t IS. Buddha refused
to discuss or teach of the manner in which this Unknowable came to
manifest upon the Relative Plane, for he held that Man's proper study
was of the World of Things, and how to escape therefrom. In a vague way,
however, Buddhism holds that in some way this Unknowable, or a part
thereof, becomes entangled in Maya or Illusion, through Avidya or
Ignorance, Law, Necessity, or perhaps something in the nature of a
Mistake. And arising from this mistaken activity, all the pain and
sorrow of the universe arises, for the Buddhist holds that the Universe
is a "world of woe," from which the soul is trying to escape. Buddhism
holds that the soul Reincarnates often, because of its desires and
attractions, which if nursed and encouraged will lead it into lives
without number. Consequently, to the Buddhist, Wisdom consists in
acquiring a knowledge of the true state of affairs, just mentioned, and
then upon that knowledge building up a new life in which desire and
attraction for the material world shall be eliminated, to the end that
the soul having "killed out desire" for material things--having cut off
the dead branch of Illusion--is enabled to escape from Karma, and
eventually be released from Rebirth, thence passing back into the great
ocean of the Unknowable, or Nirvana, and ceasing to Be, so far as the
phenomenal world is concerned, although of course it will exist in the
Unknowable, which is Eternal. Many Western readers imagine the
Buddhistic Nirvana to be an utter annihilation of existence and being,
but the Hindu mind is far more subtle, and sees a vast difference
between utter annihilation on the one hand, and extinction of
personality on the other. That which appears Nothingness to the Western
Mind, is seen as No-Thingness to the Oriental conception, and is
considered more of a resumption of an original Real Existence, rather
than an ending thereof.

There is a great difference between the two great schools of Buddhism,
the Northern and Southern, respectively, regarding the nature of the
soul. The Northern school considers the soul as an entity,
differentiated from the Unknowable in some mysterious way not explained
by Buddha, and yet different from the individual Purusha of the Sankhya
school, before mentioned. On the contrary, the Southern school does not
regard the soul as a differentiated or distinct entity, but rather as a
centre of phenomenal activity saturated or charged with the results of
its d