The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (793 page)

and
Mah
parinirv
na-s
tra
in his last eight years. But since the Buddha's teaching is indivisible, it was always present in each of the five periods, so that the stress on one aspect more than another led to eight different schools. T’ien-t’ai and the
Lotus S
tra
re-establish the primordial unity.

ark
n ud-Din

(i) ash-
Shah
da
, the witness;
(ii) 
al
t
, formal prayer;
(iii) 
zak
t
, tithe for the poor;
(iv) 
ajj
, pilgrimage to
Mecca
;
(v) sawm, fasting during
Rama
n
.