These latter are
"conscious cessation of existence," "unconscious cessation of
existence," and "space."
The Reverend Shuzan Emura, of the Shin-shu sect of Japan, after
specifying these seventy-five Dharmas, or things compounded and things
immaterial, says:[7] "The former include all things that proceed from a
cause. This cause is Karma, to which everything existing is due, Space
and Nirvana alone excepted. Again, of the three immaterial things the
last two are not subjects to be understood by the wisdom not free from
frailty. Therefore the 'conscious cessation of existence' is considered
as being the goal of all effort to him who longs for deliverance from
misery."
In a word, this one of the many Buddhisms of Asia is vastly less a
religion, in any real sense of the word, than a system of metaphysics.
However, the doctrine to be mastered is graded in three Yanas or
Vehicles; for there are now, as in the days of Shaka, three classes of
being, graded according to their ability or power to understand "the
truth." These are:
(I.) The Sho-mon or lowest of the disciples of Shaka, or hearers who
meditate on the cause and effect of everything. If acute in
understanding, they become free from confusion after three births; but
if they are dull, they pass sixty kalpas[8] or aeons before they attain
to the state of enlightenment.
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