n and metaphysics, was also a gifted painter.

[3]
Following World War II, Schuon accepted an invitation to travel to
the American West, where he lived for several months among the Plains
Indians, in whom he always had a deep interest. Having received his
education in France, Schuon has written all his major works in French, which
began to appear in English translation in 1953. Of his first book, The
Transcendent Unity of Religions (London, Faber & Faber) T. S. Eliot wrote: "I
have met with no more impressive work in the comparative study of Oriental
and Occidental religion."[3]
While always continuing to write, Schuon and his wife traveled widely. In 1959
and again in 1963, they journeyed to the American West at the invitation of
friends among the Sioux and Crow American Indians. In the company of their
Native American friends, they visited various Plains tribes and had the
opportunity to witness many aspects of their sacred traditions. In 1959,
Schuon and his wife were solemnly adopted into the Sioux family of James
Red Cloud, descendant of Red Cloud. Years later they were similarly adopted
by the Crow medicine man and Sun Dance chief, Thomas Yellowtail. Schuon's
writings on the central rites of Native American religion and his paintings of
their ways of life attest to his particular affinity with the spiritual universe of
the Plains Indians. Other travels have included journeys to Andalusia,
Morocco, and a visit in 1968 to the reputed home of the Virgin Mary
in Ephesus.
Through his many books and articles, Schuon became known as a spiritual
teacher and leader of the Traditionalist School. During his years in Switzerland
he regularly received visits from well-known religious scholars and thinkers of
the East.[3]
Schuon throughout his entire life had great respect for and devotion to the
Virgin Mary which was expressed in his writings. As a result, his teachings and
paintings show a particular Marian presence. His reverence for the Virgin Mary
has been studied in detail by American professor James Cutsinger.[6] Hence
the name, Maryamiya (in Arabic, "Marian"), of the Sufi order he founded as a
branch of the Shadhiliya-Darqawiya-Alawiya. When asked by one of his
disciples about the reason for this choice of name, Schuon replied: "It is not
we who have chosen her; it is she who has chosen us." [7]
In 1980, Schuon and his wife emigrated to the United States, settling
in Bloomington, Indiana, where a community of disciples from all over the
world would gather around him for spiritual direction. The first years in
Bloomington saw the publication of some of his most important late
works: From the Divine to the Human, To Have a Center, Survey of
Metaphysics and Esoterism and others.
Apart from regular strictly Islamic Sufi gatherings of invocation (majalis al-
dhikr), Schuon would occasionally lead in Bloomington gatherings involving
the wearing of American Indian attire, and also some degree of ritual nudity.
[8] These gatherings were understood by disciples as a sharing in Schuon's
personal insights and realization, not as part of the initiatic method he
transmitted, centered on the invocation of a Divine Name.[9]
In 1991, one of Schuon's followers accused him of "fondling" three young girls
during “primordial gatherings”. A preliminary investigation was begun, but the
chief prosecutor eventually concluded that there was no proof, noting that the
plaintiff was of extremely dubious character. The prosecutor declared that
there were no grounds for prosecution, and the local press made amends.
Some articles and books, including Mark Sedgwick's Against the Modern
World,[10]purporting to be scholarly documents[11], discuss this event and the
related "primordial" practices of the Bloomington community in Midwestern
suburban America in the late twentieth century.[12] Schuon was greatly
affected, but continued to write poetry in his native German, to receive
visitors and maintain a busy correspondence with followers, scholars and
readers until his death in 1998.[3][13]

Views based on his written works[edit]

Transcendent unity of religions[edit]
The traditionalist or perennialist perspective began to be enunciated in the
1920s by the French philosopher René Guénon and, in the 1930s, by Schuon
himself. Orientalist Ananda Coomaraswamy and Swiss art historian Titus
Burckhardt also became prominent advocates of this point of view.
Fundamentally, this doctrine is the Sanatana Dharma – the "eternal religion" –
of Hindu Neo-Vedanta. It was supposedly formulated in ancient Greece, in
particular, by Plato and later Neoplatonists, and in Christendom by Meister
Eckhart (in the West) and Gregory Palamas (in the East). Every religion has,
besides its literal meaning, an esoteric dimension, which is essential,
primordial and universal. This intellectual universality is one of the hallmarks
of Schuon's works, and it gives rise to insights into not only the various
spiritual traditions, but also history, science and art.[14]
The dominant theme or principle of Schuon's writings was foreshadowed in his
early encounter with a Black marabout who had accompanied some members
of his Senegalese village to Switzerland in order to demonstrate their culture.
When the young Schuon talked with him, the venerable old man drew a circle
with radii on the ground and explained: God is in the center; all paths lead to
Him.[15]
Metaphysics[edit]
For Schuon, the quintessence of pure metaphysics can be summarized by the
following vedantic statement, although the Advaita Vedanta's perspective
finds its equivalent in the teachings of Ibn Arabi, Meister
Eckhart or Plotinus: Brahma satyam jagan mithya jivo brahmaiva
na'parah (Brahman is real, the world is illusory, the self is not different from
Brahman).[16]
The metaphysics exposited by Schuon is based on the doctrine of the non-
dual Absolute (Beyond-Being) and the degrees of reality. The distinction
between the Absolute and the relative corresponds for Schuon to the
couple Atma/Maya. Maya is not only the cosmic illusion: from a higher
standpoint, Maya is also the Infinite, the Divine Relativity or else the feminine
aspect (mahashakti) of the Supreme Princi
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