Common Ground - Islam and Buddhism

c o m m o n g r o u n d between i s l a m a n d b u d d h i s m
in its Essence. One of the ways in which It is glorified is precisely
by declaring its transcendent incomparability (tanzīh). However,
the same reality is also glorified in its manifestation on the level
of form, in the name Allāh—and all other Names of God—which
reflect that reality within language and thought. Thus, one glorifies
God—qua Essence—as in the refrain ‘Glorified be God above what
they describe’; but one also glorifies God’s ‘Name’: ‘Glorify the
Name of thy Lord, Most High’. The Name of that which is beyond all
words and thought thus becomes something akin to a ‘manifestation
of the Void’. The deliverance offered by this saving manifestation,
by means of invocation, will be addressed below, in the section entitled
‘Remembrance of God’.
Light of Transcendence
The Buddhist perspective can be seen to reinforce the Muslim message
of divine transcendence. It reminds Muslims of the need to be
aware of the existence of the conceptual veils through which we
perforce view the divine Sun, whose light is so bright that it blinds
the conceptual ‘eye’ of one who presumes to look upon it. This is
expressed most precisely in the following saying of the Prophet:
‘God has seventy thousand veils of light and darkness; were He to
remove them, the glories of His Countenance would consume all
those who looked upon Him.’ 19 The Qur’ān, similarly, alludes to the
unapproachability of the divine Essence: God warns you to beware
of His Self (3:28, repeated at 3:30). One can cogitate or meditate
(engage in fikr/tafakkur) only upon the qualities of God, and not
upon His Essence. As al-Rāghib al-Isfahānī, a major lexicographer
of the Qur’ān, writes in his explanation of the Qur’ānic concept of
fikr: ‘Meditation is only possible in regard to that which can assume
a conceptual form (sūra) in one’s heart. Thus we have the following
saying [of the Prophet]: Meditate upon the bounties of God but not
19. Sahīh Muslim, Book of Īmān, 293. There is a deeper mystical meaning to the
destruction wrought by the vision of God. This relates to the very heart of sanctity
or walāya in Islam, understood metaphysically. The saint is the one who has
indeed been blessed with the vision of God, and has been rendered ‘extinct’ in the
very same sense as in the Buddhist nirvana, which means, precisely, ‘extinction’.
Though being commented upon chiefly by the Sufis, this aspect of the supreme
realisation is also alluded to in several Qur’ānic verses and prophetic sayings. Suffice
it here to refer to one Qur’ānic verse which hints at this mystery: ‘If you claim
to be saints of God (awliyā’ Allāh), favoured above others, then long for death, if
you are sincere.’ (62:6)
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