in heaven (svarga), or liberation (moksa). Both also involve the issue of enlightenment (bodhi). Four soteriological paths are identified in the literature: 1) ascetic practices; 2) the pratimoksa, or monastic discipline; 3) the bodhisattva path; and 4) the Vajrayana, or "diamond vehicle" (Wayman 423). The Buddhist conception developed by Buddha in the sixth and seventh centuries A.D. includes the then prevailing Indian conception of transmigration, though Buddha was not happy with the way this conception was voiced by Hindu religious leaders of his time. He denied their conception of the soul as a spiritual substance: Authentic child of India, he never doubted that reincarnation in some sense was a fact, but he was openly uncomfortable over the way his Brahmanic contemporaries were interpreting the concept (Smith 171).
Buddha only gives a minimal description of his own views on the subject, however. He used the image of a flame being passed from candle to candle:
As it is difficult to think of the flame on the last candle as being in any meaningful sense the same as the original flame, the connection would seem instead to be a causal one in which influence was transmitted by chain reaction but not substance (Smith 171).
Buddha also offered his acceptance of karma, and combining this with his sense of transmigration, Smith describes the Buddhist conception of Buddha's views on salvation as follows:
1) A chain of causation exists that threads each life to those which have led up to it and others which will follow. This means that each life is in the condition it is in because of the way the lives were led that lead up to it and that subsequent lives will have a condition based in part on how this life is led.
2) Man's will remains free in the midst of this causal sequence. Up to a point, acts will be followed by predictable consequences, but these consequences never shackle the human will or determine c...