07Dharmic
Buddhist Traditions
No single creator required.
Architecture
Conditioned process, no permanent self
Conditioned arising without a required creator. Multiple realms, traditional Meru maps. Continuity without a permanent self. Liberation is exit from the cycle, not perfection of a soul.
- 01
No required creator
Conditioned phenomena. The stack does not start with a maker.
- 02
Realms and Meru maps
Multiple realms. Meru appears in traditional cosmologies.
- 03
Devas and many classes
Beings may take rebirth across realms. That is not a god becoming a permanent person.
- 04
No permanent self
A human is a conditioned process. This missing piece is the architecture.
- 05
Dependent continuity
Rebirth yes. Intermediate-state teachings exist in some streams and are not universal.
- Time
- Cyclic existence; cosmological cycles in many traditions.
- Agents
- Devas and numerous classes; Māra and affliction appear without an equal anti-God.
- Human slot
- A process that can wake. Not a lasting soul in school.
- Break
- Ignorance and craving. The cycle itself is the problem to be understood.
Recorded claims
An evidence label is shown only where the kind of source is already established. No label means unclassified. A label is not a judgment. Source Needed means no source is attached yet. It does not mean the claim is false, weak, or disproven.
Origin / Reality
No single creator required.
Source NeededHuman Nature
No permanent independent self.
Source NeededDeath / Afterlife
Continuity through dependent processes.
Source NeededRebirth
Yes.
Source NeededOther Beings
Devas and numerous classes of beings.
Source NeededOther Realms
Multiple realms.
Source NeededWorld Structure / Axis
Meru cosmology appears in traditional cosmologies.
Source NeededDestruction / Reset
Cyclic existence; cosmological cycles in many traditions.
Source NeededHow Truth Is Known
Practice, observation of mind, teachings, insight.
Source Needed
Sources & EvidenceShowHideNo source is attached yet. Source Needed is a research gap, not a judgment.
The tradition or source
What that source says. Not a scholar’s retelling, and not a SCARCE inference.
None attached.
A modern researcher
What a scholar or other modern writer says about the source. Not the source’s own words.
None attached.
SCARCE
What this project infers or sets beside the records. Not what the source said.
None attached.
How we know
Where the evidence comes from, and how far it is from the people it describes. The labels are not a score. They do not rank traditions. A manuscript year, a tradition’s own claim, and a date from the ground are kept apart on the timeline.
The earliest datable mentions of the Buddha are Ashokan inscriptions of the 3rd century BCE. They are not the canon. Among the oldest Buddhist manuscripts are Gandhāran texts from about the 1st century BCE to the 2nd century CE.
The Buddha’s lifetime is not fixed by a contemporary document. Scholarly estimates differ by a century or more. A Sri Lankan chronicle says the Pali canon was written in the 1st century BCE. That chronicle is later than the event it reports. Chinese and Tibetan canons are other transmissions. The teaching may be older than every surviving page. The pages are not from the Buddha’s lifetime.
Original evidence → transmission / copy → translation / documentation → modern interpretation
01
Original evidence
Contemporary artifact or inscription
Ashokan edicts are contemporary inscriptions of a later king who honors the Buddha. They do not contain the suttas.
02
Transmission / copy
Later copy of earlier text
Canons were written after an oral period whose length is itself traditional. Manuscripts we can read are copies. The schools do not share one basket of books.
03
Translation / documentation
Modern scholarly reconstruction
Translations into Chinese, Tibetan, and modern languages are documentation of those copies. They sometimes preserve works whose Indian original is lost. The translation is still not the lost page.
04
Modern interpretation
Modern scholarly reconstruction
A historical Buddha reconstructed by scholars is not the same object as a sutta, and a sutta is not the same object as this chart’s sentence.
The twenty-one questions
Asked of every system. Gaps are recorded as gaps. Nothing here is filled in to make a pattern prettier.
01
Where are we?
In a conditioned cosmos of multiple realms. Traditional cosmologies include Meru. No single creator is required.
Read every system on this question02
What is reality made of?
Conditioned phenomena arising through dependent processes. No permanent independent substance or single creator is required.
Read every system on this question03
What is a human being?
There is no permanent independent self. A human is a conditioned process.
Read every system on this question04
What is consciousness?
A conditioned process, not a permanent independent self. Continuity is claimed through dependent processes rather than a lasting soul-substance.
Read every system on this question05
Where did humanity come from?
No single creator is required. Humanity is a conditioned form of existence among multiple realms.
Read every system on this question06
What happens at death?
Continuity through dependent processes — not annihilation of a permanent self, nor a simple surviving soul.
Read every system on this question07
Does consciousness return to embodiment?
Yes. Continuity is through dependent processes, not a permanent self returning.
Read every system on this question08
Where is consciousness between lives?
Continuity through dependent processes. Intermediate-state teachings exist in some traditions (for example bardo in Tibetan streams) but are not universal to all Buddhism.
Read every system on this question09
Are there nonhuman intelligent beings?
Yes. Devas and numerous classes of beings.
Read every system on this question10
Can those beings become human or appear human?
Devas and numerous classes of beings exist. Beings may take rebirth in human and other realms; “appearing human” is not the same as a permanent god becoming a person.
Read every system on this question11
Are there multiple realms or worlds?
Multiple realms.
Read every system on this question12
Is there a central mountain, tree, pillar, axis, heart, or sacred center?
Meru cosmology appears in traditional cosmologies.
Read every system on this question13
Is the world itself alive?
Conditioned existence across realms. The world as a single living being is not the Buddhist claim recorded here.
Read every system on this question14
Has civilization or the world been destroyed or reset before?
Cyclic existence; cosmological cycles in many traditions.
Read every system on this question15
Does history operate linearly or cyclically?
Cyclic existence; cosmological cycles in many traditions.
Read every system on this question16
Is there an opposing positive/negative force?
Māra and afflictive forces appear. The governing analysis is ignorance and craving, not an equal anti-God.
Read every system on this question17
What is humanity supposed to become?
Liberation from cyclic existence through insight — awakening — not the perfection of a permanent self.
Read every system on this question18
Is reincarnation a destination, punishment, school, growth process, or something else?
Yes. Continuity through dependent processes. It is the structure of cyclic existence to be understood and left, not a prize destination.
Read every system on this question19
What lies beyond the visible world?
Multiple realms and numerous classes of beings.
Read every system on this question20
How does this tradition claim humans can know any of this?
Practice, observation of mind, teachings, insight.
Read every system on this question21
Does the structure or motion of the heavens correspond to events, conditions, or consciousness within the human realm?
Traditional cosmologies include Meru and multiple realms. Celestial correspondence as astrology is not the heart of Buddhist knowing (practice, mind, insight), though culturally present in some settings.
Read every system on this question22
Why did humanity forget?
Not recorded in this chart.
Read every system on this question
Structures where this record appears
- Axis, mountain, tree, heartIs there a central mountain, tree, pillar, axis, heart, or sacred center?
- Flood, judgment, cycle, endingHas civilization or the world been destroyed or reset before?
- Return, resurrection, renewalDoes consciousness return to embodiment?
- Nonhuman intelligencesAre there nonhuman intelligent beings?
- Realms and worldsAre there multiple realms or worlds?
- Is the world itself alive?Is the world itself alive?
- Line or wheelDoes history operate linearly or cyclically?
- Do the heavens correspond?Does the structure or motion of the heavens correspond to events, conditions, or consciousness within the human realm?
- How truth is claimedHow does this tradition claim humans can know any of this?