des ire to be > "is it true that nothing transmigrates, and > loved alone and above all that is.10 > yet there is rebirth?" > "Yes, your Majesty." > "How can this be? . . . Give me an > illustration." Can these be reconciled? Yes. The Buddha > "Suppose, your Majesty, a man lights direm his disciples to look within for guid- > one lamp from another-does the one ance, while Baha'u'llah counsels us to re- > lamp transmigrate to the other? " nounce ourselves and cling to the Absolute. > "No, your Reverence." In reality their advice is the same. Baha- > "So there is rebirth without anything 'u'll ah writes: > Thou art My stronghold; enter therein > that thott mayest abide in safety. My love > 6. 'Abdu' l-Baha; Some Answered Questions is in thee, know it, that thou mayest > (Wilmette, Ill.: Baha'i Publishing Trust, > 1964),p. 326. find Me near unto thee . . .. Thou art My > 7. Alan W. Wans, Th e Way of Z en (New York: lamp and My light is in thee. Get thou > Vinrage, 195 7), p. 49. from it thy radiance and seek none oth- > 8. D eBary, p. 106. > 9. Ibid., p. 110. er than Me. 11 > 10. Baha'i Wo rld Faith, pp. 156- 57. Thus we are to approach the Absolute by > 11. Baha'u'llah, Th e H idden Words (Wilmette, > Ill. : Baha'i Publishing Committee, 1954) , p. > means of a paradox, renouncing the ego > 6. ("the cravings and depressions of ordinary > BUDDHISM AND THE BAHkf FAITH 31 > 32 WORLD ORDER: WINTER 1971-72 > > men") while obtaining our light from the only quantitatively different from other men; > lamp of Truth within us. Nirv@:ta, the ex- hence all men are potentially divine. To the > tinction of self which may occur in life, is Buddhist, the Buddha is not the infallible > also the goal of the follower of Baha'u'llah: incarnation of God's Truth, but rather only > • • • that tho1t mayest die in Me and I may the most illustrious of a long line of en- > eternally live in thee." 12 lightened men. In Islam, Judaism, and > Here we may dispose of one of the crucial Catholic Christianity, the individual con- > differences-the internal versus the external science must submit to the law of the proph- > Truth. The dichotomy is false; they are one. et or the will of the Church; in the Eastern > What about the difference in emphasis on religions the ultimate authority is internal. > ethics and metaphysics? Again, it is only a The only way to resolve this difference is > semantical difficulty. Only in theory do the to consider the society in which a religion is > Eastern religions assign ethics a lesser degree born. The societies which gave birth to > of importance. In reality, the saint or the Buddhism and Hinduism were extremely > enlightened man cannot help behaving with heterogeneous, even more so than they are > compassion toward his fellow creatures. His today . If a religion had arisen which de- > motivation is internal, but it is binding. manded submission to a single religious > Hence, the Buddhist scriptures stress the authority, it would almost certainly have > moral qualities that a monk must possess- failed . Hinduism, to be sure, demanded sub- > moral qualities which are usually more de- mission to the brahmin caste, but mobility > manding than those required by the Western and heterodoxy were allowed to a far greater > religions. Although enlightenment is of pri- extent in ancient India than most people > mary importance, and ethics secondary, they suppose. The ancient Jews, or the Arabs of > go hand in hand and are actually inseparable. the seventh century A.D. for that matter, > The dichotomy between ethics and metaphys- were a far more homogeneous society; there- > ics, then, is also false-they are one. We fore it was possible (and indeed advanta- > must not conclude from this that those with geous) for them to submit to a single > no interest in metaphysics cannot be ethical religious authority-Moses or Mul:iammad. > -atheists, for instance. All ethical systems Societies were relatively isolated from > are internally, therefore metaphysically, mo- each other in the ancient world; hence some > tivated , whether or not one chooses to call could allow themselves the luxury of having > the motivation God. no external religious authority. Today our > One crucial difference remains-the ques- world is so tightly knit, however, that the > tion of social control. This is a more difficult smallest social shock reverberates throughout > question to resolve, and here the difference the globe. The need for unity is urgent, and > between the Eastern outlook and the West- unity of Faith is not possible without spiritual > ern appears to be more real than apparent. authority. The luxury of an autonomous > As we have seen, in Western religions every conscience can no longer be afforded. > believer, without exception, is subject to the > law of the prophet, but this is not true of AN ORIENTAL, then, can accept the Baha'i > Eastern religions. The reason lies in the Faith without rejecting the essential philoso- > Western view of the prophet as qualitatively phy behind his own religious tradition. > different from the rest of mankind-a Being Baha'u'llah places more emphasis on social > especially favored by God and hence unap- teachings than did the Buddha, but there is > proachable, or, in Christianity, one with God no evidence of any contradiction between the > Himself. But to the Oriental the prophet is essential teachings of the Buddha and those > of Baha'u'llah. Western religions have not > 12. Ibid., p. 5. been notably successful in the East, since they > ,,.,,. > BUDDHISM AND THE BAHA'I FAITH 33 > > usually demand a rejection of tradition from His body is eighty cubits high, and twenty > the convert. The Baha'i Faith, however, offers cubits broad. He will have a retinue of > to the Oriental more freedom than the West- 84,000 persons, whom he will instruct in > ern religions. Except for the few laws bind- the mantras ... For 60,000 years Maitreya, > ing upon all Baha'is, the Oriental is free, the best of men, will preach the true > even encouraged, to revere his own culture Dharma, which is compassionate towards > and follow his own customs. The validity of all living beings. And when he has disci- > his former religion is not denied. In this plined in his true Dharma hundreds and > sense the Baha'i Faith is neither a Western hundreds of millions of living beings, then > nor an Eastern religion but rather a point of that leader will at last enter Nirvana. And > convergence. after the great sage has entered Nirvana, > Moreover, the Buddhist is able to turn to his true Dharma still endures for another > the Baha'i Faith as the fulfillment of his ten thousand years. 1 3 > beliefs. Buddhism, like many other religions, I have, however, found one Buddhist tradi- > has an apocalyptic tradition and expects the tion that suggests that the age in which we > return of its Founder, although there is evi- live will be the beginning of a regeneration > dence that this concept arose much later than of the human spirit. The Japanese Buddhist > the Buddha's lifetime and is not attributable monk Nichiren (1222-1282) preached > to him. The Mahayana scriptures abound in apocalyptic ideas based on historical cycles > references to the Maitreya, the Buddha of the drawn from Chinese Buddhism. According to > Future, the Expected One. Some Mahayana Chinese chronology, the death of the Buddha > sects regard this return as only of the spirit of occurred in 947 B.C. His death was followed, > the Buddha, not the acrual physical presence according to Nichiren, by the millennium of > of Sakyamtmi, the Historical Buddha, since the "true la\v ." About the time of the rise of > he attained nirva?Ja and is therefore lost to Christianity, the second millennium of the > us. This makes it easier for many Buddhists "image" law began. Historically this corre- > to accept the appearance of the Maitreya in sponds with the rise of Mahayana, which > circumstances other than those which are places great emphasis on approaching > traditional. Buddhahood through the Buddha's images, > Baha'is are familiar with the claims of the bodhisattvas. According to Nichiren the > Baha'u'llah to be the return of the spirit of last phase, the "destrucrion of the law," > Christ and Mul?.ammad. But few Baha' is in began about 1000 A.D. with the rise of > the Western world understand in what sense Tantrism, the form of Buddhism concerned > Baha'u'llah may also be seen as the Maitreya. with magic and spells. This cycle, too, lasts a > The Buddhist canon yields no specific predic- thousand years, and so a new era is at > tions that might be interpreted as referring to hand-an era characterized by Nichiren as a > Baha'u'll ah, as do Biblical references or Mus- return to the "true law." Nichiren saw this > lim traditions. Some of the references to the era as a time when a holy shrine will become > Maitreya are obviously allegorical, even fan- the center of the world, and a mq1Jdala (a > tastic. Witness the following scripture in religious symbol) will regenerate the human > which the Maitreya is expected some thirty spirit. Nichiren's apocalypse survives in the > thousand years after the death of the histori- teachings of Soka Gokkai, a religion whid~ is > cal Buddha: currently growing rapidly in Japan. 1 4 > Baha'u'llah, then, may be accepted as the > 13. Edward Conze, Bztddhist Scriptures (New Maitreya awaited by the Buddhists, in that > York: Penguin, 1959),pp. 240 -41. He is the "Bringer of a New Law," "One who > 14. Harry Thomsen, The New Religions of Japan > Brings Peace," and "One who Enlightens and > (Rutland, Vr.: Chas . E. Tuttle Co., 1963 ), > p. 92. Unites the World." > > — *Buddhism and the Baha'i Faith (Used by permission of the curator)*