Every sacred word, and the one truth it points to across traditions
The traditions use different words for the same summit. Look up any term below — you’ll find what it means, where it comes from, and how the same reality is named in other paths.
Non-dualism — the teaching that self and absolute are not two.
Hinduism
Selfless, unconditional divine love.
Christianity
The Vedic God of fire, carrier of offerings between earth and heaven.
Hinduism
The ego-sense — the “I-maker” that claims experience as its own.
Hinduism
Non-harming — reverence for all living beings.
Hinduism · Jainism · Buddhism
The “Wise Lord” — the supreme God of Zoroastrianism.
Zoroastrianism
The brow chakra — the “third eye” of inner sight.
Hinduism
The one God, beyond all likeness, in Islam.
Islam
The Buddha of Infinite Light, central to Pure Land devotion.
Buddhism
The heart chakra of love and compassion.
Hinduism
Not-self — the absence of a fixed, separate ego.
Buddhism
Many-sidedness — the doctrine that truth has countless facets.
Jainism
Impermanence — the ceaseless flux of all things.
Buddhism
Non-possessiveness — freedom from grasping and attachment.
Jainism · Hinduism
Knowing God by negation — the way of holy unknowing.
Christianity
One who has attained liberation and freed themselves from rebirth.
Buddhism
Prosperity and the ethical pursuit of worldly means.
Hinduism
Steady, comfortable posture — the third limb of yoga.
Hinduism
Self-discipline and renunciation undertaken for spiritual ends.
Universal
Truth and cosmic order — the right way of all things.
Zoroastrianism
The eight-limbed path of yoga set out by Patanjali.
Hinduism
The innermost self or soul, ultimately one with Brahman.
Hinduism
The bodhisattva of compassion, known as Guanyin in China.
Buddhism
The shift from identification with thought to direct knowing of what is.
Universal
The rite of dying and rising with Christ through water.
Christianity
Abiding in God after the ego has passed away.
Islam
Blessing — the flowing grace of the divine.
Islam
The intermediate state between death and rebirth in Tibetan Buddhism.
Buddhism
The soul’s final, face-to-face seeing of God.
Christianity
Christ’s blessings on the poor, the meek and the pure of heart.
Christianity
Krishna’s battlefield teaching on duty, devotion and the eternal self.
Hinduism
The path of loving devotion to a personal God.
Hinduism
The yoga of loving devotion to the divine.
Hinduism
Meditative cultivation and development of the mind.
Buddhism
Awakening — the enlightenment realised by a Buddha.
Buddhism
The awakened heart-mind that seeks enlightenment for all beings.
Buddhism
One who vows to awaken for the liberation of all beings.
Buddhism
The creator God of the Hindu trinity — distinct from the formless Brahman.
Hinduism
The disciplined, often celibate life of a spiritual student.
Hinduism
The one infinite reality underlying and pervading all things.
Hinduism
The four boundless states: kindness, compassion, joy, equanimity.
Buddhism
The Awakened One — Siddhartha Gautama, and the awakened nature in all.
Buddhism
The innate potential for awakening within every being.
Buddhism
A silent method of resting in God beyond words.
Christianity
An energy centre along the subtle spine in yogic and tantric anatomy.
Hinduism · Buddhism
Loving-kindness — the sefirah of boundless giving.
Judaism
The tender wish to ease the suffering of all beings.
Universal
Loving, wordless attention that rests in the presence of God.
Christianity
Generosity — the giving that opens the heart.
Buddhism
The body’s energy centre, focus of Taoist cultivation.
Taoism
A purifying stage of spiritual dryness on the way to union.
Christianity
Sacred seeing — beholding, and being beheld by, the divine.
Hinduism
Virtue or power — the Tao expressed naturally through a life.
Taoism
The teaching that all things arise in mutual interdependence.
Buddhism
The early hermits whose silence shaped Christian mysticism.
Christianity
Cleaving to God in loving, unbroken communion.
Judaism
The Great Goddess in all her forms — the divine feminine itself.
Hinduism
Whole-hearted love and dedication to the divine.
Universal
One-pointed concentration — the sixth limb of yoga.
Hinduism
Cosmic order and one’s right way of living — the truth that upholds reality.
Hinduism · Buddhism
Remembrance of God through the repetition of sacred names.
Islam
Sustained meditation — the seventh limb of yoga.
Hinduism · Buddhism
The soul’s consummate oneness with God — the goal of the mystics.
Universal
The unsatisfactoriness and suffering woven through conditioned life.
Buddhism
The fierce mother Goddess who slays the demons of the ego.
Hinduism
The felt sense of a separate “I” that spiritual paths see through.
Universal
The Buddha’s eight-fold way of ethics, meditation and wisdom.
Buddhism
The infinite, unknowable Godhead beyond all attributes.
Judaism
Unshaken inner balance amid life’s changes.
Universal
The sacred meal of Christ’s body and blood.
Christianity
Trusting surrender to what is ultimately real.
Christianity · Universal
Passing away of the ego-self in God.
Islam
The art of harmonising life with the flow of qi in a place.
Taoism
Reverent devotion to parents and ancestors.
Confucianism
The five sheaths veiling the self, from body to bliss.
Hinduism
The five aggregates that compose the illusion of a separate self.
Buddhism
The release of resentment that frees the heart.
Universal
The four stages of life, from student to renunciate.
Hinduism
The Buddha’s core teaching: suffering, its cause, its end, and the path.
Buddhism
The elephant-headed remover of obstacles and lord of beginnings.
Hinduism
Strength and judgement — the sefirah of restraint.
Judaism
Direct, saving knowledge of the divine.
Christianity
The threefold Zoroastrian ethic of a righteous life.
Zoroastrianism
The “good news” of God’s love revealed in Christ.
Christianity
Unearned divine love and help, freely given.
Christianity
Thankful openness to the gift of what is.
Universal
The Sikh place of worship, home of the sacred scripture.
Sikhism
A spiritual teacher who dispels darkness and guides the seeker.
Hinduism · Buddhism · Sikhism
The living scripture and eternal Guru of the Sikhs.
Sikhism
The pilgrimage to Mecca every able Muslim makes once.
Islam
The devoted monkey God, emblem of selfless service and unwavering faith.
Hinduism
The yoga of posture and breath that balances the body’s energies.
Hinduism
Inner stillness cultivated in contemplative prayer.
Christianity
The deeper, divine identity beyond the everyday ego.
Universal
The living presence and breath of God at work in the world.
Christianity
The divine order and will to which one lovingly submits.
Sikhism
The grounded truthfulness that quietly dissolves pride.
Universal
A sacred image that opens a window to the holy.
Christianity
Spiritual excellence — to worship as though you see God.
Islam
“One reality” — the opening truth of Sikh scripture.
Sikhism
The image of God present in every human being.
Christianity
Faith — the inner conviction and trust of the heart.
Islam
The divine as present and indwelling within all things.
Universal
God taking on human flesh in Christ.
Christianity
A rite marking passage into deeper spiritual life.
Universal
Ecstatic, all-consuming love for the divine.
Islam
One’s chosen form of the divine for personal devotion.
Hinduism
God as the personal, knowable form of the absolute.
Hinduism
Peace found in wholehearted surrender to the one God.
Islam
The Indian path of radical non-violence and self-conquest.
Jainism
The meditative repetition of a mantra or divine name.
Hinduism
The repeated invocation of the name of Jesus in the heart.
Christianity
Struggle in God’s way — above all the inner striving against the ego.
Islam
Essence — the deep vital substance of life.
Taoism
The living soul — eternal, conscious and pure by nature.
Jainism
The path of liberating knowledge — direct insight into reality.
Hinduism
The yoga of knowledge and searching self-inquiry.
Hinduism
The noble, exemplary person of Confucian ideal.
Confucianism
The mystical tradition of Judaism — receiving the hidden wisdom.
Judaism
The dark Goddess of time and liberation who destroys illusion.
Hinduism
Desire, pleasure and love as a legitimate aim of life.
Hinduism
The moral law of cause and effect — every action carries its fruit.
Hinduism · Buddhism · Jainism · Sikhism
The yoga of selfless action offered without attachment.
Hinduism
The warrior God of victory, also known as Murugan or Skanda.
Hinduism
Compassion — the wish to free others from suffering.
Buddhism · Hinduism
Self-emptying — the ego’s surrender in love.
Christianity
Seeing into one’s true nature — an initial glimpse of awakening.
Buddhism
Omniscient, absolute knowledge of a fully liberated soul.
Jainism
The community of initiated Sikhs devoted to justice and devotion.
Sikhism
God’s reign — “within you” and among us.
Christianity
Devotional call-and-response chanting of the sacred names.
Hinduism
The mental afflictions that cloud and disturb the mind.
Buddhism
A paradoxical riddle used to exhaust the thinking mind.
Buddhism
The beloved avatar of Vishnu, teacher of the Gita and embodiment of divine love.
Hinduism
The dormant spiritual energy said to rise through the chakras.
Hinduism
The Goddess of abundance, beauty and spiritual prosperity.
Hinduism
The free community kitchen expressing equality and service.
Sikhism
The prayerful, meditative reading of sacred scripture.
Christianity
Ritual propriety that harmonises self and society.
Confucianism
Divine play — creation as the spontaneous joy of God.
Hinduism
The divine Word and reason that orders the cosmos.
Christianity
The great epic of the Bharata dynasty, which contains the Bhagavad Gita.
Hinduism
The navel chakra of will and vitality.
Hinduism
A sacred sound or phrase repeated to focus and transform the mind.
Hinduism · Buddhism
A lasting spiritual station attained on the Sufi path.
Islam
The tempter — the personification of delusion and death.
Buddhism
The veiling power that makes the one appear as the many — illusion.
Hinduism
The disciplined stilling and deepening of attention.
Universal
Wholesome karma accumulated through good and generous deeds.
Buddhism
The chariot-throne of God, focus of early Jewish mysticism.
Judaism
A radical turning of heart and mind — repentance as transformation.
Christianity
Loving-kindness extended freely to all beings.
Buddhism
The path between indulgence and harsh asceticism.
Buddhism
Clear, present, non-judging awareness of this moment.
Buddhism
A divine commandment; a sacred good deed.
Judaism
Liberation from the cycle of rebirth and union with the ultimate.
Hinduism
Sympathetic joy in the good fortune of others.
Buddhism
A symbolic gesture that channels energy in ritual and meditation.
Hinduism · Buddhism
The root chakra at the base of the spine.
Hinduism
A Sufi spiritual guide and teacher.
Islam
The pursuit of direct, first-hand union with the ultimate.
Universal
The divine Name whose remembrance liberates.
Sikhism
Subtle channels through which vital energy flows.
Hinduism
The lower self or ego that is to be purified.
Islam
A greeting that honours the divine dwelling in another.
Hinduism
Shiva as cosmic dancer whose dance creates and dissolves the universe.
Hinduism
The vital soul that animates the living body.
Judaism
Internal alchemy — refining energy toward spiritual immortality.
Taoism
The higher soul, a spark of the divine breath.
Judaism
“Not this, not this” — the via negativa of Vedanta.
Hinduism
The absolute beyond all form, name and attribute.
Hinduism
The blowing-out of craving — unconditioned peace and freedom.
Buddhism
The five observances of self-discipline in yoga.
Hinduism
The realisation that reality is not split into two — self and other, God and world.
Universal
The primordial sound-vibration from which creation unfolds.
Hinduism · Buddhism · Sikhism
The felt truth that all being is ultimately one.
Universal
The perfections a bodhisattva cultivates, such as generosity and patience.
Buddhism
The mountain Goddess, consort of Shiva and gentle form of the Great Mother.
Hinduism
The view that all traditions point to one timeless truth.
Universal
A sacred journey undertaken as inner transformation.
Universal
Primordial nature — the ever-changing matter from which the world unfolds.
Hinduism
The vital life-breath animating both body and cosmos.
Hinduism
The regulation of breath and vital energy.
Hinduism
The withdrawal of the senses inward.
Hinduism
The lifting of heart and mind toward the divine.
Universal
Awake, open attention resting in the living moment.
Universal
Devotional worship and the offering of the heart.
Hinduism
A Buddha-field of ease into which devotees aspire to be reborn.
Buddhism
Pure consciousness — the witnessing spirit in Samkhya philosophy.
Hinduism
The four aims of life — dharma, artha, kama and moksha.
Hinduism
The spiritual heart — the true seat of knowing God.
Islam
The vital energy that pervades and animates the cosmos.
Taoism
The recited word of God revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.
Islam
The supreme devotee and divine consort of Krishna — love personified.
Hinduism
The “royal” yoga of meditation and mastery of the mind.
Hinduism
The quality of activity, passion and restlessness.
Hinduism
The avatar of Vishnu whose life models dharma; hero of the Ramayana.
Hinduism
The holy month of fasting, prayer and revelation.
Islam
The epic of Rama — a story of dharma, devotion and homecoming.
Hinduism
The continuation of the life-stream into a new existence.
Buddhism
Being bought back and set free through Christ’s love.
Christianity
Benevolence — the supreme Confucian virtue of humaneness.
Confucianism
The free letting-go of whatever binds the soul.
Universal
A change of heart that turns back toward God.
Christianity
The rising of Christ from death — the ground of Christian hope.
Christianity
Symbolic action that connects the everyday to the sacred.
Universal
The divine spirit breathed into the human being.
Islam
Patient endurance and trust in God’s timing.
Islam
An outward and visible sign of inward grace.
Christianity
That which is set apart as holy and worthy of reverence.
Universal
The divine imaged and honoured as Mother and creative power.
Universal
Committed, disciplined daily spiritual practice.
Hinduism · Buddhism
The crown chakra of union and transcendence.
Hinduism
The five daily prayers of Islam.
Islam
The Jain vow of serene, willing fasting toward death.
Jainism
Deliverance from sin into union with God.
Christianity
Spiritual listening — sacred music and movement that lift the soul.
Islam
Absorptive union in meditation, where knower and known dissolve.
Hinduism · Buddhism
Calm-abiding meditation that steadies the mind.
Buddhism
The turning wheel of birth, death and rebirth driven by craving and karma.
Hinduism · Buddhism
The gradual making-holy of the soul by grace.
Christianity
The holy congregation of seekers walking together.
Sikhism
The spiritual community walking the path together.
Buddhism
The stage of renunciation — releasing worldly life for liberation.
Hinduism
The Goddess of wisdom, learning, music and the arts.
Hinduism
Being–consciousness–bliss, the very nature of the absolute.
Hinduism
A sudden flash of awakening in Zen.
Buddhism
Gathering in the company of truth and fellow seekers.
Hinduism
The quality of purity, harmony and light among the three gunas.
Hinduism
Truthfulness — a core vow across the Indian traditions.
Jainism · Hinduism
Fasting, especially through the month of Ramadan.
Islam
The ten emanations through which the infinite becomes manifest.
Judaism
Selfless service offered without thought of reward.
Hinduism · Sikhism
The sacred day of rest — a weekly taste of eternity.
Judaism
The hidden, unowned aspects of the psyche awaiting integration.
Universal
The testimony that there is no god but God.
Islam
The dynamic feminine power that animates all creation.
Hinduism
The indwelling presence of God in the world.
Judaism
The auspicious one — God of destruction, transformation and yogic stillness.
Hinduism
Ethical conduct and virtue.
Buddhism
The fertile stillness in which the divine is heard.
Universal
Loving remembrance of God through repetition and reflection.
Sikhism
The turning-away from God that fractures right relationship.
Christianity
The animating spiritual essence of a person.
Universal
The quiet, unmoving ground beneath all thought.
Universal
The mystical heart of Islam, seeking direct nearness to God.
Islam
The example and way of the Prophet Muhammad.
Islam
Emptiness — the absence of inherent, independent existence.
Buddhism
The letting-go of self-will into a greater reality.
Universal
The Sun God, giver of light, life and vitality.
Hinduism
The central channel through which kundalini rises.
Hinduism
The sacral chakra of creativity and feeling.
Hinduism
The supreme ultimate — the source of yin and yang.
Taoism
The vast record of rabbinic law, story and discussion.
Judaism
The quality of inertia, heaviness and darkness.
Hinduism
Craving or thirst — the root of suffering.
Buddhism
A path harnessing energy, ritual and the body toward liberation.
Hinduism · Buddhism
The ineffable Way that flows through and orders all things.
Taoism
Lao Tzu’s classic of the Way and its virtue.
Taoism
The Chinese way of living in harmony with the Tao.
Taoism
Ascetic heat — the inner fire generated by spiritual discipline.
Hinduism
God-consciousness — reverent awareness of the divine.
Islam
The compassionate female bodhisattva, swift to liberate.
Buddhism
A Sufi order and its path of spiritual training.
Islam
“That thou art” — the great saying of identity with the absolute.
Hinduism
“Thus-gone” — an epithet of a fully awakened Buddha.
Buddhism
Suchness — reality just as it is, before concepts divide it.
Buddhism
Complete reliance and trust in God.
Islam
The oneness and absolute unity of God.
Islam
Return — repentance as a turning back to God.
Judaism
Union with God — being made partaker of the divine nature.
Christianity
“God-bearer” — Mary as mother of the incarnate God.
Christianity
The inner eye of intuition and spiritual perception.
Hinduism · Universal
The three qualities — sattva, rajas, tamas — woven through all nature.
Hinduism
The Buddha, Dharma and Sangha in whom Buddhists take refuge.
Buddhism
Repair of the world through righteous action.
Judaism
A “ford-maker” — an enlightened teacher who shows the way across.
Jainism
The teaching and law revealed to Israel — guidance for a holy life.
Judaism
The divine as beyond and above the created world.
Universal
The Kabbalistic map of the ten sefirot.
Judaism
The one God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Christianity
The “fourth” — pure awareness beyond waking, dream and deep sleep.
Hinduism
God’s self-contraction to make room for creation.
Judaism
Original simplicity — the self before conditioning shapes it.
Taoism
The philosophical crown of the Vedas, teaching the unity of self and absolute.
Hinduism
Skilful means — teaching adapted to each being’s need.
Buddhism
Equanimity — the serene balance of an open heart.
Buddhism
Dispassion — the serene turning-away from craving.
Hinduism
The indestructible thunderbolt-diamond of awakened reality.
Buddhism
The “end of the Vedas” — the philosophy of nondual realisation.
Hinduism
The most ancient Hindu scriptures — revealed hymns and sacred knowledge.
Hinduism
Insight meditation that sees things as they truly are.
Buddhism
The preserver who sustains cosmic order and descends as avatars.
Hinduism
The throat chakra of truth and expression.
Hinduism
Discernment between the real and the unreal.
Hinduism
The Sikh name for the wondrous, one supreme God.
Sikhism
A friend of God — a saint in Islam.
Islam
Effortless action in harmony with the Way.
Taoism
The God of death and lord of dharma who receives the departed.
Hinduism
The five ethical restraints that begin the yogic path.
Hinduism
The complementary polarity whose interplay weaves reality.
Taoism
Union with the divine, and the disciplines that lead there.
Hinduism
Patanjali’s aphorisms mapping the eightfold path to samadhi.
Hinduism
The four vast ages through which the cosmos endlessly cycles.
Hinduism
Almsgiving that purifies wealth and the heart.
Islam
Seated meditation, the very heart of Zen practice.
Buddhism
A school pointing directly to awakening beyond words and concepts.
Buddhism
Naturalness — being spontaneously so of itself.
Taoism
The foundational text of Kabbalistic mysticism.
Judaism
The ancient Persian faith of the one wise Lord and cosmic ethics.
Zoroastrianism