Page 19 - The Buddha‘s Noble Eightfold Path

to the East, the Yellow Buddha to the South, the Red Buddha to

the West, and the Green Buddha to the North. There are still
more elaborate versions in the form of 'The Pure Land', or 'The

Happy Land' — 'Sukhavati' — with its presiding Buddha flanked
by his attendant Bodhisattvas, its rows of wonderful jewel-
trees, its magical singing birds, and many other marvels.

(c) The Path

The Path, also known as the Path of Spiritual Progress, or the
Spiral Path, connects the first two images, that is to say, it leads
up from the Wheel of Life to the Buddha, or to the Mandala of

the Five Buddhas.

These, then are the three great images through which
Buddhism communicates its vision of existence. Perfect Vision
is a vision, first of all, of our actual present state of bondage to

conditioned existence as represented by the Wheel of Life.
Next it is a vision of our potential future state of Enlightenment

as represented by the Buddha, or the Mandala of Buddhas.
Finally it is a vision of the Path or Way leading from the one to
the other — a vision, if you like, of the whole future course of

human evolution.

Buddhism's vision of the nature of existence can also be
communicated, as I have suggested, in terms of concepts,
though perhaps less vividly than in terms of images. Perfect

Vision is thus traditionally explained in terms of seeing and
understanding the truth of certain doctrinal categories, and in

order to complete the picture I shall deal briefly with four of
the most important of them. These are the Four Noble Truths,
the Three Characteristics of Conditioned Existence, Karma

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