78 AN INTRODUCTION TO SUFI DCCTRINE

oil lamp ; this flame, though it seems the same, never
ceases to be renewed at each instant, so that in reality
it is neither the same nor yet another. In order to
complete this Buddhist picture from the Sufi point of
view! it must be added that the flame as such cor-
responds to Being (al-Wujud) whereas the form of the
flame reflects the archetype, and that it is to the arche-
type that the flame owes its relative continuity. If it is
true that the flame has no autonomous existence it is
equally true that it exists. Thus there is in the cosmos
an “absolute’ discontinuity which expresses its illusory
character and brings us back to the fundamental dis-
continuity between the world and God. On the other
hand there is also in the cosmos an ‘‘absolute” con-
tinuity in as much as it is wholly a reflection of its
Divine Cause. °‘Abd ar Razzaq al-Qashani wrote
further of this that “in so far as man is a possibility of
manifestation but does not see Him Who manifests him
he is pure absence (‘udum); but on the other hand in so
far as he receives his being from the perpetual irradia-
tion (Tajalli) of the Essence he is. The ceaseless
revelation of the Divine Activities which flows from
the Divine Names renews him after each annihilation,
and that instantaneously without any perceptible tem-
poral succession but following a purely logical succes-
sion. For here there is only one permanent non-
existence—that of pure possibility—and only one

1. In conformity with its own outlook. Buddhism but underlines the
impermanence of the cosmos ; for it the immutable Reality is identified with
the ““ Void >’ (sh#nya) which cannot be expressed in positive terms. In an

avnalogous sense Ibn “Arabi speaks of the “‘non-existence’” (‘udum) of the
archetypes.