glossary of terms used by frithjof schuon - Sophia Perennis

space, and the immobility of the surface as if it could contain movement; and in
sculpture, naturalism treats inert matter as if it were living flesh, and then as if it were
engaged in motion, and it sometimes treats one material as if it were another, without
regard for the soul of each substance, and so on. [LT, The Saint and the Divine Image]
Naturally Supernatural: Let it be noted that, just as there is a “relatively absolute” – the
logical absurdity of this formulation does not preclude its ontologically plausible
meaning – so too is there a “naturally supernatural,” and this is precisely the permanent
divine intervention, in virtue of immanence, in cosmic causality. [THC, Gnosis Is Not
Just Anything]
Nature: Virgin nature is the art of God. [LT, Concerning the Love of God]
Nirvana: In their esoteric meaning, the words “God,” “divine,” “Divinity” signify none
other than the terms Shunya and Nirvana, even though they can also refer to the Buddha
and the Bodhisattva. That the Buddhist Absolute is not “nothingness” pure and simple is
self-evident: “For some, Nirvana is a state in which there could be no memory of the past
and present, it would thus be comparable to a lamp whose oil is used up or to a kernel of
grain that one burns or a fire that has gone out, for in these cases there is a cessation of all
substrata . . . But this is not Nirvana, for Nirvana is not simply destruction and emptiness”
(Lankavatara-Sutra, XIII). [TB, Treasures of Buddhism]
According to an error widespread in the West, the spiritual “extinction” that Buddhism
has in view – for generally it is Buddhism that is cited – is a “nothingness,” as if it were
possible to realize something that is nothing. Now either Nirvana is nothingness, in which
case it is unrealizable; or else it is realizable, in which case it must correspond to
something real. It is too easily forgotten that Paradise – not to mention the uncreated
Bliss that is none other than the positive content of Nirvana – can also be regarded as an
“annihilation,” the relationship between formal and non-formal manifestation being
analogous to that between manifestation as such and non-manifestation. [TB, Nirvana]
Nirvana (three degrees): It is necessary to distinguish between three Nirvanas, or three
degrees of Extinction, two of which are still in the order of Maya or contingency, while
the third, Parinirvana, is the Absolute; if another Nirvana were the Absolute there could
not be a question of a Parinirvana. The first Nirvana is ontologically that of the
Bodhisattva: it is extinction in relation to formal manifestation and corresponds to the
degree of the Archangels, Heaven, Existence; we say “ontologically” because the
Bodhisattva “lives” at this level even if he has already realized the second Nirvana, the
one which coincides with the state of the terrestrial Buddha, that is to say with extinction
in regard to universal manifestation, which corresponds to the degree of pure Being. The
third Nirvana, beyond Maya, is that of the celestial or absolute Buddha: this is
Parinirvana, extinction in relation to Being or to Maya and which corresponds to the
supreme Self of the Vedantists. [TB, Mystery of the Bodhisattva]
Nirvana / Parinirvana: Nirvana is extinction in relation to the cosmos, and Parinirvana
in relation to Being; Nirvana is thus identified with Being, according to a connection that
is more initiatory than properly metaphysical, since a “principle” is here represented as a
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