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Glossary

174 terms in 15 languages, as the traditions wrote them, each linked to the concepts that use it.

All terms, A to Z

A

abegescheidenheitMiddle High German
  • Detachment (Rhineland Mysticism). The letting go of self-will, images and attachments so that God, or the true self, can be found: Eckhart’s abegescheidenheit.
absolutusLatin
  • Absolute. That which is unconditioned and depends on nothing else.
adhyāsaअध्यासSanskrit
  • Adhyāsa (Advaita Vedānta). Superimposition: taking one thing for another, as a rope for a snake.
advaitaअद्वैतSanskrit
  • Nonduality (Advaita Vedānta). The claim that reality is ultimately not two.
advayaअद्वयSanskrit
  • Nonduality. The claim that reality is ultimately not two.
ahiṃsāअहिंसाSanskrit
  • Ahiṃsā (Jainism). Non-harming: the refusal to injure any living being, central to Jain, Buddhist and Hindu ethics.
al-ḥaqqالحقArabic
  • Truth (Sufism). What is so; the agreement of thought with reality, and in some traditions reality itself.
al-insān al-kāmilالإنسان الكاملArabic
  • The perfect human being (Sufism). In the school of Ibn ʿArabī, the human being who fully reflects all the names of God.
ālaya-vijñānaआलयविज्ञानSanskrit
alētheiaἀλήθειαAncient Greek
  • Truth. What is so; the agreement of thought with reality, and in some traditions reality itself.
AllāhاللهArabic
  • God (Islam). The supreme being of theistic traditions: creator, sustainer and object of worship.
anātmanअनात्मन्Sanskrit
  • Non-self (anātman) (Buddhism). The Buddhist teaching that no permanent self can be found in or behind experience.
anattāPāli
  • Non-self (anātman) (Theravāda). The Buddhist teaching that no permanent self can be found in or behind experience.
anekāntavādaअनेकान्तवादSanskrit
  • Anekāntavāda (Jainism). The Jain doctrine that reality is many-sided, and no single viewpoint captures it whole.
animaLatin
  • Soul. The life and inner self of a person, in Greek philosophy and Christian thought.
apatheiaἀπάθειαAncient Greek
  • Apatheia (Stoicism). Freedom from the passions: for the Stoics the calm of the sage, for the desert monks the health of soul that opens into love and prayer.
apophasisἀπόφασιςAncient Greek
  • Apophatic theology (Christian Mysticism). Speaking of God by negation: saying what God is not.
ātmanआत्मन्Sanskrit
  • Ātman (Vedānta). The self, in the Upaniṣads and Vedānta.
  • Self (Vedānta). What one is, beneath roles, thoughts and body.
avidyāअविद्याSanskrit
  • Avidyā. Ignorance: not a lack of information, but a misapprehension of what one is.
avijjāPāli
  • Avidyā (Buddhism). Ignorance: not a lack of information, but a misapprehension of what one is.

B

baqāʾبقاءArabic
  • Baqāʾ (Sufism). In Sufism, subsistence in God after the passing away of the self.
bhaktiभक्तिSanskrit
  • Bhakti. Loving devotion to a personal God.
bījaबीजSanskrit
bodhiबोधिSanskrit
  • Enlightenment (Buddhism). Awakening; in Buddhism, the end of ignorance and suffering.
bodhicittaबोधिचित्तSanskrit
  • Bodhisattva (Mahāyāna). One who seeks awakening for the sake of all beings.
bodhisattvaबोधिसत्त्वSanskrit
  • Bodhisattva (Mahāyāna). One who seeks awakening for the sake of all beings.
brahmanब्रह्मन्Sanskrit
  • Brahman (Vedānta). In the Upaniṣads, the ultimate reality underlying all things.
buddhānusmṛtiबुद्धानुस्मृतिSanskrit
  • Nembutsu. Mindfulness of the Buddha, above all the recitation of Amida’s name, the central practice of Pure Land Buddhism.
busshō仏性Japanese
  • Buddha-nature (Zen). The teaching that all beings have the potential, or the nature, of a buddha.

C

citचित्Sanskrit
  • Consciousness (Vedānta). Awareness: the fact that there is experience at all.
coincidentia oppositorumLatin
  • Coincidence of opposites (Christian Mysticism). The meeting of contraries in the ultimate, beyond the reach of reason: Nicholas of Cusa’s coincidentia oppositorum.
contemplatioLatin
  • Contemplation (Christian Mysticism). Loving, attentive gazing on what is most real; in Christian use, a gift of prayer.

D

dào道Chinese
  • Dao (Daoism). The Way: in Daoism, the nameless source and pattern of all things.
das NuminoseGerman
  • The numinous. Rudolf Otto’s term for the holy as wholly other, awesome and fascinating.
dé德Chinese
  • De (Daoism). Virtue or power: the efficacy of one who embodies the Dao.
deificatioLatin
  • Theōsis. Deification: in Eastern Christianity, the human being’s participation in God.
deusLatin
  • God. The supreme being of theistic traditions: creator, sustainer and object of worship.
devekutדבקותHebrew
  • Devekut (Hasidism). Cleaving to God: in Jewish mysticism, constant attachment of the mind to God.
dhikrذكرArabic
  • Dhikr (Sufism). The remembrance of God, above all by the repetition of divine names.
docta ignorantiaLatin
  • Learned ignorance (Christian Mysticism). The knowing recognition that the infinite exceeds all knowledge: Nicholas of Cusa’s docta ignorantia.
duḥkhaदुःखSanskrit
  • Dukkha (Buddhism). Suffering or unsatisfactoriness, the first of the Four Noble Truths.
dukkhaPāli
  • Dukkha (Theravāda). Suffering or unsatisfactoriness, the first of the Four Noble Truths.

E

eidosεἶδοςAncient Greek
  • Forms (Platonism). Plato’s eternal, unchanging realities, such as Beauty itself and the Good, of which the things of the senses are images.
ein sofאין סוףHebrew
  • Ein Sof (Kabbalah). In Kabbalah, the Infinite: God as hidden and beyond all attributes.
emanatioLatin
  • Emanation. The procession of all things from a first principle, as light from a source.
energeiaiἐνέργειαιAncient Greek
  • Divine energies (Hesychasm). In Orthodox theology, God’s uncreated activities, as distinct from God’s essence.
epistēmēἐπιστήμηAncient Greek
erōsἔρωςAncient Greek
  • Eros (Platonism). Love as longing for the beautiful and the good, which in Plato draws the soul upward to the divine.

F

fanāʾفناءArabic
  • Fanāʾ (Sufism). In Sufism, the passing away of the self in God.
foxing佛性Chinese
  • Buddha-nature (Zen). The teaching that all beings have the potential, or the nature, of a buddha.

G

gelâzenheitMiddle High German
  • Detachment (Rhineland Mysticism). The letting go of self-will, images and attachments so that God, or the true self, can be found: Eckhart’s abegescheidenheit.
gnōsisγνῶσιςAncient Greek
  • Jñāna. Knowledge; in Vedānta, the liberating knowledge of the self.
  • Knowledge. Justified understanding; in contemplative traditions, also knowledge by identity.
gong’an公案Chinese
  • Kōan (Zen). A paradoxical case or saying from the Chan and Zen masters, used as the focus of meditation to break through ordinary thinking.
gotheitMiddle High German
  • Godhead (Christian Mysticism). In Eckhart, the hidden ground of God beyond the persons and every name.
gruntMiddle High German
  • Ground of the soul (Rhineland Mysticism). The innermost depth of the soul, beyond all its powers, where for Eckhart the soul and God are one.
  • Godhead (Christian Mysticism). In Eckhart, the hidden ground of God beyond the persons and every name.
guṇaगुणSanskrit
  • Guṇas (Sāṃkhya). The three strands of nature in Sāṃkhya, clarity, activity and inertia, of which everything material and mental is woven.
  • Prakṛti. In Sāṃkhya and Yoga, nature or matter, including the mind.

H

henἕνAncient Greek
  • Unity. Oneness, in the sense of wholeness, identity or union.
henōsisἕνωσιςAncient Greek
  • Henōsis (Neoplatonism). Union with the One: the goal of the soul’s return in Neoplatonism.
hēsychiaἡσυχίαAncient Greek
  • The Jesus Prayer (Hesychasm). The short, repeated prayer at the heart of hesychast practice.
ḥokhmahחכמהHebrew
  • Wisdom (Judaism). Understanding joined to right living.
hukamਹੁਕਮPunjabi
  • Hukam (Sikhism). In Sikh teaching, the divine order or command by which all things exist.

I

ideaἰδέαAncient Greek
  • Forms (Platonism). Plato’s eternal, unchanging realities, such as Beauty itself and the Good, of which the things of the senses are images.
ik oṅkārੴPunjabi
  • Ik Oṅkār (Sikhism). The oneness of God, the first words of the Sikh scripture.
immanereLatin
  • Immanence. The presence of the divine or ultimate within the world and the self.
intellectusLatin
  • Nous. Intellect: for Plato, the highest part of the soul; for Plotinus, the second principle.
intellektuelle AnschauungGerman
  • Intellectual intuition (German Idealism). A knowing that grasps its object directly, without senses or concepts: denied by Kant, claimed by Fichte and Schelling.
ʿishqعشقArabic
  • ʿIshq (Sufism). Passionate love, in Sufism the love that draws the soul to God.
īśvaraईश्वरSanskrit
  • Īśvara. The Lord: God as personal creator and ruler of the world.
  • God (Vedānta). The supreme being of theistic traditions: creator, sustainer and object of worship.

J

jhānaPāli
  • Samādhi (Buddhism). Meditative absorption, in which the mind is wholly one with its object or wholly still.
jianxing見性Chinese
  • Kenshō (Zen). In Zen, “seeing one’s nature”: an awakening to one’s buddha-nature.
jīvaजीवSanskrit
  • Jīva. The living, embodied self that acts, enjoys and transmigrates.
jīvanmuktiजीवन्मुक्तिSanskrit
  • Mokṣa (Advaita Vedānta). Liberation from the cycle of birth and death; the highest human goal.
jīvātmanजीवात्मन्Sanskrit
  • Jīva. The living, embodied self that acts, enjoys and transmigrates.
jñānaज्ञानSanskrit
  • Knowledge. Justified understanding; in contemplative traditions, also knowledge by identity.
  • Jñāna. Knowledge; in Vedānta, the liberating knowledge of the self.

K

karuṇāकरुणाSanskrit
  • Karuṇā (Mahāyāna). Compassion: the wish that beings be free from suffering.
kathara proseuchēκαθαρὰ προσευχήAncient Greek
  • Pure prayer (Desert Monasticism). Prayer free of images and thoughts, in which the mind stands before God: the summit of the desert monks’ way.
kenshō見性Japanese
  • Kenshō (Zen). In Zen, “seeing one’s nature”: an awakening to one’s buddha-nature.
kevala-jñānaकेवलज्ञानSanskrit
  • Kevala-jñāna (Jainism). In Jainism, the omniscience of the liberated soul, freed from the karma that obscured it.
khudīخودیPersian
  • Khudi (Islam). Muhammad Iqbal’s philosophy of the self, which is to be strengthened and realized in relation to God, not dissolved.
kōan公案Japanese
  • Kōan (Rinzai Zen). A paradoxical case or saying from the Chan and Zen masters, used as the focus of meditation to break through ordinary thinking.
kong空Chinese

L

lǐ理Chinese
  • Li (principle) (Neo-Confucianism). In Neo-Confucianism, the principle or pattern that makes each thing what it is.
liángzhī良知Chinese
  • Liangzhi (Neo-Confucianism). Innate knowing of the good, which Wang Yangming made the heart of his teaching.
līlāलीलाSanskrit
  • Līlā (The bhakti movement). Divine play: creation as the spontaneous, purposeless delight of God.
logosλόγοςAncient Greek
  • Logos (Stoicism). Word, reason or account: for the Stoics the divine reason that orders the cosmos, and for Christians the Word of God.

M

mahākaruṇāमहाकरुणाSanskrit
  • Karuṇā (Mahāyāna). Compassion: the wish that beings be free from suffering.
maʿrifaمعرفةArabic
  • Knowledge (Sufism). Justified understanding; in contemplative traditions, also knowledge by identity.
māyāमायाSanskrit
  • Māyā (Advaita Vedānta). The power by which the one appears as many; in Advaita, the world as appearance.
mensLatin
mokṣaमोक्षSanskrit
  • Mokṣa. Liberation from the cycle of birth and death; the highest human goal.
muktiमुक्तिSanskrit
  • Mokṣa. Liberation from the cycle of birth and death; the highest human goal.
mystikosμυστικόςAncient Greek
  • Mystical experience. Experience reported as direct contact with, or union with, ultimate reality.

N

nafsنفسArabic
  • Self (Sufism). What one is, beneath roles, thoughts and body.
nāmਨਾਮPunjabi
  • Nām (Sikhism). The divine Name: God’s presence and revelation, and the practice of remembering it.
neidan內丹Chinese
  • Neidan (Quanzhen Daoism). Daoist inner alchemy: the refinement of the body’s essence, energy and spirit to return to the Dao.
nembutsu念仏Japanese
  • Nembutsu (Pure Land Buddhism). Mindfulness of the Buddha, above all the recitation of Amida’s name, the central practice of Pure Land Buddhism.
nēpsisνῆψιςAncient Greek
  • Attention (Hesychasm). The undivided, receptive presence of mind that many traditions treat as the heart of prayer and contemplation.
nibbānaPāli
  • Nirvāṇa (Theravāda). The cessation of craving and suffering; the goal of the Buddhist path.
nirvāṇaनिर्वाणSanskrit
  • Nirvāṇa (Buddhism). The cessation of craving and suffering; the goal of the Buddhist path.
noche oscuraSpanish
  • The dark night (Carmelite mysticism). In John of the Cross, the purifying darkness through which the soul passes to union.
nousνοῦςAncient Greek
  • Nous. Intellect: for Plato, the highest part of the soul; for Plotinus, the second principle.
numenLatin
  • The numinous. Rudolf Otto’s term for the holy as wholly other, awesome and fascinating.

O

ousiaοὐσίαAncient Greek
  • Divine energies (Hesychasm). In Orthodox theology, God’s uncreated activities, as distinct from God’s essence.

P

paññāPāli
  • Prajñā (Theravāda). Wisdom: insight into the true nature of things.
paramārtha-satyaपरमार्थसत्यSanskrit
  • The two truths (Madhyamaka). Conventional truth and ultimate truth, and how they relate.
paṭiccasamuppādaPāli
philosophia perennisLatin
  • The perennial philosophy (Comparative mysticism). The claim that one wisdom underlies the world’s religious and mystical traditions.
prajñāप्रज्ञाSanskrit
  • Wisdom. Understanding joined to right living.
  • Prajñā (Mahāyāna). Wisdom: insight into the true nature of things.
prakṛtiप्रकृतिSanskrit
  • Prakṛti (Yoga). In Sāṃkhya and Yoga, nature or matter, including the mind.
pramāṇaप्रमाणSanskrit
prapattiप्रपत्तिSanskrit
  • Bhakti (Viśiṣṭādvaita). Loving devotion to a personal God.
pratītyasamutpādaप्रतीत्यसमुत्पादSanskrit
pratyabhijñāप्रत्यभिज्ञाSanskrit
  • Pratyabhijñā (Kashmir Śaivism). Recognition: in Kashmir Śaivism, the self’s recognition that it is Śiva.
premaप्रेमSanskrit
  • Prema (The bhakti movement). Pure love of God, held by the Bengal Vaiṣṇavas to surpass even liberation.
proodosπρόοδοςAncient Greek
  • Emanation (Neoplatonism). The procession of all things from a first principle, as light from a source.
psychēψυχήAncient Greek
  • Soul. The life and inner self of a person, in Greek philosophy and Christian thought.
  • Philosophy of mind. Philosophical study of mind, consciousness and their place in nature.
puritas cordisLatin
  • Apatheia (Desert Monasticism). Freedom from the passions: for the Stoics the calm of the sage, for the desert monks the health of soul that opens into love and prayer.
puruṣaपुरुषSanskrit
  • Puruṣa (Yoga). In Sāṃkhya and Yoga, pure consciousness, distinct from all of nature.

R

ReligionsphilosophieGerman
ReligionswissenschaftGerman
rén仁Chinese
  • Ren (Confucianism). Humaneness: the Confucian virtue of being fully human toward others.
rig paརིག་པTibetan
  • Rigpa (Dzogchen). In Dzogchen, pure awareness: the empty, luminous knowing that is the nature of mind, to be recognized rather than produced.

S

sahajਸਹਜPunjabi
  • Sahaj (Sikhism). The natural, spontaneous state of equipoise reached in union with God.
sahajaसहजSanskrit
  • Sahaj. The natural, spontaneous state of equipoise reached in union with God.
ṣaḥwصحوArabic
  • Sobriety and intoxication (Sufism). Two Sufi descriptions of the mystic’s state: the ecstatic “drunkenness” of union, and the sober return to the world with God.
sākṣātkāraसाक्षात्कारSanskrit
  • Realization (Vedānta). Knowing a truth so fully that it changes the knower.
sākṣinसाक्षिन्Sanskrit
  • Awareness (Advaita Vedānta). Knowing presence; in several traditions, the witness of all experience.
śaktiशक्तिSanskrit
  • Śakti (Kashmir Śaivism). Power: the dynamic, creative energy of the divine, often worshipped as the Goddess.
samādhiसमाधिSanskrit
  • Samādhi. Meditative absorption, in which the mind is wholly one with its object or wholly still.
saṃvṛti-satyaसंवृतिसत्यSanskrit
  • The two truths (Madhyamaka). Conventional truth and ultimate truth, and how they relate.
sandi三諦Chinese
  • Threefold truth (Tiantai). Zhiyi’s teaching that every phenomenon is at once empty, provisionally real and the middle: three aspects of one reality.
satसत्Sanskrit
  • Being (Vedānta). The fact or act of existing; the subject of ontology.
satiPāli
  • Mindfulness (sati) (Theravāda). Attentive awareness of body, feeling, mind and phenomena.
satori悟りJapanese
  • Enlightenment (Zen). Awakening; in Buddhism, the end of ignorance and suffering.
  • Kenshō (Zen). In Zen, “seeing one’s nature”: an awakening to one’s buddha-nature.
satyaसत्यSanskrit
  • Truth. What is so; the agreement of thought with reality, and in some traditions reality itself.
sefirotספירותHebrew
  • Sefirot (Kabbalah). In Kabbalah, the ten powers or qualities through which the hidden God is manifest.
shekhinahשכינהHebrew
  • Shekhinah (Judaism). The indwelling presence of God; in Kabbalah, the feminine aspect of the divine.
shishi wuai事事無礙Chinese
  • Interpenetration (Huayan). The Huayan teaching that every phenomenon contains and is contained by every other, as in Indra’s net.
smṛtiस्मृतिSanskrit
sobria ebrietasLatin
  • Sobriety and intoxication (Christian Mysticism). Two Sufi descriptions of the mystic’s state: the ecstatic “drunkenness” of union, and the sober return to the world with God.
sophiaσοφίαAncient Greek
  • Wisdom. Understanding joined to right living.
spandaस्पन्दSanskrit
  • Spanda (Kashmir Śaivism). In Kashmir Śaivism, the divine pulsation or vibration of consciousness.
stong pa nyidསྟོང་པ་ཉིདTibetan
  • Emptiness (śūnyatā) (Tibetan Buddhism). In Mahāyāna Buddhism, the absence of intrinsic existence in all things.
sukrسكرArabic
  • Sobriety and intoxication (Sufism). Two Sufi descriptions of the mystic’s state: the ecstatic “drunkenness” of union, and the sober return to the world with God.
śūnyatāशून्यताSanskrit
  • Emptiness (śūnyatā) (Madhyamaka). In Mahāyāna Buddhism, the absence of intrinsic existence in all things.

T

ta meta ta physikaτὰ μετὰ τὰ φυσικάAncient Greek
tariki他力Japanese
  • Other-power (Pure Land Buddhism). Reliance on the saving power of the Buddha’s vow rather than one’s own efforts, in Pure Land Buddhism.
tathāgatagarbhaतथागतगर्भSanskrit
  • Buddha-nature (Mahāyāna). The teaching that all beings have the potential, or the nature, of a buddha.
tawḥīdتوحيدArabic
  • Tawḥīd (Islam). The oneness of God, the first principle of Islam; for the Sufis, also the unification of the heart.
  • Unity (Islam). Oneness, in the sense of wholeness, identity or union.
theōriaθεωρίαAncient Greek
  • Contemplation. Loving, attentive gazing on what is most real; in Christian use, a gift of prayer.
theosθεόςAncient Greek
  • God. The supreme being of theistic traditions: creator, sustainer and object of worship.
theōsisθέωσιςAncient Greek
  • Theōsis (Hesychasm). Deification: in Eastern Christianity, the human being’s participation in God.
tikkunתיקוןHebrew
  • Tikkun (Kabbalah). In Lurianic Kabbalah, the repair of the shattered world, in which every person takes part.
to agathonτὸ ἀγαθόνAncient Greek
  • The One (Neoplatonism). In Neoplatonism, the first principle, beyond being and thought.
to henτὸ ἕνAncient Greek
  • The One (Neoplatonism). In Neoplatonism, the first principle, beyond being and thought.
to onτὸ ὄνAncient Greek
  • Being. The fact or act of existing; the subject of ontology.
transcendereLatin
tzimtzumצמצוםHebrew
  • Tzimtzum (Kabbalah). In Lurianic Kabbalah, God’s withdrawal to make room for the world.

V

vairāgyaवैराग्यSanskrit
  • Detachment (Yoga). The letting go of self-will, images and attachments so that God, or the true self, can be found: Eckhart’s abegescheidenheit.
via illuminativaLatin
  • The three ways (Christian Mysticism). Purgation, illumination and union: the classic stages of the Christian spiritual life.
via negativaLatin
  • Apophatic theology (Christian Mysticism). Speaking of God by negation: saying what God is not.
via purgativaLatin
  • The three ways (Christian Mysticism). Purgation, illumination and union: the classic stages of the Christian spiritual life.
via unitivaLatin
  • The three ways (Christian Mysticism). Purgation, illumination and union: the classic stages of the Christian spiritual life.
vijñānaविज्ञानSanskrit
  • Consciousness (Buddhism). Awareness: the fact that there is experience at all.
visio beatificaLatin
  • The beatific vision (Christian Mysticism). In Christian theology, the direct vision of God that is the soul’s final happiness.
vünkelînMiddle High German
  • Ground of the soul (Rhineland Mysticism). The innermost depth of the soul, beyond all its powers, where for Eckhart the soul and God are one.

W

waḥdat al-shuhūdوحدة الشهودArabic
  • Waḥdat al-shuhūd (Sufism). The “unity of witnessing”: Aḥmad Sirhindī’s teaching that the mystic’s experience of oneness is real as experience, not as a unity of being.
waḥdat al-wujūdوحدة الوجودArabic
  • Waḥdat al-wujūd (Sufism). The “oneness of being”, the teaching associated with Ibn ʿArabī and his school.
wu悟Chinese
  • Enlightenment (Zen). Awakening; in Buddhism, the end of ignorance and suffering.
wú wéi無為Chinese
  • Wu wei (Daoism). Non-forcing action: acting in accord with the Dao, without striving.
wujūdوجودArabic
  • Being (Islamic philosophy). The fact or act of existing; the subject of ontology.

X

xīn心Chinese
  • Xin (Confucianism). The heart-mind: in Chinese thought, the seat of both feeling and understanding.

Y

yata mat, tata pathযত মত তত পথBengali
  • Harmony of religions (Vedānta). Ramakrishna’s teaching that the religions are different paths to one God, carried to the West by Vivekananda.

Z

zìrán自然Chinese
  • Ziran (Daoism). Naturalness or spontaneity: being “so of itself”.