Magic, like Buddhism, recognizes consciousness as the fundamental principle, the only reality that builds all being in itself and from itself. At the same time, both systems deny the substantiality and indestructibility of the soul in the classical concept of it as an “immortal fundamental principle,” “spark,” etc., limiting its existence to the framework of the current incarnation. It turns out that, despite the illusory and limited nature of manifested existence, it simultaneously contains the key to overcoming it - using the resources of this state to go beyond its limits

And if religions talk about the need for submission and service to god/gods, then Magic and Buddhism talk about the need for self-development not to please higher beings, but as a way to realize the real nature of consciousness; both systems consider the truly important goal of existence not just “development”, or “righteousness”, or something else like that - but a transcendence of the limits of conditioned existence, a leap in which consciousness leaves all limits that limit it, becoming an absolute and unlimited agent. That is, both systems direct consciousness not along the “evolutionary”, but along the “revolutionary” Path of development, calling on it not just to “accumulate good deeds”, not just to “lighten your soul”, but to surpass yourself, turning from an object into subject of the world process

The next most important element uniting the two systems is the recognition of the law of cause and effect as the most important engine of the world process. According to these views, the world is governed not by “Providence”, not by the arbitrariness of a deity capable of “punishing” or “pardoning”, but by the flow of one phenomenon into another under the influence of its own gravity, the desire for balance in the existing systems themselves. Both systems point to the importance of the integration of consciousness, to the fact that it is important to “become the master of your mind”, to control the Psychocosmos

Even the approach to this development is essentially the same: both systems insist that the key to development is practice, that mere talk about “spirituality” leads nowhere, and awareness is not just “understanding”, but - understanding, having a practical outcome, that is, an understanding that changes the way of action of the one who understands. This understanding is called “Gnosis” in the West, and “Dharma” in the East to emphasize the dynamic nature of the process itself