Practising is to be separated from desire and evil thought, and by degrees to enter the way of Enlightenment

This is a sutra excerpt presented in Beatrice Suzuki's Mahayana Buddhism. What is striking is how our salvation is only achieved through a slow process, by degrees, until we reach the summit. Many religions stress the sudden act of being "saved," where the individual passes from the darkness into the light in a single instance. This later approach is based upon the idea that a savior must reach down and extend grace in order for you to achieve salvation. Buddhism is no doubt a harder path, for those willing and able to see the reality of our existence.