A TREASURY OF

MYSTIC TERMS
 A TREASURY OF

MYSTIC TERMS

PART I
THE PRINCIPLES OF MYSTICISM

VOLUME 1
THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

WITH
BIOGRAPHIC AND BIBLIOGRAPHIC GLOSSARY
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND INDEX

JOHN DAVIDSON

SCIENCE OF THE SOUL RESEARCH CENTRE

 Published by:
G.P.S. Bhalla, Secretary
Science of the Soul Research Centre
Radha Soami Satsang Beas
Guru Ravi Dass Marg, Pusa Road,
New Delhi 110005, India

Copyright © 2003
by Science of the Soul Research Centre
Radha Soami Satsang Beas
All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated,

stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without prior written permission from the publisher.

First Edition 2003

10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 III II I

ISBN 81-901731-0-3

Printed in India
 EDITED AND LARGELY WRITTEN BY

JOHN DAVIDSON
WITH THE HELP OF AN INTERNATIONAL TEAM

A Treasury of Mystic Terms has been compiled using the collective skills
of an international team of researchers, contributors, assistant editors and
readers with a wide variety of religious and cultural backgrounds. All mem-
bers of the team are spiritual seekers, most of whom have found inspiration
and encouragement in the teachings of the mystics of Beas in India. All
those involved have given freely to this project, both as a source of inspira-
tion for themselves, and as a way of showing to others the essential unity
behind all the apparent variety in religion, philosophy and mysticism.
Everybody has a perspective or a bias – coloured glasses through which
they view the world. So although every attempt has been made to handle
each entry within its own religious or mystical context, if any particular
perspective is detected, it will inevitably be that of the contributors and their
perception of mysticism. This does not mean, of course, that the contributors
have always been in agreement. The preparation of the Treasury has often
resulted in healthy debate!

RESEARCHERS AND CONTRIBUTORS

Prem Singh Alam MA, LLB (Sufism) Farideh Maleki (Sufism)
Miriam Bokser Caravella BA (Judaism) Tobey Milne BA, MSW (Native N. American)
Ray Castellino BA, DC (Prenatal medicine) K.S. Narang MA (Sikhism)
Beverly Chapman MA (Sufism) Antoine Nohra BSc (Sufism)
John Davidson MA (Cantab) (Ancient Christian O’Brien MA (Cantab) (Gnosticism)
mythology, Christianity, Gnosticism, Tony Pitman BA (Classical)
Classical & most other traditions) Janak Puri MA (Indian traditions)
Lucie Davidson M ès L (Editorial Support) Carolyn Ralston MA (Paraguayan Guaraní)
Carole Devillers (Native N. American) Anant Rajwade PhD (Indian musical
Shiv Singh Dhatt BA, Adib Fazil, GD Art instruments)
(Sikhism) Bill Rice BS (Taoism)
Nirmal Singh Dhesi PhD (Sikhism) Thomas Richman MA (Ancient Greek
Ralph Esposito BA, MS (Native N. American) Mysticism)
Lyndell Brown MA (Australian Aboriginal) V.K. Sethi MA (Indian traditions)
Richard Flacco BA (Indian traditions) T.R. Shangari PhD (Indian traditions)
Gavin Flood PhD (Indian traditions) Judith Shankaranarayan MA (Indian traditions)
Charles Green PhD (Australian Aboriginal) K. Sankaranarayanan MA, LLB, DBM
Prem Kathpalia MA (Buddhism, Classical & (Indian traditions)
Indian traditions, Sufism) Bonnie Shwery MA (Cantab), LAc (Sufism)
Kirpal Singh Khak PhD (Sikhism) Faith Singh (Editorial Support)
K.K. Khurana BA (Indian traditions) K.N. Upadhyaya PhD (Buddhism, Indian
Evelyn Liautaud BA (Haitian) traditions)
Shraddha Liertz (Indian traditions) Frank Vogel JD, PhD (Sufism)
Marjory Liu PhD (Taoism) Mary Wallace (Indian traditions)
 C ONTENTS

PART 1 – THE PRINCIPLES OF MYSTICISM

VOLUME 1 – The Universe of Spirituality

Acknowledgements xiii
Preface xxi
A Request for Help xxiv
Editorial Notes xxv
Languages and Transliteration Systems xxviii
Abbreviations xxxiii

The Universe of Spirituality 1

1.1 Mysticism 3
1.2 Sumerian and Mesopotamian Spirituality 5
1.3 Zarathushtra and Zoroastrianism 11
1.4 Judaism 21
The Hebrew Bible and Other Texts 21
Early Jewish Mysticism 22
The Rabbinic Tradition 27
Jewish Mystics and the Sufis 29
The Kabbalah 30
Hasidism 33
The Essenes 35
1.5 Christianity 38
John’s Gospel 39
The Synoptic Gospels 42
Jesus’ Teaching in the Gospels 45
Paul 49
Other New Testament Letters 55
Revelations 57
Apocryphal Sources 59
Traditional Christian Mysticism 63
1.6 Gnosticism 67
1.7 The Mandaeans 72
1.8 Mānī and the Manichaeans 74
1.9 Greek Mystics and Philosophers 79
Orpheus 79
Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans 83
Socratēs and Plato 89
Plotinus and the Neo-Platonists 92
Hermetic Literature 95
1.10 Islam 98
The Islamic Way of Life 99
Muammad 101
The Qur’ān 105
The Night Journey (al-Mi‘rāj) 109
Marriages 112
The Death of Muammad 113
Sufism 115
Sufi Orders and Teachings 117
The Sufis 125
1.11 Indian Traditions 131
The Vedas and Upanishads 131
The Six Schools 134
1. Nyāya 135
2. Vaisheshika 136
3. Sānkhya 136
4. Yoga 137
5. Pūrva Mīmāsā 138
6. Vedānta 139
 The Rāmāyaa, the Mahābhārata and 145
the Bhagavad Gītā
The Sant Tradition 146
Sikhism 148
After the Gurus 178
The Afghan Wars 178
The Mystic Teachings of the Ādi Granth 182
1.12 Buddhism 186
1.13 Taoism 193
1.14 Native Cultures 198
Native North American Spirituality 199
Patterns of Belief 200
Some Recent Native Americans 206
Distortion of Native American Traditions 212
The Nahua of Central America 213
The South American Guaraní 214
Australian Aboriginal Spirituality 218
1.15 The Perennial Philosophy 221
Notes 222

Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 231

Bibliography 443
Index of Headwords 503

VOLUME 2 – The Divine Eternity

2.1 God and Eternity 3

2.2 The Absolute and the Relative 291

VOLUME 3 – The Divine Creative Power

3.1 The Creative Power 3

3.2 Divine Music 405
VOLUME 4 – The Hierarchy of Creation

4.1 The Realms of Creation 3

4.2 Deities, Rulers, Archons and Angels 269

VOLUME 5 – Man and the Cosmos

5.1 The Nature of Man 3

5.2 Cosmic Principles 285

VOLUME 6 – The Soul in Exile

6.1 Evil, the Devil and the Negative Power 3

6.2 The Veil of the Physical 119
6.3 Reincarnation, Destiny, and the Law of 305
Cause and Effect

PART II – THE PRACTICE OF MYSTICISM

The following volumes are in preparation. Details are pro-

visional and certain to change. For this reason, volume
and section numbers are not allocated.

The Return of the Soul

States of Being, Forms of Knowledge
Going Within
Religious Beliefs and Practices
Spiritual Practices
Death and Spiritual Awakening
The Spiritual Form of the Master
Human Existence
Human Perfection and Imperfection
Conduct of Life
Diet and Spirituality
The Way of the World and the Way of the Spirit
Treading the Spiritual Path
Man and the Divine

Spiritual Guidance
Spiritual Teachers and Practitioners
Miracles and Miraculous Powers
Baptism, Initiation, the Mysteries
Association with the Holy
 A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS

THE TRANSLATIONS OF THE BUDDHIST DHAMMAPADA are founded mostly

upon the work of S. Radhakrishnan and Narada Thera.
Many scholarly translations of Zarathushtra’s Gāthās into European
languages have been made from defective Pahlavi translations. The
translations here are from the Avestan, and are based largely on the
original work of Dr I.R.S. Taraporewala.
Quotations from the Ādi Granth are from the English translation of
Manmohan Singh.
Most of the translations of the Bhagavad Gītā have drawn upon the
earlier translation of Swāmī Tapasyānanda.
The sayings of Heraclitus are found only as fragments, quoted in the
works of other writers of antiquity. Various scholarly numbering systems
exist for these fragments, the system employed here being that used by
Philip Wheelwright in Heraclitus (Princeton, 1959).
Most of the translations of Rūmī’s Maśnavī are based upon the work
of R.A. Nicholson.
The indigenous Guaraní of eastern Paraguay, made up of three large
subgroups – the Mbyá, the Paí Cayuá and the Avá-Chiripá – are de-
scribed in books and articles by the most notable experts in this field,
Miguel Alberto Bartolomé, León Cádogan, Alfred Métraux and Egon
Schaden. Most of the information used for the Guaraní mystical terms
derives from these scholars’ studies of the Mybá and Avá-Chiripá. If a
term is general to all indigenous Guaraní, it is labelled (G); if a term is
known only to apply to the Avá-Chiripá subgroup, it is labelled (AC).
The transliteration conventions used for all Avá-Chiripá terms are
the same as those used in Miguel Alberto Bartolomé’s article, Shaman-
ism and Religion Among the Avá-Chiripá, which resulted from his field
studies in the northeastern region of Paraguay in 1968 and 1969.
Bartolomé explains that since Paraguayan Guaraní has an officially
recognized written form, he does not use phonetic symbols except the
letter ‘y’ for the sixth guttural vowel.

Thanks are due to the many scholars and publishers whose work has
contributed to this book. We greatly appreciate the publishers, copy-
right holders and administrators for giving their permission to include
excerpts, as below. In all instances, all rights are reserved by the copy-

xiii
xiv VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter
right holders. Full bibliographical details canone
be found in the bibliog-
raphy. Dates in square brackets ([ ]), where provided, are of first publi-
cation. Excerpts from:
The Nag Hammadi Library in English, third completely revised edn.,
James M. Robinson (General Editor), copyright © 1978, 1988 by E.J.
Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands; reprinted by permission of HarperCollins
Publishers Inc. (USA, Canada, Philippines) and E.J. Brill Academic
Publishers (rest of the world).
The Old Testament Pseudoepigrapha, 2 vols., ed. J.H. Charlesworth,
Darton, Longman & Todd (London), Doubleday (New York), 1983;
The Jerusalem Bible, copyright © 1966 by Doubleday (USA & Canada)
and by Darton, Longman & Todd (rest of the world); reprinted by per-
mission of Doubleday (USA & Canada), a division of Random House
Inc. and by Darton, Longman & Todd (rest of the world).
The Concise Encyclopedia of Islam, Cyril Glassé, HarperCollins,
1989, copyright © 1989 by Stacey International and Cyril Glassé;
reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers Inc. (USA, Canada,
Philippines); The Concise Encyclopaedia of Islam, Cyril Glassé, Stacey
International, 1989, copyright © 1989 by Stacey International and Cyril
Glassé; reprinted by permission of Stacey International (rest of the world).
Gabriel’s Palace: Jewish Mystical Tales, selected and retold by
Howard Schwartz, Oxford University Press, copyright © 1993 by
Howard Schwartz; reprinted by permission of Oxford University Press,
New York (USA & Canada) and Ellen Levine Literary Agency Inc. (rest
of the world).
The Spiritual Heritage of India, Swami Prabhavānanda, 1993 [1962];
reprinted by permission of Sri Ramakrishna Math (India) and the
Vedanta Society of Southern California (rest of the world).
Empedocles, Helle Lambridis; reprinted by permission of the Acad-
emy of Athens.
Minor Upanishads, tr. Swami Madhavananda, 1992; reprinted by
permission of Advaita Ashrama.
The Thousand and Twelve Questions (Alf Trisar Šuialia): A Mandaean
Text edited in Transliteration and Translation, E.S. Drower, 1960;
reprinted by permission of Akademie-Verlag.
Three Ways of Thought in Ancient China, Arthur Waley; reprinted
by permission of the Arthur Waley Estate.
Lao-tzu: Te-tao Ching, tr. & commentary Robert G. Henricks, copyright
© 1989 by Robert G. Henricks; reprinted by permission of Ballantine
Books, a division of Random House Inc.
Gift of Power: The Life and Teachings of a Lakota Medicine Man,
Archie Fire Lame Deer and Richard Erdoes, Bear & Co., 1992; reprinted
by permission of Bear & Co., Rochester, VT 05767.
 Acknowledgements xv

3 june
The Books of Jeu and 1931 Text in the Bruce Codex, tr. Violet
the Untitled
MacDermot, 1978; The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans, tr.
E.S. Drower, 1959; Encyclopaedia of Islam, vol. 1 (A – B), ed. H.A.R.
Gibb, J.H. Kramers, E. Lévi-Provençal, J. Schacht, B. Lewis, Ch. Pellat,
1960; The Kephalaia of the Teacher: The Edited Coptic Manichaean Texts
in Translation with Commentry, Iain Gardner (Nag Hammadi and Mani-
chaean Studies XXXVII, 1995); Nag Hammadi Studies IV: Nag Hammadi
Codices III,2 and IV,2, ed. Alexander Böhlig and Frederik Wisse, 1979
(Gospel of the Egyptians, tr. Alexander Böhlig and Frederik Wisse); Nag
Hammadi Studies XI: Nag Hammadi Codices V,2–5 and VI, ed. Douglas
M. Parrott, 1979 (Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles, tr. Douglas M.
Parrott and R. McL. Wilson; Apocalypse of Adam, tr. George W. MacRae,
ed. Douglas M. Parrott; Apocalypse of Paul, tr. George W. MacRae and
William R. Murdock, ed. Douglas M. Parrott; Asclepius, tr. James
Brashler, Peter A. Dirkse and Douglas M. Parrott; Authoritative Teaching,
tr. George W. MacRae, ed. Douglas M. Parrott; Concept of Our Great
Power, tr. Frederik Wisse, ed. Douglas M. Parrott; Discourse on the
Eighth and Ninth, tr. James Brashler, Peter A. Dirkse and Douglas M.
Parrott; First Apocalypse of James, tr. William R. Schoedel, ed. Douglas
M. Parrott; Second Apocalypse of James, tr. Charles W. Hedrick, ed.
Douglas M. Parrott; Thunder: Perfect Mind, tr. George W. MacRae, ed.
Douglas M. Parrott); Nag Hammadi Studies XV: Nag Hammadi Codices
IX and X, ed. Birger A. Pearson, 1981 (Testimony of Truth, tr. Søren
Giversen and Birger A. Pearson; Thought of Norea, tr. Søren Giversen
and Birger A. Pearson); Nag Hammadi Studies XX: Nag Hammadi
Codex II,2–7, vol. 1, ed. Bentley Layton, 1989 (Gospel of Philip, tr.
Wesley W. Isenberg; Gospel of Thomas, tr. Thomas O. Lambdin;
Hypostasis of the Archons, tr. Bentley Layton); Nag Hammadi Studies
XXI: Nag Hammadi Codex II,2–7, vol. 2, ed. Bentley Layton, 1989
(Book of Thomas the Contender, tr. John D. Turner; Expository Treatise
on the Soul, tr. William C. Robinson Jr.; On the Origin of the World, tr.
Hans-Gebhard Bethge, Bentley Layton); Nag Hammadi Studies XXII:
Nag Hammadi Codex I (the Jung Codex), vol. 1, ed. Harold W. Attridge,
1985 (Gospel of Truth, tr. Harold W. Attridge and George W. MacRae;
Prayer of the Apostle Paul, tr. Dieter Mueller; Treatise on the Resur-
rection, tr. Malcolm L. Peel; Tripartite Tractate, tr. Harold W. Attridge
and Dieter Mueller); Nag Hammadi Studies XXVI: Nag Hammadi
Codex III,5, The Dialogue of the Saviour, ed. Stephen Emmel, 1984
(Dialogue of the Savior, tr. Stephen Emmel); Nag Hammadi Studies
XXVII: Nag Hammadi Codices III,3–4 and V,1, with Papyrus Berolinensis
8502,3 and Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 1081, ed. Douglas M. Parrott, 1979
(Eugnostos the Blessed and Sophia of Jesus Christ, tr. Douglas M.
Parrott); Nag Hammadi Studies XXVIII: Nag Hammadi Codices XI,
xvi VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

XII, XIII, ed. Charles W. Hedrick, 1990 letter one tr. John D. Turner
(Allogenes,
and Orval S. Wintermute; Sentences of Sextus, tr. Frederik Wisse;
Trimorphic Protennoia, tr. John D. Turner); Nag Hammadi Studies
XXX: Nag Hammadi Codex VII, XIII, ed. Birger A. Pearson, 1996
(Paraphrase of Shem, tr. Frederik Wisse; Second Treatise of the Great
Seth, tr. Roger A. Bullard and Joseph A. Gibbons; Teachings of Silvanus,
tr. Malcolm L. Peel and Jan Zandee; Three Steles of Seth, tr. James M.
Robinson); Nag Hammadi Studies XXXI: Nag Hammadi Codex VIII,
ed. John H. Sieber, 1991 (Zostrianos, tr. John H. Sieber); Nag Hammadi
Studies XXXIII: Synopsis of Nag Hammadi Codices II,1, III,1 and
IV,1 with BG 8502,2, ed. M. Waldstein and Frederik Wisse, 1995
(Apocryphon of John, tr. Frederik Wisse); A Pair of Naoraean Com-
mentaries (Two Priestly Documents): The Great “First World” and the
Lesser “First World”, tr. E.S. Drower, 1963; Panarion of Epiphanius
of Salamis: Book I (Sects 1–46), tr. F. Williams, 1987; reprinted by
permission of E.J. Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Mysticism in English Literature, C.F.E. Spurgeon,1913; “Lower
(Second?) Section of the Manichaean Hymns”, tr. Tsui Chi, in BSOAS
11 (1943–46); A Place for Strangers: Towards a History of Australian
Aboriginal Being, Tony Swain, 1993; Selected Poems from the Dīvāni
Shamsi Tabrīz, ed. & tr. R.A. Nicholson, 1952; “A Sogdian Fragment
of the Manichaean Cosmogony”, W.B. Henning, in BSOAS 12 (1947–48);
Studies in Islamic Mysticism, R.A. Nicholson, 1978; reproduced by
permission of Cambridge University Press.
The Authorized Version of the Bible (The King James Bible), the
rights to which are vested in the Crown, are reproduced by permission
of the Crown’s Patentee, Cambridge University Press.
Sources of Chinese Tradition, vol. 1, comp. T. de Bary, Wing-tsih Chan
and Burton Watson, et al., 1960; Chuang Tzu: Basic Writings, tr. Burton
Watson, 1968; reprinted by permission of Columbia University Press.
Complete Works of St John of the Cross, 3 vols.-in-one, tr. & ed.
E. Allison Peers, 1964 [1935]; reprinted by permission of Continuum
International Publishing Ltd.
Fools Crow: Wisdom and Power, Thomas E. Mails, copyright ©
1991 by Thomas E. Mails; reprinted by permission of Council Oak
Books, 1290 Chestnut Street, San Francisco, CA 941109, USA.
adīth
aī al-Bukhārī, tr. M. Muhsin Khan; reprinted by permis-
sion of Dar-us-Salam Publications.
Firefly in the Night, Irene Nicholson, 1959; reprinted by permission
of Faber and Faber.
Kashf al-Mahjūb: The Oldest Persian Treatise on Sufiism, ‘Alī b.
‘Uthmān al-Jullābī al-Hujwīrī, ed. & tr. R.A. Nicholson, 1970 [1911,
1936]; The Mathnawī of Jalālu’ddīn Rūmī, 8 vols., ed. & tr. with notes
 Acknowledgements xvii

& commentary by R.A. 3 june 1931 1925–1940; reprinted by permis-

Nicholson,
sion of the Trustees of the E.J.W. Gibb Memorial Trust.
The Essential Kabbalah: The Heart of Jewish Mysticism, Daniel C.
Matt, 1996, copyright © 1995 by Daniel C. Matt; Gnosis on the Silk
Road: Gnostic Texts from Central Asia, tr. Hans-Joachim Klimkeit,
1993, copyright © 1995 by Hans-J. Klimkeit; Tao: A New Way of
Thinking, Chang Chung-yuan, copyright © 1975 by Chang Chung-
yuan; reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
The Koran Interpreted, 2 vols., tr. A.J. Arberry, 1964 [1955]; Tao
Te Ching: A New Translation, Ch’u Ta-Kao, 1959; reprinted by
permission of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
The Apostolic Fathers, vols. I-II, Loeb Classical Library vols. 24 &
25, tr. Kirsopp Lake, Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press,
1912, 1917; Philo, vols. I-II, IV-V, Loeb Classical Library vols. 226,
227, 261 & 275, tr. F.H. Colson & G.H. Whitaker, Cambridge, Mass.,
Harvard University Press, 1929, 1932, 1934; Aristotle, vol. III, Loeb
Classical Library vol. 400, tr. E.M. Forster and D.J. Furley, Cambridge,
Mass., Harvard University Press, 1955; reprinted by permission of the
publishers and the Trustees of the Loeb Classical Library. The Loeb
Classical Library® is a registered trademark of the President and Fellows
of Harvard College.
The Graces of Interior Prayer, A. Poulain, tr. L.L.Y. Smith, 1950
[1910]; reprinted by permission of International Thomson Publishing
Services.
Legends of the Bible, Louis Ginzberg, tr. from German, Henrietta
Szold, 1992 [1913]; Legends of the Jews (CD-ROM), Louis Ginzberg,
Institute for Computers in Jewish Life and Davka Corporation, 1998;
Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures, 2 vols., 1955, copyright © 1955 by the
Jewish Publications Society; reprinted by permission of The Jewish
Publication Society.
The Book of Lieh-Tzu, tr. A.C. Graham, 1991 [1960]; reprinted by
permission of John Murray (Publishers) Ltd.
The Jewish Mystical Tradition, Ben Zion Bokser, 1981; The Prayer
Book: Weekday, Sabbath and Festival, including Pirkei Avot (Ethics of
the Fathers), tr. Ben Zion Bokser, 1957; reprinted by permission of Mrs.
Kallia Bokser.
Sufi Symbolism: The Nurbakhsh Encyclopedia of Sufi Terminology,
15 vols., Javad Nurbakhsh, tr. Terry Graham et al., 1984–2001; reprinted
by permission of Khaniqahi-Nimatullahi Publications.
A Manichaean Psalm-Book, Part II, ed. & tr. C.R.C. Allbery, 1938;
reprinted by permission of Kohlhammer GmbH.
The Jerusalem Bible, English text rev. & ed. Harold Fisch, 1992;
reprinted by permission of Koren Publishers Jerusalem Ltd.
xviii VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

The Heritage of Sufism, 3 vols., vol.letter one Persian Sufism from

1: Classical
its Origins to Rumi, Leonard Lewisohn, 1999; reprinted by permission
of Leonard Lewisohn, The Institute of Ismaili Studies.
The Wisdom of the Zohar: An Anthology of Texts, 3 vols., arranged
by Fischel Lachower and Isaiah Tishby, with extensive introductions
& explanations by Isaiah Tishby, tr. David Goldstein, 1989, 1991; re-
printed by permission of the Littman Library of Jewish Civilization.
Gītagovinda of Jayadeva: Love Song of the Dark Lord, ed. & tr.
Barbara Stoler Miller, 1984; The Laws of Manu, tr. G. Buhler, 1964;
The Padma Purāa, 10 vols., tr. Dr N.A. Deshpande, 1988–91; The
Vedic Experience, Raimundo Panikkar, 1997; reprinted by permission
of Motilal Banarsidass.
“Shamanism Among the Avá-Chiripá”, Miguel A. Bartolomé, in
Spirits, Shamans, and Stars: Perspectives from South America, ed.
David L. Browman and Ronald A. Schwarz, 1979; reprinted by permis-
sion of Mouton de Gruyter.
Gheranda Samhita, tr. Rai Bahadur Srisa Chandra Vasu, 1999
[1914–15]; The Siva Samhita, tr. Rai Bahadur Srisa Chandra Vasu, 1999
[1914–15]; reprinted by permission of Munshiram Manoharlal.
“Listening for God: Prayer and the Heart in the Futūāt”, J.W. Morris,
in Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi Society 13 (1993) pp.19–53;
reprinted by permission of the Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi Society.
The Apocryphal New Testament, tr. Montague Rhodes James, 1989
[1924]; The Apocryphal Old Testament, ed. H.E.D. Sparks, 1984;
The Secret Adam: A Study of Naoraean Gnosis, E.S. Drower, 1960;
The Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition From Plato to Denys,
A. Louth, 1981; reprinted by permission of Oxford University Press.
Indian Philosophy, 2 vols., S. Radhakrishnan, 1996 [1923, 1929];
reprinted by permission of Oxford University Press, New Delhi.
Early Islamic Mysticism, Michael A. Sells, copyright © by
Michael A. Sells, 1996; reprinted by permission of the Paulist Press
(www.paulistpress.com).
The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English, tr. Geza Vermes (Allen
Lane, Penguin Press, 1997), copyright © by Geza Vermes, 1962, 1965,
1968, 1975, 1995, 1997; The Conference of the Birds, Farid ud-Din
Attar, tr. Afkham Darbandi and Dick Davis (Penguin Classics, 1984),
copyright © 1984 by Afkham Darbandi and Dick Davis; Muslim Saints
and Mystics: Episodes from Tadhkirat al-Auliya’, Farid al-Din Attar,
tr. A.J. Arberry (Arkana, 1990), copyright © 1966 by A.J. Arberry;
Plato: Phaedrus and Letters VII and VIII, tr. Walter Hamilton (Penguin
Classics, 1973), copyright © 1973 by Walter Hamilton; Plotinus: The
Enneads, tr. Stephen MacKenna, abridged John Dillon (Penguin Classics,
1991), this abridgement copyright © 1991 by John Dillon; The Rig
 Acknowledgements xix

Veda: An Anthology, tr.3 june 1931 Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty (Pen-

& annotated
guin Classics, 1981), London, copyright © 1981 by Wendy Doniger
O’Flaherty; reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd.
Heraclitus, P. Wheelwright, copyright © 1959 by Princeton Univer-
sity Press; reprinted by permission of Princeton University Press.
The Upanishads, 4 vols., tr. & commentary Swami Nikhilananda,
Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center, New York, 1990, 1994, copyright
© 1949, 1952, 1956, 1959 by Swami Nikhilananda; Self-Knowledge
(Atmabodha), tr. & commentary Swami Nikhilananda, Ramakrishna-
Vivekananda Center, New York, 1989, copyright © 1946 by Swami
Nikhilananda; reprinted by permission of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda
Center of New York.
The Philosophers: An Alternative Concept of Greek Philosophy in
Light of Eastern Wisdom and Modern Science, 2 parts, T.A. Richman;
reprinted by permission of T.A. Richman.
The Wisdom of Laotse, tr. Lin Yutang, 1948; reproduced by permis-
sion of Random House Inc.
The Bahir (Illumination), tr. & commentary Aryeh Kaplan, Samuel
Weiser, York Beach, 1989; Meditation and the Bible, Aryeh Kaplan,
Samuel Weiser, New York, 1978; Meditation and the Kabbalah, Aryeh
Kaplan, Samuel Weiser, York Beach, 1982; reproduced by permission
of Red Wheel/Weiser.
Chuang Tzu: Taoist Philosopher and Chinese Mystic, tr. Herbert A.
Giles, George Allen & Unwin, 1961; reproduced by permission of
Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Occult Science: An Outline, Rudolf Steiner, tr. George & Mary
Adams, 1969; reproduced by permission of Rudolf Steiner Press.
The Book of Legends (Sefer ha-Aggadah): Legends from the Talmud
and Midrash, ed. Hayim Nahmun Bialik and Yehoshua Hana Ravnitzky,
tr. William G. Braude, copyright © 1992 by Schocken Books; The Five
Books of Moses, tr. with commentary & notes, Everett Fox, copyright
© 1983, 1986, 1990, 1995 by Schocken Books; On the Kabbalah and
its Symbolism, Gershom G. Scholem, copyright © 1965 by Schocken
Books; reproduced by permission of Schocken Books, a division of
Random House Inc.
Manichaean Literature, J.P. Asmussen, 1975; reprinted by permis-
sion Scholars’ Facsimiles & Reprints.
The Manichaean Hymn-Cycles in Parthian, tr. M. Boyce, 1954;
reprinted by permission of School of Oriental and African Studies and
Professor Mary Boyce.
Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramhansa Yogananda, Rider & Co.,
London, 1977 [1950]; reprinted by permission of the Self-Realization
Fellowship.
xx VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

“Kabbalistic Texts”, Lawrence Fine,letter one to the Sources, ed.

in Back
Barry W. Holtz, copyright © 1984 by Barry W. Holtz; reprinted by per-
mission of Simon & Schuster.
The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rūmī, William C.
Chittick, State University of New York Press, copyright © 1983 by the
State University of New York; reprinted by permission of the State
University of New York Press.
The Bhagavadgītā, tr. Kees W. Bolle, 1979; reprinted by permission
of the University of California Press.
Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala
Sioux, John G. Neihardt, copyright © 1932, 1959, 1972 by John G.
Neihardt, copyright © 1961 by the John G. Neilhardt Trust; reprinted
by permission of the University of Nebraska Press.
The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk’s Account of the Seven Rites of the
Oglala Sioux, recorded & ed. Joseph Epes Brown, copyright © 1953,
1989 by the University of Oklahoma Press; Sioux Indian Religion:
Tradition and Innovation, ed. Raymond J. DeMallie and Douglas R.
Parks, copyright © 1987 by the University of Oklahoma Press; reprinted
by permission of the University of Oklahoma Press.
The Great Vohu Manah and the Apostle of God, G. Widengren, 1945;
“Mesopotamian Elements in Manichaeism”, G. Widengren, in Uppsala
Universitets Arsskrift 3 (1946); reprinted by permission of University
Publications from Uppsala.
Angle of Geese and Other Poems, Scott Momaday, copyright ©
1972 by Scott Momaday; reprinted by permission of David R. Godine
Publisher Inc.

We have done our best to track down all the relevant copyright holders
or administrators for all material for which it appeared copyright per-
mission would be required. In the event of any errors or omissions,
please advise us, so that matters may be rectified.
Thanks are also due to Dr John Smith, Faculty of Oriental Studies,
Cambridge University, for making specialist character fonts available
to us.
 xxi

3 june 1931

P REFACE

May I suggest that

You ask forgiveness for me
If my pen has gone astray or my foot has slipped.
For ’tis a perilous thing to plunge
Into the fathomless ocean of the divine mysteries;
And no easy task is it
To seek to discover the Lights Supernal
Which lie behind the veil.
Al-Ghazālī, Mishkāt al-Anwār 3:2, MRG4 p.32,
MAG p.57; cf. FSC (3:2.4) p.159

Speech is at best an honest lie.

The Book of Mirdad, BOM p.68

THIS BOOK, IN SEVERAL VOLUMES, is a collection, a treasury, a miscel-

lany. Its primary objective is to elucidate the meaning of the essential
terms used by the many different spiritual and religious traditions of
the world, throughout history. It is not primarily intended as a dictionary
or as an encyclopaedia, nor is it a definitive treatise on any particular
subject or religion. Its purpose is to help the ordinary person understand
something of the basics concerning his or her religious background,
within the framework of a universal understanding of spirituality.
Among these many pages, the reader will find a mixture. There
should be something for everyone, whoever they are and whatever their
bent of mind. But in a book of terms? That may sound unappealing, but
there is a reason for it. Spiritual, mystical and religious teachings tend
to use certain terms with particular meanings. Everyday words are often
adopted, acquiring a special meaning in a spiritual context. Conse-
quently, if a person wants to inquire deeply into his own religious back-
ground – or those of other cultures – it is essential that he understands
the meaning of these terms. For if the symbols on the map are not under-
stood, how can they be a guide to the destination?

xxi
xxii VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter
A Treasury of Mystic Terms is therefore one around elucidating
oriented
the meaning of these fundamental terms. But it is also much more than
that. Some of the entries are extensive, more like essays. Moreover, the
majority of these entries contain quotations that highlight the meaning
of the term or group of terms under discussion. Many of these quota-
tions are beautiful and inspiring; or they have a content that can be a
guide in life. It is hoped, therefore, that this treasury will be a rich source
of inspiration, as well as information.
Many people read books by dipping in here and there, even though
the book may have been put together as a progression of ideas, not re-
ally designed for ‘dipping’. This book is designed for the ‘dipper’! And
while it is certain that not everything in it will appeal to everyone, there
should be something in it that will appeal to everyone. It is a book for
browsing. So if the reader alights on something that does not appeal to
him or her, he or she need only move on until something else is found
that does.
The arrangement of terms by subject has been made after consider-
able deliberation. As a system, it may have its imperfections, not the
least of which is that the terms depicting the universal spiritual princi-
ples of life do not always fall easily into neat categories. Sometimes, a
term may have meanings that span a number of subject areas. Even
keeping the topics as broad as possible, this is bound to happen from
time to time. But the advantage is that a reader can browse a particular
subject area with great ease. Reviewing the material that has been col-
lected, and considering the kind of readers it is likely to attract, it has
seemed clear that the majority of readers will not be looking up the
meaning of particular terms so much as wanting to obtain information
on a particular subject, or simply to browse at random. The alternative
arrangement of terms in a continuous A to Z sequence would pose sig-
nificant difficulties for the reader wanting to browse or make a com-
parative study of a particular subject. If anyone wants to look up any
particular term, consulting the index should reveal where the term is
located.
One of the fascinating aspects of universal spirituality is that its com-
mon denominator from a human perspective is not religious beliefs, nor
educational systems, nor social structures, nor anything else like that.
Its common denominator is people. It is fundamental to people, some-
thing present in all human beings. So, while reading about a particular
topic as discussed and understood in one tradition, it is interesting to
see how much commonality there is in the way that other religions and
cultures have understood the same subject. Often, even the same meta-
phors and examples have been used by mystics with thousands of both
years and miles between them. It also becomes evident how one religion
 Preface xxiii

3 june 1931
borrows from and influences another, especially in its formative years.
All this is highlighted by the simple expedient of arranging the terms
by subject.
But what is meant by universal spirituality? It is the common ground,
present in all religious and spiritual traditions. It is spirituality in the
absence of religious creeds and specific belief systems. It is generic,
not ‘brand-specific’. It is inclusive, not exclusive, acknowledging a
common basis to all traditions. It recognizes the existence of a God by
whatever name He is given and by whatever concepts He is understood
– whether as a Supreme Being or Consciousness, a divine Energy, the
Essence and Source of all things, a divine Intelligence and Controller,
a Creator, an immanent or utterly transcendent power, and so on. It
understands that man is separate from the Divine, and it includes the
fundamental goal of probably all religions: the quest for a personal
relationship with that primal Source. It emphasizes experience over
belief and dogma, direct perception over philosophy and theology.
Since one of the intentions of this book has been an attempt to inter-
pret correctly the original meaning of the writers of the many quota-
tions, it may contain errors of interpretation. Certainly, there will be
differences of opinion regarding interpretations. This is all to the good.
The idea has never been to tell the reader what to think or what is what.
If the reader is stimulated to think for himself, then our purpose has been
accomplished. Everyone has to make his own journey, and discover
Truth for himself. But that Truth will not be found in this book, nor in
any other; for the best that books can offer is inspiration, not personal
experience. But then, that may also be understood as an opinion. So take
it as such, and follow your heart wherever it may lead.
 A R EQUEST FOR H ELP

THIS PROJECT HAS BEEN A HUGE UNDERTAKING. A great many people have
been involved at various times, in various capacities, over a period of
more than a decade. Even so, it is only a beginning, and is bound to
suffer from certain imperfections. But, as in the well-known Chinese
proverb, “A journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step.”
So if anyone discovers any errors, or can make some positive sug-
gestions for improvement of the content, or can contribute new or better
material, he or she is unreservedly invited to contribute. Every edition
will be a revised edition. Only remember the primary intentions of this
work: it is for the ordinary reader. We are not trying to impress scholars
or seek literary acclaim. A Treasury of Mystic Terms is only a way of
presenting a collection of spiritual material from as wide a variety of
sources as possible, so that people can be helped to understand the es-
sential spirituality within their own religion and culture, and to see how
it compares with that of other peoples.
Particular areas in need of improvement include the overall balance
of content. We are aware, for instance, that there is limited material
from a number of sources. These include Buddhism, Far Eastern reli-
gious and spiritual traditions, Jainism, Egyptian esoteric traditions,
Mithraism, Christian mysticism after about 350 CE, Celtic and other
old European traditions, and the many native cultures of the world. Even
the material we have on Native North American cultures, interesting as
it is, is not only limited, but is also taken largely from the Sioux tradi-
tion when, in fact, there are scores of other Native American traditions,
and hundreds of languages, dialects and customs. Additionally, we are
interested in broadening the base on which we have drawn for the Indian,
Jewish, Christian, Islamic, Taoist, Greek and Roman traditions. We are
taking steps to remedy this situation for the next edition, but are open
to any offers of help.
Simple suggestions covering a page or two can be sent in at any time,
but please document and fully reference all your sources. All material
sent in will be carefully considered, but we cannot guarantee a detailed
or personal response. If you feel you are able to contribute some signifi-
cant quantity or quality of material, it would be better for you to contact
us first for some guidelines on how to proceed. This is to your advantage
as well as ours. We would not want anybody to waste his or her time.

xxiv
 E DITORIAL N OTES

TRANSLATIONS OF THE MANY TEXTS QUOTED are either original, or have

been taken from published translations, although, in some instances, our
choice of accepted translations of primary sacred texts has been lim-
ited. In the interests of clarity and after consulting the original source
language wherever possible, some translations have been lightly edited
or have had explanatory words added in parentheses. We have, for in-
stance, tended to modernize old-fashioned English in non-canonical
texts. In some cases, where a number of scholarly translations are avail-
able of a particular text, we have made a collation, indicating this by a
reference to the various sources consulted. Further, because of the vari-
ety of typographic styles found in the many quotations, we have stand-
ardized the layout, as well as the spelling, punctuation and capitalization
of words. This prevents frequent inconsistencies in the text which would
have resulted in confusion. Further, to avoid the confusion to the eye
caused by overpunctuation, we have also dispensed with the use of
an ellipsis (three dots) when the text we quote begins or ends in mid-
sentence of the original. Reported conversations and material quoted
within the main text are identified with double quote marks (“ … ”),
single quote marks being reserved for ‘particularized’ text or quotes
within double quote marks. The aim has always been to help convey
meaning with clarity, accuracy and simplicity.
Any significant clarifications or additions to a translation offered by
ourselves or the original translator have been placed in round brackets,
while significant conjectured words or phrases, usually provided by the
original translator to fill gaps in an original, defective manuscript,
appear in square brackets ([ ]). In the interests of readability, some of
the square and round brackets of the original translations have been
omitted where the correctness of the bracketed text seemed reasonable.
Where translations used have been edited for any reason, this is indicated
by the use of cf. (Latin, confero; I compare) in the source reference.
We have, for example, made extensive use of R.A. Nicholson’s
translation of Rūmī’s Maśnavī, taking Nicholson at his word,1 and using
his translation as a basis for most of our own. In many cases, our text
simply chooses optional text suggested in brackets or footnotes, often
omitting the brackets to improve readability. We have also occasionally
used a synonym for some word or other, especially those of an abstruse

xxv
xxvi VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

or rare nature. Antiquated English has letter onemodernized, particu-

also been
larly as regards the use of ‘thee’, ‘thou’ and so on. But generally we
have stayed close to Nicholson’s translation. Quotations containing
deviations from Nicholson’s translation, other than punctuation and
layout, have been referenced with a cf.
Most foreign words are italicized, with the exception of the proper
names of people and places, either historical or legendary. However,
the names of gods and goddesses are italicized. Terms under discus-
sion and other relevant terms have been placed in brackets following
their translation.
As far as possible, quotations are referenced to both an original lan-
guage source and a particular translation where this is not our own.
However, in a few instances, especially among the Arabic and Persian
(Sufi) entries, the primary source of passages has not always been given
in the secondary source where we have found them, and we have some-
times been unable to trace the primary source. In these relatively few
instances, we provide just the reference to the secondary source. If any
reader who knows the text we are quoting is able to supply the primary
source reference for use in the next edition, we would, of course, be
grateful.
Generally speaking, foreign terms are used for the entry where they
are still in common use or where they are familiar to readers of the
ancient literature (e.g. Brahman). Where the term would only be mean-
ingful to a handful of specialist scholars – as with Mandaean, Syriac,
early Mesopotamian texts and so on – the term has usually been given
in English (e.g. Great Glory, Great Life) and so on. Only when an
unfamiliar foreign term is of particular interest is the entry given under
the foreign term.
The attempt has been made to use those translations of the Bible,
Jewish and Christian, which have meaning for the reader and elucidate
the mystic sense of the terms under discussion. It is worth noting that
chapter and verse numbers sometimes vary slightly between Christian
and Jewish translations. This mostly affects the Psalms, which in the
Jewish translations are generally one verse longer because the initial
salutation is numbered as verse one.
Entries for most foreign terms begin with a ‘Lit.’ – meaning ‘literally’.
This is not intended as an etymology of the word. It generally refers to
the literal or everyday meaning of the word, disregarding any mystical
or spiritual context. Sometimes, in order to increase readability of the
literal definition, we also include the definite (‘the’) or indefinite article
(‘a’), although the equivalent article may not be present in the original
language of the term as given. Some terms given in English are followed
by a short definition of their mundane meaning where this could be
 Editorial Notes xxvii

helpful to the reader, 3particularly

june 1931 as it relates to the use of the term in
mystical literature.
Many entries end with ‘See also: …’. The terms so listed should be
taken only as suggestions for further browsing. They lead either to
entries where the same term is further elucidated, or to entries with
comparable or sometimes specifically contrasting meanings, either in
the same or different languages. Consecutive terms such as Āb-i ayāt
and Āb-i ‘ināyat, etc. are not normally so listed, since they are easily
seen.
Our use of capitalization is largely as a means of succinctly convey-
ing information. Generally, we have tried not to be ‘capitalists’, since
their overuse can make the text uneven and more difficult to read; but
capitals can be useful, and are sometimes the correct form to use, as in
proper names. Although languages such as Arabic, Persian, Hebrew,
Aramaic, Sanskrit, Hindi and Punjabi have no capitals, we have followed
a common custom and used capitals in romanized transliteration.
Names of God or the Supreme Being are capitalized, as are most pro-
nouns referring to God (viz. You, Your, Yourself, He, Him, Himself,
Thee, Thou, Thine, Thyself, but not we, our, me, myself). This makes
it clear who is being referenced without necessarily having to indicate
it in some other way. Names for the creative Power are also capitalized
to highlight their meaning in that context (e.g. Wisdom, Name, Word,
Shabd, Davar, Kalimah), and similarly names and metaphors for
Masters (e.g. Shepherd, Satguru, Murshid, etc.). However, generic
terms such as mystic, rabbi, yogi, ‘ārif, prophet, etc. have not been
capitalized. The terms used for some essential Islamic concepts outside
these categories have also been capitalized, such as the Names (Asmā’),
the Attributes (
ifāt), the Acts (af‘āl), and the Signs or Works (Āthār)
of Allāh. Usually, the names of the higher regions of creation have not
been capitalized, although it is true that some are used as proper names.
There are simply too many of them, and the text would have become
too cumbersome. However, where these terms are non-English, they are
in italics, which helps identify their special meaning.
With regard to the dating system, we have used the more universally
oriented CE (Common Era) and BCE (Before Common Era), rather
than AD (Anno Domini), BC (Before Christ) or AH (Anno Hegirae).
To use a dating system based on context – Christian, Jewish, Indian or
Muslim – would simply cause too many confusions.
Because of modern attitudes, writers in English are faced with a
difficulty concerning the use of ‘he’, ‘him’ and so forth, when in fact
referring to all human beings – men and women. In the past, a general-
ized person or individual was always referred to as a ‘he’, and that was
that. In present times, people are more sensitive. However, the contortions
xxviii VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

of language required to avoid the use letter one

of gender-specific words in a
tightly worded text such as this have forced us to revert to the more
traditional use of the masculine, even when the feminine is also clearly
included. Most English speakers forget that in many other languages,
where words themselves have a gender, such problems do not exist. The
genders of a ‘person’, of ‘God’, of the ‘Spirit’ – and so on – are simply
a rule of language. In French, for instance, a person (une personne) is
feminine, but a human being (un être humain) is masculine. Hence, such
sentences as ‘Bill est une personne, Mary est un être humain’ and ‘Dieu
n’est ni une personne ni un être humain’ are correct. It is unlikely that
this solution will please everybody, but we have done our best. So far
as the editors are concerned, all human beings share a common and
natural equality, regardless of sex, race, colour, religion, social posi-
tion, or any other external difference. God, of course, is far beyond all
physical attributes, even if it is traditional to speak of that divine Power
as a ‘He’.

Languages and Transliteration Systems

Since this Treasury is intended as much for the lay reader as the spe-
cialist, every attempt has been made to make the text and its presen-
tation accessible, rather than daunting. It is, after all, a book about
mysticism, not language. This has meant, for example, that while our
transliteration of the various languages has been based upon standard
scholarly systems, we have simplified these where it makes for better
readability or is less likely to confuse a lay reader. Thus, for example,
we write Kisha and shabd, rather than the more scholarly Ka and
śabd.
Each of the headwords with which the entries start is also accorded
a language code (see below). Where more than one language code is
given, the order represents – where relevant – the historical evolution
of the word through the various languages. Thus, (S/H/Pu) indicates that
Sanskrit (S) precedes Hindi (H) and Punjabi (Pu), and (A/P) that Arabic
(A) precedes Persian (P). While this is largely accurate, languages are
not so conveniently structured that the words comprising them can be
neatly, unambiguously and incontrovertibly categorized and labelled.
In fact, the language or languages to which a word or term belongs are
not always clearly definable. This is particularly true between Arabic
and Persian, and between Sanskrit, Hindi and Punjabi. The designation
(H), for example, also includes a number of North Indian vernacular
variants, used by various Saints in their poetry.
There are also a great many Arabic words that have become a part
of Persian. And although Arabic and Persian share a common script,
and many words are written with the same spelling, the pronunciation
 Editorial Notes xxix

3 june
is significantly different. 1931case of Arabic and Persian, we have
In the
followed a simplified version of the Library of Congress transliteration
system which uses letter-for-letter romanization rather than attempting
to render the words entirely phonetically. Some allowances for the
differences between Arabic and Persian pronunciation are accounted
for, but in general this system favours Arabic pronunciation. This is un-
fortunate for Persian, and we are aware of it, but the alternative would
be to romanize most words in two different ways, depending upon
whether the word is being used in an Arabic or Persian context. Using
such a system, many romanized spellings of the same word would be-
come significantly different from each other, causing confusion to the
reader who knows neither language, and is unlikely to pronounce either
word correctly, however they are romanized. Moreover, it would also
require us to assess the likely pronunciation of authors, many of whom
lived centuries ago – something more or less impossible.
The Arabic-Persian situation is further compounded by the fact that
many Persian Sufis have written all or parts of their texts in Arabic. The
Qur’ān, for example, is commonly quoted in its original Arabic, even
when the main text is in Persian. In some instances, therefore, were a
strictly phonetic system being employed, one quote may require the
use of two different romanizations of the same word! It is therefore
with apologies to the sentiments of Persian readers that we have used
the system outlined above which phonetically favours the Arabic. Al-
though largely insensitive to Persian pronunciation, this is simply the
least confusing way of doing things for the majority of our English-
speaking readers.
In many cases, the Persian term is the same as the Arabic except
for the addition of the definite article (al-) in Arabic. In these instances,
to avoid unnecessary repetition, the language designation is given as
(A/P). Also, when al- occurs in a leading headword, it is placed after
the headword itself (e.g.
aqq, al-). In keeping with common practice,
names which include al-, such as al-Ghazālī are spelled with a lower-
cased al-, unless they happen to start a sentence.
When it comes to Sanskrit and Hindi, we are on firmer ground be-
cause there is a more or less standard and accepted transliteration of
the devanāgarī alphabet, of which we have used a simplified version.
Punjabi is transliterated in a manner compatible with the Hindi and
Sanskrit. The designation of words to particular languages, however,
is not straightforward. While the purists may insist, for example, that
some words are not Hindi, but Punjabi (and vice versa), the reality is
that neither the spoken nor written languages are clearly defined. Words
have travelled from one language to the other and back again, and in
many parts of North India, the two languages are inextricably intertwined.
xxx VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Moreover, we are dealing with texts letter

spanning one
many centuries, during
which time these languages themselves, as well as the spelling of many
words, have changed, evolved and merged. The Punjabi of the Ādi
Granth, for instance, though the common Punjabi of the times when it
was written, is different from modern Punjabi, just as the English of
Chaucer is different from the English of today. Therefore, the alloca-
tion of a language code to some of the terms should only be taken as a
general indication. There can never be a precise allocation. Also, terms
such as alakh lok which do – for example – have a Sanskrit equivalent
(alakshya-loka), but are not actually used that way in Sanskrit literature,
are not identified in the Treasury as Sanskrit terms. When allocating
language codes our intention is to identify whether the term is actually
used in a mystical context in the literature of that particular language.
A further source of confusion exists regarding the use of compound
words in Sanskrit, which are often – but not always – split into indi-
vidual words in Hindi, Punjabi and the various associated vernaculars.
We have therefore adopted the following system as a reasonable com-
promise. Compound Hindi or Punjabi words are generally rendered as
separate words, regardless of how they appear in the source text (e.g.
sat lok, sahasra dal kamal). Sanskrit words are spelled as one word
where there is no common non-Sanskrit equivalent (e.g. Brahmaviksha,
Brahmarandhra, hirayagarbha). Where there is a comparable non-
Sanskrit equivalent, we hyphenate in the Sanskrit word (e.g. sahasra-
dala-kamala). This permits the layman’s eye to note that the Sanskrit
word or term is the equivalent to the Hindi or Punjabi. Terms or names
that use a generic word are spelled separated (e.g. Bihadārayaka
Upanishad, svādhish hāna chakra, karma bhūmi). However, a number
of exceptions to these rules are made for a variety of reasons (e.g.
Brahmaloka, satyaloka, triloka, ātmajñāna, pitiyāna, padamāsana,
tribhuvan).
Because of the way written language evolves over time, one word
may be spelled in a variety of ways, even in the original language.
Again, we have opted for a simplifying approach. We have certainly
not tried to be exhaustive of all the variants of particular words. A
number of these are either vernacular variations or have been coined
by individual writers simply to meet the poetic needs of rhythm and
rhyme. In these instances, we have generally used the word in its ‘un-
corrupted’ modern form, even though identifying the ‘uncorrupted’
form is sometimes a matter of opinion. For example, terms such as
Shabd (Word) and desh (region) also appear as the Hindi vernacular
variants Sabd and des. In most instances, however, we have simply in-
dicated the usage of such words in quotations as Shabd and desh.
 Editorial Notes xxxi

3 june 1931
Likewise, in the Punjabi of the Ādi Granth (where there the ‘sh’
sound is absent), we have often used the ‘sh’ form of a term through-
out. Also, while the Ādi Granth often has a silent ‘i’ and ‘u’ attached to
adjectives and nouns (respectively), we have tended to ignore these,
when the equivalent Hindi word is the same, with the exception of the
‘i’ or ‘u’ (e.g. sati/sat and nāmu/nām). However, Hindi words such as
ādi (primal) and Hari (Lord), pronounced ād and Har in Punjabi (but
spelled ādi and Hari), are rendered throughout as ādi and Hari. Simi-
larly with common terms such as guru (S/H) and gurū (Pu), where the
Sanskrit/Hindi form is more familiar to English-speaking readers, we
have opted for that. And again, where a word or name has become
anglicized through common usage, like the names of Indian states, we
have used the anglicized form, without diacritical marks.
We have used a similar simplifying approach to terms of more than
one word where the order of the words in a particular text has been
changed to meet the needs of the poetry or for some other reason.
Further, when illustrating the usage of particular words, we have com-
monly treated grammatical variants as the root word itself. For instance,
when a word in an original language translates to a phrase in English
such as ‘with God’ or ‘from God’, we treat it as an example of the root
word, without pointing out that it is a grammatical variant which is
actually used.
The same is true of the plural forms of words. We have given these
only when relevant to the particular discussion, but not as a matter of
course. In fact, among Indian languages, following a common custom
in English literature, we have generally used a romanized plural form.
Hence the use of such hybrid words as chakras, yugas and yogīs.
The transliterated spelling of the Hebrew terms follows a modified
version of the Library of Congress system, which corresponds in many
instances to the treatment of Arabic. The significant differences are in
disregarding the aleph, otherwise transliterated as a superior comma (’),
and in rendering both the kaf and the qaf with the letter k, rather than k
and q. In contemporary Hebrew, there is no difference in pronuncia-
tion between the two letters and, in most modern transliterations, they
are rendered the same.
Transliteration of Chinese poses greater problems than most other
languages. Chinese is a tonal language. This means that every word has
its own built-in pronunciation, as well as tonal inflection, or pitch and
direction of the sound pronounced. There are, for instance, five differ-
ent words all pronounced ‘ma’. Which word is intended is conveyed
entirely by the pitch and the varying of the pitch. Thus, ‘ma’ means
‘mother’ (high, level pitch), ‘hemp’ (medium, rising), ‘horse’ (low,
xxxii VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter
falling then rising), ‘curse’ (falling) and one (short, light, level).
‘question’
These five varieties of pitch can be conveyed by the addition of either
tone marks or tone numbers. Ma (mother), for instance, is rendered as
either mā or ma1, while ma (hemp) appears as má or ma2.
Tone marks are not normally added to Chinese text, but in diction-
aries, encyclopaedias and scholarly texts, tone marks or tone numbers
are usually employed. In these instances, wherever roman translitera-
tions are used, a tone mark or number usually accompanies the word,
especially when one word has different meanings depending on the
pronunciation. In this publication, tone marks in the form of accents
or diacritical marks have been used. The roman transliteration of an
emboldened headword is first given in the Wade-Giles system of
romanization. The standard Pinyin romanization follows in parentheses.
In the main text, only Wade-Giles romanization is used. Although
Pinyin has been the standard system in the Peoples’ Republic of China
since 1958, the Wade-Giles system is used here, being more familiar to
readers from the many books on Chinese philosophy.

Notes
1. R.A. Nicholson, Introduction, Maśnavī, MJR2 pp.xv–xvii.
 xxxiii

3 june 1931

A BBREVIATIONS

General
cf. confero (L. I compare), compare
e.g. exempli gratia (L. for the sake of example), for example
ff. following (pages, lines, etc.)
i.e. id est (L. that is), that is (to say), in other words
lit. literally
p. page
pp. pages
viz. videlicet, from the Latin videre (to see) + licet (it is permissible),
used to specify items
<2 See A Treasury of Mystic Terms, Part II

Dates
b. born
c. circa, about
d. died
fl. flourished

AH Anno Hegirae, the Islamic dating system, from 622 CE, the Hegira
(al-Hijrah), the year of Muammad’s flight to Madīnah
BCE Before Common Era
CE Common Era

Languages
A Arabic
AC Avá-Chiripá
Am Aramaic
Av Avestan
C Chinese
G Guaraní
Gk Greek
H Hindi
He Hebrew
J Japanese

xxxiii
xxxiv VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

L Latin letter one

M Marathi
Md Mandaean
P Persian
Pa Pali
Pu Punjabi
Pv Pahlavi
S Sanskrit
Su Sumerian
T Tibetan
U Urdu

Sources Cited
See Bibliography for full details of published works. Published collections of
the writings of Indian Saints have been referred to in source references as
below. Other collections published as the Bānī, Granthāvalī, Padāvalī or
Shabdāvalī of various Indian Saints have been similarly abbreviated.

Bullā Sāhib kā Shabd Sār Shabd Sār

Charadās Jī kī Bānī Bānī
Dariyā Sāhib ke chune hue Shabd Chune hue Shabd
Dhanī Dharamdās Jī kī Shabdāvalī Shabdāvalī
Kabīr Granthāvalī Granthāvalī
Kabīr Sāhib kā Bījak Bījak
Kabīr Sākhī Sangrah Sākhī Sangrah
Keshavdās Jī kī Amīghūnt Amīghūnt
Kullīyāt-i Bulleh Shāh Kullīyāt
Mīrā Bihat Padāvalī Bihat Padāvalī
Mīrā Sudhā Sindhu Sudhā Sindhu
Nāmdev kī Hindi Padāvalī Padāvalī
Ravidās Darshan Darshan
Sant Guru Ravidās Vāī Vāī
Shrī Nāmdev Gāthā Gāthā
Tulsīdās kī Bārahmāsī Bārahmāsī
Tulsī Sāhib Hāthrasvale kī Shabdāvalī Shabdāvalī

Other texts cited are abbreviated as follows:

AA “Apocrypha Anecdota II”, ed. & tr. M.R. James.

AAA Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, vol. 2 (translation), ed. & tr.
W.R. Wright.
AAP Arya (a magazine), ed. Shrī Aurobindo.
AAS Asfār-i Arba‘ah, adr al-Dīn Shīrāzī (Mullā adrā).
 Abbreviations xxxv

ABE 3 june 1931

“Assyrisch-babylonische Mythen und Epen”, transcription & tr.
P. Jensen.
ABM “Die assyrische Beschwörungssammlung Maqlû neu bearbeitet”,
G. Meier.
ABP1–3 Avesta: The Religious Book of the Parsees, from Professor
Spiegel’s German translation of the Original Manuscripts,
3 vols., tr. A.H. Bleek.
ABSC Atma-Bodha of Śrī Ādi Śakarācārya, Swami Chinmayananda.
ABT1–2 “Assyrian and Babylonian Religious Texts: Being Prayers,
Oracles, Hymns etc., Copied from the Original Tablets Pre-
served in the British Museum”, 2 parts, J.A. Craig.
ACB Aboriginal Conception Beliefs, C.P. Mountford.
AE Apocalypse of Elijah, ed. G. Steindorff.
AES Adam and Eve: The Spiritual Symbolism of Genesis and Exodus,
S.D. Fohr.
AF1–2 The Apostolic Fathers, 2 vols., tr. Kirsopp Lake. See Acknowl-
edgements.
AGM Archiv für Geschichte Medizin, Leipzig (1908–43), Weisbaden
(1943–69).
AGMB Akbar the Greatest Moghul, S.M. Burke.
AGP Angle of Geese and Other Poems, N. Scott Momaday.
AH1–2 Against Heresies, in The Writings of Irenaeus, 2 vols., tr.
A. Roberts and W.H. Rambaud.
AHM The Avestan Hymn to Mithra, tr. & commentary Ilya Gershevitch.
AHS A History of the Sikhs, J.D. Cunningham.
AIM American Indian Myths and Legends, sel. & ed. Richard Erdoes
and Alfonso Ortiz.
AMAS al-Mu‘jam al-
ūfī, Khānam Dr Sa‘ād al-
akīm.
AMBF Aādīś-i Maśnavī, B. Furūzānfar.
AN Asrār-Nāmah, Shaykh Farīd al-Dīn ‘Aār Nīshābūrī, ed. Sayyid
ādiq Gawharīn.
ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, ed.
J.B. Pritchard.
ANP Ancient Nahuatl Poetry, Daniel G. Brinton.
ANT The Apocryphal New Testament, tr. M.R. James. See Acknowl-
edgements.
ANTH The Authentic New Testament, tr. H.J. Schonfield.
AOT The Apocryphal Old Testament, ed. H.E.D. Sparks. See Acknowl-
edgements.
AP1–6 St Augustine on the Psalms, 6 vols., A Library of Fathers of the
Holy Catholic Church, tr. members of the English Church.
APAW Abhandlungen der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der
Wissenschaften.
xxxvi VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

APJ1–2 letter2 one

Ādipurāa of Ācārya Jinasena, vols., ed. & tr. Pannalal Jain.
APOT1–2 The Apocrypha and Pseudoepigrapha of the Old Testament in
English, 2 vols., R.H. Charles.
APP “Apokalypse des Pseudo-Propheten und Pseudo-Messias Abra-
ham Abulafia”, A. Jellinek.
AS ‘Aql-i Surkh, Shaykh Shihāb al-Dīn Suhravardī.
ASC Ancestor Spirits, ed. Max Charlesworth.
ASDS Anurāg Sāgar, Kabīr, commentary Dayāl Singh and Surjīt Singh.
ASLV Anurāg Sāgar, Kabīr; Lakshmī Venkaeshvar Press.
ASN “Annihilation and Subsistance”, Javad Nurbakhsh.
ASOS A Seminar on Saints: Papers presented at the Second Seminar
of the Union for the Study of the Great Religions, ed. T.M.P.
Mahadevan.
ASP Ancilla to the pre-Socratic Philosophers: A Complete Transla-
tion of the Fragments in Diels, Fragmente der Vorsokratiker,
Kathleen Freeman.
ASP1–2 Arnobius of Sicca: The Case Against the Pagans (Adversus
Nationes), 2 vols., tr. G.E. McCracken.
ATA “Anaphora Sancti Timothei Patriarchae Alexandrini”, A. Rücker.
AVG Ahuna Vairya and the Argument of the Gāthās, I.J.S. Taraporewala.
AW The Ancient Wisdom: An Outline of Theosophical Teaching,
Annie Besant.
AWB The Ascetic Works of Saint Basil, tr. W.K.L. Clarke.
AY Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramhansa Yogananda. See Acknowl-
edgements.
AYA The Holy Qur’ān, tr. & commentary ‘Abdullah Yūsuf ‘Alī.
BAK The Bahir (Illumination), tr. & commentary Aryeh Kaplan.
See Acknowledgements.
BC The Books of Jeu and the Untitled Text in the Bruce Codex,
tr. Violet MacDermot. See Acknowledgements.
BCB Breviarium Chaldaicum, 3 vols., P. Bedjan.
BCT A Black Civilization: A Social Study of an Australian Tribe,
W.L. Warner.
BDB Beiträge zur Kenntnis der religiösen Dichtung Balai’s, K.V.
Zetterstéen.
BDC The Book of Divine Consolation of the Blessed Angela of Foligno,
tr. M. Steegman.
BE Book of Enoch, tr. R.H. Charles.
BEB Burzoes Einleitung zu dem Buch Kalila wa Dimna, Nöldeke.
BEF Black Elk: Flaming Arrow, Hilda Neihardt Petri.
BES Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the
Oglala Sioux, as told through John G. Neihardt. See Acknowl-
edgements.
 Abbreviations xxxvii

BGA 3 june 1931 As It Is, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

The Bhagavad-Gītā
Prabhupāda.
BGB The Bhagavadgītā, tr. Kees Bolle. See Acknowledgements.
BGR Bhaja Govindam, C. Rajagopalachari.
BGT Bhagavad Gītā, tr. Swāmī Tapasyānanda.
BLBR The Book of Legends (Sefer ha-Aggadah): Legends from the
Talmud and Midrash, ed. Hayim Nahmun Bialik and Yehoshua
Hana Ravnitzky, tr. W.G. Braude. See Acknowledgements.
BLT The Book of Lieh-Tzu, tr. A.C. Graham. See Acknowledgements.
BM1–2 Bet ha-Midrash, 2 vols., A. Jellinek.
BMJ1–6 Bet ha-Midrash, 6 vols., A. Jellinek.
BMP Bruchstücke manichäisch-parthischer Parabelsammlungen,
I. Colditz.
BNT “Babies Are Not What We Thought: Call for a New Paradigm”,
David B. Chamberlain.
BOM The Book of Mirdad, Mikhail Naimy.
BRW1–2 Buddhist Records of the Western World (“Si-Yu-Ki”), 2 vols.,
S. Beal.
BS Bulleh Shah: Love-intoxicated Iconoclast, J.R. Puri and T.R.
Shangari.
BSB Bhīkhā Sāhib kī Bānī; Belvedere Printing Works.
BSBH Back to the Sources, ed. Barry Holtz. See Acknowledgements.
BSCD Bhakti Sāgar, Swāmī Charadās.
BSOAS Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Univer-
sity of London.
BSSS Bullā Sāhib kā Shabd Sār; Belvedere Printing Works.
CAG “Coptic Apocryphal Gospels”, tr. F. Robinson.
CAN The Chronology of Ancient Nations, al-Biruni, tr. C.E. Sachau.
CB The Cosmic Blueprint: Order and Complexity at the Edge of
Chaos, Paul Davies.
CBD The Conference of the Birds, Farid ud-Din Attar, tr. Afkham
Darbandi and Dick Davis. See Acknowledgements.
CCC “Cellular Consciousness and Conception: An Interview with
Dr Graham Farrant”, interviewed by Steven Raymond.
CDB1–2 Charadās Jī kī Bānī, 2 vols.; Belvedere Printing Works.
CDF Crow Dog: Four Generations of Sioux Medicine Men, Leonard
Crow Dog and Richard Erdoes.
CDP The Collected Dialogues of Plato: Including the Letters, ed.
Y.E. Hamilton and H. Cairns.
CDS Contemplative Disciplines in Sufism, Mir Valiuddin, ed. Gulshan
Khakee.
CDSS The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English, Geza Vermes. See
Acknowledgements.
xxxviii VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

CEDH letter one

A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew
Language for Readers of English, Ernest Klein.
CEI The Concise Encyclop(a)edia of Islam, Cyril Glassé. See
Acknowledgements.
CGM The Call of the Great Master, Daryai Lal Kapur.
CH The Clementine Homilies, tr. Thomas Smith et al.
CHO1–2 Commentarii ad Homeri Odysseam, 2 vols., Eustathii.
CIB A Child is Born, Lennart Nilsson.
CL Closer to the Light: Learning from the Near-Death Experiences
of Children, Melvin Morse with Paul Perry.
COT The Compass of Truth (Risala-i-Haq-Numa), Muhammad Dara
Shikoh, tr. Rai Bahadur Srisa Chandra Vasu.
CPM The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans, tr. E.S. Drower.
See Acknowledgements.
CPS Commentaire sur les paradoxes des soufis (Sharh-e Shathīyāt),
Ruzbehan Baqli Shirazi, ed. Henry Corbin.
CR Clementine Recognitions, tr. Thomas Smith.
CSA The Confessions of Saint Augustine, tr. E.B. Pusey.
CTB Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum.
CTPD The Complete Text of the Pahlavi Dinkard, 2 Parts, ed. D.M.
Madan.
CTT Chuang Tzu: Taoist Philosopher and Chinese Mystic, tr. Herbert
A. Giles. See Acknowledgements.
CTW Chuang Tzu: Basic Writings, tr. Burton Watson. See Acknowl-
edgements.
CV Call of the Vedas, A.C. Bose.
CWJC1–3 Complete Works of St John of the Cross, 3 vols.-in-one, tr. &
ed. E. Allison Peers. See Acknowledgements.
DAA The Doctrine of Addai the Apostle, tr. G. Phillips.
DAAA Dreamings: The Art of Aboriginal Australia, ed. Peter Sutton.
DB Dīvān-i Bāhū; Allāh Wāle kī Qawmī Dukkān.
DBB Dayābāī kī Bānī; Belvedere Printing Works.
DCM Dadu: The Compassionate Mystic, K.N. Upadhyaya.
DDB1–2 Dādū Dayāl kī Bānī, 2 vols.; Belvedere Printing Works.
DDS Dhanī Dharamdās Jī kī Shabdāvalī; Belvedere Printing Works.
DE The Discourses of Epictetus, ed. Christopher Gill, tr. Robin Hard.
DEG Derekh Emunah, Me’ir ibn Gabbai.
DES Dictionnaire des Symboles, ed. Jean Chevalier and Alain
Gheerbrant.
DF Divine Flashes, Fakhruddin ‘Iraqi, tr. W.C. Chittick and P.L.
Wilson.
DG1–2 Dariyā Granthāvalī, 2 vols., D.B. Shāstrī.
 Abbreviations xxxix

DGG 3 juneSrī
Dasam Granth 1931Gurū Granth Sāhib Jī; Jawāhar Singh,
Kirpāl Singh & Co.
DH A Dictionary of Hinduism: Its Mythology, Folklore and Devel-
opment, James and Margaret Stutley.
DHA Dīvān-i Khwājah āfi
Shīrāzī, ed. Sayyid Abū al-Qāsim
Anjavī Shīrāzī.
DHI1–4 A Dictionary of the History of Ideas, 4 vols., ed. Philip P. Weiner.
DHM Dīvān-i āfi
; Malik Ghulām Muammad & Sons.
DHWC The Dīvān-i- āfi
, 2 vols., Khwāja Shamsu-d-Dīn Muammad-
i-
āfi
-i-Shīrāzī, tr. H. Wilberforce Clarke.
DIH Dīvān-i āfi
, ed. Qāzi Sajjād
usayn.
DL Divine Light, Maharaj Charan Singh.
DML Dīwān Malkuta ‘Laita, Bodleian Library MS. DC34 (An illus-
trated, Mandaean secret initiation text).
DMWA Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, Hans Wehr.
DNB Dīvān-i Niyāz Barelvī, Anwār al-
asan.
DNP “La Déesse Nina et ses poissons”, V. Scheil.
DOI A Dictionary of Islam, T.P. Hughes.
DOL The Dawn of Light, Maharaj Sawan Singh.
DP1–4 The Dialogues of Plato, 4 vols., tr. B. Jowett.
DPB Daily Prayer Book, tr. & annotated Philip Birnbaum.
DPN The Dhammapada: Pāli Text and Translation, with Stories in
Brief and Notes, Narada Thera.
DPS Dhartī par Svarg, Daryāī Lāl Kapūr.
DRA Discourses of Rūmī, tr. A.J. Arberry.
DSC Dariyā Sāhib (Bihārvāle) ke chune hue Shabd; Belvedere
Printing Works.
DSM Discourses on Sant Mat, Hazur Maharaj Sawan Singh.
DSS Sahasrānī, Dariyā Sāhib, Hindi ms., tr. in Dariya Sahib:
Saint of Bihar, K.N. Upadhyaya.
DSSB Dariya Sahib: Saint of Bihar, K.N. Upadhyaya.
DSSE The Dead Sea Scrolls in English, Geza Vermes (1988).
DSSU The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered, R. Eisenman and M. Wise.
DSTR Dīvān-i Shams-i Tabrīz, Rūmī; Munshi Naval Kishore Press.
DSZ The Divine Songs of Zarathustra, I.J.S. Taraporewala.
DYD Dariyā Yoga Darshan, Ramman Dās.
EB Encyclopaedia Britannica, CD-ROM edn., 2001.
EBB Early Buddhism and the Bhagavadgītā, K.N. Upadhyaya.
ECM Epictetus: The Discourses as Reported by Arrian, the Manual,
and Fragments, 2 vols., tr. W.A. Oldfather.
ED Eastern Definitions, Edward Rice.
EDA1–2 Epictetus: The Discourses as Reported by Arrian, the Manual,
and Fragments, 2 vols., tr. W.A. Oldfather.
xl VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

EDP The Etheric Double, Arthur letter one

E. Powell.
EG The Epic of Gilgamesh, N.K. Sandars.
EGP Early Greek Philosophy, Jonathan Barnes.
EGT The Epic of Gilgamesh, R.C. Thompson.
EHL Empedocles, Helle Lambridis. See Acknowledgements.
EI1–9 Encyclopaedia of Islam, 9 vols., ed. H.A.R. Gibb et al. See
Acknowledgements.
EIM Early Islamic Mysticism, Michael A. Sells. See Acknowledgements.
EJCD Encyclopedia Judaica, CD-ROM.
EKD The Early Kabbalah, Joseph Dan and Ronald C. Kiener.
EKH The Essential Kabbalah: The Heart of Jewish Mysticism,
Daniel C. Matt. See Acknowledgements.
EMC Elimah Rabbati, Moses Cordovero; Auzat Yisra’el.
EPE The Enduring Effects of Prenatal Experience, Ludwig Janus.
ERL The Eleven Religions and Their Proverbial Lore, S.G. Champion.
ESCN S. Ephraemi Syri Carmina Nisibena, G.S. Bickell.
ESHS1–4 Sancti Ephraemi Syri Hymni et Sermones, 4 vols., T.J. Lamy.
ESR S. Ephraemi Syri, Rabulae episcopi Edesseni, Balaei aliorumque
Opera selecta, ed. J. Josephus Overbeck.
ETCA “The Excerpta ex Theodoto of Clement of Alexandria”, R.P. Casey.
FBM The Five Books of Moses, tr. with commentary & notes, Everett
Fox. See Acknowledgements.
FCWP Fools Crow: Wisdom and Power, Thomas E. Mails. See Acknowl-
edgements.
FFC From Fetus to Child, Alessandra Piontelli.
FFF Fragments of a Faith Forgotten, G.R.S. Mead.
FH Fuū al- ikam, Ibn al-‘Arabī, ed. Abū al-‘Alā’ ‘Afīfī.
FIN Firefly in the Night, Irene Nicholson. See Acknowledgements.
FL The Fire of Love and the Mending of Life or the Rule of Living,
Richard Rolle, tr. R. Misyn, ed. R. Harvey.
FLI Farhang-i Lughāt va-I ilāāt va-Ta‘bīrāt-i ‘Irfānī, Sayyid
Ja‘far Sajjādī.
FLTM1–9 Farhang-i Lughāt va-Ta‘bīrāt-i Maśnavī, 9 vols., ādiq Gawharīn.
FMA al-Futūāt al-Makkīyah, Ibn ‘Arabī; Cairo, 1950.
FN1–2 The Fihrist of al-Nadim, 2 vols., tr. B. Dodge.
FNI1–15 Farhang-i Nūrbakhsh: I ilāāt-i Taawwuf, 15 vols., Javād
Nūrbakhsh.
FNT3 Farhang-i Nūrbakhsh: I ilāāt-i Taawwuf, vol. 3, Javād
Nūrbakhsh (1983 edn.).
FRN The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan, tr. Judah Goldin.
FRP From Religion to Philosophy: A Study in the Origins of Western
Speculation, F.M. Cornford.
 Abbreviations xli

FSC Four Sufi3 Classics:

june 1931 Salaman and Absal (Jami, tr. Edward
Fitzgerald), The Niche for Lights (al-Ghazzali, tr. W.H.T.
Gairdner), The Way of the Seeker (Hakim Sanai, ed., abr. & tr.
David Pendlebury), The Abode of Spring (Jami, abr. & tr. David
Pendlebury).
FTN “The Forty (Two) Traditions of An-Nawawi”, tr. Eric F.F. Bishop.
GCI A Gallery of Chinese Immortals: Selected Biographies, tr.
Lionel Giles.
GD Gyān Dīpak, Dariyā Sāhib, Hindi ms., tr. in Dariya Sahib: Saint
of Bihar, K.N. Upadhyaya.
GDST Bar Guzīdah-’i Dīvān-i Shams Tabrīzī, compiled by Ja‘far Majūb.
GG “Guarani Genesis”, Rubén Bareior Saguier.
GGG From Glory to Glory: Texts From Gregory of Nyssa’s Mystical
Writings, tr. & ed. H. Musurillo.
GGJ Gītagovinda of Jayadeva: Love Song of the Dark Lord, ed. & tr.
Barbara Stoler Miller. See Acknowledgements.
GGS Guzīdah-’i Ghazalīyat-i Shams (Selected Ghazals of Shams),
Jalaluddin of Balkh (Rūmī), selected by M.R.S. Kadkani.
GIP The Graces of Interior Prayer, A. Poulain, tr. L.L.Y. Smith. See
Acknowledgements.
GJ The Gospel of Jesus: In Search of His Original Teachings,
John Davidson.
GJB The Gnostic John the Baptizer: Selections from the Mandaean
John-Book, G.R.S. Mead.
GMS al-Ghazālī the Mystic: A Study of the Life and Personality of Abū
āmid Muammad al-ūsī al-Ghazālī, Margaret Smith.
GMU Geburt und Entsendung des manichäischen Urmenschen, W.B.
Henning.
GNS Gurū Nānak and the Sikh Religion, W.H. McLeod.
GOSR The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna: Conversations of Sri Ramakrishna
with His Disciples, Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita, tr. Swami
Nikhilananda.
GP Gift of Power: The Life and Teachings of a Lakota Medicine
Man, Archie Fire Lame Deer and Richard Erdoes. See Acknowl-
edgements.
GPJ Gabriel’s Palace: Jewish Mystical Tales, selected and retold by
Howard Schwartz. See Acknowledgements.
GPS1–3 Garua-Purāa, 3 vols., ed. J.L. Shastri.
GR Majmū‘ah-’i Āśār-i Shaykh Mamūd Shabistarī: Gulshan-i Rāz,
Sa‘ādat-i Nāmah, aqq al-Yaqīn, Mir’āt al-Muaqqiqīn,
Maratib al-‘Ārifīn, ed. amad Muwaid.
GR1–2 Gha Rāmāya, Tulsī Sāhib, 2 vols.; Belvedere Printing Works.
xlii VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

GRJ The Gnostic Religion, H. letter

Jonas. one
GS The Gnostic Scriptures, Bentley Layton.
GSB Gulāl Sāhib kī Bānī; Belvedere Printing Works.
GSBM Ginzā der Schatz oder das grosse Buch der Mandäer, M. Lidzbarski.
GSM God in Search of Man, Abraham Joshua Heschel.
GSR Gnosis on the Silk Road: Gnostic Texts from Central Asia, tr.
H-J. Klimkeit. See Acknowledgements.
GSS Gurmat Sār, Mahārāj Sawan Singh.
GST Glossary of Sufi Technical Terms, ‘Abd al-Razzāq al-Qāshāni,
tr. Nabil Safwat.
GSV Gheranda Samhita, tr. Rai Bahadur Srisa Chandra Vasu. See
Acknowledgements.
GT The Gospel of Truth, K. Grobel.
GVM The Great Vohu Manah and the Apostle of God, G. Widengren.
See Acknowledgements.
GZ The Gospel of Zarathustra, tr. & ed. by Duncan Greenlees.
HA Haft Awrang, ‘Abd al-Ramān Jāmī, ed. Murtaā Gīlānī.
HAG Hermetica: The Ancient Greek and Latin Writings that Con-
tain Religious, or Philosophic Teachings Ascribed to Hermes
Trismegistus, ed. & tr. Walter Scott.
HAV1–2 The Hymns of the Atharvaveda, 2 vols, tr. R.T.H. Griffith.
HB History of Bal‘amī, Bal‘amī; cited in FLTM1.
HBE The Hebrew Book of Enoch, tr. H. Odeburg.
HC History of the Church, Eusebius, tr. G.A. Williamson.
HEDA The Hymns and Homilies of Ephraim the Syrian and the Dem-
onstrations of Aphrahat the Persian Sage, tr. J. Gwynn.
HETI “The Heart: The Eye and Temple of the Imaginal, According to
Ebno’l-‘Arabi and Tantric Buddhism”, Hugh Urban.
HEU 108 Upanishads, ed. Acharya Shivram Sharma.
HG Hymns to the Goddess: Translated from the Sanskrit, Arthur &
Ellen Avalon.
HGKA The History of God, Karen Armstrong.
HH1–4 Herodotus, 4 vols., tr. A.D. Godley.
HHC Hua Hu Ching: The Later Teachings of Lao Tzu, Hua-Ching Ni.
HHG The First Book of the adīqatu’l- aqīqat or the Enclosed
Garden of the Truth of akīm Abū’l-Majd Majdūd Sanā’ī of
Ghazna, ed. & tr. Major J. Stephenson.
HHH Hesiod: The Homeric Hymns and Homerica, tr. Hugh G. Evelyn-
White.
HIC Hadith Page of al-Islam: A new compilation; http://hadith/
al-islam.com/Bayan/.
HIMA1–3 History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, 3 vols., H. Lea.
HJM History of Jewish Mysticism, Ernst Muller.
 Abbreviations xliii

HJPJ A History 3ofjune 1931 Paul Johnson.

the Jews,
HMM Hasidism and Modern Man, Martin Buber.
HMP Hindu Mythology: Vedic and Puranic, W.J. Wilkins.
HMV W.B. Henning Memorial Volume, ed. Mary Boyce and Ilya
Gershevitch.
HOB ayyei ‘Olam ha-Ba (Life of the Future World), Abraham Abulafia.
HPW Heraclitus, P. Wheelwright. See Acknowledgements.
HQSA The Holy Qur’ān: English Translation of the Meaning and Com-
mentary; Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.
HR2 Handschriften-Reste in Estrangelo-Schrift aus Turfan, Chinesisch-
Turkistan II, F.W.K. Müller.
HRV1–2 The Hymns of the Rgveda, 2 vols, tr. R.T.H. Griffith.
HS The Hymn of the Soul: Contained in the Syriac Acts of Thomas,
ed. & tr. A.A. Bevan.
HS1–2 A History of the Sikhs, 2 vols., Khushwant Singh.
HSB adīth
aī al-Bukhārī, tr. M. Muhsin Khan; www.islamworld.net/
#hadith. See Acknowledgements.
HSC The Heritage of Sufism, 3 vols., Leonard Lewisohn; vol. 1:
Classical Persian Sufism from its Origins to Rumi. See Acknowl-
edgements.
HSI1-2 A History of Sufism in India, 2 vols., Saiyid Athar Abbas Rizvi.
HSP A History of the Sikh People, Gopal Singh.
HTU One Hundred and Twelve Upanishads and Their Philosophy,
A.N. Bhaāchārya.
HV1–25 Hindi Vishvakosh, 25 vols., ed. Nagendranāth Vasu.
HVJM History and Variety of Jewish Meditation, Mark Verman.
HVP Commentary of Hierocles on the Golden Verses of Pythagoras,
A. Dacier, tr. N. Rowe.
HWP History of Western Philosophy, Bertrand Russell.
HYK Hokken den yakuchû kaisetsu: Hokusôbon nansôbon kôrai
daizôkyôbon ishiyamaderabon yonshu eiin to sono hikaku kenkyû,
Kazutoshi Nakagawa.
HYP Hatha Yoga Pradipika, tr. Pancham Singh.
HZ History of Zoroastrianism, M.N. Dhalla.
IA Indian Architecture: Islamic Period (vol. 2), Percy Brown.
IADS1–2 Isaaci Antiochi, Doctoris Syrorum, Opera Omnia, 2 vols., G.S.
Bickell.
IAP An Introduction to Ancient Philosophy, A.H. Armstrong.
ICD An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines: Concep-
tions of Nature and Methods used for its Study by the Ikhwān
al-
afā’, al-Bīrūnī and Ibn Sīnā, Seyyed Hossein Nasr.
ICW I Ching or Book of Changes: The Richard Wilhelm Translation,
tr. Cary F. Baynes.
xliv VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

ID lettertoone
Icanchu’s Drum: An Orientation Meaning in South American
Religions, Lawrence E. Sullivan.
IDB Iyā’ ‘Ulūm al-Dīn, Muammad ibn Muammad al-Ghazālī;
Beirut.
IDC Iyā’ ‘Ulūm al-Dīn, Muammad ibn Muammad al-Ghazālī; Cairo.
IGI The Influence of Greek Ideas on Christianity, Edwin Hatch.
IK al-Insān al-Kāmil, ‘Azīz al-Dīn Nasafī, ed. M. Molé.
IL The Inner Life, Charles W. Leadbeater (abridged from the author’s
original 2 vol., 1910–11 edn.).
ILP Iamblichus’ Life of Pythagoras or Pythagoric Life, Thomas Taylor.
IM Indian Mythology, Veronica Ions.
IME Iamblichus on the Mysteries of the Egyptians, Chaldeans and
Assyrians, tr. Thomas Taylor.
IP1–2 Indian Philosophy, 2 vols., S. Radhakrishnan. See Acknowl-
edgements.
IPSO De inquisitione pacis sive de studio oratione, Fr. Alvarez de Paz.
IS I ilāāt-i
ūfīyah, Farīd Amad amdī.
ISJ I ilāāt al-
ūfīyah, ‘Abd al-Razzāq al-Qāshānī, ed. Muammad
Kamāl Ibrāhīm Ja‘far.
ISQ I ilāāt-i
ūfīyah: An Appendix to Shar-i Manāzīl al-Sārīn,
‘Abd al-Razzāq Qāshānī.
IW Imaginal Worlds: Ibn al-‘Arabi and the Problem of Religious
Diversity, W.C. Chittick.
J1–10 Josephus, 10 vols., tr. H. St.J. Thackeray et al.
JA Joseph and Asenath, E.W. Brooks.
JB The Jerusalem Bible (1966). See Acknowledgements.
JBE1–2 A Journey from Bengal to England through North India,
Kashmir, Afghanistan and Persia into Russia, 1783–1784,
2 vols., George Forster.
JCL The CD-ROM Judaic Classics Library (The Soncino Talmud,
The Soncino Midrash Rabbah, The Soncino Zohar, The Bible);
Institute for Computers in Jewish Life & Davka Corporation.
JCW Josephus: His Complete Works, tr. W. Whiston.
JDPW St Jerome: Dogmatic and Polemical Works, J.N. Hritzu.
JM Das Johannesbuch der Mandäer, M. Lidzbarski (German Trans-
lation).
JMM Das Johannesbuch der Mandäer, M. Lidzbarski (Mandaean Text).
JMT The Jewish Mystical Tradition, Ben Zion Bokser. See Acknowl-
edgements.
JPS Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures, 2 vols.; Jewish Publication Society
of America. See Acknowledgements.
JRAS Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.
JS1–2 Jewish Spirituality: From the Bible Through the Middle Ages
 Abbreviations xlv

3 june
(vol. 1) and 1931Spirituality: From the Sixteenth-Century
Jewish
Revival to the Present (vol. 2), ed. Arthur Green.
JSB1–2 Jagjīvan Sāhib kī Bānī, 2 vols.; Belvedere Printing Works.
JW The Jewish War, Josephus, tr. G.A. Williamson.
KA1–10 Kashf al-Asrār va-‘Uddat al-Abrār, 10 vols., Abū al-Fal Rashīd
al-Dīn Maybudī, ed. ‘Alī Aghar
ikmat.
KAQ Kitāb al-Itāfāt al-Sanīyah fī al-Aādīth al-Qudsīyah; Hyderabad,
1944.
KAR Keilschrifttexte aus Assur religiösen Inhalts, E. Ebeling.
KB The Jerusalem Bible, English text rev. & ed. Harold Fisch;
Koren Publishers. See Acknowledgements.
KBS Kullīyāt-i Bulleh Shāh, Faqīr Muammad.
KDA Keshavdās Jī kī Amīghūnt; Belvedere Printing Works.
KDG Kālidāsa Granthāvalī, ed. Āchārya Sītārām Chaturvedī.
KDS1–2 Kullīyāt-i Dīvān-i Shams: Maulānā Jalāl al-Dīn Muammad
Mashhūr bi Maulavī, 2 vols., B. Furūzānfar.
KF Kitāb al-Fihrist, al-Nadīm, ed. G. Flügel.
KFF Kitāb Fīhi mā Fīhi, Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, ed. B. Furūzānfar.
KG Kabīr Granthāvalī, ed. Shyām Sundardās.
KHI Kullīyāt-i Shaykh Fakhr al-dīn Ibrāhīm Hamadānī ‘Irāqī, ed.
Sa‘īd Nafīsī.
KI The Koran Interpreted, 2 vols., tr. A.J. Arberry. See Acknowl-
edgements.
KIF Kashshāf I ilāāt al-Funūn (A Dictionary of the Technical
Terms used in the Sciences of the Musalmans), Muammad ‘Alā
ibn ‘Alī al-Tahānavī, ed. Mawlavī Muammad Wajīh et al.
KJV The Authorized Version of the Bible (The King James Bible)
[1611]. See Acknowledgements.
KKA Ha-Kabbalah be Kitvei Rabbenu Baya ben Asher, Ephraim
Gottlieb.
KKT Kitāb-i Kāmil al-Tavārīkh, Ibn-i Aśīr; cited in FLTM1.
KM Kashf al-Mahjūb: The Oldest Persian Treatise on Sufiism, ‘Alī
b. ‘Uthmān al-Jullābī al-Hujwīrī, ed. & tr. R.A. Nicholson. See
Acknowledgements.
KMC1–4 “Der Kölner Mani-Codex” (Codex Manichaicus Coloniensis),
4 parts, ed. A. Henrichs and L. Koenen.
KMI1–4 “Keilschrifttexte medizinischen Inhalts”, 4 parts, Erich Eberling.
KNP Kabbalah: New Perspectives, Moshe Idel.
KOT The Kephalaia of the Teacher: The Edited Coptic Manichaean
Texts in Translation with Commentry, Iain Gardner. See
Acknowledgements.
KS Kīmiyā-yi Sa‘ādat, Imām Muammad Ghazālī, ed. Amad
Ārām.
xlvi VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

KSA Akhrāvatī: Kabīr Sahab letter

kā Pūrāone
Granth; Belvedere Printing
Works.
KSB Kabīr Sāhib kā Bījak; Belvedere Printing Works.
KSD1–10 Kullīyāt-i Shams yā Dīvān-i Kabīr (Dīvān-i Shams-i Tabrīz),
10 vols., ed. B. Furūzānfar.
KSS Kabīr Sākhī Sangrah; Belvedere Printing Works.
KSS1–4 Kabīr Sāhib kī Shabdāvalī, 4 vols.; Belvedere Printing Works.
KSSY Kabīr Samagra, 2 vols., Dr Yugeshwar.
KST Kullīyāt-i Shams-i Tabrīz; Munshi Naval Kishore.
KT Kitāb al-Ta‘rīfāt, Jurjānī, ed. G. Flügel.
KTA Kitāb al-Ta‘rīfāt, ‘Alī ibn Muammad al-Jurjānī, ed. Ibrāhīm
al-Ābyārī.
KTL The King and the Tree of Life in Ancient Near Eastern Religion,
G. Widengren.
KWGN Kabir: The Weaver of God’s Name, V.K.Sethi.
KWJM Kabbalah: The Way of the Jewish Mystic, Perle Epstein.
LAL Life After Life, Raymond A. Moody.
LB Legends of the Bible, Louis Ginzberg, tr. from German, Henrietta
Szold. See Acknowledgements.
LBHS The Life of Blessed Henry Suso, Henry Suso, tr. T.F. Knox.
LBR Lakota Belief and Ritual, James R. Walker, ed. Raymond J.
DeMallie and Elaine Jahner.
LD Looking for Dilmun, Geoffrey Bibby.
LDS Lame Deer: Seeker of Visions, John (Fire) Lame Deer and
Richard Erdoes.
LG La Literatura de los Guaraníes, León Cádogan.
LGP “Listening for God: Prayer and the Heart in the Futūāt”,
James Morris. See Acknowledgements.
LJCD Legends of the Jews (CD-ROM), Louis Ginzberg. See Acknowl-
edgements.
LM The Laws of Manu, tr. G. Buhler. See Acknowledgements.
LOM The Life of Muhammad, Abdul Hameed Siddiqui.
LOSM Light on Sant Mat, Maharaj Charan Singh.
LP The Lost Paradise: An Account of the Jesuits in Paraguay,
1607–1768, Philip Caraman.
LS Leben und Schriften, Heinrich Suso, ed. M. Diepenbrock.
LSJ Light on Saint John, Maharaj Charan Singh.
LSM Light on Saint Matthew, Maharaj Charan Singh.
LSMH “Lower (Second?) Section of the Manichaean Hymns”, tr. Tsui
Chi. See Acknowledgements.
LSN Living Sufism, Seyyed Hossein Nasr.
LTTC Lao-tzu: Te-tao Ching, tr. & commentary Robert G. Henricks.
See Acknowledgements.
 Abbreviations xlvii

LTTN Lao Tzu: 3Text,

juneNotes
1931 and Comments, Ch’en Ku-ying, tr. &
adapted Rhett Y.W. Young and Roger T. Ames.
MA The Master Answers, Maharaj Charan Singh.
MAA “The Mythological Acts of the Apostles”, A.S. Lewis.
MAAA al-Maqad al-Asná Shar Asmā’ Allāh, al-Ghazālī.
MAG Mishkāt al-Anwār, al-Ghazālī.
MAR Mashrab al-Arwā, Shaykh Rūzbihān, ed. Khwājah Na
īf
Muarram.
MBAK Meditation and the Bible, Aryeh Kaplan. See Acknowledgements.
MBB Ein Manichäisches Bet- und Beichtbuch, W.B. Henning.
MBM “The Mysteries of Baptism by Moses bar Kepha Compared with
the Odes of Solomon”, R.A. Aytoun.
MBN The Most Beautiful Names, Sheikh Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi
al-Halveti.
MBP Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet, Karen Armstrong.
MBP1–2 Mīrā Bihat Padāvalī, 2 vols.; Rājasthān Oriental Research
Institute.
MBS Mīrābāī kī Shabdāvalī; Belvedere Printing Works.
MDB Malūkdās Jī kī Bānī; Belvedere Printing Works.
MDI Mystical Dimensions of Islam, Annemarie Schimmel.
MDL Mira: The Divine Lover, V.K. Sethi.
MDT Manichäische Dogmatik aus chinesischen und iranischen Texten,
E. Waldschmidt and W. Lentz.
MEL Mysticism in English Literature, C.F.E. Spurgeon. See Acknowl-
edgements.
MEM “Mesopotamian Elements in Manichaeism”, G. Widengren. See
Acknowledgements.
MF Mani, G. Flügel.
MFM “Maternal Perception and Doppler Detection of Fetal Movement”,
Timothy R. Johnson.
MGK The Meaning of the Glorious Koran, Marmaduke Pickthall.
MGR The Myths of Greece and Rome, H.A. Guerber.
MH “Ein Manichäisches Henochbuch”, W.B. Henning.
MHCP The Manichaean Hymn-Cycles in Parthian, M. Boyce. See
Acknowledgements.
MHG Les mythes d’Homère et la pensée grecque, Felix Buffière.
MHK Mibā al-Hidāyah wa-Miftā al-Kifāyah, ‘Izz al-Dīn Mamūd
Qāshānī, ed. Jalāl al-Dīn Humā’ī.
MHP Manichäische Homilien I, ed. & tr. H.J. Polotsky.
MII The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran: Their Cults, Customs, Magic,
Legends, and Folklore, E.S. Drower.
MJR1–8 The Mathnawī of Jalālu’ddīn Rūmī, 8 vols., ed. & tr. with notes
& commentary R.A. Nicholson. See Acknowledgements.
xlviii VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

MKAK letterAryeh
Meditation and the Kabbalah, one Kaplan. See Acknowl-
edgements.
ML Manichaean Literature, J.P. Asmussen. See Acknowledgements.
MLB The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation
of the Majjhima Nikāya, tr. Bhikhu Nānamoli and Bhikhu Bodhi.
MLM Man, Land & Myth in North Australia, R.M. and C.H. Berndt.
MLRE Manichaeism in the Later Roman Empire, S.N.C. Lieu.
MM Mani and Manichaeism, G. Widengren.
MM1–3 “Mitteliranische Manichaica aus Chinesisch-Turkestan”, 3 vols.,
F.C. Andreas and W.B. Henning.
MMC The Mysteries of Mithra, Franz Cumont, tr. Thomas J. McCormack.
MMF1 Muntahá al-Madārik, vol. 1, al-Farqānī.
MMM1–6 Maśnavī Mawlvī Ma‘navī, 6 vols., Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī.
MMR Muammad, Maxime Rodinson, tr. Anne Carter.
MMS Sri Guru Granth Sahib: English and Punjabi Translation, 8 vols.,
tr. Manmohan Singh.
MNT The Making of the English New Testament, E.J. Goodspeed.
MOI The Mystics of Islam, R.A. Nicholson.
MP Muhammads People: A Tale by Anthology: A Mosaic Translation,
Eric Schroeder.
MPB A Manichaean Psalm-Book, Part II, ed. & tr. C.R.C. Allbery. See
Acknowledgements.
MQ The Mystic Quest: An Introduction to Jewish Mysticism,
David Ariel.
MR1–6 Maśnavī Rūmī, 6 vols., ed. Qaī Sajjād Husayn.
MRG1–7 Majmū‘at Rasā’il (Collection of Letters), 7 vols., al-Ghazālī.
MRS The Mythology of All Races: Semitic, vol. 5, S.H. Langdon.
MS Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Man’s
Spiritual Consciousness, E. Underhill.
MSF Majmū‘ah Sivum-i Muannafāt (includes 13 Risālah), Shihāb
al-Dīn Yayā Suhravardī.
MSM Muslim Saints and Mystics: Episodes from Tadhkirat al-Auliya’,
Farid al-Din Attar, tr. A.J. Arberry. See Acknowledgements.
MSN Madhyamaka Shāstra of Nāgārjuna, with the Commentary
(Prasannapadā) by Chandrakīrti, ed. Swāmī Dvarikā Dās.
MSP1–2 Mysticism: The Spiritual Path, 2 vols., Lekh Raj Puri.
MSS Mīrā Sudhā Sindhu; Shrī Mīrā Prakāshan Samiti.
MTJM Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, Gershom G. Scholem.
MTP “The Manichaean-Turkic Pothi-Book”, L.V. Clark.
MUM Minor Upanishads, tr. Swami Madhavananda. See Acknowl-
edgements.
MV Message of the Vedas, Sir Gokul Chand Narang.
 Abbreviations xlix

NG 3 juneDariyā
Nirbhay Gyān, 1931 Sāhib, Hindi ms., tr. in Dariya Sahib:
Saint of Bihar, K.N. Upadhyaya.
NGL Nine Gates, Jirí Langer, tr. Stephen Jolly.
NH1–10 Natural History, 10 vols., Pliny the Elder, tr. H. Rackham,
W.H.S. Jones, D.E. Eichholz.
NHL The Nag Hammadi Library in English, ed. James M. Robinson.
See Acknowledgements.
NHS11 Nag Hammadi Studies XI: Nag Hammadi Codices V,2–5 and VI,
ed. Douglas M. Parrott. See Acknowledgements.
NHS15 Nag Hammadi Studies XV: Nag Hammadi Codices IX and X,
ed. Birger A. Pearson. See Acknowledgements.
NHS20 Nag Hammadi Studies XX: Nag Hammadi Codex II,2–7, vol. 1,
ed. Bentley Layton. See Acknowledgements.
NHS21 Nag Hammadi Studies XXI: Nag Hammadi Codex II,2–7, vol. 2,
ed. Bentley Layton. See Acknowledgements.
NHS22 Nag Hammadi Studies XXII: Nag Hammadi Codex I (the Jung
Codex), vol. 1, ed. Harold W. Attridge. See Acknowledgements.
NHS26 Nag Hammadi Studies XXVI: Nag Hammadi Codex III,5, The
Dialogue of the Saviour, ed. Stephen Emmel. See Acknowl-
edgements.
NHS27 Nag Hammadi Studies XXVII: Nag Hammadi Codices III,3–4
and V,1, with Papyrus Berolinensis 8502,3 and Oxyrhynchus
Papyrus 1081, Eugnostos and The Sophia of Jesus Christ,
ed. Douglas M. Parrott. See Acknowledgements.
NHS28 Nag Hammadi Studies XXVIII: Nag Hammadi Codices XI, XII,
XIII, ed. Charles W. Hedrick. See Acknowledgements.
NHS30 Nag Hammadi Studies XXX: Nag Hammadi Codex VII, XIII,
ed. Birger A. Pearson. See Acknowledgements.
NHS31 Nag Hammadi Studies XXXI: Nag Hammadi Codex VIII,
ed. John H. Sieber. See Acknowledgements.
NHS33 Nag Hammadi Studies XXXIII: Synopsis of Nag Hammadi
Codices II,1, III,1, and IV,1 with BG 8502,2, ed. M. Waldstein
and Frederik Wisse. See Acknowledgements.
NHS4 Nag Hammadi Studies IV: Nag Hammadi Codices III,2 and
IV,2, The Gospel of the Egyptians, ed. Alexander Böhlig and
Frederik Wisse. See Acknowledgements.
NIV The Holy Bible: New International Version.
NLEM New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology, intro. Robert Graves.
NN Naqd al-Nuū fī Shar Naqsh al-Fuū, ‘Abd al-Ramān Jāmī;
ed. W.C. Chittick.
NPN Nāgārjuna’s Philosophy of No-identity: With Philosophical
Translations of the Madhyamaka-kārikā, Śūnyatā-Saptati and
Vigrahavyāvartanī, Ramachandra Pandeya and Manju.
l VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

NR1–2 The Nestorians and Theirletter

Rituals,one
2 vols., G.P. Badger.
NRA Native Religions of North America: The Power of Visions and
Fertility, Ake Hultkrantz.
NRO “Un nouveau roi d’our”, M.F. Thureau-Dangin.
NTA Native Tribes of the Northern Territory of Australia, W.B. Spencer.
NU News of the Universe, ed. Robert Bly.
OCC Origen Contra Celsum, Origen, tr. H. Chadwick.
OCM The Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition from Plato to
Denys, Andrew Louth. See Acknowledgements.
OFP Origen on First Principles, tr. G.W. Butterworth.
OG The Other Gospels, ed. R. Cameron.
OIP Outlines of Indian Philosophy, M. Hiriyanna.
OKS On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism, Gershom G. Scholem. See
Acknowledgements.
OLAG The Oxyrhynchus Logia and the Apocryphal Gospels, C. Taylor.
ONC Or Ne‘erav, Moses Cordovero, ed. Yehuda Z. Brandwein.
OPJG The Origin of the Prologue to St John’s Gospel, J.R. Harris.
OS Occult Science: An Outline, Rudolf Steiner, tr. George & Mary
Adams. See Acknowledgements.
OSS Origen: The Song of Songs, Commentary and Homilies, tr.
R.P. Lawson.
OST1 Original Sanskrit Texts: On the Origin and History of the People
of India, Their Religion and Institutions, vol. 1, tr. J. Muir.
OTP1–2 The Old Testament Pseudoepigrapha, 2 vols., ed. J.H. Charles-
worth. See Acknowledgements.
P Philebus, Plato, tr. R.A.H. Waterfield.
P1–161 Patrologia Greco-Latina, 161 vols., J.-P. Migne.
PA1–6 Plotinus, tr. A.H. Armstrong, 6 vols.
PAC1–2 The Philosophers: An Alternative Concept of Greek Philosophy
in Light of Eastern Wisdom and Modern Science, 2 parts,
T.A. Richman. See Acknowledgements.
PAH “Some Parthian Abecedarian Hymns”, M. Boyce.
PB The Prayer Book: Weekday, Sabbath and Festival, including
Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers), tr. Ben Zion Bokser. See
Acknowledgements.
PBC The Pagan Background of Early Christianity, F.W. Halliday.
PCT1–4 The Philokalia: The Complete Text, Compiled by St Nikodimos
of the Holy Mountain and St Makarios of Corinth, 4 vols., tr. & ed.
G.E.H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, Kallistos Ware.
PCW1–10 Philo, 10 vols., tr. F.H. Colson and G.H. Whitaker. See Acknowl-
edgements.
PD The Poetical Works of Dryden, George R. Noyes.
 Abbreviations li

PDS Plato: The3 june 1931 of Socrates, tr. Hugh Tredennick and
Last Days
Harold Tarrant.
PEA Plato: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Phaedrus, tr. H.N.
Fowler.
PEC Plotinus (The Enneads), tr. Stephen MacKenna.
PEP Plotinus: The Enneads, tr. Stephen MacKenna, abridged John
Dillon. See Acknowledgements.
PES Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis: Book I (Sects 1–46), tr.
F. Williams. See Acknowledgements.
PET Plato’s Epistles: A Translation with Critical Essays and Notes,
Glenn R. Morrow.
PF Psychology of the Future, Stanislav Grof.
PL Pythagoras: A Life, P. Gorman.
PM1–5 Philosophy of the Masters, 5 vols., Huzur Maharaj Sawan Singh.
PMA The Persian Mystics: The Invocations of Sheikh ‘Abdullāh
Ansāri of Herat, A.D. 1005–1090, Sir Jogendra Singh.
PMB1–16 Plutarch’s Moralia, 16 vols., tr. F.C. Babbitt.
PMDS Prem Mūl, Dariyā Sāhib, Hindi ms., tr. in Dariya Sahib: Saint
of Bihar, K.N. Upadhyaya.
PNC A Pair of Naoraean Commentaries (Two Priestly Documents):
The Great “First World” and the Lesser “First World”, tr.
E.S. Drower. See Acknowledgements.
POM The Path of the Masters, Julian Johnson.
PP “A Pahlavi Poem”, W.B. Henning.
PP1–10 The Padma Purāa, 10 vols., tr. Dr N.A. Deshpande. See
Acknowledgements.
PPG Plato: Phaedo, tr. D. Gallop.
PPI1–2 The Philosophy of Plotinus, 2 vols., tr. W.R. Inge.
PPL Plato: Phaedrus and Letters VII and VIII, tr. Walter Hamilton.
See Acknowledgements.
PRC Pardes Rimmonim (Orchard of Pomegranates), Moses Cordovero;
Mordekai Etyah.
PS Pistis Sophia, tr. Violet MacDermot.
PSB1–3 Paltū Sāhib kī Bānī, 3 vols.; Belvedere Printing Works.
PSGG Pistis Sophia: A Gnostic Gospel, G.R.S. Mead.
PSH A Place for Strangers: Towards a History of Australian Aboriginal
Being, Tony Swain. See Acknowledgements.
PSR The Persian
ūfis, Cyprian Rice.
PTC Plato: Timaeus and Critias, tr. Desmond Lee.
PU The Principal Upaniads, tr. S. Radhakrishnan.
PWJ The Principal Works of St Jerome, tr. W.H. Fremantle et al.
QAL al-Qur’an, tr. Syed Abdul Latif.
lii VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

QI letterPunjāb
Qānūn-i ‘Ishq, ya‘nī alwā-yi one har dū issah (Shar
Kāfiyān Bābā Bulleh Shāh), Anwar ‘Alī Ruhtakī.
RAA Majmū‘ah-’i Rasā’il-i Khwājah ‘Abd Allāh Anārī, ed. Muammad
Shīrvānī.
RAH Refutation of All Heresies, Hippolytus, tr. S.D.F. Salmond.
RAL The Religious Attitude and Life of Islam, Duncan B. Macdonald.
RBK A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms: being an account by the
Chinese monk Fâ-Hien of his travels in India and Ceylon
(AD 399–414) in search of the Buddhist books of discipline,
tr. & annotated with a Corean recension of the Chinese text,
James Legge.
RCM Shrī Rām Charit Mānas, Tulsīdās; Gītā Press.
RD Ravidās Darshan, ed. Achārya Prithvī Singh Āzād.
REWA Reincarnation: An East-West Anthology, J. Head and S.L. Cranston.
RFT Reincarnation: A Study of Forgotten Truth, E.D. Walker.
RG The Robe of Glory, John Davidson.
RHP Recueil des hadiths Prophétiques et des sagesses Mahométanes,
al-Sayed Ahmad al-Hachimi, tr. Fawzi Chaaban.
RI The Religion of Islām: A Comprehensive Discussion of the Sources,
Principles and Practices of Islām, Maulānā Muammad ‘Alī.
RIS Rubaiyat-i-Sarmad, ed. & tr. Fal Mamūd Asīrī.
RISA The Royal Inscriptions of Sumer and Akkad, G. Barton.
RLI Rīsālah-yi Lama‘āt va-Rīsālah-yi I ilāāt, Fakhr al-Dīn ‘Irāqī,
ed. Javād-i Nūrbakhsh.
RM Rābi‘a the Mystic and her Fellow-Saints in Islām, Margaret Smith.
RMM The Revelations of Mechthild of Magdeburg, tr. L. Menzies.
RMP A Reader in Manichaean Middle Persian and Parthian, M. Boyce.
RN Ephraim Syrus: The Repentance of Nineveh: A Metrical Homily
on the Mission of Jonah, tr. H. Burgess.
RNV1–4 Rasā’il Shāh Ni‘matullāhī Valī, 4 vols., ed. Javād Nūrbakhsh.
ROH Remembering Our Home, Sheila and Dennis Linn, William
Emerson and Matthew Linn.
RR The Ring of Return, E. Martin.
RRS The Revival of Religious Sciences: A translation of the Arabic
Work, Ihyā ‘Ulūm al-Dīn, al-Ghazāli, tr. Bankey Behari.
RSN Riyādh us- āliīn, ed. Imām Abū Zakaria Yaya bin Sharaf
an-Nawawi, tr. S.M. Madni ‘Abbāsi.
RSV The Revised Standard Version (1952).
RV The Rig Veda: An Anthology, tr. & annotated Wendy D. O’Flaherty.
See Acknowledgements.
SA The Secret Adam: A Study of Naoraean Gnosis, E.S. Drower.
See Acknowledgements.
SAA St Augustine: Against the Academics, tr. J.J O’Meara.
 Abbreviations liii

SAC “Shamanism 3 june 1931 the Avá-Chiripá”, Miguel A. Bartolomé.

Among
See Acknowledgements.
SAE1–5 Commentary on Maśnavī I, 5 vols., ārī ‘Abdullāh Efendi.
SAHA Shulan ‘Arukh ha-Ari,
ayyim Vital.
SB Sar Bachan, Soami Ji Maharaj (Swami Shiv Dayal Singh).
SBB Sahajobāī kī Bānī; Belvedere Printing Works.
SBE Sultan Bahu, J.R. Puri and K.S. Khak.
SBEG The Secret Books of the Egyptian Gnosis, J. Doresse.
SBG Shrī Bhaktisāgar Granth: Parishish Bhāg Sahit, Swāmī
Charadās, ed. Shivdayālu Gau.
SBJT The Schocken Book of Jewish Mystical Testimonies, Louis Jacobs.
SBP Sār Bachan Chhand-Band (Sār Bachan Poetry), Swāmī Shiv
Dayāl Singh.
SBPL Sumerian and Babylonian Psalms, S.H. Langdon.
SBPS Shrīmad Bhāgavata Purāam with Shrīdharasvāmin’s Commen-
tary, ed. J.L. Shāstrī.
SBS1–2 Sant Bānī Sangrah, 2 vols.; Belvedere Printing Works.
SBSU Sā’īn Bulleh Shāh; Radha Soami Satsang Beas (Urdu).
SBU arat Sul ān Bāhū; Radha Soami Satsang Beas (Urdu).
SCC On Sophistical Refutations, On Coming-to-Be and Passing-
Away, and On the Cosmos, Aristotle, tr. E.M. Forster and
D.J. Furley.
SCMP Studies in the Coptic Manichaean Psalm-Book, T. Säve-Söderbergh.
SCT Sources of Chinese Tradition, vol. 1, compiled T. de Bary,
Wing-tsih Chan and Burton Watson, et al.
SD Sufism: A Dictionary with Profiles of Saint-Poets, T.C. Rastogi.
SD1–2 Spiritual Discourses, 2 vols., Maharaj Charan Singh.
SDL Seneca: Dialogues and Letters, tr. C.D.N. Costa.
SDMG A Study of the Doctrine of Metempsychosis in Greece, H.B. Long.
SDST Selected Poems from the Dīvāni Shamsi Tabrīz, ed. & tr.
R.A. Nicholson. See Acknowledgements.
SE Sefer Eliyahu, ed. M. Buttenwieser.
SEC The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church,
ed. H.R. Percival.
SED A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, H.H. Wilson.
SEM1–3 Seneca: Ad Lucilium Epistulae Morales, 3 vols., tr. Richard M.
Gummere.
SFH Shar-i Fuū al- ikam, Dā’ūd al-Qayarī.
SFMC “A Sogdian Fragment of the Manichaean Cosmogony”,
W.B. Henning. See Acknowledgements.
SG Spiritual Gems, Maharaj Sawan Singh Ji.
SGBE The Sixth Grandfather: Black Elk’s Teachings Given to John
G. Neihardt, James R. Walker, ed. Raymond J. DeMallie.
liv VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

SGR Mafāti al-I‘jāz fī Shar-iletter oneRāz-i Mamūd Shabistarī,

Gulshan-i
Shaykh Muammad Lāhījī, ed. Kayvān Samī‘ī.
SGRV Sant Guru Ravidās Vāī, ed. B.P. Sharmā.
SGS The Shambhala Guide to Sufism, C.W. Ernst.
SGT St Gregory Thaumaturgus: Life and Works, tr. Michael Slusser.
SHI The Spiritual Heritage of India, Swami Prabhavananda. See
Acknowledgements.
SHM Sikhism, Hew McLeod.
SI The Soul of the Indian: An Interpretation, Charles Alexander
Eastman (Ohiyesa); Bison, 1980 [1911].
SIM Studies in Islamic Mysticism, R.A. Nicholson. See Acknowl-
edgements.
SIR Sioux Indian Religion: Tradition and Innovation, ed. Raymond
J. DeMallie and Douglas R. Parks. See Acknowledgements.
SK4 Sha‘arei Kedushah, Part 4,
ayyim Vital.
SKB Santon kī Bāī; Radha Soami Satsang Beas.
SKD1–5 Shabdakalpadruma, 5 vols., Rājā Rādhākant Dev.
SKN Sufi: The Magazine of Khaniqahi Nimatullahi.
SKQ Shar va-Tarjumah-’i Kalimāt-i Qiār Bābā āhir, ascribed to
‘Ayn al-Quat Hamadānī, ed. Jawād Maqsūd.
SKS Self-Knowledge (Atmabodha), tr. & commentary Swami Nikhil-
ananda. See Acknowledgements.
SL Spiritual Letters, Baba Jaimal Singh Ji (1998 edn.).
SLO Spiritual Letters, Baba Jaimal Singh Ji (1984 edn.).
SLW Sumerian Literature: A Preliminary Survey of the Oldest
Literature in the World, S.N. Kramer.
SM1– 4 Sahih Muslim, 4 vols., Imam Muslim, tr. ‘Abdul Hamid Siddiqi.
SME1–3 Seneca: Moral Essays, 3 vols., tr. John W. Basore.
SMIK1–13 The Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan, 13 vols., Hazrat
Inayat Khan.
SMS Sumerian Mythology: A Study of Spiritual and Literary Devel-
opment in the Third Millennium BC, S.N. Kramer.
SN Saint Namdev, J.R. Puri and V.K. Sethi.
SNG Shrī Nāmdev Gāthā; Government of Maharashtra (Marathi).
SNO Sant Namdev: His Life and Teachings, J.R. Puri and V.K. Sethi.
SNP1–2 Sant Nāmdev kī Hindi Padāvalī, 2 vols., ed. Bhagirath Misra and
Rājnarayan Maurya.
SOA Sufis of Andalusia: The Rū al-quds and al-Durrat al-fākhirah
of Ibn ‘Arabi, tr. R.W.J. Austin.
SOL Sayings of Our Lord: From an Early Greek Papyrus, B.P.
Grenfell and A.S. Hunt.
SOS Science of the Soul, Sardar Bahadur Maharaj Jagat Singh.
 Abbreviations lv

SOU 3 june
Signs of the 1931 The Discourses of Jalaluddin Rumi, tr.
Unseen:
W.M. Thackston Jr.
SP The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk’s Account of the Seven Rites of the
Oglala Sioux, recorded & ed. Joseph Epes Brown. See Acknowl-
edgements.
SPAW Sitzungsberichte Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften,
Berlin.
SPB “Sadwēs and Pēsūs”, Mary Boyce.
SPE “Studies in the Platonic Epistles”, tr. G. Morrow.
SPK The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn al-‘Arabi’s Metaphysics of
Imagination, William C. Chittick.
SPL The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rūmī, William
C. Chittick. See Acknowledgements.
SPZ “Syrische Poesien”, P.P. Zingerle.
SR The Serpent and the Rainbow, Wade Davis.
SRB Sant Rohidās kī Bānī; Shiv Shakti Prakāshan.
SRBP Sefer ha-Rimmon (The Book of the Pomegranate), Moses de
Leon, ed. Elliot R. Wolfson.
SRM Sikh Reht Maryada: The Code of Sikh Conduct and Conventions
(English Version of the Sikh Reht Maryada), tr. Kulraj Singh.
SROH Selections from the Rubaiyāt and Odes of Hāfiz, tr. by a member
of the Persia Society of London (F.M. Rundall).
SS1–6 Satsang Sangrah, 6 vols., Mahārāj Charan Singh.
SSE1–15 Sufi Symbolism: The Nurbakhsh Encyclopedia of Sufi Terminology,
15 vols., Javad Nurbakhsh, tr. Terry Graham et al. See Acknowl-
edgements.
SSM1–3 Studies of the Spanish Mystics, 3 vols., E. Allison Peers.
SSMM Sabbatai
evi: The Mystical Messiah, Gershom G. Scholem.
SSR Shrī Sant Rohidās, Ashok Prabhākar Kāmat.
SSV Siva Samhita, tr. Rai Bahadur Srisa Chandra Vasu. See Acknowl-
edgements.
ST Shar-i Ta‘arruf, Abū Isāq Muammad ibn-i Ibrāhīm Bukhārī
Kalābādī.
STG Shrī Tukārām Bāvāñchyā Abhangāñchī Gāthā, ed. Shrī P.M. Lā.
SUV Sixty Upanisads of the Veda, 2 vols., Paul Deussen, tr. from
German, V.M. Bedekar and G.B. Palsule.
SVS “The Amarna Tablet”, O. Schroeder.
SW Sufi Women, Dr Javad Nurbakhsh.
SWP Select Works of Plotinus, tr. T. Taylor.
TAA The Tarjumān al-Ashwāq: A Collection of Mystical Odes,
Muyī’ddīn ībn al-‘Arabī, tr. R.A. Nicholson.
TAB1–2 Textes religieux assyriens et babyloniens, F. Martin, 2 vols.
lvi VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

TAI letterFarīd
Tadhkirat al-Awliyā’, Shaykh one al-Dīn ‘Aār Nīshābūrī,
ed. Muammad Isti’lāmī.
TAN1–2 Tadhkirat al-Awliyā’, Shaykh Farīd al-Dīn ‘Aār Nīshābūrī,
ed. R.A. Nicholson.
TAT Taawwuf va-Adabīyāt-i Taawwuf, including Mir’āt-i ‘Ushshāq
(an anonymous glossary of Sufi terms), Y.E. Bertels, tr. from
Russian into Persian by Sirus Izadi.
TBP Travels of Fah-Hian and Sun Yun, Buddhist Pilgrims from
China to India, S. Beal.
TBS Tattva Bodha of Sankaracharya, tr. & commentary Swami
Chinmayananda.
TC The Chakras, Charles W. Leadbeater.
TCK “The Three-Character Rhymed Classic on the Ka‘bah (the
Cube of Heaven)”, Ma Fu-ch’u, tr. Peter Hobson.
TDB Tulsīdās Jī kī Bārahmāsī, Shri Goswāmī Tulsīdās Jī.
TFH “Travels of Fa-Hsien”; in Taisho Tripitaka, vol. 51.
TGH1–3 Thrice-Greatest Hermes, 3 vols., G.R.S. Mead.
TL The Tree of Life: Chayyim Vital’s Introduction to the Kabbalah
of Isaac Luria (The Palace of Adam Kadmon), tr. Donald Wilder
Menzi and Zwe Padeh.
TLV “Tammuz-Liturgien und Verwandtes”, P.M. Witzel.
TMT A Talmudic Miscellany: A Thousand and One Extracts from the
Talmud, the Midrashim and the Kabbalah, tr. Paul Isaac Hershon.
TMU Thirty Minor Upaniads, tr. by K. Narayanasvami Aiyar.
TNWT Tao: A New Way of Thinking, Chang Chung-Yuan. See
Acknowledgements.
TOP The Treatise of the Pool, Obadyah Maimonides, ed. & tr.
Paul Fenton.
TPU Thirteen Principal Upanishads, tr. R.E. Hume.
TQH Tamhīdāt, ‘Ayn al-Quat Hamadānī, ed. Afif Osseiran.
TRCM Tulasidasa’s Shri Rāmacharitamanasa: The Holy Lake of the
Acts of Rama, ed. & tr. R.C. Prasad.
TS The Teachings of Silvanus, J. Zandee.
TSH1–2 Tulsī Sāhib Hāthrasvale kī Shabdāvalī, 2 vols.; Belvedere
Printing Works.
TSM Thus Saith The Master, Maharaj Charan Singh.
TSS Textual Sources for the Study of Sikhism, W.H. McLeod.
TT1–2 The Texts of Taoism, 2 vols., tr. James Legge.
TTCL Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu, tr. D.C. Lau.
TTCT Tao Te Ching: A New Translation, Ch’u Ta-Kao. See Acknowl-
edgements.
TTCW Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu, tr. John C. H. Wu.
TTQ The Thousand and Twelve Questions (Alf Trisar Šuialia):
 Abbreviations lvii

A Mandaean 3 june
Text1931
edited in Transliteration and Translation,
E.S. Drower. See Acknowledgements.
TTT1–6 “Türkische Turfan-Texte”, 6 parts, W. Bang and A. von Gabain.
TVS Thousand Ways to the Transcendental: Vishnu Sahasranama,
tr. & commentary Swami Chinmayanana.
TWT Three Ways of Thought in Ancient China, Arthur Waley. See
Acknowledgements.
TYN The New Testament, tr. William Tyndale.
U1–4 The Upanishads, 4 vols., tr. & commentary Swami Nikhil-
ananda. See Acknowledgements.
UAQJ Utterances (Malfū
āt) of Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī, tr.
Muhtar Holland.
UJM Understanding Jewish Mysticism, David Blumenthal.
UWOT The Uncanonical Writings of the Old Testament Found in the
Armenian mss. of the Library of St Lazarus, tr. J. Issaverdens.
VC Vivekacūāmai, Śrī Śankarācārya, tr. Swāmī Turiyānanda.
VE The Vedic Experience, Raimundo Panikkar. See Acknowledgements.
VEGA Virgil: Eclogues, Georgias, Aeneid I-VI, tr. H. Rushton Fairclough,
rev. G.P. Gould.
VME1–2 Vida (Life) and other works, 2 vols., Marina de Escobar.
VP The Vishu Purāa, tr. H.H. Wilson.
VPL De vita Pythagorica liber, Iamblichi, ed. L. Deubner.
VS Vivek Sāgar, Dariyā Sāhib, Hindi ms., tr. in Dariya Sahib:
Saint of Bihar, K.N. Upadhyaya.
VSB The Voice of the Silence, H.P. Blavatsky.
VSY Vedāntasāra (The Essence of Vedānta) of Sadānanda Yogindra,
tr. Swāmī Nikhilānanda.
VTD Vinayapatrikā, Tulsīdās; Gītā Press.
WALT The Way of Life According to Lao Tzu, tr. & commentary
Witter Bynner.
WBC1–4 The Works of Bernard of Clairvaux, On the Song of Songs, 4 vols.,
tr. K. Walsh and I.M. Edmonds.
WCA1–2 The Writings of Clement of Alexandria, 2 vols., tr. W. Wilson.
WFA The Writings of St Francis of Assisi, Constance, Countess de
la Warr.
WGMI With a Great Master in India, Julian Johnson.
WGT The Walled Garden of Truth, Hakim Sanai, tr. & abr. D.L.
Pendelbury.
WJMA The Writings of Justin Martyr and Athenagoras, tr. M. Dods.
WL The Works of Lactantius, ed. A. Roberts and J. Donaldson.
WLLT The Way of Life Lao Tzu: A New Translation of the Tao Te
Ching, R.B. Blakney.
WLT The Wisdom of Laotse, tr. Lin Yutang. See Acknowledgements.
lviii VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

WM Western Mysticism: The letter oneof Sts Augustine, Gregory

Teachings
and Bernard on Contemplation and the Contemplative Life,
C. Butler.
WMM The Way of a Mohammedan Mystic, W.H.T. Gairdner.
WO1–2 The Writings of Origen, 2 vols., tr. F. Crombie.
WP The Wisdom of the Prophet (Fuū al- ikam), Muhyī-d-Din ibn
‘Arabi, tr. (from Arabic to French) Titus Burckhardt, tr. (from
French to English) Angela Culme-Seymour.
WPJ1– 4 The Works of Philo Judaeus, 4 vols., tr. C.D. Yonge.
WS1–7 Woodbrooke Studies: Christian Documents in Syriac, Arabic
and Garshuni, 7 vols., ed. & tr. A. Mingana.
WTDA The Works of Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius of Alexandria
and Archelaus, tr. S.D.F. Salmond.
WTM1–3 With the Three Masters, 3 vols., Rai Sahib Munshi Ram.
WTT The Writings of Tatian and Theophilus and the Clementine
Recognitions, tr. B.P. Pratten, Marcus Dods and Thomas Smith.
WWB Who Wrote the Bible? R.E. Friedman.
WZ1–3 The Wisdom of the Zohar: An Anthology of Texts, 3 vols.,
arranged by Fischel Lachower and Isaiah Tishby. See Acknowl-
edgements.
XSM Xuāstvānīft: Studies in Manichaeism, Jes P. Asmussen.
YD Yuen Dao: Tracing Dao to its Source, tr. D.C. Lau and
Roger T. Ames.
YGC Yahwe and the Gods of Canaan, W.F. Albright.
YU The Yoga Upaniads, tr. T.R. S’rīnivāsa Ayyagār, ed. Pait
S. Subrahmaya S’āstrī.
ZBS The Zohar: The Book of Splendour, selected & ed. Gershom
G. Scholem.
ZDMG Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft.
ZM Zoroastrian Morals, I.J.S. Taraporewala, contributed to
Encyclopedia of Morals, ed. Vergilius Ferm.
ZP Zoroastrian Philosophy, I.J.S. Taraporewala, contributed to
A History of Philosophical Systems.
ZSS1–5 The Zohar, 5 vols., tr. Harry Sperling and Maurice Simon.
ZT Zoroastrian Theology: From the Earliest Times to the Present
Day, M.N. Dhalla.
THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

 1.1 M YSTICISM
Wherever man exists, so does mysticism. Man is a conscious being, and the
essence of mysticism is a transcendental experience in the sphere of conscious-
ness. It is something that a person lives, not a philosophy or doctrine which is
read or studied. In its broadest sense, it is an expansion of normal consciousness,
an awakening of hidden potential such that understanding beyond that of normal
human reasoning and mental activity becomes inwardly manifest. Those who
are fortunate enough to have such experiences also feel an interior joy and ecstasy,
a bliss that brings them closer to God within themselves. The culmination of
such ecstasy is union with God, within. Mystical and religious writings contain
many descriptions of such experiences, and the mystics themselves – sometimes
persecuted during their own lifetimes – are often heralded later as the foremost
of their faith.
It is significant that no one who has experienced anything remotely mysti-
cal has ever regarded it as something other than a glimpse of a higher reality.
Like awakening from sleep, the experience carries with it its own innate touch-
stone of validity. Those who discount mystic experience as simply the product
of religious hysteria or an overheated brain have rarely studied the matter at first
hand. If they had ever met and conversed with those who have been the frequent
recipients of genuine mystic experience, they would have realized that this had
only been accomplished by a balanced self-discipline and a control of the mind
and emotions that is quite inconceivable to most people. True mystics are wise,
understanding and balanced human beings, not fanatical, self-seeking or emotion-
ally overwrought. In fact, uncontrolled emotion and imagination will actually
prevent a person from concentrating their consciousness within, and make true
mystic experience impossible.
No amount of theology or reasoning can replace mystic experience. True
mystics do not use reason or philosophy as their primary means of under-
standing the nature of Reality, for they have realized that there can be no real
understanding without direct experience. Even so, while reason cannot lead to
or enhance mystic experience, mystic experience or simply a strong feeling
for the mystical have illumined the minds of many of the world’s greatest men
and women:

Two facts in connection with mysticism are undeniable, whatever it may

be, and whatever part it is destined to play in the development of thought
and of knowledge. In the first place, it is the leading characteristic of some
of the greatest thinkers of the world – of the founders of … religions, of
Plato and Plotinus, of Eckhart and Bruno, of Spinoza, Goethe and Hegel.

3
4 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Secondly, no one has ever been a lukewarm, an indifferent, or an unhappy

mystic. If a man has this particular temperament, his mysticism is the very
centre of his being: it is the flame which feeds his whole life; and he is in-
tensely and supremely happy just so far as he is steeped in it.
C.F.E. Spurgeon, Mysticism in English Literature, MEL p.2

The same author also comments on the certainty of the mystic concerning his
experience:

The mystic is somewhat in the position of a man who, in a world of blind

men, has suddenly been granted sight, and who, gazing at the sunrise, and
overwhelmed by the glory of it, tries, however falteringly, to convey to his
fellows what he sees. They, naturally, would be sceptical about it, and
would be inclined to say that he is talking foolishly and incoherently.
But the simile is not altogether parallel. There is this difference. The
mystic is not alone; all through the ages we have the testimony of men and
women to whom this vision has been granted, and the record of what they
have seen is amazingly similar, considering the disparity of personality and
circumstances. And further, the world is not peopled with totally blind men.
The mystics would never hold the audience they do hold, were it not that
the vast majority of people have in themselves what William James has
called a “mystical germ” which makes response to their message.
C.F.E. Spurgeon, Mysticism in English Literature, MEL pp.5–6

This is the point – the mystic faculty is the heritage of everyone, whoever they
are. Undeveloped as it may be in the majority, or present only in its most elemen-
tary form, everyone has the capacity to develop experience of the divine. As a
result, mystic teachings strike a chord deep in the hearts of many.
Mystical experience, then, is universal. Yet, when expressed or described,
it takes on the colour of the culture, traditions and language of the individual.
As the renowned Arabic and Persian scholar, R.A. Nicholson, observed:

It may be said, truly enough, that all mystical experiences ultimately meet
in a single point; but that point assumes widely different aspects according
to the mystic’s religion, race and temperament, while the converging lines
of approach admit of almost infinite variety.
R.A. Nicholson, Mystics of Islam, MOI p.2

To seek out and present indications of this mysticism in the religious and cul-
tural traditions of the world, past and present, is the intention of this Treasury.
To set the scene for this exploration, it will be useful to review the religions and
traditions which have formed the basis of this work.
 1.2 Sumerian and Mesopotamian Spirituality 5

1.2 S UMERIAN AND M ESOPOTAMIAN S PIRITUALITY

Among the earliest civilizations known to modern man is the Sumerian of Meso-
potamia, located in the fertile crescent between the twin rivers of the Tigris and
the Euphrates, 500 miles and more to the east of Jerusalem and Palestine, in what
is now Iraq. Dating from the third and fourth millennia BCE, the Sumerians were
the first civilization to have left written remains. Archaeological excavations
from all over the Middle East have revealed hundreds of thousands of inscribed
clay tablets, from the Sumerian, Assyrian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Chaldean,
Hittite and the various Semitic cultures and subcultures which rose and flour-
ished in what are now Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait and other
Middle Eastern countries. Details of great empires of the past and even chrono-
logical lists of kings have been discovered at the sites of ancient city states such
as Uruk, Kish, Ur, Nineveh, Nippur, Lagash and others.
The vast majority of these tablets relate to the thriving business activities of
the period. Invoices, quotations, procurement lists, shipping documents, letters
and so on are all represented. All manner of goods, including significant quanti-
ties of building materials, minerals and metals of various kinds appear to have
travelled between city states far in the north and dominions many hundreds of
miles to the south in what are now southern Iraq and the Persian Gulf. There are
even instances of sharp practice, short-shipping, complaints concerning inferior
products, goods not precisely like those seen and ordered, and other such things
that have always been a part of human commerce.
But among these tablets are also those of a more literary nature – psalms,
poems and epic legends, including the famous Epic of Gilgamesh, together with
scientific, historical and religious texts. The earliest of these tablets are written
in hieroglyphics, analogous to the script of the ancient Egyptians, but the vast
majority are written in the later cuneiform (wedge-shaped) characters, developed
and probably originated by the Sumerians, and adopted by most of the people of
the ancient Middle East. The deciphering of these scripts and languages long
buried in the sands has exercised some of the best archaeological and linguistic
minds of the last century and a half, though there still remain many differences
of scholarly opinion. To someone with an interest in such things, the uncovering
of these ancient cities, often revealing a multitude of personal details regarding
individual lives lived so long ago, has a fascinating quality. But perhaps of the
greatest interest in the present context are those texts that provide an insight into
the background of biblical literature.
These ancient peoples shared a pantheon of gods whose names and charac-
ters changed and evolved as culture succeeded culture. Later on, some of them
are even found – transmuted and transformed, having imbibed the colour of
local culture – among the gods of the Hindus and the ancient Greeks. Many
6 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

temples dedicated to these Mesopotamian deities have been discovered, together

with considerable religious literature, from which it is clear that their religious
and spiritual beliefs profoundly influenced the peoples of the Middle East,
including the Hebrews and the Greeks. Indeed, many of their concepts still
pervade the modern world through their influence on Judaism, Christianity and
Islam.
Embedded in the extensive Mesopotamian mythology are indications that a
mystic understanding was not far away, and antecedents are found of later and
more familiar mystical traditions. For the Sumerians, the father of the gods was
Anu, the first-born of the primeval Sea, equivalent perhaps to the divine Essence.
Anu gave birth to Enlil, as in the Sumerian hymn:

The spirit of the Word of Anu is Enlil.

Sumerian Psalms I:38–41, SBPL p.24

Hence, archaeologist and author N.K. Sandars comments, “Enlil is power in

action, where Anu is power in being.”1 This is the difference between the Crea-
tive Word and the Supreme Being of later mystical expression. In Sumerian
mythology, Enlil is both a creative and a destructive power, as indeed is the
Word, which underlies all activity in the creation – forming or dissolving.
Also in the Sumerian pantheon is Enki, the god of wisdom, he whose
“particular element was the sweet waters bringing life to the land”.2 He was a
benign being and a peacemaker, “lord of wisdom who lives in the deep … some-
times called the son of Anu, ‘Begotten in his own image … of broad understand-
ing and mighty strength.’ He was also in a particular degree the creator and
benefactor of mankind.”3 In Sumerian mythology, Enki is the dispenser of the
Water of Life or the Plant or Bread of Life, provided by Anu, which brings the
dead to life, bestowing immortality. It is probably Enki who is depicted on
Sumerian pottery, carrying an overflowing vase of the Water of Life.
The parallels here to later mystical expression are unmistakable. Father,
Word, Wisdom, son, dispenser of the Plant of Life and the Water of Life, be-
gotten in the image of God, creator and benefactor of mankind – all these are
familiar themes in mystic teachings. Mystics draw their inspiration and knowl-
edge direct from God within themselves, but they speak in the language and
idiom of the times, explaining the real meaning hidden within contemporary
religious beliefs and sacred writings.
In the early Mesopotamian myths are also found precursors to biblical
legends. It seems, for instance, that there was a flood of unprecedented propor-
tions in the ancient Middle East, probably in the low-lying lands between the
Tigris and the Euphrates, for legendary accounts of a deluge are found among
these ancient texts. The Sumerian counterpart of Noah was called Ziusudra,
which means ‘he saw life’, while the corresponding Old Babylonian hero was
named Attrahasis.
 1.2 Sumerian and Mesopotamian Spirituality 7

Also present in these ancient texts are the first extant occurrences of meta-
phors that were used repeatedly in later times with specifically mystical mean-
ings. The Plant or Tree of Life and the River (of Living Water), for example,
running out of Eden are found in Genesis, but they were common themes in
Middle Eastern mythology long before any biblical books were compiled.
In the story of the goddess Inanna’s descent to the underworld, Inanna, fore-
telling her own death, instructs her faithful messenger, Ninshubur, to seek help
from Enki, god of wisdom, in order that she may be resurrected from death:

Father Enki, the lord of wisdom

who knows the Plant of Life,
who knows the Water of Life –
He will surely bring me back to life.
Inanna’s Descent II:65–67, SLW pp.297, 307; cf. KTL p.33, SMS p.90

Inanna does indeed lose her life when the “seven judges”, the Anunnaki, gaze at
her with the “eyes of death”, her corpse being subsequently impaled upon a
stake. But Enki lives up to the faith Inanna had placed in him, sending to the
rescue two creatures of his own fashioning with instructions on how to revive
her corpse:

Sixty times the Plant of Life

and sixty times the Water of Life sprinkle upon it:
Verily, Inanna will arise.
Inanna’s Descent II:244–45, SLW pp.301, 310; cf. KTL p.33, SMS p.94

This they do, and Inanna is resurrected and ascends from the nether world.
The Plant or “Bread of Life” also appears in the Myth of Adapa, precursor
to the Hebrew Adam. Anu, father of the gods, offers Adapa immortality through
the “Bread of Life” and the “Water of Life”, which he keeps in the highest
heaven. But, in the story, Adapa has been advised by his creator, Ea (Enki), to
refuse the gifts, for Ea, through envy, did not wish Adapa to gain immortality:

The Bread of Life they placed before him,

but he did not eat.
The Water of Life they placed before him,
but he did not drink.
Myth of Adapa II:63–65, SVS p.194; cf. ABE p.98, KTL p.34, MRS p.181

At Adapa’s refusal, Anu is angry and punishes him – and through him all man-
kind – with disease and tribulation. The fall of Adapa is clearly a precursor to
the Hebrew story of Adam, although in the characteristically inconsistent nature
of mythology, Ea or Enki, usually the saviour, is here the betrayer of mankind.
8 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Though the legends of Inanna, Adapa and others have been reconstructed
with reasonable completeness, many other Sumerian legends are preserved only
as fragments or hints of a fuller story, long since lost. Images of some of these
are found on pottery and other artefacts. A Sumerian roll cylinder preserved in
the British Museum, for example, shows a woman and a man seated before a
tree. The man, like Adapa, wears the horned headdress of a god or deified man,
and behind the woman stands a serpent. The picture is clearly that of the first
temptation of man, leading to the Fall. Images of this kind remained traditional
long after Sumerian times. Among the painted pottery of Susa, an important
Persian city of Sassanian times (224–651 CE), are designs of the Tree of Life
around which is coiled a serpent, and of a naked woman, behind whom stands
a serpent.4
In another Sumerian text, the Tree of Life is depicted as a kishkanu tree
growing near streams of life flowing in paradise. Here, there is a double meaning,
for Eridu, cultic centre of Enki, was a major city in southern Sumeria and kish-
kanu trees were indeed grown in the temple groves for their healing properties:

In Eridu there is a black kishkanu tree,

growing in a pure place;
Its appearance is lapis lazuli,
erected on the Apsū.
Enki (lord of wisdom), when walking there,
fills Eridu with abundance.

In the resting place is the chamber of Nammu.

In its holy temple there is a grove,
casting its shadow, wherein no man may enter.
In the midst are the Sun god and the Sovereign of heaven,
in between the river with its two mouths.
Sumerian Text, CTB XVI:46–47; cf. DES pp.200–3, KTL pp.5–6

Enki, walking in the garden, filling it with abundance, in which grows the Tree
of Healing or the Tree of Life is seemingly a precursor to later old Semitic
garden of Eden myths, as in Genesis. It is a part of the mythological milieu from
which Genesis originated. Among the ancient Mesopotamian epics and legends
are passages that suggest that parts of these ancient myths may at one time have
been allegories of mystic truths. In one episode from the Sumerian Epic of Gilga-
mesh, one of the most long-lived of all great epic adventures, the semidivine
hero, Gilgamesh, son of a goddess and a priest, said to be three parts god and
one part man (symbolic perhaps of man’s divine potentiality) goes in search of
wisdom and immortality. On his travels, he journeys through passes and moun-
tains (the inner heavens), overpowering and killing lions (human imperfections)
that dance in the moonlight, coming at last to a garden of trees bearing jewelled
 1.2 Sumerian and Mesopotamian Spirituality 9

fruit (the eternal realm), another early intimation of the Genesis story. Such
incidents and descriptions could easily have been metaphors for aspects of the
inner journey of the soul to God. Part of the description of what must surely be
the sacred Vine, the Tree of Life planted in Eden, reads:

Like carnelian are the fruit it bears,

all hung about with tendrils.
Fair to gaze upon, lapis lazuli the foliage is,
and the fruit it bears, desirable to the eye.
Epic of Gilgamesh IX:5.48–51; cf. EGT p.43, KTL p.7

Later in this episode, Gilgamesh finds the Plant of Immortality – the Herb of
Life – at the Spring or Fountain of Youth. These expressions have all been used
as metaphors for the Word, the Power or Medicine that does indeed bestow im-
mortality. In fact, Gilgamesh finds the Plant of Life on the sea bed, symbolic
perhaps of this world as the floor of creation. Following the traditional method
of pearl divers, he reaches the sea floor by attaching stones to his feet, and
collects the Plant. But, on his homeward journey, encountering a pool of cool
water, he goes for a swim and, while his attention is distracted, a serpent, attracted
by the fragrance of the Plant, rises up from the water and snatches it. Bearing in
mind the pearl-diving technique used by Gilgamesh, it is possible that the Plant
of Immortality was also understood as a pearl, the pearl of wisdom, as in the
gnostic poem of early Christian times, the Robe of Glory, and many other places
in ancient spiritual literature. The serpent was certainly associated with gem-
stones because the skeletons of snakes, possibly dating from Assyrian times,
have been found buried in pots along with a small gem, often a tiny turquoise.5
Themes common to later mystical literature are also present in other Meso-
potamian religious texts. Images among the liturgies associated with the Meso-
potamian cult of Tammuz, god of vegetation, are later found in Christian and
Manichaean texts, where the ship of the Saviour ferries souls back to God. Thus,
a Tammuz text reads:

A ship of joy is your ship,

a ship loaded with treasures is your ship.
Tammuz Liturgies, DNP pp.128, 130, TLV pp.424–25; cf. MEM p.100

And likewise in an Assyrian incantation:

The rope of the ship

is at the quay of Peace;
The rope of the ship
is at the quay of Life.
Assyrian Text, KAR III 196(VAT 8869):51–52 p.70, KMI4 pp.68–69, MEM p.102
10 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Compare these with a later Manichaean psalm, where the meaning is specifi-
cally mystical:

The ship of Jesus has come to port,

laden with garlands and gay palms.
It is Jesus who steers it,
he will put in for us until we embark.
Let us also make ourselves pure
that we may make our voyage.…
The ship of Jesus will make its way up to the Height.
It will bring its cargo to the shore,
and return for them that are left behind.…

He will bring them (safely)

to the harbour of the immortals.
It is laden with garlands
and gay palms for ever and ever.
Manichaean Psalm Book, MPB pp.151–52

Or with the writings of the fourth-century Christian, Ephraim Syrus, addressing

the blessed soul who has steered his ‘ship of light’, his “glorious tree”, into the
“harbour of Life”. Or perhaps the “skilful shipmaster” is Jesus on board whose
ship the soul has sailed on the “glorious Tree (of Life)” into the “harbour of
Life”:

O skilful shipmaster,
you who have conquered the raging sea,
your glorious tree has come to the harbour of Life.…
Blessed be he who has been a shipmaster for his soul,
who has discovered and preserved his treasure.
Ephraim Syrus, ESHS4 601:15; cf. MEM p.98

It is not suggested that, in the form in which archaeologists have found them,
the Mesopotamian writings are specifically mystical – only that mystical elements
were present in Mesopotamian religion at that time. Perhaps such elements
represented only hopes and vague religious aspirations to which later mystics
gave substance as mystical realities that could be experienced. Or maybe there
had been mystics who had used these metaphors, which later became embedded
in cultural and religious myths, the result of a decline in spiritual vision after the
departure of the mystic.
But mystics always seem to have been present, in every time and culture.
Maybe they are a part of the natural economy, to provide spiritual leaven in the
darkness of material existence, to guide those souls seeking spiritual assistance.
 1.3 Zarathushtra and Zoroastrianism 11

Whether or not mystics are remembered in history depends upon the religious
and cultural atmosphere of their time and place. Moreover, there is no reason
why mystics should have left any written record or should even have been lit-
erate. They would have been like the people around them. Literacy, after all,
can also be understood as a part of the process of crystallization of material life
from a more spiritual condition. Civilization is a materialization that requires
literacy, record keeping, commerce, written communication and all those ma-
terial things that mystics say hold the soul captive in this world.

1.3 Z ARATHUSHTRA AND Z OROASTRIANISM

Zarathushtra Spitamā was born at a time when the ancient Aryan-speaking people
were spreading their influence and their language both west and east of their
Middle Eastern homeland. According to one tradition, he was the third of five
sons born to a devout and learned man, Pourushaspa, and his wife, Dughdhōvā.
Zarathushtra’s language was Avestan, the most ancient of the Iranian branch
of Indo-European languages spoken in Bactria, corresponding in present times
to Tajikistan and northern Afghanistan. Zarathushtra is his Avestan name,
Spitamā his family name, and the Greeks later called him Zoroaster. In his name,
the Zoroastrian or Parsee religion was founded, becoming the main religion of
ancient Persia. And from his teaching, there is good reason to believe that he
was a mystic and a great spiritual teacher. Certainly, the much later Iranian
mystic, Mānī (c.216–276), taught that Zarathushtra had been a Saviour of the
highest order. Some of the ancient writers said that Zarathushtra was the disciple
of Pythagoras, one of the earliest known of the Greek mystics. Others have
suggested that Zarathushtra was known in India as the Buddha, and that the two
great sages were the same person. From a study of the dates, these suggestions
seem implausible, but it demonstrates that the message of these great spiritual
teachers has been held by some to be more or less the same.
Zarathushtra was almost certainly born in ancient Iran; but like many great
mystics, his actual place and date of birth are a matter of debate. It was formerly
believed that he was born in Rae, though some modern scholars believe that his
place of birth was probably Amvi, in the district of Uramiah. Others say that he
was born in Azerbaijan, to the west of Media.
Classical writers such as Xanthus of Lydia (C5th BCE), Plato (c.427–347
BCE), Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE) and Plutarch (c.46–119 CE) date him vari-
ously between 6000 and 1000 BCE, but modern scholars, by a comparative
analysis of his language and various historical references in the legends con-
cerning his life, generally place him between 1200 BCE and 550 BCE. This is
endorsed to some extent by Pahlavi (Middle Persian) writers on Zoroastrianism,
during the period of Sassanian rule (224–651 CE), who say that he lived about
300 years before Alexander the Great, during the seventh century BCE.
12 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

On the other hand, the Avestan language of Zarathushtra’s Gāthās is very

similar to Sanskrit, seeming to be more or less contemporary with the oldest
stratum of Vedic literature, especially that of the ig Veda, though the character
alphabets used are different. In fact, since some of the words and grammatical
forms used by Zarathushtra had become obsolete by Vedic times, the Gāthās
are possibly slightly earlier than the ig Veda. This would date Zarathushtra to
as far back as 1200 to 1500 BCE or even earlier, the approximate dates com-
monly assigned to the ig Veda.
Since nothing of any early date or historical reliability exists, details con-
cerning Zarathushtra’s life are largely a matter of legend and tradition. In com-
mon with many holy men and women of the past, miracle stories abound
concerning his birth, infancy and later life. Some accord him a conventional
human birth and parentage. Others relate that the glory of Ahurā Mazdā, together
with the eternal spirit and material substance of Zarathushtra, entered the womb
of his mother when she was only fifteen, and that he, like Jesus, came into this
world by a virgin birth. The Roman historian, Pliny, writes in his Natural History:

It is recorded of Zoroaster that he was the only human being who ever
laughed on the same day that he was born. We hear, too, that his brain
throbbed so powerfully as to dislodge a hand when laid upon his head, this
foretelling his future wisdom.
Pliny the Elder, Natural History VII:72, NH2 p.552; cf. NH2 p.553

According to tradition, at the age of fifteen, accompanied by a few faithful com-

panions, Zarathushtra left his parental home in search of enlightenment. Com-
ing to the wide river Abahi, there being neither bridge nor boat, he prayed for
divine guidance on how to reach the other side. Then, setting out, armed only
with his faith, he and his companions walked on the water, safely reaching the
other side.
From this time, and prior to his ministry, Zarathushtra passed a further
fifteen years living in solitude on the mountain of Ushidaren, spending his time
in meditation. Wrestling with himself, it is said that he conquered his desires
and lower self. Achieving mystic union with the supreme Lord of light and love,
Ahurā Mazdā, he received a divine mandate to share his revelation.
Pointing out that Zarathushtra did not teach asceticism and flight from
worldly life to the forests or mountains, some commentators have suggested that
the mountain is actually allegorical, referring to the inner heights reached by
the soul in mystic transport. They note that the name of the mountain, Ushidaren,
literally means ‘consciousness affording’. In the mystical expression of later
Judaism, Christianity, Manichaeism, Mandaeanism and the Middle East, moun-
tains are a common metaphor for the inner regions of the soul.
Traditionally, Zarathushtra is believed to have begun his ministry at around
the age of thirty. To begin with, he had very few followers, but at the age of
 1.3 Zarathushtra and Zoroastrianism 13

forty-two, King Vishtaspa and his court at Bactria, a small province in eastern
Iran, became his disciples, after which his teachings were more readily accepted.
He is said to have died at the age of seventy-seven.
The teachings of Zarathushtra were well known throughout the Middle East
in ancient times. Plato mentions him in Alcibiadēs; the Magi, Zoroastrian sages,
were said to have been present at the birth of Jesus; the Greek philosophers
Eudoxus (c.406–355 BCE), Aristotle (384–322 BCE), Hermippus of Smyrna
(C3rd BCE) and Xanthus of Lydia are all said to have written of him; Plutarch
and the early Christian fathers, Clement of Alexandria (c.150–215 CE) and
Hippolytus (fl.210–236 CE), all say on the authority of the Greek historian,
Diodorus of Eretria (C1st BCE) and Aristoxenus, a disciple of Aristotle, that
Zarathushtra had been a disciple of Pythagoras, though the two were probably
separated in time by many centuries.
Although a number of ancient Zoroastrian texts still exist, the only surviving
writings that can be traced to Zarathushtra himself are the Gāthās, comprising
only a slim volume. Tradition, however, credits him with having been a prolific
writer. Pliny states that the great philosopher, Hermippus, had read some two
million verses composed by Zarathushtra, while Zoroastrian tradition credits him
with twenty-one books or nasks. Apart from the Gāthās, extant Zoroastrian reli-
gious writings are essentially later commentaries, interpretations or religious
writings of various kinds. There is thus considerable confusion as to what
Zarathushtra actually taught. Moreover, the Avestan language in which the
Gāthās are written is so old that there is disagreement among scholars as to the
meaning of many of the passages. Often, there are as many translations and
interpretations of a particular gāthā as there are translators, the rendering
generally reflecting the translator’s own personal background and bias.
According to traditional Zoroastrianism, Zarathushtra taught the existence
of two gods – one evil and the other good. But a number of scholars – Zoroas-
trian and otherwise – have pointed out that Zarathushtra himself was very clear
that the two spirits (mainyu) of which he speaks are both creations of the su-
preme Lord, Ahurā Mazdā. In fact, Ahurā means Lord of Life and – according
to I.J.S. Taraporewala – Mazdā means the Creator of Matter, emphasizing that
both life and matter, light and darkness, good and evil, are the creation of the
Supreme:

Now to eager listeners will I speak

of the two mainyu, Mazdā did create.…
That you, grown perfect, may attain His Light.…

The first created were these mainyu, two:

as twin co-workers they manifest themselves;
Yet in each thought and word and deed these two
forever disagree: one’s good, the other’s bad.
14 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

And of these two, the wise do choose aright,

while the unwise choose not thus – and go astray.

And when together these two mainyu

did foregather at creation’s early dawn,
one made life (gaya), the other, death (ajyāitī);
And thus creation’s purpose is achieved:
Darkness of mind for the followers of Untruth (dregvānts),
brightness of mind for the followers of Truth (ashāvants).
Of these two mainyu, the worldly man (dregvānt)
will always choose performing evil deeds,
while the spiritual man will choose the Truth.

He who would clothe himself in imperishable light,

He who would satisfy the Lord Ahurā:
Let him through deeds of Truth choose Mazdā’s Way.
Zarathushtra, Yasna 30:1, 3–5; cf. DSZ pp.127, 136, 140, 144

Here, Zarathushtra makes it clear that the two powers, spirits or mainyu are
creations of the one Lord, Ahurā Mazdā.
It is apparent from his writings that Zarathushtra taught the practice of the
mystic Word, the divine creative Power which he called the Manthrā, Vohu
Manō, Sraosha and by other names. Further evidence of this comes from the
third-century Iranian mystic, Mānī, upon whose teachings the religion of
Manichaeism was founded. Considerably more of Zarathushtra’s teachings
would have been extant then than nowadays, and Mānī taught that the Buddha,
Jesus, Zarathushtra and others had all been Saviours or perfect Masters, but that
a living person required a living Saviour in order to attain salvation. From the
limited history available, it seems that Mānī probably had disciples stretching
from India to Rome, with cultural backgrounds from Buddhism, Christianity and
Zoroastrianism. It was therefore natural for him to explain the teachings of all
three of these great mystics.
Like all mystics, Zarathushtra taught that God is formless and intangible.
As such, although He is beyond all attributes, He can only be described by His
characteristics or aspects. Zarathushtra mentions six of these in particular, and
though the term is not used in the Gāthās, these six came to be known as the
Ameshā Spentās or Holy Immortals in later Zoroastrianism. They are:

Ashā The Law, Command or Order of God; the divine will, the
mystic Truth
Vohu Manō The Primal Mind or Intelligence of God
Xshathrā The Power and Might of God
Ārmaiti Divine devotion and faith
 1.3 Zarathushtra and Zoroastrianism 15

Haurvatāt Perfection
Ameretatāt Immortality

While Zarathushtra’s simple teachings, as found in the Gāthās, are comparable

to those of many other mystics, Zoroastrianism became somewhat different in
later ages. Following the path of most religions, it absorbed influences, beliefs
and practices from its surroundings and background. After Zarathushtra’s
departure, some of the older Iranian deities were introduced into the belief sys-
tem, including the god Mithra, appearing in the Indian Vedas as Mitra. Other
influences, external to Persia, also found their way into the Zoroastrian religious
tradition in the course of its development.
Mithra, incidentally, is of considerable interest because the religion of
Mithraism, formed around his worship, not only became one of the foremost
religions of the Roman Empire, especially of Roman garrisons abroad, but was
also a major rival to Christianity, with some of the Mithraic rituals and even
beliefs being incorporated into Christianity. The twenty-fifth of December, for
example, was actually the date on which the Romans celebrated the birthday of
Mithra, and was adopted as a convenience by the early Christians as the birth-
day of Jesus since it was a public holiday in the Roman Empire.
In the absence of historical records, it is uncertain whether or not Zara-
thushtra left a successor; there is, however, a verse that seems to indicate that
he did:

O Frashoshtra, gather up the devotees,

O Hvōgvā, lead them on to higher realms,
to light eternal, as we both wish –
Where Ārmaiti (Devotion) dwells close-knit to Truth (Ashā),
where Xshathrā (Might, Majesty) reigns supreme,
gained through His First Mind (Vohu Manō),
where Mazdā Ahurā in His glory shines.
Zarathushtra, Yasna 46:16; cf. DSZ p.625

Frashoshtra Hvōgvā was a minister at the court of Vishtaspa, and his brother
Jāmāspa, to whom the next verse in this gāthā is addressed, was prime minister.
Their sister, Havovi, was said to have been married to Zarathushtra. Zarathushtra
appears to be instructing Frashoshtra to take care of his disciples, and to lead
them on the spiritual path.
As observed, the meaning of Zarathushtra’s Gāthās is a matter of scholarly
debate, but some considerable help can be derived from a study of the similarities
between Avestan and Sanskrit. The two are closely related members of the Indo-
European group of languages. In fact, according to I.J.S. Taraporewala of
Bombay, a Gathic stanza can be transposed into Sanskrit, especially the Sanskrit
of the ig Veda, with only minor changes. He has also demonstrated that the
16 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

metre of the Ahunavaiti Gāthā, a collection of verses well known to all Zoroas-
trians, bears a remarkable resemblance to that of the Gāyatrī, familiar to students
of the ig Veda. All this suggests that Zarathushtra and the earliest writers of
the ig Veda were more or less contemporary. There are also significant parallels
between Avestan and Sanskrit. For example:

Gathic Avestan Sanskrit

ameretatāt immortality amartyatā immortality

mainyu spirit, spiritual power manyu spirit, mind,
ardour, zeal, passion
manthrā word mantra sacred text or speech
a prayer, a song of praise
xshathrā power kshatra power, might

Certain aspects of the Gāthās also have their counterparts in the Vedas. Ashā,
for instance, meaning Truth and divine Order in its highest and most mystic
sense, is probably derived from the same root as the Vedic, ita, where the mean-
ing is very much the same. Even the term Ahurā, used by Zarathushtra for the
Supreme Being, is found in the Vedas as one of a group of benevolent deities
known as the asuras.
Zoroastrian sacred literature consists of three main divisions, classifiable
by their language. Firstly, there is the Avestā, being Avestan texts. This includes
the Gāthās as a small section among some considerably later material, most of
which was written during the period of Achaemenian rule (559–331 BCE) or
perhaps in the centuries immediately after. The Avestā is divided into a number
of nasks (divisions or books). The foremost of these nasks is the Yasna, meaning
‘sacrifice’, or ‘offering with prayers’ or ‘worship’. This is the main liturgical
book in the collection, comprising seventy-two chapters, centred on seventeen
chapters containing the Gāthās, and another old and smaller section, the Yasna
Haptanghāiti, consisting of seven chapters. The remaining body of the book is
made up largely of writings of praise and prayer.
As the only extant writings of Zarathushtra, the Gāthās hold the key when
it comes to determining his actual teachings. However, there are many manu-
scripts of the Gāthās in existence, some originating in Persia and some in India,
the latter being based upon Iranian originals. And none of these is older than the
fourteenth century CE. There is also considerable variation between them and,
as with practically all ancient writings, scholars have edited together whatever
seemed the most reliable portions from separate manuscripts. During this proc-
ess, any passages which remain incomprehensible, or which the editor feels are
incorrect, are usually changed or emended until they make sense. The resulting
‘critical edition’ is then the subject of translation. In practice, there is usually
considerable room for debate over which is the more correct reading, and a
 1.3 Zarathushtra and Zoroastrianism 17

number of critical editions of the Gāthās have been prepared by various groups
of scholars.
It is not possible, therefore, to ascertain how faithful these critical editions
of the Gāthās are to Zarathushtra’s original words, though it can be reasonably
presumed that they have not have come down to present times unscathed. They
have been subject to 4000 years or so of copyists’ errors, as well as ample oppor-
tunities for editing by interested parties within the Zoroastrian religion, together
with the processes involved in the preparation of critical editions.
The second most significant nask or book of the Avestā is the Visprat, re-
sembling the Yasna in language and form and consisting of twenty-four chapters.
It is a book of invocations and offerings to vīspe ratavō (all the lords), from which
the nask takes its name. Thirdly, there is the Yasht (from the Avestan yeshti,
meaning ‘worship by praise’), containing twenty-one hymns in praise of the
various deities or ‘worshipful ones (yazata)’ of the Zoroastrian pantheon such as
Mithra and others. Many of the deities invoked are actually Indo-Iranian in origin,
and the content of some of the hymns pre-dates Zarathushtra, though written in a
later dialect. The Khorda Avestā follows, consisting of short prayers; then there
is the Vidēvdāt (lit. law against demons), a priestly manual in twenty-two chap-
ters, and the Hadhōkht Nask (lit. section containing sayings), which describes
what happens to the soul after death. Additionally, there are fragments from a
number of other nasks of the Avestā which are no longer extant. The Zand-Avestā
refers to the Avestā, together with various traditional interpretative commentaries
in the original Avestan, Zand being a Pahlavi word, meaning ‘commentary’.
It is generally believed that the Avestā, like many ancient texts, was at first
transmitted orally and memorized, since the spoken or audible word (manthrā)
was understood to contain more power than the written word. However, Zara-
thushtra’s Gāthās indicate that his understanding of the Manthrā was that of the
Creative Word, which is indeed more powerful than the written word. As the
religion developed, Zarathushtra’s insistence on the importance of the audible –
but mystic – Word was probably misunderstood to mean the spoken rather than
the written word.
The script in which Avestan was written was not created until the fourth
century CE, by which time most of the Avestan works were lost, including a
large number of Zarathushtra’s Gāthās. This script was derived from the late
Sassanid script devised for Pahlavi (literary Middle Persian). It seems fairly
certain, therefore, that the Avestā itself was not committed to writing until late
in the period of Sassanid rule, maybe two millennia after the time of Zara-
thushtra. During the Sassanid era, the Avestā was also re-edited and re-arranged
three times, the final redaction opting for an arrangement into twenty-one nasks
or books, corresponding to the twenty-one words of the sacred Zoroastrian
prayer, the Ahuna Vairya.
The second main division of Zoroastrian texts consists of the Pahlavi books
originating mainly during the Sassanian era, which brought a revival of both
18 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

material and spiritual interests to Zoroastrianism. Pahlavi was the language of

Iran at that time, Avestan having become largely unintelligible to the general
population. Further additions to this literature seem to have been made as late
as the end of eleventh century CE. The Pahlavi literature is of two kinds: firstly,
translations of the Avestā, intermingled with commentary; secondly, a consid-
erable volume of independent writings on matters of the religion. It is clear, how-
ever, from the Dēnkart, a ninth-century summary of the twenty-one nasks, that
not all of the Pahlavi Avestā has survived. Much of the early material, both of
the Avestan and of the Pahlavi material that was written during the Sassanian
period, has been lost.
By the time of the Pahlavi writers and translators, the simple mystic teach-
ings of Zarathushtra were well submerged beneath layers of religious belief in-
troduced from other quarters. Scholars have also pointed out that the Pahlavi
translators did not fully understand some of the grammatical constructions of
ancient Avestan. This, together with the beliefs, practices and prejudices of the
time, resulted in renderings that reflected the point of view of the period. The
Pahlavi translations of the Avestan material, however, are of considerable
interest, not least because they preserve much ancient material no longer extant
in its Avestan original. Indeed, until as recently as the middle of the twentieth
century, all the Western translations and studies of Zarathushtra’s original
Avestan Gāthās were made from the defective Pahlavi translations, giving – at
best – a distorted picture of his teachings.
The Pahlavi language itself is the Middle Persian or Iranian language that
originated in Iran during the centuries after the fall of the Achaemenian Empire
to Alexander the Great (331 BCE), in the time of Darius III. The Achaemenian
dynasty was the first long period of rule in the Persian Empire founded by Cyrus
the Great (c.529 BCE), king of Persia. In its Middle Persian form (pahlavīg),
Pahlavi was an adjective designating the Parthians, the most prominent ethnic
group in Iran during the period of Arsacid rule (247 BCE – 224 CE), as opposed
to the Persians (pārsīg or modern fārsī), the prominent ethnic group of south-
west Iran that held power in the Sassanid era (224–651 CE).
Pahlavi was a direct evolution of the Achaemenid style of writing Aramaic,
as it existed in the Persian-speaking area of Iran in the period following the end
of Achaemenid rule. Like all languages, Pahlavi continued to evolve, becoming
the official language of the Sassanian rulers, and the literary language of the
period. It survived for some three centuries after their downfall, remaining the
language of Iran until the modern Persian alphabet was invented in the seventh
century, based on the Arabic script. As well as the wealth of Zoroastrian texts, a
large body of religious and mystic literature belonging to the Nestorian Chris-
tians and Manichaeans was also written in Pahlavi.
In addition to a number of other minor works, the most well-known of the
Zoroastrian Pahlavi books are:
 1.3 Zarathushtra and Zoroastrianism 19

1. The Bundahishn (lit. primal creation, original creation), a creation story

and revelation based upon the Avestan Dāmdāt Nask.
2. The Dēnkart (lit. acts of the religion), an encyclopaedic work on Zoro-
astrianism, summarizing the contents of the twenty-one nasks or books
of the Avestā, written in the nineth century CE, during a brief Zoroas-
trian renaissance under Muslim rule.
3. The Artāk Virāz Nāmak (lit. the book of Saint Virāz), a revelation of
heaven and hell.
4. The Dātastān-i Dēnīk (lit. ordinances of the religion).
5. The Pahlavi Rivāyat; a companion volume to the Dātastān-i Dēnīk.
6. The Dātastān-i Mēnūk-i Khrat (lit. ordinances of the spirit of wisdom).
7. The Shāyist nē-Shāyist (lit. the proper and the improper).
8. The Shkand-vimānīk Vichār (lit. doubt-dispelling expositions).

The third division of Zoroastrian writings consists of those originating with the
Parsee priests, both in Iran and India, dated after the eleventh century and written
in more modern Iranian.
The mingling of cultures in the Middle East has left its mark upon the mys-
tical expression and religious beliefs of both the well-known and lesser-known
mystical and religious teachings of the last four millennia. Echoes of metaphors
used by Zarathushtra in the Gāthās can be found not only in the Vedas but also
in the Jewish Wisdom Literature, in the Jewish mystical tradition known as
Merkavah (Chariot), among the gnostics of the early Christian era, in the writings
of the Mandaeans, in the teachings of Mānī, in the beliefs of the medieval
Bogomils, Cathars and Albigensians, in both the canonical and apocryphal liter-
ature of early Christianity, and among the later Sufi mystics of Islam.
Zoroastrianism preceded the three other world religions that have emanated
from the Middle East – Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It is not surprising to
find, therefore, that Zoroastrian doctrines, as well as the original teachings of
Zarathushtra, are echoed in these later religions. Zoroastrianism, for instance,
teaches resurrection of the body after death; it also teaches the existence of the
soul, and of heaven and hell; there is also a Day of Judgment at the end of time
when the struggle between good and evil comes to an end. These doctrines are
all present in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Like Christianity, Zoroastrianism also looks forward to the coming of a
Saviour. Zoroastrian myths recount that the seed of Zarathushtra is preserved in
a lake, and that a virgin, bathing in that lake, will conceive the Saviour. It is
therefore possible that the coming of the three Magi (Zoroastrian priests) to the
birth of Jesus, according to the gospel story, was an attempt to present Jesus as
the Zoroastrian world Saviour.
Among Zoroastrian contributions to Islam are the five daily prayers, also
practised by Zoroastrians; the use of water in ablutions and an emphasis on ritual
purity, also common to Judaism; the importance of good intention, called in
20 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Arabic, niyyah, and comparable with what Zoroastrians call ‘good thought’; the
Arabic term for paradise (firdaws), originally a Persian word stemming from
an earlier Avestan origin; the concept of the soul having to cross a bridge of
judgment after death, the Chinvatō Peretū to Zoroastrians and the Pul-i irā to
Muslims; the Muslim belief that the dead can hear for three days after death,
originating in the Zoroastrian belief that the soul hovers about for three days
before departing for the next world; and even simple superstitions, such as not
breathing into fire (e.g. not blowing out a candle).
In the Qur’ān, Zoroastrians are called Mājūs, a term that tended to cover all
Iranian religions. Islamic authorities have accepted them as a ‘People of the
Book’, whose religion was a revelation from God, thus qualifying them for
protection from the Islamic state and as a people who could not be compelled to
convert to Islam. The same applies to Christians and Jews.
Zarathushtra’s teachings, as they are presented in the Gāthās, were com-
bined with other elements not long after his death. Even as early as Achaemenid
times, “The more important forms of Persian belief were blended into a single
syncretic religion, and the Zoroastrian priests were compelled to accept a number
of heathenish deities.”6 In later times, Greek influences both before and certainly
after the fall of the Persian Empire to Alexander in 331 BCE, followed by a
succession of Parthian rulers (141 BCE – 224 CE), made the religion of Zoroas-
trianism into something very different from that which Zarathushtra himself
had taught. Even during the restoration of Zoroastrianism as the state religion
during Sassanian times (224–651 CE), Zarathushtra’s teachings themselves still
suffered at the hands of the Pahlavi translators and interpreters.
In its prime, as the state religion of ancient Iran, Zoroastrianism claimed
many millions of adherents. During the Achaemenid rule, Zoroastrianism
spread throughout Asia Minor and Syria into Central Asia, China and India.
Zoroastrians were to be found in North Africa and, in Parthian days, there were
Zoroastrians living in Italy. It is thus to be classed as one of the major world
religions.
It was the Muslim conquest of Iran, however, that dealt a blow to Zoroas-
trianism from which it has never recovered. The Muslim onslaught, fiercely
resisted by the Sassanians, culminated in 642 in the bloody battle of Nihāvand,
to the south of Hamadān, in which an Iranian army of 150,000 is said to have
lost 100,000 men to the skilful tactics of an Arab force numbering only 30,000.
Following this battle, the Muslims were able to consolidate their position, and
with the death of the last Sassanian emperor in 651, their conquest of Iran was
complete. The ensuing Muslim rule proved more disastrous to Zoroastrianism
that any of the earlier conquests. While the Greeks and Parthians had been
largely tolerant of the religious life of those they conquered, the Muslims were
bent on conversion by the sword and the extirpation of existing religions. In a
short while, Zoroastrianism was all but eliminated, and the remaining followers
were largely confined to the oasis of Yazd and the more eastern provinces, far
 1.4 Judaism 21

from the capital and less influenced by Muslim domination. The mid-seventh
century also saw the first emigration of Zoroastrians to India, followed a century
later, by a second.
Though a widespread religion in ancient times, modern Zoroastrians are
estimated to number between 150,000 and 200,000 worldwide, around 75,000
of whom live in India, mostly in the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat, espe-
cially Mumbaī, Pue and Sūrat. Census information, however, on which these
figures are largely based, is unreliable, and actual numbers may vary to some
extent. Only about 18,000 Zoroastrians remain in Iran, mostly in Tehran, Kernan
and Yazd.7 In modern Iran, Zarathushtra is known as Zaradusht, and Zoroastrians
are called Zaradushtis.

1.4 J UDAISM
The Hebrew Bible and Other Texts
Like most religions, the beliefs and practices of Judaism are based upon its an-
cient scriptures and traditions. This means the Bible – a diverse collection of
documents written and collected over a long period of time. The Hebrew Bible
is divided into three broad categories: the Torah (the Law), the Prophets and the
Writings. The Torah consists of the first five books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers and Deuteronomy), commonly called the Pentateuch. Beginning with
a story of the creation, they continue with the early history of Adam and his
descendants, and go on to chronicle the history of the Israelites, their exodus
from Egypt and their wanderings in the Sinai desert, up to the death of Moses,
just before their entry into Canaan.
Traditionally, the authorship of these five books is attributed to Moses, but
scholarly analysis reveals that they are actually comprised of five or possibly
more separate sources, woven together and stemming from different periods.
Firstly, there is the oldest source, originating from the southern kingdom, Judah,
which uses Yahweh as its name for God, and dates from the ninth or tenth century
BCE; secondly, a source from the northern kingdom, Israel – a later composition,
but also of great antiquity, using Elohim as its name for God. It is likely that
these had already been combined by the time the third source, Deuteronomy, or
most of it, was added – a document compiled during the seventh century, and
found in the Temple during the period of Joshua’s reforms. Lastly, two priestly
documents were added at a time when worship had become more formalized,
probably during the Babylonian exile of the sixth century BCE.
Following the Torah are the Prophets, subdivided into the Early Prophets
and the Later Prophets. The Early Prophets consist of the largely historical books
of Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, and 1 and 2 Kings. Although recounting the
early history of the Israelites, the chief concerns of these books are with the re-
lationship between the Israelites and God, and in many instances it is impossible
22 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

to reconstruct anything like an accurate or chronological history of events, nor

was this the intention of the various authors. The period covered is from the
time of Joshua, successor to Moses around 1250 BCE, to the sack of Jerusalem
and destruction of the Temple in c.587/586 BCE by the Babylonian king,
Nebuchadnezzar, resulting in the Babylonian deportation and exile of the Jews.
To begin with, the sources that were compiled into the earliest versions these
books, probably during the sixth century BCE, would have circulated as a mix-
ture of written texts and oral tradition.
The Later Prophets comprise the books of Isaiah (b.c.765 BCE), Jeremiah
(b.c.646 BCE), Ezekiel (fl.c.593–571 BCE) and the collection of the twelve
prophets: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, abakkuk,
Zephaniah, aggai, Zechariah and Malachi, who lived between the eighth and
the fifth centuries BCE. The book of Jonah, probably written in the fourth century
BCE, is the odd one out in this collection, being a satirical and fantastical story
concerning the reluctant prophet, Jonah, who otherwise receives only a passing
mention in 2 Kings.8
The Writings (the Ketuvim or Hagiographa) consist of the Wisdom Litera-
ture (Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Psalms and the Song of Songs), together with
1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Daniel, Ruth, Esther, Lamentations and Nehemiah. It
is in the Psalms and the Wisdom Literature that some of the most explicitly
mystical writing is to be found.
Ancillary to these biblical texts are a number of other interesting books,
some historical such as 1 and 2 Maccabees, while others are in the prophetic tra-
dition, like Baruch, the Sibylline Oracles, the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs,
and 1, 2 and 3 Enoch. Two texts, the Wisdom of Solomon and the Wisdom of
Jesus ben Sirach (also called Ecclesiasticus) belong with the Wisdom Literature,
and are particularly remarkable for their mystic content, especially regarding
Wisdom (He.
okhmah, Gk. Sophia) as the divine creative Power.

Early Jewish Mysticism

To appreciate the mystic meaning in the Bible, it is necessary to look deeply
into its language and symbolism. The first book, Genesis, begins with a dramatic
account of the creation through the mystic Utterance or Command of God:

In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.

Now the earth was unformed and void,
and darkness was upon the face of the deep,
and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters.
And God said, “Let there be light!”: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good;
And God divided the light from the darkness.
Genesis 1:1–4, FBM
 1.4 Judaism 23

From the creation, Genesis moves on to the mythic stories of Adam and Eve
and the garden of Eden, long understood by mystics as an allegorical portrayal
of the primal separation of the soul from God and its imprisonment in the physical
universe.
The story continues with the episode of Noah and the great flood, under-
stood mystically as the end of one cosmic age and the birth of another. The ark
symbolizes the continuity of life through the cosmic cycles of creation, destruc-
tion and re-creation, while Noah is the archetypal Saviour of mankind who
carries the potential for life from one age to another.
There is a long-established Jewish tradition of biblical interpretation from
a mystical perspective. Jewish commentators since the time of the rabbis, several
centuries BCE, discussed the biblical stories and shared their mystical under-
standing of them. Centuries later, the medieval mystics of the movement known
as the Kabbalah also gave complex, symbolic interpretations of biblical texts in
order to convey their mystic teachings. They believed that there were several
levels of meaning embedded in the Bible, from the literal or contextual to the
secret or esoteric. At the deepest level, the entire Torah was seen as a spiritual
allegory. The stories that pertain to the creation, and the history of the patriarchs
and the ancient Israelites, were also understood as allegories of the soul’s spir-
itual journey and evolution.
Jewish mystics, and indeed many Jewish scholars, have not seen themselves
as interpreting the Bible. They have seen themselves as unlocking a code to its
true meaning. They have believed that the written text of the Bible was never
meant to be taken literally, but that it was designed from the outset as a series of
hints or codes pointing to an oral tradition or text that carried a more mystical
layer of meaning. That is why, for example, the kind of biblical literalness that
tries to base every belief on the literal words of the Bible is alien to Judaism.
After the period of the flood, the Bible moves into what can be called early
recorded history – the era of the patriarchs and matriarchs: Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Leah and Rachel – beginning around 2000 BCE. It re-
lates that God commanded Abraham to journey from Mesopotamia, the “land
of his fathers”, to the land of Canaan, and tells of God’s covenant with him.9
The covenant between God and Abraham was an agreement that Abraham would
worship only the one Lord. In exchange, God promised that a great and mighty
people would issue from Abraham, to whom He would bequeath “a land flow-
ing with milk and honey”,10 if they continued to be faithful to Him.
From a mystical viewpoint, worship of the one God (monotheism) is the
worship of the unity that is God. Later Jewish commentators have observed that
the covenant, which was marked by the rite of circumcision, was Abraham’s
initiation into the inner spiritual practice of the Holy Name of God,11 the divine
creative Power, which they also called the Memra (Utterance), the Davar (Word)
and the Logos (Word). In fact, the term brit millah, commonly translated as ‘cov-
enant of the circumcision’, also means ‘covenant of the Name’. Abraham agreed
24 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

to teach his descendants this inner worship; in return, God promised to take them
to the land of Canaan12 – the ‘promised land’, “a land flowing with milk and
honey”, metaphors for the higher heavenly realms.
Not only is Abraham considered the father of the Jewish religion through
his son Isaac and grandson Jacob, but Muslims also trace their lineage to
Abraham through his son Ishmael. In fact, since Christianity embraces its Judaic
roots, Abraham is regarded as the first patriarch of Christianity as well. Thus,
the followers of all three religions share the same heritage.
Jacob, also called Israel,13 had twelve sons from whom were descended the
twelve original tribes of Israel. Initially, they were no more than clans of related
families who, through circumstances, moved to Egypt where they were at first
treated as welcome visitors. With a change of rulers, however, Egypt eventu-
ally became unfriendly to the early Israelites, and they were subjected to forced
labour and other hardships. Having endured 200 years in these harsh circum-
stances, the Bible relates how Moses was sent by God as their liberator. The
revelation experienced by Moses when God called him to this task – of the
divine Voice issuing from a burning bush that is not consumed14 – has been
interpreted by Jewish mystics as a dramatic and graphic account of God reveal-
ing himself in the form of light and sound.15
The period of slavery in Egypt and the subsequent exodus mark the Israel-
ites’ evolution from a community of tribes and families to a people with an
identity and a unique religious orientation. Jewish interpreters throughout the
ages, from the first-century Alexandrian, Philo Judaeus, to the Kabbalists of the
Middle Ages, have consistently interpreted this story allegorically. Thus, Egypt
symbolizes the body, slavery in Egypt is a period of spiritual constriction, the
exodus and the forty years of wandering in the desert that followed represent
the soul’s breaking away from the oppression of worldliness and the beginning
of the spiritual journey, and so on. This symbolic and often mystical interpreta-
tion of apparently historical events is characteristically Jewish, appearing, for
instance, in the Dead Sea Scrolls from the first and second centuries BCE. It is
in keeping with the tone of the Bible in which the things that happen to the
Israelites are interpreted in the light of their relationship to God. Misfortunes,
for instance, are understood as the result of God’s anger at their previous mis-
demeanours. Consequently, it is difficult to tell how much of these stories are
historical, and how much they have been allegorized.
During their wanderings in the desert, the Bible recounts that Moses brought
his people to the foot of Mount Sinai where he ascended the mountain and com-
muned with God. God entered into a second covenant with the Israelites, a renewal
of his covenant with Abraham 600 years earlier. The covenant is symbolized by
the Ten Commandments, which Moses carried from the heights of the moun-
tain. Through Moses, God revealed himself to the children of Israel.
Like God’s covenant with Abraham, Jewish mystics have taught that this
revelation was the experience of God’s Holy Name. Climbing the mountain is
 1.4 Judaism 25

an ancient Middle Eastern symbol for ascent to the inner spiritual regions. The
true Torah or ‘revelation’ experienced by Moses is thus his inner mystical
experience of God, which he tried to convey to the people of Israel. The mystic
revelation of God’s Name or Word is a theme repeated throughout the Bible –
not only in the stories of the patriarchs and Moses, but also in the accounts of
the lives and teachings of the prophets who lived in the centuries leading up to
the first century CE.
The Bible speaks of the intense relationship between God and the people of
Israel. A pattern emerges in which the people lose faith in God, and God proves
His love and protection through a miracle. For although they attested belief in
God, whom they called Yahweh (Jehovah), meaning the ‘One who is, was and
will be’, they would consistently lose faith and begin worshipping the deities of
the peoples surrounding them. Even while Moses was at the top of Mount Sinai
receiving the revelation of the Ten Commandments, the Israelites waiting at the
foot of the mountain fashioned a golden calf to worship.
The Ten Commandments, in Hebrew called the ‘tablets of the covenant’
(since they embodied the essence of God’s covenant with Abraham as renewed
during the time of Moses), were placed in a special ‘ark of the covenant’ which
travelled with the Israelites in a mobile sanctuary called the ‘tent of the meeting’.
According to the Bible story, a cloud of God’s glory would hover over the tent,
guiding the Israelites on their journeys. The tent and the ark within it were a
symbol of God’s presence in their midst wherever they journeyed.
Possession of the ark of the covenant gave the Israelites a centre, a focus
for their trust in God. Even when they eventually entered the land of Canaan,
the ark was carried with them into battle. Eventually, when the Temple was
built in Jerusalem, this ark and the tablets within it were kept in the innermost
sanctum, the holy of holies. In fact, the Temple was originally conceived as the
permanent tent of the meeting.
In the biblical account, Moses dies just before entering Canaan, and is suc-
ceeded by the prophet Joshua who leads the people into the promised land. After
Joshua, there is a succession of religious judges and prophets who guide the
people spiritually and morally. The next thousand years reflect the efforts of the
prophets to keep the people loyal to the worship of Yahweh alone. But, as at Sinai,
the people consistently stray to the worship and cultic practices of local Canaanite
deities. So although the worship of Yahweh was the official religion, the worship
of other gods continued simultaneously throughout, with little exception.
Prophecy was a phenomenon known and documented in most ancient Middle
Eastern societies. In addition to Abraham and Moses, other biblical prophets
include Samuel, Elijah and Elisha, followed later by Isaiah, Joel, Jeremiah and
Ezekiel. These prophets also selected the temporal leaders of the people. It is
Samuel, for instance, who anoints Saul as the first king of Israel, later anointing
David as Saul’s successor. The anointing signified the alighting of God’s will
upon an individual.
26 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

David himself, though not a prophet but a king, functioned as a kind of

spiritual leader. The Bible relates that when he was anointed by Samuel, the
“Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward,”16 adding several
times elsewhere that “the Lord was with him,”17 and repeatedly mentioning
David’s consultations with God during his wars and various struggles. David
was also an accomplished musician, and a late tradition ascribes many of the
psalms to him, also crediting him with organizing the Temple choirs. The events
of David’s life in the tenth century BCE are the earliest biblical information that
can be verified historically. He conquered the lands around him, including the
city of Jebus (later called Jerusalem), which he made into his capital.
The Temple in Jerusalem was built by David’s son, King Solomon. Accord-
ing to tradition, Solomon was a man of great wisdom, and is regarded as the
author of the Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes and Proverbs, which form part of the
mystical Wisdom Literature. After Solomon’s death, the kingdom established
by David split into two. The larger kingdom of Israel was made up of the ten
tribes who had settled in the northern area of Samaria, and the southern king-
dom of Judah comprised the two tribes in the area near Jerusalem and the
Judaean desert.
During the period of the monarchies, from the ninth century BCE onwards,
prophets like Elijah and Isaiah recounted their experiences of God’s Holy Name,
also warning the people that other nations would conquer them unless they
returned to the ways of the covenant and gave up their immoral behaviour.
According to 2 Kings, at Elijah’s death he ascended to heaven in a “chariot of
fire” or light.18 This description of his ascent became an important inspiration
for later Jewish mystic seekers, who took the account metaphorically, as the
ascent of the soul into the inner heavens.
The prophet Jeremiah in the seventh and sixth centuries BCE lived through
the Babylonian exile of both Jewish kingdoms, instructing the people to ac-
cept their fate and prophesying that it would last only seventy years. He also
denounced the corrupt Temple practices and hypocrisy of the many false
prophets. He prophesied that God would create a new covenant to be written in
the hearts of the Israelites. They would know it in their innermost beings. This
covenant seems to be a reference to the universal spiritual path present within
everyone.
Ezekiel’s prophecies were directed to the children of Israel at the time of
their exile from Judaea in the sixth century BCE. His teachings are dramatic and
sensational, particularly the allegories of the valley of dry bones that come to
life, and of the fantastic chariot made of six beings – part human, part animal,
part angel – vibrating with lights, colours and sounds, in which he ascended to
the inner celestial regions, finally reaching the throne of God. Like Elijah’s
ascent, Ezekiel’s vision of the chariot was to serve as a model for Jewish mystics
for centuries afterwards.
 1.4 Judaism 27

Much of the imagery and style of the biblical prophets reflects the other spir-
itual literature of those times. Symbols such as the Tree of Life, the wine and
the bread, for example, are common in the Middle East, and are found in
Canaanite and Mesopotamian literature. Jesus, too, was later to use similar im-
agery. The prophets often couched their teachings in parables and symbols so
that the deeper meaning of their words would only be understood by the true
mystic seekers. In some instances, they also used current political or social issues
as an allegory or symbol of inner mystic truths. Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, a well-
known modern scholar of Jewish mysticism, has provided good evidence that
many of the biblical terms describing the prophets’ activities actually refer to
specific meditation practices of repetition, remembrance and contemplation.
Within a century of their exile, Cyrus of Persia conquered Babylon. A
Zoroastrian, as well as an enlightened king, he permitted Babylon’s conquered
and subject peoples to return to their homelands and, in 520 BCE, he permitted
the Jews to return to Judaea, where work on rebuilding the Temple at Jerusalem
began soon after. But since several generations had passed since their exile and
Babylon had become their home, many of the Jews preferred to remain. Babylon
and nearby communities thus became a centre of Jewish culture, religion and
mysticism that lasted fifteen hundred years, until the advent of Islam.

The Rabbinic Tradition

Before the exile, the priests of the Jerusalem Temple were the primary authority
in Judaism. They performed specific religious functions in the Temple and in
daily Jewish life centred in the home. Once the Temple had been rebuilt in Jeru-
salem, they resumed their duties, but the role of the rabbi (lit. teacher, master)
started to gain in importance, helping to define religious and social law in an
increasingly complex and disharmonious community. By the first century BCE,
the Academy or Sanhedrin in both Babylonia and Jerusalem had become the
political, religious and judicial authority of the Jews, its rabbis considering issues
of both religious and worldly significance. With the destruction by the Romans
of the second Temple in 70 CE, the power of the priestly classes waned signifi-
cantly. The authority of the rabbis was consolidated by the second century CE,
becoming greatly strengthened during the period of Islamic rule, and continuing
to present times.
The priesthood was an inherited profession, while the rabbis were scholars
and legal advisors drawn from the people. The rabbis used their study of the
Bible to develop a guide for the numerous issues of day-to-day living. Religion
was no longer focused on the Temple at Jerusalem, with sacrificial worship on
particular days and pilgrimage for those living afar. It became centred on rituals
and prayers in local synagogues, together with an ethical code for guidance in
daily life. It is this form of Judaism, rather than the priestly or prophetic, that
forms the basis of the Jewish religion as it is practised today.
28 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

The interpretations of the first generations of rabbis, compiled at the end of

the second century CE, are called the Mishnah (lit. repetition, study). Subse-
quent generations of rabbis discussed the Mishnah and derived further interpre-
tations. This was called the Gemara (lit. completion). Together, the Mishnah
and Gemara are called the Talmud (lit. study, learning). In addition to discus-
sions of a legal nature, the Talmud also contains many legends, as well as ethical
and mystical teachings that provide a glimpse into the world of the early rabbis.
There are two versions of the Talmud – the Jerusalem Talmud, compiled during
the fourth century CE, and the Babylonian Talmud, which has become the stand-
ard reference work, at the end of the fifth. Further layers of interpretation
continued to be added right through to the eighteenth century.
It is known that a number of the rabbis of the Talmud were also mystics
who practised meditation. The literature they have left uses images and sym-
bols derived from the vision of the prophet Elisha, who saw his Master, Elijah,
rising to the heavens in a chariot of fire,19 and the experiences of the prophet
Ezekiel, who had visions of a heavenly throne and chariot, accompanied by
lights, colours, sounds and heavenly beings.20 One of the most well known
mystics of the Talmud was Rabbi Akiva, the Talmud telling the story of how he
and his companions entered the king’s pardes (orchard, garden) – a metaphor
for the inner regions. These mystics referred to their inner journey as the journey
of the chariot, and were thus known as the merkavah (chariot) mystics, their
literature bearing a resemblance to some of the gnostic texts of the same period
from Egypt and the Middle East.
Another important element in the development of rabbinic Judaism was the
influence of Greek culture. As a powerful, maritime nation, Greek influence in
antiquity was spread widely throughout Mediterranean countries, gaining further
ground after Alexander the Great’s conquests of Egypt, Judaea and much of the
Middle East during the fourth century BCE. A number of monastic and ascetic
sects existed within Judaism during rabbinic times, and their doctrines and
mode of living reflect this Greek influence, the Therapeutae and Essenes being
two such groups. In modern times, it is also believed that John the Baptist and
Jesus were in some way associated with the Essenes, though there is no direct
evidence of it.
Despite the fact that some of the rabbis of the Talmud were also practising
mystics, most rabbis were suspicious of mysticism. Rabbi Ben Zion Bokser explains:

Some teachers of the Talmud cultivated the mystical life, but … while
recording the views of those teachers who sought to cultivate mystical
interests, the Talmud indicates that the religious authorities of the time
tried to discourage this tendency.… In some instances, mystical pursuits
became intertwined with magic, which was, no doubt, an additional factor
that inspired the effort to discourage it.
Ben Zion Bokser, Jewish Mystical Tradition, JMT p.48
 1.4 Judaism 29

Contemporary rabbi, David Blumenthal, explains that during the Talmudic pe-
riod, some of the rabbinic tradition rubbed off on Jewish mysticism, hence the
intellectualism or bookishness of Jewish mystic literature. He says that the
general concept of Judaism today stems from rabbinic Judaism.21 Those rabbis
who were devoted to the mystic life tended to be secretive about their teachings
and practice, using esoteric symbols and stories that could be understood only
by the initiated. Even so, explains Blumenthal, during the course of Jewish
history there was often a give-and-take between the rationalistic rabbis and the
mystics; and just as mysticism tended to be expressed in intellectual terms, often
the scholarship of the rationalists became infused with a suppressed mystic
yearning. “There is hardly a symbol, act or belief in the rabbinic tradition,” he
says, “which was not touched, and transformed, by the mystical tradition.”22
The mystical side of Judaism during the Talmudic period and continuing
into the Middle Ages is represented for the most part in the Hekhalot literature.
Hekhalot literally means ‘palaces’ or ‘halls’. These works describe the medita-
tion practices of Jewish mystics who were attempting to travel the inner journey
through the spiritual regions or palaces on the merkavah (chariot) of light and
sound. Most of the works describing the merkavah journey were written between
the first century BCE and the tenth century CE, and are called the greater and
lesser Hekhalot.
The Sefer Ye
irah (Book of Formation), dating in written form from as early
as the third century CE, but probably existing in oral form for several centuries
earlier, is an early meditative and astrological manual. Only two thousand words
long, it describes the creation as a series of emanations from the one divine
Name, Word or Utterance. It outlines a system of meditation on the nature of
divinity through the relationships of numbers, the letters of the Hebrew alpha-
bet, and divine names. These methods were used over the centuries by mystics
attempting to manipulate supernatural forces. Some legends even ascribe the
creation of golems, or robot-like living creatures, to rabbis who engaged in these
practices.

Jewish Mystics and the Sufis

From the time of Prophet Muammad in the seventh century, the flourishing
Jewish community became integrally associated with Islamic civilization and
mysticism. There is a long history of mutual influence between Jewish and
Muslim Sufi mystics, through to the end of the Islamic Empire in the fifteenth
century. Scholars have traced a transmission of mystic teachings from Muslim
to Jewish mystics in Baghdad during the ninth to the twelfth centuries, and it
was these Jewish Sufis who brought the teachings of Jewish mysticism from
Baghdad and nearby Arabian cities to centres of European Judaism.
Jewish Sufi manuscripts, discovered during the late nineteenth century in a
Cairo genizah (a hidden repository in an ancient synagogue), have highlighted
the close relationship between Jewish and Muslim mystics of medieval times.
30 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

From the eleventh to thirteenth centuries, Jewish mystics quote freely from Sufi
mystical writings, which they copied into Hebrew characters.23 Some Jewish
mystics even pursued the spiritual path under the guidance of Sufi Masters. Simi-
larly, and more or less contemporaneously, Jewish mystics in Persia and Turkey
shared a devotional spirit with the Muslim mystics of their time, many reading
the works of Rūmī and Sa‘dī.24
Jewish mystics in the Sufi tradition included Baya ibn Paquda of eleventh-
century Spain. His book Hovot ha-Levavot (Duties of the Hearts) deals with the
life of the true ‘servant’, the devotee yearning for the mystical life. Writing in
the same vein, in Mekor
ayyim (Fountain of Life), Solomon ibn Gebirol (also
called Avicebron), describes the creation as a series of emanations from the
primal Source of Light. Another important mystical work of the twelfth century
was the Sefer ha-Bahir (Book of Brilliance), which appeared anonymously in
Provence, France. The teachings and terminology of these works and of the
much earlier Sefer Ye
irah were echoed a few centuries later in the Kabbalah.
One of the most influential writers of the time was Moses Maimonides,
author of the philosophic masterpiece Guide of the Perplexed, who lived in Cairo
during the twelfth century. Although mainly known to later generations as a
philosopher, physician and rationalist, it is now believed that Maimonides was
also a mystic who stressed the possibility of direct spiritual experience through
mystic practice. His son Abraham and grandson Obadyah are known to have
been mystics in the Sufi tradition; Obadyah’s Treatise of the Pool, a remarkable
mystical work along Sufi lines, has recently been rediscovered and published.
Jewish mystics in the Sufi tradition were sometimes called asidim (devo-
tees, pious ones). Although this movement, and the school of German
asidim
(
asidei Ashkenaz) that arose during the thirteenth century, were not connected
historically with the eighteenth-century ecstatic movement, also known as
Hasidism, they foreshadowed many of its elements, particularly its emphasis on
devotion, spiritual inwardness and personal experience of God.

The Kabbalah
The aspect of Jewish mysticism most renowned in modern times, and which has
almost taken on life as a religious movement and influence in itself, is the
Kabbalah. Kabbalah literally means ‘received’ or ‘transmitted’, implying in-
wardly received knowledge. It includes certain doctrines concerning the origin
and structure of the creation, the nature of God and the soul, and the relationship
between man and the inner realms. Certain specific Kabbalistic practices are also
designed to bring about mystic experience of these esoteric truths, and attain
mystic union with the Divine. The large body of Kabbalistic literature dating
from the thirteenth century consists mainly of esoteric and symbolic interpreta-
tions of the Bible and the Talmud.
The most influential work of the Kabbalah is the Zohar (lit. radiance, shin-
ing). Although it had been widely believed that the Zohar was written during
 1.4 Judaism 31

the Talmudic period by the legendary mystic Rabbi Simeon ben Yoai, recent
scholarship has shown that most of it was written in the late thirteenth century
by Moses de León of Spain, and some smaller sections by other authors of that
period. It was not uncommon in those days for authors of religious texts, seeking
the authenticity and credibility of an ancient, respected authority, to claim that
they had discovered manuscripts written in earlier periods.
Even so, although Moses de León may have been the actual author of the
Zohar, many scholars and students of mysticism believe that he was indeed
compiling, recording and synthesizing mystical traditions dating from earlier
times. Many of the Zohar’s underlying principles coincide with universal mystic
teachings – for instance, the theory of creation as an emanation from the original
divine Light, the concept of spiritual, astral and physical levels of creation,
reincarnation, and so forth. But the Jewish mystics who wrote the Zohar gave
expression to their mystic experiences by linking them to biblical references and
couching them in terms acceptable to Jewish tradition. Also woven into the
Zohar are accretions of legend, ritual and superstition that reflect the influences
of the many countries and cultures to which the Jewish people were exposed
following the Babylonian and Roman conquests of Palestine, and their conse-
quent dispersal (the Diaspora) through many lands.
Most of the works grouped in the Kabbalah impart knowledge concerning
the nature of God and the structure of the various realms and levels of the crea-
tion. They do not generally urge a devotional approach in pursuing direct expe-
rience of the Divine. In this sense, Kabbalism is similar to what the Indians call
jñāna yoga (the yoga of knowledge), while the Sufi or Hasidic tradition is more
like bhakti yoga (the yoga of devotion). As Bokser explained, the Kabbalah
“proceeds through an intricate web of esoteric symbols, and its offering is pri-
marily a gnosis, an esoteric knowledge which in itself is said to yield man the
highest rewards of divine commendation”.25
A notable exception to this approach was that of Abraham Abulafia and his
students. A Kabbalist of thirteenth-century Spain and Italy, Abulafia was influ-
enced both by Eastern mysticism, including forms of yoga such as prāāyāma,
and by the thirteenth-century German Hasidism. He taught his followers a
complex system of meditation and concentration based on combinations and
permutations of letters and words, with the goal of entering the inner spiritual
realms and receiving “the descent of the divine influx”. Because of his unortho-
dox practices, many of which involved repetition of divine names whose
pronunciation had been forbidden, Abulafia was excommunicated as a heretic
by the orthodox Jewish authorities of his time and, for several centuries, many
of his manuscripts were lost. Today modern researchers have successfully un-
earthed and studied them, rediscovering a lost chapter of Jewish mystical history.
After the expulsion of the Jews from Spain under the Inquisition in 1492,
hundreds of thousands went into exile in Turkey and other countries of the east-
ern Mediterranean, some returning to make a home for themselves in the Holy
32 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Land of Israel. Those of a religiously oriented mind tried to understand the

catastrophes their community had recently undergone as divine correction or
punishment for their lack of devotion to God. Thus, increasingly, many Jews of
that period turned inwards, finding in the Kabbalah and the mystical doctrines
of esoteric Judaism the nurturing spiritual framework for understanding and
transcending worldly experience. It was at this time that Rabbi Isaac Luria
(1534–72), also known as ha-Ari (the Lion), began to teach at Safed in upper
Galilee. The movement attracted large numbers, with students coming from
throughout Europe and elsewhere. The ‘divine Rabbi Isaac’ was said to possess
the Holy Spirit, and to have been given the revelation of Elijah. Luria trans-
formed the doctrine of emanation described in the Zohar into a more complex
system. He taught that at the time of creation, there had been a primal cosmic
catastrophe, when the divine light broke its ‘vessels’, becoming dispersed in the
creation, and entrapped by matter. The sefirot (divine emanations) were under-
stood as representing divine forces, which could be brought into balance through
the practice of particular unifications (yiudim) and intentions (kavvanot). The
unifications involved focused repetitions of names or phrases, and the intentions
consisted of rituals performed with specific intention or purpose. The goal of
the practices he taught was to raise the sparks of light, and permit them to return
to their Source, to bring the divine forces into harmony and restore the balance
in the heavenly spheres.
Although some Jewish mystics claimed success in following the compli-
cated practices of letter and word combinations and permutations, there are also
many stories relating the dangers and pitfalls experienced by these practitioners.
Despite the dangers, however, some Jewish mystics continued to teach these
practices openly, into the seventeenth century, when secrecy became more
advisable; and by the eighteenth century they had almost died out.
The Kabbalah has been an influence not only on the Jews. In it, Christian
scholars have discerned hints and symbols of Jesus and his teachings. The
Kabbalah is also a focus of Freemasonry and other secret societies that have as
their goal the rediscovery of a mystical knowledge they believe to have been
handed down through the generations since the time of Adam. According to
the Freemasons, the Zohar itself is the vehicle of the most profound religious
mysteries, revealed only orally in previous ages.
Jewish mystics have not been confined to Europe and the Middle East.
During the seventeenth century, a Jewish mystic by the name of Sarmad settled
in India. Born into a rabbinical family of Kāshān, in Iran, he came to India as a
trader, where he experienced a spiritual transformation. Sarmad is still revered
in mystic India, though little is known about the details of his life, and western
Judaism is largely unaware of him. From his writings, however, there is evidence
that Sarmad was a mystic of the highest order, a Saint who transcended the outer
formalities of religion and found God within himself. He sang of union with the
Name, the inner divine Music. Some sources say he converted to Islam and then
 1.4 Judaism 33

to Hinduism, but if his rubā‘īyāts (verses) are read carefully, it seems clear that
although he examined all religions, he rejected their external limitations, em-
bracing the inner teaching which he recognized as only one. Singing boldly of
his unconventional love of God, and teaching others to do the same, he was be-
headed as a heretic in 1659–60 by Aurangzeb, Mughul emperor of India.

Hasidism
Mysticism often flourishes in times of change or hardship, and the most recent
flourishing of Jewish mysticism was the Hasidic movement that appeared in
Poland at the end of the eighteenth century. Once again, it was a time of severe
Jewish persecution. A deep yearning for God to reveal Himself, and for a reli-
gious renewal that would lift the soul out of the sufferings of the world, was
fulfilled by this movement, which quickly transformed Judaism. Martin Buber,
the great twentieth-century philosopher and presenter of Hasidism, explains:

Nowhere in the last centuries has the soul-force of Judaism so manifested

itself as in Hasidism.… Hasidism took the social form of a great popular
community – not an order of the secluded, not a brotherhood of the select,
but a popular community in all its medley, in all its spiritual and social
multiplicity.
Martin Buber, Hasidism and Modern Man, HMM pp.40, 42

Hasidism was a populist movement, and through it the ideal of saintliness entered
into every crevice of Jewish life. During this period, many spiritual teachers
appeared whom their disciples called Rebbes or addikim (Masters, Pious Ones),
and various communities of
asidim formed around them.
The first Hasidic Master, the Ba‘al Shem Tov (lit. Master of the Good Name)
was a simple, uneducated man – the antithesis of the traditional rabbi, who was
generally a scholar and an intellectual. The Ba‘al Shem Tov communed with
God internally, preferring the stillness of nature to the synagogue. It is said that
he was able to speak to and understand the birds and animals. He spoke of seeing
the divine Light, and taught his disciples that God can be perceived in every-
thing and reached through pure deeds. The entire creation is a manifestation of
the will of God, for nothing can exist without the divine spark. There is no evil
that exists outside of God. So for the true seeker, God can be found in every-
thing, and in every action, no matter how mundane, as long as it is done with
pure intention, joy and concentration on God. He taught the importance of
devekut (attachment) or cleaving to God at every moment. As Buber wrote:

Therefore, it will not do to serve God only in isolated hours and with set
words and gestures. One must serve God with one’s whole life, with the
whole of the everyday, with the whole of reality.
Martin Buber, Hasidism and Modern Man, HMM pp.41–42
34 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

The teachings of the

asidim incorporated certain aspects of Kabbalism con-
cerning the divine origin of the soul and the emanation of the various levels of
creation (the sefirot) from the Divine. They also taught meditation practices
based on the Kabbalistic teachings of Rabbi Isaac Luria.
The two main disciples of the Ba‘al Shem Tov were Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of
Polnoy (d.1782) and Dov Baer, the Maggid (channel, preacher) of Mezhericz, from
whom most of the important lines of later Hasidism arose. Those whose teach-
ings are still popular today include Naman of Bratslav, known today mostly
from his mystical teaching stories, Menaem Naum of Chernobyl and Shne’ur
Zalman of Lyady, from whom the aBaD school of Hasidism came into being.
At first, the
asidim were regarded as heretics by mainstream Jewish rabbis
and the community at large; some were even excommunicated, their writings
being put in erem (quarantine), and reading them forbidden. Later however, as
the Hasidic Rebbes gathered more and more adherents, their teachings spread
and gained strength among the people. Nowadays, the descendants of the

asidim still follow the Rebbes of their respective lines, but the teachings have
for the most part become another form of orthodox ritual and study of scripture,
though sometimes infused with an intensity, joy and fervour that reflects their
true Hasidic origin.
The end of the nineteenth century saw a declining interest in the mystical
side of Judaism, as the Haskalah, the enlightenment movement, took over.
All over the world, science became the new god, and people rejected religion –
especially mysticism – as superstition. However, in certain parts of Europe,
small groups continued to study the Kabbalah, while some Hasidic lines main-
tained their integrity, if not always the purity of their original purpose.
The late twentieth century, however, continuing into present times, has seen
a resurgence in the study of the Kabbalah and other Jewish mystical movements,
and many seekers have tried to follow the meditation practices of the past, using
old manuscripts as their guides. This is partly thanks to the rediscovery and pub-
lication of many lost or suppressed manuscripts as well as an increasing interest
in mysticism in all sectors of Western society. Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook,
Martin Buber, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, Reb
Zalman Schacter, and Jonathan Omer-Man are among the Jewish leaders who
have emphasized once again the need for inwardness in spiritual devotion. This
has led to examination of self and tradition. As Rabbi Ben Zion Bokser wrote:

The mystical spirit that craves for a direct encounter with God, for a fresh
illumination of soul, is not content with pondering a tradition, even a mys-
tical tradition. To gain this boon the mystic must travel the lone road of
meditation, of struggling with his own opaque material self, to break the
barrier that separates him from God and to enter directly into contact with
the divine mystery.
Ben Zion Bokser, Jewish Mystical Tradition, JMT pp.31–32
 1.4 Judaism 35

The Essenes
Considering the prominence given to the Essenes in modern times, it will be
of interest to include them in this brief survey, though despite the wealth of
twentieth-century elaborations, very little is actually known about them. Apart
from some references in the rabbinic literature and a few passing comments by
the Christian fathers, only three other writers of antiquity ever speak of the
Essenes, and that but briefly. It seems, however, that they were a significant part
of Jewish mysticism in pre-Christian and early Christian times.
The Alexandrian Jew, Philo Judaeus (c.20 BCE – 50 CE) and the Jewish
historian, Flavius Josephus (c.37–100 CE) both say that there were about 4000
Essenes living in the cities and villages of Judaea. Conversely, Pliny the Elder
(23–79 CE) speaks of them as having a settlement or settlements near the Dead
Sea, living “away from the western shore, far enough to avoid harmful things, a
people alone, … companions of palm trees”,26 although it is unclear whether the
“harmful things” refer to the noxious contents of the Dead Sea or the distur-
bances of the world! Presuming that there is substance to both accounts, it seems
probable that some Essenes lived in separate communities while others were
more integrated with normal society, according to their bent of mind or to the
spread of opinion within the group.
Josephus comments that “these men live the same kind of life as do those
whom the Greeks call Pythagoreans,”27 from which it may be understood that
their beliefs were mystical or esoteric, and that they were probably vegetarian
and abstained from alcohol, like the Pythagoreans. He also writes:

The opinion obtains among them that while the body is corruptible and its
constituent matter impermanent, the soul is immortal and imperishable.
Emanating from the subtlest aether (spirit), these souls become entangled,
as it were, in the prison house of the body, to which they are drawn by some
natural spell. But when once they are released from the bonds of the flesh,
then, as though liberated from a long captivity, they rejoice and are borne
aloft. Sharing the same belief as the sons of Greece …
Josephus, Jewish War 2:8.11 (154–55); cf. J2 pp.380–83, JW p.136

Philo describes them as “not sacrificing living animals, but studying rather to
preserve their own minds in a state of holiness and purity”.28 He also says that
they were complete pacifists, not being involved in the manufacture of “arrows,
or javelins, or swords, or helmets, or breastplates, or shields; no makers of arms
or of military engines; no one, in short, attending to any employment whatever
connected with war, or even to any of those occupations even in peace which
are easily perverted to wicked purposes”.29
With these three reports, the sum total of extant knowledge might have
rested, but for the extraordinary mid-twentieth-century discovery of a wealth of
very ancient papyrus scrolls, many of them broken into numerous fragments,
36 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

lying in eleven caves near the western shores of the Dead Sea, near the ruins of
the ancient settlement of Khirbet Qumran. The story of the young Bedouin
shepherd who made the first discovery, and subsequent events, has been told
many times, and there is no need to retell it here. But one of the many theories
concerning this community, and the apparently associated library hidden in the
caves, was that this was the Essene site spoken of by Pliny.
Scholars are divided in their opinions, particularly because there is no
reference in any of the papyri to the Essenes, nor indeed are these diverse docu-
ments representative of only one school of thought. From these writings, how-
ever, it is clear that the community – whoever they were – did at one time have
a great teacher. He is unnamed and referred to as the Righteous (Spiritual)
Teacher or the Righteous One (addik). And among the many scrolls are some
devotional and often ecstatic psalms of great beauty, normally attributed to this
teacher, which bear all the hallmarks of a mystic’s pen.
But who was this otherwise unknown Teacher of Righteousness whose
followers treated him as their spiritual Master? And was the Qumran site his
headquarters – situated conveniently ten miles south of Jericho and ten miles to
the east of Jerusalem – within easy access but sufficiently far away to avoid the
business of urban life? No one really knows.
Both the Essenes and the Dead Sea Scrolls have been cited in the search for
Christian origins. But apart from the use of language and idioms common to the
period, there is no clear connection between the scrolls and Jesus or John the
Baptist. In fact, it is generally reckoned that many of the texts predate Jesus.
Even so, these psalms express – often in guarded language – a great deal of
mystic teaching. Understandably, their style is also similar to that of the biblical
Psalms, as well as the pre-Christian Psalms of Solomon, and the early Christian
and deeply mystical Odes of Solomon. It must also be of significance that both
the early Christians in Palestine and the writers of the scrolls called themselves
the Ebionim, the ‘Poor Ones’. The most likely explanation is that the Teacher of
Righteousness, the Essenes, John the Baptist, Jesus, and probably the writers of
the earlier Wisdom literature such as Jesus ben Sirach, were all representative
of the esoteric or mystic tradition within Palestine and Judaism at that time.
There is certainly no doubt that some themes, common to other mystical
literature of the period, run throughout the hymns of praise and devotion found
among the Dead Sea Scrolls. God’s “Wisdom”, also called “Thy Power”,30 is
understood to be the creator of all things, as it is throughout Proverbs, the Wis-
dom of Solomon and the Wisdom of Jesus ben Sirach. The fabricator of all evil
and wickedness is Belial or Satan, the devil, and there are even what seem to be
veiled allusions to reincarnation in language that is used specifically for this
topic in more definitive texts. The writer thanks God for having saved him from
the lot of the wicked, from his own sins, from the pit of Sheol, for having been
given life, and for having opened his ear to divine mysteries. He is a “shape of
clay kneaded in water”31 – a man – who feels he has been the recipient of God’s
 1.4 Judaism 37

special grace and mercy, far above that which he merited. He feels constantly
guarded and protected from all the forces of this world that would otherwise pull
him astray.
He has taken refuge in God’s mystic Name. He has been placed beside a
“spring of water in a dry land”, and has found souls who are like “trees of life
beside a mysterious fountain” that draw their life from the “everlasting Plant”
and “Living Waters”, wishing to “be one with the everlasting Spring”. He has
found the “Plant of Truth” or the “Plant of Heaven”, the eternal Tree of Life.32
No wonder he is full of praise and thanksgiving for such blessings.
In fact, most aspects of the mystic path are given expression in these rather
beautiful and often poignant psalms or hymns, many of which are sadly frag-
mentary owing to the condition of the manuscript, and which scholars have
admitted considerable difficulty in translating. It seems very likely that they are
the writings of a mystic who taught the path of the creative Power or “Wisdom”.
“Wisdom”, says the writer, has created all things. It is His “Law”:

By Thy Wisdom all things exist from eternity,

and before creating them Thou knewest their works
for ever and ever.
Nothing is done without Thee
and nothing is known unless Thou desire it.

Thou hast created all the spirits,

and hast established a Statute and Law
for all their works.
Thanksgiving Hymns IX:1–10 (6), CDSS p.253

It is also by “Wisdom” that mystic perception is attained by lowly human beings:

These things I know

by the Wisdom which comes from Thee;
For Thou hast unstopped my ears
to marvellous mysteries.

And yet I, a shape of clay

kneaded in water,
a ground of shame
and a source of pollution,
a melting pot of wickedness
and an edifice of sin,
a straying and perverted spirit
of no understanding,
fearful of righteous judgments,
38 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

what can I say that is not foreknown,

and what can I utter that is not foretold?
Thanksgiving Hymns IX:20–25 (6), CDSS p.254

The writer says that he “will meditate” continuously and “evermore” on the
divine Power or “Might”, the holy “Name”:

I will sing Thy mercies,

and on Thy Might I will meditate all day long.
I will bless Thy Name evermore.
I will declare Thy glory in the midst of the sons of men,
and my soul shall delight in Thy great goodness.
Thanksgiving Hymns XIX:5–10 (21), CDSS p.288

This Power is like a “Fountain” or “Spring” in the desert of this world. Indeed,
the writer says that the Divine can only be approached through this “Fountain
of Life”:

I thank Thee, O Lord,

for Thou hast placed me beside a Fountain of streams
in an arid land;
And close to a Spring of Waters
in a dry land;
And beside a watered garden
in a wilderness.…

No man shall approach the Wellspring of Life

or drink the Waters of Holiness
with the everlasting Trees,
or bear fruit with the Plant of Heaven –
Who seeing has not discerned,
and considering has not believed
in the Fountain of Life;
Who has turned his hand against the everlasting Bud.
Thanksgiving Hymns XVI:1–5, 10–15 (18), CDSS pp.278–79

1.5 C HRISTIANITY
An introduction to the mystical side of Christianity must address two related
elements: mysticism in the original teachings of Jesus and mysticism among
later Christians. The first, however, is not so easy to determine, for what his origi-
nal teachings were is by no means certain. Understandably, every Christian would
 1.5 Christianity 39

like to believe that they follow the teachings of Jesus; yet no one disputes the
fact that from the very earliest days, Christianity has been divided as to what he
actually taught. It makes sense, therefore, to begin by examining the primary
and universally accepted sources of Jesus’ original teachings – the four gospels
– not only for their mystical content, but also regarding their authenticity. The
remainder of the New Testament and other early Christian documents are then
briefly reviewed, followed by an overview of what is more generally regarded
as Christian mysticism.

John’s Gospel
Although a strong mystical tradition is present in Christianity, it is not normally
said that Jesus himself was a mystic. Nevertheless, when the writer of John’s
gospel has Jesus say, “I and my Father are one,”33 he is indicating that Jesus was
a mystic of the highest order; for union with God is the essential and supreme
goal of all mysticism.
John’s gospel is often described as the mystical gospel; many scholars have
also observed that it is not to be taken as a historical account of the life and
teachings of Jesus. It is intended to convey the understanding that Jesus was an
incarnation of the Logos, the “Word … made flesh”.34 Even the sayings attrib-
uted to Jesus in John’s gospel, as well as the dialogues with the Jews and others,
are regarded only as literary devices for putting across the teachings of Jesus, as
understood by the author of this gospel. Fictional dialogues or speeches attrib-
uted to actual historical figures are a common feature of ancient literature, as in
Plato’s dialogues. Likewise, in the Hebrew Bible, God and His creative Power,
particularly as Wisdom, both ‘speak’. It was simply a literary style of those
times, used for a variety of purposes, not a means of recording history.
Unlike the three ‘synoptic’ gospels, the essence of John’s gospel is the
mystical teaching of the Logos. It is the “Living Water”,35 the “Bread from
heaven” and the “Bread of Life”,36 the “True Vine”,37 and so on. Starting with
its well-known opening verses, it takes as its theme, the story of the Logos:

In the beginning was the Word (Logos),

and the Word (Logos) was with God,
and the Word (Logos) was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by it (the Logos);
And without it (the Logos)
was not any thing made that was made.
John 1:1–3; cf. KJV, TYN

From the outset, the writer’s emphasis is entirely on the Logos. When Jesus
speaks, it is the Logos speaking. In the verses where Jesus speaks so authorita-
tively in the first person – so different in tone and character from the Jesus who
40 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

speaks in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount – it is actually the Logos or Jesus as

a personification of the Logos who is speaking. There are a number of such
passages:

I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life:

no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
John 14:6, KJV

I am the True Vine, and my Father is the husbandman.…

Abide in me, and I in you.
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,
except it abide in the vine,
no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
I am the Vine, ye are the branches:
he that abideth in me, and I in him,
the same bringeth forth much fruit:
For without me ye can do nothing.
John 15:1, 4–5, KJV

And:

I am the Bread of Life:

he that cometh to me shall never hunger;
And he that believeth on me shall never thirst.…

Verily, verily, I say unto you,

he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
I am that Bread of Life.…

This is the Bread which cometh down from heaven,

that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
I am the Living Bread which came down from heaven:
if any man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever.
John 6:35, 47–48, 50–51, KJV

John’s gospel has no nativity or virgin birth stories, and the original version prob-
ably had no resurrection stories either. The last two chapters of John, relating
resurrection incidents and addressing some of the concerns of Christianity long
after the death of Jesus, are generally acknowledged by scholars to be late addi-
tions penned by a different writer or writers altogether. But the omission of these
stories is not through any lack of information on the part of the writer. Since
John’s gospel is commonly regarded as the last of the four gospels to have been
written, usually dated to around 90–95 CE, the writer would have been fully
 1.5 Christianity 41

aware of the earlier gospels. Indeed, as some scholars have pointed out, he
seems to have been at pains to correct some of the mistakes of the earlier gospels.
Thus, the virgin birth of Matthew and Luke is replaced in John with the “Only-
begotten Son” of the Father – the Logos; the external Second Coming and the
end of the world so eagerly anticipated in the synoptics become an internal ex-
perience and the quest for eternal life; and the physical resurrection of the
synoptics becomes the spiritual meeting with the Comforter, the Holy Ghost,
the spiritual form of Jesus.
At every step, John has a spiritual or mystical perspective on the events
related in the synoptic gospels. Even his miracle stories come with an interpre-
tation of their spiritual symbolism. Indeed, while Jesus heals all and sundry in
the synoptics, John presents just seven carefully chosen miracle cameos, each
of which is more of an allegory than a historical event. The feeding of the multi-
tude turns into a dialogue with the Jews on the nature of the true “Bread from
heaven”.38 The man given sight, who had been “blind from birth”,39 becomes
the focus of a discussion on spiritual blindness and on infirmity as the result of
sin. The raising of Lazarus from the dead becomes the opportunity for observa-
tions on death and spiritual resurrection.40 Likewise, seemingly innocent events
become the opportunity for spiritual teaching, just as the Samarian woman at
the well becomes a discourse on the benefits of “Living Water”,41 and when
Nicodemus tells Jesus that his miracles prove him to be a “teacher come from
God”, the reply he gets is on the necessity of being “born again”.42
In the guise of relating what had become a well-known story, John tries to
put across its inner, spiritual message. He is interested in the history of Jesus
only as a vehicle to convey spiritual teaching. But who this John was is a mys-
tery. Certainly, his gospel was written too late for it to have been written by John
the disciple of Jesus. This is significant, because the same is true of the other
three gospels. None of them were compiled either by Jesus’ disciples or by eye-
witnesses.
Some help is provided by the three New Testament letters, 1 John, 2 John
and 3 John, also traditionally attributed to the writer of John’s gospel. 2 John
and 3 John both identify their author as “the Elder” or the “Presbyter”.43 But
these two letters are short, containing so little teaching material that the only
certain inference that can be drawn from them is that the Elder is a leader whose
influence has spread further than his own local community. 1 John, like the
gospel, is anonymous and, unlike the other two letters, is more of an essay
“On the Word of Life”.44 Although there are some doctrinal differences between
1 John and the gospel, they do share a general similarity of thought and style.
From this it is commonly presumed that 1 John was written by the author of the
fourth gospel or that its author had so immersed himself in the gospel that he
expressed himself in the language and idiom of its discourses. But were 1 John
and the gospel written by “the Elder”? And, if so, who was he? Nobody really
knows.45
42 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

The Synoptic Gospels

As a source of the mystical teachings attributed to Jesus, John’s gospel is in-
valuable. But the synoptics, especially Matthew and Luke, also contribute
greatly because it is only here that sayings and parables attributed to Jesus can
actually be found. Mark, Matthew and Luke are called ‘syn-optic’ because they
can be viewed ‘with one eye’, from a single viewpoint, there being many pas-
sages that are more or less identical. The implications of this, however, did not
really dawn on scholars until the mid-nineteenth century. Since then they have
been at great pains to analyse the many similarities and differences between
these three gospels, and many theories have been advanced to explain the re-
lationships between them.
Disentangling the threads of this complex web is not helped by the fact
that all manuscripts in those days were hand-written and hand-copied. Printing
did not come to Europe until the fifteenth century. Mistakes and corrections –
intentional and otherwise, significant and insignificant – were thus introduced
into practically every copy made. Moreover, the earliest surviving texts of the
New Testament are dated as late as the fourth and fifth centuries, three or four
hundred years after the death of Jesus. With the synoptic gospels probably being
written somewhere between 65 and 100 CE, this means that for a period of three
or four hundred years they were subject to the vagaries of hand-copying, as well
as interpolations and corrections according to the doctrinal convictions of the
copyists. A lot can happen to a hand-copied text over several centuries.
Despite the tangle of relationships, certain key features have emerged. It is
generally agreed that the first gospel was Mark’s, probably written in Rome
between 65 and 70 CE, before the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the
Temple, which are not mentioned. One of the most remarkable aspects of Mark
is that it is composed almost entirely of narrative, much of it miraculous. The
writer was clearly a lover of miracle stories for he records very little of Jesus’
actual teaching. His simple and direct message, written in a rather crude and
unpolished Greek, is that Jesus the Son of God – demonstrated to be so through
signs and miracles – was persecuted and crucified for the sins of mankind. Man
must repent and be baptized, for Jesus will soon be coming again to judge the
world. The followers of Jesus will then be saved, and the rest condemned to hell-
fire. Observing this simple message, scholars have conjectured that Mark was
written to bolster the faith of an unlettered community of Roman disciples during
a period of hardship, perhaps during or after the persecutions of Nero following
the great fire of Rome in 64 CE, when it began to seem as if the Second Coming
would never come.
Like John, Mark contains no mention of a virgin birth. The nativity stories
found in Luke and Matthew are completely absent. Throughout his gospel,
Mark’s style is uneven, and he begins characteristically with an abrupt entry into
an account of the ministry of John the Baptist (of whom, too, no biographical
information is provided). And he ends with an empty tomb – there are no resur-
 1.5 Christianity 43

rection stories either; these are also regarded as later additions. For a lover of
the miraculous such as Mark, this is revealing. It can only be presumed that he
had not heard these stories, for had he done so, he would almost certainly have
included them.
The writer of Mark’s gospel is unknown, Marcus being a common name in
the Roman Empire. But whoever he was, it is unlikely that he had ever set foot
in Palestine because his narrative contains some significant geographical errors.
He is also unlikely to have been Jewish because, in addition to a marked anti-
Jewish tone common to all the gospels, he exhibits a deficient as well as insen-
sitive knowledge of Judaism and Jewish customs.46 Therefore, as a source of
the actual teachings of Jesus, mystical or otherwise, Mark’s gospel helps little,
and whatever it does contain is better presented in Matthew and Luke.
Mark’s sources may be unknown, but this is not so true of Matthew and
Luke. One of their sources is clearly Mark, from whom they copy whole passages,
more or less verbatim! And it is here that the relative methods of Matthew and
Luke begin to emerge. They are compilers, editors and arrangers of documents
already in existence. Matthew, for example, chops up his sources, using them in
smaller chunks. Though he changes little of the actual text, he rearranges the
material to fit his overall plan of five major discourses with introductory narra-
tive and vignettes. Luke, on the other hand, uses his sources in larger blocks
but, having higher literary aspirations, changes and tailors things – including
the sayings of Jesus – to fit his style and overall intentions. Most significant,
however, in the present context, is the existence of almost identical sayings and
parables of Jesus found only in Matthew and Luke, together with others found
just in one of them.
It is from this evidence that scholars have formulated the theory that there
once existed a significant document containing only the sayings and parables of
Jesus, devoid of any narrative. They have called it Q, from the German Quelle,
meaning source. Matthew and Luke simply took this text and others like it, in-
cluding Mark, and wove them all together. But because these sayings came with
no accompanying narrative, Matthew and Luke who – like Mark – were telling
a story, had to create their own settings. This is why many of the sayings and
parables of Jesus are more or less the same in these two gospels, while the set-
tings are often different. For instance, the selection of sayings that in Matthew
becomes the Sermon on the Mount, with other parts appearing here and there
throughout his gospel, appear together in Luke as a longer ‘Sermon on the Plain’.
Moreover, in the process of creating these settings, the implied meaning of the
sayings – and sometimes the sayings themselves – get modified to fit the needs
of the narrative.
Matthew and Luke have also added nativity and resurrection stories, along
with other narrative material. These, too, are of considerable interest when
compared, for the narratives conflict, and also contain historical inaccuracies.
Matthew’s story of the three wise men and Herod’s mass infanticide is most
44 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

unlikely, for example. Even in those days, Herod would never have got away
with it. It would have been an illegal and horrendous act by any standards, even
for a tyrannical ruler, spelling political suicide, and turning every family in the
country against him, creating massive unrest. In any case, there is absolutely no
historical record of such an event, which would hardly have gone unrecorded by
the Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus (c.37–100 CE) and the other historians
of those times.47
There are also discrepancies surrounding Jesus’ birthplace, traditionally
held to have been Bethlehem because of biblical ‘prophecies’, referred to in both
Matthew and Luke, that the Messiah would be born into the house of King
David, Bethlehem being David’s early home.48 In Matthew, Joseph and Mary
already live in Bethlehem, and Jesus is presumably born at home, for Matthew
makes no mention of a stable, nor is there any reason why they should have
gone looking for alternative accommodation when Mary was about to give birth.
After their flight to Egypt to avoid Herod’s massacre they then return to Judaea
and live in Nazareth.
Luke, on the other hand, has Joseph and Mary already living in Nazareth,
and so needs a reason why they should go to Bethlehem. He therefore has them
respond to a census conducted, he says, in the time of Herod the Great when
Quirinius was governor of Judaea. But his story is historically impossible. Herod
the Great died in 4 BCE, and Rome did not annex Judaea until 6 CE. Quirinius
took up office in Syria in 6 CE, and the census is reliably recorded by Josephus
as an unprecedented event taking place in that year.
So the stories of Matthew and Luke are at best inaccurate and incompatible;
and by combining the two into one composite, emotive, but highly questionable
narrative, the details of the nativity stories told in traditional Christianity drift
even further away from historical possibility.49
There is also the question of language. All four gospels were written in the
ordinary conversational Greek of those times, Greek being the lingua franca of
the Hellenized world, adopted by the Roman Empire as its common language.
Jesus’ mother tongue would have been Aramaic, but he would almost certainly
have been able to speak some Greek and, like many of his contemporaries, he
may well have been completely bilingual. It is uncertain, therefore, whether the
sources of Jesus’ sayings and parables available to Matthew and Luke were as
he had spoken or perhaps written them, or whether they had been translated from
Aramaic into Greek, for the benefit of Jesus’ Greek-speaking followers. So, once
again, there is uncertainty over what Jesus actually said, and how much things
have been changed.
As with John and Mark, it is unclear who compiled Luke and Matthew. Luke
is traditionally believed to have been the friend of Paul mentioned affection-
ately in one of Paul’s letters as, “Luke the beloved physician”.50 Although not
overtly Pauline, Luke’s gospel certainly presents a Christianity more or less
compatible with the teachings of Paul, though there are some differences. But
 1.5 Christianity 45

the compiler of Matthew is completely unknown. According to one theory,

Matthew’s gospel took its name from a collection of sayings and parables of
Jesus said to have been recorded by Jesus’ disciple, Matthew the tax collector.
Papias, a mid-second-century Bishop of Hierapolis who wrote five volumes
(now lost) entitled The Sayings of the Lord Explained, says:

Matthew compiled the Sayings in the Aramaic language, and everyone

translated them as well as he could.
Papias, in Eusebius, History of the Church 3, HC p.152

As regards their respective dates of composition, Matthew and Luke were written
after the fall of Jerusalem (70 CE), since the destruction of the Temple is men-
tioned in both, as part of the prophecies concerning the imminently expected
Second Coming and the end of the world.51 Matthew is generally dated between
80 and 95 CE. Luke is likewise dated to around 80 CE.
Now this is all a very brief introduction to some of the scholarly detective
work that has taken place during the last hundred and fifty years. Its relevance
here is to highlight the considerable uncertainty that hovers over the sayings and
parables attributed to Jesus in the two primary sources of Matthew and Luke.
Indeed, some Christian scholars have gone so far as to suggest that there is noth-
ing in the gospels that can be reliably attributed to Jesus.

Jesus’ Teaching in the Gospels

Christianity died out rapidly in Palestine, its place of origin, and did not gain
acceptance in the Roman Empire until nearly 300 years later. In the intervening
period, it was simply a cult, membership of which was illegal according to
Roman law. Though the law was not always enforced, there were periodic
clampdowns, when the Christians were persecuted by the more tyrannical of the
Roman emperors, and their books destroyed. So the documents that survived
the copying, the editing, the ‘correction’, the persecutions, and the burnings to
become what are now called the gospels are a very poor record of the complete
teachings of Jesus. Consequently, when it comes to understanding and interpret-
ing his teachings, the circumstances of their origin must be borne in mind, because
it is clearly impractical to refer to this background on every occasion.
Fortunately, despite the uncertain provenance of the gospels and the un-
reliability of the stories they contain, a goodly proportion of the actual sayings
and parables attributed to Jesus may well have survived more or less intact.
Certainly, there is much that is in keeping with the teachings of other mystics,
being for the most part universal in scope and completely understandable in a
mystic context. Jesus says, for example, that

the kingdom of God is within you.

Luke 17:21, KJV
46 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

And, he continues, when the mind is pure, it is possible to meet God within:

Blessed are the pure in heart:

for they shall see God.
Matthew 5:8, KJV

He also reiterates Jewish biblical teaching that the relationship of the soul to
God is one of love:

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Matthew 22:37; cf. Deuteronomy 6:5, KJV

And he adds that the way to relate to His creation is also through love:

Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Matthew 19:19, 22:29; Leviticus 19:18, KJV

More specifically mystical, he observes that the path to God lies through the
third or single eye that lies behind and between the two eyebrows:

The light of the body is the eye:

If therefore thine eye be single,
thy whole body shall be full of light.
Matthew 6:22, KJV

This point has also been called the doorway or gateway to the inner realms. It
is at this door that the seeker knocks by focusing the mind through constant
repetition, recollection or interior prayer. To hold the mind at the inner door,
he says, in readiness to receive his grace is the real prayer:

Ask, and it shall be given you;

Seek, and ye shall find;
Knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

For everyone that asketh, receiveth;

And he that seeketh, findeth;
And to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.
Matthew 7:7–8, KJV

When the mind is fully focused at this inner door, then the Creative Word is
heard as divine Music, also called the “Voice” of God by the gnostics and by
 1.5 Christianity 47

many other mystics throughout the ages. Then those who are spiritually “dead”,
who are absorbed in the play of life in this world and trapped in the physical
body as in a tomb, are revitalized with the Source of Life itself:

The dead shall hear the Voice of the Son of God,

and they that hear shall live.
John 5:25, KJV

On hearing this mystic Voice, the soul rises up from the grave of the body and
enters the higher heavens or “mansions” of the soul:

In my Father’s house are many mansions:

if it were not so, I would have told you.
John 14:2, KJV

As preparation for this ascent, and for the meditation to be successful, a high
degree of mental purity and spiritual excellence in the conduct of life are
required:

Be ye therefore perfect,
even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Matthew 5:48, KJV

By following the spiritual path, the seeker develops faith in God, relying on Him
rather than on the unending quest for the transient things of this life:

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,

where moth and rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves break through and steal:
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Matthew 6:19–21, KJV

And:

Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life,

what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink;
nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.
Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
48 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not,

neither do they reap, nor gather into barns;
yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.
Are ye not much better than they?

Which of you by taking thought

can add one cubit unto his stature?

And why take ye thought for raiment?

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:
they toil not, neither do they spin.
And yet I say unto you,
that even Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these.

Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field,

which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven,
shall He not much more clothe you,
O ye of little faith?

Therefore take no thought, saying,

“What shall we eat?” or, “What shall we drink?”
or, “Wherewithal shall we be clothed?” …
for your heavenly Father knoweth
that ye have need of all these things.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness,
and all these things shall be added unto you.

Take therefore no thought for the morrow:

for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.
Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Matthew 6:25–34, KJV

He also advises adopting an attitude of love, good will and nonviolence towards
all fellow creatures:

Ye have heard that it hath been said,

‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth’:
But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil:
but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek,
turn to him the other also.
And if any man will sue thee at the law,
and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.
 1.5 Christianity 49

And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile,

go with him twain.
Give to him that asketh thee,
and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.

Ye have heard that it hath been said,

‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.’
But I say unto you, love your enemies,
bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you,
and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.
Matthew 5:38–44, KJV

These, then, are some of the fundamental teachings of Jesus found in the gospels.
Yet such teachings possess a timeless quality that cannot be regarded as specifi-
cally Christian. They are a recommendation of how to live life with an aware-
ness of God’s presence. They are universal in their outlook. In fact, if the sayings
of Jesus are carefully studied, it is found that this is the case with much of what
is attributed to him. The underlying trend in all that Jesus says in the gospels is
universal and spiritual, rather than sectarian or religious.

Paul
Only a small part of the gospels contains the actual teachings of Jesus, the re-
mainder being a patchwork of narrative, relating isolated incidents of various
kinds. Yet even if Jesus had been active as a teacher for only three years, there
would have been a great deal more that he said and did. The gospels, therefore,
can hardly be regarded as a definitive statement of his teachings and a complete
story of his life. The truth is, they contain only a few scattered fragments.
The gospels make up only four of the twenty-seven documents contained
in the New Testament. The Acts of the Apostles, which is largely concerned with
the travels of Paul and is entirely pro-Pauline in content, together with the four-
teen letters attributed to him, make up the bulk of the remainder. Paul’s letters
to Timothy and Titus, however, are generally considered forgeries, while the
authenticity of 2 Thessalonians, Colossians and Ephesians is dubious. Never-
theless, Paul remaining letters are probably the most authentic documents in the
New Testament, and the picture they present reveals a great deal. But though
they communicate much concerning the teachings and character of Paul, they
add little to an understanding of what Jesus taught. Written during the 50s and
60s, before the gospels had been compiled, Paul never quotes Jesus. On his own
admission, his teaching was from within his own self. Paul himself believed that
he had received it all from “Jesus Christ” – Jesus the Messiah – in a “revelation”.
An alternative point of view would be that it was simply the product of his own
somewhat overheated mind:
50 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not
after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by
the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Galatians 1:11–12, KJV

Even so, Paul is central to the evolution of Christian history and dogma because
it is from the groups he founded that Christianity came into existence as a reli-
gion. He himself admits that he was only a youth at the time of Jesus’ death. He
had never met Jesus, or been baptized or initiated by him. On the contrary, he
claimed to have received his baptism directly from the Holy Spirit in a highly
personalized way, for which there is only his word and his interpretation of
what happened to him. He rarely makes any reference to Jesus’ teachings in his
letters; he does not appear to even know about the story of the virgin birth, let
alone believe in it; and he is at odds with Peter and James the brother of Jesus,
meeting them on only three occasions, on one of which, in Antioch, he upbraids
Peter in public. Moreover, since the only available literature is Acts or Paul’s
letters, only Paul’s side of the story is ever related.
What these sources do reveal is something of his own background. Paul
came from a Jewish family of Tarsus. To the Philippians, he wrote that he was a
Pharisee, and in Acts he says that he was “a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee”,52
also that he “lived in accordance with the strictest section of our faith, as a
Pharisee”.53 His father, however, had received Roman citizenship, making Paul
a Roman citizen by birth.54 A “sister’s son” is also mentioned in Acts, when
he informs Paul and the Roman tribune at Jerusalem of a Jewish plot against
Paul’s life.55
Neither Acts nor Paul’s letters give any indication of his physical appearance,
but there is a tradition, recorded in the apocryphal Acts of Paul, which provides
an interesting description, though this document was written more than a hundred
years after Paul’s death. He is portrayed as

a man of small stature, thin-haired upon the head, bandy-legged, in good

bodily health, with eyebrows joining, and nose somewhat hooked, full of
grace: for sometimes he appeared like a man, and sometimes he had the face
of an angel.
Acts of Paul II:3; cf. ANT p.273

Though meagre in their information concerning Paul’s family and social back-
ground, Acts and Paul’s letters do provide considerable information concerning
his psychological make-up, and the beliefs that motivated him. By nature, he
was a fanatic – or at least a man of extremes – possessing tremendous energy,
enthusiasm and zeal. He excelled in his early studies, beyond all his peers, and
was frank about his early persecution of the Christians:
 1.5 Christianity 51

You have heard, of course, of my behaviour when I practised Judaism, how

I ruthlessly hounded down God’s Community (Church) and ravaged it.
I progressed in Judaism far beyond many Jewish students of my time,
for none was more keenly enthusiastic than I to master the traditional lore
of my ancestors.
Galatians 1:13–14, ANTH p.277

He was also of a mystic disposition, as becomes clear from his letters, and his
studies of Pharisaism almost certainly included its more esoteric aspects. In fact,
despite his claim to have received all his teachings by “revelation”, his thinking
was clearly influenced by the mystical concepts and manner of expression of
his times. In Ephesians and elsewhere, for example, like the gnostics of that pe-
riod, he speaks of the “principalities and powers (archons) in heavenly places”,56
these being the realms and the rulers of the inner creation, the many mansions
or heavens.
Paul not only accepted the existence of the heavens, but also the possibility
of entering them during human life. This is clearly indicated by the well-known
passage in 2 Corinthians, generally considered autobiographical, where he
speaks of “a man in Christ” who was “caught up to the third heaven”:

I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ
above fourteen years ago, whether in the body, I cannot tell, or whether out
of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth. Such an one was caught up to the
third heaven.
And I knew such a man (whether in the body, or out of the body, I can-
not tell: God knoweth), how that he was caught up into paradise, and heard
unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
2 Corinthians 12:1–4, KJV

“Fourteen years ago” would have been around the time of his miraculous
‘conversion’ or a little after, and it is likely that his experience on the road to
Damascus was something of this nature. Such experiences can be very power-
ful and life-changing, as Paul discovered, though his later interpretation of it –
as his authority to go out and evangelize the Gentile world – came from within
himself.
Paul’s experience of the “third heaven” is an inner experience, and it is clear
that he also understood that God is to be found within:

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God,

and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1 Corinthians 3:16, KJV
52 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

His conception of the nature of the Son of God was also mystical. Whatever
else the Son may have been to him in his understanding of Jesus Christ, he
also believed that the Son was the primary, mystic and creative Power by which
everything is created:

For by him (the Son of the Father) were all things created,
that are in heaven, and that are in earth,
visible and invisible;
Whether they be thrones, or dominions,
or principalities, or powers:
All things were created by him.
Colossians 1:16, KJV

This essentially mystic concept was well understood in both the Greek and
Jewish world, where the same creative Power was known as the Wisdom of God
(Gk. Sophia, He.
okhmah). In fact, Paul himself equates this creative Power
of God with the Wisdom of God,57 both terms being synonymous with the Word.
Paul also points out that the struggle of the devotee consists of countering
the influence of the inner powers. His understanding of the “devil” is not that
of a being made of “flesh and blood”, but of a mystic power, of one who rules
certain realms of the creation with other powers under him. For Paul, the devil
is akin to the higher “principalities” and “powers”, and is responsible for the
“darkness of this world”:58

My brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on
the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of
the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against princi-
palities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world.
Ephesians 6:10–12, KJV

Many of Paul’s ideas were therefore mystical, and in line with the more universal
teaching of other mystics. But all in all, Paul’s thinking was a mixture, for he
also taught what became the orthodox Christian beliefs of the risen Christ,
redemption through the suffering of Jesus on the cross, the imminence of the
Last Day, the resurrection of the dead, and so on, the latter being a Pharisaic
belief, and a matter upon which the Pharisees differed from the Sadducees.
Paul fervently believed that he had been given a mission to convey the
teachings of Jesus outside Palestine. In the execution of this mission, he toured
extensively throughout the Eastern Mediterranean regions. One of the advan-
tages of the Roman Empire was that the trade and communication routes by land
and sea were kept open and more or less free from brigands and pirates. As a
consequence, Paul was able to travel widely in Asia Minor, also visiting many
areas of what we now call Greece and what was formerly Yugoslavia, including
 1.5 Christianity 53

Thessaly, Macedonia and Rhodes. He also went to Cyprus and Phoenicia – the
coastal regions of what are now Lebanon, western Syria and northern Israel.
Wherever he went, Paul seems to have gone out of his way to challenge the
local priests and religious leaders by going straight to the temples, synagogues
and public places, and speaking out his beliefs in a manner guaranteed to give
offence. He seems to have targeted those who were most likely to be hostile
to him, particularly the Jewish priestly hierarchy, whom he only succeeded in
angering and alienating. As a result, he was often the cause of disturbance and
commonly the centre of major or minor riots. Speaking of his hardships, he wrote
to the Corinthians:

My labours have been harder, my terms of imprisonment longer, my flog-

gings beyond all bounds, my risks of death more frequent. Five times I
received from the Jews forty strokes less one, three times I have been beaten
with Roman rods, once I was stoned, three times shipwrecked, a night and
day consigned to the deep. Often I have taken to the road, in peril of rivers,
in peril of brigands, in peril from my own nation, in peril from Gentiles,
in peril in town, in peril in the country, in peril at sea, in peril from false
brothers, in toil and hardship, often sleepless, in hunger and thirst, often
fasting, in cold and in nakedness.
2 Corinthians 11:23–27, ANTH p.314

More than once, he had to make a rapid exit from some city because of the
hatred and unrest he had stirred up. On other occasions he was turned out, some-
times being left for dead. In Damascus, according to Acts, he was let down from
the walls in a basket (or a crate depending upon the translation), to escape a group
of Jews who were waiting by the city gates to murder him.59 And during his first
visit to Jerusalem as a Christian, soon after his conversion, the disciples ulti-
mately had to take him to Caesarea and thence to Tarsus, because of plots against
his life by local Jews whom he had antagonized.60 The original disciples of
Jesus living in Jerusalem had never previously encountered such difficulties, and
he must have been more than an embarrassment to them, probably endangering
all their lives by his fanatical zeal, his argumentative nature and his desire to
convert everybody.
According to Acts, Paul’s last recorded journey was to Rome, as a prisoner
of the Roman government. It began with a serious fracas provoked by Paul him-
self during his second visit to Jerusalem. He had, as was his custom, got himself
into a serious dispute involving the high priest and others. The situation was
already fraught when the high priest ordered him to be struck upon the mouth
for his words of blasphemy. Realizing that the situation was taking a violent
turn, Paul tried to create a diversion. By declaring that he was “a Pharisee, the
son of a Pharisee”, believing in the resurrection of the dead, as well as in angels
and spirits – neither of which were countenanced by the Sadducees – he set the
54 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Pharisees and the Sadducees against each other. But the turmoil that ensued
backfired on Paul, as all sides turned to vent their anger on him.
At this, the senior Roman officer at hand, coming to know that Paul was a
Roman citizen, had to extract him by force and take him to the local garrison for
safekeeping. From there, hearing that a group of forty Jews had vowed neither
to eat nor drink until they had assassinated him, he sent him with a guard of
nearly 500 heavily armed men to Felix, the Roman governor at Caesarea.61 Un-
sure what to do, but wishing to please the Jews and, according to Acts, hoping
for a bribe, Felix kept Paul a prisoner for two years, after which Felix was suc-
ceeded by Porcius Festus.62
Festus did his best to resolve the issue, but Paul, still fearing death at the
hands of the Jews, exercised his right as a Roman citizen and appealed to Caesar,
which meant having his case heard in the Imperial court.63 Paul was therefore
sent to Rome, going by way of Crete, Malta (where they were shipwrecked)
and Sicily.64 What happened to him in Rome is unclear, although, according to
tradition, he was executed in the time of Nero. But the irony is that, according
to Acts, Herod Agrippa, who had been called in by Festus to help him deal
with the case, had pointed out to Festus that since the charges really amounted
to arguments over religious matters, “This man might have been set at liberty,
if he had not appealed unto Caesar.”65
As observed, one of the most remarkable features of Paul’s teaching is that
very rarely, if at all, in his extensive letters, does he ever seem to allude specifi-
cally to any of the sayings or discourses associated with Jesus through the gospels,
or even in any of the gnostic or other non-canonical sources.66 It is as if Paul had
never read any of it or, if he had, was not interested in quoting the one he pro-
moted as Messiah. But unless the gospel teachings never actually originated with
Jesus, they must have been extant in some form at that time, and the absence
from Paul’s letters of almost anything that can be attributed to Jesus can only be
accounted for either by Paul’s lack of knowledge of it or his lack of interest.
Paul came into frequent contact with Christian groups that existed prior to
his endeavours, presumably dating back to the time of Jesus, who had died only
twenty years or so before. He also met Peter on at least three occasions, twice
in Jerusalem and once in Antioch.67 Why, then, was it that neither Peter nor
any of the other disciples ever gave Paul copies of material they had in writing
concerning their Master’s teachings? After all, Matthew is supposed to have
recorded some of Jesus’ sayings, and surely others must have done so too.
Paul’s lack of knowledge of Jesus’ teachings highlights his relationship with
Peter and the other Christians. With his record of Christian persecution, it would
be more than understandable if they had not trusted him. According to Acts,
when Paul first arrived in Jerusalem, none of Jesus’ followers wanted anything
to do with him.68 It was only when Barnabas got to know him personally, taking
him to the apostles, that any kind of bridge was formed. Yet even Barnabas,
though he travelled with Paul for some while, finally parted company with him,
 1.5 Christianity 55

after a serious disagreement concerning who they should take with them on a
missionary trip.69
As in a number of instances, however, Paul’s own account differs from Acts.
In Galatians, he writes that after his vision and conversion on the road to
Damascus, his first move was not to visit the apostles, but to go to Arabia, an
enigmatic choice of places that has never been satisfactorily explained. Perhaps
he spent some time in the solitude of the desert, in prayer and considering his
next step, but it was not until three years after his return to Damascus that he
went to Jerusalem, where he meets only Peter and James the brother of Jesus,
not Barnabas and the other apostles. Of this period in his life, Paul writes:

But when it pleased God, who … called me by his grace, to reveal his Son
in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred
not with flesh and blood. Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were
apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damas-
cus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode
with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the
Lord’s brother.
Galatians 1:15–19, KJV

Paul’s only written record of his contact with Jesus’ direct disciples concerns
external, Jewish observances. He does not relate any of the things that Peter
and the other disciples could have told him of their time with their Master or of
Jesus’ teachings. He is obsessed only with his own perceived mission to the
Gentiles. And he is prepared to quarrel in public with Peter, the one whom
Jesus himself appointed to stand in his place.

Other New Testament Letters

Despite Paul’s lack of interest in the teachings of Jesus, almost a half of the New
Testament is pro-Pauline in its sympathies. Luke and Acts occupy a quarter of
the New Testament, while the letters attributed to Paul take up a further twenty
per cent. It is uncertain, however, whether all of the letters attributed to Paul
were actually written by him. Paul himself mentions in 2 Thessalonians that
letters forged in his name were already in circulation:

Please do not get excited too soon or alarmed by any prediction or rumour
or any letter claiming to come from us.
2 Thessalonians 2:2, JB

However, the many similarities between 1 and 2 Thessalonians, as well as some

of the dubious additions to 2 Thessalonians, have led many scholars to suggest
that it is actually 2 Thessalonians which is the forgery! The spurious writer warns
against forgeries as a means of establishing the credentials of his own creation.
56 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

The other extant letters most commonly identified as forgeries are Titus, and
1 and 2 Timothy. Noting the differences of tone, style and content between these
and the main body of Paul’s epistles, many scholars have concluded that they
were written by a later hand. It is also certain, for the same reasons, that the
Epistle to the Hebrews was not written by Paul. But while Hebrews has no
author’s name built into it, Timothy and Titus do. So if they were not written by
Paul, the deception was deliberate. A prevalent school of thought also maintains
that Colossians and Ephesians were not written by Paul, but are elaborations on
Paul’s philosophy by another party.70
The authorship of the remaining four letters, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, James and
Jude, has been a subject of debate from the very earliest times. Eusebius, writing
in the first half of the fourth century, when listing the New Testament texts, says:

Those that are disputed, yet familiar to most, include the epistles known as
James, Jude and 2 Peter, and those called 2 and 3 John.
Eusebius, History of the Church 25, HC p.134

Even 1 Peter, usually the most readily accepted, has a distinctly Pauline char-
acter, echoing Paul’s sentiments, statements, beliefs and even wording, includ-
ing that of an imminent Second Coming. As such, it seems unlikely to have been
written by Peter, probably originating with someone trying to gain support for
Paul’s teachings by putting them in the name of Peter the apostle.
Almost all scholars agree that 2 Peter is a late forgery, written in the early
second century to foster the idea that Peter and Paul ended their days in accord,
with Peter acknowledging the doctrines of Paul. To begin with, the letter has
similarities to Jude; but, more obviously, the author’s way of referring to Jesus,
his description of Paul’s letters as scripture, and his approach to those who have
lost faith owing to the delayed arrival of the Second Coming, all point to a late
date. Contrary to their author’s intentions, by demonstrating the existence of rifts
in early Christianity between Pauline groups and others, 1 Peter and 2 Peter are
actually a convincing witness to the divergence between the teachings of Peter
and Paul.
Whether the letter attributed to James, commonly assumed to be James the
brother of Jesus, was actually written by him is also considered doubtful by many
scholars because of the excellent Greek in which it is written. However, this is
based upon the stereotype that Jesus and his followers were unlettered and spoke
no Greek, a belief that is no longer tenable; and in any case, the writer could
have used a translator. The sincerity and spiritual depth of this letter is not in
doubt, and it is unlikely to be a forgery; the question is only over which James
was the author, for he is not identified. Its message is simple and spiritual, with
no signs of a developed Christology or theology, either of a Pauline or any other
variety. Of the four letters, it conveys the most concerning the spiritual character
of Jesus’ teaching.
 1.5 Christianity 57

The very short letter from Jude, stated to be the “brother of James”, could
have been written by one of Jesus’ brothers, and its tone and content are some-
what different from that of James, making reference to the various Jewish myths.
Its subject is the behaviour of certain “ungodly” people, “deceivers” who have
come into the community, and it also suggests that the Last Day is imminent. It
has little to associate it with the letter of James or, indeed, with Jesus’ teach-
ings. From these indications, it would also seem to be a counterfeit, perhaps from
the same pen as 2 Peter.
Apart from the embarrassment to Christianity of discovering forgeries
among its scriptural canon, these minor letters might seem of little significance.
However, by highlighting the fundamental differences between the teachings
of Peter and Paul, they actually reveal a great deal. They attempt to demonstrate
that Peter, the one appointed by Jesus to lead the disciples after his death, and
who had spent so much time in the personal company of Jesus, simply got it wrong.
While Paul, on the other hand, who had never studied the teachings of Jesus,
but claimed to have received his doctrine by an inner infusion of the Holy Spirit,
was right, even though his primary tenet – the imminence of the Second Coming
– turned out to be incorrect. These letters also imply that Jesus lacked sound
judgment by appointing someone who had failed to understand him correctly.
From a wider perspective, they also highlight what became clear to modern
scholars during the twentieth century with the discovery of ancient gnostic texts
– that early Christians were divided into at least two main streams – the Pauline
and the gnostic. Therefore, in any appraisal of the mystical side of Jesus’ teach-
ings, the gnostic stream needs considerable attention.

Revelations
In the search for the mystical among the teachings of Jesus, one New Testament
document remains for consideration – the obscure Book of Revelation. Revela-
tions belongs to a category of Jewish literature that developed during the second
and first centuries BCE, having its antecedents in the earlier religious writings
of Babylonian and Persian times. It was a literary form or style, a means of
expression or an art form, which lasted for many centuries, predominating in
certain Judaic, as well as Christian and gnostic circles.
In these ‘revelations’, imagery, metaphor, allegory, symbolism, cipher,
numbers, colours and all such devices were used to convey the author’s meaning,
which often carried an eschatological message. At times, the revelational writing
could become like a literary version of a cryptic crossword, where nothing meant
quite what it seemed.
The revelational genre commonly consists of a fictitious ascent into the
heavenly realms, usually in the company of an angel or some other spiritual
being. Sometimes, the supposed recipient of the revelation is one of the patri-
archs of old, thereby adding an air of authenticity to the events related. Once in
the heavenly realms, the writer is shown certain things revealing either the
58 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

structure and nature of the inner creation or concerning physical events about to
take place. He or she may also be given instructions to do certain things or to
convey particular messages.
A few of these revelations, like the Ascension of Isaiah and some of the
gnostic tractates, contain interesting esoteric details concerning the heavenly
regions. Others use the literary form to promote a prophecy of impending doom,
disaster and the Day of Judgment, urging their readers to repent while there is
still time. Revelations with purported prophecies of the future were invariably
written after the event – an easy way to write prophecy! Some were even used
for political or propagandist purposes.
None of these revelational writers, however, was interested in the distant
future. Their horizons were circumscribed by their time and place. The attempt
to read distant prophecies of the end of the world into such writings is therefore
unwise, and certainly not what the original author or authors had in mind.
Writers and artists of all kinds, times and ages have been fond of symbols,
but since no literary art form quite like this exists today, most people find the Book
of Revelation quite impenetrable. Moreover, the difficulty translators of the New
Testament have experienced in understanding the Greek text has added further
to the confusion. And this is not all, for a source analysis of the text reveals that
like the gospels and Acts, it too is a compilation. It is put together from at least
two sources, with a number of additional interpolations, one of which may origi-
nally have been a Jewish revelation, overwritten by a later Christian editor.
There is an excellent illustration among the gnostic writings of the way in
which ‘revelations’ such as this were written. In the significant collection of
gnostic texts known as the Nag Hammadi codices, there are two documents
where it is clear that one is a Christian overwriting of the other. The earlier docu-
ment, Eugnostos the Blessed, begins as a discourse on mystical subjects, shifting
emphasis to become more revelational as it progresses. The second, the Sophia
of Jesus Christ, is a Christian overwriting of Eugnostos the Blessed and is set
entirely in the revelational genre. And it is intriguing to observe, almost at first
hand, the editing and Christianizing of a non-Christian text, as well as the trans-
formation of a discourse into a ‘revelation’, put into the mouth of Jesus and given
a post-resurrectional setting.
The Book of Revelation is organized as a series of visions given variously
by a voice or by several different angels, the first vision being the dictation of a
letter containing seven messages for the seven churches in Asia Minor. But the
text is altogether too complex to attempt a source analysis here. It is, however,
of interest in the present context because, despite its oddities and confusions, it
contains some salient points of mystic teaching. These appear to have originated
from an earlier stratum of Christian teaching or from the mystical milieu of the
times, and it may be that one of the sources of this document was written in the
apocalyptic style, but stemmed from one who understood mystic teachings.
 1.5 Christianity 59

The acceptance of Revelations as a part of the canon was a matter of early

debate. The book was never accepted by the Eastern churches as authentic,
and is missing from many early New Testament manuscripts. Scholars are also
unclear who wrote its various parts. It has been pointed out that although written
in very clumsy Greek, the writer thinks in Hebrew,71 providing significant evi-
dence of a Jewish background. But like all such writings, the author or authors
are unknown. Attributed to a ‘John’ who figures in the text as the one who claims
the vision or rather the series of visions, no one is sure whether he has any con-
nection with John the Elder or John the disciple, whether he was an altogether
different John, otherwise unknown to history, or whether John was a pseudonym
adopted by the last compiler-editor of this strange book.
In its present form, Revelations probably originates from the end of the first
century, during the period of Domitian persecution, for the writer speaks of his
personal persecution. He was probably lucky, for he had only been exiled to the
island of Patmos, a Greek island in the Aegean, off the coast of Asia Minor,
where he utilized the time to put the book together. That its date is after the first
Jewish war and the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE seems clear, for references are
made by way of ‘prophecy’ to events that took place during that war.

Apocryphal Sources
Fortunately, the New Testament is not the sole source of information on the
teachings of Jesus. The writings of the early fathers have in many instances
survived, presenting largely Pauline points of view. Further, the many other early
Christian groups also produced their own literature, some of which has also
survived, augmenting understanding of the mystic beliefs of the esoteric side of
early Christianity. In particular, a series of Acts, written as fictional romances
with one or other of the apostles as their central characters, provide insights into
the mystic and spiritual teachings attributed to Jesus.
Many of these Acts are quite alien to Western literature and the Western
mind of the present time. The stories are often allegorical in character, and the
teachings are given by way of metaphor and parable. But like John’s gospel,
though the stories may be allegories, they have historical individuals as their
main characters, and the narratives read to some extent as if the events were to
be understood as real. The nearest equivalent in modern literature is probably
historical fiction, where the fictitious details of the story are fabricated around
a historical framework. The difference is that the incidents narrated in these
apocryphal writings are often allegories, the main intent of the author being to
convey a spiritual message.
These books and others like them were censured, if not hated, by the ‘ortho-
dox’, especially after Christianity gained political power in the early fourth
century when Emperor Constantine adopted it as the Roman state religion. Yet,
from the earliest times, the path of inner experience, whether it is called mysti-
60 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

cism, gnosticism or by any other name, was associated with the teachings of
Jesus, and these writings are a valuable resource in the search for what Jesus
really taught. The Acts of John and the Acts of Peter are good examples of this
genre, but of all these apocryphal Acts the richest source of spiritual material is
undoubtedly the Acts of Thomas. For instance:

You stand in the temporal life,

and the everlasting life you know not.
You are troubled by the marriage of corruption,
and have not become aware of the true marriage.
You stand clad in robes that grow old,
and long not for those that are eternal.
You are proud of this beauty which vanishes,
and care not about the unsightliness of your (eternal) soul.
You are proud of (owning) a number of slaves,
and your own soul from slavery you have not set free.
Acts of Thomas 135; cf. AAA p.269, ANT p.423, MAA p.232

The Acts of Thomas is a second- or third-century Christian composition of un-

known authorship, consisting of tales and discourses, and written as though it
were a brief history of the apostle Judas Thomas in India. Scholars are agreed
that the majority of the extant manuscripts in Greek were translated from the
version in Syriac, a Semitic language akin to Aramaic. Many also consider that
the Acts of Thomas was originally written in Syriac. M.R. James and others,
however, have suggested that the original language of composition was actu-
ally Greek, but was rendered into Syriac early on.72 The original Greek was then
lost, except for a few fragments, and the existing Greek manuscripts stem from
a retranslation of the Syriac back into Greek.
Whatever the truth of the matter, there are certainly differences between the
Greek and Syriac versions, sometimes significant, and though the Syriac can be
consulted for verification of the text, there are conclusive indications that the
existing Syriac texts come from a line of manuscripts that has seen more edito-
rial tampering from a Christian viewpoint than the Greek texts. Additionally,
while the greater part of the text expresses a universal understanding of the
mystic path, there are also passages that reflect early Christian practices and
beliefs. Consequently, it is difficult to know what the original text might have
been and to what extent the existing text has been ‘corrected’ by later editors.
Like so many ancient writings, the Acts of Thomas should therefore be ap-
proached with an understanding of its uncertain provenance.
Perhaps the most lyrical and purely mystical of the early Christian texts is
the Odes of Solomon – a collection of forty-one devotional and often ecstatic
poems in praise of God, the Word and the Saviour:
 1.5 Christianity 61

The blessed have joy within their hearts,

and light from Him who dwells in them,
and the Word of Truth which is self-existent.
And they receive their strength
from the holy Power of the Most High:
He who rests unchanging for ever and ever.
Odes of Solomon 32:1–3

Draw for yourselves water

from the Living Spring of the Lord,
because it has been opened to you.
Come, all you who thirst, and take a draught,
and rest beside the Spring of the Lord.
For fair it is and pure,
and gives rest to the soul.

Sweeter by far than honey are its waters,

and the honeycomb of bees cannot be compared with it;
Because it flows forth from the lips of the Lord,
and from the heart of the Lord is its Name.

And it came unhindered and unseen,

but until it sprang up within them,
men knew it not.
Blessed are they who have drunk from it,
and have found rest thereby.
Odes of Solomon 30:1–7

The origin of the Odes is again uncertain, but they are thought to have come
from the earliest Christian period, maybe stemming from the time of Jesus or
even before. Their expression of mystical truths employs literary images also
found in the Jewish Wisdom literature and the psalms found among the Dead
Sea Scrolls, as well as in Christian, Mandaean and Manichaean writings. The
Odes are extant in both Syriac and Greek, and although exhibiting an undoubted
Semitic influence, scholars are divided as to which was the original language.
Also significant among these ancient texts is the pseudo-Clementine litera-
ture, of which only the Clementine Recognitions, the Clementine Homilies and
two Epitomes have survived. Of these, the Recognitions and the Homilies are
the most interesting. The two books are actually variants of each other, though
there is no scholarly consensus on which was written first or on the relationship
between the two. In fact, it is probable that both of them are based upon earlier
material, now lost. The authorship is attributed in the books themselves to
Clement, Bishop of Rome during the closing years of the first century, who is
62 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

said to have sent them to James the brother of Jesus in Jerusalem; but this is
usually considered to be a part of the fiction. The Homilies are also prefaced
with two letters to James from Clement and Peter.
The story consists of a spiritual romance, told by Clement in the first person,
describing his travels in the East in the company of Peter. The plot provides a
well-executed and entertaining framework, while much of the text is taken up
with the various discourses of Peter on spiritual and mystical matters. He speaks,
for instance, of

the key of the kingdom, which is (mystic) knowledge (gnosis), which alone
can open the gate of life, through which alone is the entrance to eternal life.
Clementine Homilies III:18, P2 col. 124, CH p.64

And referring to the means of mystic knowledge, the writer of the Clementine
Homilies says that the Saviour, the “faultless prophet”, the perfect mystic, in
this case Jesus, sees and knows all things through the “boundless eye of his soul”:

For, being a faultless prophet, and looking upon all things with the bound-
less eye of his soul, he knows hidden things.
Clementine Homilies III:13, CH p.62

The date of composition of the Clementine literature is uncertain, scholarly

opinion varying from the first to the fourth century, and even later. But in their
present form, the Recognitions were probably written between 211 and 231 CE,
for they refer to the extension of the Roman franchise that took place through-
out the empire under the Emperor Caracalla (211–217 CE), and they are also
quoted by the third-century Christian teacher, Origen (c.185–254) in his Commen-
tary on Genesis, written in 231.
Both works were written in Greek, but the original text of the Recognitions
has been lost, and is preserved in a Latin translation made by Rufinus (fl.395–400),
together with a translation in Syriac. Rufinus claims to have made a fair trans-
lation, only omitting those portions that were difficult to understand. But he is
notorious as a ruthless editor and ‘corrector’ of texts, and the extent of his
tampering is difficult to determine. This means that the Clementine Homilies is
likely to be the more authentic text.
At face value, the Clementine writings reveal something of the Judaeo-
Christian side of early Christianity and, if this is genuinely their provenance,
then they are the only works to do so. But whatever their origins, and despite
interpolations and editorial modifications, they clearly stem from a mystic
school of thought and contain some interesting material.
Early Christianity was comprised of many interconnected streams and
substreams, reflecting the different groups that came into being after the death
of Jesus. One such group was the early Judaeo-Christians of Palestine, often
 1.5 Christianity 63

called the Ebionim. Although they must have been the closest to Jesus’ original
teachings, little is known of them. Apart, perhaps, from the Clementine litera-
ture, practically none of their writings have survived and, by the end of the first
century, the Ebionim had all but vanished. Then there were the gnostic schools
whose place in the history of early Christian mysticism is so significant that they
are separately discussed. Many of the gnostic teachers claimed descent from
the original disciples of Jesus. If their claims were correct, then the Judaeo-
Christians, Jesus’ original followers in Syria and Asia Minor, and the gnostics
should all be regarded as one group. Certainly, by the end of the first century,
the gnostics represented the main mystical or esoteric movement in early Chris-
tianity. But alongside gnostic Christianity, there was Pauline Christianity, which
– having adopted an evangelical and proselytizing character from the outset –
ultimately became the orthodox Church, though split into many factions from
an early date.

Traditional Christian Mysticism

Within all these movements, there were those of a devotional and mystical tem-
perament. Jesus and his direct disciples would have been the first ‘Christian’
mystics, but very little is really known of them. Then there were the gnostics
whose teachings were undoubtedly mystical, but who were castigated and per-
secuted by the organized Church as heretics, every effort being made to destroy
their literature. The earliest mystics, therefore, who were accepted as such by
the orthodox stream were probably the desert fathers, ascetics who flourished
in the deserts of fourth-century Egypt and Syria. They were the beginnings of
the monastic movement.
The father of Christian monasticism is generally said to have been the Egyp-
tian hermit, Antony the Great (c.251–356). The son of wealthy parents, but
orphaned while still a child, Antony gave away his wealth at the age of twenty,
joining a group of ascetics near his home village. Seeking greater solitude, he
gradually moved deeper into the desert, but his fame spread, and many sought
him out for his advice and blessings. Disciples also flocked to him, forming
small desert colonies that Antony shepherded into the first communities of
Christian monks. His biography was written in the fourth century by Athanasius
(c.296–373), and is still the primary source of information about him, together
with seven letters attributed to him. Pachomius (c.290–346), building on the
enthusiasm generated by Antony, founded the first Christian monastery in 318.
Later that same century, Basil the Great (fl.379), Bishop of Caesarea, brought
monasticism to the towns and cities by introducing charitable work as an accept-
able monastic discipline.
The desert fathers and other holy men of the Eastern Church became the
spiritual mentors of Eastern Christianity whose last remaining stronghold in
modern times is the Orthodox Christian tradition. Their writings are preserved
in collected form in the Philokalia, an eighteenth-century Greek compilation of
64 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

writings dating from the fourth to the fifteenth centuries, brought together by
two Greek monks, Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain of Athos (1749–1809) and
Makarios of Corinth (1731–1805). First published in Venice in 1782, a second
edition, with additional material on prayer by Patriarch Kallistos, was published
in Athens in 1893, followed by a third five-volume edition, also published in
Athens from 1957 to 1963.
Running parallel with the ascetic stream were the early fathers such as the
Clement of Alexandria (c.150–215), founder of the first school for Christian
converts; his successor, Origen (c.185–254); and Augustine (354–430), Bishop
of Hippo. These were men of a deeply mystical as well as scholarly disposition,
who helped lay the foundations of what became orthodox Christian theology.
The founding of Western monasticism, from which so many great mystics have
come, was primarily the work of the sixth-century Benedict of Nursia, whose
Benedictine rule formed the basis of monastic life until the twelfth century.
Among the principal monastic orders which came into being during the Middle
Ages were the Carthusians (C11th), the Cistercians (C12th), and the mendicant
orders of friars of the thirteenth century – the Dominicans, the Franciscans and
the Carmelites.
Monasticism has been an essential part of both the Roman Catholic and
Eastern Orthodox traditions from the earliest times to the present, being reformed
and revitalized from time to time by various personalities with something new
or more modern to offer. In the sixteenth century, monasticism was rejected by
the Reformation and the subsequent Protestantism that came into being, although
a number of monastic orders have been sponsored by the Anglican Church since
the nineteenth century.
It is from the Western monastic tradition that the majority of those more
commonly described as Christian mystics have emerged. Many were also sig-
nificant writers, spiritual guides and interpreters of biblical texts, thus adding to
the wealth of Christian literature on the mystical or contemplative life. Interest-
ingly, a great many of them also lived during the eleventh to the seventeenth
centuries – a heyday of mysticism in all the world religions. Well-known
personalities who have contributed to this tradition include:

Bernard of Clairvaux (c.1090–1153) Walter Hilton (d.1396)

Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179) Jean Gerson (1363–1429)
Francis of Assisi (c.1181–1226) Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556)
Mechthild of Magdeburg (c.1210–1297) Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582)
Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Luis de León (1527–1591)
Ramón Lull (c.1235–1315) Marina de Escobar (1554–1633)
Angela of Foligno (1248–1309) Alvarez de Paz (1560–1620)
Meister Eckhart (c.1260–1327) John of the Cross (1542–1591)
Johan Tauler (1290–1361) François de Sales (1567–1622)
Henry Suso (c.1295–1366) Jakob Boehme (1575–1624)
 1.5 Christianity 65

Richard Rolle (c.1300–1349) George Herbert (1593–1633)

Thomas à Kempis (1379–1471) Brother Lawrence (1611–1691)
Margery Kempe (fl.1390) Angelus Silesius (C17th)

These mystics and those of the early Church have expressed the universal truths
of spirituality within the framework of their Christian belief, and a very small
selection of their voluminous writings is considered here. Although the spiritual
journey begins in this world, Bernard of Clairvaux points out, along with so
many other mystics, that the body is only a temporary “dwelling place”:

Our bodily dwelling place … is neither a citizen’s residence nor one’s native
home, but rather a soldier’s tent or traveller’s hut. This body … is a tent …
that now intervenes to deprive the soul for a while of the vision of the in-
finite Light.
Bernard of Clairvaux, On the Song of Songs 26:1, WBC2 p.59

Even so, Pope Gregory the Great (c.540–604) insists that eternity is accessible
in this life to the devotees or “saints”:

The saints enter eternity even in this life, beholding the eternity of God.
Gregory the Great, Morals 8, in CWJC1 p.117 (n.3)

This is possible, says Gregory of Nyssa (c.335–395), because

we have two sets of senses, one corporeal and the other spiritual.
Gregory of Nyssa, On Canticles 1, GGG p.156

And he speaks of

the sound of a Voice that calls the soul through its spiritual sense of hear-
ing to a contemplation of the mysteries.
Gregory of Nyssa, On Canticles 5, GGG p.199

Likewise, writes Alvarez de Paz, the spiritual eyes of the soul can see the divine
light within when absorbed in inner contemplation:

In this degree (of contemplation) … eyes are given unto the soul by which
she may see God.… When you see light with the bodily eyes, you do not
arrive thereat by a comparison of ideas, as when we say: “Light is not
darkness” or “It is a quality.” You simply see light.
In the same way, the soul in this degree of contemplation affirms
nothing, denies nothing, attributes nothing, avoids nothing, but in complete
repose she sees God. It will be said: this is astonishing, or rather unbeliev-
able.… I admit that it is astonishing. The fact, however, is very certain.…
66 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

In this supernatural manner, the soul knows God in the depths of her
being, and she sees Him, so to say, more clearly than she sees the material
light with the eyes of the body.… This sight (of God) inflames the soul with
a very ardent love.… Neither the senses, nor the imagination, have the least
part in this vision; all takes place in the summit of the spirit.
Alvarez de Paz, IPSO V:3.14, in GIP p.282

Such experiences are clearly infused with a deep spiritual enlightenment. Origen,
however, points out that the inner senses do not open until all material desires
and imperfections have left the soul:

The soul is not made one with the Word of God, and joined to Him, until
such time as all the winter of her personal disorders and the storm of her
vices has passed.… When, therefore, all these things have gone out of the
soul, and the tempest of desires has fled from her, then the flowers of the
virtues can begin to burgeon in her.
Origen, On the Song of Songs 3:14, OSS p.240

Then, when purified, the soul is drawn up towards God, and all the knowledge
of this world, says John of the Cross, is revealed as ignorance:

The draught of the highest wisdom of God makes her (the soul) … forget
all the things of the world.… It seems to the soul that its former knowledge,
and even the knowledge of the whole world, is pure ignorance by compari-
son with that knowledge.…
The soul that is led into this highest knowledge knows thereby that all
that other knowledge, which has naught in common with this knowledge,
is not knowledge but ignorance. And that there is no knowledge to be had
from it. And the soul declares the truth of the saying of the Apostle (Paul),
namely, that that which is greatest wisdom in the sight of men is foolish-
ness in God’s sight.73 … Because the soul is in that exceeding high wisdom
of God, … therefore the lowly wisdom of men is ignorance to it. For the
natural sciences themselves, and the very works that are done by God, are
as ignorance compared with knowing God. For, where God is not known,
naught is known.
John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle XXVI:13, CWJC2 pp.315–16

In this state, he says, the soul is full of a “marvellous sweetness”:

In this divine union, the soul sees and tastes abundance, inestimable riches,
finds all the rest and the recreation that it desires, and understands strange
kinds of knowledge and secrets of God, which is another of those kinds of
food that it likes best.
 1.6 Gnosticism 67

It feels likewise in God, an awful (i.e. awesome) power and strength

which transcends all other power and strength. It tastes a marvellous sweet-
ness and spiritual delight, finds true rest and divine light, and has lofty
experience of the knowledge of God.…
Likewise it feels itself to be full of good things, and far withdrawn from
evil things and empty of them. And, above all, it experiences and has frui-
tion of an inestimable feast of love which confirms it in love.
John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle XIV-XV:4, CWJC2 pp.248

In such experiences, records Marina de Escobar, the soul is in “a deep ecstasy”

and “filled … with His light”:

When in a deep ecstasy, God unites the soul suddenly to His essence, and
when He fills her with His light, He shows her in a moment of time the
sublimest mysteries. And the soul sees a certain immensity and an infinite
majesty.… The soul is then plunged, as it were, into a vast ocean which is
God and again God. It can neither find a foothold nor touch the bottom.
The divine attributes appear as summed up in one whole, so that no one of
them can be distinguished separately.
Marina de Escobar, Life, VME2 II:34, in GIP pp.275–76

But, says Basil the Great (c.329–379), this state is “inexpressible”:

The radiance of divine beauty is wholly inexpressible: words cannot de-

scribe it, nor the ear grasp it. To compare the true (divine) Light to the rays
of the morning star or the brightness of the moon or the light of the sun is
to fail totally to do justice to its glory, and is as inadequate as comparing a
pitch-black moonless night to the clearest of noons.
Basil the Great, Longer Rules 337c–d, P31 cols. 909–10, PCT2 p.356; cf. AWB p.154

It is, as Francis of Assisi says, a state of divine ecstasy and love:

I am dying of sweetness,
do not marvel at it.
Francis of Assisi, Canticle of the Furnace, WFA p.120

1.6 G NOSTICISM
The designation ‘gnosticism’ stems from the Greek word, gnosis. Literally
meaning ‘knowledge’, gnosis refers to spiritual or mystical knowledge which is
personal, revelational and self-evident. Essentially, gnosis means mystical expe-
rience. The gnostics were – and are – those who sought that kind of experience.
68 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Often linked with Christianity in the popular mind, the first flourishing of
gnosticism is generally associated with the first two centuries of the Christian
era. However, there have actually been many different gnostic schools in
Judaism, Christianity, Hellenistic thought, and also, later, in Islam. Gnosticism,
especially of the early Christian period, is generally characterized by a belief
that the soul has fallen into the bondage of matter where it is held captive until
rescued by a Saviour:

Release yourselves,
and that which has bound you will be dissolved.
Save yourselves, so that your soul may be saved.
The kind Father has sent you the Saviour,
and given you strength.
Why are you hesitating?
Seek when you are sought;
When you are invited, listen,
for time is short.
Zostrianos 131, NHS31 pp.222–23

The soul then receives from the Saviour a mystic baptism or initiation into the
Logos, the primal creative Power of God, at which time the binding cords of
fate or destiny are transferred from the administration of the “evil principalities”
into the hands of the Saviour. Then, through meditation practices taught by
the Saviour, the soul regains true gnosis, true knowledge, experience or mystic
revelation both of itself and of God, and returns to Him:

Baptism is called death and an end of the old life, when we take leave of
the evil principalities, but it is also called “life” according to Christ.… But
the power of the transformation of him who is baptized does not concern
the body, but the soul.…
Until baptism, they say, fate is real, but after it the astrologers are no
longer right. But it is not only the washing (of baptism) that is liberating,
but the knowledge of who we were, and what we have become, where we
were or where we were placed, whither we hasten, from what we are re-
deemed, what birth is, and what rebirth.
Theodotus, Excerpta ex Theodoto 77–78; cf. ETCA pp.88–89

This quest for God’s “kingdom” and knowledge of the self take place within:

Jesus said,
“If those who lead you say to you,
‘See, the kingdom is in the sky’,
then the birds of the sky will precede you.
 1.6 Gnosticism 69

If they say to you, ‘It is in the sea’,

then the fish will precede you.
Rather, the kingdom is inside of you,
and it is outside of you.

“When you come to know yourselves,

then you will become known,
and you will realize that it is you
who are the sons of the Living Father.
But if you will not know yourselves,
you dwell in (spiritual) poverty,
and it is you who are that poverty.”
Gospel of Thomas 32–33:3, NHS20 pp.52–55

Also characteristic of gnostic teachings are an understanding of the Saviour as a

manifestation of the Logos, as well as a belief in reincarnation and an interme-
diate creator of the material and higher worlds, together with a hierarchy of lesser
deities or archons (rulers) in the administration of creation. Gnostic texts com-
monly refer to this lesser creator, his archons and the realms over which they
rule (the “principalities”) as evil or negative, in contrast to the positive power of
God and His eternity.
In common with other followers of the mystic path, many gnostics were also
vegetarian and, among the early Christian gnostics, many also understood such
doctrines as resurrection in a spiritual rather than a literal manner. They sought
the immortality of the soul while they lived, rather than awaiting a final Day of
Judgment.
The need for a Saviour was foremost in their minds, and it is clear from
gnostic texts that many early Christians regarded Jesus as a gnostic Saviour. But
there were other contemporary spiritual teachers, giving rise to a debate, often
heated, as to who was or had been a true Saviour and who false. The mid-first-
century Simon Magus, a Samaritan mentioned in Acts74 and a contemporary of
Jesus, was commonly targeted by the early Christians as a false Saviour. That
this was an issue highlights the fact that there were considerable similarities
between the teachings of Jesus and the gnostics, demonstrating the mystical
character of Jesus’ teachings. In fact, Simon is said in Acts to have received
“baptism”,75 and in the Clementine Homilies and Clementine Recognitions to
have been a successor to John the Baptist.76
Simon Magus was charged with being a ‘magician’ or ‘sorcerer’, a lesser
mystic, said to resort to the performance of ‘lower-order’ miracles in order to
convince people. Both Jesus77 and Simon were also, in their turn, accused of
being messengers of Satan, rather than the supreme Lord. In the Clementine
Homilies, the Clementine Recognitions, the Acts of Peter, and other similar liter-
ature, Simon Magus and Peter are portrayed as being in debate or contention
70 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

with each other. As in the stories of warring Greek gods, familiar to many of
those times, Simon performs extravagant miracles, flying through the air, roll-
ing on burning coals and so on, while Peter derides such a display. Since these
texts promote Peter’s point of view, his teachings and behaviour are always
depicted as superior to those of Simon, yet the second-century Christian heresi-
ologist, Irenaeus (c.120–202), Bishop of Lyons, says that Simon was also con-
sidered by his disciples to have been a Saviour and a Son of God.78 And the
mid-second-century Christian father, Justin Martyr (d.c.165), reports that Simon
had a considerable following in his own time, and even a century later was still
worshipped as the “first God” by “almost all the Samaritans and a few even of
other nations”, particularly in Rome.79 The real truth of the situation is therefore
more or less impossible to determine.
Irenaeus and other early Christian heresiologists mention a number of gnos-
tic teachers, many of whom regarded themselves as Christians.80 Both Justin
Martyr and Irenaeus say that Simon’s successor was Menander,81 followed by
Saturninus, Basilidēs and Valentinus.82 Tracing back the lineage, the fourth-
century fathers, Eusebius (c.265–340) and Epiphanius (c.315–403), intimate that
Saturninus in Syria and Basilidēs in Egypt had both been the disciples of
Menander or had at least come from the same school.83 These gnostics had large
followings, Basilidēs and Valentinus in particular being well known among the
second-century Alexandrian gnostics.
Not only did each gnostic have his own teacher or Master, but many also
claimed that they had received their teaching through one or other of the apos-
tles. Clement of Alexandria writes that Basilidēs professed “for his Master,
Glaucias, an interpreter of Peter”84 – a somewhat unclear designation. He also
adds that Basilidēs was taught by Matthew, while Hippolytus (fl.210–236),
Bishop of Rome, has it that

Basilidēs … and Isodorus, the true son and disciple of Basilidēs, say that
Matthias (not Matthew) communicated to them secret discourses, which,
being specially instructed, he heard from the Saviour.
Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies VII:8, RAH p.273

The history of the mystics, the gnostics and the early Christians of this period is
unclear and fragmentary, but the late-second-century father, Hegesippus, wrote
that the real splintering began after the martyrdom of James the brother of Jesus
(c.62 CE), head of the community of disciples at Jerusalem, when different in-
dividuals wished to take over the leading position.85
Surveying what is known of Christianity’s first three centuries, it is gener-
ally true that the wide spectrum of belief held by Christians at that time was more
or less polarized into two main camps – those who believed that Jesus had taught
a primarily mystic, gnostic or esoteric path to God, and those who formed what
was later to become orthodox, exoteric Christianity, awaiting the second earthly
 1.6 Gnosticism 71

coming of Jesus, and founded on the teachings of Paul.86 Generally speaking,

these two streams reflect the spectrum of human nature present at all times, in
all cultures and religions. There are those whose primary interest is in externals
and those whose primary interest is a personal and more inward reality.
Though there are many mystic and gnostic elements even in the earliest
stratum of ‘orthodoxy’, a number of the early Christian fathers entertained an
intense hatred of all gnostic teachers and their philosophy. Gnosticism seemed
to challenge their beliefs more than any other intellectual system, theological
outlook or difference of opinion within the Church. It must have given them
considerable feelings of insecurity, for a number of them devoted significant
efforts to decrying the gnostics. Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Tertullian (fl.190–220),
Epiphanius and Ephraim Syrus (c.306–373), in particular, all wrote long trea-
tises condemning the gnostics and their teachings. Later Christian authorities
also did their best to destroy the writings of the ‘heretics’. Indeed, so successful
were they that until the late nineteenth century the treatises of the heresiologists
remained the major source of information on the gnostics.
The information they conveyed, however, is often questionable, since they
were more interested in debunking rather than understanding. Of them all, the
accounts of Irenaeus are generally the most accurate; but like the others even
his writings are redolent with scorn, prejudice and misrepresentation. Only when
some passage is quoted in order to ridicule or refute it, is it possible to gauge
more precisely what the original writer had in mind. Even so, much can be
gleaned that is interesting, though often tantalizing in its deficiencies, and it is
through these early writers that some knowledge of this side of Christian belief
was preserved.
And so the situation might have remained had it not been for the remark-
able discovery of some significant manuscripts during the last century and a half.
In the latter part of the nineteenth and in the early twentieth century, a few gnostic
manuscripts, written in Coptic, turned up in the antiquarian bazaars of Cairo,
found no doubt in the dry Egyptian desert areas. Then, in December 1945, on
the east bank of the Nile, in the Naj’ Hammadi region of Upper Egypt, not far
from the ancient city of Chenoboskia, two brothers, digging out nitrogenous
earth to fertilize their fields, found an earthenware pot, sealed with bitumen.
Inside were twelve papyrus codices entirely devoted to gnostic teachings.
Among these were many tractates that dealt specifically with Jesus’ teachings,
notably the Gospel of Thomas (being a collection of Jesus’ sayings), the Gospel
of Philip (a collection of interesting miscellanies giving a mystic interpretation
of Jesus’ teachings), and a number of other texts presenting Jesus’ teachings in
a mystic or gnostic light. Dates found on letters and business documents used to
thicken the leather covers of one of the codices are 341, 345 and 348 CE, indi-
cating that the production of the volumes happened prior to 341. From the con-
tents of the tractates, it is likely that they were written at various times between
the first and fourth centuries.
72 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

At the time of their burial, there must have been many more such writings
in existence and many people have speculated as to why they were copied into
these volumes and secreted. The most probable answer is that some far-sighted
individual, realizing that the orthodox were closing in, wished to preserve some-
thing of universal spiritual value for posterity. Burying books in sealed jars was
standard practice at such times, even mentioned in the Bible, in Jeremiah.87 The
foresight and labour of those involved in the copying and the burial has been
vindicated: for the first time in many centuries the ‘heretics’ have been enabled
to speak for themselves.
These twelve codices, now known as the Nag Hammadi library or Nag
Hammadi codices, contain a total of fifty-two gnostic tractates, of which six
are duplicates and six were already extant at the time of the find, including a
collection of the sayings of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas and a brief excerpt
from Plato’s Republic. Of the forty new tractates, about thirty are in a good or
reasonable state of preservation, the remaining ten being more or less fragmen-
tary. These gnostic texts, together with the few previous finds from Egypt, plus
gleanings from the writings of the heresy-hunting fathers, represent the entire
extant remains of gnostic teachings, with the exception of the more extensive
Mandaean and Manichaean literature.

1.7 T HE M ANDAEANS
The Mandaeans were a gnostic sect of Jewish origin who migrated to Mesopo-
tamia in pre- or early Christian times. Surviving until the middle of the twentieth
century as the last remaining gnostic sect, they lived in the marshlands of Iran
and Iraq. They acknowledged John the Baptist and many other mystics (some
biblical, some mythical) as Saviours. The earliest Mandaeans were also vegetar-
ian and drank no alcohol.
One of the greatest twentieth-century authorities on the Mandaeans, based
on her own first-hand study, was Lady E.S. Drower. In one of her many books
on the subject, she writes:

By the rivers of Iraq and especially in the alluvial land of al-Khaur where
the Tigris and the Euphrates squander their waters in the marshes, meeting
and mating at Qurnah before they flow into the Persian Gulf, and in the low-
land of Persia along the Karun, which like its two sister rivers empties into
the Gulf, there dwells the remnant of a handsome people who call them-
selves Mandaiia, Mandaeans (lit. gnostics), and speak a dialect of Aramaic.
When the armies of Islam vanquished the Sassanids, they were already there
and in such numbers that the Qur’ān granted them protection as ‘People of
the Book’, calling them ‘Sabaeans’.
E.S. Drower, Secret Adam, SA p.ix
 1.7 The Mandaeans 73

Writing in 1960, E.S. Drower was one of the last of only a handful of scholars
who studied the Mandaeans in detail and, of these, there can have been none
who developed such close personal associations as she, spanning a period of
more than thirty years. The Mandaeans are – or were – a shy and secretive people,
closely guarding their sacred books, and although she was given her first
Mandaean book in about 1920, she did not obtain a copy of their ‘canonical
prayer book’ until a return visit in 1954. These books were the personal and
private property of the priests and were in constant use. At that time she also
observed that, as a separate community, the Mandaeans were languishing. Edu-
cation of their children in standard government schools had introduced twentieth-
century attitudes. The numbers of the faithful were dwindling year by year, and
few of the younger generation were interested in entering the priesthood. The
knowledge of their religion and its complex ceremonies was therefore dying out
and must by now have almost entirely disappeared.88
Though the demise of an ancient people is always tinged with sadness, it is
their literature that is of the greatest interest in the present context:

That an ancient gnostic sect should have survived into our time is remark-
able; that so many of their writings, their magical texts, their secret doc-
trine in the ritual scrolls and their liturgical literature has been preserved is
little short of a miracle.
E.S. Drower, Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans, CPM p.viii

The antiquity of at least part of the Mandaean texts can be determined from
Torgny Säve-Söderbergh’s discovery that a series of psalms (the Psalms of
Thomas) in the fourth-century Coptic Manichaean psalm book are adaptations,
almost translations, of early Mandaean hymns.89 Säve-Söderbergh dates them
to the last quarter of the second century or earlier.
In addition to the richness of their imagery and the profusion of their texts,
these writings are of particular interest for the parallels they present to the New
Testament, especially John’s gospel. They also reflect the content of other
gnostic literature as well as some of the psalms ascribed to the Teacher of Right-
eousness, found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Mandaean acceptance (in two
of their codices) of John the Baptist as one among a pantheon of Saviours, some
of whom are undoubtedly mythical, is also intriguing, together with the fact that
in the same books Jesus is represented as a false prophet, and Mandaean texts
are generally antithetical to him.90
Until the arrival of Islam in Mesopotamia, seeking converts, Mandaean lit-
erature had been diffuse, scattered from place to place. But spurred into action
by the influx of a competitive religion, a group of Mandaean reformers collected
all the texts they could find and established a definitive body of Mandaean
literature, much of which was only available to the priesthood. Existing writ-
ings were organized and probably edited in places, instructions for rituals were
74 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

inserted into the canonical prayer book, and some new compositions also came
into being. A period of strict observance for priesthood and laity then ensued.91
The Mandaeans themselves tell their story in semi-legendary form in one
of the books written at this later date, preserving what had previously been
passed down in the oral tradition. At the time of writing this account, there were
two classes in existence. The laity were called the Mandaeans, while the priest-
hood were the Nā oraeans. In the story of their origins, however, the designa-
tion Mandaean is used only once, the name for the early members of this group
being the Nā oraeans.92
The original Nā oraeans, it is related, were disciples of John the Baptist who
fled from Jerusalem owing to persecution, taking refuge in the Median hills and
in the city of Harran in the north of Persia where there were fellow members of
their faith. The persecutors, says the legend, were later punished by the destruc-
tion of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE, which places their exodus some time
before that date, perhaps even in the pre-Christian era, presumably in the time
of John the Baptist. There is also evidence that John the Baptist had a far longer
and more widespread ministry than is indicated by the brief accounts given in
the canonical gospels. In fact, according to a Mandaean tradition, they had once
had fellow members in Egypt, and the fourth-century Christian heresiologist,
Epiphanius (c.315–403), states that there had been “Nasaraeans” in Palestine
before the time of Jesus, though whether these were the same as the Nā oraeans
is uncertain.93
Later, under the protection of a friendly Parthian king, some of them mi-
grated south to Lower Mesopotamia. That the Nā oraeans of the north were not
of Judaic extraction but of the local population, suggests that John the Baptist
had a following that had spread beyond the borders of Palestine. Many of the
northern group – at least in later times – were among the intelligentsia, some
gaining fame as scholars, physicians and so on, in the early Islamic period. How-
ever, being a less isolated community than their southern counterparts, they were
absorbed into the surrounding culture, and their religion did not survive the
passage of time.94
It seems likely, therefore, that the Nā oraeans – or Mandaeans – originated
from the spiritual and gnostic milieu of Palestine that included the Essenes, the
Ebionim (or Ebionites), the
asidim, the Teacher of Righteousness, John the
Baptist, Jesus and many others.

1.8 M Ā N Ī AND THE M ANICHAEANS

Of all the mystics of the early Christian era, the most well known to posterity
was Mānī, born around 216 CE, probably in Mesopotamia of Persian parents.
Like so many mystics, only a fragmentary history of his life has survived,
 1.8 Mānī and the Manichaeans 75

embellished by the legends that characteristically surround the memory of past

holy men, some of the details being historically conflicting. According to the
medieval Arabic scholar, al-Bīrūnī (973–1048 CE), on Mānī’s own testimony,
his place of birth was the village of Mardinu in what was then northern Babylonia.95
It also seems that his parents belonged to a royal family and were also spiritually
inclined.
Like Jesus, Mānī showed early signs of a mystical disposition. Another
medieval Arabic scholar, al-Nadīm (c.935–995), records the legend:

Even when he was young, Mānī spoke with words of wisdom and then,
when he was twelve years old, there came to him a revelation. According
to his statement, it was from the King of the gardens of light (i.e. God).
Al-Nadīm, Fihrist 9:1, FN2 p.774

Mānī was commonly described as a ‘Messenger’ or a ‘Sent One’, the Greek word
being apostolos – an Apostle – one of Mānī’s commonest designations being
the ‘Apostle of Light’. Though used by Christianity in a particular sense, the
term was used in the Middle East for prophets and mystics, indicating those who
have a divine mandate, so to speak, to teach humanity. According to al-Bīrūnī,
Mānī was the disciple of Fadarun,96 of whom nothing else is known. Among
Mānī’s first disciples were his parents and other influential members of his
family.
During his lifetime, Mānī travelled extensively and continuously, and his
modern biographers have often observed that he must have been a man of ex-
ceptional charisma, also possessing an organizational flair akin to genius for,
wherever he went, well-organized centres came into being. He had disciples
stretching from northern India, through Persia, Mesopotamia and the Middle
East into Egypt, and it seems likely that smaller centres were also founded further
afield. Certainly, during the time of his legitimate successors, the community of
disciples is known to have stretched from China to Rome.
Mānī enjoyed the patronage of several kings, especially the great ruler of
the Persian Empire, King Shāpūr, by whom he was permitted to travel through-
out the empire, teaching without hindrance. Two of Shāpūr’s brothers also be-
came his followers, and it is likely that their example was followed by many
other highly placed individuals in the Persian Empire. But the prevalent reli-
gion of this area of the Middle East was Zoroastrianism, the priestly classes
being the magi, and there is no doubt that just as the Jewish priests were antago-
nistic to Jesus, the magi were little enamoured of Mānī’s activities, for he put
spiritual power directly into the hands of his followers, thereby undermining the
role of the priests. Like Jesus, he interpreted the received scriptures differently
from the priests. He was, for example, universal in his outlook. In a book dedi-
cated to King Shāpūr, he wrote:
76 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Wisdom and practice have always from time to time been brought to man-
kind by the Messengers of God. So in one age they have been brought by
the Messenger called Buddha to India, in another by Zaradusht (Zara-
thushtra) to Persia, in another by Jesus to the West. Thereupon this revela-
tion has come down, this prophecy in this present age through me, Mānī,
the Messenger of God of Truth to Babylonia.
Mānī, Shāhburkān, in al-Bīrūnī, Chronology of Ancient Nations 207; cf. CAN p.190

Mānī taught that Jesus, the Buddha and Zarathushtra had all been Saviours of
their time, but that the way to God lay through a living teacher. The power that
confers salvation, he said, was the Logos, the Creative Word, which he also
called the Nous of Light, the Vahman and by other names. Mānī also taught
reincarnation, saying that until such time as a soul comes into contact with a
Saviour, it remains in the labyrinth of birth and death, taking repeated births in
this world under the influence of its past actions and desires. As a Manichaean
devotee writes:

Who will release me from all the pits and prisons,

in which are gathered lusts that are not pleasing?
Who will take me over the flood of the tossing sea –
the zone of conflict in which there is no rest?
Who will save me from the jaws of all the beasts
who destroy and terrify one another without pity? …
Who will lead me beyond rebirths, and free me from them all –
and from all the waves, in which there is no rest?
I weep for my soul, saying: may I be saved from this,
and from the terror of the beasts who devour one another!

The bodies of men, and of birds of the air,

of fish of the sea, and four-footed creatures and of all insects –
Who will take me beyond these and save me from them all,
so that I shall not turn and fall into the perdition of those hells?
So that I shall not pass through defilement in them,
nor return in rebirth.
Manichaean Hymns, Huwīdagmān IVa:1–3, 5–9, MHCP pp.80–83

And the devotee answers in the name of the Saviour:

I shall take you with might, and enfold you with love,
and lead you to your home, the blessed abode.
Forever shall I show to you the noble Father;
I shall lead you in, into His presence, in pure raiment.
Manichaean Hymns, Angad Rōshnān VI:67–68; cf. MHCP pp.152–53
 1.8 Mānī and the Manichaeans 77

Al-Bīrūnī also comments, “He (Mānī) maintained that he had explained in extenso
what had only been hinted at by the Messiah (Jesus).”97
Although the magi were hostile to Mānī, there was little they could do, since
he enjoyed the patronage of the king and other highly placed people. But in 272
CE, after a reign of thirty years, Shāpūr died, being succeeded by his son,
Hormizd. Hormizd held Mānī in the same esteem as his father, but he was to
rule for just one year, being succeeded on his death by his brother Bahrām, who
ruled from 273 to 276.
Bahrām was hostile to Mānī, but did not act until three years after his suc-
cession to the throne, though he must have been keeping a close watch upon
Mānī through his ‘intelligence network’, a familiar practice then as now. Mānī
had been journeying down the lower Tigris, visiting his centres on either side of
the great river, and was intending to travel on further eastwards through Persia
and into the realm of the Kushāas, to centres at Kābul and Gandhāra (now
Afghanistan and northwest Pakistan). The Kushāas were Buddhists and the
chief tribe of the Yüèh Chì people of China, ruling over much of what is now
northern India, Afghanistan and Central Asia during the first three centuries CE.
This was an area where Shāpūr’s protection and support had been of great
value to Mānī in the past, but at this juncture a royal veto upon his further travels
reached him from Bahrām. Mānī turned back, and he must have known what
was awaiting him on his return, for according to a Coptic description of Mānī’s
journey home, he counselled the disciples he met as he travelled, “Look on me
and take your fill, my children; for bodily, I shall depart from you.”98
Reaching his native Mesopotamia, Mānī received orders from Bahrām to
present himself at the royal court. In the meantime, according to the Coptic text,
the magi had prepared a libellus, a bill of impeachment which contained the ac-
cusation, “Mānī has taught against our law,”99 – the Zoroastrian faith, like
Judaism, being commonly known as the ‘law’. On Mānī’s arrival, Bahrām was
about to leave on a hunting trip, and an impromptu hearing was arranged. But
the king had already made up his mind as to the outcome. On seeing Mānī,
according to the fragmentary remains of both a Coptic and Middle Persian text,
he stormed:

“You are not welcome!”

But the Lord answered, “Why? Have I done anything evil?”
The king said, “I have sworn an oath not to leave you in this land.” And
in an outburst of rage he thus addressed the Lord: “Ah, what need is there
of you, since you neither go to war nor go hunting?”
Manichaean Text, RMP n; cf. GSR p.214, MM pp.39–40

Mānī was put into triple chains – three around his wrists, three around his ankles
and one around his neck – a harsh shackling well known from records of the
early Christian martyrs. A month later he died, the year being 276 CE. Al-Bīrūnī
78 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

writes that he “died in prison” and “His head was exposed before the entrance
of the royal tent, and his body was thrown into the street, that he should be a
warning example to others.”100 Al-Nadīm repeats the story, also observing that
some say he was executed, and his body cut in two, the two halves being gibbeted
on separate gates of the king’s capital of Jundī-Shāpūr. The far earlier Coptic
manuscripts say that he died in prison, that his body was cut up, and that his
severed head was exhibited at one of the city gates.101
Although very little remains from Mānī’s apparently prolific pen, there is
enough among the writings of his followers to demonstrate that his teachings
were specifically mystic. This literature also provides considerable insight into
the mystical interpretation Mānī gave of Jesus’ teachings.
One of the most significant texts is a Coptic psalm book, found by Professor
Carl Schmidt in 1930 in the bazaars of Cairo.102 Probably dating from the fourth
century, it includes translations and versions of material that may have origi-
nated at a much earlier date. This priceless volume contains devotional writings
of a mystic nature praising both Mānī and Jesus as mystic Saviours, often in the
same psalm.
The psalm book seems to have been part of a cache of Manichaean texts in
Coptic found in a wooden chest among the ruins of an old house in Medinet
Madi, to the southwest of al-Fayyūm in Middle Egypt. Broken up before reach-
ing the Cairo market, the collection comprised seven codices: The Kephalaia of
the Teacher, the Epistles of Mānī, the Acts (a history of Mānī and the early com-
munity), the Synaxeis of the Living Gospel, the Psalm Book, a collection of
Homilies, and the Kephalaia of My Lord Mānī. These codices were divided be-
tween Berlin and London, and work commenced on their publication and trans-
lation. The advent of war, however, put an end to this endeavour, and some of
the texts stored in the Soviet sector of Berlin have been partially lost. Specifi-
cally, only portions of the Acts and the Epistles have survived, and parts of the
Kephalaia of My Lord Mānī are also missing. In recent years, the work of publi-
cation and translation has recommenced, but apart from the second part of the
Psalm Book and the Kephalaia of the Teacher, none of the texts have yet been
translated in their entirety into English.
A great many texts in seventeen languages were also collected by four Ger-
man expeditions, during the period 1902–14, to the ruins of the ancient towns
on the borders of the Takla Makan desert in Chinese Turkestan, Central Asia,
500 miles or so to the north of Afghanistan and far to the west of the Gobi desert.
Referring to the main site where these texts were found, they were known as the
Turfan expeditions. Under the leadership of Albert Grunwedel and Albert von
Le Coq, these expeditions returned to Berlin with large numbers of documents,
not only of Manichaean, but also of Christian and Buddhist provenance. Of these
Turfan texts, comparable in importance with the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag
Hammadi library, only about a quarter have so far been published, the remain-
ing material being fragmentary, still requiring considerable piecing together.
 1.9 Greek Mystics and Philosophers 79

Included among the published and translated texts are Manichaean hymns and
texts in Parthian, Middle Persian, Old Turkish, Sogdian and Chinese.
The religion that formed after the departure of Mānī and his successors
(about whom little is known), vibrant with the fresh influx of spirituality and
unencumbered by the stultifying organization that had swamped and smoth-
ered the Christian Church, spread rapidly throughout Persia, Mesopotamia and
the Roman Empire. Centres had been established from China to Rome and, as
the direct disciples died, the religion no doubt formed around their heirs, just
as it had earlier done around the descendants of Jesus and John the Baptist’s
disciples.
The timing, however, coincided with Christianity’s rise to power, and the
Christian authorities included the Manichaeans among their targets of heresy
eradication, for Mānī had given a mystical interpretation of Jesus’ sayings and
parables that was contrary to orthodox belief. At certain times and in some
places, Manichaeism even threatened to replace Christianity as the major reli-
gion, and the response of the Christian authorities was severe. The story is a long
and violent one, far removed from the teachings of Jesus, and the last remnants
of the Manichaeans (in southern France) were not wiped out until medieval times
by the soldiers of the Inquisition. It is because of this suppression that the writings
of Mānī and the Manichaeans are now in short supply.103

1.9 G REEK M YSTICS AND P HILOSOPHERS

In modern times, the ancient Greek philosophers have largely been regarded
as intellectuals, forerunners of the post-Renaissance, Western philosophical
tradition. In more ancient times, however, a number of these philosophers were
understood more specifically as mystics. In fact, fragmentary as the extant source
literature may often be, the basic tenets of the mystic path are present in their
writings. The Logos or the Nous as the divine creative power, the idea of the
enlightened sage, meditation, reincarnation, vegetarianism, the pursuit of human
virtue and perfection, along with other primary aspects of the mystic path are
all given prominence. Indeed, the word ‘philosopher’ (Gk. philosophos) means
a ‘lover of wisdom’, wisdom here meaning spiritual or mystic wisdom.

Orpheus
The story starts with Orpheus, son of the Thracian king, Oeagrus, and the Muse
Calliopē. A figure surrounded more by myth than history, Orpheus was regarded
for more than two millennia as the authority to whom many religious and philo-
sophical groups in the Hellenic world appealed for authentication of their be-
liefs. It is unlikely, however, that he actually composed any of the poems and
hymns attributed to him. Indeed, most of them can be reliably dated to far later
times, and many writers probably wrote quite honestly in the tradition they
80 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

considered to be that of Orpheus, ascribing their writings to him as a traditional

authority, a common literary custom in the ancient world.
Scholars are understandably reluctant to give any dates to Orpheus, for many
(including Aristotle) have believed him to be an entirely mythical character, the
story of his life being deeply entwined with the mythology of ancient Greece. It
is said, for instance, that he sailed with Jason and the Argonauts in their quest
for the Golden Fleece, guarded by a dragon who never slept. Among Jason’s
crew of young adventurers were others who later became renowned as Greek
heroes and demigods, such as Hercules, Nestor and Theseus.
The earliest records of Greek civilization are found in Crete, dated at around
3000 BCE, and known as the Minoan culture. It was the period 1600–1200 BCE,
however, which saw the growth and decline of the Mycenaean culture in Greece,
which included the Trojan War and the events immortalized far later in the
legends related by Homer (c.800 BCE) and others. The events of the Mycenaean
period are generally reckoned to have provided the historical reality behind some
of the later Greek mythology.
1100 BCE onwards saw the beginnings of Greek expansion from the main-
land into the Aegean islands and the coasts of Asia Minor. Dynasties came and
went, but the colonization and trading activities continued. The first Olympic
Games were held in 776 BCE, the four-year cycle (the Olympiad) in which the
games were held later becoming a chronological unit and the basis for dating
historical events in the Hellenic world. During the latter half of the eighth cen-
tury BCE, the Greek alphabet was developed. Based upon earlier Phoenician
models, it spread rapidly throughout the Hellenistic world, and it is from this
point that the literary world of ancient Greece has its beginnings.
If Orpheus really lived, it would probably have been in Mycenaean times,
during the period 1450–1150 BCE, and certainly before the time of Homer
(c.800 BCE). This was an era when mystical realities were commonly described
by means of allegorical myth and the story of Orpheus the Thracian poet – no
doubt ‘enhanced’ by later additions – is not without its mystical aspects. Tradi-
tionally, he was renowned as a singer and player of the lyre. According to leg-
end, so sweet and captivating was his voice that not only were the birds and
animals enchanted by the sound of his music, but even the trees and rocks were
softened by his playing, moving from place to place at his behest. During his
adventures with the Argonauts, undertaken after a visit to Egypt, the acknowl-
edged centre of the ‘mysteries’ in the ancient world, it was the music of Orpheus
that saved his companions from many difficulties. In one well-known episode,
the Argonauts had to pass close by the rocks on which the seductive Sirens dwelt.
These alluring sea nymphs sang so enticingly that passing sailors were involun-
tarily attracted to them, their ships being wrecked upon the rocks. Seeing that
their quest would be compromised before it had scarcely begun, Orpheus played
and sang a music so much sweeter than that of the Sirens that his companions
listened to him instead, and so passed by in safety.
 1.9 Greek Mystics and Philosophers 81

On his return from this voyage, Orpheus marries the dryad (wood nymph)
Eurydicē. But one day, Eurydicē treads on a serpent and, dying of its bite, she
enters the realm of Hadēs, lord of the underworld. In the modern world, it is the
story of Orpheus’ descent into the underworld to rescue her that is most com-
monly recalled. Passing through a narrow passageway, Orpheus descends into
the realm of Hadēs where, with the plaintive longing of his music, not only does
he charm Charon (the ferryman across the river Styx), the dog Cerberus and the
three Judges of the Dead, but also gains a suspension of torture for the damned,
and is able to so soothe the heart of Hadēs that he wins permission to escort
Eurydicē back into the realm of the living.
Hadēs makes just one provision: neither of them should not look back until
Eurydicē is safely out of the realm of darkness and in the upper world of light.
So she follows Orpheus up through the dark passageway, following the sound
of his lyre. But Orpheus is so happy when he sees the light of the sun that he
looks behind to share his delight with Eurydicē, and so loses her forever.
These legends of Orpheus echo many mystic themes. Many mystics have said
that all of nature is sustained by the divine music of the Creative Word or Logos.
Everything lives and moves at its command. Even the rocks and trees exist and
change by virtue of this mystic Music reverberating within them. Further, the path
to obtain the greatest treasure of all (symbolized as the ‘Golden Fleece’, guarded
by the sleepless serpent of the mind) is beset with difficulties that are overcome
by contact with this Music – and with the help of a guide who knows how to
‘play’ its sweet strains. The sweetest seductions and allurements of the world
(the Sirens) are no match for the attraction of the divine Music. Similarly, the soul
has often been likened to the bride of God or of her Saviour. In the story, the wife
of Orpheus is bitten by the serpent of her lower nature and descends into the realm
of the dead, from where only her divine Bridegroom can effect a rescue, leading
her up through the inner passageway, guided by the sound of the divine Music.
Orpheus’ mistake of looking over his shoulder is in keeping with the tradi-
tion of Greek tragedy, and the many other details of these stories that seem to
have no apparent mystical interpretation are perhaps the embellishments of later
storytellers, weaving their plot around an emotive theme that draws power from
an (often unconsciously recognized) basis in reality.
Orphic writings, either credited to Orpheus himself or written in his tradi-
tion, are commonly of a mythological nature, and are preserved as fragments in
the writings of others. In the Orphic Rhapsodies, the source of all things is por-
trayed as the One. From the One, a primeval ‘mud’ comes into being, evolving
into ‘Earth’ and ‘Water’. And from these first stirrings of the One is born Kronos
(Time), sometimes represented as a winged serpent. From Kronos, by succes-
sive degrees, all the lesser gods and powers then emerge. In this progression of
the One to form creation through the agency of Time, there is more than a hint
of the mystical. Time is the essence of the diversity and multiplicity of the
created realms, where change is perceived as the flow of time.
82 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Orphic mythology, however, is complex, traversed by many conflicting

lines of thought, and although some of the details make a satisfying match as
allegories for mystic truth, such an interpretation is essentially speculative. There
is no doubt, however, that the teachings ascribed to Orpheus in the Greek world
included many fundamentals of the mystic path.
As a loose body of religious and spiritual doctrine, Orphism encompassed a
belief in the immortality of the soul and its transmigration into human and lower
forms where it is imprisoned as a punishment for former sins. The soul is judged
after death, according to its deeds. If a person has lived a good life, the soul is
rewarded by a stay in the meadows of the blessed, the Elysian fields (i.e. heaven).
For a life of misdeeds, the soul is punished in some way or even sent to hell.
After the period of reward or punishment is over, the soul is reincarnated. Orphic
practice also included vegetarianism, abstinence from wine and sex, and a gen-
eral interest in self-purification. This is witnessed by many comments from the
ancient writers, including Plato,104 as well as in poetry attributed (pseudo-
epigraphically) to Orpheus.
Like the soul’s eventual return to Him, the omnipresence and omnipotence
of one God in His creation was also a fundamental Orphic doctrine, as in a work
improbably attributed to Aristotle:

Though He is One, He has many names, according to the many effects He

Himself produces.… So it is rightly written in the Orphic books:

Zeus is the first-born, Zeus is the last,

the lord of all lightning:
Zeus is the head, Zeus the centre:
from Zeus comes all that is;
Zeus is the foundation of the earth
and the starry heavens;
Zeus is a man,
Zeus an immortal Virgin (i.e. Wisdom);
Zeus is the Breath of all things,
Zeus is the Spring of tireless fire;
Zeus is the root of ocean,
Zeus is the sun and moon;
Zeus is King,
Zeus is the Master of all,
the Lord of the lightning.
For He hid all men away,
and has brought them again to the lovely Light,
from the holiness of His heart, working great marvels.
Pseudo-Aristotle, On the Cosmos 7:401a–b, SCC pp.404–7
 1.9 Greek Mystics and Philosophers 83

Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans

The same mystic doctrines were taught by the first of the genuinely historical
mystic philosophers of Greece – Pythagoras. In fact, so much did Pythagoras
identify his teachings with those of Orpheus that he is said to have written verses
in the name of Orpheus.105 Though the details of Pythagoras’ life are also hedged
about with legend, there is no doubt that he once lived. Even so, the information
provided by ancient writers differs, while the three extant biographies were all
written in the early Christian era, 600 to 800 years after his death. Diogenēs
Laertius, in the second or third centuries CE, writes of him in his Lives and Opin-
ions of Eminent Philosophers, and the Neo-Platonists Porphyry (c.232–305 CE)
and his pupil, Iamblichus (d.c.330 CE), each wrote a Life of Pythagoras. All
three of them used earlier material, but even its authenticity is dubious. Never-
theless, there are certain basic details upon which all are more or less agreed.
Pythagoras was born around 580 BCE on Samos, a large undulating island
in the Aegean Sea about a mile off the southwest coast of Asia Minor (now
Turkey). His mother is generally agreed to have been a Greek and his father is
variously described as a Phoenician, a Syrian or an Etruscan. At any rate, his
father came from Asia Minor where there were many Greek trading posts,
colonies and cities at the time.
Around the age of thirty, Pythagoras left Samos owing to the tyrannical rule
of the autocratic Polycratēs. He must have been endowed with a questing spirit,
for after a period of travel, he found his way to Egypt, where it is said that he
was initiated into their mysteries, spending many years with their wise men. In
525 BCE, the Persians invaded Egypt, and Pythagoras was taken to Babylon as
a prisoner where he spent ten years, coming into contact with the Zoroastrian
magi. About 515 BCE, then in middle age, he returned to Samos for a brief
period before moving to Croton in southern Italy, a region with such a strong
Greek presence that it was known as ‘Greater Greece’. And it was here, around
518 BCE, that Pythagoras established a centre that appears to have developed
very rapidly, becoming the source of his long-lived fame.
No other person is mentioned more frequently by the ancient writers of the
Grecian world than Pythagoras. Doctrines attributed to him were taught openly
for 1200 years until the sixth century CE. Yet it is generally accepted among
modern scholars, and was proverbial among the ancients, that not only did
Pythagoras submit none of his teachings to writing, but that they were also secret,
his disciples being forbidden to divulge them to others.106 This would have been
quite acceptable at the time for the Orphic and other mystery schools all followed
a similar practice.
Pursuing a well-trodden pathway in the history of religion, in the fifth cen-
tury BCE, some time after the departure of Pythagoras and his successors, a
serious division took place among the Pythagoreans, both asserting that they
were following the real teachings of their Master. As time passed, Pythagorean
doctrine became increasingly diffused, and it is now impossible to determine
84 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

with accuracy the details of the path he taught. Indeed, Porphyry intimates in
his biography that since the teachings of Pythagoras were a closely guarded
secret, they could never be reconstructed with any certainty.107 Iamblichus, how-
ever, asserts that the teachings of Pythagoras were the same universal truth re-
vealed to all the sages such as Orpheus, Plato, Apollonius of Tyana (C1st CE)
and Plotinus (c.205–270 CE). One of the more certain facts is that the geomet-
ric theorem from which the modern world is most familiar with the name of Py-
thagoras did not originate with him.
As with Orpheus, treatises were written and ascribed to Pythagoras, while
teachings on a wide range of subjects received acceptance by being placed under
the umbrella of his respected name. Pythagoras was credited with being a divine
man, with giving mystic teachings and with performing many miracles, including
more than a few closely resembling those of Jesus. In fact, one of the intentions
of Porphyry and Iamblichus was to show that there was nothing unique about
the mission, teachings and miracles of Jesus.
There is little doubt that Pythagoras, like Orpheus before him, taught the
immortality of the soul, reincarnation into human and lower forms, vegetarianism
and abstinence from alcohol,108 together with the pursuance of a good and virtu-
ous life. But he seems to have taught more by metaphor and symbol than through
the mythological allegories of the preceding centuries. It is also commonly said
that he used numerical and musical symbolism. He is further credited with being
the originator of the terms ‘philosopher’ and ‘philosophy’, as well as coining
the term kosmos (lit. order) for the created universe.
Pythagoras taught that at the heart of everything lies the ineffable One, the
Monad, the Creator of the cosmos, sometimes called Apollo and sometimes Zeus,
the father of the gods. Pythagoreans had many names for this source, including
the Cause of Truth, Being and the Friend. He was also called the Hysplex or
starting machine, the name of the instrument used to start Greek chariot races,
here applied since it is this central power that set the cosmos in motion. The
One was also linked with the idea of the Nous or Mind of God as the active crea-
tive principle in all things.
From the One, the dyad (lit. a pair) – the kakos daemon or evil spirit, the
evil or negative principle in creation – came into being. This daemon is the
source of all the pairs of opposites which constitute the known universe – male
and female, light and darkness, good and evil, and the rest. As Hippolytus, the
early-third-century Bishop of Rome, wrote:

Pythagoras … declared the originating principle of the universe to be the

unbegotten Monad and the generated dyad.
Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies VI:18, RAH pp.216–17

Through a play on the Greek words, the dyad (from the Greek, dyas) was also
known as dyē or misery, alluding to the suffering and misery caused by the
 1.9 Greek Mystics and Philosophers 85

activity of the evil spirit. Later Pythagorean doctrine goes on to enumerate a

symbolic meaning of ‘three’ as representing the plurality and multiplicity caused
by the activity of the dyad, similarly finding a mystic meaning for all the numbers
up to ten. But how much of this number symbolism was originated by Pythagoras
and how much by his later self-styled followers is unknown. Number symbolism,
however, as well as many other aspects of later Pythagoreanism, is commonly
found in many of the more convoluted gnostic systems of thought.
The dyad would seem to be the same as the negative or evil power of which
the gnostics wrote. Later Pythagoreans such as Empedoclēs (c.490–430 BCE)
spoke of the ever present “conflict” between “Strife”, “Discord” or “Negativity”
and “Amity”, “Friendship” or “Love” – between the negative power and the
Divine. “Discord” or “Negativity,” he said, is the principle by which the crea-
tion and all souls are separated from God. It is also the architect of this world.
Hippolytus further indicates that Empedoclēs clearly spoke of these two powers
as deities or real forces in creation, not as merely intellectual abstractions.109
Hippolytus asserts that this view of creation was originally Pythagorean.
While “Discord” separates, “Friendship” or “Love” draws souls out of this world
and back to the unity of God.110 Hippolytus then goes on to quote Empedoclēs’
description of the soul’s transmigration, passing from body to body as an exile,
“for thrice ten thousand years banished from bliss”111 – that is, separated from
God for an unimaginably long period of time.
One of the primary purposes of Hippolytus in providing such descriptions
is to point out the similarities between the doctrines of Pythagoras and Plato on
the one hand, and those of the gnostics on the other. A recurrent theme through-
out his Refutation of All Heresies is that the gnostics are plagiarists, and he hopes
to discredit them thereby:

The heresy of Valentinus is certainly, then, connected with the Pythago-

rean and Platonic theory. For Plato, in the Timaeus, altogether derives his
impressions from Pythagoras, and therefore Timaeus himself is his Pythago-
rean stranger.…
(Pythagoras and Plato) derived these tenets originally from the Egyp-
tians, and introduced their novel opinions among the Greeks. But (Valentinus
took his opinions) from these, because, although he has suppressed the truth
regarding his obligation to (the Greek philosophers), and in this way has
endeavoured to construct a doctrine (as it were) peculiarly his own. Yet, in
point of fact, he has altered the doctrines of those (thinkers) in names and
numbers only (a reference to the gnostic development of Pythagorean
number symbolism), and has adopted a peculiar terminology (of his own).
Valentinus has formed his definitions by measures, in order that he may
establish a Hellenic heresy, diversified no doubt, but unstable, and not con-
nected with Christ.
Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies VI:16; cf. RAH pp.214–16
86 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Hippolytus thinks that he is deriding the gnostic Valentinus, as well as Colar-

basus,112 Marcus,113 Elchasai114 and others, when he states that their doctrines
are not those of Jesus, but of Pythagoras. But he is missing the point, and actually
succeeds in demonstrating that true mystics are not interested in spinning out
intellectual systems of their own, but in transmitting the same eternal truths.
They are only attempting to describe the same reality as those before them. If
two people describe the same thing in a similar manner, they can hardly be
accused of plagiarism.
The existence of a spiritual dimension to creation is also attributed by
Hippolytus to Pythagoras, with the Logos as the link between man and the
“spiritual” realms:

There are … according to Pythagoras, two worlds: one spiritual, which has
the Monad for an originating principle; and the other sensible.…
Wherefore, the universe being divided … into the spiritual and sensible
worlds, we are also endowed with the Logos which comes from the spir-
itual (world), in order that by this Logos, we may behold the reality of things
that are perceived by the spirit, and are incorporeal and divine.
But we have, he says (as human beings), five senses – smelling, seeing,
hearing, taste and touch. Now, by these we arrive at a knowledge of (those)
things that are discerned by sense.…
The sensible (he says) is divided from the spiritual world.… Nothing
… of the spiritual can be known to us from (physical) sense. For, he says,
neither eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor any whatsoever of the other senses
known that (which is perceived by the soul).
Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies VI:19; cf. RAH p.218

Also commonly ascribed to Pythagoras is a belief in the power of music. Here,

Pythagoras was on traditional ground, for Hellenic mythology contained many
references to musicians who could charm the gods of the nether world, a super-
natural feat probably derived from the legends of Orpheus. The real ‘super-
natural’ music of which mystics speak is the divine Music of the Logos, and
there are many allusions that appear to stem from an understanding of this eternal
principle in creation.
Pythagoras, for instance, was said to have effected miraculous cures in his
disciples through the power of his music, not only healing bodily ills, but also
quieting the human passions and even curing madness.115 Many of the Greeks
also spoke of the Cosmic Music, sometimes equating it with the Music of the
Spheres, the music made by the regular movements of the stars and planets as
they moved in their respective crystalline spheres around the earth.116 But there
are more than intimations that the Cosmic Music and the Music of the Spheres
known to the mystics was understood to be of an altogether unearthly character.117
 1.9 Greek Mystics and Philosophers 87

Like all mystics, Pythagoras had his teachers, but who they were is not
known with any certainty. Clement of Alexandria says that in Egypt Pythagoras
was “a disciple of Sonchis the Egyptian arch prophet”,118 and Plutarch similarly
speaks of a certain Oenuphis of On.119 The sage Zaratus is mentioned by Por-
phyry120 as Pythagoras’ particular mentor in Persia, but the name may only be a
variant of Zarathushtra, implying that Pythagoras became familiar with the
teachings of the ancient Persian mystic. In Greece, Pythagoras seems to have
come into contact with three of the most well known early-sixth-century philoso-
phers of the time: Thalēs (c.624–546 BCE) and Anaximander (611–547 BCE),
both of Miletus, and Pherecydēs of Syros.
Thalēs is said by Diogenēs Laertius (c.412–323 BCE) to have taught the
“immortality of the soul”, and that “death is no different from life”. Diogenēs
also reports that on being asked, “What is difficult?” Thalēs replied, “To know
oneself,” and Diogenēs credits him with originating the Greek motto, “Know
thyself,”121 the injunction of the Greek Oracle at Delphi, a saying attributed to a
number of Greek philosophers. Anaximander believed that the universe has a
First Principle, which is infinite.122 Even so, both seem to have been more think-
ers and natural scientists in the early Greek mould than mystics. The associa-
tion of Pythagoras with Pherecydēs, however, is said to have been lasting,123 and
his name is commonly linked with that of Pythagoras as teaching the same
doctrines, but whether he was the spiritual Master of Pythagoras is unknown.
Certainly, Plotinus later equated the teachings of Pythagoras and Pherecydēs
when he wrote of the “ancient philosophers that ranged themselves most closely
to the school of Pythagoras and of his later followers, and to that of Pherecydēs”.124
Pythagoras must have died towards the end of the sixth century or early in
the fifth. His centre in Croton was established around 518 BCE and one of his
modern biographers, Peter Gorman, suggests on good evidence that he died some
time after 480 BCE at around one hundred years of age.125 Others maintain that
he died earlier. During his lifetime, Pythagoras was the undisputed head of his
community, consisting of a resident population as well as many others who came
regularly from the surrounding area and probably from further afield as well.
Unlike the majority of the Greeks in southern Italy, Pythagoras was noted for
having associated with the local, ‘common’ folk, a further hallmark of a true
mystic.
After his departure, Aristaeus of Croton took responsibility as the head of
the community, but since he was already an old man at that time, Mnemarchus,
the son of Pythagoras, assumed the leadership. After him came Boulagoras,
and then Gartydas of Croton. Although the details of the various histories dif-
fer, it does seem certain that there was local opposition to the Pythagoreans, even
during the time of Pythagoras. It was not until some years after his death, how-
ever, during the mid-fifth century, when the Pythagoreans were still numerous
in the area and had become involved in local politics, that the local Italian
88 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

community reacted strongly against the influence of the Pythagoreans. Their

centre at Croton was destroyed and a number of Pythagoreans killed. Owing to
the continuing persecution, many migrated to Greece and other places, and the
inevitable dilution of Pythagoras’ original teachings was hastened. Owing to
diminishing numbers, the new leader at that time, Aresas of Leucania, admitted
anyone who wished to join the society, regardless of their suitability, and a
further decline must have resulted.
It was also during the fifth century that the first major schism developed,
the two parties being called the Mathematici and the Acusmatici. It was probably
the Mathematici, under the influence of such men as Hippasus and Philolaus,
who developed the mathematical, scientific and musical aspects of later Pytha-
goreanism. The more dogmatic Acusmatici, on the other hand, who adhered to
rigid aphorisms and verbal formulations of belief, refused to accept the Math-
ematici as real Pythagoreans.
The demise of the centre at Croton had the result of spreading Pythagorean
teachings further into the Greek and later into the Roman worlds, some Pytha-
goreans adopting the wandering life and the black cloak by which they became
known for the next millennium and more. The message of Pythagoras, though
often little understood, thus became the ideal and exemplar for many esoteric
movements, including the Judaic Essenes, the Therapeutae of Egypt, and St
Antony (c.251–356), the Egyptian hermit commonly regarded as the founder of
Christian monasticism. In his Miscellanies, Clement of Alexandria refers con-
tinually to Pythagoras and to a great many wise men who he says were Pytha-
goreans, including the Alexandrian Jew, Philo Judaeus.126 Origen similarly refers
frequently to Pythagoras, in Against Celsus, as the primary source of esoteric
teachings in the Greek and Roman worlds, as did Hippolytus.
Hippolytus also comments that after the death of Pythagoras, Zamolxis, a
slave whom Pythagoras had freed, took his Master’s teachings to the Celtic
Druids,127 teaching them the doctrine of reincarnation and other tenets of the
mystic path. Pythagoras thus became a universal lodestone to which those of
a mystic bent of mind were automatically attracted and with whom esoteric
teachings were automatically associated.
Although few details are reliably recorded of Pythagoras’ teachings, a con-
siderable wealth of literature has been preserved from later Pythagoreans and
others who have acknowledged the high calibre of his doctrine. These philoso-
phers and mystics, together with another sixth- and fifth-century philosopher,
Heraclitus (c.535–475 BCE), an Ionian from the city of Ephesus, provide the
greatest wealth of extant Greek mystical tradition.
Born into an ancient and noble family, Heraclitus inherited a position of
public office, which he resigned in favour of his younger brother. Contempo-
rary with Pythagoras for some time, the few succinct and often epigrammatic
sayings that have survived as citations among the writings of others indicate that
Heraclitus, too, was of a mystic disposition. It seems that only one book by
 1.9 Greek Mystics and Philosophers 89

Heraclitus (On Nature) was known to antiquity, which – according to Clement

of Alexandria – was very similar to Theology by Pherecydēs of Syros,128 one of
the teachers of Pythagoras. Its content, however, was unanimously declared
enigmatic. It is certainly true that the comparatively few out-of-context fragments
that have been preserved possess a pithy profundity with a love of wordplay that
is readily identifiable.
To the ancients, Heraclitus became known as “the Obscure”, “the Dark” and
“the Riddling”.129 Clement of Alexandria, who must have possessed a well-
thumbed copy of Heraclitus’ book, for he often quotes him appreciatively, com-
ments that he wrote in a “veiled”130 manner, that “he loved to conceal his
metaphysics in the language of the mysteries,”131 and also that he “took a very
great deal from Orpheus”.132
Among the Pythagorean and other mystics and philosophers in the Greek
mould known to history are Philolaus, Empedoclēs, Sextus the Pythagorean,
Plotinus, Iamblichus, Hieroclēs, and the most well known of them all, Socratēs
and Plato. Cited in their writings are also some excerpts attributed to Pythagoras,
but although their content is certainly worthy of a mystic, it is difficult to deter-
mine if they were really written by him. In all likelihood, they were composed
by others in the name of the great sage.
Philolaus (C5th BCE) and Empedoclēs (c.490–430 BCE) were Pythagoreans
who lived in the two or three generations immediately following Pythagoras.133
Like Heraclitus, Empedoclēs also came from an influential family. He is known
to have written two works, one, an imaginative poem in which he presents bio-
logical ideas akin to those of natural selection (On Nature), and the other on
more mystical matters (On Purifications). They are only extant, however, as
fragments quoted in the works of others, the latter having the greater interest
from a mystical viewpoint.

Socratēs and Plato

Though the historical accounts are conflicting, it seems that Empedoclēs and
the great Athenian, Socratēs (c.470–399 BCE) were contemporaries for some
time. Socratēs is known primarily through the writings of his disciples Plato
(c.427–347 BCE) and the Greek general and historian, Xenophon (431–355
BCE), though Plato was far more prolific than Xenophon. Socratēs himself com-
mitted nothing to writing, and whatever is known of his teachings is largely
through the medium of Plato’s dialogues. But how true they are to Socratēs and
how much they are the expression of Plato’s thought is difficult to determine. It
is evident, for instance, that as time passed and Plato’s thought developed, his
use of Socratēs as a medium for conveying his own ideas became increasingly
inappropriate and anachronistic. For while Plato ventures into the world of politi-
cal and social concerns, it seems from Plato’s account that Socratēs himself was
wholly committed to the life of a philosopher in the ancient, mystic meaning of
the term. Plato, it may be observed, cannot have had more than a few years
90 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

association with Socratēs for he was only in his late twenties when Socratēs was
tried and put to death. The grounds for his execution were the introduction of
new divinities and corrupting the youth of Athens, although the fact that he was
tried at all was the result of an unfortunate sequence of political events.
According to Plato, Socratēs’ method was to present himself as an ignorant
man in search of true understanding. Meeting with various ‘authorities’ in their
respective fields, he is portrayed by Plato in a number of dialogues as under-
mining the authenticity of the knowledge held by these ‘experts’ by asking
searching questions under the guise of seeking deeper understanding. But by the
time Socratēs has completed his gentle but persistent interrogation, the superfi-
cial nature of such ‘knowledge’ has usually been exposed. The message is that
real knowledge is the knowledge of one’s own true self, mystic knowledge of
the soul. Hence the admonition of the Oracle at Delphi, quoted by Plato and
others, “Know thyself.”134
Many Western intellectuals and scholars, perhaps feeling prejudiced against
mysticism or at least failing to really understand it or to take it seriously, have
interpreted Socratēs and Plato as akin to Western philosophers. But this is not
the way the ancients saw them. The Neo-Platonists often spoke of the “divine
Plato”, for example, describing him as a Pythagorean, an epithet implying that
he was a proponent of a mystical or spiritual viewpoint, and from the way in
which they quoted him it is clear that they considered him to be an individual of
a deeply mystic character. In one of his letters, Plato describes Socratēs as “an
older friend of mine, whom I would not hesitate to call the wisest and most right-
eous man of that time”.135
While the metaphysical and mystical teachings of Socratēs are given an
intellectual exposition in Plato’s dialogues, there are more than hints of an under-
lying, personal mystic experience. This is no more evident than in Phaedo. On
the day appointed for his execution, Socratēs meets with his friends, and in the
discourse that follows he tells them that the true philosopher “is always engaged
in the pursuit of dying and death”.136 He is referring to the process of dying while
living, of undergoing the process of death while still living in the body; for,
ruling out suicide, he describes the nature of the death sought by a philosopher.
It is, he says, the “separation of the soul from the body”,137 when the soul is re-
leased from the body, and can no longer be misled by the untrustworthy senses
in the search for truth. “Philosophers, above all other men,” he tells his friends,
“may be observed to free the soul from association with the body,”138 for then
alone can the immortal soul become pure and apprehend reality.
Therefore, he continues, “True philosophers practise dying, and death is less
terrible to them than to any other men.”139 It is among such true philosophers, he
says, that “during my whole life, I have been striving, according to my ability,
to find a place”.140 The means of accomplishing the severance of the soul from
the body is concentration: “teaching the soul the habit of collecting and gather-
ing herself into herself from all parts of the body”.141 And he indicates that this
 1.9 Greek Mystics and Philosophers 91

practice requires initiation and instruction – a staff here being a part of the out-
ward trappings of a Greek holy man or philosopher:

The founders of the mysteries would appear to have had a hidden meaning,
and were not talking nonsense, when they intimated long ago that he who
passes uninitiated and unsanctified into the next world will wallow in the
mire, but he who arrives there initiated and purified will dwell with the
gods. For, as they say in the mysteries, “The staff-bearers are many, but the
mystics are few.”
Plato, Phaedo 69c–d; cf. DP1 p.420, PDS p.123, PEA pp.240–41

It is worth recalling that little attention was given to the Greek philosophers and
mystics after the Christian Emperor Justinian, jealous of his reputation for strict
orthodoxy, had decreed that Greek philosophy should no longer be taught, clos-
ing Plato’s Academy at Athens in 529 CE. The Dark Ages of ignorance lasted
for many centuries until the rediscovery and revival of the Greek classics, first
among the Muslims, particularly the Sufis, and then in Europe during the Ren-
aissance. But by this time, the mystic meaning of many terms and expressions
had been lost, and the new generations of Christian thinkers interpreted Plato
and others in a specifically intellectual light, according to their own bent of mind.
It is true that a large portion of Plato’s works is concerned with social and
allied issues, but it must be remembered that Plato founded the Academy with
the intention of teaching all known branches of learning, within the context of
philosophy. For he was convinced that the corruption of society and government
would only cease when rulers and all those holding power, great or small, were
trained in philosophy in the true spiritual and mystic sense of the term. Plato’s
writings, therefore, relate to his ideals and activities in his chosen profession as
a teacher, his thoughts being permeated by his natural bent as a true philosopher.
As a teacher, Plato was clearly successful, and possibly more of his writ-
ings have been preserved than those of any other writer of antiquity. Moreover,
although his school evolved and changed, it continued in existence for nearly
1000 years, among his first pupils being such notable thinkers as Aristotle
(384–322 BCE), tutor to Alexander the Great. Sometimes called the father of
modern science, Aristotle founded his own Academy, which later became the
prototype of Western universities, especially in their earliest days before the
acquisition of human knowledge became divorced from religion and a sense of
ethics.
A spiritual perspective is therefore evident throughout Plato’s writings,
while some of his dialogues are expressly mystical. All the same, Plato himself
points out that he had never written nor would he ever write a treatise expressing a
full understanding of genuine wisdom or philosophy – that is, of the mystic path.
In a rare extant letter, he wrote:
92 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

No treatise by me concerning it (philosophy, wisdom) exists or ever will

exist. It is not something that can be put into words like other branches of
learning.… If I thought that any adequate spoken or written account could
be given to the world at large, what more glorious life work could I have
undertaken than to put into writing what would be of great benefit to man-
kind, and to bring the nature of Reality to light for all to see? But I do not
think that the attempt to put these matters into words would be to men’s
advantage, except to those few who can find out the truth for themselves
with a little guidance; the rest would be either filled with an unjustifiable and
quite improper contempt for their fellows or with a lofty and vain expecta-
tion, based on the belief that they were in possession of some mighty secret.
Plato, Letters VII:341, PPL p.136

Later, he adds that no “serious” writer on any subject ever expresses the whole
of his thought, nor even the deepest essence of it:

Any serious student of serious realities will shrink from making truth the
helpless object of men’s ill will by committing it to writing. In a word, the
conclusion to be drawn is this: when one sees a written composition,
whether it be on law by a legislator or on any other subject, one can be sure,
if the writer is a serious man, that his book does not represent his most seri-
ous thoughts; they remain stored up in the noblest region of his personality
(mind). If he is really serious in what he has set down in writing, “then
surely”, not the gods but men, “have robbed him of his wits”.142
Plato, Letters VII:344, PPL pp.140–41

Plotinus and the Neo-Platonists

During the period immediately preceding the Christian era, interest in Greek
mystical philosophy fell into a decline lasting until the advent of the so-called
Neo-Platonists in the latter half of the second century CE. Among these Neo-
Platonists, the figure most well known to posterity is that of Plotinus. Although
a biography of Plotinus (c.205–270 CE) is extant, written by Porphyry (c.232–305
CE), his disciple and associate for eight years, little is actually known of his life.
Porphyry even comments that Plotinus

seemed ashamed of being in the body. So deeply rooted was this feeling
that he could never be induced to tell of his ancestry, his parentage or his
birthplace.
Porphyry, Life of Plotinus 1, PEP p.cii

It may be presumed, however, that like many mystics before and since, Plotinus
saw no reason to obscure his message by the circumstances of his physical
existence. As Porphyry also writes:
 1.9 Greek Mystics and Philosophers 93

He never disclosed the month or day (of his birth). This was because he did
not desire any birthday sacrifice or feast.… He showed, too, an unconquer-
able reluctance to sit to a painter or a sculptor, and when Amelius (Gentilanus
from Etruria, Plotinus’ senior pupil) persisted in urging him to allow of
a portrait being made, he asked him, “Is it not enough to carry about this
image (the body) in which nature has enclosed us? Do you really think I
must also consent to leave, as a desirable spectacle to posterity, an image
of the image?”
Porphyry, Life of Plotinus 2, 1, PEP pp.cii–ciii

Plotinus seems to have been a native of Upper Egypt, born to parents of some
means, and to have received a good education. During his twenties, he was in
Alexandria seeking spiritual understanding among the many schools and teachers
of that ancient capital of the intellectual Hellenistic world. He failed, however,
to find what he was seeking until a friend took him to a discourse given by
Ammonius Saccas, known as the ‘God-taught’. Porphyry relates that it took only
a little time for the young Plotinus to exclaim to his friend, “This is the man I
was looking for.”143 Porphyry continues:

From that day, he followed Ammonius continuously, and under his guid-
ance made such progress in philosophy that he became eager to investigate
the Persian methods and the system adopted amongst the Indians.
It happened that the Emperor Gordian was at that time preparing his
campaign against Persia; Plotinus joined the army and went on the expedi-
tion. He was then thirty-eight, for he had passed eleven entire years under
Ammonius. When Gordian was killed (assassinated) in Mesopotamia, it
was only with great difficulty that Plotinus came off safe to Antioch.
Porphyry, Life of Plotinus 3, PEP p.civ

Plotinus had joined Gordian’s Persian expedition in 243 but, after some mili-
tary success, the campaign came to an abrupt end in 244, when Gordian was
murdered by his troops, and his military commander, Philip the Arabian, was
proclaimed emperor. Only with difficulty did Plotinus escape, finding his way
to Antioch. From Antioch, Plotinus travelled on to Rome, arriving there in 245
CE, at the age of forty. There he settled, teaching mystical philosophy for a
period of twenty-five years. Attendance at his discourses, says Porphyry was
free and “open to every comer”,144 and among his disciples were physicians,
senators, writers, a former rhetorician who had turned banker, and many other
distinguished men and women.
Plotinus was highly regarded in the Roman community. Friends and others
would come to him with their problems, often trivial, and his kindly manner
and wise counsel were greatly valued. He acted as arbiter in disputes without
ever making an enemy. Friends who were approaching death would commonly
94 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

appoint Plotinus as legal guardian of their children, a duty which he undertook

to the best of his ability, caring meticulously for their education and property.
His house, says Porphyry, was always full of children. Yet with all these con-
cerns, Plotinus never lost his focus on the Supreme.145
He was also held in considerable esteem by the Emperor Galenius and his
wife, Salonina, which lead Plotinus to request that he be given a grant for the
rebuilding of the largely ruined city of Campania, to be named Platonopolis,
whose government would be modelled on Plato’s Republic. The details surround-
ing the reasons for the project are unknown, but the undertaking was opposed
by the emperor’s advisers and never came to fruition.146
Porphyry also describes how Plotinus arrived unexpectedly one day at his
house, where, in a period of depression, he had secluded himself, and was con-
templating suicide. Porphyry does not reveal the reasons for his upset state of
mind, but Plotinus counselled him that his intentions were not rational, and ad-
vised him to leave Rome for a change of scenery. Porphyry chose Sicily in order
that he might visit Probus, a scholar of some repute who lived there. This must
have been towards the end of Plotinus’ life, because before Porphyry could
return, Plotinus had died.147
Interestingly, Plotinus – who must have come into contact with gnostic
teachings during his early life in Egypt – is also opposed to the teachings of at
least some of the gnostic schools, especially their dualism, jargon and fanciful
cosmogonies. Porphyry mentions five gnostic texts, all of which were unknown
until at least two of them, Allogenēs and Zostrianos, were found among the texts
of the Nag Hammadi library.148
Plotinus led a very simple life. He was vegetarian and his physical needs
were few. In his latter years, when Porphyry knew him,

(he) was often distressed by an intestinal complaint … (but) refused such

medicaments as contain any substance taken from wild beasts or reptiles:
all the more, he remarked, because he could not approve of eating the flesh
of animals reared for the table.
Porphyry, Life of Plotinus 2, PEP p.cii

Much of his time was devoted to meditation, and Porphyry says that “his end
and aim was intimate union with God who is above all things,” adding that dur-
ing the time he knew him, his Master “attained this end four times”.149 The school
in Rome was centred entirely on Plotinus, and after his health began to fail, the
centre gradually came to an end. Almost blind, and suffering from a variety of
disorders, Plotinus retired to the estate of a friend and disciple in Campania,
where he died in 270 CE. His last words to his friend were reported to have been,
“Now I shall endeavour to make that which is divine in me rise up to that which
is divine in the universe.”150
 1.9 Greek Mystics and Philosophers 95

Like Pythagoras before him, Ammonius Saccas enjoined secrecy on his dis-
ciples concerning his teachings, and for the first ten years of his life in Rome,
Plotinus followed his Master’s example, committing nothing to writing. Subse-
quently, however, he did begin to write, and after 263 CE, when Porphyry be-
came his disciple, urging him to write more, Plotinus’ literary output increased,
the majority of his work being composed during the six years that Porphyry was
with him. After the death of his Master, Porphyry collected together and arranged
Plotinus’ various treatises into his only extant work, the Enneads.
From the schools of Ammonius Saccas and Plotinus there emerged what
has been termed Neo-Platonism, though many have pointed out that it would
have been better named Neo-Pythagoreanism. Even the intellectual Platonist,
Longinus (c.213–272), a prominent Athenian whom Plotinus described as “a
man of letters, but in no sense a philosopher”,151 wrote:

Plotinus, it would seem, set the principles of Pythagoras and of Plato in a

clearer light that anyone before him.
Longinus, in Porphyry, Life of Plotinus 20, PEP p.cxix

Longinus must have been referring, however, to the mystical aspects of Plato’s
work, for the writings of Plotinus and the other Neo-Platonists are primarily
mystical, little mixed with the ethical and social considerations of Plato. The
teaching of Plotinus, therefore, was not considered new. Indeed, through
Ammonius and Plotinus, the ancient teachings of the Greek mystics flourished
once again for two or three centuries until the rising tide of orthodox Christian-
ity all but swept them away. The advent of the Neo-Platonists was a late and
final flowering of the mysticism that had come into being long before with Py-
thagoras and Orpheus.
Of the other Pythagoreans known from their writings and citations, little is
known of Sextus except that the Sentences of Sextus were popular in early Chris-
tian times, while Hieroclēs – who wrote an inspiring commentary on the Golden
Verses of Pythagoras (most unlikely to have been composed by Pythagoras him-
self) – is understood to have been an Alexandrian of the fifth century CE, and is
sometimes described as a Neo-Platonist.

Hermetic Literature
One class of writings lying within the province of Greek mystical philosophy
remains for consideration – the Hermetic literature, a body of Greek and Latin
texts ascribed to Hermēs Trismegistus and his disciples, probably written dur-
ing the second and third centuries CE. These writings are of importance par-
tially because of their influence upon Renaissance mystics and philosophers such
as Ramón Lull (c.1235–1315) and Giordano Bruno (1548–1600). Regarding
Hermēs as an Egyptian Moses, they accorded the Hermetic literature the same
96 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

kind of reverence usually reserved for the Bible. To such Renaissance thinkers,
these writings provided fresh avenues of thought and understanding, previously
held in dull suspension by the cloying grip of medieval Christian theology. Jew-
ish Kabbalism was similarly stimulated by it. But the Hermetic texts are also of
interest for their own sake, since they relate to no previous body of belief, nor
do they recognize any sacred writings in the way that the New Testament, for
example, relates to the Jewish scriptures. They do contain, however, many peren-
nial elements of universal mystic teaching, couched largely in the language of
the Greek mystic philosophers, tinged with the gnostic expression of the period.
In the Greek world of those times, Hermēs was commonly identified with
Thoth, the Egyptian god depicted with an ibis head. To Hermēs was added
‘Trismegistus’ (lit. thrice-greatest), one of Thoth’s local epithets. Scribe to the
gods, Thoth was the divine patron of literature and learning, credited with the in-
vention of both writing and the calendar, with the possession of magical powers,
and regarded as the repository of all wisdom. And just as Jewish writings were
ascribed to Solomon long after his departure, so too does it seem that these texts,
many of them short in length, were ascribed to Hermēs Trismegistus and his
disciples. But it is most improbable that they should really have originated in
ancient Egypt, especially since they contain little, if anything, that relates specifi-
cally to earlier Egyptian religion or mystical expression. Perhaps the greatest
Egyptian influence in these texts is the spiritual fervour and intensity, and the
longing for union with the Divine, which pervades some of them, a feature often
lacking from the more rational and controlled manner of pure Greek expression.
Not all the texts are of the same calibre, and a number of writers at different
times and places were evidently involved. They are also of two distinct types:
the specifically mystical and those concerned with astrology, magic, alchemy
and similar topics. Hermetic texts generally take the form of dialogues between
the Master Hermēs and his disciples, the main contributors being figures from
the ancient Graeco-Egyptian world – Tat, Isis, Horus, King Ammon, Agath-
odaimon (Chnoum), and Imnhotep, equated by the Greeks with their renowned
physician, Asclepius. The tradition of Master and disciple was thus taken for
granted, as it always has been in mystic schools.
The basis of the Hermetic mystic teaching is familiar. There is one God who
is the creator of all else in creation through His Logos or, more commonly, His
Nous (Mind). The soul acquires salvation and God is known by direct revela-
tion or gnosis through contact with this Nous, and through relinquishing all love
of the physical body and the senses. In a number of these treatises, the Nous is
also regarded as the source of inspiration, much as the Holy Spirit is depicted in
Christian writings.
Nobody knows who started this genre or even from which school these Her-
metic texts originated, but they probably stemmed from the Greek-speaking
Egyptian milieu, as did many gnostic and Neo-Platonic texts. Ammonius Saccas
and Plotinus were both Greek-speaking Egyptians, for instance, as were many of
 1.9 Greek Mystics and Philosophers 97

the gnostics, and there were certainly many in Egypt who had studied Greek
mystical philosophy. Any of these God-intoxicated seekers could have hit
upon the simple idea of a dialogue between Hermēs and his disciples and have
thus started a new genre, for the dialogue itself was already well established as
a literary form.
The first certain references to Hermetic texts are not found until the early
centuries of the Christian era, and scholars are generally agreed that the mysti-
cal texts stem from this period, though some of the astrological texts and those
concerning the power of gemstones and plants probably date back to the early
second century BCE. From the evidence of citations among the early Christian
fathers and other writers, some Hermetic literature of the mystical type was
clearly in existence by 207–213 CE, and the earliest texts were probably written
during the second half of the first century, perhaps earlier.
Anthologies of mystical Hermetic writings were collected and circulated
from the earliest times, but only one of these survives today. Compiled during
the eleventh century – at which time its Byzantine editor also revised its lan-
guage and its style – it became known as the ‘Hermetic Corpus’ or Corpus
Hermeticum. It is likely that most of the mystical texts contained in it, as well as
many others now lost, were composed between 100 and 300 CE.
That mystical Hermetic doctrines were considered to be more or less the
same as those of Pythagoras and the mystical elements of Plato is borne out
by the comments of early writers. The late-third-century Christian, Arnobius,
writing against the Greek and Roman beliefs he had once espoused, complains
that the followers of the philosophic schools held Christianity in little regard,
identifying especially, in this respect, adherents of esoteric tradition:

You, you I single out, who belong to the school of Hermēs, or of Plato and
Pythagoras, and the rest of you who are of one mind and walk in union in
the same paths of doctrine.
Arnobius, Against the Pagans II:13, in TGH3 p.230

And Cyril of Alexandria, patriarch from 412 to 444 CE, after claiming that Py-
thagoras and Plato had obtained their wisdom in Egypt from what they had heard
of Moses there, continues by linking the Hermetic doctrines to those of Moses:

And I think the Egyptian Hermēs also should be considered worthy of men-
tion and recollection – he who, they say, bears the title of Thrice-greatest
because of the honour paid him by his contemporaries, and, as some think,
in comparison with Hermēs, the fabled son of Zeus and Maia.
This Hermēs of Egypt, then, although an initiator into mysteries … is
(nevertheless) found to have grasped the doctrine of Moses, if not with
entire correctness and beyond all cavil, yet still in part.
Cyril of Alexandria, Against Julianus I:30, in TGH3 p.251
98 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Cyril thus unwittingly indicates the universal basis of all mystic teachings.
Mystics might say, with gentle irony, that it was Cyril himself who had “grasped
the doctrines of Moses”, as well as those of Hermēs and Jesus, “in part”. Simi-
larly, the Neo-Platonist Iamblichus associates the teachings attributed to Hermēs
with those of Pythagoras, Plato and the ancient Greek philosophers:

Hermēs, the god who is our guide in (spiritual) discourses, was rightly held
of old to be the heritage of all holy men. And seeing that it is he who is
overseer of the true science of the gods, he has always been the same (guide)
to all (such discourses). Therefore, it was to him that our ancestors attrib-
uted all the discoveries of their wisdom, attaching the name of Hermēs to
all the writings which had to do with such subjects. And if we also enjoy
that share of this god which has fallen to our lot, according to our ability,
you would do well in submitting certain questions on theology to us holy
men, as your friends, for their solution.
And as I may fairly suppose that the letter sent to my disciple Anebo
was written to myself, I will send you the true answers to the questions you
have asked. For it would not be proper that Pythagoras and Plato, and
Democritus and Eudoxus, and many others of the ancient Greeks should
have obtained fitting instructions from the recorders of the sacred science
of their times, and that you, our contemporary, who is of a like mind with
these ancients, should lack guidance from the now living bearers of the
title ‘universal teachers’.
Iamblichus, On the Mysteries; cf. in TGH3 pp.286–87

Iamblichus seems to take Hermēs as a genuine ancient and historical character,

for elsewhere he indicates his belief that these writings were translated from the
Egyptian. He accounts for their Greek language and expression, countering com-
mon disbelief in their ancient origin, by saying that they were translated by
Greek philosophers:

For the books in circulation bearing the name of Hermēs contain Hermetic
doctrines, although they often use the language of the philosophers, seeing
that they were translated from the Egyptian by men well skilled in philosophy.
Iamblichus, On the Mysteries, in TGH3 p.292

1.10 I SLAM
The Prophet Muammad (c.570–632 CE) founded Islam in 622. While it may
be argued that many religions started after the demise of their ‘founders’ – that
Jesus did not found Christianity, nor Moses Judaism, nor the Buddha Buddhism,
nor Guru Nānak Sikhism – this is not so in the case of Islam. Muammad did
 1.10 Islam 99

found the religion of Islam; in fact Islam is founded on what Muammad said,
did, and commanded his followers to do. The early history of Islam, therefore,
begins with the history of the Prophet Muammad.
The life of Muammad is known through the work of four main historians:
Isāq (d.767), Ibn Sa‘d (d.845), abārī (d.923), and al-Waqīdī (d.820). These
four also included earlier documents in their work and traced oral traditions back
to their sources. The earliest text concerning the life of the Prophet dates back
to approximately 120 years after his death.
The major direct sources of information concerning the personality and
teachings of Muammad are the Qur’ān (Koran) and the
adīth. The Qur’ān is,
in Muslim belief, the uncreated word of God revealed to the Prophet Muammad
through the angel Gabriel (Jabra’īl). The
adīth consists of traditional stories
and sayings of the Prophet Muammad collected and organized after his death
by Muslim scholars, for teaching and transmission purposes. To begin with, the
adīth were transmitted orally, each adīth being preceded by a long list of
names going back to the original teller. This is known in Islamic terms as isnād,
and constitutes the authentication of the
adīth.
Although the
adīth expands on some of what is said in the Qur’ān, mostly
it sets a standard of conduct for Muslims to follow. This includes such small
details as how to perform ritual ablutions and prayers; how a mosque should be
entered with the right foot and not the left; how the fingers should be licked
after eating; and how sneezing is good, but yawning comes from the devil.

The Islamic Way of Life

Islam is divided into two main sects – the Sunnī and the Shī‘ah. For the Sunnī,
the most significant collections of adīth are those compiled by al-Bukhārī
(d.870), Muslim ibn al-ajjāj (d.875), Abū Dā’ūd (d.888), Ibn Mājah (824–887)
and al-Tirmidhī (d.892). Of these, al-Bukhārī’s is regarded as the most reliable.
He is said to have spent sixteen years collecting oral transmissions of adīth
from 1000 masters, hearing 600,000 adīths, committing 100,000 to memory.
The final result was a collection of only 2,762 authentic adīths. The Shī‘ah
have different collections, to which have been added the sayings of their Imāms
(religious leaders). In the development of Muslim law (Sunnah), the
adīth has
constituted a major source, complementing the Qur’ān in the understanding,
interpretation and application of Muslim belief and practice.
The
adīth is divided into several categories, the two main ones being:

adīth Qudsī (holy or divine tradition) and

adīth Nabawī (prophetic or noble
tradition), also called Sharīf.
adīth Qudsī is the collection of sayings that were
revealed to the Prophet directly by Allāh. This is different from the Qur’ān in
that the Qur’ān is believed to have been dictated verbatim by Allāh, while only
the meaning of
adīth Qudsī was revealed to the Prophet, who then used his
own words to convey the meaning.
adīth Nabawī is a collection of sayings,
acts or approbations related to the Prophet. This is what is usually known as
100 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

adīth when no other reference is specified. There is also the

adīth Mawqūf, a
collection of sayings or stories related by a Companion of the Prophet regarding
what the Prophet said or did. Lastly, the
adīth Maq ū‘ (the broken tradition) is
a similar collection, but related to a follower of one of the Companions.
Islam teaches that even though Muammad is the epitome of purity and
good character, he was only human, not divine. Muslims revere him, but do not
pray to him, not even as an intercessor. Muslims pray directly and exclusively
to Allāh. It is customary for Muslims when mentioning the Prophet to add: “allá
Allāh ‘alayhi wa-sallam (may the prayer and peace of Allāh be unto him).”
The word ‘Islam’ is generally understood to possess a twofold meaning:
peace, and submission or surrender (to Allāh), referring to the attitude of a devout
Muslim. ‘Muslim’, meaning ‘one who surrenders’, is derived from an Arabic
word related to ‘Islam’. The conduct and life of such a Muslim is clearly de-
fined. A Muslim must act in accordance with the holy book, al-Qur’ān, and with
the Sunnah (Islamic law), which is based upon the life and sayings (adīth) of
the Prophet Muammad. Every Muslim must practise the five pillars of Islam:

1. Shahādah. The declaration of faith: Ashhadu an lā ilāha illā Allāhu

waduhu lā-sharīka lahu wa-ashhadu anna Muammadan ‘Abduhu
wa-Rasūlhu – I testify that there is no god but Allāh; He is one, without
a partner; and I testify that Muammad is His servant (‘Abd) and His
Messenger (Rasūl). A similar statement is known as al-kalim al- ayyib
(lit. the words of purity, the good words): 152 Lā ilāha illā Allāhu;
Muammadun Rasūlu-Allāh – there is no God but Allāh; Muammad
is the Messenger of Allāh.

2. alāh. Prayer. Prayer is obligatory and must be performed five times a

day. Ritual cleanliness and ablution are required before prayer, as are
clean clothes and location, and the removal of shoes. Worshippers must
face the Qiblah, the direction of the Ka‘bah, the black stone, in the city
of Mecca (the birthplace of Muammad), in Saudi Arabia.

3. awm. Fasting. Able adult Muslims must fast throughout the month of
Rama ān, the ninth month of the lunar calendar, beginning with the
sighting of the new moon. Fasting is from the first light of dawn until
dusk, and includes abstention from food, drink and sex. awm is re-
garded principally as a method of self-purification.

4. Zakāh. Alms giving or purification tax. Zakāh began as a mandatory

tax on wealth, but has today become a voluntary act of charity.

5.
ajj. Pilgrimage. Every Muslim, male or female, who is physically and
financially able, must make a pilgrimage to Mecca, at least once in their
lifetime.
 1.10 Islam 101

Muammad
The Prophet was born in what is now known as Saudi Arabia.153 Historian Karen
Armstrong relates that in those days it was a terrifying wilderness, inhabited by
a race of wild nomads whom the Greeks had called Sarakenoi – the Arabs who
dwell in tents. This was not always the case, however, and the great-grandfather
of Muammad, of the tribe of Quraysh, had established a thriving trade centre
in Mecca, having negotiated protection and trading rights for his community
with the rulers of the Byzantine Roman Empire, the Sassanid Persian Empire,
Ethiopia and Yemen. The Byzantine and Sassanid Empires, which constituted
the great powers of the civilized world at that time, were not interested in invad-
ing the desolate land where Arabs had lived since time immemorial.
Judaism was widespread in the region of al-ijāz, especially in Yathrib
(later known as Madīnah), and Christianity had also made some headway among
the Arabs. But the Arabs were in a state of disunity, and many of the nomadic
tribes (the Bedouins) clung to their old paganism. In general, the Bedouin Arabs
were suspicious of both Judaism and Christianity, even though they realized that
these religions were more sophisticated than their own. They knew that the great
powers of the Persian and Byzantine Empires were ready to use both faiths as a
means of imperial control. This had become tragically apparent in the kingdom
of southern Arabia, which had lost its independence in 570 CE. The tribes were
of largely homogeneous race consisting mainly of Arabs who spoke a single
language, Arabic.
Against this background, Muammad was born in 570 CE in Mecca to his
father, ‘Abd Allāh, and his mother, Āminah, of the clan of Hāshim in the tribe
of Quraysh. His father died before he was born, and his mother when he was six
years old. He was then cared for by his paternal grandfather, ‘Abd al-Mu alib,
who died two years later. Thereafter, his paternal uncle, Abū ālib, raised him.
Following the tradition of the time, Muammad had a nurse from a nomadic
clan, her name being alīmah.
Very little is known about Muammad’s boyhood, adolescence and early
manhood, although there are numerous legends concerning the early signs of
his prophethood. One story describes how his father was seen with a white light
between his eyes when on his way to his wife, the night she conceived Muammad.
Another tale relates how his nurse alīmah, who was nursing her own son when
she took charge of baby Muammad, had very little milk; but as soon as she
started nursing Muammad, her milk became abundant.
Another story recounts how, when he was twelve years old, he accompa-
nied his uncle Abū ālib on a trip to Syria. During their return journey, they met
a Christian monk, Baīrā, a Nestorian who lived in a hermitage, and was well-
read in Christian learning. Baīrā noticed how a cloud hovered in the sky above
the young Muammad, shading him from the heat of the sun, and how the
branches of a tree, where Muammad and his companions had halted, leaned
down over him so that he was always in their shade. Observing other details of
102 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

the young boy, Baīrā questioned him about the things he felt when he was
awake and asleep. Finding all this to be in accordance with a description he had
in his possession, he examined the young Muammad’s back, finding the seal
of prophecy between his shoulders. Baīrā then told his uncle: “Go back to your
own land, and keep him safe from the Jews. By Allāh, if they see him, and get to
know what I know about him, they will try to harm him.”
Mecca, as the birthplace of Muammad, together with its people and their
beliefs, were endowed with considerable significance in the new religion. The
Meccans claimed descent from Abraham through his son Ishmael. According
to tradition, their temple, the Ka‘bah (lit. cube), had been built by Abraham for
worship of the one God. The Ka‘bah is now a structure located in the centre of
the mosque at Mecca, covered with an embroidered black cloth and containing
the Black Stone. Muslims believe that the first Ka‘bah was constructed by Adam
as a place of worship, was later rebuilt by Abraham and his son Ishmael, and was
finally restored as a place of worship of the one God by Muammad. Before
Muammad, the Ka‘bah was a shrine of worship for idolaters who worshipped
different gods. But Muammad was among the few who felt repelled by idolatry,
longing for the religion of Abraham. Such seekers of the truth were known as
unafā’ (sg. anīf), meaning ‘those who turn away’ (from idol worship), later
coming to mean ‘the upright’. The unafā’ sought the truth by the light of their
own inner consciousness.
At the age of twenty-five, Muammad travelled with a caravan to Syria in
the service of a wealthy forty-year-old widow from Mecca named Khadījah. So
impressed was she with the reports she received regarding Muammad’s excel-
lent character, and the way he conducted business on her behalf, that soon after
his return, she married him. They were married for twenty-six years during
which time Muammad remained devoted to her alone, taking no other wives.
His marriage to Khadījah gave him rank among the notables of Mecca, where
he became known as al-Amīn (the Trustworthy). Until the end of his life,
Muammad loved and revered his first wife to the displeasure of his later,
younger, wives. His marriage to Khadījah resulted in two sons, who both died
in early childhood, and four daughters, of whom only Fā imah survived him.
It was Muammad’s practice to retire with his family each year, for the
month of Rama ān, the month of heat, to a cave on Mount irā’, for meditation.
On one of the last nights of Rama ān, Muammad, aged forty at the time, had
an extraordinary experience that would forever change him, and would later af-
fect the destiny of millions of people around the world. Torn from sleep in his
mountain cave, he felt himself overwhelmed by a divine presence. Later, he ex-
plained this ineffable experience by saying that the angel Gabriel had enveloped
him in a terrifying embrace such that it felt as though the breath was being forced
out of his body. The angel commanded him, “Iqrā’! (Read! Recite!),” and when
Muammad replied, “I cannot read,” the voice repeated the command three
times until Muammad asked: “What can I read (or recite)?” The voice then said:
 1.10 Islam 103

Read: “In the name of thy Lord who createth –

createth man from a (blood) clot.”
Read: “And it is thy Lord the Most Bountiful
who taught by the Pen –
Taught man that which he knew not.”
Qur’ān 96:1–5, MGK

This was to be the first revelation, the sūrah (verse) of the Clot. When Muammad
awoke from his sleep or trance, the words remained “as if inscribed upon his
heart”. He went out of the cave on to the hill side, and heard the same awe-
inspiring voice say: “O Muammad! Thou art Allāh’s Messenger, and I am
Gabriel.” Muammad raised his eyes and saw the angel, in the likeness of a
man, standing in the sky above the horizon. And again the dreadful voice re-
peated the same sentence. Muammad stood still, turning his face away from
the brightness of the vision, but whichever way he turned his face, the angel
always stood in front of him. After a long while, the angel vanished, and
Muammad returned in great distress of mind to his wife, Khadījah, who did
her best to console him, reassuring him that Allāh would not let a harmful spirit
approach him. The year was 610 CE, and the revelation was the first of the
revelations that continued for twenty-three years until Muammad’s death. The
complete book of revelations is known as the Qur’ān, the faithful recording of
the entire revelation of God.
The night of the first revelation would later be referred to in the Qur’ān, in
the sūrah of Power or Destiny (al-Qadr), as the Night of Power or the Night of
Destiny (Laylat al-Qadr). Muslims around the world look forward to this special
night every year because they believe that on that night the heavens will open
and their wishes will be granted:

Lo! We revealed it on the Night of Power (Laylat al-Qadr);

Ah! What will convey unto thee what the Night of Power is?
The Night of Power is better than a thousand months.
The angels and the Spirit descend therein,
by the permission of their Lord, with all decrees.
(That Night is) peace until the rising of the dawn.
Qur’ān 97:1–5, MGK

For the first three years of his mission, the Prophet preached only to his family
and his intimate friends. His first converts were few, and included his wife
Khadījah, his cousin ‘Alī ibn Abī ālib, his servant Zayd, and his friend Abū
Bakr. Apart from these few, most of the people of Mecca regarded him as one
who had gone a little mad. At the end of the third year, the Prophet received the
command to “arise and warn”:
104 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

O thou enveloped in thy cloak –

arise and warn!
Qur’ān 74:1–2, MGK

The epithet relates to Muammad’s first encounter with the angel, when,
wrapped in his cloak, he ran terrified to his wife. Upon receiving this instruc-
tion, Muammad began to preach in public, pointing out the folly of idolatry,
calling for the worship of the one and only God (Allāh), and the embracing of
“Islām”, as he called his new religion.154 However, since “Islām” literally means
‘surrender’ or ‘submission’ to God, his words imply both the name of the religion
and surrender to Allāh:

The true religion with God is Islām.

Qur’ān 3:19, KI

Whoso desires another religion than Islām,

it shall not be accepted of him;
In the next world, he shall be among the losers.
Qur’ān 3:85, KI

Today I (Allāh) have perfected your religion for you,

and I have completed my blessing upon you,
and I have approved Islām for your religion.
Qur’ān 5:3, KI

At the beginning of his mission, the Quraysh ignored him, but when he began to
speak against their gods, then they became actively hostile, persecuting his
poorer disciples, mocking and insulting him. Many wanted to kill him, but were
prevented by fear of the blood vengeance of Muammad’s family clan.
Muammad’s calls to Islam met with stiff resistance from most of the people
of Mecca. The Arabs were afraid that they would lose Mecca’s advantage as the
main trading and religious centre in Arabia if they abandoned their idols and
embraced Islam. But Muammad persisted, refusing offers of wealth and power
in return for abandoning his mission, and the Muslims continued to experience
persecution, ranging from boycott to physical abuse. Despite the persecution,
the number of Muslims grew steadily, converts to Islam including Jews and
Christians as well as idol-worshipping Arabs. Some Muslims emigrated from
Mecca to Ethiopia to escape persecution, since the ruler of Ethiopia protected
them from their enemies after he and his church patriarchs had heard the favour-
able chapter in the Qur’ān concerning the mother of Jesus.155
The death of Muammad’s uncle, followed soon after by the death of his
wife Khadījah, affected Muammad deeply, and exposed him and his followers
to more aggressive persecution. Following the end of the mourning period,
 1.10 Islam 105

Muammad married Sawdah, the widow of one of the early converts to Islam.
She was the first of several wives taken by the Prophet following the death of
his first wife. In 622, the persecution became so fierce that, according to the
traditional story, Allāh gave the command to Muammad and his followers to
emigrate. This event, al-Hijrah (lit. the emigration, the flight), in which they
left Mecca for the city of Yathrib, more than 200 miles to the north where there
was a large Jewish population, marked the beginning of the Muslim era, which
itself became known as al-Hijrah. It is from this year that the Muslim system of
dating begins. Yathrib was later renamed Madīnah (the City).
After a number of years and some significant battles, the Prophet and his
followers were able to return to Mecca, where Muammad forgave his enemies
and established Islam definitively. By the time he died in 632, at the age of 63,
the greater part of Arabia had accepted Islam, and within a century of his death,
Islam had spread as far west as Spain and as far east as China. In establishing
the Islamic State, Prophet Muammad made it inclusive of the Arabian Jews
and Christians. Their persons, properties, churches and synagogues were pro-
tected. Freedom of worship was guaranteed, and they controlled their own
community affairs with their own civil and religious laws and courts.

The Qur’ān
According to the teaching of the Qur’ān, Muslims believe that all the prophets
were sent by Allāh to their respective peoples:

And We never sent a Messenger save with the language of his folk,
that he might make (the message) clear for them.
Then Allāh sendeth whom He will astray, and guideth whom He will.
He is mighty, the Wise.
Qur’ān 14:4, MGK

The prophets all had the same mission and message: to guide people to the right
path. Muslims believe that the three revealed monotheistic religions – Islam,
Christianity and Judaism – can be traced back to Abraham through his two sons,
Isaac and Ishmael. The prophets of these religions were directly descended from
him: Moses and Jesus from Isaac, Muammad from Ishmael. Muslims refer to
Christians and Jews as the People of the Book (Ahl al-Kitāb). Also included
among the People of the Book are the Mājūs (Zoroastrians and the followers of
all Iranian religions, and the Sabaeans (Mandaeans).
The history of the Qur’ān is a part of Muslim tradition. Marmaduke Pickthall,
novelist, author and convert to Islam, writes in the introduction to his transla-
tion of the Qur’ān, first published in 1930:

All the sūrahs of the Qur’ān had been recorded in writing before the
Prophet’s death, and many Muslims had committed the whole Qur’ān to
106 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

memory. But the written sūrahs were dispersed among the people; and
when, in a battle which took place during the Caliphate (successorship) of
Abū Bakr – that is to say, within two years of the Prophet’s death – a large
number of those who knew the whole Qur’ān by heart were killed, a col-
lection of the whole Qur’ān was made and put in writing. In the Caliphate
of ‘Uthmān, all existing copies of sūrahs were called in, and an authorita-
tive version, based on Abū Bakr’s collection and the testimony of those who
had (learned) the whole Qur’ān by heart, was compiled exactly in the
present form and order, which is regarded as traditional, and as the arrange-
ment of the Prophet himself, the Caliph ‘Uthmān and his helpers being
Comrades of the Prophet, and the most devout students of the revelation.
The Qur’ān has thus been very carefully preserved.
The arrangement is not easy to understand. Revelations of various dates
and on different subjects are to be found together in sūrahs; some of the
Madīnah sūrahs, though of late revelation, are placed first, and the very
early Meccan sūrahs at the end. But the arrangement is not haphazard, as
some have hastily supposed. Closer study will reveal a sequence and sig-
nificance, as for instance, with regard to the placing of the very early
Meccan sūrahs at the end. The inspiration of the Prophet progressed from
inmost things to outward things, whereas most people find their way
through outward things to things within.
Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran, MGK pp.18–19

It is Islamic belief that the text of the Qur’ān extant today is, syllable for sylla-
ble, exactly the same as the Prophet had offered to the world as the word of Allāh.
It is also believed that the Qur’ān was revealed to Muammad over a period of
twenty-three years, coming to him line by line, verse by verse, chapter by chapter.
According to the
adīth, Muammad once said “Never did I receive a revela-
tion without thinking that my soul has been torn away from me.”156 Sometimes,
he said, the verbal content was clear enough: he seemed to see the angel Gabriel
and to hear his words. But at other times it was more painful and incoherent,
“Like the ringing of a bell (lit. striking of ajrās – little bells – on stone), penetrat-
ing my very heart, rending me, and that way is the most painful.”157
The Arabs found the Qur’ān quite astonishing: it was unlike any other lit-
erature they had previously encountered. Some were converted immediately,
believing that divine inspiration alone could account for this extraordinary lan-
guage. It was especially impressive because it was believed that Muammad
was unlettered (ummī), the word ummī being used in the Qur’ān to mean one
who cannot read or write.158
Some Western scholars, however, have pointed out that Muammad, as a
businessman, would almost certainly have grasped at least the rudiments of
reading and writing. They have therefore suggested that ummī referred to the
community of Gentiles, those who did not know – who were ‘unlettered’ in –
 1.10 Islam 107

the scriptures of the Jews. In this sense, Muammad was sent to the “unlettered
ones (ummīyīn)” who had not received a scripture from God:

He it is who hath sent among the unlettered ones (ummīyīn),

a Messenger of their own, to recite unto them His revelations,
and to make them grow and to teach them the scripture and wisdom,
though heretofore they were indeed in error manifest.
Qur’ān 62:2, MGK

Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, the great thirteenth-century Sufi Master and poet, author of
the Maśnavī and a renowned scholar of Islamic religion and exegesis even in
his own time, gives a characteristically mystic interpretation to the term:

The Prophet is called ‘unlettered’, not because he was unable to write or

learn. He was called ‘unlettered’ because his knowledge and wisdom were
innate, not acquired.
Rūmī, Fīhi mā Fīhi 38:12–14, KFF p.142; cf. DRA p.151, SOU p.148

Many Arabic-reading Muslims may have committed parts of the Qur’ān to

memory; if not, then at least they are able to read it. But reading and remember-
ing the Qur’ān is one thing, to grasp its meaning is quite another; for although
some verses or chapters are easy to understand, most are not. Yet the Qur’ān
itself claims to be easy to remember and to comprehend:

And We have made (this scripture) easy in thy language,

only that they may heed (remember).
Qur’ān 44:58, MGK

And, in truth, We have made the Qur’ān easy to remember; …

But is there any that remembereth?
Qur’ān 54:17, 22, MGK

In fact, the Qur’ān is actually so obscure in places that a great many volumes of
interpretation have been written by Muslim scholars such as abārī. Numerous
scholars and Sufis, including al-Ghazālī and Ibn ‘Arabī, have written entire
treatises just on the enigmatic parable contained in the famous Light Verse:

God is the light (nūr) of the heavens and the earth;

The likeness of His light (nūr) is as a niche wherein is a lamp –
(the lamp in a glass, the glass as it were a glittering star) –
kindled from a blessed Tree,
an olive that is neither of the East nor of the West,
whose oil well nigh would shine,
even if no fire touched it;
108 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Light (nūr) upon light (nūr):

(God guides to His light whom He will).
Qur’ān 24:35, KI

The diversity of interpretations only demonstrates that in the absence of the

original writer, the meaning will remain uncertain.
The Qur’ān is also repetitive, the same verse or verses appearing in various
places, with or without variations. The content is wide ranging. It speaks of
the might and mercy of Allāh and of His Attributes; it explains how man was
created and for what purpose (to worship Allāh); it portrays the delights of para-
dise and the torments of hell. It has its own, often variant, versions of Bible
sayings and stories, including those of previous prophets and others – Adam,
Noah, Abraham, Moses, Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, Pharaoh, Solomon, Joseph, John
the Baptist, Jesus, the Virgin Mary and so on. It contains guidelines regarding
almost every aspect of a Muslim’s life and afterlife, including marriage, inher-
itance, alms giving, prayer, and conduct in war and peace. It mentions specific
battles and events relating to the nation of Islam, and refers to particular events
in the life of Muammad, not omitting his marriages and squabbles with his
wives. It recommends looking to the Prophet as a human exemplar, to be fol-
lowed and imitated:

Verily in the Messenger of Allāh, ye have a good example

for him who looketh unto Allāh and the Last Day,
and remembereth Allāh much.
Qur’ān 33:21, MGK

Throughout the Qur’ān, the teachings of Jesus and the Jewish prophets and
patriarchs are treated with respect. It indicates that these teachings are all the
same:

Say, (O Muslims): we believe in Allāh,

and that which is revealed unto us,
and that which was revealed unto Abraham and Ishmael,
and Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes,
and that which Moses and Jesus received,
and that which the Prophets received from their Lord.
We make no distinction between any of them,
and unto Him we have surrendered.
Qur’ān 2:136, MGK

However, from saying that there is no difference between any of the Prophets
and what they have received from God, the Qur’ān goes on to condemn the Jews
and Christians themselves for distorting the original message revealed in their
 1.10 Islam 109

scriptures. It calls them unbelievers, saying that no other religion is acceptable

to Allāh except Islam:

And the Jews say: “‘Uzayr (‘Ezra) is the son of Allāh,”

and the Christians say: “The Messiah is the son of Allāh.”
That is their saying with their mouths.
They imitate the saying of those who disbelieved of old.
Allāh (Himself) fighteth against them. How perverse are they!
Qur’ān 9:30, MGK

They have taken as lords beside Allāh their rabbis and their monks,
and the Messiah son of Mary,
when they were bidden to worship only one God.
There is no God save Him.
Be He glorified from all that they ascribe as partner (unto Him)!
Qur’ān 9:31, MGK

Whoso desires another religion than Islām (lit. submission to Allāh),

it shall not be accepted of him;
In the next world, he shall be among the losers.
Qur’ān 3:85, KI

The Qur’ān even goes on to say that Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian:

Abraham was not a Jew, not yet a Christian;

But he was an upright man (anīfan)
who had surrendered (to Allāh) (a Muslim),
and he was not of the idolaters.
Qur’ān 3:67, MGK

The Night Journey (al-Mi‘rāj)

One of the major events in Muammad’s life, said to have taken place in 620 or
621 and regarded as deeply significant in Islam, is al-Mi‘rāj or al-Isrā’ – the
Night Journey, when Gabriel accompanied Muammad on an ascent through
the seven heavens, meeting various prophets of the past as he goes:

And verily he saw him (Gabriel) yet another time

by the Lote Tree of the utmost boundary (Sidrat al-muntahá),
nigh unto which is the garden of abode.
When that which shroudeth did enshroud the Lote Tree,
the eye turned not aside nor yet was overbold –
Verily he saw one of the greater revelations of his Lord.
Qur’ān 53:13–18, MGK
110 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

In the Qur’ān, this is symbolized, seemingly, as a journey from al-masjid

al-arām (the inviolable place of worship) to al-masjid al-aqá (the far dis-
tant place of worship):

Glorified be He who carried His servant by night

from the inviolable place of worship (al-masjid al-arām)
to the far distant place of worship (al-masjid al-aqá),
the neighbourhood whereof we have blessed,
that we might show him of our tokens!
Lo He, only He, is the Hearer, the Seer.
Qur’ān 17:1, MGK

In later times two mosques, built in Mecca and Jerusalem, respectively, were
given these names. The Qur’ān only touches briefly on this event, but a detailed
description is found in a adīth of which there are several versions, differing in
details and chronology, as well as which prophet is encountered in which heaven.
Some versions mention Burāq, a white horselike animal that carries Muammad
and Gabriel on their ascent; others mention a ladder instead. Some mention
Kawthar, the river in paradise, while others do not; some mention his visit to
paradise and hell, yet others do not. The version recorded in al-Bukhārī’s col-
lection of adīth, as narrated by Anas ibn Mālik, reads:

Mālik ibn a‘ a‘ah said that Allāh’s Apostle described to them his Night
Journey, saying, “While I was lying in al-
a īm or al-
ijr, suddenly some-
one came to me and cut my body open from here to here.”
I asked al-Jarūd who was by my side, “What does he mean?” He said, “It
means from his throat to his pubic area,” or said, “from the top of the chest.”
The Prophet further said, “He then took out my heart. Then a gold tray
of Belief was brought to me, and my heart was washed and was filled (with
Belief), and then returned to its original place. Then a white animal which
was smaller than a mule and bigger than a donkey was brought to me.”
(On this al-Jarūd asked, “Was it the Burāq, O Abū amzah?” I (i.e.
Anas) replied in the affirmative).
The Prophet said, “The animal’s step (was so wide that it) reached the
farthest point within the reach of the animal’s sight. I was carried on it, and
Gabriel set out with me till we reached the nearest heaven. When he asked
for the gate to be opened, it was asked, ‘Who is it?’ Gabriel answered,
‘Gabriel.’ It was asked, ‘Who is accompanying you?’ Gabriel replied,
‘Muammad.’ It was asked, ‘Has Muammad been called?’ Gabriel replied
in the affirmative. Then it was said, ‘He is welcomed. What an excellent
visit his is!’
“The gate was opened, and when I went over the first heaven, I saw
Adam there. Gabriel said (to me). ‘This is your father, Adam; pay him your
 1.10 Islam 111

greetings.’ So I greeted him and he returned the greeting to me and said,

‘You are welcomed, O pious son and pious Prophet.’
“Then Gabriel ascended with me till we reached the second heaven.
Gabriel asked for the gate to be opened. It was asked, ‘Who is it?’ Gabriel
answered, ‘Gabriel.’ It was asked, ‘Who is accompanying you?’ Gabriel
replied, ‘Muammad.’ It was asked, ‘Has he been called?’ Gabriel an-
swered in the affirmative. Then it was said, ‘He is welcomed. What an
excellent visit his is!’ The gate was opened.
“When I went over the second heaven, there I saw Yayá (John the
Baptist) and ‘Īsá (Jesus) who were cousins of each other. Gabriel said (to
me), ‘These are John and Jesus; pay them your greetings.’ So I greeted them
and both of them returned my greetings to me and said, ‘You are welcomed,
O pious brother and pious Prophet.’”

adīth aī al-Bukhārī 5:58.227, HSB

The same pattern is then repeated for the subsequent heavens. In the third
heaven, Muammad meets Yūsuf (Joseph), in the fourth heaven Idrīs (Enoch),
in the fifth Hārūn (Aaron), in the sixth Mūsá (Moses), in the seventh Ibrāhīm
(Abraham). The story continues:

“Then I was made to ascend to Sidrat al-muntahá (the Lote Tree of the
utmost boundary). Behold! Its fruits were like the jars of
ijr (a place near
Madīnah) and its leaves were as big as the ears of elephants. Gabriel said,
‘This is the Lote Tree of the utmost boundary.’ Behold! There ran four
rivers, two were hidden and two were visible. I asked, ‘What are these two
kinds of rivers, O Gabriel?’ He replied, ‘As for the hidden rivers, they are
two rivers in paradise, and the visible rivers are the Nile and the Euphrates.’
“Then al-Bayt al-Ma‘mūr (the Sacred House) was shown to me and a
container full of wine and another full of milk and a third full of honey were
brought to me. I took the milk. Gabriel remarked, ‘This is the Islamic reli-
gion which you and your followers are following.’ Then the prayers were
enjoined on me: they were fifty prayers a day.
“When I returned, I passed by Moses who asked (me), ‘What have you
been ordered to do?’ I replied, ‘I have been ordered to offer fifty prayers a
day.’ Moses said, ‘Your followers cannot bear fifty prayers a day, and by
Allāh, I have tested people before you, and I have tried my level best with
Benei Israel (in vain). Go back to your Lord and ask for reduction to lessen
your followers’ burden.’
“So I went back, and Allāh reduced ten prayers for me. Then again I
came to Moses, but he repeated the same as he had said before. Then again
I went back to Allāh, and He reduced ten more prayers. When I came back
to Moses he said the same, I went back to Allāh and He ordered me to
observe ten prayers a day. When I came back to Moses, he repeated the
112 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

same advice, so I went back to Allāh and was ordered to observe five
prayers a day.
“When I came back to Moses, he said, ‘What have you been ordered?’
I replied, ‘I have been ordered to observe five prayers a day.’ He said, ‘Your
followers cannot bear five prayers a day, and no doubt, I have got an ex-
perience of the people before you, and I have tried my level best with Benei
Israel, so go back to your Lord and ask for reduction to lessen your fol-
lowers’ burden.’
“I said, ‘I have requested so much of my Lord that I feel ashamed, but I
am satisfied now and surrender to Allāh’s Order.’ When I left, I heard a
voice saying, ‘I have passed my Order and have lessened the burden of my
worshippers.’”

adīth aī al-Bukhārī 5:58.227, HSB

Other versions of the story also mention that Gabriel was unable to continue on
with Muammad into the presence of God, but stayed back at some distance,
something which has again been the subject of diverse interpretations.

Marriages
Like the Arabs of his time, Muammad had more than one wife, and the Qur’ān
permits polygyny, up to four wives at a time:

And if ye fear that ye will not deal fairly by the orphans,

marry of the women, who seem good to you, two or three or four;
And if ye fear that ye cannot do justice (to so many),
then one (only) or (the captives) that your right hand possess.
Thus it is more likely that ye will not do injustice.
Qur’ān 4:3, MGK

The Prophet, however, was an exception, and the Qur’ān did not impose any
limit on the number of wives he could have,159 a matter which has drawn com-
ment from non-Muslims. Many non-Muslims regard polygyny as demeaning to
women. Muammad’s detractors have also suggested that his marriages show
that even though he was a prophet, he was still still subject to sexual desire. They
see his marriages as giving the wrong example to Muslim men, who look up to
him as their exemplar.
Muslims, on the other hand, take the Qur’ān as the word of God, and when
God has allowed something, no room remains for question or debate. They also
point out the Prophet was monogamous during the twenty-five years of his
marriage to his first wife Khadījah, demonstrating that he had no problem with
lust. Muammad was a man of fifty when Khadījah died. It was also three
years after the Hijrah, and it is said that apart from his marriage to ‘Āyishah, the
 1.10 Islam 113

daughter of Abū Bakr, his closest and most loyal companion, his later marriages
were to give homes to widows and to forge political alliances.
Stories concerning his wives vary, however. According to one tradition, he
married thirteen in all,160 though he had no more than ten at one time; another
records than he married only ten.161 The great Sufi, Rūmī, observes, perhaps
tongue in cheek:

God Most High and Mighty showed the Prophet a narrow and hidden way
(to refine himself), and that was to marry women, so that he might endure
their tyranny, listen to their absurdities and let them ride roughshod over
him.… The way of Jesus was to struggle in solitude and not to gratify one’s
lust; the way of Muammad is to endure the tyranny and grief inflicted by
men and women. If you cannot go the way of Muammad, at least take the
way of Jesus, lest you be altogether deprived.
Rūmī, Fīhi mā Fīhi 20:7–9, 5–8, KFF pp.86–87; cf. DRA pp.98–99, SOU pp.90–91

The Death of Muammad

It should be recalled that Muammad never pretended to any divine status. He
was only a messenger, a human being who lived, ate, married, procreated, fought
battles with the sword, took slaves and the spoils of wars, had family squabbles,
forged political alliances, and prayed and worshipped God. Friends and foes
agreed that although he was honest, upright and of excellent character, never-
theless he was only human. When he died in 632, in the arms of his favourite
wife, ‘Āyishah, his death came as a big shock to his followers. According to
tradition, ‘Umar, one of his closest companions and father of his third wife,
af ah, refused to believe that the Prophet was dead. ‘Umar addressed the crowd
saying that Muammad was not dead, but had gone to Allāh for a little while,
like Moses on Mount Sinai. Abū Bakr, the closest companion of Muammad
and the father of ‘Āyishah, tried to calm ‘Umar, but ‘Umar would not listen. Abū
Bakr then addressed the crowd: “O men, those who worshipped Muammad
must know that Muammad is dead. But for those who worship Allāh, Allāh
lives and will not die.” He then quoted a verse from the Qur’ān that nobody
remembered having heard before:

Muammad is but a Messenger, Messengers (the like of whom)

have passed away before him.
Will it be that, when he dieth or is slain,
ye will turn back on your heels?
He who turneth back doth not hurt Allāh,
and Allāh will reward the thankful.
Qur’ān 3:144, MGK
114 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Muammad died in 632 without appointing a successor, immediately giving rise

to the formation of several divisions among his companions and family. Of his
four daughters and three sons, only his daughter Fā imah was still alive, his sons
having died in infancy. Fā imah was married to Muammad’s cousin, ‘Alī ibn
Abī ālib (b.c.600), and had two sons, asan and usayn. After some negotia-
tions, Muammad’s father-in-law, Abū Bakr (b.c.573) was chosen to succeed
him in leading the Ummah (Community) of Islam, and was given the title of
Caliph (Khalīfah) or successor. Abū Bakr died after two years, having appointed
‘Umar (b.581), another father-in-law of Muammad, as his successor. ‘Umar
held the position for ten years, greatly extending and consolidating the Islamic
Empire by conquest into Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and the Sassanid Persian Em-
pire. In 644, ‘Umar died of the wounds inflicted by a disaffected Persian slave,
and his successor, ‘Uthmān ibn ‘Affān, was elected by a council appointed by
‘Umar on his deathbed. ‘Uthmān established an authoritative version of the
Qur’ān from the memories of Muammad’s companions and such written
records as existed. This was then edited, and a definitive version bearing his
name was distributed throughout the Islamic Empire. But his reign was marred
by favouritism towards his clan members, the Ummayads, and ‘Uthmān was
murdered in a revolt against the Caliphate in 656. Muammad’s cousin, ‘Alī ibn
Abī ālib became the fourth Caliph, though he was immediately challenged
unsuccessfully by an aristocratic faction led by Muammad’s widow, ‘Āyishah.
His own followers were then split by the formation of a breakaway group, the
Khawārif, and at the same time he entered into a civil war with Mu‘āwiyah, the
Islamic governor of Syria. ‘Alī was murdered in 661 by one of the Khawārif,
and Mu‘āwiyah seized the Caliphate, founding the first Muslim dynasty, the
Ummayads. These first four Caliphs became known as al-Rāshidūn, the rightly
guided Caliphs, because they are believed to have governed in accordance with
Muammad’s principles. Later Caliphs and rulers, it is said, did not live up to
those just and egalitarian principles, and Muslims look back at the period of
al-Rāshidūn as a golden age.
The unity of the Ummah, which had been so important to Muammad, was
broken by a fundamental split between the main body of the Muslims (the Sunnī)
and the Shī‘ah, a division who gave allegiance to ‘Alī (the fourth Caliph). Ac-
cording to Shi‘ite belief, the Prophet Muammad entrusted the spiritual leader-
ship (the immamate) of the Muslim community to his closest male heir, his
cousin and son-in-law ‘Alī, the husband of his daughter Fā imah. ‘Alī, the first
Imām, passed it on to his first son, asan who passed it on to the second, usayn,
who was killed fighting against the Caliph Yazīd at the battle of Karbalā’, the
central tragic event of Shī‘ah history. Today, the Shī‘ah constitute the majority
of the population of Iran and Iraq, and their chain of Imāms continues. Many
believe that ‘Alī was initiated by Muammad into the divine mysteries, and that
he was the first Sufi.
 1.10 Islam 115

Sufism
Sufism is the mystical tradition in Islam. But – like all these introductory sec-
tions – to try and summarize its history and main aspects is like pouring an
ocean into a cup: a tiny sample is collected, while most overflows and is left
out. Nevertheless, an outline can be given that will serve as an introduction to
a complex subject.
Sufism can simply be defined as a practical path leading to God, learned
from and practised under the supervision of a spiritual teacher, generally called
a Murshid, Shaykh or Pīr. Yet such elements of Sufism are universal features of
mysticism, existing long before Islam. Sufis and most other mystics say that
mystical experiences transcend time and space and the limitations of the physi-
cal world of life and death; as such, mysticism cannot be understood or explained
by any normal mode of perception or described in a physical language. It is like
trying to describe the world to one born blind, or music to one born deaf. Sufis
say, “He who tastes, knows”, or as Rūmī puts it, “He who tastes not, knows
not.”162 Hujwīrī relates in his Kashf al-Majūb, the oldest Persian treatise on
Sufism, that al-Qushayrī said, “The ūfī is like the disease called birsām (pleu-
risy), which begins with delirium and ends in silence; for when you have attained
‘fixity’, you are dumb.”163
The origins of Sufism are obscure. Some historians maintain that the term
ūfī came into use in the eighth century CE, at least 200 years after the founding
of Islam. Others believe that it was known at the time of Muammad. Nobody
is certain. R.A. Nicholson comments:

The truth is that Sufism is a complex thing, and therefore no simple answer
can be given to the question how it originated.
R.A. Nicholson, Mystics of Islam, MOI p.9

And:

The Sufis are not a sect, they have no dogmatic system, the arā’iq or paths
by which they seek God are in number as the souls of men and vary infi-
nitely, though a family likeness may be traced in them all. Descriptions of
such a protean phenomenon must differ widely from one another, and the
impression produced in each case will depend on the choice of materials
and the prominence given to this or that aspect of the many-sided whole.
R.A. Nicholson, Mystics of Islam, MOI p.27

Even the origins of the name are uncertain, and have been so for more than a
millennium. Hujwīrī says:

Some assert that the ūfī is so called because he wears a woollen garment
(jāmah-’i ūf), others that he is so called because he is in the first rank
116 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

(aff-i avval), others say it is because the ūfīs claim to belong to the aāb-
i ūffah (the people of the bench who gathered around the Prophet’s
mosque). Others, again, declare that the name is derived from afā’ (purity).
Hujwīrī, Kashf al-Majūb III, KM p.30

Yet others maintain that the word ūfī originated from the Greek sophia (wisdom).
Even so, the derivation from the word ūf (wool) is the origin generally accepted
because of the coarse woollen garment worn by the prophet Muammad and his
companions, which became a distinguishing mark of the early Muslim ascetics.
Sufism (taawwuf) is concerned with the process of becoming a Sufi. Hujwīrī
explains:

ūfī is a name which is given, and has formerly been given, to the perfect
Saints and spiritual adepts. One of the Shaykhs says: “Man affāhu al-ubb
fa-huwa āfin wa-man affāhu al-abīb fa-huwa ūfīyun” – “He that is
purified by love is pure, and he that is absorbed in the Beloved and has
abandoned all else is a ūfī.” The name has no derivation answering to
etymological requirements, inasmuch as Sufism is too exalted to have any
genus from which it might be derived; for the derivation of one thing from
another demands homogeneity. All that exists is the opposite of purity
(afā’), and things are not derived from their opposites. To ūfīs the mean-
ing of Sufism is clearer than the sun, and does not need any explanation
or indication. Since ‘ūfī’ admits of no explanation, all the world are inter-
preters thereof, whether they recognize the dignity of the name or no, at the
time when they learn its meaning.…
Its followers … are of three kinds: the ūfī, the Mutaawwif and the
Mustawif. The ūfī is he that is dead to self and living by the Truth; he has
escaped from the grip of human faculties and has really attained (to God).
The Mutaawwif is he that seeks to reach this rank by means of self-morti-
fication (mujāhadat) and in his search rectifies his conduct in accordance
with their (the ūfīs) example. The Mustawif is he that makes himself like
them (the ūfīs) for the sake of money and wealth and power and worldly
advantage, but has no knowledge of these two things.… Therefore, the ūfī
is a man of union (āib-wuūl), the Mutaawwif a man of principles
(āib-uūl), and the Mustawif a man of superfluities (āib-fu ūl).
Hujwīrī, Kashf al-Majūb III, KM pp.34–35

The religion to which all Sufis relate is Islam, and most of the innumerable Sufi
writings are interpretations of the teachings found in the Qur’ān and
adīth (the
sayings of Muammad). In their teachings, Sufis use many of the stories contained
in the Qur’ān that originated from the Bible, including those of Joseph, Abraham,
Moses, Jesus and Mary. Even so, there are many similarities between Sufi
thought and practice and the mysticism of other cultures. T.P. Hughes writes:
 1.10 Islam 117

It might at first sight appear almost an impossibility for mysticism to en-

graft itself upon the legal system of the Qur’ān and the
adīth, with the
detailed ritual and cold formality which are so strikingly exemplified in
Islam; but it would appear that from the very days of Muammad, there
have been always those who, whilst they called themselves Muslims, set
aside the literal meaning of the words of Muammad for a supposed mystic
or spiritual interpretation, and it is generally admitted by Sufis that one of
the great founders of their system, as found in Islam, was the adopted son
and son-in-law of the Prophet, ‘Alī ibn Abī ālib. The Sufis themselves
admit that their religious system has always existed in the world, prior to
the mission of Muammad, and the unprejudiced student of their system
will observe that taawwuf, or Sufism, is but a Muslim adaptation of the
Vedānta school of Hindu philosophers, and which also we find in the writ-
ings of old academics of Greece, and Sir William Jones thought Plato
learned from the sages of the East.
T.P. Hughes, in “ūfī”, Dictionary of Islam, DOI p.609

Sufism has always been identified as the spiritual path ( arīqah) of Islam, and it
has been called Islamic mysticism by Western scholars because of its resem-
blance to Christian and other forms of mysticism. Unlike Christian mysticism,
however, Sufism is a continuous historical and even institutionalized phenom-
enon in the Muslim world that has had millions of adherents down to the present
day. Sufis and Sufi orders are found all over the world.
The literature of early Islamic spirituality falls more or less into four phases:164

1. The pre-Sufi phase, including the Qur’ān, the central ritual elements of
Islam, and the accounts of Muammad’s Mi‘rāj (Ascent).
2. The early period of Sufism, including the sayings and writings of the
early Sufi Masters such as asan al-Ba rī, Dhū al-Nūn Mi rī of Egypt,
Rābi‘ah of Ba rah, Abū Yazīd al-Bis āmī, al-Muāsibī and Junayd of
Baghdad. Collections of their sayings have largely been preserved in
the works of later writers. This phase extends from the time of asan
of Ba rah (d.728) to that of Niffārī (d.965).
3. The formative phase of Sufi literature, embracing all aspects of life and
society, beginning with Sarrāj (d.988) and extending to al-Qushayrī
(d.1074).
4. The works of ‘A ār (d.1220), Rūmī (d.1273) and Ibn ‘Arabī (d.1240)
during the seventh century of Islam.

Sufi Orders and Teachings

Sufi orders are based on the Master-disciple relationship as a chain going back
through the years all the way to the Prophet. Though institutionalized, these
orders are not so much social institutions as a means of mystical transmission
118 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

from Master to disciple. The significance of the different orders lies in the spir-
itual practices that are preserved within those lineages.
The north African scholar Muammad al-Sanūsī al-Idrīsī (d.1859) listed
forty Sufi orders known to him, among them being: the arīqah Muammadīyah
with the Prophet Muammad (d.632) as founder; the iddīqīyah with Abū Bakr
al-iddīq (d.634) as founder; the ‘Uwaysīyah with ‘Uways al-Qaranī (C7th) as
founder; the
atimīyah with Muyī al-Dīn ibn ‘Arabī (d.1240) as founder; the
Naqshbandīyah (called the Golden chain by some, originating with ‘Alī ibn Abī
ālib) with Bahā’ al-Dīn Naqshbandī (d.1389) as founder; the Mawlawīyah with
Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (d.1273) as founder; and the Chishtīyah with Mu‘īn al-Dīn
Chishtī (d.1236) as founder. There are many more Sufi orders with many differ-
ent branches and distinctive methods, but the goal is one: ultimate union with
the Beloved, God, the Creator, the Truth.
A Sufi Master is known by the Arabic Shaykh (Elder) or Murshid (Master)
and the Persian Pīr (Elder), the latter title also being given to religious scholars.
He assumes an extraordinary role as an intermediary linked to the Prophet and
to God. Abū af al-Suhravardī (d.1234) writes:

When the sincere disciple enters under obedience of the Master, keeping
his company and learning his manners, a spiritual state flows from within
the Master to within the disciple, like one lamp lighting another. The speech
of the Master inspires the interior of the disciple, so that the Master’s words
become the treasury of spiritual states. The state is transferred from the
Master to the disciple by keeping company and by hearing speech. This
only applies to the disciple who restricts himself to the Master, who sheds
the desire of his soul, and who is annihilated in the Master by giving up his
own will.
Abū
af al-Suhravardī, in SGS p.124

The essence of the Sufi message is that the experience of God is real; that God
is everything and everything is God. Hence it is related that when Rābi‘ah al-
‘Adawīyah was once asked, “Do you actually see Him whom you worship?” She
replied, “I would not worship Him unless I saw Him.”165 Junayd puts it another
way: “Sufism is that God makes you die to yourself, and be resurrected in
Him.”166 This world is illusory, no more than a dream; in order to experience
higher realities, and ultimately merge in God (fanā’-fī Allāh), it is necessary to
die to this world so that the inner eye will open to the spiritual worlds. The Sufi
ideal is to possess nothing and to be possessed by nothing; to live in the world,
but not to be of the world.
Sufi adepts have described man’s relationship to the Creator and the crea-
tion in many different ways. God, the Creator and macrocosm, is commonly
portrayed as an Ocean, with man, the microcosm, as a drop or part of that Ocean.
God is the whole and each part of the creation in some way reflects the whole:
 1.10 Islam 119

man is not merely a drop that can merge with the Ocean, but a drop that con-
tains the Ocean, a microcosm that contains the macrocosm. Sufis explain that
the divine Spirit is the essence of man; the body is merely the outward physical
form containing the divine spark. The universe was created for the service of
God, and for that purpose alone. If man deviates from that purpose and follows
his animal nature, he will be dragged to the lowest level. But if, under the guid-
ance of a Shaykh or Murshid, he travels the spiritual path, he will be delivered
from the confines of the material world into the limitless Reality of a spiritual
life whose ultimate goal is the union with the divine Beloved, with God. This is
a path of discipline that leads to actual experience of the spiritual realities. R.A.
Nicholson describes the process by which, in traditional Sufi thinking, a traveller
on the Sufi path attains union with God:

The disciple must, mystically, always bear his Murshid in mind, and be-
come mentally absorbed in him through a constant meditation and contem-
plation of him. The teacher must be his shield against all evil thoughts. The
spirit of the teacher follows him in all his efforts, and accompanies him
wherever he may be, quite as a guardian spirit. To such a degree is this
carried that he sees the Master in all men and in all things, just as a willing
subject is under the influence of the magnetizer. This condition is called
‘self-annihilation’ in the Murshid or Shaykh. The latter finds, in his own
visionary dreams, the degree which the disciple has reached, and whether
or not his spirit has become bound to his own.
At this stage, the Shaykh passes him over to the spiritual influence of
the long-deceased Pīr or original founder of the Order, and he sees the latter
only by the spiritual aid of the Shaykh. This is called ‘self-annihilation’ in
the Pīr. He now becomes so much a part of the Pīr as to possess all his
spiritual powers.
The third grade leads him, also through the spiritual aid of the Shaykh,
up to the Prophet himself, whom he now sees in all things. This state is
called ‘self-annihilation’ in the Prophet.
The fourth degree leads him even to God. He becomes united with the
Deity and sees Him in all things.
R.A. Nicholson, Mystics of Islam, MOI p.140

In order to progress on the spiritual journey the disciple (murīd) must follow the
discipline prescribed by his Murshid. The foremost purpose of the discipline is
to tame the ego and subdue what the Sufis called the nafs – the lower or base
tendencies of the mind, sometimes translated as the carnal soul. The nafs is the
cause of all sin and base qualities, and the duty of the seeker or wayfarer (sālik)
is to struggle against it, and thus to purify the soul. To describe this struggle,
Sufis have referred to a adīth of the Prophet who called this struggle the greater
holy war (al-jihād al-akbar).
120 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

The process of purification takes the soul through three stages, based on
three different Quranic expressions, namely: al-nafs al-ammārah bi al-sū’ (the
soul commanding to evil, the carnal soul), al-nafs al-lawwāmah (the reproach-
ing or accusing soul, the conscience) and al-nafs al-mu ma’innah (the soul at
peace):

I do not exculpate myself.

Lo! the (human) soul enjoineth unto evil (al-nafs al-ammāratun bi al-sū’),
save that whereon my Lord hath mercy.
Lo! my Lord is forgiving, merciful.
Qur’ān 12:53, MGK

Nay, I swear by the accusing soul (al-nafs al-lawwāmah).

Qur’ān 75:2, MGK

O soul at peace (al-nafs al-mu ma’innah),

return (irji‘ī) unto thy Lord,
well pleased (thyself), well pleasing (unto Him)!
Enter thou among my servants!
Enter thou my paradise!
Qur’ān 89:27–30, KI

In the first stage, the wayfarer struggles against the carnal soul (al-nafs al-
ammārah). This is the human tendency to disobey God, and to take pleasure in
evil thoughts and deeds. Its inclination is towards gossip, backbiting, vain talk,
pride, selfishness, lust, hatred, anger, jealousy, greed and so on. The struggle
against al-nafs al-ammārah thus involves purification of the body, tongue and
mind.
When the Sufi has subjugated al-nafs al-ammārah, he enters upon the sec-
ond stage of purification in which he is able to respond readily to the call of
the reproaching soul, al-nafs al-lawwāmah. It is al-nafs al-lawwāmah that
reproaches man for his evil deeds and impels him to acts of mercy and generosity.
It reflects the development of a refined conscience.
After this stage or station has become firmly established, the Sufi enters
the third stage, that of the contented soul or the soul at peace, al-nafs al-
mu ma’innah. Here, the Sufi fully develops the tendency to obey God and to act
in perfect harmony with His will. He is filled with love, mercy, kindness and a
burning zeal to help others.
In order to reach this high station, a Sufi must constantly strive to control
his ego and to curb his anger and impatience. He must eat less, sleep less, talk
less, and deny himself the pleasure of other people’s company. Sometimes, he
withdraws himself completely from worldly activities, and occupies himself
entirely with meditation and the remembrance of God.
 1.10 Islam 121

Sufis refer to the various stages on the mystical path as stations (maqāmāt,
sg. maqām) and mystical states as (awāl, sg. āl). Hujwīrī explains the differ-
ence between a station (maqām) and state (āl):

‘Station (maqām)’ denotes anyone’s standing in the way of God, and his
fulfilment of the obligations appertaining to that station, and his keeping it
until he comprehends its perfection so far as lies in a man’s power. It is not
permissible that he should quit his station without fulfilling the obligations
thereof. Thus, the first station is repentance (tawbat), then comes conver-
sion (inābat), then renunciation (zuhd), then trust (tawakkul) in God, and
so on. It is not permissible that anyone should pretend to conversion with-
out repentance, or to renunciation without conversion, or to trust in God
without renunciation.
‘State (āl)’, on the other hand, is something that descends from God
into a man’s heart, without his being able to repel it when it comes, or to
attract it when it goes, by his own effort. Accordingly, while the term ‘sta-
tion’ denotes the way of the seeker, and his progress in the field of exertion,
and his rank before God in proportion to his merit, the term ‘state’ denotes
the favour and grace which God bestows upon the heart of His servant,
and which are not connected with any mortification on the latter’s part.
‘Station’ belongs to the category of acts, ‘state’ to the category of gifts.
Hujwīrī, Kashf al-Majūb XIV:1, KM p.181

The stations constitute the spiritual discipline of the Sufi, and can be reached
and mastered by his own effort. The states are spiritual feelings and experiences
over which he has no control since they descend from God into his heart. Only
after the Sufi has traversed all the stations and experienced whatever states God
bestows upon him is he permanently raised to higher states of consciousness
that the Sufis call the gnosis (ma‘rifah) and the Truth (
aqīqah). Then the seeker
becomes the knower or gnostic (‘ārif), and realizes that knowledge, knower and
known are one.167
The number and the definition of states and stations vary from one Sufi
Master to another. Abū Na r al-Sarrāj (d.988 CE), in his book The Book of
Flashes (Kitāb al-Luma‘), regarded as the first systematic exposition of Sufism
as a way of life and thought, identifies seven stations, namely: repentance
(tawbat), watchfulness (wara‘), renunciation (zuhd), poverty (faqr), patience
(abr), trust (tawakkul) and acceptance (ri ā’).
The widely varying lists and descriptions of the stations of the path and the
occasional overlap between states and stations is probably because each list of
spiritual stations was to some extent a reflection of the individual experience
and bent of mind of its author. The presentation of such a list would also be
tailored to the nature of the particular audience that the Sufi Master was address-
ing. Sometimes, different Sufis give apparently contradictory definitions of the
122 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

same station. Such variations may be only seeming, however, since there can
be many different ways of expressing the same thing. Abū Na r al-Sarrāj writes:

When al-Sūsī was asked about repentance, he replied: “Repentance is the

return from everything that knowledge condemns toward what knowledge
praises.” When Sahl ibn ‘Abd al-Allāh was asked about repentance, he re-
sponded, “It is to never forget your fault.” When Junayd was asked about
repentance, he said, “It is forgetting your fault.”
The Shaykh (God grant him compassion) said: “The response of al-Sūsī
(God grant him compassion) concerning repentance was in reference to the
repentance of the novice, the venturers, the seekers, the questers, those who
are sometimes in the right and sometimes in the wrong. The same is the case
for what Sahl ibn ‘Abd al-Allāh al-Tustarī (God grant him compassion)
said. However, the response of Junayd (God grant him compassion) – that
repentance is forgetting your fault – concerns the repentance of those who
have achieved realization. They do not remember their faults; their hearts
are overwhelmed with God’s majesty and with his continual remembrance.”
Abū Nar al-Sarrāj, Book of Flashes, in EIM p.199

The Sufi lives with an ever increasing awareness of God. One aspect of this
awareness is the practice of dhikr, which means remembrance, specifically of
God, a practice that can also include tawajjuh (contemplation) upon the Murshid.
Dhikr is usually done by pronouncing God’s name or by uttering a recognized
verbal formula, always as prescribed by the Murshid. This repetition of the name
of God is to be done whenever the mind is free, but takes on its most significant
role in meditation. The actual practice of dhikr varies from one Murshid or
school to another. Some repeat it out loud, some silently in the mind, some in
groups, and some individually in seclusion. Al-Ghazālī describes it as follows:

Let him reduce his heart to a state in which the existence of anything and
its nonexistence are the same to him. Then let him sit alone in some corner,
limiting his religious duties to what are absolutely necessary, and not oc-
cupying himself either with reciting the Qur’ān or considering its meaning
or with books of religious traditions or with anything of the sort. And let
him see to it that nothing save God Most High enters his mind. Then, as he
sits in solitude, let him not cease saying continuously with his tongue,
“Allāh, Allāh”, keeping his thought on it. At last he will reach a state when
the motion of his tongue will cease, and it will seem as though the word
flowed from it. Let him persevere in this until all trace of motion is removed
from his tongue, and he finds his heart persevering in the thought. Let him
still persevere until the form of the word, its letters and shape, is removed
from his heart, and there remains the idea alone, as though clinging to his
heart, inseparable from it.
 1.10 Islam 123

So far, all is dependent on his will and choice; … but to bring down
the mercy of God is not available to his will or choice. He has now laid
himself bare to the breathings of that mercy, and nothing now remains but
to await what God will open to him, as God has done after this manner to
prophets and Saints. If he follows the above course, he may be sure that the
light of the Real will shine out in his heart. At first unstable, like a flash of
lightning, it turns and returns; though sometimes it hangs back. And if it
returns, sometimes it abides and sometimes it is momentary. And if it
abides, sometimes its abiding is long, and sometimes short.
Al-Ghazālī (paraphrased); cf. in RAL pp.255–56

Thus, an individual’s striving towards God is in his own hands, but the fruits are
experienced entirely as a blessing of the Divine. The Qur’ān mentions remem-
brance on a number of occasions:

O ye who believe! Remember (adhkurū) Allāh

with much remembrance (dhikr).
Qur’ān 33:41, MGK

Therefore remember me (adhkurūni),

I will remember you (adhkurkum).
Give thanks to me, and reject me not.
Qur’ān 2:152, MGK

Like all mystics, a Sufi’s knowledge is essentially experiential. His real learn-
ing comes through direct experience, not by reading or study. Without that
experience, it can be difficult to grasp the true import of a Sufi’s sayings or
writings. Moreover, his meaning can only be truly understood when the full
context is known. It can be useful to realize this, because the tendency of the
reader and seeker after truth is to try to understand a certain statement without
knowledge of its context, or of the inner state of the Master at the time of the
utterance, or of the person or people to whom it was addressed. It should also be
remembered that Sufi Masters are not all at the same spiritual level.
Sufis quote copiously from the Qur’ān and the
adīth; some quotations,
being more relevant to their purposes than others, are more commonly used:

It was We who created man,

and We know what suggestions his soul makes to him:
For We are nearer (nanu aqrabu) to him
than his jugular vein (abl al-warīd).
Qur’ān 50:16, HQSA
124 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

To Allāh belong the East and the West;

Whithersoever ye turn:
there is Allāh’s countenance.
For Allāh is all-embracing, all-knowing.
Qur’ān 2:115, AYA

Whoever knows oneself, knows one’s Lord.

adīth, AMBF 529, in MDI p.189

Who has seen me, has seen Allāh.

adīth, AMBF 163, in MDI p.223

Allāh says: “One who advances towards me by a hand’s breadth, I advance

towards him by an arm’s length, and he who advances towards me an arm’s
length, I advance towards him by two arms’ length. If a servant of mine
comes to me walking, I go to him running.”

adīth aī al-Bukhārī 9:93.502, in RSN (440) p.265

Whoever is inimical to one whom I befriend, is at war with me. When a

servant of mine approaches me through the medium of that which I like
best, out of what I have declared obligatory for him, and continues to ad-
vance towards me through optional prayers (nawāfil), then I begin to love
him. When I make him my beloved, I become his ears to hear, and his eyes
to see, and his hands to grasp, and his feet to walk. When he asks me, I grant
him, and when he seeks my protection I protect him.

adīth aī al-Bukhārī 8:76.509, in RSN (95) p.74

Since Sufis have adopted Islam as the foundation of their teachings, the disciple
is generally expected to follow Islamic religious law (sharī‘ah), that is, to mould
his life according to the teachings of the Qur’ān and the
adīth. The next step is
to follow the way or “path”, the method prescribed by the Sufi Master or Shaykh.
The last step, which is also the ultimate goal, is to experience and have first-
hand knowledge of the Truth, God. This is no simple matter, and only a few
reach the goal while still living in this world. But once the goal is reached, then
the outer aspects of the religion are understood to be irrelevant. As Rūmī writes:

Unless you gain possession of the candle, there is no wayfaring; and when
you have come on to the way, your wayfaring is the path; and when you
have reached the journey’s end, that is the Truth. Hence, it has been said,
“If the (spiritual) truths (realities) were manifest, the religious laws would
be naught.” As when copper becomes gold or was gold originally, it does
not need the alchemy which is the law, nor need it rub itself upon the
philosopher’s stone, which operation is the path; for, as has been said, it is
 1.10 Islam 125

unseemly to demand a guide after arrival at the goal, and blameworthy to

discard the guide before arrival at the goal.
Or the law may be compared to learning the science of medicine, and
the path to regulating one’s diet in accordance with the science of medi-
cine and taking remedies, and the Truth to gaining health everlasting and
becoming independent of them both. When a man dies to this present life,
the law and the path fall away from him, and there remains only the Truth.
Rūmī, Maśnavī V, Preface; cf. MJR6 p.3

The Sufis
Most Sufis who have passed through the experience of fanā’-fī Allāh (extinc-
tion or annihilation in God), leading them to the state of baqā’ billāh (eternal
life or subsistence in God), have preferred to live eternally in the greatest depths
of silence. “For when you have attained ‘fixity’, you are dumb.”168 But some
have produced literary, poetic and musical works of unsurpassed glory. Those
are the Sufi Masters whose responsibility it is to teach and guide others on the
Sufi path to God-realization.
Sufis make a distinction between a prophet and a Saint in that the prophet
comes with a mission and a scripture for his nation and for all mankind, while a
Saint guides and teaches only his own disciples, who may be few or many. There
have been a great many Sufi Masters, of varying spiritual degrees, some being
better known than others because of the literary works that survived them.
Among those better known to English readers are:

asan al-Ba rī (d.728) Al-Ghazālī (1058–1111)

Ja‘far al-ādīq (c.702–765) akīm Sanā’ī (d.c.1131)
Rābi‘ah al-‘Adawīyah (c.717–801) Rūzbihān Baqlī (1128–1209)
Al-Muāsibī (d.857) Farīd al-Dīn ‘A ār (c.1142–1220)
Al-Bis āmī (d.c.875) Mu‘īn al-Dīn Chishtī (c.1143–1236)
Sahl al-Tustarī (818–896) Ibn ‘Arabī (1165–1240)
Al-Junayd (d.910) Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (1207–1273)
Man ūr al-allāj (c.857–922) Sa‘dī (c.1213–1292)
Niffārī (d.965) āfi
(c.1326–1390)
Al-Sarrāj (d.988) Bahā’ al-Dīn Naqshbandī (1318–1389)
Al-Qushayrī (986–1074) Jāmī (1414–1492)
arat ‘Ināyat Khān (1882–1927)

Some Sufi Masters produced many works of poetry and storytelling whose aim
is to awaken the slumbering souls of this world, and to guide them on the path
of enlightenment. Some of these works are regarded as unparalleled master-
pieces, even by literary critics; others can be regarded as Sufi manuals of practice
and discipline explaining the way, step by step. Well-known examples are
Rūmī’s Maśnavī (a maśnavī is any poem in rhymed distichs), ‘A ār’s Man iq
126 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

al-ayr (The Conference of the Birds), al-Ghazālī’s Iyā’ ‘Ulūm al-Dīn (Revival
of the Religious Sciences), Ibn ‘Arabī’s al-Futūāt al-Makkīyah (The Meccan
Revelations), Hujwīrī’s Kashf al-Majūb (The Unveiling of the Veiled), and
many other works, too numerous to mention.
Unlike worldly authors and poets, for many of whom fame, money and pres-
tige are significant motivations, true Sufi Masters write or compose with one
purpose in mind: to convey a spiritual message. In most cases, their sayings and
teachings were either taken down by their disciples from the Master’s oral reci-
tation or dictation, or they were written down by their followers from memory.
Thus Rūmī writes, almost extraordinarily:

I am loving to such an extent that when friends come to see me, for fear
that they should grow weary, I speak poetry to entertain them. Otherwise,
what have I to do with poetry? By Allāh, I care nothing for poetry. I can’t
think of anything worse.
Rūmī, Fīhi mā Fīhi 16:7–10, KFF p.74; cf. DRA p.85, SOU p.77

Yet Rūmī’s Maśnavī consists of more that 25,000 couplets, in six books, and
his Dīvān almost 45,000 verses. Both works were written down in Persian by
Rūmī’s disciples from oral recitation. With the exception of the Qur’ān, no other
book in Islam has been so venerated and revered as Rūmī’s Maśnavī, referred to
as the “Qur’ān in the Persian tongue”.
Out of almost 850 works of Ibn ‘Arabī, his al-Futūāt al-Makkīyah, an opus
of 17,000 pages in Arabic, is by far the largest and most well known. In it, he
says:

I have recorded these inspirations in accordance with the command of my

Lord that I received. I do not speak about anything except by way of (re-
porting) what I have heard (from God) – just as I will stop (writing) when-
ever I am directed to do so. For our compositions – this book and all the
others – are not like other books; we do not follow the procedure of ordi-
nary writers … (who follow their own aims and desires, or what is required
by a knowledge they want to communicate, at their own discretion). No,
we are not like that in our writings. They are only hearts intent upon the
door of the divine Presence, carefully attending to what is opened up to
them through that door, needy (faqīra) and empty of all knowledge (of their
own).…
So sometimes there appears to them from behind that Curtain a particu-
lar matter that they hasten to obey in the way that was defined for them in
that Command. And sometimes they receive things that are unlike anything
ordinarily found by custom or thinking or reflection in outward knowledge
… because of a hidden correspondence that is only perceived by the peo-
ple of spiritual unveiling. Indeed sometimes it is even stranger than that:
 1.10 Islam 127

for things are given to this heart that it is ordered to communicate, although
the person doesn’t understand them at this time, because of a divine Wisdom
which is hidden from the people. Therefore, every person who composes
according to this ‘receiving’ from God is not restricted to understanding that
about which they are speaking.
Ibn ‘Arabī, Meccan Revelations 1:264–65, in LGP p.27

Although most Sufis have espoused Islam as the foundation of their teachings,
the Muslim orthodoxy has often rejected them. While Sufis were loved and ad-
mired by the Muslim masses and by some rulers, they were often despised by
orthodox Muslims who adhered to the literal meanings of the Qur’ān and
adīth,
and so considered Sufi interpretations as evidence of infidelity and heresy. Rūmī
would not have endeared himself to them when he said:

God’s treasuries are many, and God’s knowledge is vast. If a man reads one
Qur’ān with understanding, why should he reject any other Qur’ān?
I once said to a teacher of the Qur’ān, “The Qur’ān says: ‘Say, if the
sea were ink to write the words of my Lord, verily the sea would fail, be-
fore the words of my Lord would fail.’169
“Now for fifty drams of ink one can transcribe the whole Qur’ān. This
(Qur’ān) is but a symbol of God’s knowledge; it is not the whole of His
knowledge. If an apothecary puts a pinch of medicine in a piece of paper,
would you say that the whole of the drugstore is in this paper? That would
be foolishness. After all, in the time of Moses, Jesus and the other proph-
ets, the Qur’ān existed; that is, God’s Word existed; it simply wasn’t in
Arabic.”
This is how I explained the matter; but when I saw that it made no
impression upon that teacher of the Qur’ān, I let him go.
Rūmī, Fīhi mā Fīhi 18:7–14, KFF p.81; cf. DRA pp.93–94, SOU pp.85–86

Many Sufis suffered ostracism, ridicule, physical torture, and even execution.
Man ūr al-allāj was put to death on the gibbet after his limbs had been ampu-
tated the night before, as a public punishment for his ecstatic utterance in public,
“Anā al-
aqq (I am the Truth).”
Orthodox Muslims consider Islam to be the only valid religion leading to
salvation, and the Prophet Muammad the only prophet who can intercede be-
fore God for all humanity. Likewise, the Qur’ān is regarded as the only true
scripture – dictated by God Himself to his Prophet through the angel Gabriel.
So the orthodox were not amused, but rather offended and shocked, when
Sanā’ī said:

At His door, what is the difference

between Muslim and Christian, virtuous and guilty?
128 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

At His door, all are seekers,

and He the sought.
Sanā’ī, Walled Garden of Truth 28:12–13, WGT p.19; cf. HHG p.44

This refrain has been repeated by many Sufis, finding expression in a poem at-
tributed to Rūmī and addressed to his Master, Shams-i Tabrīz, though modern
opinion reckons the authorship to be spurious. For the Sufi poet, whoever he
was, there is only one humanity, one Reality and one God:

What is to be done, O Muslims?

For I do not recognize myself.
I am neither Christian, nor Jew,
nor Gabr (Zoroastrian), nor Muslim.
I am not of the East, nor of the West,
nor of the land, nor of the sea;
I am not of nature’s mint, nor of the circling heavens.
I am not of earth, nor of water, nor of air, nor of fire;
I am not of the empyrean, nor of the dust,
nor of existence, nor of entity.
I am not of India, nor of China,
nor of Bulgaria, nor of Saqsīn;
I am not of the kingdom of ‘Irāqayn,
not of the country of Khurāsān.
I am not of this world, nor of the next,
nor of paradise, nor of hell;
I am not of Adam, nor of Eve, nor of Eden and Rivān.

My place is the Placeless, my trace is the Traceless;

’Tis neither body nor soul,
for I belong to the soul of the Beloved.
I have put duality away,
I have seen that the two worlds are one;
One I seek, One I know, One I see, One I call.
He is the first, He is the last,
He is the outward, He is the inward;
I know none other except ‘Yā Hū’ and ‘Yā man Hū’.
I am intoxicated with love’s cup,
the two worlds have passed out of my ken;
I have no business save carouse and revelry.
If once in my life I spent a moment without thee,
from that time and from that hour I repent of my life.
If once in this world I win a moment with thee,
I will trample on both worlds,
 1.10 Islam 129

I will dance in triumph forever.

O Shams-i Tabrīz, I am so drunken in this world,
that except of drunkenness and revelry
I have no tale to tell.
Rūmī, Dīvān-i Shams-i Tabrīz, KST p.460, SDST (XXXI) pp.124–27

Ibn ‘Arabī, too, can hardly have endeared himself to the traditionalists when he
declared that his only religion was love, and that his “heart” contained the es-
sence of the Qur’ān, the Jewish Torah, pagan temples, Christian monasteries
and the Ka‘bah:

My heart has become capable of every form:

It is a pasture for gazelles and a convent for Christian monks,
and a temple for idols and the pilgrim’s Ka‘bah,
and the tables of the Torah and the book of the Qur’ān.
I follow the religion of love:
Whatever way love’s camels take,
that is my religion and my faith.
Ibn ‘Arabī, Tarjumān al-Ashwāq XI, TAA pp.19, 67

In a similar vein, al-Ghazālī records that Rābi‘ah also said that her love of God
outweighed all other loves, even that of the Prophet:

Somebody asked Rābi‘ah: “How much do you love the Apostle of God
(Muammad)?” She replied: “Verily I love him greatly, but the love of the
Creator has turned me aside from all love of His creatures.”
Rābi‘ah, in Iyā’ ‘Ulūm al-Dīn 4, IDC p.308; cf. RRS p.316, RM p.99, TAI p.80

The common thread running through the writings of these and many other Sufis
is that after reaching the Truth, religions or the roads taken to reach it become
irrelevant. The only thing that counts is love. Like so many other mystics before
and since, the Sufis said that God is love and love is God.
Not all Sufis, however, have been regarded as outside the orthodox fold.
Al-Ghazālī and Ibn ‘Arabī, for example, are both credited with having recon-
ciled the Sufis with the Muslim orthodoxy to a great extent. Their many works
showed their unchallenged knowledge of Islamic exegesis, their adherence to
the Islamic laws and traditions, and their veneration of the Prophet, earning them
the respect of both the Muslim masses and the intelligentsia. Al-Ghazālī was
accepted as an orthodox authority, earning the title of
ujjat al-Islām (the Proof
of Islam), while Ibn ‘Arabī was called al-Shaykh al-Akbar (the Great Shaykh).
But this did not prevent attacks against them and Sufism from the orthodoxy,
which continue even to the present day:
130 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Nobody accompanied the ūfīs forty days and had his brain return (never).
Imām Shāfi‘ī, in Talbīs Iblīs

And:

Sufism is a shameful deception which begins with dhikr (remembrance) and

ends with kufr (heresy). Its outward manifestation appears to be piety, but
its inward reality forsakes the commandments of Allāh.
Shaykh Abū Bakr al-Jazā’irī, in ‘Illat-i Taawwuf yā ‘Ibādallāh

Sufism, like all true spirituality, challenges the individual to face his own
strengths and weaknesses, rather than criticizing others, and to question his re-
ligious beliefs with a searching intelligence and discrimination. Sufis have based
their teachings on Islam because they and their audience were mostly Muslims.
Islam was their religious framework, their spiritual starting point. Hence, Rūmī
mentions the Qur’ān and Muammad, in one way or another, on almost every
page of his Maśnavī. Similarly, Ibn ‘Arabī’s al-Futūāt al-Makkīyah (The
Meccan Revelations) is entirely devoted to the explanation and interpretation of
the Qur’ān and the
adīth.
Like any other science, Sufism has its own terminology, familiarity with
which is essential for the reader of Sufi literature. Included in this terminology
are a great many frequently occurring symbols, images, metaphors and even
codes, all with tacitly understood esoteric meanings. This symbolic language
allowed Sufi writers to convey their meaning to the initiated, while hiding it from
others, permitting them to escape persecution from the orthodox authorities.
Even the letters of the Arabic alphabet were given specific meanings, Arabic
being the language of God’s inspired book, the Qur’ān. Hence alif, the letter A,
the first letter in the Arabic alphabet, is used to denote Allāh, who comes before
all things. The alif is written with a single vertical stroke, like the Arabic number
one, and Sufis also use it to indicate that Allāh is not only the beginning, but
that He is single, beyond all duality. However, the subject of letter symbolism
is very difficult to understand even for Sufi scholars, especially since the mean-
ing of some letters shifts from one writer or poet to another.
Probably the most commonly misunderstood Sufi images are those of the
Beloved and the Cupbearer, of wine, taverns and drunkenness. Many scholars
have taken such poetry to convey wanton sensuality and recklessness. Yet Sufis
have consistently pointed out that in their imagery the Beloved is God or the
Shaykh; the tavern is the inner sanctum where the divine Beloved is met; the
Sāqī (the Cupbearer) is again the Shaykh, as, too, is the tavern keeper; wine is
the divine love with which the soul becomes drunken or intoxicated, losing all
sense of self in an ecstasy of bliss; the beauty of the Beloved is the divine
perfection, while the features of his face – moles, locks of hair, eyebrows, lips
and more – all represent aspects of the relationship of the intoxicated soul with
 1.11 Indian Traditions 131

the divine Beloved. To understand Sufi literature, therefore, it is necessary to

realize that there is meaning behind the meaning, veils behind the veils.
But, in the end, books are only maps, and the company of an experienced
guide is far better than any map when the intention is to reach the destination.
Books and words are only meant to whet the appetite of the seeker, and to en-
courage him to travel on the inner road. Hence, Rūmī points out that the Truth,
God, is within:

There is a life within your life:

seek that life.
In the mountain of your body lies a gem:
seek that treasure.
O wandering ūfī, if you are seeking that life,
look not outside:
Seek that life within yourself.
Rūmī, Dīvān-i Shams-i Tabrīz, Rubā‘īyāt 32, KSD8 p.6, KDS2 (45) p.1269

1.11 I NDIAN T RADITIONS

The Vedas and Upanishads
The earliest extant Indian sacred texts are the four Vedas (lit. knowledge) – the
ig, the Sāma, the Yajur and the Atharva – and modern knowledge of Indian
religion and mysticism starts at this point. The little that is known of pre-Vedic
religion is fragmentary, gleaned largely from archaeological discoveries in the
Indus valley and some other places.
To the highly orthodox, the Vedas are not only the texts themselves, but also
the divine Truth itself of which the texts are regarded as a reflection. In this
sense, the Vedas are understood to be eternal. They are regarded as apaurusheya
(superhuman, impersonal), without defect, owing their origin to no person –
human or divine. God is understood to have created the entire universe through
the pre-existent knowledge of the Vedas. Their authority does not depend on
anything external; they themselves are their own authority. Their truth is said to
be verifiable by a spiritual aspirant in transcendent consciousness. Vedic litera-
ture, which includes the Upanishads, is thus regarded as revelation or shruti,
meaning something that is ‘heard’.
The origins of the Vedas are encompassed by myth. According to the
Bihadārayaka Upanishad, they were “breathed forth” from the infinite Re-
ality (Brahman).170 The Purusha Sūkta of the ig Veda says that they were the
result of a sacrificial rite performed by the gods while meditating on the eternal
Being.171 Another legend relates that they were uttered by the creator-deity,
Brahmā, while he was meditating on the supreme Creator, and he then taught
them to his disciples, the ishis Marīchi, Atri, Angiras and so on. But Brahmā
132 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

was only a vehicle: the Vedas had existed from before the creation of the
universe.
When the Vedas were composed is a matter of debate, but from the lan-
guage, it seems clear that they were written over a period of time, the earliest,
the ig Veda, usually being dated around 1500 BCE. At the heart of each Veda
is a collection of hymns and verses (Sahitā) addressed to various deities, for
use during sacrificial ceremonies and on other occasions. The hymns and their
associated deities and rituals are usually understood to reflect a fusion of the
religious beliefs of the early, indigenous people with the beliefs of those who
spread into India, probably from the Middle East, during the second millennium
BCE. The texts were transmitted by an oral tradition, certain families being en-
trusted with the preservation of particular portions of the text, some of these
sections still bearing the names of the families concerned.
Vedic rituals are essentially sacrificial offerings made to one or more dei-
ties, performed by a priest according to specific formulae, with particular ben-
efits in mind. Many of these deities are associated with natural forces. Thus,
major Vedic deities include Indra (god of the air and sky, of rain, storm and
thunder), Varua (god of cosmic order and moral law) and Agni (god of fire).
Although these gods are sometimes addressed as though they were the supreme
Creator, few early Vedic hymns express a definitive belief in one supreme God.
In fact, the characteristics and popularity of the individual deities changed with
the passage of time. Thus, the three major deities of later Hinduism (Brahmā,
Vishu and Shiva) are only minor deities in early Vedic times, while Indra, at
one time regarded as the lord of all the gods, loses his prominence in later periods.
Even so, Vedic hymns do exhibit a marked spectrum of polytheistic, mono-
theistic and monistic points of view, though it is a matter of debate whether
this represents an evolution of religious thought, an attempt to cater to the
needs of people at varying levels of spiritual attainment, or simply an expres-
sion of the beliefs of individual writers.
Some Vedic hymns are clearly allegorical. A few thinkers, however, have
gone further, suggesting that the Vedas are replete with hints of secret doctrines
and mystic truths. Shrī Aurobindo, for example, regards the gods of the Vedic
hymns as symbols of psychological faculties: Sūrya, for instance, signifies in-
telligence, Agni will, and Soma feeling. He writes:

The hypothesis I propose is that the ig Veda itself is the one considerable
document that remains to us from the early period of thought of which the
Eleusinian and Orphic mysteries were the failing remnants, when the spir-
itual and psychological knowledge of the race was concealed, for reasons
now difficult to determine, in a veil of concrete and material figures and
symbols, which protected the sense from the profane and revealed it to the
initiated. One of the leading principles of the mystics was the sacredness
and secrecy of self-knowledge and the true knowledge of the gods. This
 1.11 Indian Traditions 133

wisdom was, they thought, unfit for – perhaps even dangerous to – the
ordinary human mind, or in any case liable to perversion and misuse and loss
of virtue, if revealed to vulgar and unpurified spirits. Hence, they favoured
the existence of an outer worship, effective but imperfect, for the profane,
and an inner discipline for the initiate, and clothed their language in words
and images which had equally a spiritual sense for the elect and a concrete
sense for the mass of ordinary worshippers. The Vedic hymns were con-
ceived and constructed on these principles.
Shrī Aurobindo, Ārya 1, AAP p.60; in IP1 pp.69–70

Others have also expressed the view that the original and hidden meaning of the
text has been lost, and have sought to rediscover it. Such ideas have been con-
sidered ingenious but have found no general acceptance, possibly because they
have not been fully worked out or demonstrated as correct. But perhaps the last
word has not yet been said upon the subject, and there may be more to such ideas
than mere ingenuity.
With the passage of time, other literature has become associated with the
four Vedas, becoming accepted as a part of the Vedas themselves. Thus, each of
the four Vedas came to be comprised of four parts – the Sahitā (original
hymns), the Brāhmaas (priestly manuals, largely as explanations of the sig-
nificance of the rituals), the Ārayakas (magical or symbolic interpretations of
the rituals), and the Upanishads (lit. a sitting down near).
Although the Vedic hymns contain some inspiring and deeply mystical pas-
sages, it is the Upanishads that express the essence of traditional Indian mysti-
cism and philosophy. Probably dating from around 900 to 600 BCE, their primary
concern is the nature of Reality (Brahman), and how to realize the oneness of the
soul (ātman) with that Brahman by means of meditation. There are, in all, over a
hundred Upanishads, of varying lengths, including a number of later texts which
have also been accepted as Upanishads. They are comprised of direct teaching,
allegories and stories designed to convey mystical teaching. Caroline Spurgeon
summarizes the teaching of the Upanishads from a Western perspective:

The mysterious ‘secret’ taught by the Upanishads is that the soul or spir-
itual consciousness is the only source of true knowledge. The Hindu calls
the soul the ‘seer’ or the ‘knower’, and thinks of it as a great eye in the
centre of his being, which, if he concentrates his attention upon it, is able
to look outwards and gaze upon Reality. The soul is capable of this because,
in essence, it is one with Brahman, the universal Soul. The apparent sepa-
ration is an illusion wrought by matter. Hence, to the Hindu, matter is an
obstruction and a deception, and the Eastern mystic despises and rejects and
subdues all that is material, and bends all the faculties on realizing spiritual
consciousness, and dwelling in that.
C.F.E. Spurgeon, Mysticism in English Literature, MEL p.15
134 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

The teaching of the Upanishads is sometimes said to be summarized in four

mahāvākyas (great utterances). Various contenders have been suggested for
these four, one usually being taken from each of the four Vedas. Each of these
sayings expresses the same mystical truth in a different way. For example:

1. Prajñāna Brahma: “Consciousness is Brahman” (ig Veda, Aitareya

Upanishad 3:1.3).

2. Tat tvam asi: “Thou art that” (Sāma Veda, Chhāndogya Upanishad
6:8.7).
3. Ayam ātmā Brahma: “This self is Brahman” (Atharva Veda, Mā ūkya
Upanishad 1:2; also in Yajur Veda, Bihadārayaka Upanishad 2:5.19).

4. Aha Brahmāsmi: “I am Brahman” (Yajur Veda, Bihadārayaka

Upanishad 1:4.10).

The Six Schools

Since the Upanishads comprise the last of the texts added to the Vedas, they
have also become known as Vedānta (lit. the end of the Vedas). Likewise, the
essence of their philosophy, as understood by Indian philosophers, is known as
Vedānta. Vedānta can mean either the end of the Vedas in a mundane sense, or
the goal or object of the Vedas, implying the realization of Brahman. In modern
India, Vedic sacrifice has been largely supplanted by different rites, while the
Vedic belief that actions on earth are closely related to events in the heavens
has been superseded by the Upanishadic doctrine of karma, transmigration and
the liberation of the soul through the mystical realization of Brahman.
It is commonly said that there are six main schools or systems (sha
darshanas) of orthodox (astika) Indian philosophy, each having this same es-
sential, mystical goal. The use of the word darshanas (seeing, insight, vision)
highlights the essential difference between the perspectives of Eastern and West-
ern philosophy. In the West, philosophy is largely based upon discursive think-
ing and logical reasoning, that is, on the logical consideration of concepts. In
the East, philosophy stems from a direct experience or vision (hence darshanas)
of Reality; its purpose is to explain and interpret that vision as an inducement to
the true goal of philosophy: the actual experience of Reality. The six orthodox
darshanas are:

1. Nyāya (the logical school).

2. Vaisheshika (the atomic school).
3. Sānkhya (the dualist school).
4. Yoga or Pātañjala (the practical school).
5. Pūrva Mīmāsā (lit. the earlier inquiry) or Mīmāsā.
6. Uttara Mīmāsā (lit. the last inquiry) or Vedānta.
 1.11 Indian Traditions 135

These six are contrasted with the six heterodox (nastika) systems:

1. Chārvāka darshana (Indian materialism).

2. Jainism.
3–6. The four schools of Buddhism – Vaibhāshika, Sautrāntika, Yogāchāra
and Mādhyamika.

The six orthodox systems are regarded as such, because, unlike Jainism and
Buddhism, they accept the authority of the Vedas and, although they expand on
the original revelations, they are generally regarded as doing so without cross-
ing the limits of orthodoxy.
Because of certain metaphysical similarities, the six systems, although in-
dependent in origin, are generally reduced to three pairs: Nyāya and Vaisheshika,
Sānkhya and Yoga, and Pūrva Mīmāsā and Uttara Mīmāsā, also called
Vedānta. The first pair, in particular, are treated together.
As these systems are drawn from a common reservoir of thought – the Vedas
and Upanishads – they use a common philosophical language, adapting it for
their own particular doctrines. Hence, terms such as ātman (self or soul),
avidyā (ignorance), māyā (illusion), purusha (being, spirit) and jīva (a living
or embodied soul) are common to the different systems, although the specific
meanings assigned to them are not always identical.
Questions concerning the nature of knowledge and how to acquire it form
an important part of each system. Each system has its own theory of knowledge.
While the systems accept the Vedas, reason is subordinated to intuition, and the
schools are basically concerned with the spirit, which is above mere logic. All
six schools teach the law of karma, the pre-existence of the soul and reincarna-
tion; and, except perhaps Pūrva Mīmāsā, they have the practical aim of moksha
(liberation). Ignorance (avidyā) is regarded as the cause of bondage, and release
can only be had through knowledge of Reality. All of them are concerned with
the nature of the true Self, the direct experience of which imparts freedom. All
systems consider cleansing of the heart, unselfishness, love, and disinterested
action as necessary for obtaining moksha.
Each of the six systems is generally associated with one of the ancient
sages or ishis, to whom are attributed a collection of sūtras (lit. threads, brief
aphorisms) outlining the particular system. The systems themselves, however,
predate the ishis with whom they have become associated.

1. Nyāya
The Nyāya school of ishi Gautama, sometimes called the ‘logical school’,
teaches the proper method of arriving at a conclusion by logical analysis. It
teaches that God is one and souls are numerous; that Brahman is the primary or
root cause of the creation, and that prakiti (cosmic or primal nature, the subtle
blueprint of all material forms) is the material or contributory cause. This school
136 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

is essentially one of intellect and analysis, rather than direct mystic experience,
though the central subject of discussion is the nature of Reality.
There are two schools in the Nyāya system: the ancient school (Prāchīna
Nyāya) and the modern school (Navya Nyāya). The former is mostly concerned
with an analysis of the nature of knowledge such as the sources of knowledge
(pramāa), the objects of knowledge (prameya), and so on. The latter lays al-
most exclusive emphasis on the logical aspects of nyāya, developing it into a
formal logic of relationships between concepts, terms and propositions.

2. Vaisheshika
The logical approach of the Vaisheshika school of ishi Kaāda is very
similar to that of Nyāya. Vaisheshika is called the atomic school because it
teaches the existence of a transient world composed of aggregations of eternal
atoms. The external world is said to be independent of the mind. The self, regarded
as a kind of spiritual entity, is eternal and omnipresent, devoid of attributes, and
even consciousness does not belong to it in its liberated state.

3. Sānkhya
The Sānkhya school of ishi Kapila (c.C6th BCE, and certainly pre-Buddhist)
is dualistic, propounding the existence of two separate realities: purusha (cosmic
spirit, soul) and prakiti (cosmic substance, nature). Within prakiti is contained,
as a seed contains the tree, the essence of all creation. Within prakiti are the
three guas, the fundamental characteristics of all diversity, in a state of rest.
However, the close proximity of purusha stimulates prakiti into activity, and
the multiplicity of creation then comes into being through the outward evolu-
tion of prakiti. First to come into existence is the mahat (cosmic intelligence),
which pervades all space and permeates all things. Following this, arise ahankāra
(self-consciousness), manas (cosmic mind), the five jñānendriyas (organs of
sense perception), the five karmendriyas (organs of action), the five tanmātras
(subtle essences), and the five mahābhūtas (gross elements). Together with
purusha and prakiti, these primordial elements of existence, known as tattvas
(essential essences), number twenty-five.
According to the Sānkhya school, suffering is caused by the misidenti-
fication of spirit (purusha) with substance (prakiti), and the supreme goal of
life is to find an end to this misery by removing the ignorance of the essential
distinction between the two. This leads automatically to liberation of the soul.
The means by which this is accomplished is yoga, which is why Sānkhya and
yoga are commonly linked in discussions of the six darshanas.
According to some, Sānkhya is atheistic, and does not admit God as the crea-
tor and controller of the universe. Both purusha and prakiti are primordially
existent; there has been no creation, and nothing essentially new is ever created.
Everything has evolved out of the original substance, prakiti, and will eventually
 1.11 Indian Traditions 137

return to it. Others believe that prior to classical atheistic Sānkhya, there was a
preclassical theistic Sānkhya.

4. Yoga
It is yoga, the fourth system of Indian philosophy, which is known to the
popular mind, both East and West, as the essential mysticism of India. Yoga is
the practice by which the assertions of philosophy can be verified or turned into
experience. In the context of the six systems, yoga refers more specifically to
ash ānga yoga, later called rāja yoga, the system of yoga attributed to the second-
century BCE yogi, Patañjali, as outlined in his Yoga Sūtras. By means of yoga,
mental waves of thought are controlled. By observing certain ethical and spiritual
disciplines, notably concentration and meditation, samādhi or transcendental
consciousness is attained.
In practice, yoga refers to any of a number of practical disciplines having
the same goal. By means of yoga, understanding is gained of the true self and its
relationship to Reality (Brahman), leading ultimately to union of the soul with
its divine Source, and freedom from the cycle of birth and death. Incidental goals
or attainments of yoga include physical and mental well-being, balance and vig-
our, self-awareness, freedom from ill health, long life, knowledge of death,
knowledge of the past and future, mystic or higher perception of the hows and
whys of creation, both on individual and cosmic scales, and – through concen-
tration of the mind – the attainment of miraculous powers (iddhis and siddhis).
Demonstrating the vitality imparted to a philosophy by personal experience,
many schools of practical yoga have come into being over the last two and a
half millennia, and many yogic texts have been written. More or less contempo-
rary with Patañjali, the Bhagavad Gītā speaks of yoga, as do many later texts
like the Ha ha Yoga Pradīpikā, the Shiva Sahitā, the Ghera a Sahitā, and
others. This interest continues into the present era, as evidenced by the abun-
dance of books on all forms of yoga, in both the East and West.
Whatever the school, yoga is always an essentially practical path. It is some-
thing to be followed and practised. It is comprised of certain exercises, varying
according to the form of yoga, carried out within the framework of an upright,
moral and ordered way of life. Some of the exercises may be physical, but the
ultimate aim is always to develop the mental and spiritual forms of exercise. In
addition to ash ānga yoga, well-known schools of yoga include:

Jñāna yoga (the yoga of knowledge), whose intention is to lead those with
a strong reflective bent of mind to God through knowledge.

Bhakti yoga, the yoga of love and devotion (bhakti) to God within.

Karma yoga, the practice of disinterested action, of learning to live and act
without any thought of reward.
138 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Ha ha yoga, consisting chiefly of physical postures (āsanas and mudrās),

muscular locks or contractions (bandhas), and practices (karmas) for puri-
fying the body, and control of the breath (prāāyāma).

Ku alinī yoga, the practice of awakening consciousness to the ku alinī,

the latent or potential energy of the life force or prāa within the body.

Laya yoga (the yoga of absorption), in which the intention is to completely

merge the mental faculties in the object of contemplation, such as the
chidākāsha (sky of the body, within the forehead) or the light of the subtle
centres (chakras) below the level of the eyes.

Mantra yoga, a partly physical and partly mental system whose devotees
constantly repeat certain mantras (verbal formulae) with the attention fixed
upon particular centres or chakras in order to gain mental energy and even
psychic or miraculous powers.

Surat Shabd yoga, the yoga of bringing the soul (surat) into contact with
the Shabd or Word, the divine creative power.

In practice, two or more forms of yoga may be combined without conflict into
one system. Karma yoga, for instance, the living of a desire-free life, is an
ethical approach generally recommended to all yogic practitioners.

5. Pūrva Mīmāsā
The two remaining schools of Indian philosophy and metaphysics are Pūrva
Mīmāsā (lit. earlier inquiry) and Uttara Mīmāsā (lit. last inquiry). Mīmāsā,
a term used particularly in regard to the study of Vedic texts, means reflection,
consideration, investigation, inquiry, examination, discussion; it implies pro-
found thought and serious deliberation with a view to ascertaining the Truth.
Pūrva Mīmāsā, which concerns itself with the early Vedic texts, is often ab-
breviated simply to Mīmāsā. Uttara Mīmāsā, taking its inspiration from the
Upanishads, is commonly called Vedānta.
The older of the two schools, the Pūrva Mīmāsā of ishi Jaimini, con-
cerns itself with the correct interpretation of the Vedas, and is generally treated
as an interpretation of and commentary on Vedic ritual. In his Mīmāsā Sūtras,
Jaimini attempted to systematize all the various Vedic precepts, laying down
rules for resolving and explaining the obscure or doubtful passages and discrep-
ancies in the Vedic texts, and trying to present a clear-cut method of interpreta-
tion. Knowledge of scriptures is not enough; religious action (karma), meaning
the performance of religious duties and ceremonies, is also necessary. For this
reason, it is also known as Karma Mīmāsā. Pūrva Mīmāsā plays a major role
in Hindu life since worship and the correct performance of rituals are supposed
to bring about the fulfilment of desires, spiritual and material.
 1.11 Indian Traditions 139

For the correct performance of sacrifices, great stress is laid upon correct
enunciation and accent. According to Mīmāsā, the relationship between a word
and its meaning is natural, and therefore, eternal. A word is not very different
from the letters comprising it. Letters are perceived by the ear. Correctly intoned,
the sounds of a word are themselves consider to become the meaning. They es-
tablish an identity between the name and the thing named. Mīmāsā, therefore,
even denies the existence of deities as separate from the mantras invoking them.
The main objectives of Mīmāsā are to establish the authority of the Vedas
as the incontrovertible and self-revelational source of all knowledge, and to ex-
plain their true meaning. Jaimini’s sūtras, however, do not claim to be a com-
mentary on the Vedas. In fact, his aphorisms are not readily understandable, and
were subsequently explained in a famous commentary by Shabaraswāmī (c.400
CE). This commentary in turn has been interpreted in different ways, giving rise
to different schools, the two main ones being those of Prabhākara (C7th) and
Kumārila (C8th).
Attempting to establish the self-revealed authority of the Vedas, Mīmāsā
goes into many subtleties of the relationships between word and thought, psy-
chology and epistemology (the nature of knowledge). Regarding the Vedas as
self-revealed, Mīmāsā denies their authorship even to God. Indeed, it is not
clear whether it even accepts the existence of an omnipotent, omnipresent and
self-existent God, for it makes no mention of Him. Because of its detailed study
of philological questions, it is also called Vākya Shāstra (the study of words).
Mīmāsā is generally considered to explain the Vedas as essentially injunc-
tions concerning the performance of sacred rites. The Upanishads, the philo-
sophical part, are interpreted merely as the providers of such injunctions. Even
so, there are clear references to self-realization and moksha (liberation), and its
attainment is given far greater prominence by later exponents of this school. It
is therefore said that Mīmāsā is a darshana, a school of true spiritual realiza-
tion, and not a mere commentary on Vedic ritual.172
Mīmāsā understands the self to be eternal and omnipresent, but condi-
tioned by the empirical encumbrances of the body, the senses and the external
world. This connection with things of the outside world constitutes bondage,
and release means separation from them, once and for all. Hiriyanna, while laying
stress on the darshana aspect of the system, adds, “the spirit of the Brāhmaas
was to supersede the simple nature worship of the mantras; the spirit of the fully
developed Mīmāsā is to supersede ritualism as taught in the Brāhmaas.… But
the supersedence in neither stage is complete, so that the Mīmāsā as now
known is an admixture of the rational and the dogmatic, the natural and the
supernatural, and the orthodox and the heterodox.”173

6. Vedānta
The original aim of Uttara Mīmāsā or Vedānta, the sixth school of Indian
philosophy, was an attempt to interpret and rationalize the inherent ambiguity
140 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

of the Upanishads, and the apparent contradiction between the ritualistic pūrva
(earlier) and uttara (last) parts of the Vedas, by bringing all the parts together
into one systematic philosophy. This school teaches that Brahman is formless,
and can be known only through the Vedas; that Brahman is the original and
final cause of the creation; that Brahman is actionless, yet the visible world is
His play or līlā; that the soul (ātman) is also without origin or end, and is also
Brahman; that the individual soul is a reflection or glimpse of Brahman; that
Brahmajñāna (knowledge of Brahman) can be obtained only through experi-
ence; that Brahman includes knowledge, and can be known through knowledge;
that the path of knowledge – jñāna-mārga – is the only way to realize Brahman.
Vedānta consists of interpretations of the Upanishads, and is generally reck-
oned to have been initiated as a distinct philosophical approach when outlined
by Bādarāyaa in his Vedānta Sūtras, thought to have been written sometime
between 500 and 200 BCE. However, little is known about Bādarāyaa. One
Indian tradition identifies him with the legendary ishi Vyāsa, but this identity
is uncertain. In fact, Shankara, the chief commentator on the Vedānta Sūtras, is
silent on the subject.
In his sūtras, Bādarāyaa himself mentions as many as seven Vedantic
teachers and refers to views other than his own, implying vital distinctions in
general philosophic outlook. Such differences show that the teaching of the
Upanishads was understood in several ways by Vedantic teachers from very
early times. The interpretations of the other Vedantic teachers mentioned by
Bādarāyaa have not survived, and his Vedānta Sūtras was probably the most
influential of them all.
The Vedānta Sūtras are also known as the Brahma Sūtras because they ex-
pound the philosophy of Brahman, and as the Shārīraka Sūtras because they
deals with nature of the unconditioned self incarnate in the human body (sharīra).
The whole of the system is developed in several hundred sūtras, consisting
mostly of only two or three words each. As a result of their extreme terseness,
these sūtras themselves have been found to be almost unintelligible without a
commentary, and they are open to a great variety of interpretations. The resulting
commentaries are so diverse and often so conflicting that it is almost impossible
to arrive at the precise views held by Bādarāyaa himself. The sūtras are, never-
theless, treated as being of great authority. Every important philosopher of ancient
India has written commentaries on them, and they are considered to be among
the three great works upon which the theology of India rests, the other two being
the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gītā.
The Vedānta Sūtras consists of four chapters. The first deals with Brahman,
the All-One, and His relationship to the world and the individual soul, seeking
to reconcile the various Vedic passages on the subject. The second meets the
objections to the view of Brahman, the soul and the world expounded in the first,
and attempts to point out the fallacious nature of all rival theories on the sub-
ject. The third chapter speaks of the methods by which an individual can attain
 1.11 Indian Traditions 141

knowledge of Brahman, also discussing questions of rebirth as well as those

concerning psychology and theology. The last chapter considers the fruits of the
knowledge of Brahman, and differences between the experiences of different
aspirants. The deeper the experience, the greater the fruit. It discusses moksha
(liberation), and the two paths possible after death – return (rebirth) and non-
return (gradual liberation).
Direct perception and inference are regarded as the two sources of all knowl-
edge, but perception in relation to the knowledge of Brahman is of a transcen-
dental or spiritual character rather than sensory, since God is not perceived with
the physical senses. Shrutis or revealed scriptures, particularly the Upanishads,
are regarded as the fruit of spiritual perception, while the Smitis, the auxiliary
scriptures, the Mahābhārata, the Manu Smiti, and even the Bhagavad Gītā are
all identified as having been written as the result of inference. But, maintains
the Vedānta Sūtras, even inference concerning spiritual matters depends on
direct perception or revelation, since logic independent of revelation is blind and
leads nowhere.
However, it is difficult to be precise as to what Bādarāyaa actually believed
concerning the creation – whether it is a transformation of Brahman or is some-
thing superimposed upon Him – or concerning the relationship of the soul to
Brahman. Because of this obscurity, various doctrines have flourished, all pur-
porting to subscribe to Vedānta. Even so, all are agreed that the ultimate goal is
the inner knowledge of Brahman, and that It can be experienced in this life. Such
knowledge, once attained, burns away all the seeds of karma and bestows the
promised liberation (moksha).
Of the many philosophers who have commented on the Vedānta Sūtras, the
more prominent ones have been Shankara, Bhāskara, Yādavaprakāsha, Rāmānuja,
Nimbārka, Keshava, Nīlaka ha, Madhva, Baladeva, Vallabha and Vijñān-
abhikshu. Of these, Shankara (c.788–820), the main proponent of the doctrine
of Advaita (non-dualism or monism) and Rāmānuja (c.1017–1137), the chief
proponent of Vishish a Advaita (qualified non-dualism), are the most well
known. The other main schools of Vedānta are Dvaita (dualism) propounded
by Madhva (c.1197–1276); the Shuddha Advaita (pure non-dualism) of Vallabha
(c.1481–1533); and the Dvaitādvaita (dualistic non-dualism) or Bhedabheda
(distinction without difference) of Nimbārka (C13th), Bhāskara and Chaitanya.
Of these, the Advaita Vedānta of Shankara has become the most widely accepted.
Shankara’s Advaita is considered by the majority of educated Indians to represent
the Vedantic truth, although Rāmānuja’s view also has a number of adherents.
Advaita Vedānta is a doctrine of pure monism, believing in the existence of
an all-encompassing, ultimate Principle. This ultimate Reality or Brahman, says
Shankara, is one and all-pervading. In essence, there is nothing but this one,
primal Reality or God who is pure consciousness or being. He says that all is
consciousness; that It is one, and that there is nothing except It. Everything else
is an illusion (māyā). As the Chhāndogya Upanishad says:
142 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

That which is the subtle essence –

in That all beings have their existence.
That is the True. That is the Self (Ātman).
O Shvetaketu, thou art That (Tat tvam asi).
Chhāndogya Upanishad 6:8.7

According to the Upanishads, the soul (ātman) and Brahman are identical. If
a person experiences duality, this is due to illusion (māyā), caused by identifi-
cation with his body, arising from mental obsession with the objects and sensa-
tions presented to the gross physical senses. The material world is thus mistakenly
regarded as reality.
To exemplify the power of illusion, Shankara says that if, in the darkness,
a man comes across a piece of rope lying in his path and believes it to be a
snake, he will get frightened, even though the serpent only exists in his mind
and imagination. When daylight comes, and the rope is recognized as such, the
illusion vanishes. In the same way, man’s idea that this world is real is only the
illusion or imagination of his mind. All his concerns and reactions to its events
are like the man’s fear of a piece of rope, arising because he believes it to be
something other than it is.
Shankara is emphatic that the most authentic knowledge is that which is
obtained by personal experience (anubhūti). Next comes knowledge derived
from shruti or the scriptures, since these record the personal experiences of the
seers. The last is intellectual knowledge, derived from reasoning and inference,
which is farthest removed from personal experience. Therefore, if there is a con-
flict between knowledge derived from shruti and that derived through reason, it
is reason that has to be rejected. Discursive reason can provide only secondary
knowledge. That knowledge cannot be certain, for its validity depends on the
validity of some other knowledge. And if this other knowledge is also secondary,
it will result in an infinite regress. The only proper basis for certain knowledge
is immediate, personal experience. Moreover, although the scriptures (shruti)
are authoritative, so far as a seeker is concerned the knowledge derived from
them is secondary, for the truth they contain is based upon the experiences of
others. It is to be accepted provisionally, as the testimony of those who have
had experience, but shruti only fulfils itself when the truth it describes is expe-
rienced directly by the seeker, who does not need any such external authority
thereafter.
As taught by Shankara, Advaita Vedānta is therefore a path of practical spir-
ituality. To achieve realization of the oneness and all-pervading character of
Brahman, the aspirant must firstly live a life of high moral integrity and detached
action, of karma yoga. This provides the foundation from which the path to self-
realization and spiritual liberation can be trodden. Shankara identifies three
stages on this journey:
 1.11 Indian Traditions 143

1. Shravaa. Lit. hearing; a study of the Upanishads under the instruction

of a guru. It also implies that a discourse on an ideal is most effective
when given by a living embodiment of that ideal.
2. Manana. Lit. reflection; considering that which has been taught through
shravaa; the value of mental cogitation on what has been taught is
recognized, although the ultimate aim is mystic experience.
3. Nididhyāsana. Lit. meditation, with the intention of achieving identity
of the individual self with Brahman. This is continued until true, intui-
tive and immediate knowledge is experienced.

The path of karma yoga is also recommended in the Bhagavad Gītā, and – like
the Gītā – Shankara also recommends bhakti yoga, the yoga of devotion, as an
essential aspect of the path of liberation:

Among all means of liberation, devotion is supreme. To seek earnestly to

know one’s real nature – that is said to be devotion.
Shankara, Vivekachū āmai 31, SHI p.296

The culmination of these practices is that of a samādhi (absorption) in which

everything is dissolved in the higher Self or Ātman:

Those who echo borrowed teachings are not free from the world. But those
who have attained samādhi by merging the external universe, the sense
organs, the mind and the ego in the pure consciousness of the ātman – they
alone are free from the world, with its bonds and snares.
Shankara, Vivekachū āmai 355–56, SHI p.297

Vishish a Advaita (qualified non-dualism) was first introduced by the Vaish-

navite (devotee of Vishu), Yamunā, and subsequently expounded by eleventh-
century Rāmānuja. The Vaishnavite creed was popular at the time, but lacked
the philosophical support of the Upanishads, a deficiency highlighted by
Shankara’s commentaries. Rāmānuja therefore sought to provide such support
by trying to synthesize Vaishnavite theism with Upanishadic philosophy. The
motivation appears to have been to provide a philosophical basis for the emo-
tional and religious need to worship a personal deity, distinct from one’s self, as
in Vaishnavism.
Vishish a means distinct or particular, as opposed to advaita (non-dual).
According to Rāmānuja, the individual self and physical nature, although parts
of or aspects of Brahman, nevertheless possess their own distinct reality. He
maintained that although Brahman as the ultimate Cause is one, He manifests
himself as a multiplicity, which is also real. Although Rāmānuja asserted that
Brahman is the only Reality in the sense that outside and independent of Him
144 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

there is no other Reality, yet Brahman’s oneness is not unqualified, because He

contains within Himself all material objects as well as all souls. These, Rāmānuja
maintained, are also real, and the one Brahman contains the many. Unlike
Shankara, who considered multiplicity as illusory or false, Rāmānuja regards
multiplicity as real. Rāmānuja recognized three factors as ultimate and real –
matter (achit), soul (chit) and God (Īshvara). Though equally ultimate, matter
and soul are wholly dependent upon God. Rāmānuja goes on to elaborate upon
the nature of this dependence.
Vishish a Vedānta attempts to develop a complete system, which provides
a philosophical basis for the doctrine of devotion to God. Personal theism had
existed alongside the philosophy of the Absolute in earlier scriptures also, but
this was now developed into a system as a counterpoise to the philosophy of
Shankara, which was considered too absolutist. Rāmānuja wrote commentaries
on the Vedānta Sūtras and the Bhagavad Gītā and these, along with his Vādārtha-
sangraha, form the main scriptures of the system.
As in Advaita, the practical discipline of Vishish a also begins with karma
yoga, which purifies the heart, making a person fit to know the truth. But it differs
from Advaita in what follows. Karma yoga leads to jñāna yoga (the yoga of knowl-
edge), which means meditation upon the nature of the self. The object is to realize
how the soul or true self is different from its several accompaniments such as
the body and the senses, and how attachment to them impedes spiritual progress.
Jñāna yoga does not complete the discipline: the seeker still has to know
God, and the culminating stage is bhakti yoga, practised after success in jñāna
yoga. Bhakti (devotion) here is equated with dhyāna (contemplation), and may
be taken as meditation, but it also implies a loving contemplation of a personal
God, accompanied by a feeling of utter dependence upon Him. Success in this
discipline results in a vision of the Divine, although, according to Rāmānuja,
actual moksha is attained only when the soul leaves the body at the time of death.
There is no jīvanmukti (liberation while living) as in Shankara’s Advaita. In
death, the soul or self realizes union with God, as His body, His attribute.
A further significant difference between Advaita and Vishish a Advaita
pertains to the obligation to perform religious rites. In Vishish a, this obligation
continues even after the aspirant has begun to practise bhakti yoga. Moreover,
according to Rāmānuja, the progression from karma yoga to jñāna yoga to bhakti
yoga is only available to those of a higher caste. Those of a lower caste must
follow the path of prapatti (lit. to take refuge with). This entails absolute self-
surrender, yielding up the spirit to God in humility, and following His will. Sal-
vation is then obtained through divine grace and compassion. A single moment
of utter surrender is considered enough. In fact, prapatti marks the final stages
of bhakti, and Rāmānuja considered prapatti itself to be a form of jñāna. How-
ever, he had to make some compromise with prevailing social mores, saying that
while a shudra (low caste) could eventually gain salvation through prapatti, he
would have to be born again in a higher caste before being finally liberated.
 1.11 Indian Traditions 145

Shankara and Rāmānuja represent the two primary schools of Vedānta, as

opposed to the Dvaita Vedānta (dualism) of the thirteenth-century Madhva.
Moving away from the mystic experience of divine unity, Madhva taught that
God and the individual soul are essentially different entities and are eternally
separate; that purusha (spirit) and prakiti (matter), God and the creation are
separate realities. Thus, although Brahman is considered to be the ruler of the
universe, the universe itself is also real and eternal, and Brahman is not its es-
sential Cause. Nevertheless, although souls are distinct from God, from one
another and from matter, Madhva accepted that their existence is dependent on
Him. God is the only independent or nondependent Being. Further, although
souls exist in this world in a state of bondage, by spiritual striving through many
lives, they can obtain release. Even so, according to Madhva, both the knower
and the object of knowledge are real, for otherwise, knowledge would not be
possible. In his view, transcendental consciousness, in which all distinction
between knowledge, the knower and the known vanishes, is not possible.
Interestingly, most world religions contain at least an element of dualism,
since they teach that man is separate from God, and God from man. To Shankara,
however, as well as many other mystics, this is an illusion, arising from man’s
experience in this world, limited to the perception of his senses and his intellec-
tual cogitations thereon. In the physical universe, he experiences a sense of
dualism, and mistakenly assumes that this is the nature of the entire creation.

The Rāmāyaa, the Mahābhārata and the Bhagavad Gītā

Existing in parallel with the Vedic and Upanishadic tradition in Indian spiritual
life are the two great Indian epics – the Rāmāyaa and the Mahābhārata. Stories
being more appealing and accessible to the majority than philosophy and theol-
ogy, a great deal of Hindu social and religious life has been drawn from these
two epic sagas.
The Rāmāyaa (lit. relating to Rāma) is believed to have been composed
by ishi Vālmīki, probably around 300 BCE. Incorporating many ancient legends
and drawing on the Vedas, it tells the story of Rāmachandra’s efforts to regain
his throne and rescue his wife, Sītā, from Rāvaa, the demon king of Lankā. Its
best-known retelling, Rām Charit Mānas, is the work of the mystic Tulsīdās
(c.1532–1623), and consists of 24,000 rhyming couplets, organized into seven
books. His intention was to bring out the mystical aspects of the epic adventure,
always in danger of becoming submerged beneath elaborations of the narrative
itself. The story is deeply engrained in the religious life of India, and Rāma, short
for Rāmachandra, has become a common name for God. Mystically, the Rāmā-
yaa is an allegory of the soul seeking its divine home, but many other spiritual
truths are also conveyed to the reader through the medium of this compelling
tale.
The Mahābhārata, traditionally ascribed to the legendary ishi Vyāsa, is
actually a story that grew with time, comprised of many separate episodes, and
146 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

written by many unknown poets and Hindu priests over a span of nearly a
millennium, between the fifth century BCE and the fourth century CE. Consist-
ing of more than 90,000 couplets, it tells the story of the ancient and turbulent
kingdom of Kurukshetra, and the deeds of and contests between the sons of
the two brothers Dhitarāsh ra and Pāu, descendants of Bharata. Like the
Rāmāyaa, the Mahābhārata is a vehicle by which moral and spiritual teach-
ings are made more digestible to the common man.
Book six of the Mahābhārata is notable for the inclusion of one of the most
widely studied and influential sacred writings of the world, the Bhagavad Gītā
(lit. sung by the Lord), probably composed around 200 BCE. Its simple yet
sublime poetry, giving voice to eternal and universal spiritual truths, reaches
far beyond the boundaries of religion and culture. Set on the battlefield, between
two opposing armies before the fighting starts, it contains Kisha’s response to
questions posed by the warrior Arjuna concerning the nature of good and evil,
and the spiritual struggle towards realization of the Divine. Much of Hindu
spiritual philosophy and mysticism is encapsulated in the Bhagavad Gītā.
Kisha speaks of Brahman as the divine Reality, describing the essentially
divine nature of the ātman (soul), and its potential for realization of this divin-
ity. He proposes karma yoga – living an ethical life, detached from the senses
and from attachment to the fruits of actions – as the way to live in this world
while discharging all responsibilities. And he indicates that the path of bhakti
yoga – of love, devotion and surrender to God is the way to reach Him.

The Sant Tradition

The Vedas, the Upanishads, the Rāmāyaa, the Mahābhārata, the Bhagavad
Gītā, the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, the Buddhist Dhammapada – these and many
other texts from the rich heritage of India’s religious tradition have formed the
backdrop to India’s spiritual life during the last three and a half millennia. But
whatever a person’s religious beliefs may be, actually practising the mystic path
– following a path of moral and ethical discipline coupled with meditation – has
an appeal only to a minority. To these comparatively few aspirants, the tradi-
tional forms of yoga or the various forms of Buddhist meditation have normally
been regarded as the available choices.
India, however, has another tradition of mystics who have written, some-
times voluminously, but in a far simpler, nonintellectual and more colloquial
language than is found in the majority of the traditional, sacred books of Hindu-
ism. Scholars have dubbed this the ‘Sant (Saint) tradition’.
Only a handful of these mystics have become known in the West. Kabīr
(c.1398–1518) is probably the best known, but India has known a number of
such Saints and mystics, from at least the twelfth century right up to the present
time. Among these were the Gurus following Guru Nānak (1469–1539), from
whom the Sikh religion came into being. During the latter part of his life, Guru
Arjun (1563–1606), the fifth Guru in this line, collected together the writings of
 1.11 Indian Traditions 147

thirty such Saints and devotees, including the poems of his predecessors and
many by himself, in a book which became the holy book of the Sikhs – the Ādi
Granth, completed in 1604. Through the foresight of Guru Arjun, the writings
of many earlier mystics have been preserved.
Notable among these Saints are Ravidās (C15th–16th), Nāmdev (c.1270–
1350) and Jayadeva (C12th–13th), who came from a Hindu background, and
Shaykh Farīd (c.1170–1265) and Bhīkhan (c.1480–1573), who were from the
Muslim or Sufi tradition. Kabīr, a Muslim by birth, who taught in the Hindu
stronghold of Vārāasī, is also well represented in the Ādi Granth, although his
writings have survived independently.
Other mystics of the Sant tradition include Mīrābāī (c.1498–1547), Tulsīdās
(c.1532–1623), Dādū (c.1544–1603), Tukārām (c.1598–1649), Sarmad (c.1618–60),
Dariyā Sāhib of Bihar (1674–1780), Dariyā Sāhib of Rajasthan (1676–1758),
Sahajobāī (C18th), Paltū (1710–80), Swāmī Shiv Dayāl Singh (1818–78), and a
great many others. Some of these are well known in India. Mīrābāī’s songs of
longing and devotion to God, for instance, have been sung in the villages and
towns of Rajasthan for over 400 years, and in modern times have been recorded
by singers of international repute.
It is probably because these Saints have almost always written in plain and
simple language, lacking appeal for scholarly translators, that they are not so
well known in the West. Saints have no intellectual or philosophical pretensions.
They are not trying to impress anybody. Coming with a mission to teach ordi-
nary people the simple secrets of spirituality and the path to God, they express
themselves in the everyday language of the common man.
These mystics have said that there is one God, a supreme Reality, to whom
all other deities in the hierarchy of creation are subordinate. The essence of life
in all beings is the soul, which is a drop of the divine Ocean of God. It is the
soul that gives life to the body and mind. God is thus within the body, and He
can be realized within. When He is found within, the soul then realizes that He
pervades His entire creation, a creation which is comprised of this world and
a vast hierarchy of heavenly worlds lying between the physical universe and
the Divine.
Souls are lost in this world, say these Saints, captivated by its illusory at-
tractions. According to their actions (karma) and desires in one life, souls pass
into another in a seemingly endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth. Salvation
or liberation is afforded by a mystic Saviour or Master who is not a prisoner of
karma. He is a manifestation of the divine creative Power, which Saints have
called the Shabd (Word), the Nām (Name), the Bānī (Word) and many other
names. He teaches a path of moral integrity and deep meditation on the sound
or music of this creative Power as the road that leads directly back to God. This
path is, above all else, a practical mystic path, leading to union of the soul with
God. Moreover, it is not a path of asceticism, but one that is to be followed while
leading a normal human life, fulfilling all obligations and responsibilities in the
148 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

world. Swāmī Shiv Dayāl Singh called it surat Shabd yoga – the union of the
soul (surat) with the Word (Shabd).
Although followings are still attached to a number of these Indian Saints of
the past, none have become so prevalent as the religion that formed around the
teachings of Guru Nānak and his successors. Like most other religions, Sikhism
did not start as such but evolved into a religion with the passage of time as a
result of historical events, tradition and organizational changes.

Sikhism 174
The world has known many mystics and religious reformers. But although a fol-
lowing may have developed around their teachings after their death, few such
groups have evolved a sufficient identity to be regarded as altogether new reli-
gions. Even when new religions do form, they are invariably a product of the
cultural and religious background of their followers. Christianity and Islam arose
from the backdrop of Judaism. Christians accept the Jewish Bible as a part of
their faith, though they may call it the Old Testament. Likewise, both Islam and
the Qur’ān, the holy book on which Islam is founded, contain many elements
drawn from Judaism. Hinduism has evolved and changed over perhaps four
millennia and contains such a mix of ingredients that it is impossible to assign
any particular creed to it. Yet, Hinduism is identifiable, though it may not be
definable. Perhaps it is more of a culture than a religion, for the two are closely
intertwined.
It could hardly be otherwise, for there are few people capable of radically
changing their viewpoint, and adopting an entirely new philosophy or religious
teaching. To gain new ground, a faith that ultimately becomes a new religion
must relate to the existing social, political and religious climate. It must also
have appeal. People must feel that they are going to gain something from adopt-
ing the new faith. It must also address a need. Religions therefore form when
the social and political circumstances are propitious. Genuinely new religions
are thus a rarity, and they do not appear overnight. When their history is traced,
there is always an evolution, as they develop an identity that distinguishes them
from their cultural and religious background.
This is certainly true of Sikhism. No one would deny that it is a peculiarly
Indian religion. It arose in a very specific geographical area – the Punjab – from
a cultural and religious climate of Islam and Hinduism, and a need that was pe-
culiarly regional. Nor was it ever certain, once the primary social and political
needs had been met, that Sikhism would flourish as an independent religion. As
recently as the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, in response to a
period of diversity in Sikh religious life, Sikhism had become polarized into two
extremes, epitomized by two groups: the Sanātan Sikhs and the Tat Khālsā
(the essential Khālsā).
The Sanātan Sikhs, centred in Amritsar, saw themselves as part of a broad
and tolerant Hindu society in which people from a spread of cultural and reli-
 1.11 Indian Traditions 149

gious identities could call themselves Sikhs. Idol worship, folk religion, a va-
riety of rituals according to personal preference, the caste system and different
marriage rites for different castes, acceptance of the sanctity of Hindu and
Muslim holy places as well as those of the Sikhs – all these were tolerated as a
part of the rich heritage of Sikhism, the Punjab and Hinduism in general. Those
who did not feel it mandatory to follow the Sikh code of conduct and belief
(rahit) and were not members of the Sikh Khālsā – the religious order founded
by the tenth and last Guru, Guru Gobind Singh (1666–1708), which included
strict principles of dress and appearance – could regard themselves as Sikhs just
as much as members of the Khālsā. In 1899, the Sanātan Sikh, Nārāi Singh,
published a booklet, reflecting these beliefs. It was called, Sikh Hindū Hain
(Sikhs are Hindus).
On the other side of the debate, the Tat Khālsā, centred in Lahore, repre-
sented a more radical and more definitive Sikhism. Their response was Kahn
Singh Nabha’s booklet, also published in 1899, Ham Hindū Nahīn (We are not
Hindus). True Sikhs, argued the Tat Khālsā, should have one identity. They
should pay no heed to caste; they should ignore Hindu superstitions such as
astrology; they should not visit Muslim or Hindu shrines; and they should per-
form only Sikh rituals.
But to make definitive statements on such matters was not easy. There were,
for example, no universally established Sikh marriage ceremonies, and it took
until the Anand Marriage Act of 1909 to establish circumambulation of the Sikh
holy book, the Ādi Granth (also called the Guru Granth Sāhib) as the approved
Sikh marriage ceremony. Additionally, the existing rahit-nāmās (manuals of
Sikh conduct and belief) contradicted each other and contained things unaccept-
able to any Sikh, of any persuasion. These, the Tat Khālsā maintained, were
clearly corrupt. But what constituted the ‘original’? As the Sanātan Sikhs
pointed out, there had been no such things as Sikh marriage ceremonies or codes
of conduct and belief in the days of the Gurus. The debate was as much political
and social, as religious. What mattered was how people felt at that point in time,
not what the Gurus had done. By degrees, the Tat Khālsā slowly gained the
upper hand, and the prevalent Sikh identity of modern times gradually came into
being. To be a Sikh meant being a member of the Khālsā. Even so, it took until
1945, and much discussion, before the publication of an authoritative rahit,
the Sikh Reht Maryādā, a short document that remains the definitive exposition
of what is means to be a Sikh.
It was out of the Tat Khālsā that the more radical Akālī movement, promi-
nent in recent times, came into being after the end of the First World War
(1914–18). One of the first initiatives of the Akālī movement was to bring the
Sikh gurdwārās (temples) under a single ownership and management. Until that
time, the gurdwārās had been left to the vagaries of the individual mahants
(priests) in charge, with varying results, as well as some confusion as to who
actually owned them. Following the Sikh Gurdwaras Act of 1925, the new legally
150 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

constituted, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), whose mem-

bers were elected by Sikhs, became the manager of most of the major gurdwārās
in the Punjab, assuming an increasingly influential role in Sikh affairs. It also
meant that the central Sikh organization had become a major property owner.
Perhaps even more significantly, it distinguished Sikhs from Hindus in a number
of ways, stipulating, for instance, that Sikhs could have “no other religion”. The
1925 Act thus laid the foundation for the Sikh Reht Maryādā and the eventual
domination of the Sikh community by the Khālsā.175
The Sikh Reht Maryādā, “the code of Sikh conduct and conventions” opens
with “the definition of a Sikh”. It details what is required of a Sikh, in both
religious and social contexts. It explains how Sikh religious services and cer-
emonies should be conducted; it describes the correct reading, exposition and
respectful treatment of the Guru Granth Sāhib, and the correct preparation of
kaāh prashād (“sacred pudding”); it outlines the social conduct expected of
Sikh men and women; it specifies the approved Sikh rites for naming a child,
for marriages, for funeral rites, and for other significant occasions in life, such
as moving house, setting up a new business, sending a child to school, and so
on; and it describes how to conduct the adult ceremony of “ambrosial baptism”
or “initiation” and the means of “imposing chastisement” on those who confess
a lapse of Sikh principles.
In this outline of Sikhism, a Sikh is defined as “Any human being who faith-
fully believes in One Immortal Being, the Ten Gurus, … the Guru Granth Sāhib,
the utterances and teachings of the ten Gurus, and the baptism bequeathed by
the tenth Guru, and who does not owe allegiance to any other religion.” “A Sikh
should wake up in the ambrosial hours (three hours before dawn), take a bath
and, concentrating his/her thoughts on One Immortal Being, repeat the name,
Wāhiguru.” He or she must daily recite various passages from the Guru Granth
Sāhib, and give in voluntary service (seva). He or she “should not take hemp
(cannabis), opium, liquor, tobacco, in short, any intoxicant”; should not pierce
the nose or ears or any other part of the body for ornament; should not gamble;
should not kill his/her daughter; should earn an honest living; should remain
faithful in thought and deed to his/her spouse; and should greet other Sikhs
with “Wāhiguru jī kā Khālsā, Wāhiguru jī kī Fateh.” In addition, “A Sikh’s
daughter must be married to a Sikh,” and Sikh men should adhere to the code of
external appearance introduced by the tenth Guru. These are: not to cut the hair
on any part of the body, always to carry a dagger or sword (nowadays, usually
only a small token blade), and always to wear a comb, knee-length breeches
(kachhehra, nowadays, usually as underwear), and a steel bracelet on the right
wrist. Further, “It is not proper for a Sikh woman to wear veil or keep her face
hidden by veil or cover. For a Sikh, there is no restriction or requirement as to
dress except that he must wear kachhehra and turban. A Sikh woman may or
may not tie turban.” The Sikh Reht Maryādā also contains many prohibitions
against specifically Hindu and Muslim customs and beliefs.176
 1.11 Indian Traditions 151

According to this definition, Sikhs are certainly no longer Hindus. Recent

Sikh history thus exemplifies the way in which new religious movements either
develop their own identity or merge back into their cultural and religious back-
ground. The twentieth century saw the definition and structuring of Sikhism
as a defined religion, saving it from Hindu eclipse. But what are the origins of
Sikh tradition?
Guru Nānak, the first in the line of Gurus that was to become the founda-
tion of the Sikh religion, was born at Talwaī, near Lahore (now in Pakistan),
in 1469. His family were Hindu, and the future Guru was raised as a Hindu. The
community of North India at that time was a mix of Hindu and Muslim.
The first Muslim traders and settlers to reach India had crossed the Arabian
Sea in the seventh and eighth centuries. But since the early eleventh century,
North India had been subject to the raids and conquests of Muslim rulers and
adventurers from the northwest, who came through the mountain passes of
Afghanistan and Baluchistan. Afghanistan, through the Khyber or Gumal Passes,
was the northern gateway to India, and whoever held power in Kābul or Ghazna
invariably turned their attention to the potentially rich plunderings of India. Like-
wise, for those holding power in eastern Iran, Baluchistan and the Bolan Pass
were the gateway to Sind, and hence across the Indus, into India.
Until the rise of British and European power, India, Central Asia and the
Middle East had long been a battleground in which a variety of Turkish, Iranian
and Afghan dynasties had struggled for supremacy. Often, a period of tolerably
stable rule in one empire or kingdom would end with the demise of its ruler,
when his sons attempted to carve up their father’s legacy between them. Their
overall power being weakened by the resulting civil war left them open to inva-
sion, intrigue and conquest by some neighbouring party. It was also difficult for
rulers to maintain power in both their homeland and their conquered territories,
a situation leading inevitably to instability. The larger the empire, the more
difficult it was to control and to retain. As well as power and plunder, the prize
was income, derived by the rulers either by excessive taxation of the agrarian
and static peoples (usually half the produce, plus a tax on property) or by raiding
unsubdued neighbouring territories. This was their way of life, and it had been
that way for centuries.
Although Muslim influence did at times extended far into South India,
Muslim rule was never permanently established there. It was North India, open
to invasion from Afghanistan and eastern Iran, that invariably suffered most.
Since the establishment of the first Turkish Sultanate in Delhi in 1193, a series
of ruling Muslim dynasties had come and gone. Shortly before Guru Nānak
(1469–1539) was born, the first ruler of the Lodī dynasty, Bahlūl Lodī (ruled
1451–89), the most powerful of the Punjab chieftains, had taken Delhi. Holding
together a loose alliance of Turkish and Afghan chiefs, he began to extend his
‘empire’, an expansion which was continued by his second son, Sikandar (ruled
1489–1517).
152 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

The third Lodī sul ān, Sikandar’s eldest son, Ibrāhīm (ruled 1517–26),
lacked the character of his father and grandfather, and his attempts to establish
power by harsh brutality soon brought discontent and intrigue to his court. The
governor of the Punjab, Dawlat Khān Lodī, and ‘Ālam Khān Lodī, Ibrāhīm’s
uncle, consequently invited Bābur, Mughul ruler of Kābul, to help them over-
throw the government. Bābur, who had already made four raids on India, accepted
the invitation. With a small force of 12,000 men, speed, skilful military tactics
and superior artillery, Bābur defeated Ibrāhīm’s army of 100,000 at Pānipāt, in
April 1526. Ibrāhīm was killed in the battle, and so began the Mughul rule of
North India, reaching its height in the long, stable and tolerant reign of Akbar
the Great (1542–1605), who came to power when he was only fourteen. And it
was the Mughul dynasty which so much dominated the political and social cli-
mate in which Guru Nānak and his successors lived and taught, and in which
the movement that was to become the Sikh religion was born.
Practically nothing is really known of Guru Nānak’s life. The official
Muslim chroniclers do not mention him at all, while the first five Gurus, whose
shabds (hymns) were compiled by the fifth Guru, Guru Arjun, into what became
the Sikh sacred book, the Ādi Granth, seem to have made a point of saying
nothing in their poetry about their own personal lives. Even the scholar Bhāī
Gurdās, nephew and disciple of the third Guru, who lived until the time of the
sixth Guru, and whose writings are preserved in the Vārān Bhāī Gurdās, says
very little of the Gurus’ lives. No doubt the Gurus meant to emphasize that their
teachings were of far greater importance than their individual lives. Bhāī Gurdās
would have known a great deal about the Gurus, but presumably out of respect
for their wishes and his understanding of their teachings, he conveys but little
of it in his writings.
Nevertheless, a great many stories are in circulation concerning the life of
Guru Nānak. The majority of these stem from a group of documents known as
the janamsākhīs (lit. ‘birth witnesses’), generally translated as ‘life stories’. The
janamsākhīs are hagiographic accounts of Guru Nānak’s life containing collec-
tions of individual stories (sākhīs). Sometimes, the sākhīs are worked into some
sort of chronological history; at other times they are left to stand as independent
incidents. They contain much legendary and miraculous material, sometimes
interspersed with interpretations of Guru Nānak’s writings. All of them were
written down from a fluid oral tradition, the earliest during the first half of the
seventeenth century, around a hundred years after Guru Nānak’s death.
Often entertaining, which accounts for their popularity, the janamsākhīs are
not generally regarded as reliable sources of historical or biographic informa-
tion, and few scholars argue for their authenticity. In a number of instances, in-
dividual sākhīs have clearly been created as settings for Guru Nānak’s shabds
taken from the Ādi Granth. Other sākhīs relate ‘events’ that seem likely to have
arisen as a setting for something memorable that the Guru said, perhaps based
on examples that he often used. Altogether, there are in the region of one hundred
 1.11 Indian Traditions 153

and fifty to two hundred individual sākhīs related in the janamsāskhīs, many of
which are repeated, with variations, in the various texts. From these, a very brief
overview of the life of Guru Nānak may be gleaned.
He was born in 1469, probably in the month of April, in the village of
Talwaī, to Hindu parents, Kālū and Tripatā, of the Khatrī caste, a leading caste
in the Punjab of that time. He had one sister, Nānakī, who was married to Jai
Rām. Guru Nānak was married to Sulakhaī, the daughter of Mūlā, who lived
in Ba ālā. They had two sons, Lakhmī Dās and Srī Chand. As a young man, Guru
Nānak seems to have worked for Dawlat Khān Lodī at Sul ānpur. Sometime
during this period, he experienced a divine calling to begin his ministry, teaching
the path of the mystic Name (Nām) or Shabd (Word). He travelled extensively,
undertaking long tours throughout the whole of India and probably beyond. He
may well have travelled as far as Baghdad and Mecca, but he was probably back
in North India by 1520, when Bābur attacked the town of Sayyidpur, and during
Bābur’s invasions between 1524 and 1526.
At some point, a wealthy disciple had donated some land to the Guru, on the
north bank of the River Rāvī. After his period of travelling was over, the Guru
made this land his headquarters, and the village of Kartārpur grew up around
him. Here, his disciples and others would have come to hear him speak and to
receive his blessings. The Guru continued to make shorter journeys to the sur-
rounding areas, attracting many disciples. One of these was Lahiā, a Hindu who
lived in the village of Khadur. Lahiā was very devoted and obedient to his Guru,
and Guru Nānak renamed him Angad, meaning ‘a part (ang) of himself’. Some
while before his death, Guru Nānak appointed Lahiā as his successor. Guru
Nānak died towards the end of the 1530s, probably in September 1539.177
Like Guru Nānak, genuine historical information concerning his successors
is sparse. The little that is known of their lives is reconstructed and conflated
from a mixture of tradition, legend and surmise, with few verifiable details.
There are no janamsākhīs dedicated to the lives of the later Gurus, although
Guru Angad is mentioned in some of the janamsākhīs, especially the two mid-
eighteenth-century texts, the Mahimā Prakāsh (Vāratak and Kavitā). But like
all such accounts they were written from the oral tradition, and scholars do not
regard them as historically reliable. There is also a sawayyā (eulogy) of Guru
Angad in the Ādi Granth,178 stressing that he was the rightful successor of Guru
Nānak in preference to Guru Nānak’s sons, who had opposed the appointment. In
the nineteenth century, all these sources were merged by Santokh Singh in his
Sūraj Prakāsh. In fact, Santokh Singh’s conflated accounts of the janamsākhīs,
with additional material from the oral tradition, and published as Nānak
Prakāsh and Sūraj Prakāsh, have become the standard account of the lives of
all the Gurus.179
Guru Angad (1504–52) would have inherited from Guru Nānak a group of
disciples drawn from Hindu and Muslim backgrounds. They probably called
themselves sikhs (disciples), but the word would have had no further connotation
154 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

than that. Guru Nānak so clearly decries the power that orthodox religion ex-
ercised over peoples’ minds that the last thing he would have had in mind
would have been the creation of a new sect or religion. The size of Guru Nānak’s
following is unknown. The janamsākhīs say that wherever he went, he attracted
large crowds. But given the hagiographic nature of these accounts, they could
hardly be expected to say otherwise. Though Guru Nānak’s emphasis and per-
sonal style would have reflected the social and religious circumstances of North
India at that time, his teachings – preserved in the Ādi Granth – were those of
North India’s many other Saints (Sants). So too were the teachings of Guru Angad.
Bearing in mind the traditional nature of the sources, the following may be
said of the life of the second Guru. He was born a Hindu, son of Pherū, of the
Khatrī caste, probably in March 1504. His wife’s name was Khīvī, also a Khatrī,
and they had two sons and at least one daughter. The two sons are portrayed in
the Mahimā Prakāsh Kavitā as miscreants, but the daughter is depicted as a
devotee of the Gurus. Guru Angad probably came to his Guru sometime during
his late twenties, after which he divided his time between Kartārpur and his
family home in Khadur. After his succession, due to the hostility of Guru
Nānak’s two sons, he moved his headquarters to Khadur.180
Guru Angad died in 1552, appointing Guru Amardās as his successor. Like
his two predecessors, Guru Amardās was of the Khatrī caste, from a family of
farmers and grain merchants. He was born in the village of Bāsarke, near the
site that would one day become the Sikh centre of Amritsar. Previously, he had
lived the life of a devout Hindu, and was married, with two sons, and at least
one daughter, probably two. Guru Angad’s daughter had been married into the
family of Guru Amardās, and – according to the traditional story – it was by
overhearing her singing one of Guru Nānak’s shabds that he came into contact
with his Guru.
The birth date of Guru Amardās is uncertain, but is traditionally believed to
have been 1479. All the traditions indicate that he was in his early seventies when
he was appointed Guru, probably seventy-three. His ministry lasted for twenty-
two years, and he died in 1574, when he was probably ninety-five.
Again according to tradition, Guru Angad instructed Guru Amardās to make
his headquarters at the new village of Goindvāl, a short way from Khadur down
the River Beas. Guru Angad had died after a ministry of twelve and a half years.
It was now perhaps as much as fifty years since Guru Nānak had accepted his
first disciples in the early 1500s, and around thirty years since he had settled in
Kartārpur after his extensive travels. The community of disciples (the sangat)
would have been growing steadily, and many children of the early disciples
would have grown up in families of disciples. Some of these children would no
doubt have accepted their parents’ beliefs.
This was the situation inherited by the third Guru, Guru Amardās, and al-
though there is no record of actual numbers, it seems that during his time, the
population of disciples began to mushroom. According to tradition, the Guru’s
 1.11 Indian Traditions 155

reputation became such that he was visited by the Mughul Emperor Akbar
(1542–1605), whose long and remarkable reign (1556–1605), spanning nearly
half a century, was one of comparative stability and religious tolerance. The
Emperor was so impressed by the Guru and his work that he wished to grant to
him the revenue of several villages. The Guru politely but firmly declined the
offer, and it is said that Akbar gave the revenue of the villages to the daughter of
Guru Amardās as a wedding gift.
If the story is correct, it would have no doubt enhanced the standing of the
Guru among the general population, and have brought his teachings to the atten-
tion of a wider audience. Either way, the sangat had grown sufficiently for the
Guru to institute a system of local speakers, known as mañjīs (lit. string bed),
referring to the place where the speakers would sit, with the sangat sitting on
the ground around them. Like Guru Amardās, the previous Gurus had all taught
the path of meditation on and remembrance of the mystic Name. The purpose of
the speakers would have been to remind the disciples of the principles of the
practical spiritual path they were following, to provide encouragement for their
meditation, and no doubt to present the teachings to any newcomers who were
present.
It is uncertain how the early disciples held their meetings in the absence of
their Guru, and it is often presumed that they sat together and sang their Guru’s
shabds, thereby reminding themselves of the Guru and his teachings. Guru
Amardās may therefore have introduced the system of mañjīs because the in-
crease in numbers made communal singing impractical, or perhaps because it
was becoming too much of a ritual.
Guru Nānak and Guru Amardās had both opened free langars (public kitch-
ens) at their respective headquarters. There is no record of how these langars
were conducted, or how many were fed, but in the time of Guru Amardās, again
probably in response to the increase in numbers, the langar was reorganized.
Significantly, no distinction of caste was to be made. This was no small matter.
In Hindu society, no one of a higher caste would eat with anyone of a lower
caste. In many instances, a person of a high caste would not even speak directly
to a person of a low caste. Communication was conducted through an inter-
mediary. But the Gurus – like all the Sants – taught that all human beings are of
the same spiritual essence. No one is higher or lower than another. In the quest
for inner contact with the mystic Name and spiritual liberation of the soul, it is
purity of heart which makes the difference, not social status. Now (if not be-
fore), all were to sit together in rows on the ground to eat their meal, regardless
of caste. This institution became so firmly established that, even in modern
times, an essential aspect of a gurdwārā is its casteless langar, where all sit to-
gether in rows on the ground, and eat a communal meal.
According to tradition, it is also said that the third Guru dug a sacred well
(bāolī) at Goindvāl, to serve as a place of pilgrimage for the disciples; that he
introduced particular bha ārā (festival) days; that he compiled a collection of
156 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

the shabds of his predecessors, of himself, and of those earlier Indian Sants and
devotees whose teachings had been the same (and which became an important
precursor to the Ādi Granth); and that he made the decision (without starting
the work) to excavate a sacred pool on the site which was to become his succes-
sor’s centre, later known as Amritsar.
However, while there would have been good practical reasons to dig a well
in a new village (large open step-wells were common in North India at the
time), there is no reason to presume that it would have been intended as a place
of pilgrimage. Likewise, the introduction of particular days when the Guru
would be present at his centre at Goindvāl to hold satsangs (discourses) and to
give darshan, would have been an understandable practical step, associated with
the increase in numbers. It would have made it possible for the disciples to know
in advance when the Guru intended to be in residence, so that they could plan
their lives accordingly.
Collecting together the writings of his predecessors would similarly have
been a practical way to ensure the preservation of their writings, and to protect
against the introduction of spurious shabds. Moreover, these writings were in
the common Punjabi language of the people. The Hindu sacred texts were in
ancient Sanskrit and the Qur’ān was in Arabic, making them available only to
the brāhmas and the mullās, who maintained a strict monopoly over their
respective sacred writings. There is little doubt that these collections of shabds
in the vernacular would have proved immensely popular among the ordinary
people. There is no reason to suppose that the Guru had in mind the creation of
a holy book.
Whether Guru Amardās really made any decision to build a pool on the site
that ultimately became Amritsar is uncertain. The belief is traditional, and there
is no historical evidence for it. But again, if he did, it must be presumed that
there was a good practical reason for it, perhaps for bathing or water storage, or
even as an environmental enhancement. The writings of the first five Gurus are
unanimous in their insistence on the importance of the inner life of meditation
as the means of finding God, and the uselessness of all outward ceremonies as a
means of spiritual uplift. To have introduced cultic rituals at this or any other
stage would have been quite out of keeping with their teachings.
In fact, it is commonly believed that the third Guru went out of his way to
help people free themselves from unnecessary or spiritually unhealthy customs.
He discouraged the practice of purdāh (the seclusion of women in the home,
and their complete veiling when out of the house); he advocated monogamy; he
encouraged inter-caste marriages and the remarrying of widows; and he forbade
sātī (the immolation of widows on their husband’s funeral pyre). All these meas-
ures were to help people free themselves from restrictive or damaging social
practices. Perhaps it was this stand against certain social and religious customs
which led to the steady growth of opposition and hostility from the brāhmas
and the Muslim religious authorities.181
 1.11 Indian Traditions 157

The ministry of the third Guru was therefore one of adjustment to the needs
of a growing sangat, with the development of a significant number of centres
spread throughout North India. But as the writings of Guru Amardās amply
indicate, his teachings and the spiritual emphasis remained the same, even
though the practical needs were changing. Guru Amardās died in 1574, having
appointed his son-in-law, Je hā Sohī, popularly known as Guru Rāmdās
(1534–81), as his successor.
Like his predecessors, the available historical information concerning Guru
Rāmdās is largely traditional. The content of his shabds (noted for their fine
melodies and rhythms) indicates his continuing emphasis on meditation on the
divine Nām (Name) or Shabd (Word), and there is no reason to believe that he
taught anything other than his three predecessors. The sangat continued to grow
apace, and although there was no doubt opposition from the brāhmas and the
mullās, the tolerant Akbar was in power, and the sangat was permitted to flourish
without hindrance or any state-initiated persecution.
Because of opposition to his successorship from the sons of Guru Amardās,
the fourth Guru founded a new centre, which became known as Rāmdāspur, and
later as Amritsar. The land was purchased from the owners, but seems to have
been associated in some way with the villages whose revenue Akbar had allo-
cated as a wedding gift to the daughter of Guru Amardās, the wife of Guru
Rāmdās. Guru Rāmdās is also said to have excavated the sacred pool.
The continued growth of the sangat required the introduction of another
level of administration, generally credited to Guru Rāmdās, though sometimes
to Guru Amardās. Groups of local sangats were placed under the wider admin-
istration of a trusted masand (lit. raised platform or throne), a sort of area repre-
sentative who could transmit messages from the Guru to the sangats, could seek
the Guru’s advice concerning any local problems, and could also convey mon-
etary donations back to the central administration. The Guru would have ensured
that all such offerings were used for the overall needs of the sangat and for other
worthy causes. Among the mañjīs in the time of Guru Rāmdās was the disciple
of Guru Amardās, Bhāī Gurdās, who spent some time in Agra. The ministry of
Guru Rāmdās lasted seven years, before he died in 1581, appointing the youngest
of his three sons, Arjun Mal, as his successor.
It is impossible to determine the size of the sangat inherited by Guru Arjun.
The need for the mañjīs and masands indicates a widespread population of dis-
ciples, certainly into the thousands and probably into the tens of thousands,
maybe more, but any estimate of numbers is only speculation. Like his pred-
ecessors, Guru Arjun experienced opposition from within his own camp, this
time in the shape of his eldest brother, Prithī Chand. Presumably desirous of the
prestige of office, the machinations of Prithī Chand were a serious nuisance to
Guru Arjun for some years. Both Guru Arjun and Bhāī Gurdās suggest that Prithī
Chand even contemplated doing serious injury to the Guru’s son, Hargobind,
who was born in 1595. Eventually, Prithī Chand set himself up as a rival Guru.
158 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Bhāī Gurdās dubbed him a mīā (scoundrel), and it became the name by which
his followers were known (Mīās).
Guru Arjun must have been a dynamo of focused activity. In Amritsar, he
built a gurdwārā, presumably as a meeting hall. According to tradition, the
foundation stone was laid by the Sufi, Miyān Mīr, perhaps to emphasize that
Muslims and Hindus were all welcome at the Guru’s satsang. How many the
hall could hold is unknown because it, and several of its successors, were de-
stroyed by the later Mughul and Afghan rulers in their ultimately unsuccessful
attempts to crush the Sikhs into submission. This building is often described as
a temple for worship and pilgrimage, as it is today, but this seems unlikely. Like
his predecessors, Guru Arjun also writes of the futility of external observances,
and it seems most unlikely that he would have built a temple in order to start his
own forms of ceremonial worship. The beautiful and ornate Sikh temple that
stands in Amritsar today was built long after, during the eighteenth century
(1776). Known as the Harimandir Sāhib, it was called the Golden Temple by
the British, and is the centre of modern Sikh worship.
Guru Arjun also seems to have toured extensively in North India, and per-
haps beyond, and it is likely that the sangat expanded considerably during his
time. Traditionally, he is credited with having founded the villages of Taran
Tāran (where he is said to have built another pool), Srī Hargobindpur on the
River Beas, and a second Kartārpur (between the River Beas and the River
Sutlej). Probably, these places were originally founded as satsang centres, to
address the needs of the growing community of disciples to meet together and
do communal seva (service). Selfless service to the Guru and the sangat is
emphasized in the Ādi Granth as a means of developing humility, and thus
supporting meditation. The Gurus must therefore have been interested in intro-
ducing practical measures whereby their disciples could learn to be of service.
This would also have been one of the purposes of the langars, and likewise of
any financial donations.
The fifth Guru is also remembered for having collected into one po hī
(book), the shabds of his four predecessors, along with his own substantial writ-
ings, and those of thirty other Sants and devotees of both Hindu and Islamic
backgrounds. According to the traditional story, Guru Arjun was initially moti-
vated by the activities of Prithī Chand, who was making his own collection of
shabds, adding writings of his own and attributing them to the Gurus. First of
all, the Guru visited Mohan, the son of Guru Amardās, and persuaded him to
part with the collection of shabds assembled by his father, and known as the
Goindvāl po hīs or Mohan po hīs. This earlier collection no longer exists, but it
is believed to have been used as the model for Guru Arjun’s larger compilation.
He also summoned Bhāī Gurdās, and set up temporary ‘office facilities’ on the
outskirts of Amritsar, where the shabds to be included were dictated to Bhāī
Gurdās or those he was to copy from other material were indicated. The first
draft of this prodigious exercise still exists as manuscript number 1245 in the
 1.11 Indian Traditions 159

library of the Guru Nānak Dev University at Amritsar,182 and his final text be-
came known as the Kartārpur Bī (Kartārpur Volume).
The date when Guru Arjun began work on this project is uncertain, prob-
ably 1603, but the task was completed in 1604. The works of the ninth Guru,
Guru Tegh Bahādur (1621–75), were later added by his son, the tenth Guru, and
the entire result subsequently became known as the Ādi Granth (lit. first book)
to distinguish if from the Dasam Granth (lit. tenth book) of the tenth Guru.
After the tenth Guru, the Ādi Granth took on a central place in Sikh life and
worship, and has remained so to the present time.
The fifty-year window of peace and tolerance in North India, created by
Akbar, and which had been used to such advantage by Guru Arjun and his two
predecessors, came to an abrupt end with Akbar’s death in 1605. Like so many
Muslim rulers and warlords of those times, Akbar’s son, Jahāngīr (ruled 1605–27)
was a fanatic. He had heard how the Guru had been taking both Hindus and
Muslims into his fold. He had also heard that the Guru was supposed to have
blessed the rebellious Prince Khusrau (Jahāngīr’s son), applying a saffron mark
to his forehead. He writes in his memoirs:

At last, when Khusrau passed along this road, this insignificant fellow
(Guru Arjun) proposed to wait upon him. Khusrau happened to halt at the
place where he was, and he came out and did homage to him. He behaved
to Khusrau in certain special ways, and made on his forehead a finger mark
in saffron, which the Indians call qaśqah, and is considered to be propitious.
So many of the simple-minded Hindus, nay, many foolish Muslims too, had
been fascinated by his ways and teachings. He was noised about as a reli-
gious and worldly leader. They called him “Guru”, and from all directions,
crowds of fools would come to him, and express great devotion to him. This
busy traffic had been carried on for three or four generations. For years, the
thought had been presenting itself to my mind that either I should put an
end to this false traffic, or he should be brought into the fold of Islam.
Tuzuk-i Jahāngīrī (Memoirs of Jahāngīr) 1:72, in HS1 pp.59–60

Soon after Jahāngīr’s accession to power, Guru Arjun was taken into custody
by the Mughul authorities in Lahore, and died in jail. There is no historical record
of what happened to him, but he is believed to have died the death of a martyr
from the effects of severe torture.
According to the traditional story, of which there are several variants and
interpretations, after Khusrau’s unsuccessful rebellion, the prince fled north-
wards from his father’s wrath. On the way, he sought an audience with Guru
Arjun, and may also have requested the Guru’s assistance. The nature of any
help provided, if any, is unknown, but it is unlikely that the Guru would have
refused to see him, had he asked. Jahāngīr, however, exacted swift justice from
those suspected of helping his son, and he took this as the excuse he needed “to
160 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

put an end to this false traffic”. A heavy fine was imposed on the Guru, and on
his refusal to pay or to admit the charge, he was arrested and sentenced to death.
The essence of the story is supported by an entry in Jahāngīr’s journal:

I fully knew his heresies, and I ordered that he should be brought into my
presence, that his houses and children be made over to Murtaā Khān, that
his property be confiscated, and that he should be put to death with torture.
Tuzuk-i Jahāngīrī (Memoirs of Jahāngīr) 1:72–73, in HS1 p.60

Among the Guru’s persecutors, implicated in traditional stories of the Guru’s

torture and death, was a Hindu banker of Lahore, Chandū Shāh, who had been
refused when seeking Guru Arjun’s son as a husband for his daughter. A number
of people are said to have interceded on behalf of the Guru, including the Sufi,
Miyān Mīr, but to no avail. The Guru was tortured and died. According to one
account, during an interval in the torture, he was permitted to bathe himself in
the River Rāvī. Entering the water, the shock of the cold water was too much
for his tortured body, and he was carried away by the current. Tradition also
relates that while in Lahore jail, the Guru instructed the aged and faithful disci-
ple, Bhāī Buddha, to install his eleven-year-old son, Hargobind (1595–1644),
as his successor.183
The story of Guru Arjun’s death is supported to some extent by an interesting
source of information concerning the sixth and seventh Gurus, the Dabistān-i
Maźāhib (School of Manners), a contemporary chronicle of religions in India,
written in Persian by the Muslim, Musin Fānī. The author claims to have known
the sixth Guru, Hargobind, and to have been a close associate of the seventh
Guru, Har Rāi. Composed some fifty years after the death of Guru Arjun, the
Dabistān contains a chapter on the Nānakpanthīs, although its account of the
Gurus’ earlier history is drawn from the oral traditions of the time, and is thus
contemporaneous with the older janamsākhīs. An open-minded writer, Musin
Fānī was sympathetic towards the Nānakpanthīs and other mystics and devotees
of the times, but he is not altogether reliable. One of the early British historians
of the Sikhs, J.D. Cunningham, dismisses him as “a gossiping and somewhat
credulous person”.184 In this instance, the Dabistān relates that the Guru prayed
for Khusrau’s success, which adds little to the story.
The shock waves and the grief that must have passed through the commu-
nity of disciples upon the death of their Guru can only be surmised. So suddenly
had he been taken from them, and in such a violent manner. Though the Gurus
always counselled peace and humility, few disciples could have resisted the ini-
tial surge of anger that must have coursed through them. The traditional story
relates that Guru Hargobind was instructed to take his seat fully armed, wearing
two swords, one the expression of his spiritual power, the other of his temporal
power. The woollen rosary worn by his predecessors was replaced by a sword
 1.11 Indian Traditions 161

belt. He made it known to the disciples that henceforth he would accept offerings
of horses and arms, rather than money. He trained a small entourage of soldiers,
and passed his time in military training and hunting.
Soon after his investiture, Hargobind built the Akāl Takht (lit. throne of the
timeless One) in Amritsar. It was to be a symbol of his temporal power, built
opposite the Harimandir, the symbol of his spiritual power. He also built a small
fortress in Amritsar, the Lohgah. Shabds in praise of the Guru and Nām were
replaced with ballads extolling feats of heroism, and spiritual discourses were
replaced with plans of revenge and military tactics. The Mughul authorities must
have been watched his activities with interest. Eventually, probably as a pre-
cautionary measure, and since the fine imposed upon his father had not been
paid, Jahāngīr ordered the confinement of the young Guru at his fort at Gwalior
and the disbanding of his private army.185
It is difficult to imagine a boy of eleven being able to take on all these ac-
tivities by himself. No doubt, like all young rulers, he had his counsellors, who
were the powers behind the ‘throne’. Nevertheless, it is clear that with the death
of Guru Arjun there was a marked shift in the attitude of the Gurus. Musin Fānī
confirms the traditional story:

Hargobind had many difficulties to contend with. One of them was that he
adopted the life of a soldier, wore a sword contrary to the custom of his
father, maintained a retinue, and began to follow the chase.
Musin Fānī, Dabistān 2:273, in HS1 p.64

But the history of the Gurus and the Sikh community of this period is confused.
Modern historians, attempting to align the traditional stories with the Dabistān
(written shortly after Hargobind’s death) have arrived at a number of possible,
but conflicting, accounts. Musin Fānī says that the Guru was imprisoned for
twelve years, and became a close companion of Jahāngīr (ruled 1605–27), even
entering the service of Jahāngīr’s successor, Shāh Jahān (ruled 1627–66). How-
ever, several children were born to Hargobind during this period, suggesting that
he was not imprisoned for more than a year or two, unless at some point he was
married and his wife permitted to join him.
There is also no record of Hargobind in Jahāngīr’s journals, which is sur-
prising if the two had become close companions, and especially because the
emperor lists the names of officials in his court. Nevertheless, there does seem
to have been some reconciliation between Hargobind and Jahāngīr because
tradition also records that the Mughul authorities handed over the banker,
Chandū Shāh, to Hargobind.
The Dabistān also relates that upon his release from jail, Hargobind once
more built up his private army, many of whom are said to have been Afghan
mercenaries:
162 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

The Guru had eight hundred horses in his stables, three hundred troopers
on horseback, and sixty men with firearms were always in his service.
Musin Fānī, Dabistān 2:277, in HS1 p.64

How the disciples of the earlier Gurus responded to all these changes is not re-
corded. It seems most unlikely that experienced members of the various sangats
would have switched from a peaceful life of meditation to one of military activ-
ism, whatever the depth of their feelings concerning the death of Guru Arjun.
Some disciples may have taken to the sword, and Hargobind’s new converts
would no doubt have been attracted to him because of his new approach. The
trusted masands must have also felt some sense of confusion when asked to send
donations for use in war, rather than funds for the benefit of the sangat and for
worthy causes. Disciples, too, must have felt uneasy about contributing to this
new cause. Perhaps it is from this time that the masands began to move towards
independence from the central organization, something which had become a
‘problem’ by the time of the tenth Guru. It is understandable if people discon-
tinue their donations to a cause when the cause changes radically.
The older disciples, who lived close to the new Guru, would hardly have
been silent regarding the major shift in emphasis from the inward to the outer.
Bhāī Gurdās diplomatically echoes these concerns when he writes of the new
Guru’s lifestyle:

The earlier Gurus sat peacefully in dharamsālas:

this one roams the land.
Emperors visited their homes with reverence:
this one they cast into goal.
No rest for his followers, ever active:
their restless Master has fear of none.
The earlier Gurus sat graciously blessing:
this one goes hunting with dogs.
They had servants who harboured no malice:
this one encourages scoundrels.
Yet none of these changes conceals the truth:
the Sikhs are still drawn as bees to the lotus.
The truth stands firm, eternal, changeless:
and pride still lies subdued.
Bhāī Gurdās, Vāran 26:24, in SHM p.35

In the last two somewhat enigmatic lines of this verse, Bhāī Gurdās seems to
take refuge in the only consolation he can think of: the Guru knows best. But
whether this reflects a common attitude among the disciples is unknown.
Hargobind, however, did not neglect the spiritual side of his duties as a Guru.
Especially in the early years, old and experienced disciples such as Bhāī Buddha
 1.11 Indian Traditions 163

and Bhāī Gurdās would have been active in continuing the teachings of the
earlier Gurus, as indeed would have the majority of the mañjīs and masands.
After his release from jail, Hargobind is believed to have undertaken extensive
satsang tours – to Kashmir in the north, and as far east as Pīlībīt in the Kumāon
hills. At some time, he also seems to have acquired land in the Shivālik hills,
the southernmost foothills of the Himalayas, northeast of Simla. Here, he
founded the village of Kīratpur, entrusting its building to his eldest son, Bābā
Gurdittā. During the ministry of Hargobind, the number of Sikhs again increased.
Now they were not only a visible group, but also a force to be reckoned with.
During the time of Jahāngīr’s successor, Shāh Jahān (ruled 1628–58), Hargobind’s
men were also involved in several violent encounters with Mughul troops.
Sikh tradition relates that the time for the peaceful following of the path
taught by the first five Gurus was now over. Guru Hargobind, it is said, preached
a call to arms that was answered in large numbers by the proud and sturdy men
of rural Punjab. Sikh encounters with the Mughuls are commonly portrayed as
heroic battles in which the Mughuls invariably come off worse.186 While armed
conflicts certainly became the norm within a few decades, how much this was
so in Hargobind’s time and how much is the licence of legend, projecting onto
the past the ideals of later Punjabi nationalism, is unclear. Certainly, no such
major clashes are recorded by the Mughul chroniclers, and any large-scale Sikh
uprising would have received significant military attention from the emperor,
as it did in future years. In fact, Hargobind himself does not appear to have
sought confrontation with the Mughuls, and around 1634, the disturbances be-
came sufficient for him to withdraw to the new Sikh centre of Kīratpur, in the
Shivālik hills, where he lived until his death in 1644.
It seems that by Hargobind’s time, the succession was expected to remain
within the family. But the choice of successor was not obvious. Hargobind had
three wives and six children, five of whom were sons. His eldest son, Gurdittā,
was apparently inclined towards the Udāsīs – an ascetic group who had formed
around Srī Chand, Guru Nānak’s eldest son. Hargobind is traditionally believed
to have favoured Gurdittā as his successor, but Gurdittā died in 1638. Likewise,
three other sons died before their father. His remaining son, Tegh Bahādur, who
ultimately became the ninth Guru, was considered for the post but, according to
tradition, was passed over as being too withdrawn and unworldly. Gurdittā’s
eldest son is thought to have been hostile to the Nānakpanthīs, and so the final
choice of successor fell on Gurdittā’s younger son, the fourteen-year-old Har Rāi.
Sikh tradition concerning Guru Har Rāi is relatively sparse. He is always
said, however, to have been of kind and peaceable disposition, as two traditional
stories indicate. One day, while out walking in the fields, his clothing acciden-
tally broke the stem of a flower as he passed. The Guru was so distressed that
afterwards he always kept his clothes tucked well in, when walking in the coun-
try. It is also said that although, like his grandfather, he enjoyed hunting, he did
not like to kill. Instead, he would capture birds and animals, and keep them in a
164 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

private zoo. Har Rāi must have been married, for he had two sons, Rām Rāi and
Har Krisha, but tradition does not record the name of his wife.
In all, Har Rāi’s ministry of seventeen years passed peacefully. But it seems
that the Mughuls still kept a watchful and unfavourable eye upon the Sikhs, and
soon after his succession, he found it expedient to move from Kīratpur, further
into the Shivālik hills. He was afforded protection by the Rāja of Bilāspur, and
passed much of his period of Guruship near the Shivālik town of Sirmaur,
keeping out of the way of the Mughul authorities. Little is known of the develop-
ment of the Sikh community during this period. Har Rāi himself is believed to
have kept to the devotional routine of the early Gurus. He must also have made
occasional satsang tours of the Punjab plains, for some notable Sikh families
date their allegiance to the Gurus to his ministry.
A story of his ministry that is commonly told relates to Har Rāi’s associa-
tion and possible friendship with Dārā Shikoh (1615–59), the eldest son and
designated heir of Shāh Jahān. Dārā Shikoh had a deep interest in spirituality
and sought the company of holy men. When Shāh Jahān became ill, one of
Dārā’s younger brothers, Aurangzeb (1618–1707), allied himself with another
brother, and challenged Dārā for the throne. Dārā fought two battles against his
brothers, but was eventually forced to accede defeat and to flee for his life. On
the run, he sought the help of Har Rāi. The nature of the assistance given, if any,
is unknown, but after Aurangzeb had consolidated his power – executing, in the
process, a son, a nephew, Dārā and another brother, and causing the death of his
third brother – he turned his attention to those who had helped Dārā. Har Rāi
was therefore summoned to Delhi to explain himself.
Rather than go himself, he sent his eldest son, Rām Rāi, as his representa-
tive. Aurangzeb asked Rām Rāi to explain a verse in the Ādi Granth, which says
that the dead bodies of Muslims become earth that is formed into bricks and fired
in a kiln.187 The Guru is speaking of the transitory nature of human life, which
applies to everyone, but Aurangzeb took exception to the expression, mi ī
Musalmān (mi ī means earth). Regarding it as an insult to Muslims, he asked
Rām Rāi to explain it. Rām Rāi extricated himself from the difficult situation
by explaining that the actual words were, mi ī beīmān, turning ‘Muslims’ into
‘the faithless’. Aurangzeb was satisfied, and decided to keep Rām Rāi in Delhi.
On hearing that his son had changed the words of the Gurus to secure his
own safety, Har Rāi is said to have decided to pass him over as his successor,
in favour of his younger son, Har Krisha. Rām Rāi did his best to regain his
father’s esteem, but to no avail. In the Mughul court, however, he became the
favoured successor, and his desire to be the Guru was encouraged. Managing to
win over a section of the Sikh community, Aurangzeb gave Rām Rāi some land
in what is now the town of Dehrā Dūn, where he could start a centre of his own.
His followers were called Rāmrāīās, to which school there are still many adher-
ents. After the death of Guru Rām Rāi in 1687, the centre – with its temples,
gurdwārā and sacred pool – became known as the Jhaā Darbār, where an
 1.11 Indian Traditions 165

annual festival, the Jha ā Melā, is still held in memory of the Guru. As re-
cently as 2001, the sacred pool, which had become filled with an accumulation
of rubbish, was restored, so that devotees could once more bathe in it.
Rām Rāi’s error, especially since he was only a boy at the time and was
probably advised as to his reply, does not – in itself – seem to warrant the re-
sponse it received from his father. It takes more than one such incident to lead
to such distrust. Perhaps it was Rām Rāi’s character or his association with the
Mughuls that led Har Rāi to his decision; or perhaps it was something else en-
tirely. Like so much of the history of the Gurus, the history of the period is told
retrospectively, from later tradition.
Whatever the reasons, Har Rāi remained adamant regarding his choice, and
shortly before his death, in 1661, he appointed the five-year-old Har Krisha as
his successor. History is no clearer regarding Har Rāi than it is of his father. The
only tradition that seems certain is that soon after his father’s death, Har Krisha
was summoned to Delhi, where he lived for just a few years until his early death
from smallpox, in 1664. Historians surmise that Aurangzeb was pleased to have
both claimants to the Guruship in his safe-keeping. Even Rām Rāi, still a boy,
can hardly have pursued his claim to the position without support. But the de-
tails of the situation remain a matter of speculation.
Sikh tradition is unanimous that Har Krisha’s dying words were, “Bābā
Bakāle”, indicating that his successor was to be found at the village of Bakālā,
situated between Amritsar and the River Beas. The disciples of a mystic gener-
ally understand that a Saint or Master is appointed because of his inner spiritual
attainment and fitness for the position, not because of any family connections
or for any other reasons. While there is always the likelihood that the unworthy
ambitions of one or more disciples may make them forget this truth, how far
many of the Sikh community of the time had strayed from an understanding of
the teachings of the first five Gurus is indicated by what happened next: twenty-
two claimants are said to have converged upon Bakālā.
According to the traditional story, the choice of the bewildered Sikhs was
simplified by a merchant, Makkhan Shāh, who had nearly lost his life in a storm
at sea. When drowning had appeared a certainty, Makkhan Shāh had vowed to
give five hundred gold mohurs to the Guru if his life should be spared. Evidently,
it had been, and going to each of the claimants in turn he offered each just one
or two gold mohurs, certain that the true Guru would request the correct sum.
Sure enough, Tegh Bahādur reminded him of his commitment, and Makkhan
Shāh climbed to the rooftops to announce that he had discovered the true
successor.
The story is appealing, but not authenticated. It seems more probable –
though a speculation – that there were indeed a large number of claimants for
the position, and that the elders among the Sikhs chose Tegh Bahādur (1621–75)
as the most appropriate for the position. He would have been in his early forties
at the time. The area itself was the headquarters of a group started by Har Rāi’s
166 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

elder brother, Dhīr Mal, who had established himself as a Guru in competition
to his brother. While Har Rāi was in the hills, Dhīr Mal had remained in the
plains, not far from Bakālā, where he must have attracted a significant follow-
ing and been accepted by some of the local Sikh community, for a line of Gurus
descended from him existed until the twentieth century. So perhaps the followers
of Dhīr Mal were also involved in the decision;188 or maybe Tegh Bahādur was
already acting as a spiritual teacher, and Har Krisha was merely indicating
that the Sikhs should now go to him for guidance. As previously observed, the
history of the Sikhs at this time is difficult to trace with any confidence.
Shortly after his investiture, Guru Tegh Bahādur left for the family prop-
erty in Kīratpur. Soon after, he bought some land on a hill top near the village of
Mākhovāl, five miles away from Kīratpur, and began the building of a village,
which he named Ānandpur (lit. city of bliss). Probably the same year, in 1665,
he set out on an extended satsang tour, taking with him his wife and mother,
visiting sangats as he went. From his writings preserved in the Ādi Granth by
his son and successor, Gobind Dās, it seems clear that, like the first five Gurus,
Guru Tegh Bahādur taught the path of meditation on the mystic Name as the
means of liberation from the cycle of birth and death. Like them, he also wrote
in the name of Guru Nānak:

O ignorant man, dread thou sin.

He who is compassionate to the poor,
and the destroyer of all dread,
enter thou His sanctuary....
Pure is the Name (Nām) of God in the world:
by repeating and remembering it,
thou shalt wash off all thy sins.
O man, thou shalt not again attain the human body:
make some effort now for thy deliverance.
Guru Tegh Bahādur, Ādi Granth 220, MMS

If thou hast not sung the praises of the world Lord,

thou hast wasted thy life in vain.
Says Nānak, meditate on God, O man,
like the way the fish loves water.
Why art thou engrossed in deadly sins,
and becomest not detached even for a moment?
Says Nānak, contemplate thou thy God, O man,
that death’s noose may fall on thee not.
Thy youth has passed away in vain
and old age has overcome thy body.
Says Nānak, dwell thou on thy God, O man,
thy life is fleeting away....
 1.11 Indian Traditions 167

God is the saviour of sinners, the destroyer of fear

and the Master of the masterless.
Says Nānak, realize thou,
He who abides ever with thee....
The Lord is the giver of all comforts:
without Him, there is no other.
Says Nānak, hearken thou, O my soul,
meditating on Him, salvation is obtained.
Remember thou Him, O my friend,
by contemplating Whom, one is emancipated.
Says Nānak, hearken, O mortal,
thy age is diminishing ever....
O clever and wise man, know that
thy body is made up of five elements.
Be thou sure, O Nānak that thou shalt blend (merge) with Him,
from Whom thou hast sprung.
The Saints proclaim that the venerable Lord
abides in all hearts.
Says Nānak, contemplate thou Him, O my soul,
that thou mayest cross the terrible world ocean.
Guru Tegh Bahādur, Ādi Granth 1426, MMS

Only the Lord remaineth eternally,

and remaineth His Name (Nām) and Saints.
Says Nānak, rare is the one
who reflects over (meditates on) the Guru’s Word in this world.
The Lord’s Name (Rām Nām), of which there is no peer,
I have clasped to my mind.
Such is Thy Name, O Lord,
remembering which my troubles end,
and I am blessed with Thy vision.
Guru Tegh Bahādur, Ādi Granth 1429, MMS

Travelling first to the south, when the Guru arrived in the vicinity of Delhi, Rām
Rāi, who was still in attendance at the court, had the Guru arrested as an im-
poster. According to Sikh tradition more than a hundred years later, as recorded
by the British traveller, George Forster, the charge was dropped and he was
released on the intervention of the Rāja of Jaipur.189
Journeying southeast, through Agra, Allahabad and Vārāasī, the Guru
came at length to Pa nā, in Bihar, where he left his mother and wife, who was
pregnant, and too far advanced to go any further. Continuing eastwards, he heard
in December 1666 that his son, Gobind Dās, had been born. The Guru perse-
vered with his mission, however, going as far as Bengal and Assam, where he
168 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

spent some time. Returning from the east, the Guru visited Pa nā, remaining
there for a while, maybe for as long as three years, before returning to the Punjab.
Probably, he had received reports concerning Aurangzeb’s programme of reli-
gious persecution, targeted on Sikhs and Hindus. Temples and gurdwārās were
being destroyed, Hindus were being forcibly converted to Islam, and Sikh
masands were being expelled from the cities. Guru Tegh Bahādur must have
returned to support the communities of disciples.
What happened next is uncertain. There are at least three more or less con-
flicting accounts, one Muslim and two Sikh, though none are based on contem-
porary accounts. Each is told and interpreted differently by different writers, past
and present. According to the biased and inaccurate, Sayyār al-Muta’akhkhirīn,
written by Ghulām usayn a hundred years after the event, Guru Tegh Bahādur
linked forces with a Muslim faqīr, āfi
Ādam, and the two moved around the
Punjab with a large group of men and women, exacting forced ‘donations’ –
Guru Tegh Bahādur from the Hindus, āfi
Ādam from the Muslims. Muslim
newswriters sent reports to Delhi that the increase in their influence could lead
to trouble.190 A warrant was sent to the Punjab, ordering the Guru to report to
Delhi to explain himself, and when he did not appear, a small force was sent to
arrest him. At first, the Guru could not be found, but was later apprehended in
Agra. Sent to Delhi, he was charged with lawlessness, found guilty, and be-
headed in Chāndnī Chowk in 1675.
Eliminating bias from the account, it seems probable that Guru Tegh
Bahādur was visiting the sangats of the Punjab, giving satsang, accepting disci-
ples, and encouraging his followers to remain steadfast despite adversity. His
spiritual stature and capacity to do this is amply borne out by his writings pre-
served in the Ādi Granth. He also accepted donations, which he would have used
for the benefit of the sangat in general (free kitchens etc.), as well as the dispos-
sessed, the sick, the needy, and so on. Maybe he did join forces with a faqīr,
āfi
Ādam, perhaps to demonstrate to the Hindu and Muslim population that
all human beings are the same in the eyes of God. No one knows for sure.
From the Muslim point of view, Guru Tegh Bahādur was simply teaching
heresy; and many of the reports reaching the ears of the central administration
in Delhi were probably distortions put about by malicious and jealous opponents
– Muslim, brāhma or alternative Sikh groups, of which by this time there were
more than a few. From Aurangzeb’s viewpoint, the Sikh ‘problem’, which had
been quiescent for some time, had once more reared its head, and he did not like
it. So he put an end to it in the manner to which he was becoming accustomed –
he cut off the head!
Sikh traditions tell a very different version of events. According to the com-
monly related story, Aurangzeb was determined that the brāhmas of Kashmir
should be converted to Islam, if necessary by force. The brāhmas were dismayed,
and sent five hundred of their number to Guru Tegh Bahādur, asking him to
intercede on their behalf. During the discussions, the young Gobind Dās sub-
 1.11 Indian Traditions 169

mitted that any negotiator sent to Aurangzeb should be a person of great holi-
ness, and who better than his father? Guru Tegh Bahādur agreed, and told the
brāhmas to inform Aurangzeb that if he could convert the Guru to Islam, then
the brāhmas would follow suit. Aurangzeb accepted the challenge, and invited
the Guru to Delhi. The Guru set out, taking a roundabout route, visiting various
sangats along the way. Once in Delhi, Aurangzeb insisted that the Guru should
convert to Islam. The Guru refused, and was beheaded in Chāndnī Chowk, leav-
ing his disciples with the strong message, “I gave up my head, but not my faith.”
There is a second, older Sikh tradition, found in Chaupā Singh’s Rahit-
Nāmā, written in the mid-eighteenth century, about seventy years after the event.
According to this account, the Guru was summoned to Delhi to answer various
charges brought against him by Dhīr Mal, Guru Har Rāi’s elder brother. He went,
was cleared of the charges, and returned to the Punjab. Later, however, he was
recalled to Delhi, and when he did not appear, he was arrested and beheaded.
There is no mention of brāhmas.191 Whatever the truth of the matter, a Guru
had again become a martyr to the Sikh cause. But this time, the result would be
very different, for the Guru who followed would organize the Sikhs in a way
previously unimaginable.
Sometime after his return to the Punjab, Guru Tegh Bahādur had sent for
his family, and seen that they were safely installed at Mākhovāl. Probably, he
himself also stayed at Mākhovāl for some while, for Sikh tradition indicates that
he spent time with the young Gobind Dās. Either from imprisonment in Delhi
or previously, at Mākhovāl, he is said to have appointed his son as his successor.
Sikh tradition reaches its peak in the stories and legends surrounding the
tenth Guru. In his instance, however, there are some important contemporary
sources. Of these, Bachitar Nā ak, an autobiography attributed to the Guru, is
perhaps the most significant.
Gobind Dās was nine years old when his father was beheaded. According
to Sikh tradition, in the confusion following the beheading, two Sikhs managed
to escape with the body and the head. One of the two cremated the body by plac-
ing it inside his hut, and then setting light to the hut. The head was delivered to
the boy in Mākhovāl (some accounts say Ānandpur), where it was cremated.
Gobind Dās asked how many Sikhs had died with his father. The reply was only
three: the others had escaped because there was no way of recognizing a Sikh.
This traditional reply is significant. Gobind Dās took note of the response, and
was later to enshrine immediate recognizability in his definition of a Sikh man.
The feelings of a boy who has lost his father can be imagined. Later, he was
to write of the event:

For their caste-mark and their sacred thread,

he made the supreme sacrifice in this age of darkness.
For sake of the saintly,
he silently gave his head.
170 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

For the cause of truth, he suffered martyrdom:

he lay down his head, but not his principles.
Miracles or conjuror’s tricks, he refused to perform,
for such are beneath the men of God.
Breaking his earthly pot (body) upon the ruler of Delhi,
he departed for the city of God.
Such was the act of Tegh Bahādur,
something which only he could do.
When Tegh Bahādur passed away,
lamentation rent the world.
From below came cries of anguish:
from heaven, a victor’s welcome.
Guru Gobind Singh, Bachitar Nā ak 5:13–16, DGG p.54;
cf. in HS1 pp.74–75, SHM pp.45–46, SHS pp.57–58

The young Guru was raised by his mother. His mother’s brother, Kirpal, who
seems to have assumed the leading role in the Sikh community at that time, also
took great interest in the growing child. Gobind Dās was well-educated, and
from the poetry and other writings attributed to him, he seems to have been
something of a linguist, learning Sanskrit and Persian, as well as a number of
local vernaculars. Kirpal was also particularly keen that the child should receive
a good military education, and Gobind Dās’s natural talents in this field were
encouraged. In Bachitar Nā ak, the Guru describes his evident enjoyment of
hunting expeditions in the hills.
While traditional Sikh imagination always depicts Guru Nānak as a saintly
old man with a white beard and a rounded tummy, absorbed in meditation, Guru
Gobind Singh is the strong, young, handsome, black-bearded, courageous and
well-armed warrior; a prince, royally dressed with a plume in his royal turban,
mounted on a blue-grey stallion, always ready to fight for a just cause or in de-
fence of human rights. When he sat on his throne or went hunting, a white hawk
was always perched upon his left hand.192 Queries as to how the life of Guru
Gobind Singh relates to the teachings of Guru Nānak are met with a simple
reply. The Guru is one, but different times and circumstances require different
decisions and approaches. If Guru Nānak had been alive in the time of Guru
Gobind Singh, he would have made the same decisions.
At that time, the hills were ruled by a patchwork of local chieftains (rājas)
who made alliances and sometimes fought with each other. This was difficult
terrain for the Mughuls to govern from a distance, and sometimes the chieftains
would refuse to pay tribute. The Mughuls would then send an army, perhaps
from Kashmir in the north, to quell the rebellion. Then new agreements would
be made with the Mughuls – until the next rebellion. The hill chieftains con-
tinually tested each other’s strength and the strength of the Mughuls. When
 1.11 Indian Traditions 171

Mughul determination waned, the hill chieftains waxed bolder. When challenged
by a mightier force, they acquiesced.
This was the atmosphere in which the young Guru was raised. In 1685, the
chieftain of neighbouring Sirmaur, observing the Guru’s gathering strength, in-
vited him to move his headquarters onto his territory, to help him defend it in a
fight that was looming with the hill state of Gahwal. The Guru accepted the
invitation, and built a fort at Pauntā, on the banks of the River Jumna, on the
border of Gahwal and Sirmaur. When the invasion took place, however, the
Guru was left on his own to fight the invading army of Gahwal and its merce-
naries. The resulting Battle of Bhangānī is vividly described in the Bachitar
Nā ak. The Guru emerged victorious, though not without losses, and was estab-
lished as more powerful than the hill chieftains. Leaving his fort at Pauntā, he
returned to Mākhovāl, moving his headquarters to the more strategic site of
Ānandpur, which he fortified. During the spring festival and other gatherings,
Ānandpur became a rendezvous for heavily armed Sikhs.
Soon after, the Guru’s help was sought by the rājas of Bilāspur and other
neighbouring states in a forthcoming battle against a Mughul army being sent
against them for their refusal to pay tribute. The Guru and the allies were victori-
ous at the Battle of Nadaun, but then the chieftains made a deal with the Mughuls
behind his back, agreeing to pay tribute after all, perhaps on better terms, or on
threat of a greater force being sent against them. The Guru was not impressed.
Aurangzeb was now becoming increasingly concerned about the growing
strength of the new chieftain, Guru Gobind Singh, and in 1693, a Mughul army
was sent against him. The Guru prepared Ānandpur for a siege, and the army
withdrew. A second army sent against him was diverted by a rebellion of other
hill chieftains. On this occasion, the Guru successfully helped the rebellion. But
when, in 1696, Aurangzeb sent another army, commanded by his son, to subdue
the hill rājas, the Guru remained in safety behind the walls of Ānandpur.193
The Guru’s preoccupation with securing his position in the hills meant that
Sikh communities in the Punjab plains and elsewhere had been neglected. Fol-
lowing the death of Guru Tegh Bahādur, some, perhaps many, of these had shifted
their alliance to other Sikh groups, especially the groups founded by Prithī Chand
and Dhīr Mal. The followers of Rām Rāi were still established on the land
granted him by Aurangzeb at the hill town of Dehrā Dūn, but they had made
little impact on the plains. The masands, too, had become a problem. Originally
established by Guru Rāmdās as the Guru’s trusted representatives, after the death
of Guru Arjun, they had become increasingly independent, and sometimes prob-
ably corrupt, as one generation passed on the position to the next. Funds were
still collected, but may not always have been used for altruistic purposes. By
the time of Guru Tegh Bahādur, many had become local mini-gurus in their own
right, and there were many places where the Guru himself was not permitted
entry, including Amritsar. In short, the Sikh community had become fragmented.
172 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

According to the traditional date and the traditional story, in 1699, Guru
Gobind Singh decided that the time had come to bring some order and coher-
ence to the Sikh community. He announced that all Sikhs, whatever their per-
suasion, should come to Ānandpur for the Spring festival, Baisākhī Day, the first
day of the Indian New Year. And all should come armed.
Many Sikhs attended. After the morning assembly, the Guru drew his sword
and in a loud voice demanded the heads of five Sikhs. The crowd were stunned
into silence. Eventually, one man stood up and offered his head to the Guru. The
Guru took him behind a curtain; there was the loud thud of a sword striking its
target; and the Guru reappeared with a blood-stained sword, awaiting the next
volunteer. At length, five Sikhs had disappeared behind the curtain, each meeting
the same apparent fate. After the final thud, the Guru appeared once more and,
drawing back the curtain, revealed the five Sikhs, alive and well, heads intact.
Traditions vary as to what had happened but, thereafter, these five were called
the Pañj Piāre (Five Beloved).
The Guru then announced that the Five were to be the first members of a
new order, the Khālsā (the pure), into which he initiated them with the kha e
dī pāhul (double-edged sword ritual). Water was place in an iron pot, sweet-
ened with sugar, and stirred with a double-edged sword, to the recitation of
shabds. Some accounts say that it was sweetened by sweetmeats thrown into it
by the Guru’s second wife, Mātā Jīto. The amrit (blessed nectar) thus prepared
was then poured onto his sword, and thence onto the face of each Sikh, five
times. Likewise, five times, the amrit was poured into their cupped hands, onto
their eyes, and sprinkled onto their hair. After this, the Five, who all belonged
to different castes, were made to drink from the same bowl, symbolizing their
freedom from all castes, and their rebirth into the new fraternity of the Khālsā.
Tradition goes on to say that the Guru himself requested and received initiation
into the Khālsā from the Five Beloved.
The Guru then outlined the code of conduct to be followed by members of
the new Khālsā. So that a Sikh man could be instantly identified, and could never
again merge like a coward into the crowd, all men were thenceforth to exhibit
five insignia: uncut hair and beard (kes); a comb (kanghā) to keep their hair tidy;
a pair of knee-length breeches (kachh); a steel bracelet (kaā) on their right wrist
(perhaps as protection in battle); and a sword (kirpān), so as to be always ready
for battle. These five insignia became known as the pāñch kakkās (five ‘k’s),
kakkā being the Gurmukhi letter corresponding to ‘k’.
Initiates of the Khālsā were also to observe four principles (rahat): not to
cut the hair on any part of their body; not to drink alcohol, or to smoke or chew
tobacco; only to eat the meat of an animal that had been killed with a single blow
(unlike the Muslim method of killing an animal by permitting it to bleed to death);
and not to molest Muslim women, a code that was later extended to prohibit
sexual relations with any woman other than one’s wife. Finally, all men were to
add Singh (Lion) to their name, and all women were to add Kaur (princess).
 1.11 Indian Traditions 173

Tradition indicates that although some of those present declined to accept

the new proposals, many thousands did come forward to accept initiation into
the new order.194 In what was one of the most significant events in Sikh social
history, Guru Gobind Singh had effectively declared as invalid all other forms
of Sikhism, and all other Sikh organizations. Naturally, this did not mean that
the followers of the various Sikh groups would automatically join the new Sikh
community, or even agree with him. It must be presumed that many did not, for
the descendants of these groups still exist in present times. But the sense of
social coherence and safety provided by this new armed and self-supporting
brotherhood at a time of persecution and danger, headed by a man whose leader-
ship in battle with the Mughuls had already been proven, must have been held a
significant appeal. As the years passed, and troubles with the Mughuls and later
with the Afghans became an integral part of Punjabi life, many converted to the
new military brotherhood of the Khālsā.
The Sikhs were to become soldiers of Akāl Purukh, the timeless Lord, fight-
ing for a religious cause. Did this mean that Guru Gobind Singh had changed
the teachings of Guru Nānak and the earlier Gurus? His own writings certainly
indicate that he was a truly religious man. He neither thought of himself as God,
nor wished others to do so, yet he certainly believed that he had a divine mission.
In Bachitar Nā ak, he describes how he was called from the heights of the mytho-
logical Mount Sumeru to take birth:

And now my own story I tell,

how from rigorous austerities I was summoned;
Called from the heights of Hem Kunt,
where the seven peaks so grandly pierce the sky.
Guru Gobind Singh, Bachitar Nā ak 6:1, DGG p.54, in SHM p.48

And likewise, in various other places, he says something of himself and his calling:

For though my thoughts were lost in prayer

at the feet of almighty God...
I was ordained to establish a sect,
and lay down its rules.…

Whosoever regards me as Lord

shall be damned and destroyed.…

I am – and of this let there be no doubt –

I am but a slave of God, as other men are,
a beholder of the wonders of creation.
Guru Gobind Singh, Bachitar Nā ak 6:5, 29, 32–33, DGG pp.55–57, in HS1 p.87
174 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

In accord with Guru Nānak, he believed that all things come from God, and to
Him return:

As sparks flying from a flame

fall back into the fire from which they come –
As dust rising from the earth
falls back upon the same ground –
As waves beating on the shingle
recede and with the ocean mingle –
So from God come all things under the sun,
and to God return when their race is run.
Guru Gobind Singh, Akāl Ustat 17:87, DGG p.19; cf. in HS1 p.88

Yet his deeds and writings leave little room for doubt that he was a mighty
warrior, dedicated to the cause of “extirpating all tyrants”:

I took birth for the purpose

of spreading the faith,
saving the holy ones,
and extirpating all tyrants.
Guru Gobind Singh, Bachitar Nā ak 6:42, DGG p.57; cf. in SGS p.296

In short, Guru Gobind Singh, both by his personal leadership as well as the
legends and tradition that developed around him – probably during his lifetime,
as well as afterwards – kindled a fire in the hearts of a great many of the Sikhs.
He became a symbol of everything for which the oppressed people of the Punjab
yearned. Fighting with religious zeal for the cause of justice and their own free-
dom from tyranny gave them a power that in the end proved invincible. It saw
them through the long journey ahead before their goals would be fulfilled, and
the many dark hours they had yet to face. Personal, social and political desire
had been added to the melting pot, paving the way for the teachings of Guru
Nānak and his successors to become the Sikh religion.
Meanwhile, the Mughuls were not happy. The turn of events at Ānandpur,
doubtless reported by their network of spies and newswriters, made Aurangzeb
feel distinctly uneasy, even though it was on the edges of his kingdom. The local
hill chieftains were even less contented. They were aware that if they did not
act, the Guru would bring down the wrath of the Mughuls upon them all. The
rāja of neighbouring Bilāspur therefore laid seige to Ānandpur, but the Guru
broke through and defeated the rāja’s forces in battle. The ruler then appealed
to the Mughuls for help, and they were joined by Vazīr Khān, the Mughul gover-
nor of Sirhind, to the south, with additional forces from Lahore, in the west. After
a number of skirmishes, in which the Mughuls and the rāja of Bilāspur came
off worse, the rāja made peace with the Guru, who was able to return to
 1.11 Indian Traditions 175

Ānandpur. The course of these events as related by tradition is naturally full of

the heroism of the Guru and his followers. There are also a number of variations
on the same essential story.
The Guru increased the fortifications of Ānandpur in preparation for the
showdown he knew was imminent. In 1704, a combined force of Mughuls and
hill chieftains laid seige to Ānandpur, maintaining a tight cordon for several
months until the garrison’s supplies ran out. Many were the sorties, and many
the acts of heroism. Many followers also deserted. Finally, one cold night in
December 1704, the Guru and his surviving followers broke out, and managed
to escape to a small fort in the village of Chamkaur. Here, they blockaded them-
selves in, and prepared for their last stand. Soon, they were once more besieged.
The Guru’s two elder sons were killed, and it seemed that the same fate would
meet them all. The Guru’s followers, however, insisted that he must be saved.
One of them, therefore, who happened to look like the Guru, led a sortie against
the enemy, and was killed. And while the enemy were celebrating their victory,
the Guru made good his escape.
When the Mughuls realized their mistake, they set off in pursuit of the Guru,
and he was again surrounded. This time, with the help of two pathāns whom he
had earlier befriended, the Guru escaped, disguised as a pīr (spiritual Master),
the pathāns carrying him through the Muslim cordon in a veiled palanquin.
Meanwhile, the Guru’s two younger sons and their mother, who had been
left behind at Ānandpur, had been taken to Vazīr Khān. Vazīr Khān gave them
the usual option of conversion to Islam or execution, and when they refused
conversion, he had the two children bricked up in the city walls, and left to die.
Their mother is said to have died soon after, of grief and distress. This cruel
murder sent shock waves through the people of the Punjab, and is remembered
even in present times in Sikh art. Hearing of the death of his wife and children,
and in response to a letter from Aurangzeb recommending that he surrender, the
Guru replied, “I shall strike fire under the hoofs of your horses, and I will not let
you drink the water of my Punjab.”195
Keeping on the move, the Guru once again gathered his scattered troops
around him. Hearing that Vazīr Khān’s forces were marching against him,
thousands of men, incensed by the murder of the Guru’s children, came to the
Guru’s assistance. The Guru then turned on his pursuers, who were routed.
Among those who had joined the battle were forty of those who had earlier de-
serted him at Ānandpur, all of whom this time lost their lives. Encountering the
last survivor, dying on the battlefield, the Guru acknowledged their renewed
allegiance and forgave them. Tradition remembers them as the Forty Liberated.
Eventually, the Guru found refuge in Talwaī Sābo, which came to be
known as Damdamā (lit. breathing place). Here, he stayed for about a year, and
many people in the surrounding areas became his followers at this time. It was
also a period of significant literary activity. He visited the family of Dhīr Mal,
who possessed a copy of the original Ādi Granth. They refused to give it to him,
176 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

and so – according to tradition – with the help of his disciple, Bhāī Manī Singh,
he dictated the entire Ādi Granth from memory, adding the shabds of his father,
Guru Tegh Bahādur. Modern scholars have pointed out, however, that two
manuscripts of the Ādi Granth are extant, both containing the writings of Guru
Tegh Bahādur, and which predate the tenth Guru’s time at Damdamā.196
He also went through all his own writings, which were subsequently assem-
bled by Manī Singh as the Daswan Pādshāh kā Granth (lit. the granth of the
tenth emperor), commonly known as the Dasam Granth, to distinguish it from
the Ādi Granth. The numerous and varied compositions of the Dasam Granth
are largely written in Hindi, Persian, Punjabi, and a sanskritized Braj (a western
Hindi dialect). A number of Sikh scholars have pointed out that it is most un-
likely that Guru Gobind Singh was really the author of all the material attrib-
uted to him. There are a number of reasons for this conclusion, among them
being that some of the material is erotic and quite unworthy of the Guru; that
Bhāī Manī’s introductory note to the work does not mean ‘written by’ the Guru,
but ‘in the possession of’; and that the Guru is most unlikely to have had the
required time at his disposal to have written such a wide and varied body of
literature. The Guru is said to have kept up to fifty bards in his entourage, whose
writings could easily account for the spurious and varied material.197
From Damdamā, Guru Gobind Singh also wrote a letter to Aurangzeb in-
forming him of the actions of Vazīr Khān and others. The Guru’s messenger
delivered the letter to Aurangzeb in the Deccan, and the emperor was appar-
ently so moved by its contents that he ordered the persecution of the Guru to
cease forthwith, and invited him to Delhi. No action, however, was taken against
Vazīr Khān. The Guru therefore set out to talk to Aurangzeb personally but, on
the way, he heard of the emperor’s death. The year was 1707.
The inevitable war of succession between Aurangzeb’s sons ensued, in
which Guru Gobind Singh assisted Bahādur Shāh by sending a contingent of
Sikh horsemen. When Bahādur Shāh had secured the throne, the Guru visited
his court in Agra, where he was welcomed and given various gifts.198 Guru
Gobind Singh stayed there four months, before travelling south with the em-
peror, who had to leave for the Deccan to quell a rebellion led by his brother,
Kām Baksh.
While travelling, the Guru continued meeting people, teaching and accept-
ing followers. One day, when camped in the Deccan town of Nande, the Guru
was alone in his tent when two pathān assassins entered, and stabbed him in the
abdomen. The wounds were stitched up, but the Guru was badly wounded, and
the stitches burst a few days later. It has commonly been assumed that the
pathāns were sent by Vazīr Khān, but since they were immediately killed, the
identity of their master was never ascertained. According to the traditional story,
realizing that his end was near, the Guru called his followers to him, and told
them that the line of Gurus was to end with him. Thereafter, they were to accept
 1.11 Indian Traditions 177

the Granth “as the symbol of the Gurus, and their constant guide”.199 Guru
Gobind Singh died on October 7th 1708, but his legend lived on:

O Lord, these boons I ask of Thee:

Never let me shun a righteous task;
Let me be fearless when I go to battle;
Give me faith that victory will be mine;
Give me power to sing Thy praise;
And when the times comes to end my life,
let me fall in mighty strife.
Guru Gobind Singh, Chan ī Charitra 231, DGG p.99; cf. HS1 p.96

There is an early source that supplements this traditional story, and gives more
body to the Guru’s meaning. Saināpati, a poet who had decided not to be initiated
into the Khālsā, but was nevertheless a follower of Guru Gobind Singh, recalls:

On an earlier occasion, the Guru had been approached by his Sikhs and had
been asked what form the (eternal) Guru would assume (after he had left
this world). He replied that it would be the Khālsā. “The Khālsā is now the
focus of all my hopes and desires,” he had declared. “Upon the Khālsā
which I have created, I shall bestow the succession. The Khālsā is my physi-
cal form, and I am one with the Khālsā. To all eternity, I shall manifest in
the Khālsā. They whose hearts are purged of falsehood will be known as
the true Khālsā; and the Khālsā, freed from error and illusion, will be my
true Guru.
“And my true Guru, boundless and infinite, is the eternal Word; the
Word of Wisdom which the devout contemplate in their hearts; the Word
which bring ineffable peace to all who utter it; the Word which is wisdom
unmeasurably unfolded; the Word which none may ever describe. This is
the light which is given to you, the refuge of all who inhabit the world, and
the abode of all who renounce it.”
Saināpati, Gur Sobhā 18:40–43; cf. TSS p.38

The estimated date of writing is around 1711,200 and the person writing was a
follower of the Guru. What should be made of this report is difficult to say,
especially since Sikh faith is largely built upon the simpler tradition. It seems
fair to assume, however, that the Guru would have given deep consideration to
the matter of succession. Had he wished to do so, he could also have made
matters clear by including his opinion in his writings. Perhaps he had intended
to do so, but his sudden death prevented him. The report of Saināpati indicates
the depth of the Guru’s thinking, but it is unlikely that the full story will ever be
really known.
178 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

After the Gurus

The next two centuries of Sikh history that return this brief account to its
starting point must of necessity be foreshortened. Sikh tradition records that
shortly before his death, the Guru had met an ascetic, Mādho Dās, in Nande.
Renaming him Bandā, and providing him the necessary seals of authority, Guru
Gobind Singh requested Bandā to raise rebellion in the Punjab and especially
to rain retribution upon the head of Vazīr Khān. Why the Guru should have
entrusted such a mission to someone else, especially a man he had known for
such a short span of time is difficult to understand. Bandā was also not without
his opponents from within the Sikh community itself, including one of Guru
Gobind Singh’s widows, Mātā Sundarī.
But this is all a matter of legend and tradition, first written down more
than a century after the event. Nevertheless, Bandā raised such a storm of vio-
lence in the Punjab that his activities are recorded in the Muslim chronicles. A
large number of men rallied to Bandā’s call to arms, and Vazīr Khān was van-
quished, killed in the battle. His Hindu dīwān, who had advised the killing of
the Guru’s two sons, was taken prisoner and executed. For some time, Bandā
led a successful campaign, gaining some notable and heroic victories, but ulti-
mately and inevitably the escalation in size of the Mughul forces became too
much for him. The time had not yet come for the overthrow of the Mughuls. In
1716, captive, and led in chains to Delhi, he was given the customary choice of
conversion to Islam or death and, together with many of his compatriots, he was
executed.
The executions were followed by the attempt to exterminate the Sikhs, at
least those of the Khālsā. Many were caught and executed; some fled to the
northeastern hills or the southern desert; some lived the life of mounted guer-
rillas, emerging from the jungles to wreak havoc upon the Mughuls, then melting
rapidly away before they could be apprehended; some no doubt shaved their
beards, and blended back into the general population. The uprising and its legacy
indicated the mood of the Punjab, and the power of the tenth Guru’s legend.
Many heroes emerged among the Sikhs, and their dream of ruling their own
country never died, but as yet they had no clear idea of how this was to be
accomplished.

The Afghan Wars 201

By the mid-eighteenth century, Mughul power was on the wane. In 1738–39,
Nadir Shāh, the Persian ruler of Kābul, seized the opportunity, and invaded
India. Sweeping southwards through the Punjab, he defeated the Mughul army
at Karnal, and so reached Delhi. The Mughul emperor, Zakarīyà’ Khān (1726–45),
submitted to the new ruler. Loaded with booty and with thousands of captives
taken into slavery, Nadir Shāh set out for home. But as soon as he crossed into
the Punjab, bands of Sikh horsemen fell on his heavily laden baggage train. Night
after night, the mounted guerrillas plundered his encampments, giving the Per-
 1.11 Indian Traditions 179

sian no respite until he had crossed the River Indus. On reaching Lahore, Nadir
Shāh had asked Zakarīyà’ Khān the identity of these enterprising brigands, and
where they lived. They are Sikhs, he was told, and they live in their saddles.
“Take care,” runs the legendary and no doubt apocryphal reply, “the day is not
far distant when these rebels will take possession of your country.”202
The Mughuls took the Sikh threat seriously. In 1746, the location of a large
number of Sikhs on the banks of the River Rāvī, north of Lahore, was disclosed
to the authorities in Lahore. Lakhpat Rāi, the Hindu chief minister to the gover-
nor, assembled a large force and set out in pursuit. The Sikhs retreated north-
wards, towards the hills, but found their way blocked by the troops of the hill
chieftains. Trapped, they were forced to engage in open battle at Kāhnuwān,
where Lakhpat Rāi inflicted heavy casualties upon them, an event which the
Sikhs remember as the Chho ā Ghallūghārā, the Lesser Holocaust.
Zakarīyà’ Khān had died in 1745, and the failing Mughul empire was once
more riven by civil war between the emperor’s siblings. One of warring brothers,
Shāh Nawāz Khān, had taken Lahore. Putting his brother in jail, he proclaimed
himself governor of the Punjab. Nadir Shāh had been murdered in 1747, and to
help him consolidate his power, Shāh Nawāz foolishly invited the new warlord
in Kābul, Amad Shāh Abdālī, to invade the Punjab. Abdālī was an Afghan,
one of Nadir Shāh’s more trusted generals, and he readily accepted the invitation.
That Shāh Nawāz changed his mind at the last minute made little difference.
The Afghan took Lahore, and exacted a heavy tribute for not plundering the city.
A month later he moved on towards Delhi where this time his army was defeated,
and he turned for home.
Again, the opportunist Sikh horsemen, becoming experienced at this kind
of warfare, harried the defeated and retreating Afghan army all the way back to
the River Indus, relieving them of their horses and their stores. Abdālī was not
amused. But he was also tenacious, and in all he invaded India nine times be-
tween 1747 and 1769. This period saw the consolidation of previously local
and loosely organized Sikh armies into misls, led by their chosen sardār. Misl
is a Persian word, meaning ‘alike’, but the armies were far from alike, some
numbering only a few hundred, others more than ten thousand. Traditionally,
there are said to have been eleven or twelve main misls. Sometimes, they united
under one leader; at other times, they fought independently. It depended on the
circumstances.
The Mughuls and the Afghans fought inconclusively for supremacy in North
India, sometimes leaving a power vacuum in the Punjab. Accordingly, Sikh
power waxed and waned; but the Sikhs still had no coherent political policy,
and the soldiers of the Khālsā remained as roving bands of guerrillas. On more
than one occasion, Abdālī was relieved of large quantities of booty while re-
turning to Afghanistan. In 1757, after heavy losses, angry, frustrated and unable
to lay his hands on the elusive Sikhs, he blew up the Harimandir at Amritsar,
and filled the sacred pool with the entrails of slaughtered cows.
180 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

In 1761, in Abdālī’s absence, the combined misls under the leadership of

Jassa Singh Ahluwalia defeated many of the Afghan garrisons left behind by
Abdālī to maintain his authority and government in the Punjab. They took posses-
sion of Lahore, and within a few weeks had taken control of a large area of the
Punjab. In 1762, Abdālī set out once again, with a huge army, this time with the
sole intention of dealing conclusively with the Sikh problem. The Sikhs evacu-
ated Lahore, and Abdālī fell on a large number of them, mostly non-combatants,
who were moving southwards. He slaughtered thousands – estimates vary between
five and thirty thousand – returning to Lahore with fifty cartloads of Sikh heads,
and hundreds of Sikhs in chains. Sikh tradition remembers the massacre as the
Va ā Ghallūghārā, the Greater Holocaust. Again, he blew up the reconstructed
Harimandir at Amritsar, and once more desecrated the sacred pool.
The same pattern continued for some time. Abdālī would invade and leave
his governors in control. On his withdrawal, the Sikhs would again take over.
Abdālī tried placating them; he even offered to share power with them, but they
declined. In 1769, he invaded India for the last time, but got no further than the
River Jhelum in the north before returning home. He died in 1772.
Abdālī had been the bitterest opponent of the Sikhs, yet by effectively de-
stroying Mughul power in the Punjab, he had paved the way for the future. After
his final departure, battles and skirmishes with the Afghans continued for some
while. At the same time, the independent Sikh misls, realizing that power was
within their sights but not knowing how to grasp it, began jostling each other
for supremacy. In 1783, the English traveller, George Forster, astutely summa-
rized the political situation:

We may see some ambitious chief, led on by his genius and success, ab-
sorbing the power of his associates, display from the ruins of their common-
wealth the standard of monarchy.
George Forster, A Journey from Bengal to England, in HS1 p.184

That man was Rañjīt Singh, son of the chief of the Shukarchakia misl, though at
that time, he was only three years old. In 1792, Rañjīt Singh’s father died, leaving
his twelve-year-old son in control. Within a decade, Rañjīt Singh had secured a
cohesive alliance of the many of the Punjab chieftains, had defeated the Afghans,
and had been proclaimed Mahārājah of the Punjab, taking his seat in the capital,
Lahore. By the end of his reign, through a combination of marriage alliances,
intimidation, open warfare (including further Afghan invasions), diplomacy and
leniency, together with considerable organizational and leadership skills, Rañjīt
Singh had succeeded in uniting the divergent parties of central and western Pun-
jab under his dominion, as well as Multān, Kashmir and Peshawar. Early in his
rule, the British appeared on his doorstep, and by means of treaties, he restricted
them to Punjab territories south and east of the Sutlej. Largely uneducated, and
despite a childhood attack of smallpox that had left him blind in one eye and
 1.11 Indian Traditions 181

with a pock-marked face, he maintained power through the force of his evident
character and natural intelligence.
Following the death of Rañjīt Singh, in 1839, after nearly half a century of
rule, the old pattern of internecine strife was once more resumed. Instability and
confusion increased, and the Sikhs fought two wars with the British, in 1845–46
and 1848–49. Inevitably, the Punjab was finally annexed by the British in 1849,
which had the advantage of bringing relative stability to the region for the next
century.
When Rañjīt Singh died, four widows and seven ‘slave-girls’ immolated
themselves on his funeral pyre in the Hindu rite of sātī. Throughout his rule,
although an avowed Sikh, shrewdly calling his government the Sarkar Khālsā
(government of the Khālsā), he remained open-minded and generous towards
Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims alike. In fact, many Sikhs see his rule as a reversion
to Hindu customs. Certainly, Guru Nānak and the Gurus had condemned the
Hindu practice of sātī. Nevertheless, many Sikhs took their lead from Rañjīt
Singh.
Since the death of Guru Gobind Singh, and despite his efforts, right through
until the latter part of the nineteenth century, the Sikh community had been di-
verse. Those who did not adopt the Khālsā identity were aligned to a variety of
alternatives, all regarded as equally Sikh as Khālsā members. There were the
Sahaj Dhārīs, who lived more or less Hindu lives, yet acknowledged the Ādi
Granth as their sacred scripture. The rahit of the Khālsā was not their way of
life. There were the Udāsīs (renunciates), the followers of Srī Chand, Guru
Nānak’s eldest son, living very different lives from the Sahaj Dhārīs and mem-
bers of the Khālsā. During his reign, Rañjīt Singh endowed them generously,
and they prospered. Likewise, the Nirmalās (pure ones), a school of renunciates
with an emphasis on traditional learning, fared well under Rañjīt Singh.
Two new schools also came into being during the time of Rañjīt Singh, both
back-to-basics responses to the ruler’s liberal and tolerant attitude. These were
the Nirankārīs, who were appalled by the flagrant disregard of Guru Nānak’s
teachings, and the Nāmdhārīs, who advocated a return to essential Khālsā
principles. There were also many spiritual teachers or gurus of varying flavours,
who came to the forefront in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a tradition
continued to the present day. The Khālsā Sikhs were naturally prominent by their
external identity, but they were by no means the only Sikhs. Even today, al-
though Khālsā Sikhs are now in the majority, and call themselves the ‘orthodox’,
there are many others who quite legitimately call themselves Sikhs.203
This, then, was the situation towards the end of the nineteenth century, be-
fore the polarization of the Sikh community into the Hindu-oriented Sanātan
Sikhs and the Tat Khālsā (the essential Khālsā), with which this short account
of Sikh history began.
The story of the Sikh religion and the Sikh people is fascinating because it
is of relatively recent origin, and its broad outlines can be sketched with some
182 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

degree of certainty. From the days of Guru Nānak and the first five Gurus who
taught meditation on the mystic Name of God, through the changes introduced
by the later Gurus, to the gradual emergence of Punjab nationalism, from the
broad spread of the various Sikh schools to the present dominance of the Khālsā
Sikhs, the history of an entire religion can be outlined. As a religion, it remains
peculiarly Indian in that Sikhs, for the most part, do not proselytize. Conse-
quently, the membership has remained largely Punjabi. Nowadays, there are
something in the order of fourteen million Sikhs in the Punjab, and several
million more scattered throughout the world in the great Sikh diaspora which
accelerated in the second half of the twentieth century.

The Mystic Teachings of the Ādi Granth

The essential Sikh religious teachings are derived from the Ādi Granth. The
Ādi Granth sees God as the loving Father of all humanity. God created human
beings. Only later did they create religious, social, caste and colour barriers be-
tween themselves. All these distinctions are artificial, unnatural, man-made.
Guru Arjun says:

The one Lord is the Father of all,

and we are the children of one Lord.
Guru Arjun, Ādi Granth 611, MMS

God is the one ultimate Reality – formless, boundless, ever existent, immutable
and ineffable. He is both nirgu (without attributes) and sargu (with attributes).
When it pleases God, He manifests Himself in the creation in His qualitative or
sargu form:

He made the creation, and seated therein,

He beholds it with delight.
Guru Nānak, Ādi Granth 463, MMS

In his nirgu form, God is simultaneously both transcendent and immanent. The
creation is His cosmic play. He pervades it, enjoys it and yet He keeps himself
detached from it.
The universe is created, sustained and run according to divine Command
(Hukam). Whenever God plans to end the creation, He withdraws it into His
timeless, formless self and then, if it so pleases Him, He restarts it through His
same Hukam.
According to the Ādi Granth, the soul is of the same essence as God Him-
self 204 – a drop of the divine Ocean. Reunion of the soul with its Origin is the
ultimate goal of human life. It is only in a human form that God can be realized,
and everlasting peace can be found.
 1.11 Indian Traditions 183

According to the teachings of the Gurus, birth in human form is both a

special privilege and a rare chance for the soul to break free from the cycle of
transmigration and secure reunion with its Source. A person who misses this
opportunity suffers the agony of birth, death and rebirth.205
The cause of all misery in creation is the confinement of the soul to mate-
rial forms, which serve as a barrier for the soul – to keep it separated from God.
This misery lasts for as long as the soul remains attached to the creation and
separated from the Creator. The purpose of human life is to reverse this situation:
to detach the soul from the world, seek union with God, and let the drop merge
back into the divine Ocean and become the Ocean.
In Sikh thought, detachment from the world in no way implies running away
from or renouncing the world or neglecting one’s duty towards family, society,
nation or humanity. The Gurus do not consider renunciation, or the act of physi-
cally removing oneself from society, as detachment. They advocate detachment
in the midst of attachments, which means that through an inner attachment to
the Word (Shabd), worldly attachments automatically loosen their hold. Guru
Nānak says that, in order to cross the ocean of existence, a person should live in
the world like a lotus, which lives in water and yet flowers above the surface, or
like a duck, which lives in water and yet flies away with dry wings.206
All mystics are in agreement on the need and role of a Guru or spiritual en-
lightener on the spiritual path. In Sikhism, the Guru enjoys the most esteemed
position as it is only with his help and guidance that the individual self can unite
with the universal Self. The Guru is the God-realized soul who can liberate other
souls from the cycle of transmigration and lead them to the highest state of
spiritual enlightenment. Guru Nānak defines a true Guru as one who shows the
disciple his real home within this temporary home of the body.207
The Guru is capable of uniting the soul with God because he is the repre-
sentative of God on earth, and is here for the sole purpose of taking souls back
to their original home of peace and bliss. Guru Nānak says that God has placed
Himself within the Guru; for this reason, the Guru has the power to save “countless
millions”. He is speaking of the mystical Guru, the inner Guru, the Shabd:

Within the Guru, the Creator has placed His own self:
by the Guru’s grace, countless millions are saved.
Guru Rāmdās, Ādi Granth 1024, MMS

Guru Arjun says that without the Guru’s help, guidance and protection, no one
can ever cross this dreadful ocean of existence:

No one should stray in doubt in this world:

know that, without the Guru, no one can cross the world ocean.
Guru Arjun, Ādi Granth 864, MMS
184 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

The dynamic power of God that creates and sustains the universe is also the
current of power that can unite souls with God. In the Ādi Granth, it is known
by many names. Often, it is referred to as Nām, the Name of God:

By the Name (Nām) are sustained all the creatures.…

By the Name (Nām) are supported all the worlds and spheres.
Guru Arjun, Ādi Granth 284, MMS

Nānak, meditate thou on the Name (Nām):

so shalt thou obtain glory in the true court.
Guru Amardās, Ādi Granth 425, MMS

It is also called the Shabd, meaning Word or Sound, for it is also said that the
divine Name or Word can be heard within as divine music, experienced through
soul consciousness. Guru Amardās says that those who enshrine the Name
within are blessed with the rich melodies of Shabd.208
The Lord functions in the creation in the form of this holy Shabd or Word.
It is through Shabd that souls were separated from their original home to inhabit
the creation, and it is through the same Shabd that they can be reunited with their
Creator through the grace of a Shabd-realized Guru. The Guru and the Shabd
are inseparable because a true Guru is the Shabd incarnate and is capable of unit-
ing human consciousness into a oneness with God. Hence, the significance of a
true Guru in Sikhism.
From a human viewpoint, the greatest obstacle on the path to God is ego,
and the foundations of the path are humility and self-abnegation. Ego is an as-
pect of the human mind, while the passions of lust, anger, greed, attachment and
pride are the five extensions of the ego that together keep the soul trapped in the
web of creation. As long as the soul is touched by ego, it is incapable of receiving
God’s grace, which descends in the form of the Guru’s Shabd. Paradoxically,
both God and the soul live together, in the same body, but because of the ego
they have never met or communicated with each other.209
It is as though a husband and wife were sharing the same house, yet the wife
has never seen the husband nor enjoyed the happiness of union with him.
Sikhism believes that it is the veil of ego that keeps the two separated, and that
it is only through the Guru’s Shabd that this veil is shattered and eternal union
secured.
According to the Ādi Granth, the macrocosm (the entire creation) lies within
the microcosm of the human form. Thus the soul sustains the body in the same
way as God sustains the entire creation, and whatever is in the creation can also
be discovered in the body. The human body is highly esteemed in the Sikh reli-
gion because it is regarded not only as a treasure-house of the rarest spiritual
gems, but God Himself is understood to dwell within it:
 1.11 Indian Traditions 185

He who is in the universe, that also abides in the body:

and whoever seeks, he finds Him there.
Pīpā, Ādi Granth 695, MMS

Within the body abide all the continents, worlds and the nether regions.
In the body dwells the beneficent Lord,
the life of the world, who cherishes all.
Guru Amardās, Ādi Granth 754, MMS

Within this body-cavern there is an inexhaustible treasure:

in it abides the unseen and illimitable Lord.
Guru Amardās, Ādi Granth 124, MMS

The Lord is ever close at hand:

deem Him not distant.
Under the Guru’s instruction, realize God within thee.
Guru Amardās, Ādi Granth 116, MMS

Many aspects of the mystic path explained in the Ādi Granth are common to
other spiritual traditions. It is said that God pervades the entire universe and sus-
tains it. From a speck of dust to the most intelligent form of life, nothing exists
without His divine spark. But this remains an empty statement unless verified
by actual experience. It is only after God is realized inside the body that He be-
comes a cosmic reality. Guru Arjun says that everything is within, not outside.
Whoever seeks outside is lost in illusion. But for those who are able to find Him
within, with the Guru’s grace, He becomes a reality both within and without.210
Ever since the soul separated from her Source, she has suffered unending
agony, birth after birth. She has lost recollection of her primal home and her
divine origin. The sweet memories of life in the Father’s house have become
buried in matter. Knowledge and intellect, the only tools at the disposal of the
soul, are too crude to rend the fine veils behind which the homeward path lies
hidden. She cries for help, but no one is there to listen to her cries. She does not
know which way to turn and whom to ask. Priests and scholars promise much,
but offer little. In fact, they lead her into deeper confusion through senseless
rituals and hollow doctrines.
Nothing but pure grace can help her out of her miseries. The Guru is the
living symbol of God’s grace and compassion for His souls. Guru Arjun invites
the soul, assuring her that the One who sent her into the creation is calling her
back, to return home in bliss and happiness.211
But the Lord helps the soul according to His own plan. He comes down in
human guise, as a Guru, to communicate with her and help her out of her
sufferings. The one who caused her this pain of separation to begin with, now
returns to her as a Guru, with the soothing balm of the Shabd.
186 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

He projects his love and faith into her heart, wins her confidence and hands
her the lifeline of the Shabd – the same Shabd that brought her down here will
put an end to her odyssey in the creation and take her back to her own, real home.
This is the essential message of the Ādi Granth.

1.12 B UDDHISM
Siddhārtha Gautama (c.560–480 BCE), later known as the Buddha (lit. an awak-
ened or enlightened one), lived at a formative time in Indian religious history.
The Upanishads were still being written; the Mahābhārata was still a growing
legend and had not yet reached its final form; and the Bhagavad Gītā and prob-
ably the Rāmāyaa, too, had yet to be composed. It was a period of social and
religious change as the Aryan-speaking civilization made further advances into
India. Traditional tribal structures were breaking down, new religious ideas were
being introduced, and the time was ripe for the formation of new religions and
sects. Largely derived from Vedic traditions, many of these movements were
reactions to the hold of the brāhmas, the priestly class who made a living from
officiating over Vedic rituals.
Like many other great mystics, the Buddha probably never sought to found
a religion. Nevertheless, after his death, Buddhism spread throughout most of
Asia, numbering today something in the region of 300 million adherents.
According to the traditional story, Siddhārtha was born into a high princely
family in Lumbinī village, in the foothills of the Himalayas, north of the present
Indian state of Bihar. He was the son of Shuddhodana, king of Kapilavastu and
Māyā, princess of Devadaha. At the age of sixteen, he was married to a girl of
high birth, Yashodharā.
Although material wealth and power were at his disposal, the young prince
was deeply moved by the sight of suffering and, leaving his kingdom, he re-
nounced the comforts of princely life in search of lasting peace and the cessation
of suffering. After six years of strenuous search and painful struggle, trying
various practices and finally deep meditation, it is said that he received en-
lightenment.
The Buddha did not permit his disciples to record his teachings in writing,
and it was not until long after his death that they were written down. As a result,
there is no certainty over what his original teachings were, and this has remained
a subject of some debate. As an essentially mystical tradition, however, the
strength of Buddhism has always lain in its emphasis on contemplation, founded
on a high level of moral conduct, and centred on the teachings of the Buddha
himself.
It is generally believed that the Buddha based his teaching on four ‘Noble
Truths’: that suffering exists, that suffering has a cause, that suffering can be
overcome, and that there is a Way to overcome suffering.
 1.12 Buddhism 187

Firstly, he pointed out that all beings – human, animals, ghosts, gods and
others – are in a state of suffering (dukkha). They have no option but to face
miseries and troubles of every kind, including disease, old age and death:

Now, this is the noble truth concerning suffering. Birth is painful, decay is
painful, death is painful, union with the unpleasant is painful; painful is the
separation from the pleasant, and any craving that is unsatisfied, that too is
painful. In brief, the five aggregates (the skandhas of body, feelings, per-
ception, will and reason) which spring from attachment are painful.
Foundation of the Kingdom of Righteousness 5, in IP1 p.362

All beings are caught up in the whirlpool of sasāra, wandering in the cycle
of birth and death according to their actions (karma). Sasāra exhibits three
essential characteristics: impermanence (anichcha), the lack of a permanent
sense of self (anattā), and – as a consequence – suffering (dukkha):

All created things are transitory (anichcha).

When, by wisdom (paññā), a person realizes this,
then he is not troubled by suffering (dukkha).
This is the path to purity.

All created things are full of suffering (dukkha).

When, by wisdom (paññā), a person realizes this,
then he is not troubled by suffering (dukkha).
This is the path to purity.

All aspects of phenomenal things are without soul (anattā),

When, by wisdom (paññā), a person realizes this,
then he is not troubled by suffering (dukkha).
This is the path to purity.
Dhammapada 20:5–7

Secondly, the Buddha taught that suffering has a cause. Simplistically, the root
cause is desire (tahā), but a sequence of twelve causal links (nidāna) that
lead to suffering are enumerated, beginning with avidyā (spiritual ignorance),
leading through various intermediate stages, including desire, and culminating
in rebirth followed by the inevitable death. Avidyā is the root cause. The false
‘I’ that is the central support of individual being is the product of avidyā and
karma. It is ignorance to assume as real that which is not, and it is from igno-
rance that desire and craving for life arise.
Thirdly, he taught that since suffering has a cause, it can also be overcome.
Complete conquest of suffering leads to the blessed state of nirvāa, which
confers permanent release from sasāra and the cycle of rebirth.
188 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Fourthly, he said, there is a Way by which suffering can be overcome, and

nirvāa attained. The Buddha called this Way the Noble Eightfold Path, the
Golden Mean, or the Middle Way or Path. In essence, like other spiritual paths,
it consists of meditation or contemplation, built on the foundation of a moral
and ethical life, leading to enlightened wisdom (paññā) and nirvāa:

There are two extremes, O Bhikkhus, which the man who has given up the
world ought not to follow – the habitual practice, on the one hand, of those
things whose attraction depends upon the passions, and especially of sen-
suality – a low and pagan way of seeking satisfaction, unworthy, unprofit-
able, and fit only for the worldly minded – and the habitual practice, on the
other hand, of asceticism or self-mortification, which is painful, unworthy
and unprofitable. There is a Middle Path, O Bhikkhus, avoiding these two
extremes, discovered by the Tathāgata – a Path which opens the eyes and
bestows understanding, which leads to peace of mind, to the higher wisdom,
to full enlightenment, to nirvāa.
What is that Middle Path, O Bhikkhus, avoiding these two extremes,
discovered by the Tathāgata – that Path which opens the eyes and bestows
understanding, which leads to peace of mind, to the higher wisdom, to full
enlightenment, to nirvāa? Verily, it is this Noble Eightfold Path; that is to
say: right understanding, right attitude, right speech, right conduct, right
livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right contemplation.
Foundation of the Kingdom of Righteousness 1–4; cf. SHI p.189

It is by following this path that the seeker attains detachment and illumination,
making him the best of all “two-footed beings” (men and gods):

Of paths, the eightfold is the best,

of truths, the four sayings;
Of dharmas (virtues), detachment is the best;
of two-footed beings, he who is endowed with sight.
Dhammapada 20:1

The goal is thus spiritual enlightenment through self-mastery. He who breaks

all bondage becomes enlightened. He who masters himself and eliminates all
desires is the true ascetic. Such a one “wields mastery over his mind, he does
not let the mind wield mastery over him”.212
The Buddha’s silence on the questions of God and soul, together with his
great emphasis on the fact of suffering, has sometimes led to his teaching being
mistakenly understood as pessimistic and atheistic. But he laid emphasis on
suffering only to point out to people that they are suffering, and how they could
obtain freedom from it. And he was generally silent about God and the soul
because, as a practical teacher, he was intent on showing people how to experi-
 1.12 Buddhism 189

ence truth for themselves, rather than simply asserting it or describing what
could not be described. If ignorance was the cause of suffering, knowledge
would necessarily eliminate it. But the knowledge required was not intellectual
learning or doctrinal belief or any form of derived knowledge, but personal
experience:

Now, O monks, are you going to say that we respect the Master and, out of
respect for him, we believe this and that? You must not say that. Is it not so
that you will only accept as true that which you have seen, known and
apprehended for yourselves?
Majjhima Nikāya 1; cf. in IP1 p.432

Liberation is the result of overcoming selfishness and destroying the illusion

of the ego, and Truth can only be known through shraddhā (faith), darshana
(vision) and bhāvanā (meditation). This goal, which the Buddha set before
his followers, he called nirvāa, which literally means ‘blowing out’ (as of a
candle) or ‘becoming cool’. ‘Blowing out’ refers to the extinction or the disap-
pearance of individuality. ‘Becoming cool’ implies the dying out of all passions
and cravings.213 But although the Buddha regarded nirvāa as the goal of
spiritual endeavour, no record exists of how he understood it. Consequently,
different schools have given different interpretations. To some, nirvāa is
simply extinction, a state of vacuity. Others, points out Radhakrishnan, have
interpreted nirvāa as so pleasurable a state that the Buddha has been charged
with hedonism.214
Both would appear to be a misunderstanding of the Buddha’s teaching. The
Buddha did not define nirvāa because a definition would be limiting. A state
beyond thought and language cannot be described, but he does not refer to a
negative state of vacuity. He is referring to a higher wisdom, full enlightenment,
peace – and freedom:

It is through not understanding and grasping four truths, O brethren, that

we have had to run so long, to wander so long in this weary path of trans-
migration – both you and I! And what are these four? The noble conduct of
life, the noble earnestness in meditation, the noble kind of wisdom, and the
noble salvation of freedom. But when noble conduct is realized and known,
when noble meditation is realized and known, when noble wisdom is real-
ized and known, when noble freedom is realized and known – then is the
craving for existence rooted out, that which leads to renewed existence is
destroyed, and there is no more birth.
Mahāparinibbāna Sutta 4:2, in SHI p.185

Mystically, nirvāa is better understood as the culmination of inner concentra-

tion and contemplation, a blissful state beyond the reach of suffering, birth
190 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

and death. In nirvāa, all human passions and weaknesses cease to exist. It is a
state beyond time and origination; the peace attained is eternal; and it can be
attained in this life. But since it is indescribable, the Buddha used negative terms
to describe it – freedom from misery, from death, from ego, and so on. The
“noble wisdom” is a transcendental state, beyond mind and intellect, in which
no subject-object relationship exists. It is, in essence, the mystical state.
Although the Buddha did not speak of a permanent self, he did not deny its
existence, either. What he denied was the reality of the human ego. He did not
go further and declare the existence of the self because he knew that people
would mistake it for the ego. More than a hint of this is present in his recorded
teachings:

We read in one of the Buddhistic scriptures how, when a monk asked

Buddha if there is a self, the Master maintained silence. When asked if there
is no self, he again maintained silence. Then, when his disciple Ānanda
asked why he maintained silence in the face of these opposing questions,
he explained that if he had declared that there is a self, the monk might have
regarded the impermanent element as permanent, and if he had replied in
the negative, the monk might have thought that ‘belief in annihilation’ had
been confirmed.
Swāmī Prabhavānanda, Spiritual Heritage of India, SHI p.182

Similarly, the Buddha’s silence about God is not to be taken as a sign of atheism
or agnosticism. His entire teaching leading to the goal of nirvāa would fall to
pieces if a permanent Reality were denied. Perhaps it was for this reason that
the Buddha did occasionally break his silence:

There is an Unborn, an Unoriginated,

an Unmade, an Uncompounded;
Were there not, O mendicants, there would be no escape
from the world of the born, the originated,
the made and the compounded.
Udāna 8:3, in SHI p.181

Despite their essential simplicity, the Buddha’s teachings, like those of the
‘founders’ of most religions, have been subject to varying interpretations. The
result has been a number of schools, further coloured by the religion and culture
of the various countries where these schools have become established.
Although the early history of Buddhism is more a matter of tradition than
science, it seems clear that these divisions began at a very early stage. It is said
that soon after the death of the Buddha, his followers held a council to decide on
the direction they should take, and to organize the teachings of their Master into
 1.12 Buddhism 191

a body of doctrine. A second council was held a hundred years later in which
certain doctrines were condemned. And a third council was convened around
250 BCE by the Emperor Ashoka in an unsuccessful attempt to iron out various
doctrinal differences between the schools.
One of the most significant of these early divisions was between the
Sthaviravāda (the Way of Elders) and the Mahāsanghika (the Great Council).
The Sthaviravāda included such divisions as the Sarvāstivāda and the Theravāda
with their respective scriptural canons in Sanskrit and Pali. Today, Theravāda
is the sole remaining school representing the Way of the Elders. It is the prevalent
form of Buddhism in Thailand, Burma and Sri Lanka, where its preservation
can be traced to the efforts of Ashoka. Ashoka was a convert to Buddhism and
is said to have sent missionaries to these countries, as well as to Alexandria, the
international Egyptian city founded by Alexander the Great. It is also believed
that Ashoka sent his own son to Sri Lanka, where Buddhism prospered, as it
does to this day.
In modern times, Buddhism is generally regarded as falling into two main
schools, Hīnayāna (lesser or inferior vehicle) and Mahāyāna (greater or superior
vehicle). Mahāyāna was a later development, and it was this school which dis-
paragingly dubbed earlier Buddhism, Hīnayāna. Hīnayāna or Theravāda
emphasizes personal salvation or nirvāa. Mahāyāna takes the salvation of all
sentient beings as its goal, and looks upon the concern for personal liberation as
a lower ideal, containing an element of selfishness. There are also differences
of opinion concerning the deification of the Buddha. Hīnayāna considers his
body to have been mortal, like everybody else’s, while Mahāyāna regards him
as an immortal, superhuman being. Likewise, other differences exist concerning
the nature of the void (shūnyatā), and so on.
As Mahāyāna developed, a number of philosophers and thinkers provided
their own input, forming further schools of thought. Among the most well known
of these philosophers is Nāgārjuna, the second-century CE founder of the
Mādhyamika school. Literally, Mādhyamika means ‘relating to the middle’, but
it is not to be confused with the Middle Way as propounded by the Buddha,
which had an ethical meaning, to avoid mortification as well as hedonism. The
‘middle view’ of Mādhyamika is a metaphysical concept, suggesting that all
knowledge, either perceptual or intellectual, is relative, and maintaining that the
world is consequently neither real nor unreal. Extreme logical analysis is em-
ployed in the attempt to prove that the essential truth is shūnyatā (void), a state
often translated as ‘emptiness’ or ‘nothingness’, but probably better defined as
a state in which the mind and intellect are transcended, where the distinction
between subject and object, between knower and known, no longer exists.
Another school, Vijñānavāda (Way of Knowledge) arose during the fourth
century CE from the teaching of two brothers, Asanga and Vasubandhu, who
taught that the only reality is the mind, and that nothing exists outside of it.
192 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Mādhyamika and Vijñānavāda were to play significant roles in the devel-

opment of Buddhism outside India. In India itself, with the development and
popularity of magical, occult and yogic Tantrism, a form of Tantric Buddhism
arose, with beliefs and practices similar to those of yogic Tantrism. Tantric Bud-
dhism, in the form of Vajrayāna (The Way of the Thunderbolt) was introduced
into Tibet in the seventh century CE, where it became established, but in India
it heralded Buddhism’s last phase. Absorption into Hinduism and persecution
by the Muslim invaders meant that by the thirteenth century, Buddhism had
become all but extinct.
Outside India, Mahāyāna Buddhism spread to what are now Vietnam, Ko-
rea, Japan, Taiwan, China and Tibet, being moulded into new forms by integra-
tion with various aspects of local religion and culture. Its fortunes, however, have
varied according to the changing political circumstances of the various host
nations. In China, for instance, Buddhism once enjoyed considerable status, power
and wealth. During the ninth century CE, however, in a short but decisive im-
perial purge, many temples were destroyed, monastic properties confiscated, and
thousands of monks stripped of their religious duties. In subsequent centuries,
Chinese Buddhism did regain some of its lost ground, but never returned to its
former status.
Buddhist sacred literature consists of hundred of works, originally transmit-
ted in both oral and written forms, and now preserved in four principal languages:
Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese and Tibetan. Buddhists classify this vast literature in
several ways, of which the Theravadin division of the Pali texts into the Tripi akas
(Three Baskets) is perhaps the most significant. Said to have been committed to
writing in Sri Lanka during the first century BCE, and comprising the Theravāda
Pali Canon, these three collections of texts are: the Suttapi aka, consisting of
discourses, sayings and conversations attributed to the Buddha, including the
well-known Dhammapada, together with stories about him; Vinayapi aka,
which covers monastic discipline; and Abhidammapi aka, which contains schol-
arly elaborations on matters of ethics and the metaphysical elements of human
psychology and Reality. A large number of semi- and non-canonical texts are
also extant in Pali, together with an even greater collection of commentaries.
Theravāda was only one of several other Hīnayāna sects to compile its
own Tripi akas in Sanskrit. Today, these Sanskrit texts survive only as frag-
ments, but in the Chinese and Tibetan canons, large sections are preserved as
translations, together with a vast storehouse of additional texts of considerable
variety. These texts include translations of the Mahāyāna Sūtras (including the
Avatamsaka, Mahāparinirvāa, the Lotus and the Pure Land Sūtras, together
with the Perfection of Wisdom literature), original Chinese and Tibetan works,
Tantras, philosophical treatises, biographies, collections of legends, and instruc-
tion manuals for the correct performance of rituals.
 1.13 Taoism 193

1.13 T AOISM
Taoism, regarded as the greatest Chinese philosophical tradition after Confu-
cianism, was not founded nor has it been practised as an organized religion
per se. It is a way of life whose intention was and is to increase awareness of the
fundamental Reality underlying all things. This Reality or Power is held to be
beyond any name or description that can be applied to It; but since effective
human communication requires names, It was referred to as Tào, meaning Way
or Path. In a mystic context, Tào means both the Way, as the dynamic creative
Reality of life, as well as the journey or process by which this underlying Prin-
ciple or Reality can be experienced.
Taoism is believed to have originated informally among unnamed hermits
who practised the Way, either in solitude or perhaps in small groups in isolated
hermitages, among the beautiful and serene extremities of the many rugged
mountain ranges which crisscross China. Taoism has no formal history during
this period, and its beginnings are generally traced to Lǎo Tzu (c.604–531 BCE),
who wrote the classical Taoist treatise, the Tào Té Chīng (Classic of the Way
and Its Power). Lǎo Tzu, whose given name was Lǐ Ěrh, died when Confucius
(551–479 BCE, the latinized form of K’ǔng Fū Tzu) was a young man. Tradi-
tionally, the origins of Taoism are also linked to the mythical Yellow Emperor,
who dates back to 2500 BCE.
Primarily as a result of the popularity of the Tào Té Chīng, as well as the
subsequent expansion on these terse and cryptic verses by the sage Chuāng Tzu
(c.369–286 BCE) in the Book of Chuāng Tzu (or just the Chuāng Tzu), Taoism
gradually spread into the villages and cities. In time, Taoism was embraced by
local rulers as well as the imperial courts, gradually becoming widespread
among the people. This early period of Taoism has been called classical or philo-
sophical Taoism.
Tào, as the creative Principle of all things, is not regarded as a divine being
or entity, but rather as a dynamic power, a consciousness that permeates all
things, whether seemingly good or evil, important or insignificant. Over time,
the Tào has also been called T’iēn (Heaven) and Lǐ (Principle, Rule), but Lǎo
Tzu observes that the real Tào is beyond descriptions and names:

The tào that can be expressed is not the eternal Tào;

The name that can be defined is not the unchanging Name.
Lǎo Tzu, Tào Té Chīng 1, WLT p.41

Although Lǎo Tzu has remained the most revered mystic or sage of Taoism, there
is some debate among historians as to whether he ever existed. It is suggested
that he may have been a fabrication of unknown monks and recluses living
among the mountains in order to draw attention away from themselves. In com-
194 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

mon with many mystics and revered sages of the past, his life story is hedged
about with legend. It is said, for instance, that he spent eighty-one years in his
mother’s womb, and was thus considered old when he was born. Hence the name
Lǎo Tzu, which literally means ‘old sage’.
According to Taoist tradition, Lǎo Tzu was a minor government official
who, in his later years, seeing the increasing corruption around him, decided to
escape the world of men and move to the mountains in order to devote himself
wholly to the Way. Arriving at the border of the province of Hónán on the western
frontier of China, and riding on an ox (as he is traditionally depicted in paintings
and sculptures), Lǎo Tzu encountered a border official who not only happened
to be a follower of Tào, but had seen in a vision that a great sage would be passing
his way, in search of seclusion. Recognizing him, the official begged the sage
to write down his teachings for the benefit of humanity before retiring to the
wilderness. Lǎo Tzu agreed, and there and then he sat down and wrote out the
5000 Chinese ideograms (later organized into 81 verses) that constitute the
Tào Té Chīng. Then he continued on his way, never to be seen again. The Tào
Té Chīng is one of the most studied Chinese books. Over 700 scholars have
written commentaries on the work. It is also the Chinese classic most translated
into other languages. There is a traditional belief among Taoists that the Huà
Hú Chīng (Classic on Conversion of Barbarians), an elaboration of the teach-
ings given in the Tào Té Chīng, probably written around 300 CE, was also written
by Lǎo Tzu, or perhaps by his disciples.
One of the foremost admirers of Lǎo Tzu and one of the most well known
sages of classical Taoism was Chuāng Tzu (c.369–286 BCE), also known as
Chuāng Chōu, who lived two hundred years after Lǎo Tzu. Considered a pri-
mary commentator on classical Taoism, and the torchbearer of Taoist tradition
during his time, Chuāng Tzu is reputed to have been married, living a simple,
meagre existence while holding a small administrative post in the state of Sùng.
Chuāng Tzu sought to amplify the simple teachings of Lǎo Tzu during a time
of great civil war and anarchy. While Confucianists and other prevalent philo-
sophical schools sought answers to the troubles through plans of moral action,
Chuāng Tzu’s answer to all problems was simple: free your self. His teachings
echo those of the Tào Té Chīng: that man is the creator of his own suffering,
that his miseries come from expectations and preferences, rather than dis-
passionately accepting life as it comes and raising one’s consciousness in order
to experience the oneness of Tào.
It is clear from his many parables that Chuāng Tzu was a critic of intellec-
tualism, materialism and the calculated moral virtues as propagated by the Con-
fucian school of thought. Like his predecessor, Lǎo Tzu, he maintained that
living in the Way is the natural source of all virtue. Lǎo Tzu and Chuāng Tzu
are together known as the founders of classical Taoism.
The Tào Té Chīng consists of rather short abstruse phrases and sayings,
stressing simplicity, tranquillity, genuineness and reserved behaviour. In his
 1.13 Taoism 195

book, the Chuāng Tzu, the author echoes the same mystical teachings, but in an
aesthetic and freely imaginative style using parables, allegories, dialogue and
short narratives to make his points. He also makes use of many historical, mythi-
cal and completely fictional characters, including animals and insects. Some
stories criticize the moral virtues as propagated during his time by the Confucians,
often employing the great Chinese moralist Confucius himself as well as other
famous Chinese philosophers including Lǎo Tzu, to point out the misguidedness
of this intellectually based morality. Chuāng Tzu’s characters often switch roles;
thus, Confucius is sometimes portrayed as an enlightened Taoist imparting
jewels of mystical wisdom. In all, Chuāng Tzu emphasizes the loftiness and
transcendental aspects of the ideal state of mind needed to experience the mys-
tical reality of Tào. The Chuāng Tzu consists of thirty-three chapters, the first
seven, the ‘inner books’, being considered the work of Chuāng Tzu himself,
while the fifteen ‘outer chapters’ and eleven ‘miscellaneous chapters’ are be-
lieved to have been written by his disciples.
Together, Lǎo Tzu and Chuāng Tzu are regarded as the figureheads of clas-
sical Taoism. Their two books, together with the writings of Lièh Tzu, collected
together in the Lièh Tzu, remain the primary sources of classical Taoism. Lièh
Tzu, a Taoist philosopher of uncertain date, clearly predated the Chuāng Tzu,
because he is frequently mentioned there. But little is known of him except the
book that bears his name, and – like Lǎo Tzu – some scholars have also doubted
his existence.
Confucianism and classical Taoism were the two main branches of Chinese
philosophy from the time of Confucius (551–479 BCE) to the beginning of the
Christian Era (c.600–100 BCE). Although possessing some elements of religion,
the more popular Confucianism was primarily concerned with the more practical
side of life: morality, social conduct, institutions, customs and so on. So while
Confucianism was heralded for its moral and societal doctrines, Taoism was
always a mystic philosophy, existing only for the purpose of spiritual develop-
ment. The two were not incompatible, however, and both were often cultivated
by the same individual, whether ruler or common man. Often acting as a bridge
between Confucianism and Taoism was the Ì Chīng (Classic of Change), the
well-known oracle with its combination of metaphysical teaching and everyday
advice. The Taoists maintained that the fixed standards and rules of Confucian-
ism only became necessary when the natural simplicity and innocence of the
Way was forgotten. They taught that the Way, when properly cultivated, would
automatically lead to harmonious action. In fact, they contended that the laws
and doctrines of Confucianism only made life more difficult. What is needed is
a life of simplicity and dedication to the experience of Tào. Then moral behaviour
would arise naturally:

Banish wisdom, discard knowledge,

and the people shall profit a hundredfold;
196 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Banish humanity, discard justice,

and the people shall recover love of their kin;
Banish cunning, discard utility,
and the thieves and brigands shall disappear.
As these three touch the externals and are inadequate,
the people have need of what they can depend upon:

Reveal thy simple self,

embrace thy original nature,
check thy selfishness,
curtail thy desires.
Lǎo Tzu, Tào Té Chīng 19, WLT p.119

In fact, the pursuit of learning as the final goal will take a person away from
the Tào:

He who pursues learning will increase every day;

He who pursues Tào will decrease every day.
He will decrease and continue to decrease,
till he comes to non-action;
By non-action everything can be done.
Lǎo Tzu, Tào Té Chīng 48, TTCT p.63

In Its purest sense, the Tào does not require worship, being unaffected by praise
or criticism. The practitioner does not implore Tào for Its favour, but endeav-
ours to mould himself to Its harmonious workings. The practitioner also makes
no outward show of his practice, keeping a great deal hidden from the gaze of
others – hence some of the reason for the reclusive life of many Taoists of
today. Moreover, there is no point in revealing to others what they are not ready
to understand and respect:

When those who know me are few,

eventually I am beyond all praise.
Therefore, the sage wears clothes of coarse cloth,
but carries jewels in his bosom;
He knows himself, but does not display himself;
He loves himself, but does not hold himself in high esteem.
Lǎo Tzu, Tào Té Chīng 70, TTCT p.85

The typical student of classical Taoism performs various practices, primarily to

simplify his needs and to purify the body. The essential purpose is to concen-
trate the mind in order to remove the veils of attachment, belief, likes and dislikes
– these being blockages to the awareness of the omnipresent Tào.
 1.13 Taoism 197

Around the second century CE, classical Taoism (Tào Chiā) gave birth to
religious Taoism (Tào Chiào). Up to that time, Taoism had been practised mostly
by recluses, and in the confines of hermitages. Over time, however, these prac-
tices became more formalized and ritualized. Ornate temples were constructed
and a priesthood came into being for the purpose of conducting rituals and cer-
emonies. A pantheon of gods was also established and worshipped, the belief
being that these deities controlled everything from universal spiritual forces to
the most mundane functions of the human body and the physical universe.
Religious Taoism was primarily concerned with the creation of an immortal
body through occultism, meditation, breathing, sexual practices, ancestor wor-
ship and other rituals. Householders were encouraged to adopt these practices
with promises of a prolonged life and, if they were sufficiently diligent, immor-
tality. Chinese legends abound with humans becoming immortal beings (Hsiēn)
and, while dwelling in heavenly paradises, having an occasional hand in the
affairs of earth.
The practices used to attain this immortality appear to have been a form of
occult meditation or alchemy. Originally, these began as meditative practices
involving contemplation on different energy centres in the body, on the breath,
as well as on the ethereal gods and deities who were believed to dwell within
the body. Strict dietary and lifestyle restrictions were also a part of the regime.
Eventually, a ‘sacred embryo’ would be formed, which would not only help to
preserve the body, bestowing enhanced health and longevity, but could ulti-
mately transform the physical body into pure spirit – an immortal being or Hsiēn.
When success was attained, the spirit would then ‘rise to heaven in broad day-
light’. This practice was known as inner alchemy (nèi tān). Eventually, how-
ever, it became externalized, being replaced in popularity with outer alchemy
(wài tān). Outer alchemy involved the preparation and ingestion of herbal or
chemical compounds, which, it was believed, if practised properly, would also
confer immortality.
In this way, religious Taoism slowly turned the simple spiritual truths of
Lǎo Tzu and Chuāng Tzu into formalized religious and occult practices. Classical
Taoism was not altogether submerged, however, for a small movement, the
Hsüán Hsüéh (lit. mystical learning), flourished during the third to fifth centu-
ries CE. Hsüán Hsüéh attempted to revive classical Taoism by re-emphasizing
the transcendental nature of Tào. Tào was regarded as the ‘mystery of mysteries’,
and the followers studied the texts of classical Taoism, especially those of Lǎo
Tzu and Chuāng Tzu. Scholars of this system also developed and refined a
practice known as ‘pure conversation (ch’īng t’án)’, which was a way of pre-
senting the teachings through entertaining dialogues and metaphors. Additionally,
various insightful commentaries on the Tào Té Chīng and the Chuāng Tzu were
written. The students of Hsüán Hsüéh, however, were influenced by Confucian-
ism, which was widely practised at the time, and this is to some extent reflected
in their commentaries. In modern times, scholars and historians refer to this
movement as Neo-Taoism.
198 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

One further influence was to have a significant bearing on the decline of

Taoism. In 2 BCE, a foreign envoy from India instructed a Chinese official on
the meaning of a Buddhist scripture. From this point on Buddhism gradually
gained ground in China, although the influence was two-way, with Chinese Bud-
dhism adopting much from Taoism. In fact, the Ch’án school of Buddhism
(known in Japan as Zen) originated in China as a combination of Buddhist and
Taoist thought. Over the ensuing centuries, Taoism and Buddhism each, by
turns, became the state religion. But among the general population of China,
forms of Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism and various other beliefs have
typically been practised together. Throughout the centuries, however, the funda-
mental goal of Taoism has always been the return to a full consciousness of the
abiding, all-supreme creative Power known as Tào.

1.14 N ATIVE C ULTURES

The native or indigenous peoples of Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia,
the Pacific Islands, North, Central and South America, and other areas of the
world are generally characterized – before the arrival of Europeans – by the
absence of reading and writing. The overall result has been that whatever is
known to posterity of their spiritual and religious lives has been seen and re-
corded through the eyes and pens of European observers. Moreover, those early
Europeans who had any time at all for the native people whose lands they had
appropriated were usually more interested in converting them to a belief in
Christianity and European values than in truly understanding them for who and
what they were.
In many instances, too, the assimilation of elements of European beliefs and
culture (acculturation) took place quite rapidly, obscuring the original religious
and spiritual atmosphere. In only a few instances have the native people been
able to speak for themselves, and that too only after acquiring some degree of
European education and culture. Nevertheless, a study of the spirituality of the
peoples whose way of life has been so precipitously interrupted by the Euro-
pean influx reveals some interesting common features. Varying from people to
people, these include: the belief in a Great Spirit or God, the existence of other
realms of being, the tradition that certain gifted and suitably trained individuals
(sometimes called shamans) can visit those realms, spiritual life in those realms
after death, and the need for an ethical and honest life. Even a belief in reincar-
nation is sometimes found. In some instances, these beliefs are incorporated into
an extensive mythology, transmitted orally from generation to generation.
A spectrum of spiritual inclinations is exhibited by the indigenous peoples
of the planet. Some have a far greater interest in the spiritual side of life than
others, as in any group of human beings. Even so, the absence of literacy from
their various cultures has in no way stifled the innate urge, present in all human
 1.14 Native Cultures 199

beings, to seek answers to the fundamental questions of life and death. In many
cases, their understanding and perception of a spiritual presence in nature, lead-
ing to respect and reverence for themselves, for nature and for all other creatures,
is to be admired. Had European culture been founded on such respect, the planet
would not now be facing the potentially disastrous environmental problems that
it does. Among these many and varied people, only a few have so far found their
way into these pages, and that, too, in little detail.

Native North American Spirituality

Theories concerning the early human habitation of North America are being
constantly challenged by new scientific evidence and speculation, but the earliest
evidence of human beings in North America currently dates back more than
40,000 years. Some of these people, it is believed, came south from Siberia to
Alaska, over the land bridge existing at that time across the Bering Strait; others
came north from South and Central America, where their ancestors are thought
to have arrived by boat, centuries before, from Polynesia and southern Asia;
recent DNA research suggests that some may have come from northern Europe
via Greenland and northeastern Canada.
The Native Americans themselves have a more mythological account of
their origins. The myths vary from people to people. Hopis and Navajos claim
that their ancestors did not come from other lands, but emerged from previous
worlds beneath the earth, and then migrated throughout North America in four
directions. Northeastern Algonquin and Iroquois believe that their ancient an-
cestors lived in a sky world, and that a woman fell from that sky world and was
caught by water animals, who built the present-day earth for her to dwell upon.
She is the mother of all native people. The Chumash people of California say
that they have always been there.
However the various tribes arrived in North America, modern belief is that,
adapting to changing climatic and environmental conditions, they changed from
hunters using stone-tipped weapons to societies of warriors, farmers and arti-
sans. By the time of their first contact with Europeans in the sixteenth century,
approximately seven million people in over 600 tribes, speaking more than 200
different languages, lived in the land between Mexico and the northernmost
territories, with human habitation reaching far into the Arctic circle. The diver-
sity of these tribes makes any attempt to generalize about them very difficult. It
would be like considering all European cultures as one, and seeking common
themes among them. The task is made even more difficult by the fact that these
native peoples had no written language.
Native North American tribal life differed from region to region. Forest areas
with lakes and rivers provided meat from hunting and fishing as well as land for
farming. But in areas with little rain or little warmth, much of the food came
from hunting, often alongside a seminomadic lifestyle, moving with the seasons
and the food supply. As need demanded, tribes would group together against
200 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

other tribes, conducting short surprise raids as a test of courage and to gain status.
Some alliances were later formed against the Europeans who progressively took
land from the tribes. Each tribe retained self-government, but collective deci-
sions were made in joint council. War with the Europeans was fought in a much
more desperate manner, once the Native North Americans understood that their
land was being taken from them, and their lifestyle was under severe threat.
War with the Europeans escalated in the 1800s, with the last fierce resist-
ance against the US Army in the 1890s. Historians estimate that by then epidemic
illnesses, hunger and despair, as well as the warfare brought by the Europeans,
had killed millions of Native North Americans. As few as 250,000 survived.
Later their cultural and spiritual practices were outlawed, their children sent
away from home to boarding schools and punished for using native languages.
Many tribes were displaced from their traditional lands, and sent to sterile reser-
vations. There, unemployment was widespread, social structures collapsed and
people became dispirited. The result was that alcohol abuse, suicide and murder
became commonplace.
In the last hundred years, however, their numbers have increased eightfold.
In 1998 in the USA, 554 Native North American tribes were legally recognized
with a combined population of nearly two million, together with a further 25
million or more US citizens having some known Native American ancestry.
Sixty per cent of this 27 million were city dwellers, dispersed among other
cultural groups. Many Native North Americans say that they feel invisible or, at
least, unrecognized. This is partly because they represent less than one per cent
of the total American population, but also because many people think of Native
Americans in the past tense. The myth of the primitive, aggressive ‘Indian’ lives
on or is sometimes replaced with the stereotype of the degenerate ‘Indian’,
victim of poverty and alcoholism. Only more recently have Native American
peoples been seen as deeply spiritual, with a respect for and understanding of
the environment that would greatly benefit others.

Patterns of Belief
Native North Americans are a diverse people, and cataloguing their spiritual
and religious belief systems is problematic. Ake Hultkrantz, widely regarded as
a leading expert in Native American religions, writes:

The diversity of these traditions cannot be reduced to a single tradition, for

there is no simple entity such as ‘the Native American religion’.… Tribes
that share a similar cultural life also tend to share a similar religious life.
Nevertheless, each tribe has its own practices and customs, and we must
remember that there are as many Native American religions as there are
tribes.
Ake Hultkrantz, Native Religions of North America, NRA p.11
 1.14 Native Cultures 201

Despite this incredible variety among tribes, some common themes can still be
identified:

Four prominent features in North American Indian religions are: a similar

world view; a shared notion of cosmic harmony; emphasis on experienc-
ing directly powers and visions; and a common view of the cycle of life
and death.
Ake Hultkrantz, Native Religions of North America, NRA p.20

One of the most widely documented Native American tribes is the Sioux, whose
subgroups include the Dakota and the Lakota:

The pre-eminent tangible symbol of traditional Lakota religion was the

circle. The Lakotas perceived everything in the natural world as circular
(except rock), for roundness was indicative of life itself. For this reason,
the circle was held to be sacred (wakan). Sun, sky, earth, moon, a human
body, a tree trunk, day, night, a year, a man’s life – all these were sacred
circles. In respect for this natural order, the Lakotas made circular teepees,
pitching them in camp circles, and sat in circles for ceremonial occasions.
The wholeness of the circle, without beginning or end, represented the
wholeness and oneness of the universe.
John Neihardt, SGBE p.80

The Creator, Great Spirit or ultimate Reality was not seen as separate; It was
seen as part of all that is. The tribes shared a common belief that everything is
interconnected and possessed with a spiritual force that can affect people and
all living things. The name for the Creator differed among the tribes yet referred
to the One, the Source of all. Known as Taiowa (Hopi), Tirawa (Pawnee),
Wakan-Tanka (Lakota) and so on, it was seen as the Great Mystery. It was never
born, and can never die. It flowed through and among all things. Lakota holy
man, George Sword, writing in 1905, describes this power:

We will tell you of things that were known only to the shamans.… Wakan-
Tanka is above everything and He governs everything.… The shamans
address Wakan-Tanka as Tobtob Kin. This is in the speech that only the
shamans know.… Tobtob Kin are Four-times-four gods.… The Four-times-
four are Wikan (Sun) and Hanwikan (Moon); Taku Skanskan (That which
moves, Sky) and Tatekan (Wind); Tob Kin (the Four Winds) and Yumnikan
(Whirlwind); Makakan (Earth) and Wohpe (the Beautiful Woman); Inyankan
(Rock) and Wakinyan (Thunder Being); Tatankakan (Buffalo Bull) and
Hunonpakan (Two-Legged Grizzly Bear); Wanagi (Human Spirit) and
Woniya (Human Life); and Nagila (Nonhuman Spirit) and Wasicunpi
(Guardian Spirits).
202 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Wakan-Tanka is like sixteen different persons. But each person is kan

(ancient, sacred). Therefore they are all only the same as one.
George Sword, in LBR pp.93–95

The lesser spirits of natural forces, essential foods, and those of animals were
revered and honoured by Native North Americans through ritual, song and
dance, for it was important to gain the help of these powerful spiritual beings.
Obtaining food through either hunting or harvesting was seen as an act of inter-
dependence, a sacred reciprocal relationship in which the animal or plant was
giving itself for the benefit of the people. Spirituality was not relegated to a
separate category of life; all of life was seen from a spiritual point of view.
Humanity was viewed as standing at the centre of all creation, at the meeting
point of the four directions, making it a bridge between the earthly and the spirit
worlds:

We regard all created beings as sacred and important, for everything has a
wochangi or influence which can be given to us, through which we may
gain a little more understanding if we are attentive.
Black Elk, in SP p.59

It is the wish of Wakan-Tanka that the light enters into the darkness, that
we may see not only with our two eyes, but with the one eye which is of
the heart (chante ishta).
Black Elk, in SP p.42

Of all the created things or beings of the universe, it is the two-legged men
alone who, if they purify and humiliate themselves, may become one with
– or may know – Wakan-Tanka.
Black Elk, in SP p.138

Individual religious experience was greatly respected. Focused observation and

contemplation began with the physical world and continued, as much as the per-
son was capable, through the continuum of more advanced orders of perception
and definition. Personal dreams and visions were valued, and seen as spiritual
guidance for the individual and the community. A defined moral way of life,
with adherence to set principles, guided the individual. Generosity, honesty,
courage, endurance and commitment to the welfare of the entire tribe were
highly esteemed.
The sense of identity of Native North Americans survives most strongly
through their oral traditions. But their speech was not a series of intellectual and
abstract concepts. Instead, ‘picture-words’ were used to communicate, based on
having entered into the reality of what was being expressed. The name given to
 1.14 Native Cultures 203

a person, for example, was not merely an identifying label, but actually revealed
the character – the reality – of that person. Man Afraid of Horses was not simply
an eccentric, colourful ID, but that man was, in reality, afraid of horses. The
same applied to Bird Tied on his Head, a Kiowa war leader. Likewise, Buffalo
Kills was a renowned buffalo hunter, and Crazy Horse did indeed ride a crazy
horse. Wakan-Tanka was not only the name for the Great Mysterious, it was the
Great Mysterious. Words were magical; words had power; they could make
things happen. Calling out to an animal in a pleading, sympathetic way could
gain the power of that animal spirit. Song-words could make it rain. Prayers to
the Great Mysterious, or to an animal spirit, or to an eagle, could result in an
important vision. Nalungiaq, a Netsilik Eskimo woman, observes:

In the very earliest time, when both people and animals lived on earth, …
all spoke the same language. That was the time when words were like
magic. The human mind had mysterious powers. A word spoken by chance
might have strange consequences. It would suddenly come alive, and what
people wanted to happen could happen. Nobody can explain this; that’s the
way it was.
Nalungiaq, in NU p.285

The word itself is hence understood to have a creative power of its own. Lan-
guage is both the object and the instrument of religious experience. The spoken
word was not about the reality of what is seen or thought; it was understood as
the reality itself. Stories, myths and legends were central to their lives, provid-
ing the most profound guide to their understanding of creation. Taught by the
elders to each child, these stories were based on values and assumptions that are
fundamentally different from the European culture.
Rituals provided the means for a transformational journey into the spiritual
world, with a return to the real world as empowered, healed, whole persons. The
holy men or shamans who led these rituals had often received intense inner
visions, been instructed by their predecessors, and had qualified through proper
ceremony. They were viewed as having supernatural powers that made them
mediums between the spirits and mankind:

For the Lakota, belief and ritual were completely intertwined. Belief formed
the intellectual and emotional underpinnings of religion.… Ritual provided
the means for actualizing religious power and for expressing belief. The
Lakota spoke of the purpose of ritual in terms of ‘pleasing’ the wakan (spir-
itual) beings.… But ritual was no mere reflection of belief; it was also the
means to further belief for, through ritual, people came to expand their
knowledge.
John Neihardt, SGBE p.82
204 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Since the drum is often the only instrument used in our sacred rites, I should
perhaps tell you here why it is especially sacred and important to us. It is
because the round form of the drum represents the whole universe, and its
steady strong beat is the pulse, the heart, throbbing at the centre of the
universe. It is as the voice of Wakan-Tanka, and this sound stirs us, and
helps us to understand the mystery and power of all things.
Black Elk, SP p.69

Recognition of the pre-existence of the soul before entering a body, being able to
leave the body in dreams and visions, and moving on at death are a part of many
tribal stories. Archie Fire Lame Deer, son of a respected Lakota holy man writes:

Niya literally means the ‘spirit’. Niya is the personification of life, some-
times called the breath of life. He is a person’s essence, one of the four
souls who dwell in every human being. Niya leaves the body after its death.
He is a guardian spirit who can talk to humans, and who gives a newborn
baby its first breath.
Nagi can be used in the same way white people use ‘ghost’, as a roam-
ing spirit of the dead.… Nagi is one of a person’s four souls. He is a pres-
ence. He is inside an animal, a stone, a tree or a stream. A human’s ghost is
called wicha nagi, while a four-legged’s ghost is called wamaka nagi. Nagi
is the shadow of everyone and everything. He is the spirit that goes with a
man into the spirit world. Nagi never dies.… Nagi knows what has been
and what will be.… Nagi can cause men and animals to talk to each other.
Sichun is the ‘intellect’, an innate power dwelling inside every man or
woman and one of a person’s four souls. Sichun embodies knowledge and
a special power given to every newborn child by the supernaturals. It is a
power to guard against evil but, like everything else, it has both a positive
and a negative nature.
Archie Fire Lame Deer, Gift of Power, GP pp.258–59

The other of the “four souls”, not mentioned by Archie Lame Deer in this con-
text, is nagila, the ‘little ghost’ or ‘non-human spirit’, which is variously de-
scribed by different sources. The enumeration of multiple souls is not uncommon
in native spiritual traditions, and seem to relate to man’s various subtle aspects
– his mind, mental faculties, etheric and astral bodies, essential soul and so on.
Among the rituals that constitute a central focus of life for many Native
North American tribes are three of great importance: inipi (sweat lodge),
hanblecheya (vision quest), and cannunpa wakan (sacred pipe, peace pipe).

1. Inipi: the sweat lodge, during which a person soughy purification through long
hours of prayer inside a steamy shelter. The ritual often preceded other sacred
ceremonies. Arval Looking Horse, a Cheyenne River Sioux explains:
 1.14 Native Cultures 205

The sweat lodge … is called ini kagapi, ‘purification lodge’. The sweat lodge
is a world half on top of the earth, half under it.… The sweat lodge is very
sacred. It is the mother’s womb. They always say when they come out of the
sweat lodge, it’s like being born again or coming out of the mother’s womb.
Arval Looking Horse, in SIR pp.71–72

The sweat lodge, the inipi. Even the term ‘sweat’ has so little significance
compared to the Lakota name, inipi, which is laden with values in our native
culture. It means ‘to live again’.
Beatrice Medicine, in SIR p.167

2. Hanblecheya: the vision quest, during which the seeker removed himself to
an isolated natural setting, doing without much food, water or sleep for several
days. Here, he or she waited for a vision or guidance from the spiritual world,
which often came with the assistance of an animal. Ake Hultkrantz writes that
“probably no other cultures have given visions such importance in daily reli-
gious life as those of Native North America.”215 Archie Fire Lame Deer explains:

Hanblecheya means ‘crying for a vision’.… “Crying for a vision,” my father

once told me, “that’s the beginning of our religion. It is the thirst for a dream
from above – a vision which, while it lasts, will make you more than a
man.…” It is like the prophets in the Christian Bible, like Jesus fasting in
the desert, or Jacob wrestling with the angel, wrestling for a dream. It means
hearing soundless voices, seeing things with your heart and mind, not with
your eyes. It means shutting your eyes in order to see.
Archie Fire Lame Deer, Gift of Power, GP p.190

Black Elk recalls a vision received when he was nine years old:

And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell, and I understood more
than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in
the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one
being. And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops
that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the centre grew
one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children of one mother and one
father. And I saw that it was holy.
Black Elk, in BES p.43

3. Cannunpa wakan (sacred pipe) or cannunpa iha wacekiya (to pray with the
pipe):216 the smoking of the peace pipe, which was done with prayer before,
during and after sacred rites or at other times when a sacred atmosphere was
required. Arval Looking Horse explains how the sacred pipe is “handed down
through the generations”:
206 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

I am a Cheyenne River Sioux, a Mnikowoju (Minneconjou).… My name

is Arval Looking Horse, but I have an Indian name, too, Sunka Wakan
Wicasa, Horse Man.… Just before a keeper of the sacred pipe dies, he has
a vision of who to give the pipe to. It is always given to a blood relative,
either a man or a woman. Just before my grandmother died, she had a vision,
and gave the pipe to me. That was in 1966.…
This sacred pipe has been handed down through the generations, through
blood relations. With it, our religion has been brought down through oral
tradition – not written tradition. So I was taught the old way of carrying on
the pipe for the Sioux nation. The sacred pipe was brought down to earth
and given to the first keeper, Buffalo Standing Upright, a long time ago.
I am the nineteenth generation to serve as pipe keeper.…
The pipe is for all people, all races, as long as a person believes in it.
Anyone can have a pipe, and keep it within their family. But only the Sioux
can have ceremonies with the sacred calf pipe.… The sacred pipe is very
powerful; it is at the centre, and all other pipes are like its roots or branches.
The sacred pipe transfers its power to the other pipes. All pipes have to be
blessed, made sacred (yuwakan).
Arval Looking Horse, in SIR pp.67, 69

Each tribe saw themselves as firmly attached to the particular landscape on

which they lived, as a child to a mother. The land was held in joint reverence as
a common resource, rather than in individual ownership. They also looked to
the stars for guidance, basing the timing of their rituals, as well as the gathering
of their food, on the progression of the sun through the constellations. In this
way, they ensured that they maintained the natural order, and kept a balance in
their lives. They understood that their destiny was not to change the land or to
move away from it, but to guard and maintain it, usually in accordance with
instructions received long ago from the Creator or their ancestral hero.

Some Recent Native Americans

Although the old traditions were always passed on by word of mouth, during
the last half-century, a number of Native Americans have written of their lives,
families and spiritual traditions, providing some direct insight into Native
American life. Among these have been John Fire Lame Deer (1903–76) and his
son Archie Fire Lame Deer (1935–2001).
But first a word on the manner in which Native American names are given,
since it can be a source of confusion. One name may be given at birth or child-
hood; a second name may be given after the first vision quest; a dream may give
rise to another adult name; and yet another name may follow the accomplish-
ment of a brave or unusual deed. Moreover, before Native Americans were put
on reservations, sons had different names from their fathers. And after 1870,
 1.14 Native Cultures 207

the missionaries and census takers required Native Americans to take Christian
first names, their native name becoming their last name.
The first Lame Deer (Tahca Ushte) was a great nineteenth-century warrior,
and chief of the Mnikowoju, one of the seven western tribes of the Sioux nation.
Lame Deer had three sons by his first wife, one of whom, Crazy Heart (Cante
Witko), was the paternal grandfather of John Fire Lame Deer. Tahca Ushte was
killed in 1877 by US Army soldiers under the command of General Nelson (Bear
Coat) Miles.
Crazy Heart was a famous warrior, a respected elder, and an Ogle Tanka
Un (Shirt Wearer), which was a great honour. He had been in the fight with Gen-
eral Custer in 1876. He was listened to in the councils, and people sought his
advice. John Fire Lame Deer says he never knew his grandfather, Crazy Heart,
and that his maternal grandfather, Good Fox, played a large part in his life.
Good Fox was also a great warrior, and joined in the fight with Custer. But
according to John Fire Lame Deer, he was not a killing man. His war honours
came from ‘counting coup’ – riding up to the enemy and touching them with his
coup stick. Good Fox also survived the Wounded Knee massacre of 1890. He
was respected for his bravery and wisdom, and was given the job of supervising
Sioux ceremonies, and caring for the sacred dancing ground. He died, nearly
blind, in 1928.
John Fire Lame Deer’s father was Wawi Yohi Ya (Let-Them-Have-Enough),
from Standing Rock Reservation. Reputedly, he was a kind and smiling man,
with great patience and generosity, often inviting his friends, relatives and others
to feasts or give-away ceremonies – hence his native name. The missionaries
gave him the first name of Silas and, among the whites, he later became known
as Silas Fire. Archie Fire Lame Deer explains:

The census takers who came to the reservation could not make sense of our
Indian names, because they didn’t understand the Lakota language. So they
decided to give everybody English names. They made a big joke out of it,
giving people whatever names came into their minds.… Just as Silas was
about to be named and counted, a kerosene lamp tipped over and set fire to
the tent. There was a big commotion, and someone was shouting, “Fire!
Fire!” The census taker looked at my grandfather and said, “That’s it. Your
name is Fire!”
Archie Fire Lame Deer, Gift of Power, GP p.56

Silas never went to school, and could not read or write. “He was the silent type,
kept his mouth shut and did very little talking,” says John Fire Lame Deer. “For
weeks he did not say one goddam word to me.”217
John Fire Lame Deer, a Lakota holy man from the Rosebud Reservation,
South Dakota, was also a chief of the Mnikowoju. Technically, his name would
208 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

have been John Let-Them-Have-Enough, and because of the incident mentioned,

he acquired the name Fire. But he preferred to be called Lame Deer (Tahca
Ushte) after his great-grandfather. John Fire Lame Deer says that he was born a
full-blooded Native American in a log cabin somewhere between Pine Ridge
and Rosebud. His mother was Sally Red Blanket. But, as with most Indian chil-
dren, much of his upbringing was done by his grandparents, Good Fox and his
wife, Pte Sa Ota Win (Plenty White Buffalo).
John Fire Lame Deer spent his early years on the reservation, followed by a
forced education at a boarding school run by whites. At sixteen, on a vision quest,
he had a spiritual experience, which indicated a potential for becoming a holy
man. He admits to a rowdy boyhood, and a life of carousing, rebelliousness,
rodeo-clowning, criminality, jailing, excessive drinking, and a brief period in
the US army in 1942. Only later in life did he settle down, marry (Ida), return to
traditional Native American ways, and try to help other people. John Fire’s elder
sister died in 1914; his elder brother Tom and his wife died from the ’flu in 1917;
and his mother died in 1920 from tuberculosis. He also lost a young son in the
mid–1930s, and later a foster son. John Fire Lame Deer died on December 15th
1976, and was survived by his son, Archie Fire Lame Deer.
Archie Fire Lame Deer was born in 1935 to Josephine Quick Bear. He too
admits in his autobiographical book, The Gift of Power, to having lived a rau-
cous early life. But at the age of thirty-seven, he changed to a sober life of social
service, counselling prison inmates, advocating native causes, meeting with the
Pope, the Dalai Lama and others, teaching the old Native American ways, and
conducting sacred ceremonies and rituals. He died in 2001, leaving a son, John
Lame Deer, who continues his father’s traditional ways.218
Another family providing insight into Native American life is the Crow
Dogs, who trace their family name through four generations. The first was Old
Man Crow Dog born in 1836, or maybe 1832. He was a full-blooded Brule, the
grandfather of Henry Crow Dog, a twentieth-century Lakota (Sioux) holy man,
and the great-grandfather of Leonard Crow Dog. Old Man Crow Dog was a great
horseman, a renowned buffalo hunter and a medicine man. In 1854, chief Con-
quering Bear was killed by a canon shot from Lieutenant Grattan’s soldiers, and
the warriors killed Grattan in revenge. Old Man Crow Dog was in that fight,
earning eagle feathers for his bravery, and Crow Dog history starts from this
event. When he was put on the reservation, the census taker gave him the first
name of Jerome; from then on he was known as Jerome Crow Dog. He had two
wives, Catches Her and Jumping Elk, two brothers and a half-brother. In his later
years, he killed a relative, Spotted Tail, in self-defence, and was condemned to
hang, but was subsequently pardoned by the Supreme Court. Later, he became
a Christian, though continuing to follow the old Native American religion. Even
so, guilt followed him in his old age, and he went off to live out his final years
alone, dying in 1912.219
 1.14 Native Cultures 209

John Crow Dog was the second Crow Dog, the son of Old Man Crow Dog,
the father of Henry Crow Dog, and the grandfather of Leonard Crow Dog. Like
Old Man Crow Dog, he was a loner. He avoided tribal politics, was a World
War I veteran, and felt the guilt of his father’s murderous deed. He tried peyote
once in 1920, but never joined the peyote Native American church. He lived by
himself, had no education, and went East once to join Buffalo Bill’s circus. After
a failed marriage, he lived alone, as a trapper and hunter. Two holy men once
told John never to eat dog, as it was bad medicine for him. One night he got
drunk with a friend, ate some discarded dog meat, got sick and died. Since he
was not a Christian, had never been baptized, nor ever joined the Native Ameri-
can church, he was buried on distant land, by his son, Henry.
Henry Crow Dog (1899–1985) was a twentieth-century Lakota Sioux Native
American, the son of John Crow Dog and Jumping Elk, the grandson of Old Man
Crow Dog, and the father of Leonard Crow Dog. Respected as a medicine man,
Henry Crow Dog initiated Dennis Means, a co-founder of AIM (the American
Indian Movement) into the sweat lodge ceremony, and guided him in Native
American spiritual life. Richard Erdoes observes, “Henry Crow Dog is a full-
blooded Sioux elder with a majestic face, craggy as the Black Hills themselves.
He is the grandson of the famous Crow Dog, a chief warrior, and a leader of the
Ghost Dancers.”220
In his early adult life, Henry Crow Dog worked for the railroad as a track
layer. Then, from 1934–50, he worked as a grain harvester in Nebraska. But he
never sold the land that was allotted to him by the government. He kept it, lived
on it, and used it for ceremonies, later naming it Crow Dog’s Paradise. He joined
the peyote Native American church. He claimed that when he was a boy, there
were twelve thousand Sioux alive; but after the famines, diseases, and reduced
government food rations, only six thousand Brule remained. At one time, Rose-
bud Sioux Reservation was down to maybe five hundred full-bloods. Leonard
Crow Dog, Henry’s son, says his father was the greatest eagle dancer the tribe
had ever had. Just before he died, in the winter of 1985, Henry Crow Dog said,
“I am the last real Sioux left.”221
Leonard Crow Dog (b.1942) is thus the fourth generation to carry the Crow
Dog name, and he claims that he can trace his ancestry for nine generations.222
He was one of the dancers at the 1971 Sun Dance at Wounded Knee, went on
a vision quest at the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in 1972, was sent to jail for
offences he claims were racially motivated plots against him, and joined AIM,
serving not only as its spiritual leader, but also becoming involved in many of
its political activities and violent confrontations with local and Federal govern-
ment authorities. Leonard Crow Dog played a major part in the 1973 confronta-
tion with Federal government forces at Wounded Knee, describing this event in
great detail in his book, co-authored with Richard Erdoes, Crow Dog: Four
Generations of Sioux Medicine Men. He is the father of several children, one, a
son, named Pedro.
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Another of the significant Native Americans leaders of the last century was
Wovoka (1856–1932), also known as Wagud (Wood Cutter) and Jack or Jocko
Wilson. Wovoka was a Paiute prophet, dreamer and visionary from Pyramid
Lake, Mason Valley, Nevada, forty miles northwest of the Walker Lake Reser-
vation.223 He is remembered as the founder, in 1890, of the Ghost Dance. Re-
garded as a holy man, and known as the Messiah and the Prophet, he encouraged
his people to join together in the Ghost Dance – a dance that would grant release
from poverty and famine, would overcome the white man, and would lead them
to a new world, the other world where they would be happy and free to live again
as in the old days.224 Sadly, the prophecy was never fulfilled.
Black Elk (Hehaka Sapa) (b.1863) was another renowned holy man, vision-
ary, and spiritual guide of the Oglala Sioux. “I was born,” he recalls, “in the
Moon of the Popping Trees on the Little Powder River; in the winter when the
Four Crows were killed.”225 His visions began at an early age. When only five,
he heard voices calling to him:

I was out in the woods trying to get a bird, and just as I was going into the
woods, there was a thunderstorm coming and I heard a voice over there.
This was not a dream – it actually happened. I saw two men coming out of
a cloud with spears. As I was looking up,… there was a kingbird sitting
there, and these two men were coming toward me singing the sacred
song.… The kingbird said: “Look, the clouds all over are one-sided, a voice
is calling you.”
Black Elk, in SGBE, p.109

In the summer of 1873, when Black Elk was only nine, he had his Great Vision.
While out riding with other boys, he recalls that they stopped at a creek, for a
drink. When he dismounted, his legs gave way beneath him, and he fell down,
unable to walk. The other boys helped him back onto his horse, but when they
camped that night, he was very unwell. The next day, they carried him in a pony
drag until they reached the place where a number of their people were camped.
He was lying in a tipi, his mother and father by his side, looking out through
the opening, when he saw the same two men coming out of the clouds. At this
point, it seems, he left his body, for he continues, “My legs did not hurt me any
more, and I was very light.”226 … “I followed those men on up into the clouds,
and they showed me a vision of a bay horse standing there in the middle of the
clouds.”227
Black Elk saw many other things in his Great Vision, including Thunder
Beings (wakinyan, powers of the west, having the power to destroy or to cure),
the Horses of the Four Directions, the Six Grandfathers, the Black and Red
Sacred Roads, Healings Herbs, the Sacred Tree, and the Soldier Weed of
Destruction. He was also given instructions by the Six Grandfathers. This ex-
traordinary vision is described in great detail in Black Elk Speaks but, out of
 1.14 Native Cultures 211

fear and lack of understanding of the meaning of the Thunder Beings, Black Elk
shared his vision with no one.
In the following years, fighting between the US Army and the Native Ameri-
cans became severe. In 1877, the medicine man, Crazy Horse, was killed, and
Black Elk and his people fled to Canada seeking refuge from the soldiers. Upon
his return to Pine Ridge, three years later, when he was seventeen or eighteen,
Black Elk, now obsessively overcome by fear of the Thunder Beings, revealed
his vision to Black Road, a wise old medicine man. Black Elk was told that he
was meant to be a heyoke (a clown or fool), and that he had to humble himself
before his people, so that he might carry out the message of his vision: to teach.
In 1881, Black Elk began his career as a medicine man. Over the years, he
healed and guided his people in the traditional Lakota ways, becoming a revered
sage. In 1886, he attained some notoriety by joining Buffalo Bill’s Wild West
Circus, and travelled to Europe. On his return to Pine Ridge, he found poverty,
famine and disease everywhere. In 1890, he participated in the Ghost Dance in
the hope of relieving the misery of his people. But when the Ghost Dance failed,
and so many Indians were slaughtered at Wounded Knee in December 1890,
and his wife had died, Black Elk was pressed to gave up the practice of shaman-
istic healing.
The turning point came in 1904 when a Jesuit priest interrupted Black Elk
while he was treating a sick boy. Grabbing Black Elk by the neck, he threw him
and his sacred objects out of the tent, screaming “Satan, get out!” Soon after,
Black Elk was baptized into the Catholic Church, and given a Christian first
name, Nicholas. After that, it seems, he never practised the Lakota religious
ceremonies again.228 In 1931, Black Elk met John Neihardt, and so began the
famous interviews which are recorded in the book, Black Elk Speaks.
The missionaries and several other Christian writers have thought that
Black Elk turned his back on traditional Lakota beliefs, thoroughly embracing
Catholicism. In 1977, however, Lucy Looks Twice (Black Elk’s only surviving
daughter) told Hilda Neihardt Petri (the daughter of John Neihardt) that in his
last days, as he lay sick with the family gathered round him in his home in
Manderson, South Dakota, he commented, “The only thing I really believe is
the pipe religion.”229 Frank Fools Crow once related:

Black Elk told me that he had decided that the Sioux religious way of life
was pretty much the same as that of the Christian churches, and there was
no reason to change what the Sioux were doing.
Frank Fools Crow, in SIR p.92

Frank Fools Crow (1891–1989) was a Sioux medicine man from the Pine Ridge
Reservation, highly regarded as a yuwipi man. In the yuwipi ceremony, the
yuwipi man is wrapped in a blanket, with his hands and feet tied. In the com-
plete darkness of an enclosed locked room, amidst drumming, pipe smoking,
212 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

chants, and the use of various medicine items, spirit beings fly about, usually in
the form of flashing lights, sounds, and drafts of air. When the room lights are
turned on again, the yuwipi man is found to have become untied, freed by the
spirit beings, and he then delivers the message obtained from them: healing,
instructions, the location of lost objects or persons, and so on. According to
Dr Thomas H. Lewis, a mental health worker at Pine Ridge and (in 1986) a
practising psychiatrist from Billings, Montana:

Fools Crow was one of the most powerful of the yuwipi healers, a politi-
cally powerful medicine man and sage. He is the wicasa wakan, the wapiya
wicasa, the yuwipi wapiya, the one who conducts the ritual aspects of the
Sun Dance, the priest, the medicine man. He is also the pejuta wicasa, the
medical practitioner of his district.
Thomas Lewis, in SIR pp.20, 177–78

Distortion of Native American Traditions

Although many of the oral traditions seem to be very old, referring to natural
events that occurred thousands of years ago, it is difficult to be sure that they
have remained untouched from the period before contact with Europeans. In their
retelling, the more modern experience seeps into the stories. There are religious,
political, military and economic overlays.
The Europeans came with the Christian religious tradition which teaches
that mankind was thrown out of Eden, and must struggle to subdue the ‘wilder-
ness’ without in order to survive. History is thus perceived in a straight line. For
Native North Americans, history is a series of repeating cycles that are a blueprint
for living. Their world view, in which everything has a meaning and purpose,
allowed them to accept two realities at the same time, leading the people in their
early contact with Europeans to be able to accommodate to the religion of others
without abandoning their own beliefs.
Later, though punished if not conforming to government policies, and con-
demned by Christian missionaries if not following Christian practices, the native
people may have only partially embraced other religions while never completely
relinquishing their traditional beliefs and practices. This mixing of religious
stories, symbols and ceremonies resulted in a polyglot of religious practices. To-
day some Native North Americans are Christians, others combine traditional
ways with Christian ceremonies, while others have turned to the materialistic
world, discarding all religious belief. The shamans have kept many of their prac-
tices secret, only sharing some of them in recent years with those they respect
and trust.
Translation, too, can dislodge a story from the cultural context in which it was
originally told. Scholars, on the one hand, can master textual documents, but
have little awareness of the oral culture, and no lived experience with the people
themselves. On the other hand, the Catholic priests and anthropologists who
 1.14 Native Cultures 213

spoke the language and actually lived with Native North Americans had their
own biases that influenced how they translated or understood the ancient stories.
Oral tradition is often charismatic and innovative, with new revelations
modifying or even replacing older traditions. It is meant to remain flexible and
vital. Thus, within the context of changing environmental and cultural circum-
stances, the Native North American spirit lives on. N. Scott Momaday, a modern
Native North American writer of the Kiowa people who has received the Pulitzer
Prize for one of his novels, celebrates this continuing survival of the Native North
American culture. In his poem, The Delight Song of Tsoai-Talee, he reveals the
sense of oneness with and love for all creation that characterize his people.
Tsoai–Talee is Momaday’s Kiowa name:

I am a feather in the bright sky.

I am the blue horse that runs in the plain.
I am the fish that rolls, shining, in the water.
I am the shadow that follows a child.
I am the evening light, the lustre of meadows.
I am an eagle playing with the wind.
I am a cluster of bright beads.
I am the farthest star.
I am the cold of the dawn.
I am the roaring of the rain.
I am the glitter on the crust of the snow.
I am the long track of the moon in a lake.
I am a flame of four colours.
I am a deer standing away in the dusk.
I am a field of sumac and the pomme blanche.
I am an angle of geese upon the winter sky.
I am the hunger of a young wolf.
I am the whole dream of these things.

You see, I am alive, I am alive.

I stand in good relation to the earth.
I stand in good relation to the gods.
I stand in good relation to all that is beautiful.
I stand in good relation to the daughter of Tsen-tainte.
You see, I am alive, I am alive.
N. Scott Momaday, The Delight Song of Tsoai-Talee, AGP p.22

The Nahua of Central America

Among the native peoples of Central America, the Nahua, a race who once lived
in the area now known as Mexico, are well known for their spiritual tendencies.
When the Spanish invaders arrived in Mexico during the sixteenth century, they
214 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

found the Nahua subjugated by the tyrannous Aztecs, who perpetrated holo-
causts and human sacrifices in a cruel and ruthless dominion over the other tribes
of the Mexican high plateau. Yet, as can be seen from their tradition of poetry
and love of life, the Nahua inspiration of Nahuaque, the Cause of All, still shone
through the dark horror of the Aztec ‘civilization’. The Spaniards, however,
seemed hardly to notice the deeply spiritual tradition already present among
the Nahua, and readily set about converting them to their own belief system:
Christianity.
Nevertheless, a considerable quantity of Nahua poetry has been preserved
by the deep cultural traditions of their once great nation. In their prime, the
Nahua had a tradition of poet-kings, of leaders who were possessed of wisdom
both spiritual and mundane. They saw God as the “mirror that makes things
shine”230 – clearly an image from a living rather than a petrified tradition.
The Nahua, too, had their mystic teachers. Nezahualcóyotl, a fifteenth-
century king who ruled over the state of Texcoco, bordering Mexico, seems to
have been the last of the great spiritually minded rulers. He reigned at a time
when the deep spiritual tradition was already being overlain by decadence and
the belief in a multitude of gods. By this time, the Nahua-Toltec mystic under-
standing was already on the decline, and warfare troubled the people. Nezahual-
cóyotl spoke of the inner worlds, describing them as nine in number. The ninth
world, he said, was that of the divine “Cause of All”:

In the ninth world is the Cause of All, of us and of all created things, the
only one God who created all things both visible and invisible.
Nezahualcóyotl, in FIN p.107

The South American Guaraní

The Guaraní people of South America, who live in southern Brazil, Paraguay,
Argentina and Uruguay, are of mixed Spanish and pure Guaraní descent. Be-
ginning with the Spanish conquests in the seventeenth century, acculturation was
often rapid, taking only a few generations to alter the dominant culture. A few
independent or partly acculturated tribes, remnants of the aboriginal Guaraní,
exist today in Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil.
In the forests of eastern Paraguay, there are three large subgroups of indig-
enous Guaraní: the Mbyá, the Paí Cayuá and the Avá-Chiripá, speaking Chiripá,
Mbyá, Apapokuvá and Tembecuá dialects of the Guaraní language. The Avá-
Chiripá subgroup speaks a dialect midway between the general mestizo (racially
mixed) Guaraní of Paraguay and the archaic Guaraní spoken by the Mbyá.
When encountered by Spaniards in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
the Guaraní, also called the Tupinambá, were dominant in a large area from
the Atlantic coast westward to the Paraguay River, lands now known as Brazil,
Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay. Early descriptions of the Guaraní in Para-
guay are given by Spanish conquistadors focused on dominating the native
 1.14 Native Cultures 215

people. The Guaraní were rapidly acculturated by the Spanish, whose reports
often reveal more about their colonial aims than they do about the indigenous
people.
The early Guaraní people lived in small villages of up to sixty families,
under the dual leadership of a political chief and a religious shaman. Living in a
warm climate with moderate rainfall and fertile soil, they practised a semi-
nomadic life of slash and burn agriculture, abandoning their fields for new ones
every two to three years, using no irrigation or fertilizer. They also gathered
honey, pine nuts and palm-tree products, and practised hunting and fishing.
The Guaraní, apparently, were not a class-structured society; archaeological
evidence reveals no pomp or ceremony in the burial of privileged persons. Lack-
ing a strong priestly or secular class, the Guaraní valued the paí guazú or great
shamans, who performed such services as curing disease and ensuring a good
harvest. Seventeenth-century records indicate that shamans may also have been
village chiefs. Their religious mythology centred on the Creator, Nanderú
Guazú, and his twin sons, Kurahy and Yacy.
At the time of the conquest, these native people spoke Old Guaraní, known
in present times through written documents of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. These documents were written by Jesuits, who wrote the first Guaraní
grammar, and who first put the Guaraní language into writing.
Contact of the Guaraní with Europeans was devastating. Thousands died
from European diseases brought to South America by the Spanish. Countless
others were taken as slaves by the Portuguese. According to the French anthro-
pologist, Pierre Clastres, the Guaraní, numbering 1,500,000 in 1530, were re-
duced to 150,000 by 1730.
In Paraguay, aboriginal Guaraní life was quickly altered as the two groups
merged into a distinctive national culture. Some Guaraní elements – kinship ties
and village organization – adapted to Spanish influence; other Guaraní ways –
the role of women as agricultural workers and kinship labour obligations – were
incorporated into colonial patterns.
In Paraguay, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, around 60,000
Guaraní lived in mission towns founded and run by Jesuit priests. Many books
have been written about the Jesuits in Paraguay. From 1607 to 1768, the Jesuits
formed and maintained settlements of the native people. These mission towns,
called Reductions, were in areas remote from the central Spanish settlement. The
controversial social order of the missions, a sort of communism, has been ideal-
ized or condemned depending on various writers’ viewpoints. Religious teach-
ings were emphasized, and economic affairs were strictly communal. Everyone
dressed alike and lived in identical dwellings. Field work was collective, herds
and granaries were publicly owned, and the products of work were equally dis-
tributed. Only the Jesuits themselves, the benevolent dictators, were socially
distinctive. When they were expelled in 1767, the Reductions fell apart, with
the native people leaving the missions and retreating to the forest, joining the
216 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Guaraní who had lived as ‘wild men’. The Avá Chiripá are believed to have lived
under the Jesuits for these one 150 years or so.
As Philip Caraman explains in The Lost Paradise: An Account of the Jesuits
in Paraguay, the character of the Guaraní people contributed to the initial success
of the Jesuits there. The Jesuits, he observes, described the Guaraní as mono-
theists who seemed “close to the kingdom of God”.231 He notes that Bartolomé
Meliá, a Spanish Jesuit of Asunción who was on good terms with aboriginal
Guaraní in the forests of Paraguay, reported that he found enough religion in
common with them to stay up “three or four hours a night praying with them to
their big Father”.232
Paraguay today has a mestizo population that speaks the Guaraní language
and retains some of the original native musical tradition. Much of the tribal
culture and organization has been lost by this blending of Guaraní and Spanish
cultures, although the Guaraní language has survived to become the dominant
language of Paraguay. In spite of the fact that almost everyone in eastern Para-
guay speaks Guaraní, Spanish is the official language taught in schools. Written
Guaraní is not common except in popular magazines, and in songs and poems
that circulate in print. This hinders standardization of the language.
Guaraní is a Tupian language, spoken by the Guaraní tribes at the time of
the Spanish conquest, and known through written documents of the seven-
teenth and eighteenth centuries. The exact number of dialects and languages
of the Tupí stock remained unknown, even as late as 1967. Variations of the
Tupí-Guaraní language are spoken in Bolivia and Argentina, as well as Para-
guay. Several dialects are spoken by tribes in Brazil, eastern Paraguay and
Argentina.
The Avá-Chiripá, a subgroup of the Guaraní, call themselves the Avá-
Katú-ité, or ‘the true men’. From a study of their oral traditions and their history
as recorded by Spanish chroniclers, Leon Cádogan believes the Avá-Chiripá
were survivors of the destruction during the Tarumá pacifications. At that time
there were two great Guaraní chiefs, Paraguá and Guarirá. Paraguá allowed his
people to be subjugated and Christianized by the Spaniards, while Guarirá’s
followers retreated into the deep forests. It was the followers of Paraguá who
lived in the Jesuit ‘Reductions’ until the expulsion of the Jesuits.
Thus, the present Avá-Chiripá are probably descendants of Guaraní who
returned to live in the forest after living for a 150 years under the instruction
of priests of the Society of Jesus. The question naturally arises, therefore: what
effect has Christianity had on their religious beliefs and rituals? Bartolomé main-
tains that the Jesuits’ influence was superficial.
Although the Avá-Chiripá lived under Jesuit rule for almost 150 years, if
their rich mythology is compared with that of other groups (e.g. the Mbyá) who
were not evangelized, it can be appreciated that both oral traditions are basi-
cally similar. This persistence bears witness to the fact that there was little or no
interruption in the transmission of tribal myths and cosmological concepts even
 1.14 Native Cultures 217

within the missions. The proselytizing process produced a few syncretic mani-
festations, but did not succeed in altering the symbolic content of the indigenous
culture at the deepest level.233
While it has been claimed that the feathered cross which the Avá-Chiripá
use in their rituals is borrowed from Christian symbolism, Bartolomé points out
that the symbol is found in early Apapokuvá cosmogony, which describes the
eternal wooden cross upon which the Creator, Nanderú Guazú, built the earth.
As Bartolomé further explains, the Avá-Chiripá actually used the Jesuits’ Chris-
tian teaching to reinforce their own spiritual and religious beliefs. Believing in
their shamans as healers and holy men whose souls could travel to divine realms
and commune with God and God’s Messengers, the Avá-Chiripá accepted Christ
as a great shaman of former times.
The Guaraní are deeply and intensely focused on the ideals of spiritual life,
including spiritual perfection, meditation and soul travel. Pierre Clastres called
them “the theologians of the forest”.234 Egon Schaden has said:

Throughout the world there is certainly no people or tribe to whom the bibli-
cal phrase, “My kingdom is not of this world,” is more applicable. The entire
mental universe of the Guaraní revolves round the concept of the Beyond.
Egon Schaden, Aspectos Fundamentais da Cultura Guaraní, in SAC p.105

León Cádogan has likewise written:

The Guaraní is the man who waits, dreams, and sings. But above all, he is
the man who prays, who is trying to know God, and live by His side.
León Cádogan, La Literatura de los Guaraníes, LG p.32

Central religious beliefs of the Guaraní are expressed in a cosmogony and myth-
ology that pre-existed the mid-sixteenth-century Spanish arrival in South
America. This mythology, from the Mbyá group, was written down in the
Guaraní language by the Jesuits in the book Ayvu Rapytá (Origin of the Word).
Here the Guaraní express their belief that man has a soul of divine origin. The
first work of the Creator (Mybá) was the Ñe’eng or vital Word, the divine part
of the soul. The divine soul was sent by Ñe’eng Rú Eté (True Father of the vital
Word) to dwell within man.
Noting the striking similarity to the opening lines of John’s gospel, “In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,”
it can be understood why Clastres called the Guaraní “theologians of the forest”.
While ñe’e means ‘speech’ in classical Guaraní, Bartolomé observes that ‘lan-
guage (ñe’e)’ and ‘soul of divine origin (ang)’ are synonymous among Guaraní
groups such as the Chiripá, the Mbyá Jeguakáva, and the Apapokuvá. He also
notes that most Mbyá subgroups define Ñe’eng as ‘divine human soul’ or ‘human
voice’ or ‘the vital Word’.
218 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Nanderú Guazú, the Creator, is the supreme deity of the Guaraní. Nanderú
Mbaé-Kua’a, the Creator’s companion, plays a vague role in earthly life.
Kurahy, the sun god and the prototypical shaman, is one of the twin sons of
Nanderú and the First Mother, Nandé Cy. Yacy, the moon god, is the other twin
son of Nanderú. These deities are common to the Guaraní people as a whole.
Both spiritual endeavours and religious rituals of the Guaraní centre on
shamans, who serve as spiritual leaders of their communities. In Bartolomé’s
account of the Avá-Chiripá, the shaman pursues an intense inner spiritual life
by means of a vegetarian diet and deep meditation, in which he evokes the
image of a master shaman.

Australian Aboriginal Spirituality

Australian Aboriginal culture is profoundly influenced by a spiritual perception
of the world: every element of traditional Aboriginal life is saturated by reli-
gious practice that is grounded in a spiritual way of looking at things. The
depth of this spirituality, however, is very difficult to gauge. There are two
main reasons for this.
Firstly, Aboriginal society throughout Australia experienced rapid and
traumatic transformation after the arrival of Europeans in 1788; almost all this
history involved systematic displacement, dispossession, genocide and exploi-
tation at the hands of European settlers, who often justified their obliteration and
repression of Aboriginal spiritual practices in the name of progress. Entire tribes,
once occupying vast tracts of land, have been completely destroyed. Until the
1970s, harsh laws and racial discrimination threatened to obliterate the surviving
pockets of traditional culture in central and northern Australia. But Aboriginal
communities across the continent preserved, and still observe, spiritual practices
of many types.
Secondly, Aboriginal people are, because of this history, extremely reluc-
tant to communicate all except the most outward of their spiritual and religious
practices, and are eager to protect their privacy. Successive initiations into spir-
itual practices and strictly observed secrecy about the contents of these esoteric
initiations are absolutely central and ubiquitous.
In a culture dominated by a living sense of a mystical cosmology – one that
is believed in and deeply felt by almost all Aboriginal people – it is extremely
difficult to judge the degree to which Aboriginal spiritual practices correspond
to those of any other system of mysticism. Although many Aboriginal spiritual
practices probably parallel those of other cultures, traditional Aboriginal cul-
ture throws up almost insurmountable obstacles to comparative religious study.
A study of mystical life in traditional Aboriginal culture is further hindered
by the absence of Aboriginal written records, the unreliability and inconsistency
of European studies of Aboriginal mysticism, and the customary Aboriginal
secrecy. Recent research into Aboriginal spirituality has exposed fundamental
flaws in earlier records and descriptions, where even the transcription of names
 1.14 Native Cultures 219

varied wildly. This leaves very little credible material for any study of Aboriginal
mysticism, and has led to a universal reluctance by knowledgable Aborigines to
provide any account of their esoteric teachings. An example of the inadequacy
and inaccuracy of European written sources is the conclusion of one early-
twentieth-century observer that he had found the mystically inclined descend-
ants of the ancient Egyptians.
It is therefore impossible to separate Aboriginal mysticism from its historical
context. Its emphasis seems to have been on the establishment and maintenance
of a mystical relationship with the land, the natural world of plants and animals,
and the spirits and gods associated with creation, rather than with the liberation
of the soul. Moreover, traditional Aboriginal society was never monolithic: there
were many societies, hundreds of language groups, and their spiritual beliefs
were in a constant state of transition, responding to the teachings of different
spiritual leaders, both before and after the arrival of European settlers.
Baiami, for example, is the name of a Supreme Being who appears in ac-
counts of the cosmogony of Aboriginal tribes in southeastern Australia that
differ significantly from those in the North. Baiami dwells in heaven on a throne
of transparent crystal surrounded by beautifully carved pillars from which
emanate the colours of the rainbow. He created a son, Grogorally, who mediates
between earth and heaven: “The son’s spirit they represent as being in every part
of the habitable world, spreading – as was expressed to me – over the supposed
distance of England to Sydney.”235 Another intermediary, Moodgeegally, is
portrayed as the first human, periodically ascending by a path of ladders and
steps, Dallamangel, on a three-day journey to heaven.236
Many observers have noted that Aboriginal religions are very much cen-
tred upon ‘this’ world, as opposed to spiritual liberation from earthly existence.
The omnipresent religious activities of Aboriginal people relate to the conduct
of life here on earth and after death. Although some researchers have recorded
an Aboriginal belief in the reincarnation of departed relatives,237 there seems to
be no widespread belief in individual spiritual life before birth or after death.238
Wallace notes that Aboriginal philosophy does not envisage existence preced-
ing creation; the spirit ancestors appeared and changed what had already been
created. In this tradition there is no First Cause, world origin or creation. In many
other ways, the beliefs of Aboriginal peoples are different from those of other
spiritual teachings. Various cults have also arisen due to European influence that
incorporate Christian references to mystical revelation, such as the Kimberleys
(a rugged mountain region in arid northwestern Australia) cult of the Revelation
of Jinimin, an Aboriginal form of Jesus, and the ‘Sunday Business’ cult.
It is necessary to emphasize, therefore, the hermetic nature of Aboriginal
society. As one anthropologist, Richard Kimber, observes: there is a “fantastic
amount of secrecy” involved in the continuous initiatory religious activity of
the Western Desert and other traditional communities.239 Apart from detribalized
Aboriginal groups, according to Wallace, “Aboriginal people have no atheists,
220 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

no agnostics. Each Aboriginal person is a true believer in his or her own reli-
gious culture.”240 Indeed, Aboriginal mystical poetry, preserved in oral form, can
resound with the urgency and sense of mystic revelation familiar from the more
widely known mystical traditions. According to Piruwarna, an old Aborigine
from the Pilbara Desert:

Sit with dignity and talk with composure!

No small talk!
Elaborate on this: What means more to you:
The silly splinter that went in?
Or the spirit from heaven – which you really are –
to wait in the waterhole?
Piruwarna, in PSH p.1

Perhaps one of the most well known concepts of Aboriginal spiritual life is
‘dreamings’, brought to the notice of European culture by Peter Sutton’s book,
Dreamings: The Art of Aboriginal Australia. Dreamings are ancestral beings:
according to Aboriginal belief, they precede and endure beyond the life of any
person and are inherent in things and people. Anthropologist W.E.H. Stanner
quoted one old Aboriginal: “Old man, you listen! Something is there; we do not
know what; something … like engine, like power, plenty of power; it does hard
work; it pushes.”241
The word ‘dreaming’ is itself a recent mistranslation from a Central
Australian Aboriginal language. Aboriginal people believe that the world was
created in a series of founding dramas in which ancestors, at once human and
nonhuman in form, emerged from the depths of the spirit world. These mythical
ancestors liberated life-giving forces in a creation story that loosely corresponds
to the descent of life forces towards the material plane as described in other
mystical traditions, and Aboriginal people often emphasize the involution of
spiritual force into matter.
Certain places are supposed to have retained the imprint of the passage of
these spirits. At these places, life force pours forth in spiritual currents. In other
words, something came out of, moved across and went back into the earth at
these sites. In the absence of writing and permanent places of worship, the loca-
tion of events in space takes on special significance. Spiritual power residing in
sacred sites can be tapped with the appropriate rituals and, over a period of many
years, Aboriginal adults are gradually initiated into more ceremonies, learning
the deeper and more hermetic meanings of the ceremonies associated with these
sacred sites. Such activities take up a significant proportion of the time of tradi-
tional communities. Teddy Jampinjinpa, a Central Desert Aborigine, explains
how their ceremonies are necessary for the continued well-being of the land:
“We got to have Kurdunguru (ritual overseers) and Kirda (ritual embodiers of
ancestral events).… We hold the country every time, never lose him together.”242
 1.15 The Perennial Philosophy 221

The dreaming is also referred to as the Law. It is not unlike the foundational
concept of many of the world religions, but is distinct from them in its insist-
ence on the omnipresence of the dreaming as a living experience in each indi-
vidual’s experience of spirituality. This mystical conception of individual
experience is confirmed by the way that, when a new sacred song or piece of
knowledge is invented or discovered by the Aboriginal people, it is said to have
been “found”.
In traditional Aboriginal thought, there is no distinction between the sacred
and the profane: all aspects of life revolve around the Law. There is, according
to Wallace, “nothing that happens in everyday life that is not decreed by the spirit
ancestors”.243 Wallace explains the Aborigines’ literal belief in the ancestors,
their teaching and their totemic significance, through the myth of Wati Malu,
the ‘Man-Kangaroo’, who is the spirit ancestor of all kangaroos and all people
of the kangaroo totem. In the myth, the spirit ancestor changed the landscape of
Central Australia as he travelled, and the places where he stood during his travels
are now sacred sites. There are rocks that represent incidents along his way, and
each has a name. They contain the same life force (kurunpa), and people visit
them. A man will point to these stones, saying: “This is my uncle,” and all
present will acknowledge the truth of the statement. Such beliefs are embraced
by both men and women.
Spiritual perceptions and access to higher worlds can be experienced only
through continued participation and involvement in religious life. Such spiritual
consciousness is found in old men and women, whom anthropologist A.P. Elkin
referred to as “men of high degree”. These old people have abilities resembling
yogic siddhis: to travel through the air, to travel under the ground, to read minds
and to prophesy events. Such men and women follow a tradition of spiritual and
magical practices that may be categorized as an Australian form of shamanism.
These ‘doctor-men’ travel in inner worlds during dreams, remember their con-
tents, and interpret and teach their significance. All people are supposed to have
the potential to be doctor-men, although this potential is rarely called upon. The
power of doctor-men is recognized and respected in traditional communities but,
unlike the shamans of some other indigenous tribes, their abilities are shared to
different degrees by other members of each tribe.

1.15 T HE P ERENNIAL P HILOSOPHY

As these glimpses of the world’s religious and spiritual traditions indicate,
mysticism does exist as more than just another belief system. However it may
be explained, and whether or not a person believes in it, there are those who
have had mystical experiences. It is their teachings and writings which have
formed what is loosely called mysticism. Such mystics have lived in all ages
and cultures of the past; they have been present in probably all religions; and
222 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

they are living at the present time. Mysticism, as Aldous Huxley called it, is the
perennial philosophy.
Those who have had some kind of true mystical experience are agreed that
its reality is self-evident, and that its relevance to life is fundamental. But be-
cause mystical experience is essentially indescribable, mystical teachings are
very easily misunderstood. Most people try to understand spiritual matters
through words and intellect, since that is the normal means of human compre-
hension. But to try and understand spiritual experience through the intellect
leads automatically to differences of opinion, for no two human beings see or
describe things in the same way. Moreover, there are many stations on the as-
cent to the Divine, and mystics who have reached different levels on the spir-
itual journey have often described things differently. It is because of these
differences – human and mystical – that the various religions and spiritual
traditions have evolved.
Cultures diverge; religions develop out of spiritual traditions and mystical
teachings when social circumstances are conducive; various differences of be-
lief develop within these traditions; splinter groups form and major schisms
take place; there may even be outbreaks of violence and war in the name of
God. These are all matters of history, the product of human prejudice and human
limitations.
Even so, the belief that behind everything there is one God, one Great Spirit,
one primal divine Energy, one common ground on which all human beings are
the same – this belief is never completely smothered. It runs as a common thread
through all human existence. To find that Reality is the aim of all true mysti-
cism, and the height of all true mystical experience.

Notes
1. N.K. Sandars, Epic of Gilgamesh, EG p.24.
2. N.K. Sandars, Epic of Gilgamesh, EG p.26.
3. N.K. Sandars, quoting various Sumerian sources, EG p.26.
4. See S.N. Kramer, Sumerian Mythology, SMS pp.177–79.
5. See Geoffrey Bibby, Looking for Dilmun, LD pp.151–52.
6. W.B. Henning, Zoroastrianism, in ERL p.294.
7. Search “Zoroastrianism” and “numbers” on the internet for a varied selection
of relevant data.
8. 2 Kings 14:25.
9. Genesis 12:1ff.
10. Deuteronomy 6:3, 11:9, 26:9,15, 27:3, 31:20; Ezekiel 20:6,15; Exodus 3:8,
8:8,17, 13:5, 33:3; Jeremiah 11:5, 32:33; Joshua 5:6; Leviticus 20:24;
Numbers 13:27, 14:8, 16:13–14; see also Genesis 17:1ff.
 Notes 223

11. e.g. Zohar 1:89a, 97b; cf. ZSS1 pp.295, 322.

12. Genesis 17:1ff.
13. Genesis 32:28.
14. Exodus 3:1ff.
15. cf. Zohar 5:260b–261a; cf. ZSS5 pp.344–45.
16. 1 Samuel 16:13, KJV.
17. 1 Samuel 18:12, 14, 28.
18. 2 Kings 2:11.
19. 2 Kings 2:11–12.
20. Ezekiel 1:4ff., 8:1ff., 10:1ff., 40:1ff.
21. David Blumenthal, Understanding Jewish Mysticism, UJM pp.189–91.
22. David Blumenthal, Understanding Jewish Mysticism, UJM p.190.
23. Paul Fenton, The Treatise of the Pool, TOP pp.1–7.
24. Paul Fenton, The Treatise of the Pool, TOP p.64 (n.95).
25. Ben Zion Bokser, Jewish Mystical Tradition, JMT p.15.
26. Pliny the Elder, Natural History V:15.
27. Josephus, Antiquities XV:371 (10.4), JCW p.333.
28. Philo Judaeus, Every Good Man who is Virtuous is also Free 12, WPJ3 p.523.
29. Philo Judaeus, Every Good Man who is Virtuous is also Free 12, WPJ3 p.523.
30. Thanksgiving Hymns IX:10–15 (6), CDSS p.253.
31. Thanksgiving Hymns IX:20–25 (6), CDSS p.254.
32. Thanksgiving Hymns XVI:1–15 (18), CDSS pp.278–79.
33. John 10:30, KJV.
34. John 1:14, KJV.
35. John 4:10–11, 7:38, KJV.
36. John 6:31–58, KJV.
37. John 15:1–8, KJV.
38. John 6:1ff.
39. John 9:1ff.
40. John 11:1ff.
41. John 4:9ff.
42. John 3:1ff., KJV.
43. 2 John 1:1; 3 John 1:1.
44. 1 John 1:1.
45. See also 1 John (glossary) and The Gospel of Jesus, GJ p.106ff.
46. See The Gospel of Jesus, GJ p.82ff.
47. For a more detailed comparison of Luke and Matthew’s accounts, see The
Gospel of Jesus, GJ pp.94–97.
48. Matthew 1:20, 2:6; Luke 1:27,32,69, 2:4,11; Isaiah 7:13–14, 11:1–16; Micah 5:1.
49. For a more detailed comparison of Luke and Matthew’s accounts, see The
Gospel of Jesus, GJ pp.94–97.
50. Colossians 4:14, KJV.
51. Matthew 24:1–2, Luke 21:5–6, 20.
52. Acts 23:6.
53. Acts 26:5, ANTH.
54. Acts 22:28.
224 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

55. Acts 23:16ff.

56. Ephesians 3:10.
57. 1 Corinthians 1:24, 2:7.
58. Some scholars believe Colossians and Ephesians to be an elaboration of Paul’s
philosophy by others. See Colossians (Glossary).
59. Acts 9:19–25.
60. Acts 9:27–30.
61. Acts 23:23–24.
62. Acts 24:26–27.
63. Acts 25:1ff.
64. Acts 27:1ff.
65. Acts 26:32.
66. 1 Corinthians 11:23–26 on the eucharistic meal is perhaps the only exception.
67. Galatians 1:17–19, 2:1–21.
68. Acts 9:26–28.
69. Acts 15:36–41.
70. See Colossians (Glossary).
71. See ANTH p.518.
72. M.R. James, The Apocryphal New Testament, ANT p.364.
73. 1 Corinthians 3:19.
74. Acts 8:9ff.
75. Acts 8:13.
76. Clementine Recognitions I:54, II:7–12, CR pp.179, 196–200; Clementine
Homilies II:23–24, CH pp.42–43.
77. Mark 3:22.
78. Irenaeus, Against Heresies I:23, AH1 p.86ff.
79. Justin Martyr, First Apology XXVI, WJMA p.29.
80. Justin Martyr, First Apology XXVI, WJMA p.30; Eusebius, History of the
Church 3:26, HC p.136.
81. Justin Martyr, First Apology XXVI, WJMA p.29; Irenaeus, Against Heresies
I:23.4, AH1 p.89.
82. e.g. Irenaeus, Against Heresies I:23–24, AH1 pp.89–93; Hippolytus, Refutation
of All Heresies VII, RAH pp.265–307; Hegesippus, in Eusebius, History of the
Church 4:22, HC p.182.
83. Eusebius, History of the Church 4:7, HC p.158; Epiphanius, Panarion 2:22–24,
PES p.55.
84. Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies VII:17, WCA2 p.486.
85. Hegesippus, in Eusebius, History of the Church 4:22, HC p.182.
86. See also: reincarnation and transmigration (in Christianity) (4.3).
87. Jeremiah 32:14–15.
88. E.S. Drower, Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans, CPM pp.vii–viii.
89. Torgny Säve-Söderbergh, Studies in the Coptic-Manichaean Psalm Book,
SCMP p.85ff.
90. E.S. Drower, Secret Adam, SA pp.xi–xii, 39–40, 46.
91. E.S. Drower, Secret Adam, SA pp.xii–xiii.
92. E.S. Drower, Secret Adam, SA pp.xiii–xiv.
 Notes 225

93. Epiphanius, Panarion 2:29.5.7; see also Panarion 1:18.1.1; cf. PES pp.42, 116.
94. E.S. Drower, Secret Adam, SA pp.xiv–xvi, 111–13.
95. Al-Bīrūnī, Chronology of Ancient Nations 208, CAN p.190.
96. Al-Bīrūnī, Chronology of Ancient Nations 207, CAN p.189.
97. Al-Bīrūnī, Chronology of Ancient Nations 208, CAN p.191.
98. Manichaean Homilies, MHP p.44, in MM p.38.
99. Manichaean Homilies, MHP p.45, in MM p.39.
100. Al-Bīrūnī, Chronology of Ancient Nations 208, CAN p.191.
101. Manichaean Homilies, MHP pp.48–67, in MM p.42; cf. Manichaean Psalm
Book CCXXVI, MPB pp.18–19.
102. A Manichaean Psalm-Book, Part II, ed. and tr. by C.R.C. Allbery (MPB).
103. See also: reincarnation and transmigration (in Christianity) (4.3).
104. e.g. Plato, Cratylus 400c (imprisonment of the soul); Laws VI:782.c–d
(vegetarianism).
105. Ion of Chios, Triads, in Diogenēs Laertius, Lives of the Philosophers VIII:8,
EGP p.82.
106. cf. Porphyry, Life of Pythagoras 37; Origen, Against Celsus I:3, OCC p.8;
Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies V:9, WCA2 pp.254–56.
107. Porphyry, Life of Pythagoras 37.
108. e.g. Origen, Against Celsus V:49, VIII:28–30, OCC pp.303, 471–74;
Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies VI:XXI, RAH pp.220–21; Iamblichus,
Life of Pythagoras 3, 14, 16, 24, ILP pp.6–7, 31, 36, 58.
109. Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies VII:17; cf. RAH pp.293–96.
110. Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies VI:20; cf. RAH pp.219–20.
111. Empedoclēs, in Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies VII:17, RAH p.294.
112. Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies IV:13, RAH pp.80–81.
113. Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies VI:47, RAH p.259.
114. Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies IX:9, RAH p.347.
115. Iamblichus, Life of Pythagoras 15, PL p.155.
116. See Peter Gorman, Pythagoras: A Life, PL p.170.
117. e.g. Plato, Republic 10:614–19; Aristotle, On the Heavens 2906; Plotinus,
Enneads 5:1.12; Iamblichus, Life of Pythagoras 15, ILP p.37, PL p.155;
Porphyry, Life of Pythagoras 30; Simplicius, Commentary on Aristotle’s On
the Heavens, in ILP p.33.
118. Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies I:15, WCA1 pp.396–97.
119. Plutarch, On Osiris and Isis 10.
120. Porphyry, Life of Pythagoras 12, PL p.63.
121. Diogenēs Laertius, Lives of the Philosophers 1:24, 36, 39.
122. Aristotle, Physics 203b6; Simplicius, Commentary on Aristotle’s “Physics”
24:13; Plutarch, Miscellanies fragment 179.2, in Eusebius, Preparation for
the Gospel 1:7.16; Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies I:5.
123. Diogenēs Laertius (Lives of the Philosophers 8:2) and Porphyry (Life of
Pythagoras 2, 15) both mention Pythagoras’ association with Pherecydēs in
their respective biographies; see PL p.25.
124. Plotinus, Enneads V:1.9, PEP p.358.
125. Peter Gorman, Pythagoras: A Life, PL p.181ff.
226 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

126. Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies I:15, WCA1 p.399.

127. Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies I:2, 22, RAH pp.35, 61.
128. Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies V:8, WCA2 p.251.
129. See P. Wheelwright, Heraclitus, HPW p.116.
130. Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies V:8, WCA2 p.251.
131. Clement of Alexandria, in HPW p.116.
132. Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies VI:2, WCA2 p.318.
133. Lambridis, Empedoclēs, EHL pp.36–37.
134. e.g. Plato, Phaedrus 229–230, PPL p.25.
135. Plato, Letters VII:324e; cf. PET p.216, SPE p.193.
136. Plato, Phaedo 64a, DP1 p.414; cf. PEA pp.222–23.
137. Plato, Phaedo 64c, PEA pp.222–23.
138. Plato, Phaedo 64e–65a; cf. DP1 p.415, PDS p.117, PEA pp.224–25.
139. Plato, Phaedo 67e, PEA pp.234–35.
140. Plato, Phaedo 69d; cf. DP1 p.421, PEA pp.240–41.
141. Plato, Phaedo 67c; cf. DP1 p.418, PEA pp.232–33.
142. Homer, Iliad 7:460.
143. Plotinus, in Porphyry, Life of Plotinus 3, PEP p.civ.
144. Porphyry, Life of Plotinus 1, PEP p.cii.
145. Porphyry, Life of Plotinus 9.
146. Porphyry, Life of Plotinus 12.
147. Porphyry, Life of Plotinus 11.
148. Porphyry, Life of Plotinus 16.
149. Porphyry, Life of Plotinus 23, PEC p.vi.
150. Porphyry, Life of Plotinus 2, PEC p.vi.
151. Plotinus, in Porphyry, Life of Plotinus 14, PEP p.cxiii.
152. Qur’ān 35:10.
153. Material on the life and revelations of Muammad draws liberally from:
Karen Armstrong, Muammad: A Biography of the Prophet, MBP pp.46,
55, 89; Maxime Rodinson, Muammad, MMR pp.42, 47, 135, 150, 205;
W. Montgomery Watt, Muammad: Prophet and Statesman; Marmaduke
Pickthall, Introduction to The Meaning of the Glorious Koran.
154. See also Qur’ān 6:125, 39:22.
155. Qur’ān 19:1ff.
156. Jalāl al-Dīn Suyū ī, Itqān fī ‘Ulūm al-Qur’ān in MMR p.74, in HGKA p.163.
157.
adīth aī al-Bukhārī 1:1.2, in CEI p.335; cf. in MP p.39.
158. e.g. Qur’ān 7:156–58.
159. Qur’ān 33:50.
160. e.g. Maxime Rodinson, Muammad, MMR pp.134, 176, 194, 205, 213,
254–55, 258, 279.
161. e.g. Abdul Hameed Siddiqui, The Life of Muhammad, LOM pp.238–39.
162. Rūmī, Maśnavī II, Preface, MJR2 p.221.
163. Al-Qushayrī, in Kashf al-Majūb XII:7, KM p.167.
164. See M.A. Sells, Early Islamic Mysticism, EIM p.17.
165. Rābi‘ah, in Tadhkirat al-Awliyā’ 1, TAN1 p.67, TAI p.81, in SW p.49.
166. Junayd, in Tadhkirat al-Awliyā’ 2, TAN2 pp.35–36; cf. in LSN p.57.
 Notes 227

167. cf. R.A. Nicholson, Mystics of Islam, MOI p.29.

168. Al-Qushayrī, in Kashf al-Majūb XII:7, KM p.167.
169. Qur’ān 18:109.
170. Bihadārayaka Upanishad 2:4.10.
171. ig Veda 10:90.
172. M. Hiriyanna, Outlines of Indian Philosophy, OIP pp.299–300.
173. M. Hiriyanna, Outlines of Indian Philosophy, OIP p.300.
174. Material for the section on Sikhism has been drawn largely from Guru
Nānak and the Sikh Religion, W.H. McLeod, GNS pp.1–147; A History of
the Sikhs, Khushwant Singh, passim; A Short History of the Sikhs, Teja
Singh & Ganda Singh, passim; The Sikh Gurus and the Sikh Religion,
Anil Chandra Banerjee, passim; and Sikhism, Hew McLeod, SHM pp.1–84.
175. Hew McLeod, Sikhism, SHM pp.72–84.
176. Sikh Reht Maryada, SRM passim.
177. Hew McLeod, Guru Nānak and the Sikh Religion, GNS pp.146–47.
178. Ādi Granth pp.1391–92.
179. Hew McLeod, Sikhism, SHM pp.15–16; Guru Nānak and the Sikh Religion,
GNS p.28.
180. Hew McLeod, Sikhism, SHM pp.16–17.
181. Khushwant Singh, A History of the Sikhs, HS1 p.54.
182. Hew McLeod, Sikhism, SHM pp.31, 303 (n.7).
183. Khushwant Singh, A History of the Sikhs, HS1 pp.60–61.
184. J.D. Cunningham, A History of the Sikhs, AHS p.53 (n.3).
185. Khushwant Singh, A History of the Sikhs, HS1 pp.63–64.
186. Khushwant Singh, A History of the Sikhs, HS1 p.66.
187. Ādi Granth 466.
188. cf. Hew McLeod, Sikhism, SHM pp.43–44.
189. George Forster, A Journey from Bengal to England, JBE1 p.260.
190. Ghulām usayn, Sayyār al-Muta’akhkhirīn, in SHS1 p.56 (n.1).
191. Hew McLeod, Sikhism, SHM p.46.
192. e.g. Gopal Singh, A History of the Sikh People, HSP pp.263–64 (n.*).
193. Hew McLeod, Sikhism, SHM pp.49–50.
194. Khushwant Singh, A History of the Sikhs, HS1 p.86.
195. Guru Gobind Singh, Zafarnāmā, in HS1 p.92.
196. Khushwant Singh, A History of the Sikhs, HS1 p.93 (n.35).
197. Khushwant Singh, A History of the Sikhs, HS1 pp.314–317.
198. Bahādur Shāh Nāmah (August 2nd 1707), in HS1 pp.94.
199. Khushwant Singh, A History of the Sikhs, HS1 p.95.
200. Hew McLeod, Sikhism, SHM pp.49–50.
201. Largely drawn from Khushwant Singh, A History of the Sikhs, HS1 p.125ff.
202. Khushwant Singh, A History of the Sikhs, HS1 p.126.
203. Hew McLeod, Sikhism, SHM pp.70–72.
204. Kabīr, Ādi Granth 871.
205. Guru Arjun, Ādi Granth 1075.
206. Guru Nānak, Ādi Granth 938.
207. Guru Nānak, Ādi Granth 1291.
228 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

208. Guru Amardās, Ādi Granth 917.

209. Guru Arjun, Ādi Granth 205.
210. Guru Arjun, Ādi Granth 102.
211. Guru Arjun, Ādi Granth 678.
212. Majjhima Nikāya 32, MLB p.312.
213. S. Radhakrishnan, Indian Philosophy 1, IP1 p.447.
214. S. Radhakrishnan, Indian Philosophy 1, IP1 p.453.
215. Ake Hultkrantz, Native Religions of North America, NRA p.16.
216. Arval Looking Horse, in SIR p.69.
217. John Fire Lame Deer, Lame Deer: Seeker of Visions, LDS p.22.
218. For the above, see John Fire Lame Deer and Richard Erdoes, Lame Deer:
Seeker of Visions, LDS pp.17–23, 36–37, passim.
219. Leonard Crow Dog and Richard Erdoes, Crow Dog, CDF pp.8–11, 27–39.
220. Richard Erdoes, American Indian Myths and Legends, AIM p.19.
221. Henry Crow Dog, in CDF pp.53–62.
222. Leonard Crow Dog and Richard Erdoes, Crow Dog, CDF p.7.
223. John Neihardt, The Sixth Grandfather, SGBE p.56 (n.3).
224. J.R.Walker, Lakota Belief and Ritual, LBR p.297 (n.46).
225. Black Elk, in BES p.7.
226. Black Elk, in BES p.22.
227. Black Elk, in SGBE p.114.
228. John Neihardt, The Sixth Grandfather, SGBE pp.6–14.
229. Black Elk, in BEF p.119.
230. Nahua Poetry, in Firefly in the Night, FIN p.32.
231. Philip Caraman, The Lost Paradise, LP p.41.
232. Philip Caraman, The Lost Paradise, LP p.41.
233. Miguel Bartolomé, Shamanism Among the Avá-Chiripá, SAC p.105.
234. Pierre Clastres, in GG p.19.
235. James Manning, in A Place for Strangers, PSH p.127.
236. Tony Swain, A Place for Strangers, PSH p.127.
237. C.P. Mountford, Aboriginal Conception Beliefs, ACB pp.14–15, 53–55; cf.
BCT p.35, MLM p.27, NTA p.25.
238. Noel Wallace, in Ancestor Spirits, ASC p.85.
239. Richard Kimber, in Ancestor Spirits, ASC p.40.
240. Noel Wallace, in Ancestor Spirits, ASC p.62.
241. W.E.H. Stanner, in Dreamings, DAAA p.15.
242. Teddy Jampinjinpa, in A Place for Strangers, PSH p.50.
243. Noel Wallace, in Ancestor Spirits, ASC p.73.
BIOGRAPHIC AND BIBLIOGRAPHIC
GLOSSARY

 B IOGRAPHIC AND B IBLIOGRAPHIC G LOSSARY

Brief notes are provided on the texts, mystics and others cited in the Treasury.
Whether indicated as such or not, many of the dates given for the births and deaths of
mystics and others, especially of those earlier than the nineteenth century, can often
be regarded as only approximate. Where relevant information is given somewhere
else in the Treasury, especially in the Introduction, the glossary entry may be brief
with a ‘See’ or ‘See also:’ pointing to the relevant place.
Works consulted include: The Catholic Encyclopaedia (Internet edn., 2003),
Collins English Dictionary (1995), The Concise Encyclopaedia of Islam (1989),
Encyclopaedia Britannica (CD-ROM edn., 2001), Encyclopaedia of Islam (1960–97),
Encyclopedia Judaica (CD-ROM edn., 1997), Hindi Vishvakosh (1986), Hindu
World (Benjamin Walker, 1983), A History of Sufism in India (Saiyid Athar Abbas
Rizvi, 1997 [1978]), A Literary History of Persia (Edward G. Browne, 1969 [1902]),
A Literary History of the Arabs (R.A. Nicholson, 1996 [1907]), Nag Hammadi Library
in English (1988), Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies IV–XXXIII (1979–95), The
New Jerusalem Bible (1985), The Oxford Companion to the Bible (1993), The Oxford
Dictionary of the Christian Church (1983), and a large number of other works.

1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians New Testament texts. 1 Corinthians is the ‘first

letter’ written by Paul to his Gentile community in Corinth, generally agreed
to contain passages from two or more letters sent by Paul from Ephesus
around 53–54 CE, when he heard that the community he had founded there
was split by factions and disagreements of various kinds (1:10ff.). Whether
the factions were internal or due to interaction with other Christian groups,
possibly gnostic, is unclear. Among other things, Paul discusses the prac-
tice of speaking ‘in tongues’, also advising that in their meetings they should
not all try to speak at once (14:1ff.), that women should keep silent during
the meetings (14:34–35), that they should not use pagan courts to settle dis-
putes between each other (6:1ff.), and that they should give up the fornica-
tion and even incest that he had heard was common among them (5:1ff.).
Love of God and one’s fellow Christians (13:1ff.), as well as explanations
of his doctrine, are Paul’s keynotes. He also identifies Christ with Wisdom,
the divine creative power that existed before the creation of the world. His
reference (5:9) to an earlier letter has set scholars searching for indications
of it embedded in either 1 or 2 Corinthians, but the disjointed style of these
letters leaves such analysis without any definite conclusions.

231
232 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letterby
2 Corinthians, the ‘second letter’ written one
Paul to his Gentile commu-
nity in Corinth, is a collection of fragments of letters sent from Macedonia,
around 55 CE, about a year after the first such letter (1 Corinthians). Its
disjointed flow almost certainly arises from the combination of several
letters into one, as well as (probably) a later editorial rearrangement of the
contents, even the contents of individual letters.
The first of these letters was written after an unsuccessful visit by Timothy
to resolve earlier differences in the Corinthian community. Now, further
dissensions have occurred due to the presence of Christian teachers who
are spreading alternative doctrines, and who have challenged Paul’s self-
appointed apostolic role. Paul therefore defends his position as an apostle
(chaps. 2–7), and expresses his opinion of “false prophets” as “servants of
Satan” (chaps. 10–13).
Attempting to reconstruct the sequence of events, it seems that Titus was
then sent to Corinth to make a monetary collection to be sent to Jerusalem
as a sign of Christian unity and mutual love. He takes with him a letter of
reconciliation from Paul (reconstructible from 1:1–24, 2:1–3, 7:5–6, 8:1–24),
which also encourages support for the collection, and extols the generosity
of the Macedonians by way of example. Later, in a further exhortation to
give generously (chap. 9), Paul tells them that he has boasted to the
Macedonians of their previous generosity.

See also: Paul (1.5).

1 Enoch Also called the Ethiopic Book of Enoch; one of the most significant
apocalyptic texts; a heterogeneous collection of separate smaller works con-
cerning the biblical Enoch, composed during the second Temple period
(C5th–C1st BCE), probably written originally in Hebrew and Aramaic, then
translated into Greek and Ethiopic. In it, Enoch shares dream-visions of his
spiritual journey, introducing angels and other personalities of the heavenly
cosmology; relates non-biblical legends concerning certain personalities
such as Noah; also discusses the ‘end of days’, the heavenly calendar, and
the course of the sun, moon and stars, together with a survey of the history
of mankind and Israel.

See also: Enoch.

1 John, 2 John, 3 John Three New Testament letters written in Greek, and at-
tributed to the apostle John, probably written early in the second century.
1 John is a circular letter written to the Christian communities of Asia Minor,
containing both doctrine and practical advice. Like the gospel, it opens with
the statement that the Word (Logos) is the primary subject, going on to
develop the themes of light (1:5ff.), virtue (2:29ff.), truth (5:6ff.), and espe-
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 233

cially the love of God3andjune 1931 love (4:7ff.). From the similar style and
brotherly
content of 1 John to John’s gospel, it is commonly assumed that the two
were written by the same person, though who he was is uncertain. Unlike
the gospel, however, the author adopts a somewhat patronizing and moral-
izing tone, also speaking in terms of the “last days” when prophesying that
an “Antichrist” will appear among them (a doctrine which is absent from
the gospel). In fact, says the author “several Antichrists” and “many false
prophets” have already appeared within the Christian community, proving
that these are the last times (2:18–4:6). The author warns against being
deceived by “false prophets”, but their teachings are only hinted at, not
described. These differences, and some other minor doctrinal variations,
cast doubt on the hypothesis that the author of the gospels and the letters
was the same.
2 and 3 John are short letters “from the Elder”, though his identity is un-
certain. 3 John, addressed “to my dear friend Gaius”, praises Gaius for look-
ing after the spiritual welfare of his particular church (though he is a stranger
to them), but castigates a certain “Diotrephēs”, who appears to be in charge
of the church, for his poor behaviour towards everyone, and for his refusal
to accept the authority of the Elder. 2 John expresses the writer’s happiness
that members of the community to whom he is writing are living in love,
going on to advise against listening to the “Antichrist”.
The authenticity of 2 and 3 John was questioned by the early Church.
Origen (c.185–254), Eusebius (c.265–340) and Jerome (c.347–420) all ex-
pressed reservations, while the church of Antioch and the Syrian churches
declined for a long time to accept them.

See also: John’s Gospel (1.5).

1 Kings A historical book of the Bible, relating the end of King David’s reign
(970 BCE) and the accession to the throne of his son, Solomon; recounts
stories of Solomon’s wisdom and wealth, as well as his oppressive rule, as
he built his kingdom; provides a detailed description of the building of the
Temple in Jerusalem, and the split of the Israelite kingdom into two: Israel
and Judah, with Solomon reigning from Jerusalem, in Judah; introduces the
prophets Elijah and Elisha, and relates the continuing saga of the Israelites’
corruption, idol worship, and abominable practices under the leadership of
degenerate kings in both Judah and Israel.

1 Peter, 2 Peter Two New Testament letters written in accurate and flowing
Greek, attributed to the apostle Peter, but generally assumed in modern
times to have been written in the early second century, considerably more
than 50 years after Peter’s death. That both letters purport in their opening
address to have been written by Peter supposes some degree of conscious
234 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letterpresumably
deception in the mind of the actual writers, one to add authority to
the message of the letters. The first letter has been more readily accepted as
genuine than the second, and doubts concerning its authenticity are rela-
tively recent. 1 Peter has been subjected to scholarly analysis from a great
many viewpoints without any particular consensus of opinion being reached
as to its origins. Its proficient Greek, for example (presuming that Peter’s
Greek would have been rough, at best), can be explained by his use of a
scribe and translator, common enough in those times.
1 Peter is addressed to Christians living in the provinces of Asia Minor,
most of them converted pagans. The overall theme is fortitude in time of
trial, though whether the trial relates to Roman persecution or to the gen-
eral difficulties of being a Christian in those times is not specified. Like
Christ, his followers must endure with patience when their difficulties are
the result of their faith and their saintly lives. Love, civil obedience and kind-
ness to all must be the response to evil.
The authenticity of 2 Peter has always been questionable. There is no
evidence that it was accepted before the third century, and Origen (c.185–
254), Eusebius (c.265–340) and Jerome (c.347–420) specifically rejected
it. There are many reasons for this: the author claims to have written the
letter himself (i.e. no translator) (1:1); the prediction of Peter’s death is made
by Jesus to the author (who also claims to have witnessed the transfigura-
tion) (1:14, 16–18); the writer refers pointedly to a previous letter (meaning
1 Peter) (3:1); the vocabulary is markedly different from 1 Peter; and the
entire chapter 2 is clearly a paraphrase of the New Testament letter, Jude.
The purpose of the letter is to warn against false teachers and to justify the
late arrival of the Second Coming (another reason for its later date). That
the letter speaks of “our beloved brother Paul” and refers to his letters as
“scripture” (3:15–16) indicates that it was written during the early second
century to bolster confidence in the Pauline version of Christianity, and
to promote the idea that Peter had ultimately come around to supporting
Paul.

See also: Other New Testament Letters (1.5).

1 Samuel The first of two biblical books concerning the Hebrew prophet and
judge, Samuel (C11th BCE); relates the story of his miraculous birth, his
consecration to God’s service in the Temple under the high priest, and his
subsequent calling to prophecy; describes his leadership of the Israelites in
their battles with the Philistines and others, overseeing their transformation
into a united nation, anointing Saul as their first king; tells the stories of
David and Goliath, David and Jonathan, the eventual conflict between Saul
and David, the anointing of David, and death of Samuel, Saul and Jonathan.
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 235

3 june 1931
1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians New Testament texts; two letters attributed
to Paul, written to converts that he had made in the Aegean seaport town of
Thessalonica during what was probably his first missionary journey, in the
early 50s, in company with Silas and Timothy. After experiencing hostility
from the Jewish community, Paul had moved on to Beroea, and thence down
the Grecian peninsula to Athens and Corinth. Timothy paid a second visit
to the group, returning with encouraging news of their faith under persecu-
tion. Paul then sent the letter known as 1 Thessalonians. He writes affec-
tionately, thanking the community for so readily accepting his teachings.
He praises them for their steadfastness in difficult times, advises them to
earn their own living, and exhorts them to live holy lives, in brotherly love,
without fornication. He assures them that those who have already died “in
Christ” will be saved just as much as those who are still alive at the Second
Coming. He advises them to be watchful because the “Day of the Lord” can
come unexpectedly, at any time. He asks them to support each other, and to
be respectful to the teachers in their community.
2 Thessalonians mirrors the first letter so closely that many modern
scholars believe it to be a forgery, written at a later date. The most marked
differences between the two concern the “Day of the Lord”. Contrary to the
contents of the first letter, the writer says that the “Day of the Lord” will not
come unexpectedly. It will only come after the appearance of the “man of
sin”, the “lost one”, known in later Christian thought as the Antichrist. The
writer prefaces his observations with the comment not to believe any letter
“purporting to be from us … to the effect that the Day of the Lord has al-
ready come”. This is surprising because there is no such statement in Paul’s
first letter. Though a variety of solutions have been suggested, there is no
conclusive resolution to these discrepancies. 2 Thessalonians concludes by
emphasizing that it is a genuine letter, “from me, Paul, these greetings in
my own handwriting, which is the mark of genuineness in every letter”, an
unexpected emphasis which further undermines its credibility.

See also: Paul (1.5).

1 Timothy See pastoral letters.

2 Enoch Also called the Slavonic Book of Enoch and the Book of the Secrets of
Enoch; an apocryphal work in which the mythological Enoch gives an ac-
counts of his inner, spiritual journey through the seven heavens and the
workings of the creation; probably originated with a heterodox Jewish sect
during the early Christian period; also shows some Iranian influences; trans-
lated from Greek into Slavonic in the eleventh century.

2 John See 1 John.

236 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letterthe
2 Kings A historical book of the Bible, relating one story of the death of Elijah
the prophet, the succession of Elisha, and his numerous miracles; narrates
the history of the successive dynasties of both Jewish kingdoms (Israel and
Judah), including the Israelites’ worship of Ba‘al and their following of other
local religious practices, while Isaiah and successive prophets seek to set
them straight. Eventually, the kingdom of Judah is defeated by the Babylon-
ians, the Temple is burnt, and the people are exiled to Babylon.

2 Peter See 1 Peter.

2 Samuel The second of two biblical books concerning the Hebrew prophet
and judge, Samuel (C11th BCE); relates the life of King David (reigned
1010–970 BCE), the conflict between the house of David and house of Saul,
David’s sin with Bathsheba, and the consequent tragedy befalling his house
through the actions of his sons Amnon and Absalom; recounts the story of
the battles between the Israelites and the Philistines; introduces David’s son,
Solomon.

2 Timothy See pastoral letters.

3 Baruch Also known as the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch; an apocalyptic work

by a Christian writer, describing the journey of Jeremiah’s scribe, Baruch,
through the seven heavens. Having witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem
in 70 CE, Baruch questions the goodness of God, and is granted this heavenly
journey as a means of consolation. He meets many creatures in monstrous
form, comes to know certain secrets concerning the tower of Babel and the
garden of Eden, etc., learns about the workings of the universe, and sees the
higher heavens where righteous souls reside.
Scribe and loyal companion to the prophet Jeremiah at the time of the
Babylonian exile, Baruch was the actual writer of all of Jeremiah’s prophe-
cies and oracles, and probably of his biographical narrative. He is portrayed
in the book of Jeremiah as courageous and loyal in declaring the truth of
God’s word, even when it displeased the monarchy and priests. In non-
canonical legends, he is regarded as a priest and prophet in his own right.
Several books of apocalyptic visions are attributed to him.

3 Enoch Originally called the Hekhalot (‘Realms’ or ‘Palaces’), later published

as 3 Enoch or the Hebrew Book of Enoch; an account by Rabbi Ishma’el of
Enoch’s inner journey and transformation into the angel Metatron; part of
the merkavah (chariot) literature of the rabbinic period (200 BCE – 400 CE).

3 John See 1 John.

 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 237

4 Ezra Also known as the 3 june 1931

Apocalypse of Ezra; a book of visions pseudo-
epigraphically ascribed to Ezra the Scribe, written between 95 and 100 CE,
probably in Erez, Israel; extant in Latin, Syriac, Ethiopic, two separate
Arabic versions, Armenian, Georgian, some Greek fragments, and a Coptic
fragment; regarded as one of the best examples of Jewish apocalyptic litera-
ture, a post-biblical genre purporting to reveal mysteries beyond the scope
of intellectual and sensory knowledge, including secrets of the heavens and
hells, of the creation and the world order, the Day of Judgment, etc.; con-
tains an analysis of theological problems arising from the destruction of
Jerusalem, including the nature of man, good and evil, sin and responsibility,
with eschatological revelations and descriptions of the heavenly regions.
The book is a part of the Apocrypha, an appendix to Roman Catholic Bibles,
but not a part of the Hebrew canon, nor printed in Protestant Bibles.

Aaron ben Moses ha-Levi (1766–1828) Lived in Starosielce in Poland; a dis-

ciple of Rabbi Shne’ur Zalman of Lyady (founder of
aBaD Hasidism); the
leader of a divergent group within
aBaD Hasidism; remained a close
friend of Shne’ur Zalman for 30 years, but was estranged for both personal
and doctrinal reasons from Shne’ur Zalman’s son and successor, Dov Ber.
After the death of Shne’ur Zalman in 1813, Rabbi Aaron became leader of
the majority of the
aBaD community. The chief difference between the two
groups concerned their approach to prayer and religious life. Contrasted with
the intellectualism of the main
aBaD movement, Rabbi Aaron emphasized
exaltation in meditation and devotional prayer as more conducive to the love
of God, an approach more in keeping with the mainstream trends of Hasidism.
His most important work, Sha‘arei ha-Yiud ve-ha-Emunah (‘Gates of
Union and Faith’, 1820), is a commentary that completes the second (in-
complete) part of the Tanya, Shne’ur Zalman’s main work. His other writings
include Peta ha-Teshuvah (‘Doorway to Repentance’, 1821), with a fore-
word in which he explains his approach, and which he regards as the path
actually taught by Shne’ur Zalman; Sha‘arei ‘Avodah (‘Gates of Service’,
1821); and ‘Avodat ha-Levi (‘Service of the Levite’), a collection of sermons,
correspondence, and other miscellaneous writings published posthumously
(1866). Some of the most beautiful
aBaD devotional melodies are also
attributed to him. After his death, the
aBaD movement was continued by
his grandson Menaem Mendel of Lubavitch (1789–1866).

Abū Bakr al-iddīq (b.c.573–d.634) The first Khalīfah (Caliph, Successor);

friend, a father-in-law and successor of Muammad; credited with making
the first collection of material that subsequently became the Qur’ān.

See also: The Death of Muammad (1.10), The Qur’ān (1.10), Sufi
Orders and Teachings (1.10).
238 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Abulafia, Abraham ben Samuel (b.1240, letter

d. afterone
1291) A Spanish Kabbalist;
born in Saragossa; moved at an early age to Tudela, in what was then the
independent kingdom of Navarra (divided in the sixteenth century between
Spain and France); lost his father when he was 18, moving soon after to
Palestine; began a search for the mythical river, Sambatyon, beside which
the last traces of the ten lost tribes of Israel were believed to have survived,
but was prevented from getting any further than Acre (in northern Israel)
by the Muslim-Christian wars (the Crusades); travelled to Greece, where
he married; moved on to Italy, spending some time in Capua, studying Moses
Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed with Hillel ben Samuel of Verona;
introduced to the Kabbalah by Baruch Togarmi, one of the many commen-
tators on the Sefer Ye
irah (‘Book of Formation’), the oldest known Kab-
balist text; made a thorough study of the Sefer Ye
irah and its commentaries
in Barcelona, during 1271; believing himself the recipient of prophetic
inspiration, began to teach to a small group of students; left Spain in 1273,
travelling through Italy, Sicily and Greece, during which time he wrote a
number of treatises on his mystical doctrines, including Sitrei Torah (‘Secrets
of the Torah’), and a commentary on Guide of the Perplexed in which he
credits Moses Maimonides with Kabbalistic tendencies; was living in
Patras, in Greece, in 1279, where he continued his writing, using a pseudo-
nym that corresponds to the numerical value of his real name.
In 1280, Abulafia was again in Capua, where he attracted a circle of
younger students. During the summer of that year, led on by an “inner
voice”, he went to Rome to petition Pope Nicholas III to alleviate the
sufferings and persecution of the Jews. In response, the pope sentenced
Abulafia to death by burning, but he luckily escaped execution when the
pope died in August. Released after a month in prison, Abulafia went to
Messina, in Sicily, where (among other treatises), he wrote Or ha-Sekhel
(‘Light of the Spirit’), concerning the mystical symbolism of the tetra-
grammaton (Y-H-W-H), the four Hebrew consonants comprising the name
of God, Yahweh; and O
ar Eden Ganuz (‘Treasury of the Hidden Eden’),
which contains autobiographical information.
In Sicily, Abulafia also announced that messianic era would begin in
1290, a teaching that met with a mixed response. While some made arrange-
ments to emigrate to Israel, others strongly opposed him. Complaints were
brought before the most influential rabbi of the time, Solomon ben Abraham
Adret of Barcelona, that Abulafia claimed to be the Messiah. Rabbi Solo-
mon denounced him as an impostor, and Abulafia was forced to flee to the
remote island of Comino (near Malta). Here, he wrote Sefer ha-Ot (‘Book
of the Letter’), the only one of his prophetic works to have survived. Other
works from this period include a defence of himself and his doctrines against
his opponents and the censure of Rabbi Solomon. In 1289, he wrote a com-
mentary on the Torah, much of which is extant, and a commentary on the
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 239

Sefer Ye
irah, which 3contains

june 1931
some pointed criticism of Christianity. His
most renowned work, Imrei Shefer (‘Sayings of Grace’), was completed in
1291, shortly before his death.
Abulafia’s doctrines diverged from the earlier Kabbalah. Based upon the
ten sefirot (the divine emanations by which the creation came into being),
he elaborated on the teachings of the German Hasidic school begun by
Eleazar ben Judah of Worms (c.1160–1238). There are also parallels be-
tween his teachings and those of both Hindu yoga and Islamic Sufism. His
methods, intended to induce ecstatic mystical experiences, included com-
plex practical techniques involving the combination and permutation of
numbers, letters and words. These included
eruf (letter combinations of the
divine names), gematria (Hebrew words reduced to their numerical values)
and notarikon (letters of a word as the abbreviation of a sentence). By these
means, he believed that human beings could commune with the Divine and
receive prophetic inspiration. Thus, individual human intelligence could
receive the influx of the divine Intelligence. Abulafia called this path the
Way of the divine Name or the Way of Sefer Ye
irah.
Abulafia disagreed with the use of the divine names for anything other
than truly spiritual purposes. Although occasionally opposed by posterity,
his work has generally been highly regarded. He was one of the most influ-
ential individuals in the development of Kabbalistic doctrines prior to Isaac
Luria of Safed (1534–72), especially among the sixteenth-century Kabba-
lists of Safed. His work, the Sefer
ayyei ha-‘Olam ha-Ba (‘Book of the
Life of the Future World’), also known as Sefer ha-Shem (‘Book of the
Name’), which contains precise instructions on the use of the 72-letter name
of God in mystical meditation, has been widely read. His most well-known
disciple was Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla (c.1248–1305).

See also: The Kabbalah (1.4).

Abū Sa‘īd Fal Allāh (c.967–1049) Full name, Abū Sa‘īd Fal Allāh ibn Abī
al-Khayr; born in Mayhanah, now Mehnah, in Khurāsān, in northeastern
Iran; the son of a Sufi; from an early age, spiritual influences were important
in his life; settled in Mayhanah, where he lived as an ascetic, working in the
service of the poor; gained fame as a clairvoyant, and practised ecstatic
dancing.

Acts of John Also called the History of John; an early- or mid-second-century

Christian composition, attributed by Photius (c.810–895), Patriarch of Con-
stantinople, to Leucius Charinus, supposedly a disciple of the apostle John,
though nothing is known about him; purports to be an account of the travels,
miracles and teachings of the apostle, containing a mixture of gnostic dis-
courses, sayings, hymns etc., together with anecdotal and allegorical stories;
240 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

condemned by the Second Council ofletter

Nicaeaone
(787) as subversive to ortho-
dox Christianity.

See also: Apocryphal Sources (1.5).

Acts of Matthew One of the later apocryphal Acts, of uncertain date, purport-
ing to recount the missionary journeys of the apostle Matthew to the
“country of the kahenat (priests)”; extant in Ethiopic and Arabic, with some
variations between the two; frequently mentions the light of the heavenly
worlds, and uses a number of metaphors for Jesus as the Creative Word,
including the Tree of Life, manna, the Ladder which reaches to heaven, and
so on.

Acts of Paul A mid- to late-second-century pseudo-epigraphic composition pur-

porting to be an account of the teachings and travels of Paul; includes, for
example, a story reminiscent of the Greek fable of Androclēs and the lion,
in which Paul escapes from wild beasts in the arena at Ephesus by recog-
nizing a lion he had earlier baptized; said by the Church father Tertullian
(fl.190–220) to have been written shortly before his time by a Christian pres-
byter of Asia in honour of Paul. However, the deception was discovered and
the presbyter degraded from office. Only about half of the book is extant,
mostly in a selection of Greek, Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, Slavonic and Latin
fragments, demonstrating that the book had a wide range of popularity de-
spite its known dubious origins. Consists of three parts: the Acts of Paul
and Thecla, an apocryphal letter from the Corinthians to Paul and his reply,
and the Martyrdom of Paul.

See also: Apocryphal Sources (1.5).

Acts of Peter A mid- to late-second-century composition, purporting to relate

some of the sayings and discourses (often gnostic in content), and deeds
(often miraculous) of the apostle Peter; includes a story in which Peter raises
a dead herring to life; of unknown authorship, modelled on the earlier Acts
of John. Probably written in Greek, the majority of the extant text is found
in a seventh-century Latin manuscript, with another short episode in Coptic.
A large portion of the original – perhaps about one third – appears to be
missing.

See also: Apocryphal Sources (1.5).

Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles A short text from the Nag Hammadi
codices in which Peter and the apostles are set as historical characters in a
parable or allegory concerning a pearl merchant, and his gift of a pearl,
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 241

which he gives at no3charge

june 1931
to those who will relinquish the world and
enter his city of “nine gates”, through the tenth gate, “the head”. In the story,
the pearl merchant is revealed as the Saviour, Jesus.

Acts of the Apostles A New testament text; the second of the two books written
(in Greek), purporting to be written by the author of Luke’s gospel, picking
up the story of Jesus and his apostles where the gospel ends; probably written
in Rome between 80 and 90 CE; begins with an account of the descent of
the Holy Spirit on the apostles at Pentecost; continues with a record of the
apostles’ early ministry, chiefly of Peter, culminating in the story of the first
martyr, Stephen, who is stoned by an angry crowd, incited by “a young man,
… whose name was Saul” (7:58). After his introduction, Saul (alias Paul)
occupies the remainder of the book. In fact, it seems as if Peter’s role in
Acts is to give credence to Paul’s mission at a time when Paul’s position
was still in doubt. Some scholars have even suggested that Acts was not
written by the author of the Luke’s gospel, but in the second century, to
bolster faith in Paul’s version of Christianity. The story ends, somewhat
abruptly, after Paul has successfully preached in Rome, the acknowledged
centre of the Gentile world at that time.
Paul’s itinerary in Acts ties in tolerably well with the journeys mentioned
in his letters, although there are some conflicts, and none of the miracles
attributed to him in Acts are echoed in his letters. Interestingly, neither
Acts nor Luke’s gospel demonstrate any awareness of the content of Paul’s
letters. Less constrained by his sources than in the gospel, the writer fol-
lows the classical approach to history, in which a good story with eloquent,
dramatic and invented speeches was deemed more important than factual
accuracy. For this reason, the impromptu speeches in Acts attributed to
Peter, Stephen, Paul and others are generally presumed to be the writer’s
own inventions.
The sources of Acts and how the author uses them are more difficult to
determine than those of his gospel, for there are no other versions of the
same material. Acts is curious for its use of ‘we’ in chapters 16, 20–21 and
27–28, where it relates events in the first person, the latter two chapters
narrating the story of Paul’s journey to Rome. But the general scholarly
opinion is that the compiler was simply being faithful to his source, unchar-
acteristically copying it across as he found it. Acts is also valuable as the
only available window onto the very early Church.

See also: Luke, Paul (1.5).

Acts of Thomas A second- or third-century Christian composition of unknown

authorship, comprising strange tales and discourses, said to be the history
of the apostle Judas Thomas in India; includes the allegorical poem, the
242 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter
Robe of Glory or Hymn of the Pearl among its one
confused, and largely gnostic,
contents. The Acts of Thomas and the Acts of John were adopted by the
followers of Mānī and later Manichaeans.

See also: Apocryphal Sources (1.5).

Ādi Granth (Pu) Lit. primal (ādi) scripture (granth); also called the Granth
Sāhib and the Guru Granth Sāhib; contains the shabds (hymns) of the first
five Gurus and the ninth Guru in the line of Guru Nānak, together with those
of 30 other Saints (Sants) and devotees from various parts of India, from
both Hindu and Islamic traditions; compiled in 1604 by Guru Arjun, com-
prising in all around 6,000 shabds, to which Guru Gobind Singh added 116
shabds written by Guru Tegh Bahādur. The entire text is written in a variety
of verse forms, set in 31 musical measures (rāgas). There are a number of
recensions of which the 1430–page recension is the form approved during
twentieth century by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee
(SGPC) in Amritsar.
Following a custom common to many ancient cultures, Guru Nānak’s
first four successors have frequently written in his name, and many of the
shabds of his four successors are attributed to Nānak in the final couplet.

See also: Sikhism (1.11).

Ādi Purāa (S) Lit. first (ādi) Purāa; a ninth-century Jain mythological and
religious text, written in Sanskrit by Jinasenācharyā and his disciple Gua-
bhadra; forms the first part of the Mahā Purāa (Great Purāa), the second
or later (uttara) part being the Uttara Purāa, composed entirely by
Guabhadra. There is also another Mahā Purāa, written by Pushpadanta
in the Apabhrasha Prakrit dialect, also divided into two parts, called by
the same names. The Ādi Purāa is also another name for the Brahma
Purāa, one of 18 Hindu Purāas.

aggadah Lit. discourse, telling; any non-legal discussion in the Talmud; gener-
ally used to mean rabbinic narratives, including legends and stories of great
rabbis; also includes folklore, moral and ethical teachings, etc. The term has
taken on the broad meaning of legend.

Aitareya Upanishad (S) Consists of the fourth, fifth and sixth chapters of the
second book of the Aitareya Ārayaka, belonging to the ig Veda; attrib-
uted to Mahidāsa Aitareya, said in the Chhāndogya Upanishad (3:16.7) to
have lived to the age of 116. The text is concerned with the nature of the
Ātman (supreme Self or Soul), the creation of the worlds, the incarnation of
the Ātman as a jīva, and the means of realizing immortality; contains the
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 243

3 june 1931 Brahma (Consciousness is Brahman)”

great Vedic dictum, “Prajñāna
(3:1.3).

See also: Upanishads.

‘Alī ibn Abī ālib (b.c.600–d.661) The cousin and son-in-law of Muammad;
the fourth Khalīfah (Caliph, Successor), after the murder of the third Caliph,
‘Uthmān, in 656; murdered by a member of the breakaway faction, the
Khawārif; believed by Shi‘ite Muslims to have been the first Sufi.

See also: The Death of Muammad (1.10), Sufism (1.10), Sufi Orders
and Teachings (1.10).

Allogenēs A fictional, revelational discourse from the Coptic Nag Hammadi

codices, in which the central character, Allogenēs, receives a mystic
revelation of the inner realms of creation, recording the experience for the
benefit of his ‘son’, Messos. Allogenēs (Gk) means ‘stranger,’ ‘alien’ or ‘one
of another race’, alluding to the soul, incarnate in matter, who feels like a
stranger in a foreign land. Several revelational gnostic texts, including one
called Allogenēs, are mentioned by the Neo-Platonist, Porphyry, in his Life
of Plotinus (16). Plotinus is opposed to the teachings of at least some of the
gnostic schools, especially their dualism, jargon and fanciful cosmogonies.

Alma Rishaia Rba (Md) Lit. great (rba) first world (alma rishaia); a Na oraean
(Mandaean) text, composed of various fragments of earlier writings, con-
cerning the mystery of creation and the Na oraean cosmogony, together
with some of the secret gnostic teachings once imparted only to initiated
priests.

Alphabet of Rabbi Akiva In Hebrew, Alef Bet de-Rabbi Akiva or Otiyyot de-
Rabbi Akiva (‘Letters of Rabbi Akiva’); an eighth- or ninth-century (CE)
commentary on the Hebrew alphabet, explaining the mystical powers and
meanings ascribed to each letter, and containing discussions of the creation,
the merkavah (chariot), the seven heavens, and the seven hells or depths.

Alvarez de Paz, Diego (1560–1620) Born at Toledo, in Spain; a well-known

mystic of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), which he joined at the age of 18;
appointed professor of theology and philosophy at the Jesuit College of
Lima (in Peru) at the age of 24; ordained as a priest in 1586, and for a while
considered leaving the Jesuits, and adopting a life of solitary contemplative
prayer; persuaded otherwise by Aquaviva (1543–1615), head of the Jesuits,
who wrote to Alvarez that there was a place in the Society of Jesus for those
with a strong inclination towards study and prayer; later became Rector of
244 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

the College of Lima, as well as those letter

at Cuzcoone
(Peru), Quito (Equador) and
Chuquizaca (Bolivia); appointed Vice-Provincial of Tucumán (Argentina),
and finally Provincial of Peru; died at Potosí, in south Bolivia, one of the
highest cities in the world (4,066 metres, 13,340 feet).
Alvarez de Paz disclosed to his confessor that in 25 years of busy life,
his union with God had never been interrupted. Sometimes, during his ser-
mons, he would become so divinely intoxicated that he had to be carried
from the pulpit. The fame of his sanctity in South America was so great that
when he was brought to Potosí, close to death, the entire city turned out to
receive his blessing. When he died, 100,000 men working at the silver mines
stopped work, to help with the funeral rites.
Alvarez de Paz wrote three large books, each over 1,000 pages: De vita
spirituali ejusque perfectione (‘On the Spiritual Life and Its Perfection’,
1608), De exterminatione mali et promotione boni (‘On the Elimination of
Evil and the Promotion of Good’, 1613), and De inquisitione pacis sive de
studio orationis (‘On the Quest for Peace or On the Study of Language’,
1611). These encyclopaedic works deal analytically with the various stages
of prayer, the active life, the contemplative life, and vocal and mental
prayer. They are comprehensive manuals for the spiritual life, describing
little – if anything – of his own mystical experience. His works are also re-
markable for never quoting any of the previous Spanish mystics. His main
sources are the Bible, the early fathers, Dionysius, Richard of St Victor and
a few others.

Amīr Khusrau Dihlavī (1253–1325) A thirteenth-century Indo-Persian poet,

statesman and court musician of Delhi, who lived at the royal court from
1296 to 1316; a disciple of Ni
ām al-Dīn Awliyā’; regarded as the originator
of the classical tarānah melodies, as well as qawl (qawwālī), the classical
form of Sufi vocal music; also credited with inventing the sitar, although he
does not mention it in his writings; wrote mainly in Persian, but also be-
lieved to have been one of the first to use Hindi for literary work.

Ammonius Saccas (c.175–242) A third-century CE Greek philosopher-mystic

of Alexandria of whom little is known; of humble origins, believed to have
earned his living as a porter, hence his epithet Saccas (sack-bearer); also
known as the God-taught (Theodidaktos); a modest man who taught uni-
versal brotherhood, the essential unity of all religions, and the study of philo-
sophy as a living experience. Among those who attended his discourses, in
preference to those of more learned philosophers, were the Roman historian
and statesman Herennius Dexippus (c.210–270), the Christian theologian
Origen (c.185–254), the Greek rhetorician and philosopher Cassius Longinus
(c.213–273), and the Neo-Platonist Plotinus (c.205–270); said by Porphyry
to have been raised by his parents as a Christian.
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 245

3 june 1931
Amos A prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel during the eighth century
BCE; the Book of Amos is the third book of the twelve Minor Prophets
according to the Hebrew Bible, falling between Joel and Obadiah. Accord-
ing to the text, Amos was a herdsman from Tokea, who prophesied the
catastrophes about to befall the people of Israel as a result of their social
and moral corruption.

Amita Bindu Upanishad (S) Lit. Upanishad of the drop (bindu) of nectar
(am
ita) or immortal (am
ita) drop; also called the Brahma Bindu Upanishad
(lit. Upanishad of the drop of Brahman); belongs to the Yajur Veda; ex-
pounds on the mind as both the cause of the soul’s bondage and the means
of liberation through the knowledge of Brahman.

See also: Upanishads.

Angela of Foligno (1248–1309) Born and died at Foligno, Italy; joined the
Franciscans as a Tertiary Hermit after a wayward youth; lived a quiet life
of solitude and penance with a religious companion, near the Church of the
Friars Minor at Foligno. Angela became known through her spiritual auto-
biography (Book of Divine Consolation), dedicated to her confessor, Brother
Arnaldo, and probably edited by him, first published in Italian (translated
from the Latin of Arnaldo) in 1510. Her initial motivation to adopt a life of
penance was fear of the punishment she would have to face for all her sins.
Her progress towards the contemplative love of God which she ultimately
attained is charted in her book, as she passes through a spectrum of emotional
states upon the way. Throughout her life, she appears to oscillate between a
deep and troubled insight into her own imperfections in which she feels far
away from God, and a blissful recognition of His divine presence within her.

Annie Besant (1847–1933) A British citizen, born in London; wife of an An-

glican clergyman, separated in 1873; advocate of many unorthodox causes;
associated for many years with Charles Bradlaugh, freethinker, atheist and
social reformer, promoting the rights of the individual; an early advocate of
birth control; a foremost Fabian socialist (non-revolutionary socialists) in
the late 1880s, influenced by George Bernard Shaw; became a member of
the Theosophical Society in 1889, writing and lecturing extensively, her
works still being regarded as among the principal expositions of theosophy;
international president of the Theosophical Society from 1907 until her
death in 1933, living mostly at the Society headquarters in Adyar; active in
humanitarian and educational work in India; promoted the cause of Indian
independence, founding the Indian Home Rule League in 1916; sponsor of
Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986), whom she believed was born to be a world
teacher, before his rejection of formal theosophy in 1929.
246 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Anqaravī, Ismā‘īl ibn Amad Rusūkh letter one

al-Dīn Bayrāmī (d.1631) A Turkish
Sufi, writer and well-known Mevlevī Shaykh; also called Rusūkhī, a pen
name he used for his poetry; born in Ankara, now the capital of Turkey;
joined the Bayrāmīyah Sufi order, but was unable to continue his studies
due to the worsening of chronic cataracts; went to Konya (the city of Rūmī’s
tomb), where he met the head Shaykh of the Mevlevīs and the spiritual
descendant of Rūmī, Bostān Chelebī (d.1630), who was able to cure his cata-
racts; was accepted as a disciple, and completed the Mevlevī 1,001-day
retreat; eventually became head Shaykh of the Galata Mevlevī centre in
Istanbul, a position he retained for 21 years; died and was buried in Istanbul.
Anqaravī is the author of the most highly esteemed Ottoman Turkish
commentary on Rūmī’s Maśnavī, which he called Majmū‘ah al-La ā’if wa-
Ma mūrah al-Ma‘ārif (‘Collected Subtleties and the Storehouse of Mystic
Knowledge’). First published in 1806, it has been translated into Arabic
(abridged) and Persian, but not into English. It consists of a line by line trans-
lation of the Maśnavī, along with commentary, and was regarded by R.A.
Nicholson, well-known English translator of the Maśnavī, as the most use-
ful commentary available. The work was so highly regarded that it was the
primary text studied by members of the Mevlevī order (‘whirling der-
vishes’), in order to master the meaning of the Maśnavī. Those appointed
as Maśnavī-reciters or lecturers received a written certificate of mastery of
Anqaravī’s commentary.
Anqaravī’s work has been criticized on the grounds that he interpreted
the Maśnavī from the viewpoint of the school of Ibn ‘Arabī, a system largely
ignored by both Rūmī and his Master, Shams-i Tabrīz; that he selected a
poor text of the Maśnavī from which to work; that he included a forged
‘seventh book’ in his work; and that his knowledge of Persian was limited,
leading him to miss the meaning of many Persian idioms.

Anārī al-Harawī-i Harāt, Abū Ismā‘īl ‘Abd Allāh al- (c.1006–89) Born in
Kuhandiz, the citadel of Herāt (Harāt), Persia (now in Afghanistan); also
known as Khwājah ‘Abd Allāh An ārī, as Pīr-i Harāt (Master of Herāt) and
as Shaykh al-Islām (leader of Muslims); by the age of nine, said to have
known everything concerning religion and philosophy understood by the
wisest men of Herāt; a disciple of al-Kharaqānī; exiled from Herāt several
times, also spending 10 years of his life in jail due to opposition and jeal-
ousy. Proficient in both Persian and Arabic, An ārī composed 6,000 verses
in Arabic on the spiritual life, and four of his books in Persian are still
extant.
His works are considered masterpieces of Persian literature. They include
abaqāt al-ūfīyah (‘Categories of Sufi’), Manāzil al-Sā’irīn (‘Wayfarers’
Stages’), Munājāt (‘Invocations’), and Dhamm al-Kalām wa-Ahlih (‘The
Censure of Theology and Theologians’).
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 247

3 juneBorn
Antony the Great (c.251–356) 1931 at Koma, near al-Minya (on the Nile), in
Middle Egypt; a Christian ascetic, regarded as the founder of Christian
monasticism; the orphan child of wealthy parents; left home at the age of
20 to join a group of ascetics, giving away all his possessions; a disciple of
Paul of Thēbes.
Seeking solitude, Antony moved deeper into the desert, to a mountain
by the Nile known as Pispir (now Dayr al-Maymūn). Here, his legendary
combat with the devil took place, famous in Christian theology, iconogra-
phy, literature and art, especially the paintings of Hiëronymus Bosch. His
biographer, Athanasius (c.296–373), Bishop of Alexandria, describes the
conflict as taking the form of seductive or horrible visions: sometimes as a
monk bringing bread during a fast, or as wild animals, women or soldiers,
occasionally beating him and leaving him for dead. Increasingly, Antony
instructed and shepherded the ascetics who had gathered around him into
the first monastic community. With the end of Roman persecution of the
Christians (Edict of Milan, 313), he moved to the eastern desert, to a moun-
tain between the Red Sea and the Nile, where the monastery of Dayr Marī
Antonios still exists. Sometimes, he would cross the desert to revisit Pispir.
He died at Dayr Marī in 356, probably in his nineties.

See also: Traditional Christian Mysticism (1.5).

Aphrahat the Persian Sage A fourth-century Persian Christian, of whom little

is known; his sole surviving work is his 22 Demonstrations (discourses),
written in Syriac, each on a particular topic, 22 being the number of letters
in the Syriac alphabet; popular in the early Syriac-speaking Christian com-
munity. The first 10 – Concerning Faith, Love, Fasting, Prayer, Wars,
Monks, Penitents, The Resurrection, Humility and Pastors – are dated by
the author to the year 648 from the era of Alexander the Great (311 BCE),
i.e. 337 CE. The remaining 12 are similarly dated to 655 (i.e. 344 CE), and
a supplemental Demonstration (Concerning the Grape) to 345 CE.

Apocalypse of Adam A short gnostic Nag Hammadi text of uncertain date,

possibly first or second century CE, containing no specifically Christian
elements; set as a traditional revelation given to Adam by three heavenly
visitors, and related by Adam to his son, Seth; describes the fall of man,
the preservation of the knowledge that saves despite the attempts of the
creator-god to destroy mankind, and the third coming of a Saviour, the
“Illuminator”.

Apocalypse of Elijah A biblical apocryphal text, included in several lists of

Christian books from around the sixth century CE; extant only as fragments
in Latin, which presents apocalyptic visions of the torments of the soul in
248 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter
hell. At least two later books of the same nameone
exist, in Coptic and Hebrew,
incorporating earlier material of the same nature.

Apocalypse of Paul A short gnostic Nag Hammadi text, set as a traditional

revelation describing Paul’s ascent through ten heavens, under the guidance
of a “little child” (symbolizing Christ), also called the Holy Spirit. The
revelation interprets Paul’s description of his conversion (Galatians 1:11–17,
21–2), and his description of a heavenly ascent (2 Corinthians 12:2–4), with
the addition of popular Greek and Babylonian elements; also contains
anti-Jewish elements in that the deity of the seventh heaven (depicted as an
old man on a shining throne) is hostile, and tries to prevent Paul’s further
ascent.

apocryphal literature A class of ancient literature specifically excluded from

the canonical or accepted scriptures. Hence, particularly, the Old Testament
apocrypha and the New Testament apocrypha, each being a wide and dif-
fuse body of literature. The Apocrypha is a specific selection of 14 books
included as an appendix to the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, but
not included in the Hebrew canon or printed in Protestant Bibles.

See also: canonical literature.

Apocryphon of John A significant gnostic and text from the Nag Hammadi li-
brary, probably from the second century, set as a mythological revelation
given to the apostle John by the “image” or spiritual form of Jesus. John is
feeling downhearted after the criticism of Jesus by a Pharisee, when sud-
denly the “heavens open” and John sees Jesus simultaneously as a youth,
an old man and a servant. The text first describes the emanation of light-
beings (including Christ and Sophia) from the supreme Deity – the “Monad”
(a Pythagorean term) or “ineffable Light”. The fall of man then takes place
when Sophia (lit. Wisdom) creates the monstrous creator-god, Yaldabaoth,
without divine permission. Yaldabaoth creates angels to rule the creation
and aid in the creation of man, and is tricked into bringing man to life by
breathing some of his light-power into man. The struggle for possession of
human souls between the powers of light and darkness then begins. To pre-
vent man’s escape, the evil powers imprison him in material bodies, which
require sex for their propagation. Finally, the Saviour, Christ, is sent to
rescue humanity by reminding them of their heavenly home. Those who
accept him, and live the right kind of life, are saved; others are reincarnated
until they acquire gnosis.

Archie Fire Lame Deer (1935–2001) A Lakota (Sioux) traditional Native

American; son of John Fire Lame Deer, and great-grandson of the original
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 249

3 junewho
Lame Deer (Tahca Ushte) 1931was killed in 1877 by US Army soldiers
under the command of General Nelson (Bear Coat) Miles.

See Some Recent Native Americans (1.14).

Aristotle (Gk. Aristotelēs) (384–322 BCE) A Greek natural philosopher and

scientist whose writings cover all aspects of human knowledge as under-
stood in the Graeco-Mediterranean world of his time, including physics,
chemistry, biology, zoology, botany, psychology, politics, ethics, history,
logic, metaphysics, literature and rhetoric. Born in the small Greek town of
Stagira (in Macedonia), to Nicomachus, court physician, from whom he
probably learnt the fundamentals of biology and medicine; lost his father
when still young, becoming a ward of Proxenus, probably a relative; went
to Plato’s Academy in Athens in 367, where he stayed for 20 years, becom-
ing one its notable members; left the Academy shortly after Plato’s death in
347, and began a period of travel in the company of Xenocratēs of Chalcedon;
invited to Assus, on the Asian side of the Aegaean, by Hermeias of Atarneus
(a Greek mercenary and adventurer who ruled northwestern Asia Minor as
a Persian vassal), to found an academy on the same principles as Plato’s;
married the daughter of Hermeias, who did not live long; found another
companion, who outlived him; after three years at Assus, moved to the
neighbouring island of Lesbos, where he founded a philosophical centre,
again modelled on Plato’s Academy, and began a detailed study of biology,
researching both plant and animal life.
Around 343, Aristotle – then in his early 40s – accepted the invitation of
Philip II of Macedon go to his capital, Pella, to tutor his 13-year-old son,
Alexander (later, Alexander the Great). As the leading Greek intellectual,
his instructions were to prepare Alexander for life as a military commander.
However, his influence on the young conqueror-to-be is believed to have
been minimal, and the two disagreed in many fundamental ways.
After three years, around 339, Aristotle returned to his paternal home at
Stagira, where he continued his philosophical pursuits, accompanied by
Theophrastus and other students of Plato. In 335, aged nearly 50, he returned
to Athens, where Xenocratēs, his old friend and associate in biological re-
search, was appointed president of the Academy. Soon after his arrival,
Aristotle opened a school in the Lyceum, a gymnasium on the outskirts of
Athens, attached to the temple of Apollo Lyceus. In association with a
number of scholars, the next 12 years were occupied with research and
teaching in all branches of philosophy and science. While the scientific
interests of the Academy lay more with mathematics, the Lyceum focused
on biology and history.
The death of Alexander in 323 resulted in a brief but intense anti-Mac-
edonian feeling in Athens. Feeling in danger, Aristotle left for his mother’s
250 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter
estate in Chalcis on the island of Euboea. Theonefollowing year, aged 62 or
63, he died from a stomach illness. He is said to have observed that he had
left Athens to prevent the Athenians from sinning twice against philosophy,
alluding to the earlier demise of Socratēs.
The stories associated with Aristotle depict him as a kind and affection-
ate man, with little sense of self-importance. This is born out by his will,
which refers to his happy domestic life, and makes good provision for both
his children and his servants.
Aristotle was a prolific writer, though not all of his works have survived.
Often described as the father of Western intellectual thought, his work was
the basis of Christian and Islamic intellectual thought until the end of the
seventeenth century. Throughout the intellectual revolutions that followed,
his basic concepts have remained embedded in Western thinking. Even
today, though modern science has far outstripped his observations and
theories, Aristotle’s analytical approach remains at its foundation, while his
study of zoology was not surpassed until the nineteenth century. His com-
plete system of formal logic (Aristotelian syllogistic) was regarded for
centuries as the last word on the subject, and his ideas on ethics, politics,
metaphysics and the philosophy of science remain a part of the modern de-
bate on these topics.

Arnobius A fourth-century Christian convert from Africa; taught rhetoric at

Sicca Veneria during the rule of Diocletian (ruled 284–305), the last the
Roman emperor to instigate a major persecution of the Christians; born a
pagan, but had converted to Christianity by 300. Arnobius is remembered
for his Adversus nationes (‘Against the Pagans’), written to convince the
local bishop of his faith. Arranged in seven ‘books’, the work first answers
pagan criticisms of Christianity, and continues by denigrating Neo-Platonism,
anthropomorphism, heathen mythology and various forms of pagan worship.

Ārueya Upanishad (S) Belongs to the Atharva Veda; lays out some of the
essential characteristics of a sannyāsin, the goal being the realization of
Brahman through renunciation and meditation; cast in the form of the reply
to a question put to the deity Brahmā by Ārui, a renowned teacher of the
Brāhmaas.

See also: Upanishads.

Arval Looking Horse (Sunka Wakan Wicasa) (1954–) A Native American,

Cheyenne River Sioux; a Mnikowoju, through his father; the grandson of
Lucy Looking Horse, a keeper of the Sacred Pipe. Just before she died, Lucy
Looking Horse had a vision, and gave the Pipe to Arval Looking Horse.
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 251

3 june 1931
Ascension of Isaiah A pseudo-epigraphic work, extant only in a C5th–C7th
Ethiopic text, with fragments in Greek, Coptic, Latin and Slavonic; consists
of three separate works, edited together with further additions and changes
by a Christian hand during the second century. The first section, the
Martyrdom of Isaiah, is a midrash on the story of Isaiah’s death at the hands
of Manasseh, king of Judah, as told in 2 Kings (chap. 21), probably written
in Hebrew or Aramaic in the early first century CE or earlier, and translated
early on into Greek. The second section, the Testament of Hezekiah, is a
Christian apocalypse, written in Greek late in the first century, in which the
spirit of the Antichrist is portrayed as dwelling in the Roman emperor Nero
(ruled 54–68 CE), whose persecution of the Christians was perceived as
the chaos understood to precede the messianic age. The third section, the
Ascension (or Vision) of Isaiah, commonly presumed to have been written
in Greek, is in the style of a mystical apocalypse or revelation, describing
Isaiah’s ascent through the seven levels of heaven until he glimpses the glory
of God. The Vision of Isaiah has been of particular interest to gnostic groups,
and the Slavonic translation of the book was probably made by the medi-
eval Bogomils, and the Latin translation by the Cathars.

Asclepius A Hermetic text, Asclepius, written in Greek, but extant in complete

form only in Latin; set as a dialogue between Hermēs Trismegistus and his
disciple, Asclepius, concerning the nature of gnosis, the difference between
gnostics and the spiritually ignorant, how human beings create gods in their
own likenesses, the spiritual decline of Egypt (apocalyptic, and probably
a later interpolation), the ultimate fate of the individual, the hierarchy of
creation, and the fate of the soul after death. A Coptic translation of a large
section from the middle portion of Asclepius is preserved in the Nag
Hammadi library, whose text is closer to the surviving Greek fragments than
to the somewhat verbose Latin translation.

Asher ben David An early- to mid-thirteenth-century Kabbalist of Provence in

southern France; one of the most prominent disciples of his uncle, Isaac the
Blind (1160–1235), with whom he lived for many years; sent by Isaac to
attend to problems among the Jews of Catalonia (in northeast Spain) caused
by the activities of some of Isaac’s disciples; refers to his father as both a
Kabbalist and his teacher; author of a number of widely read and studied
Kabbalistic treatises, collected under the title Sefer ha-Yiud (‘Book of the
Union’), some of which are responses to the anti-Kabbalist polemics of his
contemporary, Me’ir ben Simeon, although Me’ir ben Simeon is not named.
His works include a long exposition of the tetragrammaton (Y-H-W-H,
the four Hebrew consonants comprising the name of God, Yahweh); two
mystical treatises on oaths and vows, and on cosmogony, the latter includ-
ing a work of Isaac the Blind; and a commentary on the 13 attributes of God.
252 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

These treatises are among the earliestletter one

detailed record of Kabbalistic doc-
trines, and demonstrate how Neo-Platonic ideas had penetrated the early
Kabbalistic tradition. In this respect, Asher ben David is to be compared
with ‘Azri’el of Gerona, another associate of Isaac the Blind.

Ash asāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā (S) See Prajñāpāramitās.

Assumption of the Virgin An ancient legend found in many forms and lan-
guages, including Greek, Latin, Syriac, Coptic, Arabic, Ethiopic and many
vernacular medieval versions, comprising miraculous events and sayings
concerning the later life and passing of Mary, the mother of Jesus; of uncer-
tain date and language of composition.

Atharva Veda (S) See Vedas.

Atharva Veda (S) See Vedas.

Ātmabodha (S) Lit. knowledge or understanding (bodha) of the soul (ātman),

self-knowledge; a short text by Shankara (c.788–820 CE) on the nature of
the ātman. The most influential of classical Indian philosophers and a pro-
lific writer, Shankara was the leading exponent of the Advaita (non-dualist)
school of Vedānta, proclaiming the absolute oneness of Reality and the
illusory nature of all plurality.

Ātma Upanishad (S) Belongs to the Atharva Veda; on the nature of the Ātman
(Self); part of a discourse in the Atharva Veda given by Angiras, regarded
as one of the seven mythological
ishis (sapta-
ishi), the progenitors of
mankind.

See also: Upanishads.

‘A ār, Shaykh Nīshāpūrī Farīd al-Dīn Muammad ibn Ibrāhīm (c.1142–

1220) Also called Farīd al-Dīn Abū āmid Muammad; born in Nīshāpūr
in northeastern Persia; he, his father or his grandfather may have worked as
a herbalist or doctor, since ‘a ār means ‘apothecary’ or ‘perfumer’; re-
garded as one of the greatest Persian Sufi writers, composing over 45,000
distichs (rhyming couplets) and many prose works; influenced the develop-
ment of both Persian and other Islamic literature; travelled widely in his
youth, visiting Egypt, Syria, Arabia, Central Asia and India, finally settling
at his home town of Nīshāpūr; collected many sayings, verses and stories
concerning the Sufis, which he brought together in his book, Tadhkirat
al-Awliyā’ (‘Memoirs of the Saints’), which covers 97 Sufis, and is regarded
as a reliable historical document.
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 253

3 june
‘Aār is probably best 1931 for his allegorical Man iq al-ayr (‘Con-
known
ference of the Birds’), in which a company of birds (seekers) are led by the
hoopoe (the spiritual Master) on a quest to find the Sīmurgh or Phoenix
(God). At the end of their journey, they find that they and the Sīmurgh are
one. Other significant works include two further allegories, Ilāhī-Nāmah
(‘Book of God’), and Muībat-Nāmah (‘Book of Affliction’), and a Dīvān
(collected poems).

Augustine of Hippo (354–430) Original Latin name Aurelius Augustinus, some

details of whose early life are known from his autobiography, Confessions;
born to a respectable family in Thagaste, Numidia (now Souk Ahras, Alge-
ria), a small Roman community in a river valley, 40 miles from the sea; well-
educated, first at Madaura (now Mdaurouch) (365–369); passed a year at
home while his father raised the money for his further education, subse-
quently, aged 16, going to the ancient city of Carthage (now a suburb of
Tunis), to study law and rhetoric, enjoying the pleasures of city life (371–374);
in 372, became the father of an illegitimate son, Adeodatus; taught briefly
at Thagaste (375), before returning to Carthage to teach rhetoric (376–383);
wrote a short philosophical book, Beauty and Proportion, now lost, dedi-
cated to Hierius, a Roman orator whom he much admired; moved to Rome
in 383, where he started his own school, teaching for a short while before
receiving an excellent appointment as imperial professor in Milan (384),
giving him and his family great hopes of a significant future career (Milan
was the usual residence of the emperor at that time, and the effective capi-
tal of the western Roman Empire); joined by his mother in Milan in 385;
resigned his post within two years, after a conversion experience, returning
to Thagaste, where he passed his time attending to his family property,
raising Adeodatus, and following his literary interests; aged 36, sold the
family property on the death of the teenage Adeodatus; soon after, in 391,
was unwillingly appointed presbyter (junior priest) at Hippo, a small sea-
side town north of Thagaste; appointed Bishop of Hippo around 395, a post
he held for the remainder of his life.
Augustine’s mother, Monica, was a baptized Christian, and his father,
Patricius, a pagan who received baptism not long before his death, when
Augustine was in his teens. His parents were decent people, not especially
devout, though his mother became more so after her husband’s death.
Augustine attended pre-baptismal classes as a child, but delayed baptism.
In his late teens, on reading Cicero’s Hortensius, he became interested in
philosophy, becoming an ardent Manichaean. However, when he met the
Manichaean bishop, Faustus, in Carthage, Augustine was dissatisfied with
the answers he received to various questions, and his faith wavered.
When he went to Rome, still associating with the Manichaeans, he dis-
covered and was greatly impressed by the teachings of the mystic, Plotinus
254 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

(c.205–270). Not long after, in Milan, letterhe one

met the orthodox Christian
Ambrose, and was again impressed, realizing that he had been entertaining
incorrect notions concerning Christianity. Here, Plotinus’ teaching of God
and the Logos helped Augustine to understand Christianity. The discovery
that Victorinus, the translator of Plotinus into Latin, had ultimately converted
to Christianity also had a deep affect on him. Realizing that conversion
meant not only giving up his unorthodox views, but also abstinence from
sex (which he found difficult), he spent several months in soul-searching
and biblical study, before he and Adeodatus sought baptism from Ambrose
in the spring of 387. He returned home in the autumn of that year, his mother
dying of a fever during the journey.
At the time of Augustine’s conversion, North African Christianity was
largely Donatist, a movement whose origins were more political than theo-
logical, and which was regarded as schismatic by the ‘orthodox’ Christian
emperors of the period. Augustine was therefore in a singular position that
turned out to suit his temperament. A contentious person with an intellec-
tual capacity beyond that of most of his North African contemporaries, he
held his own by the brilliance of his mind, and by his prodigious literary
output. Combining orthodox Christianity with classical Greek and Roman
thought, he and his chief ally, Aurelius, Bishop of Carthage, fought Donatism
for two decades. Ultimately, in 411, the emperor sent a special envoy to
Carthage to settle the matter. A public debate, attended by hundreds of bish-
ops, was held in three sessions on separate days, resulting in a ruling in
favour of the official Church, with consequent legal constraints on Donatism.
Nevertheless, Donatism survived until the Muslim conquests and the elimi-
nation of Christianity in North Africa during the Middle Ages.
Having apparently won the battle against the Donatists, Augustine, now
nearly 60, took up cudgels against the doctrines of the lay preacher, Pelagius.
Pelagius was an ascetic who – observing the lax moral standards of Chris-
tians – taught the essential goodness of human nature, the freedom of the
human will to choose between good and evil, that sin is a voluntary act
against the divine law, and that human effort is essential in the quest for
salvation. Augustine opposed him on the grounds that human beings are
completely dependent upon the grace of God, unable to attain virtue by their
own efforts. Pelagius was condemned by a council of African bishops in
416 and again in 418, when he was also excommunicated. His teachings
lived on, however, in the Italian bishop, Julian of Eclanum, regarded as the
main Pelagian intellectual leader. At the time of Augustine’s death, he was
engaged in writing a long refutation of Julian. In Augustine’s latter days,
North Africa was invaded by the Germanic Vandals, who laid siege to
Hippo. Augustine died a short while before the fall of Hippo, followed soon
after by the fall of Carthage.
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 255

The surviving works3 june 1931

of Augustine number 113 books and treatises, over
500 sermons and more than 200 letters. Of these, the most influential have
been Confessions and The City of God. He was well-known during his own
lifetime, but his writings became far more influential after his death. He is
regarded as one of the most significant thinkers of the early Church. His
integration of classical philosophy and Christian theology created a system
which influenced all later Christian thought.

Aurobindo Ghosh (1872–1950) Mystic, philosopher, linguist, writer and Indian

nationalist; born in Calcutta; educated first at a Catholic convent school in
Darjeeling, then at a school in England, and finally at Cambridge University,
acquiring proficiency in Latin, Greek and three modern European languages;
returned to India in 1892, taking various administrative and teaching jobs in
Baroda and Calcutta before taking up the study of yoga and Indian lan-
guages, including Sanskrit; from 1902 to 1910, joined the movement to free
India from British rule; imprisoned in 1908.
In 1910, Aurobindo fled to the French colony of Pondicherry. There he
founded an āshram, attracting disciples from all over the world, and devoting
himself to his writing and the development of his philosophical system,
Pūrādvaita Vedānta or Integral Nondualism, generally known as Pūra
Yoga (Integral Yoga). Pūra Yoga teaches that the absolute God, the world
and all souls are one. While God (Brahman) sends enlightenment from
above, the individual strives by yoga to reach Him from below. It is the
merging of the two forces that makes a person a mystic, leading to a yogic
illumination that transcends reason, intuition and individuality, and culmi-
nating in liberation (moksha).
Aurobindo’s complex and prolific literary output spanned mystical phi-
losophy, poetry, drama and other works, among them being Essays on the
Gītā (1928), Collected Poems and Plays (1942), The Synthesis of Yoga
(1948), The Human Cycle (1949), The Ideal of Human Unity (1949), Savitri:
A Legend and a Symbol (1950), and On the Veda (1956). His best-known
work is probably The Life Divine (1940).

Authoritative Teaching A highly metaphorical gnostic treatise from the Nag

Hammadi codices, teaching the divine origin of the soul, her fall into the
material body of “lust and hatred and envy”, and her condition in the mate-
rial world where the Adversary takes every opportunity to lead her astray,
until at last she hears the call of God’s Messenger, partakes of the heavenly
food brought to her by the divine Bridegroom, and returns to God.

Avá-Nembiará A twentieth-century chief of the Avá-Chiripá of eastern Para-

guay, known to Miguel A. Bartolomé, and quoted in his “Shamanism
Among the Avá-Chiripá”.
256 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Avestā (Av) A collective name for all the letter one sacred writings that are
Zoroastrian
written in the original Avestan, dating largely from the period of Achaemenian
rule (559–331 BCE), and differing considerably in content and style. The
oldest portion – Zarathushtra’s Gāthās – must have been composed consid-
erably earlier, even as early as 1500 BCE.

See also: Zarathushtra and Zoroastrianism (1.3).

Avot de Rabbi Nathan (He) Lit. fathers (avot) according to Rabbi Nathan; an
extracanonical minor text of the Talmud, being a commentary on an early
form of the Mishnah Pirkei Avot (‘Ethics of the Fathers’), which is a collec-
tion of ethical, moral and legendary statements of the early rabbis; probably
composed between the first and third centuries CE; a valuable source of
early rabbinic wisdom.

Ayvu Rapytá (G) Lit. origin of the Word; the mythology of the Mbyá Guaraní,
written down in Guaraní by the Jesuits; documents the Guaraní belief that
the first work of the Creator (Mybá) was the Ñe’eng or vital Word, the di-
vine part of the soul, which was sent by Ñe’eng Rú Eté (True Father of the
vital Word) to dwell within man; published in a Spanish translation by León
Cádogan in 1959.

‘Azri’’el of Gerona A leading member of the thirteenth-century Kabbalists of

Gerona, in northeast Spain; a disciple of Isaac the Blind, who (judging from
an extant letter) opposed ‘Azri’el’s open dissemination of Kabbalism to a
wider audience. Little is known of ‘Azri’el’s life, however, and since the
fourteenth century he has often been confused with an older contemporary,
‘Ezra ben Solomon. The differentiation of the writings of ‘Azri’el from those
of ‘Ezra is primarily the work of the twentieth-century Jewish scholar, Isaiah
Tishby.
‘Azri’el was one of the most profound Kabbalistic thinkers. Clearly
familiar with Neo-Platonism, he quotes freely from Neo-Platonic literature.
However, the presumed influence of Neo-Platonism on Kabbalism needs
to be tempered with the understanding that many mystics and mystically
minded thinkers have used similar forms of expression without necessarily
having borrowed their ideas from each other. Like many others, ‘Azri’el is
concerned with the nature of God, the nature of the relationship between
God and His creation, and the expression of the divine will, as well as the
more practical aspects of the individual’s approach to God through medita-
tional practices.
His writings include Sha‘ar ha-Sho’el (‘Gate of the Enquirer’), an expo-
sition of the doctrine of the ten sefirot (divine emanations) set in the form
of a dialogue, with a commentary by the author; a commentary on the earliest
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 257

3 juneYe
irah
Kabbalistic text, the Sefer 1931 (‘Book of Formation’); a commentary
on the Jewish liturgy, comprising instructions on the use of the most impor-
tant prayers in meditation; and various other commentaries and treatises.

Bābā Jaimal Singh See Jaimal Singh, Bābā.

Bābur (1483–1530) Original name, aīr al-Dīn Muammad; first ruler (1526–
30) and founder of the Indian Mughul dynasty; conquered Delhi in 1526,
during the time of Guru Nānak; a descendant (on his mother’s side) of the
first great Mongol conqueror, Genghis Khān (d.1227), and (on his father’s
side) of Tīmūr (1336–1405) of Transoxania (now roughly Uzbekistan),
Turkic conqueror of lands stretching from India and Russia to the Mediter-
ranean; an adventurer, a brilliant military tactician, a forceful commander,
a poet, and chronicler of his exploits.
Turkic in character and language, Bābur’s father was ruler of Farghānah,
a small principality, north of the Hindu Kush mountain range. The empire
founded by Tīmūr was a network of vast territories, governed by warring
princes, whose way of life was to rule over as much territory as they could
claim, exacting tribute from the farmers and traders. Bābur’s first forays met
with disaster. While attempting to win back and hold on to his father’s capital
of Samarkand, in 1501, he lost both Samarkand and his own kingdom of
Farghānah. In 1504, however, with the help of his personal followers, he
gained control of Kābul. Unable to regain Samarkand despite several further
attempts, he finally gave up the idea, and turned his attention eastward to
Sind and India.
In Delhi, the Lodī dynasty was weak, torn by internal strife, and ready
for overthrow. In four raids on India, between 1519–24, Bābur was unable
to gain a strong enough foothold, although in 1522 he had secured Qandahār,
strategically placed on the road to Sind. In 1526, however, encouraged by
dissidents in the Lodī camp, he was successful in overrunning Delhi and
Agra, defeating the 100,000-strong army of Sulān Ibrāhīm Lodī with his
own small force of 12,000 seasoned veterans, through brilliant military
tactics, sound leadership and superior artillery. One of his first projects in
Delhi was to build a garden on the banks of the river Jumna, now known as
the Rām Bagh.
Although surrounded on all sides by hostile Indian kingdoms, Bābur
refused to withdraw with his spoils, unlike Tīmūr who, more than a century
before, had razed Delhi to the ground, returning to his capital, Samarkand,
within the year, loaded with booty. Despite the searing heat of the Indian
summer, and the desire of his troops to return to their homes in Kābul, 800
miles to the north, by May 1529, Bābur had overrun an area stretching from
Qandahār to the borders of Bengal in the east, and as far south as the
Rajasthan desert, his chief opponents being Rajputs and Afghans. The
258 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

territory, however, was far from secure, letter

andone
although his son, Humāyūn
(1508–56), inherited the nascent empire after his father’s his death from an
unknown illness in 1530, Humāyūn was unable to hold the territory, and
was forced out of India in 1540. Encouraged by civil war in North India,
Humāyūn returned 15 years later, in 1555, and was able to secure the coun-
try, only to lose his life in 1556, falling down some library steps. The task
then fell to his son, Akbar the Great (1542–1605), to consolidate the empire,
and to lay the foundations of the true Mughul dynasty in India.
Bābur’s prose memoirs (Bābur-Nāmah) reveal him as a cultured adven-
turer, an engaging personality, quick-thinking, full of vitality, and a lover
of natural beauty.

See also: Sikhism (1.11).

Bahā’ al-Dīn Muammad ibn Muammad Naqshbandī, Khwājah (1318–

89) A Sufi mystic, born near Bukhārā; known as Naqshband, meaning
‘embroiderer’ or ‘painter on cloth’, an epithet believed by some to have
been given to him because he drew “incomparable pictures of the divine
science and of the eternal invention, which are not imperceptible”; founder
of the Sufi order, the Naqshbandīyah, whose emphasis is on internal and
silent recollection or invocation (źikr) of God, even while occupied with
external affairs; his tomb near Bukhārā, known as Qa r-i ‘Ārifīn (lit. court
of the gnostics) developed into a thriving rendezvous for Sufis and other
Muslims.

Bāhū, Sul ān (c.1630–91) A well-known Sufi poet of the Punjab, sometimes

known by the epithet, Sul ān al-‘Ārifīn (king of mystics); born in Shorkot,
district Jhang (now in Pakistan), of whose life, little is known. Apart from
his own poems, the oldest source of information concerning Bāhū is Sulān
amīd’s, Manāqib-i Sul ānī (‘Royal Virtues’). However, the date of the
work is unknown, and the contents are not altogether reliable. According to
this book, Bāhū’s father, Bāyazīd Muammad, was a Sayyid (descendant
of Muammad) and a distinguished scholar, whose ancestors had emigrated
from Arabia to Khurāsān, in northeastern Iran, and from thence to Kālābāgh,
in northeastern India. During the reign of the Mughul Emperor, Shāh Jahān
(ruled 1627–66), Bāhū’s father moved to Multān, where he served its ruler.
The emperor was pleased with his service, and gave him a high position in
his court, and some land in the village of Qahrgān, Shorkot, where Bāhū
was born.
It is has been presumed that Bāhū was educated largely at home, for he
says in one of his Persian verses that although he had little grounding in
external knowledge, his soul had been purified by inner knowledge. Never-
theless, it seems unlikely that his scholarly father would have neglected his
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 259

education. Indeed, Bāhū 3 june 1931to have written around 140 books, mostly
is said
in Arabic and Persian, and a few in Punjabi. Thirty of these are extant,
among them his Abyāt (verses) in Punjabi, which are still popular in North
India and Pakistan. His Persian works include, ‘Ayn al-Faqr (‘Essence of
Spiritual Poverty’), Kalīd al-Tawīd (‘Key to Divine Unity’), Shams al-
‘Ārifīn (‘Sun among Mystics’), Kalīd al-Jannat (‘Key to Paradise’), Kashf
al-Asrār (‘Revelation of Secrets’), and Nūr al-Hudá (‘Light of the Qur’ān’).
From his poetry, it is clear that he taught the path of the Kalimah (Word).
Bāhū praises his mother, Rāstī, in one of his Persian verses for being
“gifted with truth”. It was she who named him Bāhū, from bā (with) and Hū
(God). It is said that he was grateful to her for giving him such a significant
name, and begged her to be his Murshid (Master). She declined, since Islam
does not permit women to be Murshids. Consequently, Bāhū set out in
search of a Murshid. He spent some time on the banks of the River Rāvī
with arat abīb Allāh Qādirī, who ultimately directed him to his own
Murshid, Sayyid ‘Abd al-Ramān. ‘Abd al-Ramān was a high ranking
officer in the Delhi court of Emperor Aurangzeb, but was also a Sufi of
significant spiritual attainment. In his poetry, Bāhū speaks of al-Jīlānī
(c.1077–1166), the founder of the Qādirīyah order, as if he were his Master,
but since al-Jīlānī lived more than 500 years before, it is presumed that this
was his way of referring to his own Master. It is said that Bāhū met the
Emperor Aurangzeb, who held Bāhū in high regard. Bāhū, for his part,
preferred to keep his distance from the murderous and bigoted emperor.
Bāhū is generally agreed to have died in 1691, at the age of 63. Depending
on whether these were solar or lunar years, this places his date of birth in
1628–29 or 1630–31. He was buried at Qahrgān, near the River Chenab, but
his remains were moved a short distance in 1766–67, and again in 1917 to
their present location (Ga h Mahārājah), when the river changed its course.

Bāli (S. Bālin) A character from the Indian epic, the Rāmāyaa; the celebrated
monkey-king of Kishkindhā, who was slain by Rāma and his kingdom given
to his brother, Sugrīva, Rāma’s friend and ally.

Basilidēs A second-century Alexandrian gnostic, who was active at the time of

the Roman emperors Hadrian (117–138) and Antoninus Pius (138–161);
probably a disciple of Menander of Antioch; said by the Christian teacher,
Clement of Alexandria (c.150–215), to have claimed to have received his
teaching from Glaucias, an “interpreter” of the apostle Peter; the author of
odes, psalms, and gnostic commentaries on the four gospels, of which only
fragments have survived in the writings of others; succeeded by his son,
Isodore. Contradictory summaries of Basilidēs’ teachings are given by
Clement, and the arch-refuters of ‘heresy’, Irenaeus (c.120–202, Bishop of
Lyons) and Hippolytus (c.170–236, Bishop of Rome). Followers of the
260 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter one
Basilidian school still existed in fourth-century Egypt, and were said to have
celebrated the day of Jesus’ baptism with an all-night vigil on January 6th
or 10th.

Basil the Great (c.329–379) Born in Caesarea Mazaca, the capital city of
Cappadocia, in eastern Asia Minor, to a distinguished Christian family; son
of a lawyer and orator, whose uncle was a bishop, as (later) were two of his
brothers (one of whom was Gregory of Nyssa); studied classics at Caesarea,
Constantinople and Athens, where he became friends with Gregory of
Nazianus (c.329–389, later Bishop of Caesarea); returned home (c.356) and
began a secular career, but influenced by his devout sister, Macrina (later a
nun and abbess), rediscovered an earlier interest in the ascetic life; visited
the monasteries of Palestine and Egypt in 357; around 358, with a circle of
friends, founded a monastic community on the family estate at Annesi, in
Pontus (northeast Asia Minor, on the Black Sea); in 360, began a long-term
involvement in the defence of ‘orthodox’ Christianity against Arianism;
ordained priest to support Eusebius, the new Bishop of Caesarea; in 370,
appointed Bishop of Caesarea and Metropolitan of Cappadocia, though op-
posed by some of the other bishops in the region; founded various charitable
institutions to help the sick, the poor and travellers. Though energetic and
confident, Basil’s health was poor, and he died at Caesarea, aged 49.
An influential writer, Basil’s many works arose from his experience as a
monk, pastor and leader of the Church. His Longer Rules and Shorter Rules
and other works on the monastic life reflect his experience at Annesi and
his supervision of Cappadocian monasteries. He expresses a preference
for communal monastic life over that of the solitary, because it provides an
opportunity for the practice of brotherly love. His extant sermons largely
address moral and social issues. In Address to Young Men, he defends the
study of the Greek and Roman classics, in which he himself had been edu-
cated, and used in his work. In the Hexaëmeron (‘Six Days’) (a work com-
pleted by his more scholarly younger brother, Gregory of Nyssa), he speaks
of the natural beauties of creation as reflections of divine glory. His letters,
of which over 300 have survived, are concerned with everyday matters, as
well as theological and other concerns. His other works deal with ecclesi-
astical and theological issues, including the anti-Arian stance which formed
such a significant part of his ecclesiastical life.

Beatrice Medicine A twentieth-century Lakota Native American; an anthro-

pologist who taught at the University of New Brunswick in 1976; in her
work as an academic she supported treaty rights for her people, as well as
the rights of women and children. In her teaching and advocacy, she stresses
the important role of women in Lakota society, reminding them that they
are the “carriers of culture”.
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 261

Beī Jī An Indian mystic3orjune 1931 of whom little is known, three of whose

devotee,
shabds are included in the Ādi Granth (pp.93, 974).

Bernard of Clairvaux (c.1090–1153) Born to a landowning, aristocratic and

virtuous family, probably at Fontaine-les-Dijon, near Dijon, in Burgundy,
France; turned away from his literary education after his mother’s death in
1107, seeking a life of solitude and renunciation.
In 1112, Bernard joined a new monastic community at Cîteaux (the
Cistercians), under the abbot, Stephen Harding, persuading his four brothers
to join him. The community had been founded in 1098 by Robert Molesmes
in an attempt to return to a more fundamental and austere Benedictine rule.
In 1115, he was appointed by Stephen Harding to found a small monastery
at Clairvaux, on the borders of Burgundy and Champagne. Taking with him
his four brothers, two cousins, an uncle, an architect and two experienced
monks, they endured great hardship for more than a decade before they be-
came fully functional. By 1119, the Pope had approved nine Cistercian
abbeys under the direction of the abbot of Cîteaux. During this time, Bernard
was forced by ill health, which dogged him most of his life, to withdraw to
a hut near the monastery, where he began his literary work.
Though influential in Church affairs until the end of his life, the period
1130–45 was his most active. He was called upon to act as mediator and
advisor to various church and civil councils at a time of papal disarray,
which lasted for seven years. He entered into theological debates within the
Church, countering especially the intellectual rationalism of Peter Abelard
and Gilbert de La Porrée, the latter maintaining that Christ’s divine nature
was only a human concept. Bernard claimed that love and prayer were better
means of knowing God than the exercise of intellect. He was also persuaded
by Pope Eugenius III and King Louis VII of France to preach the cause of
the disastrous Second Crusade (1147–49) in France and (with interpreters)
in Germany.
The tension experienced by Bernard between his outward desire to serve
the Church and his inner contemplative leanings is evident in his ample
literary output. His best-known works are The Love of God and The Steps
of Humility, which concern contemplative prayer and the imitation of Christ,
and his series of sermons on the biblical Song of Solomon. His complete
works include over 300 sermons and letters.

Bet ha-Midrash (He) Lit. the study (midrash) hall (bet); a collection of many
old midrashim (commentaries) made by the nineteenth-century scholar,
Adolphe Jellinek, published in a six-volume collection between 1853 and
1877 in Leipzig, Germany. A two-volume edition was published in Jerusa-
lem in 1967.
262 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Bhagavad Gītā (S) Lit. sung (gītā) by the letter one

Lord (Bhagavat); thus, song of the
Lord; one of the most popular and widely studied of all Indian scriptures,
comprising part of the sixth book of the epic Mahābhārata; probably com-
posed much later than the main text, scholarly opinion dating it to between
200 BCE to 200 CE, although some scholars suggest a considerably earlier
date, and traditionalists argue that it is not an interpolation at all.
The Gītā is written as a battle-field dialogue between Arjuna and K isha,
an incarnation of the deity Vishu. It takes place as the great war between
the Pāavas and Kauravas is about to begin. The two opposing armies are
drawn up facing each other. Seeing friends and relatives on both sides,
Arjuna expresses his reluctance to fight in a war in which, however just it
may seem, many will be killed. K isha replies by explaining that it is
Arjuna’s duty to fight, dispassionately, without any self-centred concern for
the outcome. The forthcoming battle is thus taken as a metaphor for life and,
as the dialogue progresses, K isha describes the means by which man may
come to know God through the blending of the three paths of selfless action
(karma yoga), knowledge (jñāna yoga) and devotion (bhakti yoga). Al-
though K isha is depicted throughout as a personal deity, and the object of
single-minded devotion, the text also describes God as the immanent Spirit,
the unmanifested Absolute, and the true nature of the enlightened soul.
The Bhagavad Gītā has been the subject of innumerable commentaries
by India’s many philosophers and mystics, past and present, and has been
translated into numerous languages. The appeal of its underlying story, the
manner in which it addresses the universal problems of human existence
and human spiritual aspirations, and the sublime quality of its transcendent
thought have all combined to make it one of the world’s most well-loved
sacred texts.

Bhāgavata Purāa (S) Lit. the Purāa of the Lord (Bhāgavata); full name,
Shrīmad Bhāgavata Mahāpurāa; also known as the Bhāgavata; a ninth-
or tenth-century CE composition, probably from the Tamil region of South
India; a celebrated and popular text expressing the emotional intensity of
bhakti (devotion) for and worship of the deity Vishu; comprised of 18,000
stanzas in 12 books, the recounting of Krishna’s childhood and youth in the
tenth book being the best-known and best-loved section; a text sacred to the
Vaishava Hindu school, and greatly loved by Hindu people in general;
translated into the many Indian languages; a source of inspiration, providing
many themes and scenes for medieval schools of Indian miniature painting.

See also: Purāas.

Bhāī Gurdās (c.1551–1636) An Indian mystic poet and scholar, contemporary

of the third, fourth, fifth and sixth Gurus in the line of Guru Nānak, acquainted
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 263

3 june 1931
with them and their contemporaries, including Bhāī Buddha, an aged Sikh
who had survived from the time of Guru Nānak; the disciple and nephew of
Guru Amardās and the maternal uncle of Guru Arjun; traditionally believed
to have been the scribe who collected together the writings that became the
Ādi Granth, under the supervision of Guru Arjun.

Bhīkhā (c.1713–63) An Indian mystic from Uttar Pradesh, his spiritual head-
quarters being at Bhurku a in District Rāipur; believed to have received
initiation from Gulāl Sāhib, of whom he was the successor. His works in-
clude Rām Jahāz (‘The Ship of Rām’), Rām Rāg (‘The Melody of Rām’)
and Rām Sabad (‘The Word of Rām’).

Bhīkhan, Bhagat (c.1480–1573) An Indian devotee in the tradition of Ravidās

and Dhannā, two of whose shabds are included in the Ādi Granth (p.659);
not to be confused with Bhīkhān Shāh, a seventeenth-century scholar and
Sufi mystic from Haryana, and a contemporary of Guru Gobind Singh.

Bhikkhā A sixteenth-century Indian writer, whose two sawayyās (poetic

eulogies) in praise of Guru Amardās are incorporated in the Ādi Granth
(pp.1395–96); a disciple of Guru Amardās (1479–1574) who lived until
the time of Guru Arjun (1563–1606); a brāhma poet of Sulānpur Lodī,
in the present-day Kapurthala district of the Punjab.

Bīrūnī, Abū al-Rayān Muammad ibn Amad al- (973–1048) Born in

Bīrūn, a suburb of Kāth, capital of Khwārazm (now in Turkmenistan); one
of the great natural philosophers of the ancient Muslim world; knowledge-
able in philosophy, science, astronomy, geography, geology, physics, math-
ematics, medicine, the world of nature, religion, mysticism, languages and
history; a correspondent with the great Persian philosopher and fellow poly-
math, Ibn Sīnā (980–1037); an accomplished linguist, writing in Arabic, and
conversant with Persian, Turkish, Hebrew, Syriac and Sanskrit; made an
extensive study of Hindu sacred literature, travelling to India sometime
after 1017, where he learned Sanskrit and wrote Ta’rīkh al-Hind (‘History
of India’).
Al-Bīrūnī’s study of the Hindu concept of the yugas and the vast cycles
of time through which creation has existed gave him a broad grasp of geo-
logical principles far in advance of his time. He suggested that the Indus
valley had once been a sea basin. In his works on astronomy, he suggested
that the earth was spinning on its own axis, making calculations of latitude
and longitude. Among his many books was his translation of Patañjali’s
Yoga Sūtras from Sanskrit into Arabic, and he is considered one of the most
reliable sources of information on Eastern religion of his time. His wide-
ranging history, Chronology of Ancient Nations, remains a major source of
264 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

information concerning his period andletter one

before. After his visit to India, he
settled in Ghazna, in Afghanistan, where he passed the remainder of his life.

Bis āmī, Abū Yazīd ayfūr ibn ‘Īsá al- (d.c.875) Born in Bisām, in north-
eastern Persia; one of the best-known mystics of Islam; lived as an ascetic
for 30 years during which time he is said to have served 113 Shaykhs; noted
for his miraculous powers and uncompromising outspokenness; credited
with saying, “There is no Truth, but I am It” and “Glory to Me! How great
is My Majesty! (Subānī! Mā a‘
ama Sha’nī!)”; regarded as the founder
of the Sufi school of intoxication (maktab-i sukr); much quoted by later
writers. On being asked how he had attained his spiritual height, replied, “I
cast off my own self, as a serpent casts off his skin. Then I considered my
own self, and found that I was He” (HSI1 p.326).

Black Elk (Hehaka Sapa) (1863–1950) A Lakota (Sioux) holy man of the Oglala
tribe, from Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota.

See Some Recent Native Americans (1.14).

Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna (1831–91) Born in Yekaterinoslav (Dnipro-

petrovsk), Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire; born H.P. Hahn,
married Nikifor V. Blavatsky, a Russian army officer and provincial vice-
governor, when she was 17, but separated after a few months; became inter-
ested in occultism and the spiritual path, travelling widely in Europe, Asia
and the USA; also claims to have spent some years in India and Tibet with
Indian gurus; met and became a close companion of the lawyer and news-
paperman, Henry Steel Olcott, on a visit to New York in 1873; founder
member, along with Olcott and several other prominent individuals, of the
Theosophical Society, in 1875.
Blavatsky’s first major work, Isis Unveiled, was published in 1877, in
which she advocates mystical experience over science and religion as the
way to true spiritual insight and knowledge. Though the book attracted some
attention, the society’s membership in the USA dwindled. In 1879, Blavatsky
and Olcott went to India, where the Society rapidly gained a large follow-
ing. Three years later, they established the headquarters of the Society at
Adyar, near Madras, and published The Theosophist, edited by Blavatsky
from 1879 to 1888.
Blavatsky asserted that she possessed psychic powers, which she dem-
onstrated in public, but while travelling to London and Paris in 1884, she was
accused of fraud by the Indian press, an accusation supported in 1885 by the
London Society for Psychical Research. Although meeting with an enthusi-
astic reception on her return to India, she left soon after, in failing health.
Thereafter, she lived quietly in Germany, Belgium and finally London, work-
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 265

3 june(1889,
ing on The Voice of Silence 1931 her small, meditative classic), The Secret
Doctrine (1888, an overview of theosophy), and Key to Theosophy (1889).

Book of Chuāng Tzu (Zhuāng Zi) Also called, simply, the Chuāng Tzu; written
by Chuāng Tzu; one of the best-known works in Chinese literature, regarded
as an essential source book for the study of classical Taoism.

See also: Chuāng Tzu, Taoism (1.13).

Book of Legends (He. Sefer ha-Aggadah) A distillation of legends from the

Talmud and Midrash, edited by Yehoshua Hana Ravnitzky and the famous
Hebrew poet, Hayim Nahmun Bialik; first published in 1911, translated into
English by W.G. Braude in 1992.

Book of Lièh Tzu (Liè
i) The book attributed to the sage, Lièh Tzu, and named
after him, in the manner of many other such treatises of those times; called
by some schools Ch’ūng-Hsǖ Chēn-Chīng (‘True Classic of the Expansive
Void’); regarded as one of the most important texts of classical Taoism
after the Tào Té Chīng and the Book of Chuāng Tzu; considered more easily
understood as an introduction to the mysterious and intangible philosophy
of Taoism, making use of parables; contains many passages common to
other Taoist classics, some sections of the Chuāng Tzu, for instance (e.g.
nearly half of section two), appearing throughout the book; probably did
not reach its present form until the third or fourth centuries CE.

Book of Life (He. Sefer ha-
ayyim) An anonymous work written at the turn of
the thirteenth century by a member of the German
asidei Ashkenaz move-
ment; begins by considering the essence of God, His holy names and His
various powers, and concludes by addressing man’s good and evil tenden-
cies, and ways to surmount evil; a significant work in the history of Jewish
mysticism because some of the ideas resemble those of the Kabbalah.

Book of Mirdad, The A book written in English by the Lebanese author,

Mikhail Naimy, first published in New York 1948, in which legend, mysti-
cism, philosophy and poetry are blended into a fictional legend about a
monastery called the Ark and a mysterious visitor and teacher, Mirdad.
Through its archaic language, its fragmentary structure and its folkloric
qualities, Naimy gave The Book of Mirdad such a mythic flavour that many
readers have taken various hints in the book to mean that it is based on a
text he had discovered. It is not. Naimy died in the 1980s, but his family are
clear that the book is entirely his own work. Naimy was a close friend of
Kahlil Gibran, and was renowned in the Lebanon as foremost among Arabic
poets. He was raised as an Orthodox Antiochian Christian.
266 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Book of Revelation Original Greek name,letter one

the Apocalypse of John; the last book
of the New Testament, and the most difficult to follow; often called Rev-
elations; very different in style and doctrine from John’s gospel; belongs to
a genre of contemporary Jewish, Middle Eastern and Hellenistic apocalypses;
an apocalyptic text of hope and victory, addressing the Church in time of
persecution, as it awaits the Second Coming and the end of the world; prob-
ably compiled during the persecutions of Nero (in 64) and/or Domitian
(around c.95); stated in its opening verses to be a revelation given by God
to Christ (“to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to
pass”), who conveys it through an angel to “his servant John”, in exile on
the island of Patmos. John is to write it all down, and pass it on. The work is
addressed to the “seven churches which are in Asia (i.e. Asia Minor)”. The
text begins as a series of seven letters to the seven churches, interspersed
with visions. After that, it is occupied largely with visions of various kinds,
whose content is primarily symbolic in significance.
The repetitions, disjointed sequence of visions, and passages clearly out
of context have resulted in numerous suggestions concerning the origins of
the book. Most scholarly analyses agree that it is a multi-source compila-
tion. The letters to the seven churches clearly constitute one source, and the
revelational material may have come from two or more separate ‘revela-
tions’. One of these may have been a Jewish messianic apocalypse, adapted
to a Christian context. There are also a series of “he who overcometh” verses
scattered throughout the book that read more coherently when arranged as
a single independent poetic work (2:7, 11, 17; 3:5, 12, 20–21; 21:7). Some
scholars have suggested that the book was never completed, the impossible
task of amalgamating the diverse material finally defeating the compiler-
editor. Others have thought that maybe the pages of the original manuscript
were accidentally shuffled, and entire sections displaced.
Although accepted by some members of the Western churches from the
late-second century onwards as the work of the apostle John, Revelations
had many detractors. The third-century Roman priest, Caius, attributed the
book to the ‘heretic’, Cerinthus, and its authenticity was doubted by the
Eastern churches until the fifth century.

See also: reincarnation and transmigration (in Christianity): Other

New Testament Indications (6.3), Revelations (1.5).

Book of the Glory (He. Sefer ha-Kavod) A book composed by Judah ben
Samuel he-asid (c.1150–1217), mystic and foremost teacher of the
asidei
Ashkenaz movement; probably ben Samuel’s most important work, though
extant only as quotations in later works; predates the Kabbalistic use of the
term Kavod (Glory).
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 267

Book of the Life of Adam3 and

juneEve
1931An apocryphal aggadah (narrative legend)
concerning the sin of Adam and Eve and the death of Adam; generally
believed to have been written in Palestine between 100 BCE and 200 CE;
exists in Greek, Latin and Slavonic versions.

Book of Thomas the Contender A gnostic text from the Nag Hammadi library,
taking the form of answers to questions put to Jesus by his twin brother,
Judas Thomas, some time after the death of Jesus, and as recorded by
Mathaias (possibly the apostle Matthew); related in philosophical content
to the Acts of Thomas and the Gospel of Thomas. ‘Contender’ is a transla-
tion of the Greek, athletēs, meaning ‘one who struggles’ against human
passions. The themes of the text include true knowledge of the self, the fire
of human passions, the wise and the spiritually ignorant, and bondage to
error and to the material body. The presence of an editorial seam between
the series of questions and answers and a monologue by the Saviour sug-
gests that the work is probably a combination of two or more earlier sources.

Brahma Bindu Upanishad (S) Lit. Upanishad of the drop (bindu) of Brahman
(Brahm); also called the Am
ita Bindu Upanishad.

See Amita Bindu Upanishad.

Brāhmaas (S) Priestly texts, written as commentaries on the hymns of the

Vedas to which they are attached, explaining the hidden meaning of the
various sacrificial rituals and the symbolic significance of the ceremonial
actions of the priest (brāhma), often illustrated and justified by appeal to
mythology; the oldest sources concerning the history of Vedic rituals;
probably written between 900 BCE and 700 BCE, at a time when the Vedic
hymns were being gathered into collections (sahitās). Brāhmaa means
‘relating’ to or ‘given by a brāhma’, but it is uncertain whether it refers
to the words of a brāhma or to a discourse on the meaning of the Vedas.
Each of the four Vedas has its own associated collection of Brāhmaas,
dealing with such rites as morning and evening sacrifices, 12-day rites,
lunar rites, the sacrificial fire, soma ceremonies, the inauguration of kings,
atonement for mistakes and bad omens happening during sacrifices, and so
on. Such sacrifices were understood as the means by which man could relate
to and control both human affairs and the cosmic processes surrounding
him. Significance was given to similarities or homologues built into the
rituals as a mirror of both human affairs and cosmic processes. Through this
symbolic representation, man felt able to participate in the otherwise un-
controllable events that dominate his existence.
268 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter
Brahma Sahitā (S) A collection (sahitā) one the name of a number
of prayers;
of works.

Brahma Sūtras (S) Sometimes called the Vedānta Sutras; a work comprising
brief interpretations of the doctrines of the Upanishads, attributed to
Bādarāyaa, traditionally identified with the sage Vyāsa; a fundamental text
of the Vedānta school of Indian philosophy. Shankara’s commentary on the
Brahma Sūtras is one of Hinduism’s most profound expositions of the one,
unchanging Reality and the illusory nature of duality. Likewise, Rāmānuja’s
commentary on the Brahma Sūtras presents the intellectual rationale for
devotional practice.

See also: Rāmānuja, Shankara.

Bihadārayaka Upanishad (S) Lit. great (b

ihat) forest (ārayaka) Upan-
ishad; belonging to the Yajur Veda; one of the older and longer Upanishads,
considered one of the most important by the Vedānta school of Indian
philosophy; a large and complex work, sometimes allegorical, partly set as
a dialogue between the sage Yājñavalkya and various scholars, dealing with
ritualistic though meditative worship, as well as Brahman, the ātman (self),
the created worlds, leaving the body, and various aspects of the body, such
as the senses, prāa (subtle life energy), and so on; teaches the absolute
identity of the ātman and Brahman, as in the dictum, “Ayam ātmā Brahma
(This self is Brahman)” (2:5.19); also contains the first clear enunciation of
the doctrines of rebirth and liberation in Indian literature; the subject of a
commentary by the Indian philosopher, Shankara.

See also: Upanishads.

Bruce Codex A papyrus codex containing Arabic, Ethiopic and Coptic manu-
scripts, said to have been bought in an unbound loose-leaf form by the
Scottish traveller, James Bruce, at Medinet Habu in Upper Egypt, around
1769; acquired in 1848 by the Bodleian Library in Oxford, and subsequently
bound in 1886, without little regard to order or sequence, some leaves being
upside-down; first numbered, transcribed and translated (into German) by
Carl Schmidt in 1892.
The Bruce Codex contains two independent Coptic manuscripts, in dif-
ferent handwriting and on different qualities of papyrus. The first manuscript
contains two books, the first of which is named, The Book of the Great Logos
Corresponding to the Mysteries. However, the content of both these books
suggests that they are the First and Second Books of Jeu, referred to in an-
other Coptic text, the Pistis Sophia. Both books are set as the answers to
questions put to Jesus by his disciples. The first book concerns salvation
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 269

from the archon (ruler)3 june

of this1931
world through the Logos, the essential igno-
rance inherent in bodily existence, and the emanation of the “treasuries of
the Light” by Jeu, the true God. In the second, Jesus speaks of the mysteries
of baptism into the “treasury of the Light”, the erasing of sins, and the as-
cent of the soul back to the Treasury of the Light.
The second manuscript is generally known as the Untitled Text, since its
beginning and end are both missing, including the original title. It speaks of
the “First Father of the All” as the self-originated place and the First Sound
or divine Voice by which everything is created, going on to describe the
emanation of man and all the worlds.
The earliest date of composition of these two texts is probably the sec-
ond century CE, although they may have been written as late as the third
century.

Bū ‘Alī Qalandar (c.1202–1324) arat Shaykh Sharaf al-Dīn Bū ‘Alī Shāh

Qalandar; also called Shāh Sharaf; lived in Pānipāt in present-day Haryana;
an eminent Islamic scholar at the king’s court in Delhi, as well as a poet and
mystic; regarded as the founder of the Qalandarīyah order of Sufis. His ex-
tensive writings include his Maktūbāt (letters), a Dīvān (collected poems)
and a Maśnavī (poem in rhymed couplets).

Buddha (c.560–480 BCE) Lit. enlightened one; the honorific title given to
Prince Siddhārtha Gautama, Gautama being his family name; also called
Gautama Buddha; of the Shākya clan, son of Shuddhodana (king of Kapil-
avastu) and Māyā (princess of Devadaha); born in Lumbinī, Kapilavastu,
on the border of Nepal; taught in the area around Vārāasī in India, teach-
ing the doctrine of the four ‘noble truths’, and the ‘chain of causation’ that
leads to suffering. The religion which formed around his teachings has be-
come known as Buddhism. At one stage, the Buddha was deified by the
Hindus and regarded as an incarnation of the deity Vishu.

See also: Buddhism (1.12).

Buddhaghosha A fifth-century (CE) Indian Buddhist scholar, who travelled

to Anurādhāpura, the ancient capital of Sri Lanka, where he discovered
many Sinhalese Buddhist texts, which he translated into Pali. His text,
Visuddhimagga (‘Path of Purity’) summarizes the Tripi aka (lit. three baskets,
the Pali canon), setting out the doctrines of Hīnayāna Buddhism.

Bukhārī, Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muammad ibn Ismā‘īl al- (810–870) Born in
Bukhārā in Central Asia (now in Uzbekistan); a Muslim scholar, well known
as one of the major collectors of adīth – sayings and stories of Muammad
handed down by oral tradition. In search of adīth, al-Bukhārī travelled
270 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

widely from Cairo to Merv (in Centralletter onethe fruits of his labour are
Asia), and
collected in the
adīth aī al-Bukhārī (‘Genuine Traditions of al-
Bukhārī’), comprising 97 short ‘books’, arranged by subject, and accepted
by most Sunnīs (the major branch of Islam) as the most important text after
the Qur’ān. His work is one of the six accepted collections of adīth.
Al-Bukhārī was diligent. From the 600,000 adīth he collected, he se-
lected only 7,275 as authentic, and he begins his work with short biogra-
phies of those who formed the links in the chain of oral transmission. In the
latter years of his life, he became involved in a theological dispute, and left
Nīshāpūr for Bukhārā. But on refusing to teach the governor of Bukhārā
and his children, he was sent into exile in Khartank, near Samarkand, where
he died.

See also: The Islamic Way of Life (1.10).

Bulleh Shāh (1680–1758) Real name, ‘Abd Allāh Shāh; a Sufi mystic and
Punjabi poet, born into a high-class Muslim family (a Sayyid, descendants
of Muammad); son of a devout Muslim scholar of Arabic and Persian, Shāh
Muammad Dervīsh; probably born at Uch Gīlāniyān in the district of
Bahāwalpūr (now in Pakistan); moved at an early age to Pandoke, when his
father was appointed preacher at the village mosque and teacher to the vil-
lage children; sent to Qa ūr, near Lahore, 14 miles northwest of Pandoke,
for his higher education, where he is said to have distinguished himself as
a scholar, with a knowledge of Arabic and Persian; incurred the severe dis-
approval of his family when he became a disciple of Shāh ‘Ināyat Qādirī
(d.1728) of Lahore, of the humble Arā’īn caste of gardeners and agricultur-
alists, and a member of the Qādirīyah order of Sufis.
A number of legends, miraculous and otherwise, are associated with
Bulleh Shāh. According to a traditional story, Bulleh Shāh asked his Master,
Shāh ‘Ināyat, to attend a family wedding. Knowing that his disciple still
retained some ego concerning his high caste, and wishing to purify him,
Shāh ‘Ināyat did not attend in person, but sent a low caste disciple as his
representative. This disciple was poorly received by the family, including
Bulleh Shāh. When the disciple returned, Shāh ‘Ināyat was told what had
happened, and the next time Bulleh Shāh came to see his Master, Shāh
‘Ināyat refused to see him. Bulleh Shāh realized his mistake, and begged
forgiveness, but it made no difference. For some years, Bulleh Shāh was
not permitted to see his Master. Perhaps it is from this time of love and
yearning that many of his poems have sprung. Ultimately, he became so
desperate that he joined a troupe of dancing girls, and dressed up as a
woman, so that he could perform at a festival that he knew his Master would
attend. Seeing his persistence, and knowing that the separation had had the
desired effect, Shāh ‘Ināyat once again permitted Bulleh Shāh to visit him.
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 271

3 junekāfīs
Many of Bulleh Shāh’s 1931contain a pantheistic strain. The Lord, he
says, is present in every part of His creation, yet is only seen by the rare few
who have the eyes to see Him. His songs of mystical love and longing are
still popular in India and Pakistan. An urs, a ceremony celebrating the union
of the soul of a deceased Saint with the Supreme Being, is performed every
year at the tomb of Bulleh Shāh’s father in Pandoke Bhattiyān, where Bulleh
Shāh’s kāfīs are sung, a tribute to both father and son.

canonical literature A class of scripture ratified by a high-level council of reli-

gious (e.g. Christian or Jewish) authorities to express accurately the beliefs
of their religion.

See also: apocryphal literature.

Chaldaean Breviary A book of psalms, hymns, prayers, etc., used by the

Chaldaean Christians, the descendants of the ancient Nestorian Church, in
communion with the see of Rome since 1830, after four centuries of nego-
tiations; written in Syriac, as their traditional liturgical language.

Charadās (1703–82) A mystic poet, born at ehrā in Mewāt in Rajasthan, later

moving to Delhi, where he spent the latter part of his life holding spiritual
discourses. His writings are notable for their references to yogic philosophy.
Among his disciples were the devotees, Sahajobāī and Dayābāī.

Charan Singh Mahārāj (1916–90) An Indian Saint (Sant); born at Mogā in

the Punjab; fifth in the line of Radha Soami Masters at Beas in the Punjab,
from December 12th 1951 to June 1st 1990; the grandson and disciple of
Mahārāj Sāwan Singh; practised law until succeeding to the mastership
of Sardār Bahādur Mahārāj Jagat Singh; travelled widely, carrying the
message of Sant Mat (Path of the Saints) around the world, initiating over a
million and a quarter souls in India and overseas. His discourses, letters to
disciples and answers to questions have formed the basis of a number of
books in English, Punjabi and other languages. His many activities included
establishing annual eye camps at the Beas centre, largely for cataract oper-
ations, and building a charitable hospital at Beas. Immediately prior to his
death, he appointed Bābā Gurinder Singh as his successor.

Charles Alexander Eastman (Ohiyesa) (1858–1939) A mixed-blood Sioux

whose maternal grandmother, a daughter of Chief Cloudman of the Mde-
wankton Sioux, was married to a well-known Western artist, Captain Seth
Eastman. Their daughter, Mary Nancy Eastman, married Chief Many
Lightnings, a Wahpeton Sioux. Ohiyesa was their fifth child. Raised in
Canada, Eastman went on to become one of the best-known educated Indians
272 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

of his time, receiving a science degreeletter one

from Dartmouth in 1887 and a medi-
cal degree from Boston University three years later.

Chhāndogya Upanishad (S) Belonging to the Sāma Veda, Chhāndogya im-

plying the ‘doctrine of the Chhandogas’, a Chhandoga being a singer of
the verses of the Sāma Sahitā; one of the older and longer Upanishads,
considered very important by the Vedānta school of Indian philosophy;
an extensive and complex work, concerning ritualistic worship with an
emphasis on meditation, together with various fundamental aspects of
Vedānta, including the nature of the ātman (self) and Brahman; contains
the Vedic dictum, “Tat tvam asi (Thou art that)”, which occurs at various
places throughout the Upanishad (e.g. 6:8.7).

See also: Upanishads.

Christopher Marlowe (1564–93) An Elizabethan playwright and poet; Shake-

speare’s most celebrated predecessor; second child and eldest son of a
Canterbury shoemaker; educated at King’s School, Canterbury, and Cam-
bridge University; obtained his BA in 1584; was granted his MA in 1587,
despite the university’s hesitation arising from his frequent absences from
Cambridge, only when the Privy Council send a letter indicating that he had
been employed “in matters touching the benefit of his country” – i.e. in
Elizabeth I’s secret service; noted for establishing the use of blank verse in
drama; his plays – written in a brief career of little more than six years –
include Tamburlaine the Great, Edward II and Dr Faustus (based on a
German legend in which the doctor sells his soul to the devil in exchange
for knowledge and power); gained a reputation in his own time as an atheist,
homosexual and libertine; stabbed to death by a companion in a tavern brawl
in Deptford, allegedly over payment of the bill.

Chronicles (He. Divrei ha-Yamim, lit. events of the times) The last book of the
canonical Hebrew Bible; written in the fourth century BCE; relates the
history of Israel from the time of David until the destruction of the king-
dom of Judah during the reign of Zedekiah (C6th BCE).

Chuāng Tzu (Zhuāng Zi) (c.369–286 BCE) Also known as Chuāng Chōu
(Zhuāng Zhōu); lived and worked as a minor administrator in the Chinese
state of Sùng; one of the foremost admirers of Lǎo Tzu, living three centu-
ries later, and one of the most revered sages of classical Taoism; author of
the work known as the Book of Chuāng Tzu, regarded as one of the primary
source books of classical Taoism.

See Taoism (1.14).

 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 273

3 june 1931
Cicero, Marcus Tullius (106–43 BCE) Formerly known in English as Tully; a
Roman statesman, orator, lawyer, scholar and writer whose voluminous
writings are regarded as the epitome of Latin prose; son of a wealthy family
of Arpinium; educated in Rome and Greece; entered military service in
89 BCE under Pompeius Strabo (the father of Pompey); made his first pub-
lic appearance as a lawyer in 81 BCE, where his skills soon came to be
respected; began his public career in 75 BCE, as quaestor (magistrate in
financial administration) in western Sicily.
Cicero tried in vain to uphold republican principles throughout the civil
wars and political power struggles that dominated his life. As praetor (senior
magistrate) in 66 BCE, he championed the appointment of Pompey in the
successful war against Mithradatēs, king of Pontus, a region in northeast
Asia Minor. In 63 BCE, Cicero was elected consul (an annual appointment),
his most difficult challenge being to persuade the Senate of the danger of
Catiline and his plans of sedition. Cicero prevailed, despite an assassination
attempt; Catiline and his fellow conspirators were captured and executed;
and Cicero was hailed as the “father of his country” and the friend of all
classes of society. His later political career was one of changing fortunes
while Pompey, Caesar, Octavian, Mark Antony and others struggled for
power. From September 44 to April 43, Cicero delivered a series of orations
to the Senate trying to persuade them to declare war on Mark Antony. Al-
though initially defeated in April 43, Mark Antony regained power, and in
October 43, the triumvirate of Mark Antony, Octavian and Lepidus was
formed. Cicero was sought for execution, and was captured and killed in
December 43.
Cicero was an astonishingly prolific writer. His correspondence with
friends and colleagues is in itself voluminous (over 800 of his letters have
survived). Many of his speeches and written works are also extant. He was
particularly renowned as a political orator and an expert defence lawyer.
Not averse to self-aggrandizement, in Brutus, Cicero attributes his prowess
as an orator and his ability to sway a jury even in the face of adverse evidence
to a foundation in philosophy; a skilful blend of literary and historical
knowledge; expertise in legal matters; argumentative skill; the capacity to
arouse the emotions of anger, pity and so forth; his wit and humour; and his
ability to see and to present the essentials of a case clearly.
Cicero only began to write seriously on philosophy around 54 BCE, but
most of his philosophical writings were written during the years 45–44,
shortly before his death. Like many of the ancient thinkers, he wrote on a
wide range of subjects, taking the writings of the Academics, Epicureans,
Peripatetics and Stoics as his sources, and Aristotle and the scholar, Hera-
cleides Ponticus, as his models. With the exception of his last book, De
officiis (‘Concerning Duties’), he claims no originality. Writing at a time
when Latin was replacing Greek as the lingua franca, his purpose was to
274 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

transmit the wealth of Greek thought letter

to theone
Roman world. In a letter to
Atticus, he writes of his philosophical works, “They are transcripts; I simply
supply words, and I’ve plenty of those” (in “Cicero”, EB).

Clementine Homilies, Clementine Recognitions Part of the pseudo-Clementine

literature, a diverse body of work incorrectly attributed to the late-first-
century Clement, Bishop of Rome, including letters, a sermon, two treatises
on virginity, the Apostolic Constitutions (early Christian ecclesiastical law),
the Clementine Homilies (preserved in the Greek original), and a very similar
work, the Clementine Recognitions (extant in Latin and Syriac translations
made around 400 CE). The Homilies and Recognitions are based on an
earlier work, the Travels of Peter, mentioned by the ecclesiastical historian,
Eusebius (c.265–340) and the Greek theologian, Origen (c.185–254). These
entertaining books begin with Clement’s explanation of how he came to
be in the company of Peter, going on to relate the deeds, sayings and teach-
ings of the apostle, from an early Judaeo-Christian point of view, including
Peter’s encounter with the early gnostic, Simon Magus. The medieval story
of Faust was based upon this portrayal of Simon Magus.

See also: Apocryphal Sources (1.5).

Clement of Alexandria (c.150–215) Latin name, Titus Flavius Clemens; born

in either Athens or Alexandria to a pagan family; educated in classical
philosophy in various Italian and eastern Mediterranean centres; converted
to Christianity, possibly by his last teacher, Pantaenus (said to have previ-
ously been a Stoic philosopher); succeeded Pantaenus, around 180, as head
of the latter’s school in Alexandria for new Christian converts, some of
whom later became Church leaders; was the effective leader for the next
two decades of intellectual Christians in Alexandria; taught that Greek phi-
losophy and the law of Moses, like river tributaries, were both steps leading
to the Truth, personified in the Logos (Word), thus opening a way towards
the acceptance of Christianity for those educated in the Greek tradition (i.e.
pagans); adopted an anti-gnostic stance; was regarded with suspicion by
non-intellectual Christians (with whom he engaged in debate when given
the opportunity), who believed in salvation through faith alone; compelled
to retire, probably around 202, when persecution under the Roman emperor,
Severus (ruled 193–211) forced him to leave Alexandria, being succeeded
as head of the school by Origen (c.185–254), presumably when the persecu-
tions had ceased. Clement’s activities and whereabouts in his latter years
are obscure, although he seems to have lived in Jerusalem, Antioch and
possibly other places. The place and circumstances of his death are unknown.
Among his writings, his three most significant works are the Protreptikos
(‘Exhortation to the Heathen’), an attempt to win converts from the pagan
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 275

world by appealing to3their

juneown
1931philosophy; the Paidagogos (‘Instructor’),
a manual of belief and behaviour for Christian converts; and the Stromateis
(‘Miscellanies’), describing gnostic and pagan philosophies and beliefs,
with a great many quotations, in the attempt to draw from them the threads
of the true Christian gnosis (higher knowledge), as he understood it. These
three books are the largest works surviving from this early period of Chris-
tianity. His other extant works include various moral and ethical treatises, a
collection of sayings of the gnostic Theodotus (Excerpta ex Theodoto), with
a commentary by Clement, and fragments of a bible commentary,

Colossians, Ephesians New Testament texts. Colossians is ostensibly a letter

from Paul to the Christian community at Colossae (in southwest Phrygia,
now in Turkey). Paul has never met the Colossians, the group having been
founded by a certain Epaphras (1:7). In the most reliable manuscripts of
Ephesians, the initial salutation contains no reference to the saints, “who
are in Ephesus”, and it is presumed that this letter was written for general
circulation, the place name being added by a later hand. Both letters are
written from prison in Ephesus.
The authenticity of these two letters has been questioned by scholars on
the grounds that they contain an elaboration of Paul’s normal philosophy,
and are written in a markedly different literary style from Paul’s other letters.
Both Colossians and Ephesians follow the same pattern, saying much the
same thing in slightly different words. The elaboration of Paul’s teaching
concerns the existence of cosmic powers – “thrones”, “dominions”, “prin-
cipalities” and “powers” (Colossians 1:16, KJV). These are said to be a part
of the universe created by the First-born Son, Christ, the head of all such
powers. It is through this Christ, says the writer, that Christians have been
spiritually ‘circumcised’ by being released from bondage to the body.
Through baptism, they have also been raised (resurrected) from the death
of sinfulness, and have been forgiven. Christ has overridden “the law” (2:14,
JB), and cancelled all the debts of sin by his death on the cross. He has thus
freed his followers from these cosmic powers.
The writer is addressing the belief and practice of those who offer obei-
sance to such powers, and perform various rituals to appease them. He tells
the Christians that they should pay no attention to such things, for Christ is
above them all. The doctrine of spiritual resurrection that is briefly outlined
is quite different from Paul’s usual teaching of resurrection at the time of
the Second Coming. In fact, the teaching concerning cosmic powers has
obvious gnostic overtones.
While counselling against asceticism, the writer goes on to advise the
inward destruction of all weaknesses pertaining to earthly life: fornication,
evil desires, greed, anger, spite, abusive language, and so on. He exhorts
his readers to kindness, humility, brotherly love and mutual support.
276 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter
Ephesians is the source of the well-known one “Let not the sun go down
saying,
upon your wrath” (4:26, KJV). He encourages family harmony, with spe-
cific instructions to wives, husbands, children, slaves and masters, advising
them all to persevere in their prayers.
He ends with some personal news of various individuals and a final greet-
ing, which raises further textual problems. In his short letter, Philemon, also
written from prison, Paul explains that he is returning Onesimus (a runa-
way slave) to Philemon as a loving brother in Christ, requesting Philemon
to be kind to his erstwhile slave. In Colossians, Paul says that he is sending
Tychicus with personal news along with Onesimus. In Ephesians, he says
that he is sending Tychicus; Onesimus is not mentioned. Thus, Philemon is
echoed by Colossians, and Colossians is echoed by Ephesians. A number
of scholars have therefore supposed that Colossians is a substantial rework-
ing of Philemon. The essentially personal letter to Philemon has had all the
other material added. In this scenario, Colossians is dated to the early second
century, and Ephesians is a later reworking of Colossians with some small
doctrinal differences.

See also: Paul (1.5).

Concept of Our Great Power Possibly better rendered as ‘Knowledge of Our

Great Power’; a gnostic treatise from the Nag Hammadi library, of uncertain
date and provenance; a somewhat confused and rambling text concerning
the “great Power” “who is exalted above all powers” (also identified with
the Logos) that gives salvation; depicts an apocalyptic end of the world
when all those souls who know the great Power will be taken back to the
“immeasurable Light”.

Confucius (551–479 BCE) The latinized form of K’ǔng Fū Tzu, meaning the
philosopher or master K’ǔng, Tzu being an appendage customarily reserved
for venerable persons; a native of the state of Lǔ in what is now the Shāntūng
province of China; said to be the first Chinese philosopher, as well as the
founder of Chinese literature. His philosophy is found in the Analects, a
collection of his sayings compiled by his disciples. The depth of his per-
sonality and the morality of his teachings had a profound effect on the
dynasties that guided China for many centuries afterwards.

Corpus Hermeticum A body of Greek and Latin texts ascribed to Hermēs

Trismegistus and his disciples.

See Hermetic Literature (1.9).

 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 277

3 june 1931
Cyril of Alexandria (c.375–444) A Christian theologian; appointed Bishop of
Alexandria in 412, a post he held until his death, as successor to his uncle;
known for his contentious part in the fifth-century doctrinal disputes,
particularly his campaign against Nestorius (d.451), Patriarch of Constan-
tinople. Nestorius taught that the human and divine natures of Jesus were
distinct, and Jesus had sometimes been one and sometimes the other.
Established doctrine was that the two natures were merged into one person.
There was also a political side to the dispute. Nestorius had been appointed
by the eastern Roman emperor, Theodosius II (ruled 408–450), and the
Alexandrians feared a swing of power and doctrinal emphasis towards
Constantinople.
In 431, with the permission of the Pope, Cyril convened a general council
at Ephesus. Starting proceedings before the arrival of certain eastern bishops,
the council condemned Nestorius. When the eastern bishops arrived, they
understandably reconvened the council, and condemned Cyril. The Pope’s
acceptance of Cyril’s decision was eventually secured, Nestorius branded
a heretic, and banished. But the dispute dragged on, and a semblance of
peace was only restored when Cyril accepted a compromise with Antioch
emphasizing the distinctness of the two natures, but within the one person
of Christ.
Cyril was a zealous and politically minded defender of the ‘orthodox’.
He closed the churches of the Novatians, who believed that the Church could
not absolve those who had reverted to idolatry in times of persecution. He
was also party to the expulsion of the Jews from Alexandria, after civil dis-
turbance between Christians and Jews. The result was rioting, which Cyril
did nothing to prevent, and which was only brought under control by the
intervention of the civil authorities.
Cyril’s writings include commentaries on the Pentateuch; on Isaiah; and
on the gospels of Luke and John; together with Against Julianus, a response
to Against the Galileans, of the Emperor Julian (ruled 361–363). Julian
had been raised as a Christian, but announced his reversion to paganism on
becoming emperor.

See also: Nestorians.

Dabistān-i Maźāhib Lit. school of manners; a contemporary chronicle of reli-

gions in India, written in Persian by the Muslim, Musin Fānī, during the
mid-seventeenth century, probably completed in 1653; provides informa-
tion concerning the beliefs of different creeds such as the Hindus, Buddhists,
Parsees, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Sufis and philosophers; also includes
details of the lives of some of the Sufis and Muslim holy men of the Mughul
India.
278 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Musin Fānī seems to have hadletter one interest in Sufism and

a particular
mysticism, meeting many holy men, including the sixth and seventh Sikh
Gurus, as well as the mystic, Sarmad, whom he met in 1647. A section of
his book is devoted to the Nānakpanthīs – the early Sikhs. He says that he
was initiated by a sannyāsin of Bārāmūlā. The Dabistān is not considered
altogether reliable, however. One of the early British historians of the Sikhs,
J.D. Cunningham, dismisses him as “a gossiping and somewhat credulous
person”, which comment may also reflect Cunningham’s bias.

See also: Sikhism (1.11).

Dādū (c.1544–1603) An Indian Saint (Sant) and poet; born in Ahmedabad, in

the state of Gujarat, into a family of cotton carders, a trade by which he
earned his living; initiated by Shrī V iddhānanda at the age of 11; follow-
ing the instructions of his Master, began teaching the practice of the mystic
Name in Jaipur and other parts of Rajasthan, when he was 19, settling in
Narānā, near Jaipur; accepted both Muslims and Hindus as disciples, but
insisted on both abstention from alcohol and vegetarianism; the author of
more than 5,000 verses, hymns and aphorisms in Hindi, on spiritual and
philosophical themes, and characterized by their forthright language, often
challenging the orthodox views of the day; died at Narānā around 1603.
Present-day followers of Dādū are known as Dādūpanthīs.
It is said that in 1584 the Mughul emperor, Akbar the Great – who
brought scholars, theologians and holy men of all religions to his court –
invited Dādū, and was deeply touched by Dādū’s exposition on the loving
nature and character of God. Dādū came to be known as Dādū Dayāl, Dādū
the merciful, for his extremely compassionate nature. His works are relatively
well preserved through the efforts of his disciple and successor, Rajjab.

Damascus Document Full name, the Document of the New Covenant in the
Land of Damascus; first discovered in 1896–97 in the genizah (storeroom)
of the Ezra synagogue in Cairo as two tenth- and twelfth-century manu-
scripts, and published as Fragments of a Zadokite Work, because those to
whom the text refers (often presumed to have been Essenes), called them-
selves as the Sons of Zadok (the Righteous One, the Teacher of Righteous-
ness); extensive fragments of the same document were subsequently dis-
covered among the Dead Sea Scrolls in caves near Khirbet Qumran, dated
to before 68 CE, confirming that the sectarians were those who once lived
at Khirbet Qumran. The document first expounds the group’s religious
teaching, and speaks of the Zadok; it then sets forth various moral and admin-
istrative statutes and guidelines relating to the running of the community.

See also: Dead Sea Scrolls, The Essenes (1.4).

 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 279

Daniel A biblical book from3 june 1931

the Writings (Hagiographa), falling into two parts;
chapters 1–6 contain a collection of popular stories concerning young
Daniel, a steadfast Jew, and his three companions during the Jewish exile
in Babylon, in which Daniel and his friends emerge victorious from various
trials, and the idolaters consequently glorify God. Chapters 7 to 12 describe
apocalyptic visions, dreams and predictions granted to Daniel during the
same period, and are also set in Babylonia. Chapters 1 to 2:3 are in Hebrew,
chapters 2:4 to chapter 7 are in Aramaic, the remainder is in Hebrew.
The provenance of Daniel is a matter of debate. Some scholars suggest
two authors, others argue for the unity of the whole. The narrative is both
internally inconsistent, and also contains a number of historical inaccura-
cies. From this evidence, many scholars believe the book to have been
written from oral tradition, long after the events described, to bolster faith
at a time of trial. From historical material in chapter 11, the text is dated
by many to the time of the persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes (the
second Seleucid ruler of Palestine who tried forcibly to Hellenize the Jews),
after his desecration of the Temple at Jerusalem, but before his death, and
probably before the start of the Maccabeaen uprising, i.e between 167 and
164 BCE.

Dārābī, Shāh Muammad ibn-i Muammad-i A seventeenth-century Sufi,

who founded the village of Dārābgird (in Fārs), before moving to Shīrāz; a
contemporary of Shāh ‘Abbās (1571–1629), the second Shāh in the Safavid
dynasty (1502–1736); also believed to have lived for some time in Ahmed-
abad in Gujarat, India; author of the Sufi text, La īfah-’i Ghaybī (‘Subtleties
of the Unseen’).

Dariyā Sāhib of Bihar (1674–1780) An Indian Saint (Sant) and poet, of whom
– like so many Sants – very little is known; born into the family of a Muslim
tailor in the village of Dharkandhā in Bihar, although it seems that his father
was probably a Hindu who had converted to Islam under duress from the
Emperor Aurangzeb (ruled 1658–1707); taught the practice of Nām bhakti
(devotion to the Name).
According to writings attributed to Dariyā Sāhib (notably, Gyān Dīpak),
he said that he had taken eighteen births in this world, in five of which he
had taught the path of the Shabd, remaining partially hidden in the rest.
According to tradition, when Dariyā was one month old, a holy man visited
his home. The mother presented the baby to the holy man, who looked at
him intently, named him Dariyā, and instructed the mother to take good
care of him. Ultimately, the same holy man became Dariyā’s Satguru.
Dariyā never looked upon his Satguru as a human being, always referring
to him as the Lord or Sat Purush (true Lord). Who his Satguru was is
unknown.
280 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

According to Dariyā’s poetry, heletter one in conformity with the

was married,
prevalent custom, when only nine years old. Dariyā observes that he could
hardly understand the festivities of the occasion, but remarks that the one
who joined him in wedlock had performed considerable austerities in past
lives. He recalls that his childhood was passed in innocence, but as he grew,
worldly attachments began to develop, since the inner Sound was still dor-
mant. When he was 16 years old, he became withdrawn. In dreams, he
would often recite verses, which he would remember on waking. Flashes of
light would intermittently appear. When he was 20, he “had the inner expe-
rience of all”, and “realized the state of emancipation, free from the cycle
of the world”.
Dariyā’s verses also relate a story concerning his interaction with a local
pait, Ganesh Upādhyāya. The pait fell out with Dariyā over the latter’s
condemnation of the worship a local idol, particularly the animal sacrifices
made to the idol. Dariyā was subjected to abuse, and popular legend aug-
ments the references in his poetry. It is said that one of Dariyā’s supporters
took the idol at night, and buried it. Ultimately, Dariyā revealed where the
idol was to be be found on condition that animal sacrifices ceased. But when
the idol was dug up, it was discovered to have a broken nose, which greatly
annoyed the pait.
Thus the dispute continued until, one day, the pait saw Dariyā seated
on the banks of the Ganges at a place some distance from their village. Com-
mencing his habitual abuse, the pait said he would only believe what
Dariyā had to say if Dariyā brought the Ganges to wash his (Dariyā’s) feet.
Dariyā replied humbly that the Ganges would go wherever the Lord willed
it to go. The pait returned to the village and, in order to discredit Dariyā,
told everyone that Dariyā had said that the Ganges would come and wash
his feet. Meanwhile, Dariyā was advised by a passing mendicant to remain
where he was. In the morning, a crowd of villagers having gathered around
Dariyā, they witnessed a wave rise up from the Ganges, which washed his
feet. At this, all the people, including the pait became his devotees. Such
are the legends that characteristically surround the lives of holy men.
It seems from his poetry that, Dariyā encountered his Satguru from time
to time. When his Satguru appointed Dariyā as a Master in his own right,
Dariyā made his headquarters in Dharkandhā, and accepted disciples who
were both renunciates and householders. Judging from the current spread
of his school, he must also have travelled extensively throughout Bihar,
Uttar Pradesh and Nepal. In 1810, thirty years after Dariyā’s death, the
British traveller, Francis Buchanan, visited Dharkandhā during the time
of Dariyā’s successor, ekā Dās. Buchanan records that the centre then
owned 101 bīghās (acres) of land, given to Dariyā by the Nawāb of Bihar
and Bengal. According to Dariyā’s writings, he seems to have jointly ap-
pointed two disciples, Gua Dās and ekā Dās as his successors.
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 281

3 june
Dariyā is credited with 193121 works, including Brahm Vivek (‘Under-
at least
standing of God’), Chune hue Shabd (‘Selected Verses’), Dariyā Sāgar
(‘Ocean of Dariyā’), Gyān Dīpak (‘Lamp of Knowledge’), Gyān Ratna
(‘Jewel of Knowledge’), Gyān Svarodaya (‘Arising of the Knowledge of
Sound’), Nirbhay Gyān (‘Fearless Knowledge’), Prem Mūl (‘Root of
Love’), Sahasrānī (‘The Thousand (Verses’), Shabd (‘Word’), and Vivek
Sāgar (‘Ocean of Understanding’). His native language was Hindi, but he
also wrote Dariyānāmah (‘Book of Dariyā’) in Persian and Brahma-
Chaitanya (‘God-Consciousness’) in Sanskrit. It is possible, however, that
Dariyā himself wrote very little, the works attributed to him having been
written down by his disciples or even later followers from the poetry he
recited and the things he said.
At the present time, the Dariyā school has around 150 centres spread
throughout Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Nepal, the main centre being at
Dariyā’s birthplace of Dharkandhā.

Dariyā Sāhib of Rajasthan (1676–1758) An Indian mystic; born into a Rajasthan

family of Muslim cotton carders; the author of at least two books in Hindi,
Satya Prakāsh (‘Light of Truth’) and Prem Prakāsh (‘Light of Love’), but
unlike his namesake, Dariyā Sāhib of Bihar, very few of his compositions
have survived. His Guru was Prem Jī, a disciple of Dādū Dayāl.

Dasam Granth Lit. tenth book; the collected works attributed to the tenth Sikh
Guru, though most scholars are of the opinion that its varied contents are
not all the work of the same author.

See Sikhism (1.11).

Dātastān-i Dēnīk (Pv) Lit. ordinances (dātastān) of religion (dēnīk); one of the
more well-known Zoroastrian texts written during the Sassanian rule
(224–651 CE) of Iran.

See also: Zarathushtra and Zoroastrianism (1.3).

Dead Sea Scrolls Ancient manuscripts on leather, papyrus and copper, largely
in Hebrew and Aramaic, with some later texts in Greek and Nabataean, dis-
covered between 1947 and the mid–1960s in caves and ancient ruins in the
Judaean wilderness. These scrolls provide the earliest extant manuscripts
of the Hebrew Bible, and cast new light on Judaism and some aspects of
Jewish history from the fourth century BCE to 135 CE.
Documents were found at five principal sites. The most fruitful were 11
caves near the ruins of the ancient settlement of Khirbet Qumran, often pre-
sumed to have been Essene, on the northwest shores of the Dead Sea. These
282 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

manuscripts, widely believed to have letter one mainly between 100 BCE
been written
and 68 AD (though a few have been dated to as early as the mid-third century
BCE), include around 400 sectarian writings, as well as about 100 biblical
texts representing the entire Hebrew Bible with the exception of Esther.
Other sites yielded further biblical texts, as well as legal and other docu-
ments left by fugitives of the army of the Jewish freedom fighter, Simon
Bar Kokhba (d.135), including a number of his letters. At another site were
found about 40 badly deteriorated papyri, dated to around 375–335 BCE,
the oldest papyri ever discovered in Palestine, and which had been left in a
cave by Samaritans massacred there by the army of Alexander the Great in
331 BCE.
All the scrolls were put under the control of a small committee of scholars
in Israel and the USA. The majority of the longer, more complete documents
were published soon after their discovery, but publication of the remainder
(many no more than tiny, brittle fragments) was very slow, and access to
the documents was severely restricted. With the announcement in 1991,
however, that a previously unpublished manuscript had been reconstructed
by computer from a published concordance, the Huntington Library in San
Marino, California announced complete freedom of access to its library of
photographic facsimiles of the scrolls, and the official scholars of the Israeli
Antiquities Authority had little option but to lift their own restrictions.

Death of Joseph A Coptic apocryphal text of uncertain date in which Jesus,

sitting on the Mount of Olives, tells his disciples the story of “my father
Joseph, the blessed old man who was a carpenter”, and of his death at the
age of 111. The story is largely an embellishment of the gospel stories.

Death of St John See Decease of St John.

Decease of St John A short Christian text, with gnostic overtones, probably

dating from the mid-second century, recounting the legend of John the
apostle’s last words, and the relinquishing of his life while standing in a
grave dug at his request by his disciples; extant in Greek, Syriac and Arabic,
although there is considerable variation between these texts.

Dēnkart (Pv) Lit. acts of the religion; an encyclopaedic work on Zoroastrianism,

written in the ninth century CE during a brief Zoroastrian renaissance under
Muslim rule, summarizing the contents of the 21 nasks (books) of the
Avestā.

See also: Zarathushtra and Zoroastrianism (1.3).

Deuteronomy See Pentateuch.

 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 283

3 june
Devī Upanishad (S) Lit. the 1931 of the Goddess (Devī); a later text, be-
Upanishad
longing to the Atharva Veda, set in the form of a dialogue between the gods
and Durgā or Mahādevi (lit. great goddess). Great significance is attached
to this Upanishad in the tantric form of Durgā worship.

See also: Upanishads.

Dhammapada (Pa) Lit. way or words (pada) of truth, religion, righteousness

or spirituality (dhamma); the best-known and most-quoted text of the Bud-
dhist Pali canon; the second text of the Khuddaka Nikāya (‘Short Collec-
tion’) of the Suttapi aka (‘Basket of Discourses’); a collection of largely moral
and ethical teachings, believed to be as given by the Buddha to his disci-
ples; written in a simple, aphoristic style, and arranged into 423 stanzas in 26
chapters; drawn mostly from other Buddhist canonical texts, and from the
storehouse of wisdom sayings current in India. The original Dhammapada
is in Pali; Prakrit, Sanskrit and Chinese versions are also extant, with some
variations. The text, which is markedly simpler in content than the majority
of Buddhist texts, is popular in both Theravāda and Mahāyāna traditions,
and has been used as a manual for novices in Sri Lanka for centuries, where
it is said that every monk knows it by heart.

See also: Buddhism (1.12).

Dharamdās (c.1420–1532) A rich merchant and banker of Bāndhoga h in Uttar

Pradesh, India, who possessed a devotional bent of mind from early child-
hood; a believer in the traditional rites, rituals and idol worship of Hinduism
until he met Kabīr, who initiated him into the practice of the mystic Name
or Word; the author of much poetry, some of it written in the name of Kabīr.
The Anurāg Sāgar, generally attributed to Kabīr, was probably written by
Dharamdās, although in the narrative of the book, it is Kabīr who is speaking.

Dhū al-Nūn al-Mirī (796–859) Lit. the man of the fish (dhū al-nūn), the Egyp-
tian (al-Mi rī); real name, Thawbān ibn Ibrāhīm; an early Sufi, credited as
the first to articulate the distinction between ma‘rifah (mystic knowledge)
and conventional intellectual knowledge, and to connect ma‘rifah with the
love of God (maabbah).

Dhyāna Bindu Upanishad (S) Lit. point (bindu) of contemplation (dhyāna)

Upanishad; belonging to the Yajur Veda; addresses the subjects of Brahman,
the significance of Praava (Om), the unspoken knowledge of the soul, and
the form of yoga required to attain it.

See also: Upanishads.

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Dialogue of the Saviour One of the Nagletter

Hammadionegnostic texts, very poorly
preserved in many places, set as conversations between the “Saviour”, pre-
sumed to be Jesus, and his disciples, notably Mary, Judas and Matthew; the
questions and answers largely revolve around the sayings of Jesus recorded
in both the canonical gospels and the more gnostically oriented Gospel of
Thomas; probably dates from the first or second century.

Dick Fool Bull (b.1883) A nineteenth-century Lakota (Sioux) Native Ameri-

can flutemaker; the uncle and close relative of Leonard Crow Dog. Born,
perhaps, in 1883, he remembered the events of the 1890 Massacre at
Wounded Knee. In 1973, he was still living, close to 90 years old, and told
the story of Wounded Knee to Leonard Crow Dog. He was the last flutemaker
and player in his tribe.

Diogenēs Laertius A third-century Greek philosopher; remembered for his

work, Lives, Teachings and Sayings of Famous Philosophers, a compila-
tion of gossip, biographies, doctrinal summaries, and reproductions of
significant material such as wills and philosophical writings concerning the
Greek philosophers. Diogenēs quotes from hundreds of sources, most of
which were known to him only second hand. Although the authenticity of
his work must therefore be kept constantly under review, it remains the most
important extant secondary source of information on the Greek philoso-
phers. The oldest extant manuscript is dated to the twelfth century CE.

Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth A Hermetic text from the Nag Hammadi
codices whose original title is lost; set as a dialogue between the spiritual
Master, Hermēs Trismegistus, and an unnamed disciple, depicting how
the disciple is led to a mystical vision of the eighth and ninth spiritual
spheres by his Master “who is Nous (Mind)”, also described as the “Power
(Dynamis)”.

Dīwān Malkuta ‘Laita (Md.) Lit. verses (dīwān) of lofty (‘laita) kingship
(malkuta); a Mandaean text comprising the answers to questions put to an
exalted spirit of light.

Doctrine of Addai the Apostle A Syriac document, preserved in a single manu-

script, probably composed during the early fourth century, and based upon
an exchange of fictitious letters, probably dating from the second or third
centuries, between King Agbar of Edessa and Jesus. Hearing of the power
of Jesus from his own officials, King Agbar writes a letter to Jesus requesting
that Jesus should come and heal him of a long-term illness. Jesus replies
that after he has returned to his Father, he will send one of his disciples.
After Jesus’ death, Judas Thomas deputes Addai, said in the text to have
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 285

3 june 1931
been one of the “seventy-two” disciples sent out by Jesus according to Luke
(10:1, where the number is actually seventy) to visit the king. The story of
Addai, his deeds (including the healing of the king), his sayings and his
discourses, is subsequently written down by the king’s scribe, Labubna.

Drower, Lady E.S. An English scholar of the mid-twentieth century who lived
in Iraq for many years, made many visits to the Mandaean centres in Iraq
and Iran, was able to obtain copies of (and to translate into English) a
number of Mandaean sacred texts; author of a number of books on the
Mandaeans.

Dūlandās (1660–1778) An Indian mystic; born into a family of landlords in the

village of Samesī in Lucknow District, Uttar Pradesh; an initiate of Jagjīvan
Sāhib; taught at his spiritual centre in Rāi Bareily, Uttar Pradesh, until his
death at the age of 118; the author of many devotional poems which speak
of the divine Music of the Word, of karma and of salvation through a perfect
Master. His known works are Bhram Vināsh (‘Elimination of Illusion’),
Shabdāvalī (‘Collection of Shabds’), Dohāvalī (‘Collection of Dohās’) and
Mangal Gīt (‘Joyful Song’).

Ecclesiastes A part of the Jewish Wisdom literature included in the canon of

the Hebrew and Christian Bibles; attributed in the first verse to Solomon
(“son of David, king in Jerusalem”), although linguistic evidence suggests
it was written much later, probably somewhere between the fifth and third
century BCE.

Eleazar ha-Kallir One of the earliest paytanim (liturgical poets); his piyuttim
(hymns) written for all the main festivals are regarded as linguistically in-
ventive classics. When he lived is uncertain, but it was probably between
the sixth and eighth centuries (CE) in Palestine.

Elimah Rabbati (He) Lit. great work (rabbati) to Elim (elimah), referring to
the sections of the book, drawn from the verse, “And they came to Elim,
where there were twelve springs of water, and seventy palm trees; and they
encamped there by the water” (Exodus 15:27, KB); a book by Moses
Cordovero (1522–70), a Kabbalist of Safed, Palestine, systematically ex-
plaining Kabbalistic concepts in detail; written in 1567–68, published by
Brody in 1881.

See also: Moses Cordovero.

Empedoclēs (c.490–430 BCE) A Greek Pythagorean philosopher, poet, mystic,

spiritual teacher and scientist, whose writings are known only from fragments
286 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter one
preserved in the writings of others, comprising about 400 lines from his Peri
physeos (‘On Nature’) and less than 100 lines from his Katharmoi (‘Purifi-
cations’); regarded by Aristotle as the inventor of rhetoric, and by Galen as
the founder of Italian medicine; born in Sicily, died in Greece, little else
being known of his personal life.
Deeply influenced by the fifth-century mystic and philosopher, Par-
menidēs, who emphasized the essential unity of all things, Empedoclēs
taught that all matter is composed of the four elements (earth, water, fire
and air), and that things changed according to the ebb and flow of these
basic ingredients. He also taught the reality of transmigration of the soul,
and the existence of two forces, Love and Discord. Love draws souls back
to the unity of the Divine, while the role of Discord is to keep souls separate.

See also: Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans (1.9).

Encyclopedia Judaica First published in 1972; considered the most reliable

contemporary source of in-depth information on all subjects pertaining to
Judaism. The CD-ROM edition includes all original 16 volumes, the year
books and Decennials of 1982 and 1992, as well as selected updates not in-
cluded in the printed versions.

Enoch (He. anokh) The name of two biblical characters; one is the son of Cain;
the other, representing the seventh generation of the human race, is the son
of Jared and father of Methusaleh. Genesis (5:23) says that this second
Enoch “walked with God; then he was no more for God took him”. This
cryptic and enigmatic reference hints at a longer legend, which is found in
other Near Eastern sources, and which appears in early non-canonical texts,
as well as medieval mystical literature, where Enoch is the transmitter of
mystical knowledge. Enoch is also identified with the prophet Idrīs men-
tioned in the Qur’ān. There are three books bearing the name of Enoch.

See also: 1 Enoch, 2 Enoch, 3 Enoch.

Ephesians See Colossians.

Ephraim Syrus (c.306–373) Also called, Ephraim the Syrian; born at Nisibis,
in Mesopotamia, then under Roman dominion; Christian theologian, poet,
hymnist and doctrinal adviser to the Eastern Church; student of Jacob,
Bishop of Nisibis, where he lived during the time of Jacob’s three successors;
survived three unsuccessful sieges laid to the city by the Persian king,
Shāpūr; abandoned Nisibis (like most Christians), and moved to Edessa
(now Urfa) after Nisibis finally capitulated to Persian rule, in 363; took up
residence as a solitary in a cell on the hill above the city, where many ascetics
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 287

sought retreat; through3 his

june 1931 became the most influential personality
writings,
in fourth-century Syriac Christianity; appointed deacon by Basil the Great,
Metropolitan of Caesarea in Cappadocia (370–379); reputed to have pos-
sessed an irascible nature, declining any higher Church appointment; said
to have avoided being made bishop by feigning madness.
Ephraim is remembered for his voluminous writings, often tedious, which
had a significant impact on both the Greek and Latin Church. Much of his
literary output is in verse, including polemical, theological and historical
works. His writings include bible commentaries, theological treatises, ser-
mons and hymns (which became popular in Syriac churches), as well as
Carmina Nisibena (‘Songs of Nisibis’) – a record in verse of the events in
Nisibis leading to Persian rule. Some of his writings are directed against
gnostics who lived before his time – particularly the second-century,
Marcion and Bardesanēs, and the third-century Mānī – as well as non-
‘orthodox’ Christian groups, such as the Arians. He also edited the Diates-
saron, a Syriac-Greek conflation of the four gospels into one document;
provided a graphic description of heaven and hell; and advocated devotion
to the Virgin Mary, believing in her sinlessness and perfect faith. He died at
Edessa.

Epicharmus (c.530–440 BCE) A Greek comic playwright of Sicily, said to

written over 50 plays, of which only fragments survive, quoted in the writ-
ings of others. Many were clearly parodies, satires, farces and burlesques
in which he poked fun even at the gods, but also included some moralistic
philosophy in form of aphorisms, later collected separately, and sometimes
forged. Epicharmus is said in some ancient texts to have also written on
ethics and medicine. Traditionally, he was believed to have been a disciple
of Pythagoras.

Epic of Gilgamesh A collection of legends told in Akkadian (the language of a

Semitic people who lived in the third millennium BCE), concerning the
Mesopotamian semidivine hero, Gilgamesh, probably the Gilgamesh who
ruled Uruk sometime in the first half of the third millennium BCE; survives
in its most complete form on 12 incomplete tablets found at Nineveh in the
library of the Assyrian king, Ashurbanipal (reigned 668–627 BCE), un-
earthed during the nineteenth century. Gaps in these tablets have been partly
filled by fragments found elsewhere in Mesopotamia and Anatolia (now the
Asian part of Turkey). Five short Sumerian poems, dating from the second
millennium BCE, also relate stories of Gilgamesh. The best-known of these
legends is probably Gilgamesh’s search for the Plant of Life that will make
him immortal.

See also: Sumerian and Mesopotamian Spirituality (1.3).

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letter one
Epictetus (c.50–120 CE) A Greek Stoic philosopher, probably born at Hierapolis
in Phrygia (now Turkey), who taught self-renunciation and universal brother-
hood; favoured by many early Christians thinkers because of the religious
tone of his teachings; passed his boyhood as a slave, but was able to attend
the discourses of the Stoic, Musonius Rufus; later became a freedman, but
was always lame and in poor health; expelled from Rome in 90 CE, along
with other philosophers, by the Emperor Domitian, who was annoyed by
the support of the Stoics to opponents of his tyranny; passed the remainder
of his life in Nicapolis in Greece. The essence of Epictetus’ philosophy was
recorded in two books by his disciple, Arrian: Discourses, not all of which
is extant, and Encheiridion (‘Manual’), a collection of aphorisms summa-
rizing his teachings.

Epiphanius (c.315–403) Born at Besanduc, near Eleutheropolis, in Palestine;

probably raised in a Nicene Christian family; educated by monks; travelled
to Egypt to study and practise monasticism, where he was influenced by his
friend and teacher, Hilarion, an ascetic; returned to Palestine, founding a
monastery at Eleutheropolis, of which he became the abbot.
In 367, possibly as part of a trend to appoint bishops from the monasteries,
Epiphanius was appointed Bishop of Salamis (Constantia), near modern
Famagusta, in Cyprus, where Hilarion had moved a short while before. He
passed the remainder of his life in this post, teaching monasticism and cam-
paigning against heretics. He is renowned for his fanatic campaign against
‘heresies’, especially Origenism and the gnosticism. Epiphanius lacked
balance and sound judgment, traits amply illustrated in his Panarion
(374–377), an exceptionally biased and defamatory account of 80 ‘heresies’
and his refutation of them, but which is nevertheless useful as a historical
document when treated circumspectly. He died at sea, in 403, returning to
Cyprus from Constantinople, where he had travelled in pursuit of his stand
against Origenism.

Epistle of Barnabas An early Christian epistle, written in Greek, first discov-

ered in the fourth-century biblical manuscript, Codex Sinaiticus; ascribed
by tradition to the apostle Barnabas, the companion of Paul; actually, the
work of an unknown author sometime after 70 CE, possibly as late as 130
CE; explains passages from the Hebrew Bible in an allegorical and some-
times esoteric manner, finding references to Jesus and Christianity in the
Jewish scriptures.

Epistula Apostolorum (L) Lit. epistle of the apostles; also known as the Testa-
ment of Our Lord in Galilee; a mid-second-century apocryphal text, purport-
ing to be an encyclical sent out by the twelve apostles after the Resurrection,
recording conversations held between Jesus and his disciples; written in
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 289

3 june
Greek, but survives only 1931
in Ethiopic, with some fragments in Coptic and
Latin.

Esther A biblical book, telling the story of the Jews’ suffering under the Persian
king, Ahasuerus, in the kingdom of Shushan, and their ultimate rescue
through the agency of the beautiful Esther, whom the king favours and
marries; probably written during the second century BCE; the subject of
many hypotheses concerning its origins, both mythical and historical.

Eugnostos the Blessed See Sophia of Jesus Christ.

Eusebius (c.265–340) An early Christian; born, baptized and ordained in

Caesarea, in Palestine; a student of the scholarly presbyter, Pamphilus, who
was persecuted and martyred in 310; may have been imprisoned by the
Romans at Caesarea, since he was reproached many years after for having
saved himself by a cowardly act; appointed Bishop of Caesarea around 313.
About 318, Eusebius became involved in the dispute concerning the
views of the Alexandrian priest, Arius, who held that the Son was subordi-
nate to the Father. Expelled from Alexandria, Arius took refuge in Caesarea,
claiming Eusebius as a supporter. Eusebius maintained that Arius had been
misrepresented, but at a synod in Antioch in 325, Eusebius and two of his
colleagues were provisionally excommunicated for their Arian views. How-
ever, at the Council of Nicaea, later that year, called by the Emperor
Constantine I, Eusebius was cleared.
Having only recently, with the accession of Constantine, attained offi-
cial Roman sanction, various doctrinal and political groupings within the
Church were lobbying for power and the emperor’s approval. Constantine
himself was interested less in what he regarded as hairsplitting than in the
need for a unified Christianity as the basis for a stable empire. Even so, the
political and theological wrangling continued, and Eusebius was later in-
volved in the expulsion of Athanasius of Alexandria (335), Marcellus of
Ancyra (c.336) and Eustathius of Antioch (c.337). After the emperor’s death
in 337, Eusebius wrote the Life of Constantine, a rose-tinted eulogy whose
main historical value is his use of some primary source material.
Eusebius was a voluminous writer on a wide selection of Christian topics.
He is largely remembered, however, for his Ecclesiastical History or Church
History, the first history of what became orthodox Christianity, begun pos-
sibly during the last period of Roman persecution, and revised several times
between 312 and 324, adding in events up to the year prior to the Council of
Nicaea (325). The work is valuable for its quotations from sources no longer
extant, and for some of the historical details provided. But the information
provided cannot always be relied upon, and often the book is more of a
justification and eulogy of Christianity than an accurate portrayal of events.
290 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter educator,
Eustathius (d.c.1194) A twelfth-century scholar, one author and reformer
of the Greek Orthodox Church; commonly regarded as a saint; a monk in
the monastery of St Florus in Constantinople, deacon at the basilica of
Hagia Sophia, teacher in the Patriarchal school, and master of petitions in
the imperial court; in 1175, appointed Bishop and, before consecration, Met-
ropolitan of Thessalonica, a position he retained for the rest of his life; in
1185, during the siege and sack of Thessalonica, negotiated his people’s
safety with the Normans under William II of Sicily, which events he chroni-
cled in De Thessalonica urbe a normannis capta (‘On the Norman Conquest
of Thessalonica’); reformer and rejuvenator of the Greek Orthodox Church,
criticizing the clergy in his On Hypocrisy, and advising a complete reap-
praisal and revitalizing of monastic life in his Inquiry into the Monastic Life;
author of works on the Greek classics, including a commentary on Homer’s
Odyssey, which he interprets as an allegory of the soul.

Exodus See Pentateuch.

Expository Treatise on the Soul An allegorical treatise from the Nag Hammadi
library, telling the story of the descent of the pure and virgin soul from the
Father into this world. Here, she becomes attached to the things and people
of the world, symbolized by her giving her love to all and sundry, and be-
coming a prostitute. Eventually, realizing that no love of this world will last,
she prays to the Father for help. The Father therefore sends to her a divine
Bridegroom, a Saviour and, cleansing herself in the mystic bridal chamber
within, she unites inwardly with him. In this way, she is “brought out of the
land of Egypt”, made pure and virginal once again, and returns to her di-
vine Father. The unknown author quotes both Greek and Jewish texts in
support of the theme.

Ezekiel The biblical book of the sixth-century (BCE) prophet Ezekiel, during
the Jewish exile in Babylonia, consisting of a record of the prophet’s visions.
Most famous are his vision of the divine throne and chariot, accompanied
by lights, colours, sounds and heavenly beings, and his vision of dead bones
rising again to life.

Ezra A biblical book recounting the history of the Jews’ return to Jerusalem
from exile in Babylonia during the mid-fifth-century BCE, under the leader-
ship of the high priest and scribe, Ezra, who was sent by the Persian king,
Artaxerxēs I, to reinstate observance of the Jewish law and the re-establish-
ment of the Temple in Jerusalem; probably written in the fourth century
BCE or later.

See also Nehemiah.

 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 291

3 june 1931
Fǎ Hsiěn (d.c.420) Lit. splendour of religious law; surnamed Kūng; the Bud-
dhist name of a Chinese Buddhist monk, born at Shānsī in the fourth cen-
tury CE, during the Eastern Chìn dynasty, at a time when Buddhism was
enjoying unusual imperial patronage; known for his 10-year pilgrimage to
India (which he reached in 402), the ‘holy land’ of Buddhism, to collect
Buddhist texts unknown in China, and to visit places associated with the
Buddha’s life and the most important seats of Buddhist learning; translator
into Chinese of the many Sanskrit Buddhist texts so collected, including the
Mahāparinirvāa Sūtra and Vinaya (rules of discipline for monks) of the
Mahāsanghika school, both of which were to significantly influence Chinese
Buddhist schools and their monastic way of life; author of Fó Kuó Chì
(‘Record of Buddhist Kingdoms’), also called Records of the Western
World, which provides valuable information concerning early Buddhism in
India, as well as hair-raising accounts of crossing waterless deserts and
climbing precipitous mountain passes, culminating in the account of his
perilous voyage home from Ceylon, during which he was shipwrecked and
storm-blown, spending 200 days at sea until finally blown to a port on the
Shāntūng Peninsula.

Falling Asleep of Mary A Coptic work said to be a discourse delivered by

Theodosius, Patriarch of Alexandria (535–566), relating a legendary story
of the death of Jesus’ mother, Mary; another Coptic text of the same name
is attributed to Abba Evodius. Theodosius was a leader of the Monophysites
in Egypt and Syria, known for their asceticism and mystical prayer.

Farīd, Shaykh (c.1181–1265) Real name Farīd al-Dīn Mas‘ūd, better known
by the popular title Ganj-i Shakar (lit. treasure house of sweetness); also
called Bābā Farīd and Shaykh Farīd; a Muslim mystic whose date of birth
varies between 1173 to 1181 in different accounts; born into a Muslim
family at Kahtwāl near Multān in the Punjab (now in Pakistan), spending
the later part of his life in Pāk Pattan (formerly Ajodhan) in western Punjab
(now Pakistan), where his successors taught for several generations; adopted
a rigorous ascetic discipline in his search for God, until he met his Master,
Khwājah Qub al-Dīn Bakhtiyār Kākī of Delhi who initiated him into the
path of the divine Word when he was about 20 years old; the earliest re-
corded mystic poet of the Punjabi language; also wrote in Arabic, Persian,
Urdu and Hindi; a few of his poems are included in the Ādi Granth, although
some scholars have suggested that a number of the poems attributed to
Farīd may have actually been written by his successors, who wrote in
Farīd’s name.

Farqānī, Sa‘īd al-Dīn ibn Amad al- A thirteenth-century Sufi, writer and
teacher of the school of Ibn ‘Arabī; introduced to Sufism by Shaykh Najīb
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letter one
al-Dīn ‘Alī ibn Buzghush of Shīrāz (d.1279); a disciple of Shaykh Shihāb
al-Dīn ‘Umar Suhravardī; later came into contact with adr al-Dīn Qūnawī
(d.1274), benefitting from him, and then from Shaykh Muammad ibn al-
Sukrān al-Baghdādī and others; travelled to Egypt along with several com-
panions, where he began teaching Ibn Fāri’s al-Tā’īyah (‘Poem Rhyming
in T’), also called Na
m al-Sulūk (‘Sequence of Progress’). His works in-
clude Persian and Arabic commentaries on Ibn Fāri’s al-Tā’īyah and
Muntahá al-Madārik (‘Highest Mental Faculty’); died sometime between
1292 and 1301.

Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan See Avot de Rabbi Nathan.

First Apocalypse of James A gnostic text from the Nag Hammadi library of
which much is lost, entitled the Apocalypse of James, but designated the
“First” by modern scholars to distinguish it from a different text of other-
wise the same name; set as a dialogue between Jesus and James the brother
of Jesus, in which James voices his concerns over the suffering both he and
Jesus will soon experience, and about how he will escape “this bond of
flesh” and “reach Him-who-is” in the face of the hostile archons (powers,
rulers). Jesus responds by consoling him, and assuring him that his redemp-
tion is assured. In the text, the (Jewish) scriptures are also described by Jesus
as originating with one of “limited understanding”.

First Book of Jeu See Bruce Codex.

Foundation of the Kingdom of Righteousness (Pa. Dhammacakkappavattana

Sutta) Lit. setting in motion (appavattana) the wheel (cakka) of the Law
(Dhamma); hence, the inauguration or foundation of the kingdom of the
Dhamma (Law, Righteousness); a late-fourth- or early-third-century (BCE)
discourse contained in the Buddhist Suttapi aka (‘Basket of Discourses’), a
collection of sayings, conversations and discourses attributed to the Bud-
dha, and a part of the Pali canon; explains the ‘four noble truths’ and the
Noble Eightfold Path leading to Arhatship; of unknown authorship, though
generally accepted as summarizing the Buddha’s teachings.

See also: Buddhism (1.12).

Francis de Sales (1567–1622) French name, François de Sales; born at the

Castle of Sales, near Annecy in Savoy, in southeast France; educated at La
Roche and Annecy, before attending the Jesuit college of Clermont in Paris
(1580–88), going on to study civil law at Padua, in Italy, where he gained
his doctorate in 1591; practised law briefly, before turning to religion (Ro-
man Catholicism). Following ordination in 1593 at Annecy, the main city
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 293

of Savoy, Francis began 3 june 1931 missionary work in Chablais, a region

intensive
which had previously broken away from Savoy and become Calvinist, but
had recently been regained by the devout Catholic duke of Savoy, Charles
Emmanuel. No doubt using the powers of persuasion which had attracted
him to law, Francis managed to reconvert most of the population. In 1602,
he was made Bishop of Geneva, a post he held until his death at Lyons in
1622. In 1610, with Jane Frances de Chantal, he co-founded the Visitation
of Holy Mary (Visitation Nuns), which became an order largely devoted to
teaching. He died at Lyons in 1622.
The author of a number of works, Francis de Sales is largely remembered
for his two devotional classics, Introduction to a Devout Life and Treatise
on the Love of God. The former was written for those seeking spiritual per-
fection while leading an active external life, since it was commonly believed
at the time that the truly spiritual life was only for those who withdrew from
society. He had begun writing notes on the subject as early as 1602. In 1607,
he gave a current set of the notes to a relative, who showed them to Father
Jean Fourier of the Society of Jesus. Jean Fourier thought them so valuable,
he urged Francis to have them printed. A first edition was printed in 1609,
but was later thoroughly revised, with the addition of new material, and
republished in 1619.
The Love of God was written over a period of seven years (1609–16), in
odd moments snatched from a busy schedule, when he was rarely able to
spend as much as two hours at a time on it. When commencing this work,
he wrote, “I shall try to inscribe on my heart what I succeed in putting down
on paper.” In 1923, Pope Pius XI declared Francis de Sales the patron saint
of writers and journalists.

Francis of Assisi (c.1181–1226) Italian name, Francesco d’Assisi; original

name, Francesco di Pietro di Bernardone; born the son of a cloth merchant
(Pietro di Bernardone), in the Duchy of Spoleto, central Italy; baptized
Giovanni on the wish of his mother, while his father was on a business trip
to France, but renamed Francesco on his father’s return; learnt Latin at
school, later acquiring some knowledge of French, especially troubadour
songs, which he liked to sing; an exuberant youth, and a natural leader
among his friends; joined in the war between Assisi and Perugia, was cap-
tured and held prisoner for a year, falling seriously ill on his return; in 1205,
tried to join the papal forces under Count Gentile, against Frederick II in
Apulia, but had a vision or powerful dream when in Spoleto, instructing
him to return to Assisi, and await a call to a different kind of battle; returned
to Assisi, and gave himself to solitary prayer so that he might know God’s
intentions.
The life of Francis is surrounded by legend, but it seems that, during
this period, he had a number of experiences that were significant for him:
294 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

a vision of Christ; an experience inletter

Rome inonewhich, dressed in rags, he
begged alms with other beggars before St Peter’s Basilica; and an incident
in which he gave alms to a leper and kissed his hand, despite his repugnance
of lepers. One day, at the ruined chapel of San Damiano, outside Assisi, he
heard the crucifix above the altar command him to “repair my house, which,
as you can see, is well-nigh in ruins”. Francis went home, took a large quan-
tity of cloth from his father’s shop, and rode to Foligno where he sold both
cloth and horse, and attempted to give the proceeds to the priest of the
ruined chapel. His father was furious. First he tried to bring Francis before
the civil authorities, but Francis refused to appear. Then he brought him
before the bishop, but as the hearing was about to start, Francis removed
his clothes, and handed them to his astonished father, claiming that thence-
forth his true Father was in heaven. Dressed only in a hair shirt and a cloak,
he then set off for the woods above the city.
Francis had now renounced family and possessions to embrace a life of
poverty. Taking his instruction literally, he first repaired the chapel of San
Damiano, followed by two others. In 1208, hearing at mass Christ’s direc-
tions to his apostles to take no worldly possessions with them other than the
clothes they stood up in, he began to preach Christ’s way of poverty. Al-
though only a layman, he attracted followers, and in 1209, he composed a
simple rule of life founded on Jesus’ gospel teachings. When his group num-
bered twelve, they went to Pope Innocent III, who somewhat hesitatingly
gave his verbal consent to their rule. Although he advocated a life of poverty,
Francis also advised his followers to earn their own living.
Francis and his street preachers, possessing nothing, having “sold all and
given to the poor” (Matthew 19:21), preached at first in central Italy and, as
their numbers grew, throughout the country. In 1212, he founded an order
for women, the Poor Clares, named after a noble lady of Assisi who adopted
his lifestyle and went to live in the chapel of San Damiano, where other
women joined her. Around 1221, he founded the Third Order of Brothers
and Sisters of Penance, for lay people who wanted to follow Franciscan prin-
ciples without leaving their families. As time passed, the order extended
outside Italy.
Francis was a man who believed in simplicity, in the absence of pretence,
and in that lay his appeal. He spoke in everyday language, without rhetoric,
emphasizing the basic teachings of Jesus – peace and love among men, ab-
sence of hatred, and love of all God’s creation. According to one report, he
attracted large gatherings, and people would crowd around him, wanting
simply to touch him, and feel that they had received his blessing.
Probably in 1212, Francis set out for the Holy Land, but was shipwrecked
on the Adriatic, and had to return. A year or so later, illness forced him to
abandon a journey to the Spanish Moors. In 1217, he wanted to go to France,
but was advised by Cardinal Ugolino of Segni to stay and take care of his
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 295

order in Italy. In 1219,3hejune 1931the crusaders who were besieging Damietta.

visited
It is also said that he entered the Saracen camp, where he preached to the
sul ān, who was so impressed that he permitted Francis to visit Palestine.
Dissension among the friars in Italy necessitated his return. There were
now 5,000 friars, and his order was growing faster than any before, and some
of the friars wanted to formalize the order, contrary to Francis’ original in-
tentions. He appointed a vicar to handle practical matters, and Pope Honorius
III agreed a compulsory year of probation for new friars. Francis then drafted
a new and amplified rule, officially approved in 1223, after which he in-
creasingly withdrew from external affairs. He died in 1226, in his mid-
forties, after a painful illness lasting two years, and almost completely blind
from an eye disease he had contracted on his Middle Eastern travels.
Francis was not a literary man, and his authentic writings are few. Only
the Franciscan rule, a short statement, some of the letters, and possibly some
of the canticles are likely to be genuine, together with some of the records
regarding the things he did and said.

Frank Fools Crow (1891–1989) A Lakota (Sioux) holy man and ceremonial
chief of the Teton Sioux from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota;
the nephew of Black Elk.

See Some Recent Native Americans (1.14).

Galatians, Romans New Testament texts; Paul’s letters to the Galatians and
the Romans. Galatians is presumed to have been written to a church founded
by Paul in the Galatian region of Asia Minor, probably from Ephesus around
53–54. The letter addresses a disturbance caused by the belief, expressed
by some of the Gentiles (Greeks) in the community, that Gentile Christians
should be circumcised and follow the Jewish law as a prerequisite for sal-
vation. The community would have contained both Jews and Gentiles, but
would have been predominantly Gentile.
In a letter full of emotional heat, Paul responds by first emphasizing that
anyone who teaches something different from what he has already taught
them should be condemned. He continues by defending his own position as
an apostle, relating some of his personal background, telling the story of his
calling, and claiming to have been chosen by God while still in his mother’s
womb. He insists that the message he teaches is God’s message, not human.
He also relates his side of the story concerning his meeting with Peter and
the apostles in Jerusalem, 14 years after his calling, and his subsequent quar-
rel with Peter at Ephesus. The issues are all concerned with whether Gentiles
should follow Jewish law.
Paul berates the Galatians for even considering the idea that they need
to follow Jewish customs. He argues that the law was introduced by Moses,
296 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

long after God’s original covenant with letter one only because of the peo-
Abraham,
ples’ transgressions. The law is thus temporal, an instructor existing only to
counteract evil until the coming of the Messiah (Christ). After that, the law
was no longer required. In Christ, all are free: the divisions of Jew and
Gentile, man and woman, freeman and slave, and so on, no longer exist.
Merely by belonging to Christ, Christians become the heirs of Abraham. If
they submit to circumcision, then they are bound to follow the entire law.
And if they look to the law, then they have separated from Christ and fallen
from grace. Clearly wound up by the situation, Paul develops a number of
ingenious arguments to prove his point.
He then advises that having gained freedom from the law, they should
not take their feeling of liberty so far that they become self-indulgent. He
admonishes them to serve each other, to maintain brotherly love, and to
avoid human weaknesses (which he lists) that follow self-indulgence. “If
you are guided by the Spirit” he tells them, “you will be in no danger of
yielding to self-indulgence” (5:16, JB). He then ends with a summary of his
letter, and signs off.
Romans is a much longer and more complex letter, written to the Romans
ahead of his proposed visit to them. It is his only letter to a group over which
Paul claims no apostolic authority. Because he made it a principle not to
evangelize areas where Christian communities already existed, Paul ex-
plains that he will only be in transit, on his way to Spain. Since his letter to
the Galatians, Paul has had time to structure and elaborate the same basic
ideas, and it is these – together with other elements of his teachings – that
form the main content of Romans. More of a theological treatise than a letter,
it is the only surviving systematic account of Paul’s theological beliefs.
There is no record of the Roman response.
Chapters 1 to 11 contain the theological material, followed by three chap-
ters of ethical and moral advice. Chapter 16 contains personal greetings to
named individuals, which is surprising since Paul had never been to Rome.
Chapter 16 may therefore be part of another letter, appended later. The final
doxology is out of keeping with Paul’s usual style, and is probably an addi-
tion by a later hand.
It is likely that Romans was written from Corinth, c.56. According to
Acts, Paul’s only visit to Rome was as a prisoner of the Romans, but he is
clearly no prisoner when writing his letter. However, in Romans, Paul
speaks of making a trip to Jerusalem before setting out for Rome. It was
probably there that he was arrested, as per the story in Acts, and taken to
Caesarea. In Caesarea, he spent two years in jail before being sent to Rome
in 58, to appear before the emperor, where (according to Acts) he passed at
least two further years. Paul is traditionally believed to have been martyred
in Rome, probably before or during Nero’s persecutions of 64.

See also: Paul (1.5).

 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 297

3 june 1931
Gallery of Chinese Immortals A small text written by Lionel Giles in the
1940s, being a compilation of tales regarding famous immortals, drawn from
many Chinese sources.

Garua Purāa (S) One of the 18 principal Purāas, of which there are several
versions; named after Garua, the king of birds and the vehicle of Vishu,
though there is little in its contents to justify the name; deals with rites for
the dying, the moment of death, funeral ceremonies, various after-death
states, and so on.

See also: Purāas.

Gāthās (Av) Lit. songs; an Avestan word related to the Sanskrit gītā (song); the
name of the only known writings of Zarathushtra, the earliest of all Zoroas-
trian sacred literature.

See also: Zarathushtra and Zoroastrianism (1.3).

Gauapāda A seventh-century Indian philosopher, one of the three well-known

philosophers from roughly the same period as Shankara (c.788–820), who
gave a monistic interpretation of Indian scriptures, the other two being
Bhart ihari and Maana Mishra; the guru of Govinda, who was Shankara’s
guru; the earliest known exponent of the Advaita (non-dualist) school of
Vedānta; known for his Māūkya Kārikā, a verse commentary (kārikā) on
the Māūkya Upanishad, preserved as a part of Shankara’s commentary
on both the Upanishad and Gauapāda’s Kārikā.
The Kārikā first explains the Upanishad, then describes the unreality of
the world and the oneness of Reality, and finally, in a section entitled the
Alātashānti (‘Extinguishing the Fire Brand’), explains the means of release
from suffering. It is not coincidental that Alātashānti is a term commonly
used by Buddhist writers. Part of Gauapāda’s intention was to demonstrate
that Buddhist Mahāyāna teachings, especially those of the Yogāchāra
school, were not dissimilar to those of the Upanishads. He maintained that
waking existence is as unreal as a dream, and that there is one Reality, ob-
scured by māyā, which engenders spiritual ignorance. However, he disagreed
with the Yogāchāra school who believed that mind (chitta) is real. For
Gauapāda, mind itself was also a part of māyā. There is no individual self,
only the eternal ātman (soul) is real.

Gawharīn, ādiq A twentieth-century Iranian scholar and professor of Persian

literature at Tehran University, who died in the 1950s; author of a number
of works, including Farhang-i Lughāt (‘Encyclopaedic Dictionary’).

Genesis See Pentateuch.

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letter
Gharībdās (1717–78) An Indian Saint (Sant); oneinto an agricultural family
born
in the village of Chhurānī in the District of Rohtak in Haryana; devoted to
God from an early age, becoming a follower of the fifteenth-century, Kabīr,
subsequently establishing a spiritual centre in his home village; the author
of over 10,000 devotional songs concerning the Master and the Shabd
(Word); not to be confused with Gharībdās (b.1575), the son of Dādū Dayāl,
or the Gharībdās of Delhi, who was a disciple of Swāmī Shiv Dayāl Singh
(1818–78).

Gha Rāmāya (H) Lit. the Rāmāyaa within the pitcher (gha , i.e. the body);
the inner Rāmāyaa; a book written by the Indian Saint (Sant), Tulsī Sāhib
(c.1763–1843), in the form of a dialogue between the Master and disciples
and seekers. The dialogue concerns inner revelations or the inner ascent of
the soul.

Ghazālī, Abū āmid Muammad ibn Muammad al- ūsī al-Shāfi‘ī al-
(1058–1111) Born and died in ūs, in eastern Persia; a Sufi, but also one of
the foremost theologians, philosophers and legalists of Islam; educated at
ūs, Jurjān and Nīshāpūr; invited to the court of Ni
ām al-Mulk, the power-
ful vizier of the Saljūq rulers in 1085, who appointed him senior professor
at the prestigious Ni
āmīyah college of Islamic studies in Baghdad in 1091,
lecturing to over 300 students; passed through a spiritual crisis that left
him unable to teach for some time; in 1095, decided to abandon his career,
leaving Baghdad on the pretext of a pilgrimage to Mecca; disposed of his
wealth, made provision for his family, and took up the life of a poor Sufi;
travelled through Damascus and Jerusalem on his way to Mecca in 1096,
afterwards settling at his home town of ūs, where disciples joined him in a
monastic life; was persuaded to return to Ni
āmīyah college in 1106, where
he remained until his retirement in 1110; returned to ūs, where he died the
following year.
Although around 400 books are attributed to him, some being the same
work under different titles, al-Ghazālī was probably the author of around
50 books only, a number of which are regarded as seminal works of ortho-
dox Islamic theology. Through his Iyā’ ‘Ulūm al-Dīn (‘Revival of the
Religious Sciences’), he integrated Sufism with orthodox Islam at a time
when Sufism was deemed heretical. In Mishkāt al-Anwār (‘Niche for
Lights’), he describes the superiority of mystical experience over other
forms of knowing. In his autobiographical al-Munqidh min al-alāl
(‘Deliverer from Error’), he explains why he gave up lecturing for the life
of a Sufi. In Maqāīd al-Falāsifah (‘Aims of the Philosophers’), he objec-
tively expounds the teachings of unorthodox Islamic philosophers such as
Ibn Sīnā, and in his Tahāfut al-Falāsifa (‘Incoherence of the Philosophers’),
he defends Islam against their ideas. Although he came to view theology as
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 299

3 june 1931there is nothing to indicate that he ever re-

inferior to mystical experience,
jected the theology of orthodox Islam. For this reason, he became the first
significant bridge between ‘heretical’ Sufism and orthodox Islam. Because
of his dramatic ‘conversion’ to Sufism, Western scholars have tended to give
more prominence to al-Ghazālī than to other significant Islamic thinkers.

Ghazālī, Amad ibn Muammad, al- (d.1126) A Sufi and popular teacher;
the younger brother of Abū āmid al-Ghazālī, taking his place when his
elder brother retired from teaching at the renowned Ni
āmīyah college of
Islamic studies in Baghdad; author of an abridged version of al-Ghazālī’s
Iyā’ ‘Ulūm al-Dīn (‘Revival of Religious Sciences’), as well as a number
of treatises, including Sawāni (lit. happenings; aphorisms on love), the
Risālat al-ayr (‘Treatise on the Birds’), inspired by ‘Aār’s Man iq al-ayr
(‘Conference of the Birds’), and a tract on the admissibility of samā’
(listening to music).

Gheraa Sahitā (S) A well-known, late-seventeenth-century treatise on

ha ha yoga, consisting of 351 stanzas, in 7 lessons.

Ginzberg, Louis (1873–1953) Born in Poland, immigrated to the USA in 1899;

a renowned teacher and scholar of Midrash, Talmud and aggadah. His work
dealt mainly with the origins of aggadah (legend and rabbinic narrative),
halakhah (law) and the literature of the geonim (the rabbis in the post-exilic
period). His major work is Legends of the Jews in 7 volumes, published
between 1909 and 1938.

Gītagovinda (S) Lit. (in which) the cowherd (Govinda, i.e. K isha) is sung
(gīta); thus, song of the cowherd; a lyrical poem, interspersed with 24 eight-
line songs, portraying the love between K isha (the divine cowherd) and
the gopīs (wives and daughters of the other cowherds), especially his favour-
ite, Rādhā, who symbolizes the soul; tells a tale of attraction, estrangement,
yearning, and ultimately reconciliation through the help of an intermediary;
popular for its dramatic content, its flowing and generous literary style, its
alliteration and graceful imagery, and its expression of divine longing,
symbolized by human courtship and love; comparable in this sense, to the
biblical, Song of Songs; especially loved by Vaishnavites (worshippers of
Vishu), of whom K isha was an incarnation; has played a significant part
in the development of popular devotional Hinduism.
The songs of the Gītagovinda are sung even in present times at religious
festivals, in temples and at kīrtanas (communal worship in song). With its
entirely original arrangement of stanzas and songs, and as the first-known
drama concerning Rādhā and K isha, the poem has inspired many later
imitations. It was much loved and used by Chaitanya, the fourteenth- and
300 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

fifteenth-century Bengali Saint. It hasletter onethe inspiration for a style

also been
of beautiful and ornate miniature paintings of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-
century Rajasthani and Pahā ī schools.
The poem was written in Sanskrit by the twelfth-century Jayadeva, a
Bengali poet who attended the court of King Lakshmaasena (c.1178–1205)
at Navadvīpa. Jayadeva was a brāhma, born the son of Bhojadeva, at the
village of Kendulī, and was married to Padmavatī. A festival in his honour
is held annually at Navadvīpa.

Golden Verses of Pythagoras See Hieroclēs.

Gospel of Peter A mid-second-century pseudo-epigraphic Christian writing, the

extant portion of which covers the condemnation, crucifixion and resurrec-
tion of Jesus, the latter said to have been witnessed by Roman soldiers and
Jewish officials; reflects the view that Jesus’ body only had the appearance
of reality, and is hence attributed by Serapion, Bishop of Antioch (c.190) to
a member of the Docetists (from the Greek dokein, ‘to seem’); regarded by
modern scholars as the work of a Syrian Christian gnostic.

Gospel of Philip A text from the Nag Hammadi codices; a miscellaneous

collection, of uncertain date, of aphorisms, short comments, parables, dis-
courses and so on, frequently of a mystical nature and evidently from the
Christian tradition. The unknown author states that those who believe in a
virgin birth and the resurrection of the dead bodies, either of themselves or
of Jesus, are “in error”. Philip is the only apostle named in it, and that on
only one occasion. The title at the end of the book is presumed to have been
derived from this single reference.

Gospel of the Egyptians A text from the Nag Hammadi library, also entitled
The Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit; tells the familiar gnostic story
of creation by the Word, the “self-begotten” emanation of the Father that
creates everything, and appears in the physical universe as the Saviour,
Jesus – a personification, in the thought of the writer, of the great Saviour,
Seth. According to gnostic tradition, the gnostic wisdom of Adam passed
to his third son, Seth, who was given to Adam by God to replace the mur-
dered Abel. Subsequently lost for long ages, this wisdom was again revealed
to the followers of the Sethian school, in the case of this particular text, by
Jesus. The Gospel of the Egyptians emphasizes mystic baptism, in particular
baptism of the “five seals” in “Living Water” or a “Spring of Truth”, both
metaphors for the creative Power.

Gospel of the Hebrews The lost gospel of the early Judaeo-Christians, also
called the Nazarenes or Nazoraeans; known to some of the early Christian
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 301

3 june
fathers, including Jerome, who1931says that it was written in Aramaic, in He-
brew characters, and that he had translated it into Greek and Latin; extant
only as fragments cited in the works of others; said to have closely resem-
bled the existing Gospel of Saint Matthew, including some sayings of Jesus
not present in the canonical gospels; regarded by some of the early Chris-
tians as the original version of Matthew’s gospel.

Gospel of Thomas A collection of the sayings of Jesus discovered among the

Nag Hammadi codices; previously known only from a number of Greek
fragments found in the rubbish heaps of ancient Oxyrhynchus in Egypt, and
about whose origins scholars had advanced many theories, most of which
turned out to be wrong. Like the lost source of Jesus’ sayings (‘Q’), used
by the compilers of the gospels of both Luke and Matthew, the Gospel of
Thomas preserves some of the original sayings and parables of Jesus, and
dates, presumably, from the first century. The emphasis in this collection
of sayings is on finding the kingdom of heaven within oneself.

Gospel of Truth A Christian gnostic treatise from the Nag Hammadi library
with affinities to the school of Valentinus, possibly written by Valentinus
himself, and thus stemming from the mid-second century. The text is a
homily, written with sincere fervour. It concerns the nature of Error, dark-
ness, and the soul’s forgetfulness of the Father; the Word of the Father; the
coming of Jesus the enlightener and the range of response he receives; the
wakefulness and joy of the soul, and its union with the Father arising from
the revelation of the “gospel of Truth”, the life of the ignorant being likened
to a nightmare; and the return of the soul to its divine Source.

Granth Sāhib (Pu) See Ādi Granth.

Gregory of Nyssa (c.335–395) Born at Caesarea, Cappadocia, in Asia Minor

(now Kayseri, in central Turkey), into a distinguished Christian family;
younger brother of Basil the Great (329–379), appointed Metropolitan of
Cappadocia in 370; a mystically minded scholar, philosopher and theolo-
gian; educated in classical philosophy, beginning his adult life as a teacher
of rhetoric; turned towards religious studies and devotion in the 360s;
unwillingly appointed Bishop of Nyssa by his brother Basil (Bishop of
Caesarea) in 372 in a political move to retain ecclesiastical power in Basil’s
campaign against Arianism, earning his brother’s wrath when he failed to
provide the expected support; accused of squandering funds, deposed and
banished from his diocese in 376 by a synod of Arian bishops who were
backed by Valens, the pro-Arian emperor of the eastern Roman Empire;
reinstated and enthusiastically welcomed back by his congregation on
Valens’ death in 378.
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letter
With the premature death of Basil in one seems to have emerged
379, Gregory
from beneath the shadow of his energetic and dominating brother, and to
have taken on many of Basil’s roles and causes. He plunged into a life of
continuous ecclesiastical activity, much of it associated with the struggle
between rival theological beliefs. In 381, he played an important part in the
Council of Constantinople, called by Emperor Theodosius, in which the
theological ideas of Basil and Gregory emerged victorious. Subsequently,
he was recognized as one of the leading figures of the Eastern Church, and
enjoyed the favour of the emperor.
Gregory’s influence peaked during the years 380–385. During this pe-
riod, his considerable literary output is concerned largely with theological
matters. Nevertheless, his underlying inclination towards a scholarly and
contemplative life is evident from his refusal of the important bishopric of
Sebaste, where he was instrumental in getting his brother Peter appointed
in his stead. As the power of the bishops became increasingly restricted to
their own dioceses, so Gregory’s involvement with wider administrative
burdens and heated theological debate lessened. In this latter period, he
wrote a number of more spiritually oriented works, including a treatise on
Christian asceticism, De instituto christiano (‘On the Christian Way of
Life’); a brilliant mystical commentary on the Song of Songs; and a short
work, The Life of Moses, in which he interprets the journey of Moses and
the Hebrews from Egypt to Mount Sinai as an allegory of the soul’s progress
through the temptations of human life to the vision of God. His mystical
and ascetic writings are a skilful blend of both Christian and Greek tradi-
tions. He is recorded as attending the annual Council of Constantinople in
394, and must have died soon after, for no more is heard of him.

Gregory Thaumaturgus (c.213–270) A Greek, born at Neo-Caesarea, in Asia

Minor (now Niksar, in Turkey); a law student, converted to Christianity
through association with the mystically minded and Hellenistically influ-
enced Christian teacher, Origen (c.185–254), whom he met at Caesarea in
Palestine; returned to Neo-Caesarea and devoted his life to Christianizing
his mainly pagan home territory; became known as Thaumaturgus (the
Wonderworker) because of the miracles attributed to him (including moving
a mountain) in his work as a Christian missionary; forced to take temporary
refuge in the mountains, along with his community, during the persecution
(250–251) of the Roman emperor, Decius (ruled 249–251); introduced
church celebrations in honour of the martyrs, on his return.
Gregory seems to have been more a practical shepherd of his community
that a writer or theologian. His few extant letters deal with moral issues and
the refutation of ‘heresies’ affecting his community. Nevertheless, his major
work, The Exposition of Faith, which sets out the basis of belief in the Holy
Trinity as well as including instruction to new Christian converts, became
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 303

the foundation of the3 early-fourth-century

june 1931 Nicene Creed (325), the first
formal statement of Christian beliefs, held soon after Christianity received
official sanction from the Roman Empire. He also wrote a Panegyric to
Origen, a generous eulogy of his mentor, through whom (he says) he came
to appreciate the Greek philosophers and their relevance to Christianity.

Gregory the Great (c.540–604) Also known as Gregory I; born in Rome to a

wealthy Christian family, son of Gordianus and Sylvia, great-grandson of
Felix III (pope, 483–492); appointed to the highest civil administrative office
(praefectus urbis) in Rome, aged 32, but resigned two years later because
of social and political pressures; converted the family palace (part of his
paternal inheritance) at Caelian Hill into St Andrew’s monastery, using the
remainder of his inheritance to found six further monasteries on his lands in
Sicily; lived during the Lombard (a Germanic people) invasion of northern
Italy, in 568; appointed deacon in Rome by Benedict I (pope, 575–579); sent
by Pelagius II (pope, 579–590) as special envoy to Constantinople from
579–584, to secure help for Rome from the emperor, against the Lombards,
who were also at war with Byzantium, a largely unfruitful assignment.
Gregory was elected pope in 590, despite his sincere efforts to avoid it,
writing in letters that he had been forced into office. Once installed, he de-
termined to use his position for the good of the common people. He imported
grain from Sicily and used Church funds to help the poor and the starving,
and to alleviate the suffering of refugees from the Lombards, including
3,000 nuns. He overhauled the entire papal administration, criticizing the
indolence, indifference, corruption and hypocrisy of the administrators. As
he wrote in one of his letters (1:44), “We do not want the treasury of the
church defiled by disreputable gain.” He was the first pope to seriously
address social issues.
Gregory also set about reforming and revitalizing the corrupt Italian
Church. He popularized miracles, as well as the idea of purgatory to enable
the common people to more effectively relate to their religion. He encour-
aged a reform of the mass, from which arose the popular Gregorian chant.
He sent missionaries to convert the ‘uncivilized’ and ‘heretical’ (Arian)
Lombards, rather than supporting a war with them. He remonstrated with
the Byzantine government over their system of taxation, so harsh that people
had to sell their children or emigrate. He bought and sold slaves, and some-
times freed them, admonishing those who treated their slaves badly.
The period was one of Byzantine decline, and Gregory realized that the
future of Christianity in the West lay among the migrating peoples of Europe,
few of whom were Christian. He opened communications with various
powerful European sovereigns, but also approved of subjugating a people
by force, where ‘appropriate’, as in Africa, because it made them more
amenable to conversion. He gave financial incentives to Jews who converted.
304 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

He also seems to have been politically letter

naive, one
because he was deceived and
manipulated on a number of occasions.
In 596, he established Roman Catholic missions to England, motivated
perhaps by the existence of the strong Irish and Scottish monastic move-
ments which were at that time affiliated to the Eastern Church, not Rome,
and which he feared could eventually come to dominate England. The first
mission consisted of 40 monks, led by Augustine, who subsequently became
the first Archbishop of Canterbury.
Gregory was a devout monk, a zealous missionary and an excellent socially
minded administrator. It was this mix of qualities that made his papacy the
first to be significantly involved in civil affairs, even lobbying governments
to adopt particular policies.
His extensive writings and letters are largely practical, containing little
originality. His Regulae pastoralis liber (‘Book of Rules for Pastors’) be-
came a handbook for medieval clergy. His Moralia in Job (‘Morals on the
Book of Job’) is a textbook on morality and biblical exegesis.

Gulāl Sāhib (c.1693–1743) A mystic of Uttar Pradesh; a nobleman of the

kshatriya (warrior) caste and a disciple of Bullā Sāhib whom he later suc-
ceeded; succeeded by his disciple, Bhīkhā Sāhib.

Guru Amardās See Sikh Gurus.

Guru Angad See Sikh Gurus.

Guru Arjun See Sikh Gurus.

Guru Gobind Singh See Sikh Gurus.

Guru Nānak See Sikh Gurus.

Guru Rāmdās See Sikh Gurus.

Guru Tegh Bahādur See Sikh Gurus.

adīth (A) Lit. narrative; a body of traditional sayings, deeds and legends con-
cerning Muammad; an individual saying or story is also known as a adīth.

See also: The Islamic Way of Life (1.10).

adīth aī al-Bukhārī (A) See al-Bukhārī.

adīth aī Muslim ibn al-ajjāj (A) See Muslim ibn al-ajjāj.
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 305

3 june
āfi (c.1326–90) Full name and1931
title, Khwājah Shams al-Dīn Muammad al-
āfi
Shīrāzī, a āfi
(from āfi
ah, memory) being one who has learnt the
Qur’ān by heart; born and died in Shīrāz, in the state of Fārs in Persia; re-
ceived an orthodox religious education; taught Quranic and Islamic religious
studies, writing commentaries on religious texts; appointed court poet of
Shīrāz, enjoying the patronage of several rulers, but fell from favour around
1368, not regaining his position until 20 years later, shortly before his death.
āfi
is regarded as one of the finest of the Persian Sufi poets, whose
ghazals on divine love revitalized the ghazal as a poetic genre. A ghazal is
a form of lyric and symbolic poem of 6 to 15 couplets, focused on one theme,
but not necessarily following any connecting sequence of thought. It is a
pastiche of images, as it were, comparable to the beads on a necklace or to
the elements of an impressionist painting. His poetry has remained popular
in all Persian-speaking countries, its appeal lying in his simple, colloquial
and yet musical language, his use of everyday images and proverbs, his love
of humanity, his exposure of hypocrisy, and his capacity to relate his essen-
tially mystical themes to everyday life. The author of some prose, āfi
is
remembered largely for his Dīvān, or collected works of poetry.

allāj, Manūr al- (c.857–922) Full name and title, Abū al-Mughīth al-usayn
ibn Man ūr Maammá al-Bayāwī; commonly known as al-allāj (the wool
carder: one who combs, cleans and prepares wool for spinning) or allāj
al-Asrār (carder of the heart); known in India as Man ūr; sometimes referred
to by the epithet, al-‘Ārif (the gnostic); born in ūs in the province of Fārs,
in Iran; moved at an early age to Wāsi, in Iraq, an Arab textile and trading
centre, where his father may have worked as a wool carder. His grandfather
is traditionally believed to have been a Zoroastrian, descended from one of
the companions of Muammad, and his father was a Muslim convert.
Attracted to Sufism at an early age, he received his first instruction in
the spiritual life from Sahl ibn ‘Abd al-Allāh al-Tustarī, who lived a quiet
life in the city of Tustar in Khūzistān. Before he was 20, he moved to
Ba rah, where he became a disciple of ‘Amr ibn ‘Uthmān al-Makkī. During
this period, he married the daughter of the Sufi, ‘Abū Ya‘qūb al-Aqta’.
Later, moving to Baghdad, he received further guidance from Abū al-Qāsim
al-Junayd, with whom al-Makkī had previously received instruction. How-
ever, his relationship with both al-Makkī and Junayd is said to have been
broken off, and some authorities say that Junayd refused to accept al-allāj
as a disciple.
From 895, al-allāj began to travel widely, teaching and writing. He under-
took a pilgrimage to Mecca, where he lived for a year, following a strict
spiritual discipline. Leaving Mecca, he journeyed through Fārs, Khūzistān,
Khurāsān and other regions, teaching the way to an intimate relationship
with God, and attracting a large following. After a second pilgrimage to
306 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Mecca, he returned to his family in letter

Baghdad,onebefore leaving on a tour of
India and Turkestan, regions not yet penetrated by Islam. After a third pil-
grimage to Mecca, he returning to Baghdad around 908.
Al-allāj has been categorized as an ‘intoxicated’, rather than a ‘sober’,
Sufi. He also taught at a time of social, political and religious unrest. The
Sufi movement had yet to be integrated with orthodox Islamic theology,
philosophy and religious law, and was regarded with some suspicion by the
authorities. Moreover, his travels and his desire to share his mystical expe-
rience with others was not always appreciated by other Sufis, and he was
probably misunderstood by the central government to be harbouring hidden
political intentions and a desire to undermine their authority.
Whatever the background, when it was reported that al-allāj had said to
al-Shiblī in the mosque of al-Manūr in Baghdad – “Anā al-
aqq (I am God).”
– he was arrested (near Sūs, in 913) on a charge of heresy, the claim of
divinity being heretical in the eyes of most Muslims. The case against him
was by no means clear, however, and the court proceedings were marked
by uncertainty. After a long imprisonment in Baghdad, he was eventually
crucified and tortured to death in 922, before a large crowd. It is said that he
met his death with equanimity, uttering words of forgiveness to his perse-
cutors. Leaving behind his followers, his writings and the memory of his
horrific martyrdom, al-allāj has become a significant episode in Islamic
history, and one of the most widely discussed figures in the history of Sufism.

Hamadānī, ‘Ayn al-Quāt al- (1098–1131) Lit. cynosure of the judges of

Hamadān; real name, Abū al-Ma‘ālī ‘Abd Allāh ibn Abī Bakr Muammad
ibn ‘Alī ibn al-asan ibn al-Miyānjī; believed to have been from Azerbaijan;
studied the path of the Sufis from an early age; a formidable intellectual of
his time, he studied the writings of al-Ghazālī and is also believed to have
reached great spiritual heights; attracted a sizable following and charges of
heresy were brought by the orthodox; executed in Hamadān at an early age.

Hamadānī, Bābā āhir (d.c.1055) Probably born in Hamadān in Iran, though

also associated with Luristān, but of whom little else is known; one of the
most revered Sufi poets of early Persian literature, around whom has devel-
oped a wealth of legends and miracles, often conflicting; nicknamed ‘Uryān
(the Naked), suggesting that he was an ascetic or dervish.
Bābā āhir is traditionally believed to have been an illiterate woodcutter
who attended lectures at a nearby madrasah (religious college), where he was
ridiculed by his fellow students for his lack of education. According to the
story, when he asked them to show him how to acquire knowledge, they
told him to pass a winter’s night in a tank of icy water. Unaware that it was
a joke, Bābā āhir carried out the advice. In the morning he found that he
was enlightened, exclaiming, “Last night I was a Kurd and this morning, an
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 307

Arab” a statement also 3 june 1931 to at least two other Sufis. His erstwhile
credited
teachers and classmates were, of course, suitably impressed with his new-
found wisdom.
Bābā āhir’s exact dates are uncertain. However, it is reported that when
the conquering Saljūq Sulān Tuqril entered Hamadān in 1055, the poet
admonished him, saying, “O Turk, how are you going to behave towards
the Muslims?”, by which the sul ān was greatly impressed. It is therefore
possible that Bābā āhir died sometime after 1055. He is still revered in
Iran, where he is remembered by a magnificent mausoleum in Hamadān.
Bābā āhir wrote verse in a Persian dialect, with a local flavour, express-
ing a deep spirituality in lyrical yet simple language. He is the author of a
number of mystical treatises, and commentaries also exist on a collection
of his maxims on such subjects as knowledge (‘ilm), gnosis (ma‘rifah),
reason and the soul (‘aql, nafs), this world and the next (dunyā, ‘uqbá),
remembrance (źikr), and so on. His poetic works have been translated into
English by E. Heron-Allen (The Laments of Baba Tahir, 1902), A.J. Arberry
(Poems of a Persian Sufi, 1937) and Mehdi Nakhosteen (The Rubáiyyát of
Bábá Táhir Oryán, 1967).

Hasa Upanishad (S) Lit. the Upanishad of the hasa (swan), the hasa be-
ing a Vedic symbol for the soul; belonging to the Yajur Veda; expounds the
idea that the hasa becomes the Paramahasa (supreme Soul, God)
through meditation on the sound of Om, especially on its reverberations;
describes the various inner sounds heard by the practitioner, advocating
kualinī yoga as the means of experiencing them.

See also: Upanishads.

Ha ha Yoga Pradīpikā (S) A basic text on ha ha yoga, written by Svātmārāma

Yogī, probably during the fifteenth century CE; a manual of ha ha yoga,
understood as a preparation for rāja yoga; deals with āsanas (postures),
mudrās (gestures), kumbhaka (breath control), prāa (life energy), prāāyāma
(control of the prāa), the chakras (centres), nāīs (channels of prāa),
kualinī, Nāda (Sound), the discipline and life of a yogi, and so on.

ayyim Vital (1542–1620) Born in Safed, Palestine; died in Damascus; a dis-

ciple, first of Moses Cordovero, and then – after Cordovero’s death in 1570
– of Isaac Luria (1534–72), who had recently arrived in Safed; the main
proponent of Luria’s teachings, and author of Sefer ‘E

ayyim (‘Book of
the Tree of Life’), an exposition of Luria’s doctrines, published 20 years
after Luria’s death; leader of Palestinian Kabbalism, serving as rabbi and
head of a yeshiva (school of advanced learning) in Jerusalem (1577–85).

See also: Isaac Luria, Sefer ‘E ayyim.

308 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Hebrews, Epistle to the A New Testament letter one authorship has been de-
text whose
bated from the earliest times; written from Italy (if the farewells are deemed
a part of the original letter) to uncertain recipient(s); attributed to Paul, but
written in a very different language and style to Paul’s letters; generally
rejected as one of Paul’s letters by the Western Church, up to the fourth
century, and accepted by the Eastern Church only with many reservations;
accepted by Clement of Alexandria (c.150–215) who suggested that Paul
had written the letter in Hebrew, and Luke had translated it into Greek;
rejected, however, by Clement’s successor Origen (c.185–254) on grounds
of its style and content, commenting, “Who wrote the epistle, God knows”;
included as the fourteenth letter of Paul when the canons of the Eastern and
Western Churches were amalgamated in 367; dated to before c.96, when it
is mentioned in the First Letter of Clement, internal evidence suggesting a
date after the persecution of Nero (i.e. after 64) and around the time of the
Emperor Domitian’s persecution of the mid–90s.
The apt title, ‘To the Hebrews’, dates from the second century. More a
sermon than a letter, the content presumes an audience familiar with the Old
Testament. It is also the first example of metaphorical and allegorical in-
terpretation of the Old Testament in a Christian setting. The flight of the
children of Israel through the desert, for example, is used to depict the Chris-
tians passing through difficult times. Christ is portrayed as the perfect and
eternal high priest, ruler of all, higher than the angels, the mediator between
man and God in a new covenant, sealed with his blood, cancelling the sins
caused by infringement of the earlier covenant (chaps. 1–9). A repetitive
theme of the letter is the “Word of God” by which “the worlds were framed”
(11:3). The world was made by God through the “Son” by the “Word of His
Power” (1:2–3). The writer also echoes descriptions of the divine Wisdom
in the Wisdom of Solomon (7:22–24), when he describes the “Word of God”
as “quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, … a dis-
cerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (4:12, KJV). When advising
brotherly love, Hebrews is a conveyer of the touching tradition that by be-
ing good to strangers, “Some people have entertained angels, unawares”
(13:1, KJV).

Hegesippus Late-second-century Greek Christian; a writer and opponent of

gnostic Christianity; known for his five books of memoirs of the early
Church, partially preserved in Ecclesiastical History, a history of the Church
down to 324 by Eusebius of Caesarea.
Hegesippus’ work is the primary extant source on early Christian history.
It contains both historical and doctrinal material, including the names of the
Roman bishops and their doctrines, as far as Pope Eleutherius (174–89).
Hegesippus also pays considerable attention to the Judaeo-Christians in
Jerusalem, especially their fate in the Jewish persecution following the
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 309

Roman occupation of3 Jerusalem

june 1931 and the destruction of the Temple in 70
CE. He writes that splinter groups began to form after the martyrdom of
James the brother of Jesus (c.62 CE).

Henry Crow Dog (1899–1985) A twentieth-century Lakota (Sioux) Native

American medicine man; the son of John Crow Dog and Jumping Elk, and
the father of Leonard Crow Dog.

See Some Recent Native Americans (1.14).

Henry Suso (c.1295–1366) Original name, Heinrich von Berg; born to a noble
family, probably in Constance, Swabia, in southwest Germany; according
to his own description, the son of a worldly man and a pious mother; adopted
his mother’s name in her memory; because of frail health and before the
prescribed age of 15, was secured admission to the Dominican friary in
Constance by means of a bribe, something which later troubled his con-
science; lived as a recluse, practising severe austerities and mortification of
the flesh, experiencing both heavenly bliss and periods of doubt and despair;
relates that his fellow friars were frivolous and unfriendly, regarding him
as a crazy eccentric; later, receiving what he felt to be a divine command,
he threw his instruments of self-torture into the river; studied in Cologne
with the mystic Meister Eckhart (c.1260–1327), returning to Constance to
teach, around 1326.
In 1327 or thereabouts, Suso wrote The Little Book of Truth in defence
of Eckhart who had been put on trial for his views. Around 1328, he wrote
The Little Book of Eternal Wisdom, a simple, down-to-earth treatise, which
became one of the most widely read Christian works. He is also author of
the autobiographical, The Life of the Servant, never intended for publica-
tion, but written to help a friend
Sometime around 1327–30, he lost his teaching post in Constance for his
defence of Eckhart, who had been condemned by the Pope (1329). In fact,
throughout his life, Suso was subjected to persecution and calumny. Never-
theless, he became well known as a preacher, especially in Switzerland and
the upper Rhine, and was appointed prior to the Friends of God (a German
mystical movement) in Constance (1343–44). Subsequently, he was exiled
to Diessenhofen, Switzerland by the German king, Louis IV, moving to Ulm
in southern Germany around 1347, where he died in 1366. Suso was beati-
fied by Pope Gregory XVI in 1831.

Heraclitus (c.535–475 BCE) A late-sixth-century (BCE) philosopher of Ephesus,

a Greek trading city on the west coast of Asia Minor; known only from pithy
fragments quoted in the writings of others, in which he speaks of the Logos
in the manner of a mystic.
310 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter one
See also: Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans (1.9).

Hermetic Literature A body of Greek and Latin texts ascribed to Hermēs

Trismegistus and his disciples.

See Hermetic Literature (1.9).

Herodotus (c.485–425 BCE) A Greek historian, born in Halicarnassus, a Greek

city in southwest Asia Minor, then under Persian rule; remembered for his
History of the Graeco-Persian Wars, the first great history in anything ap-
proaching the modern ‘factual’ style; sometimes described as the father of
modern history; travelled widely for many years, visiting much of the Per-
sian Empire, as well as Egypt, Libya, Syria, Babylonia, Elam, Lydia,
Phrygia, Byzantium, Thrace, Macedonia, northward over the Danube, east-
ward to Scythia and along the northern coast of the Black Sea as far as the
River Don; believed to have lived for some time in Athens, where he met
Sophoclēs, and in Thurii, a Greek colony in southern Italy. The latest event
mentioned in his History is dated to 430 BCE, and it is believed that his
work was published in Greece before his death.

Hesiod An eighth-century (BCE) Greek epic poet, often described as the father
of Greek didactic verse; born in Boetia, in central Greece, to which his
father had emigrated from Cymē in Asia Minor; lived in Ascra, near Mount
Helicon; claims to have received his poetic gifts from the Muses, who ap-
peared to him while he was watching his sheep, giving him the poet’s staff
and a poet’s voice, and instructing him to “sing of the race of the blessed
gods immortal”. Hesiod seems to have gained some renown in his own time,
being invited to participate in a song contest at the funeral games of
Amphidamas at Chalcis on the island of Euboea, the only time, he recalls,
when he took to the sea.
Only two of his epics have survived: Theogony and Works and Days.
Theogony concerns the origin of the world and the history of the gods. Con-
taining many folk tales and much mythology, it is one of the richest sources
of descriptions of the Greek gods. Works and Days is addressed to his
brother Persēs. Persēs, it seems, has already schemed his way by dishonest
means into more than his fair share of their joint inheritance, and is intent
on going further. Hesiod points out to him the necessity of honest toil,
asserting his belief in Justice as a deity, the favourite daughter of Zeus.
Human happiness, he affirms, depends on good treatment of her. The sec-
ond part of Works and Days deals with peasant life and the agricultural
seasons, and is enlivened by a deep awareness of the rhythm of the chang-
ing seasons and their affect on man.
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 311

Hieroclēs (b.c.430 CE) A3Pythagorean

june 1931 philosopher, born at Hillarima in Caria,
an ancient region on the Aegean Sea, in southwest Asia Minor, correspond-
ing to the Turkish districts of south Aydin and west Mugla; after studying
philosophy in Athens and visiting Constantinople, he settled in Alexandria,
where he gained a reputation as a teacher of philosophy; supposed to have
once been a wrestler who relinquished the gymnasium to become a phi-
losopher; author of a number of works on providence, fate, human free
will and divine government, morality, justice, and so on, of which only his
commentary on the Golden Verses (Gk. Chrysa Epē, lit. golden words; 71
hexameters attributed to Pythagoras) has survived; not to be confused
with a first- or second-century (CE) Stoic of the same name, also from
Alexandria.

Hilālī, Badr al-Dīn (d.1530) A late-fifteenth- and early-sixteenth-century Per-

sian poet, of Turkish origin, born in Astarābād; author of a Dīvān (collected
poems) consisting mainly of ghazals (lyric poems) and three maśnavīs
(poems in rhymed couplets); although known as a Sunnī, he was executed
in 1530 as a Shī‘ah heretic.

Hippolytus (c.170–236) Bishop of Rome during the papacy of Zephyrinus

(pope, c.199–217); believed that the Godhead is a Trinity of three ‘persons’
indivisible yet distinguishable, contrary to Zephyrinus whom he condemns
as favouring the teaching that the Father and Son are different designations
of the same one God (Modalistic Monarchianism). Hippolytus describes
Zephyrinus in his Refutation of All Heresies (IX:6) as an “ignorant and illit-
erate individual, unskilled in ecclesiastical affairs”, going on to claim that
he was subject to the scheming influence of Calixtus, who held a similar
viewpoint on the Trinity.
Zephyrinus appointed Calixtus (pope, c.217–222) as his papal succes-
sor. When Calixtus extended the Church’s absolution to grave sins such as
sexual immorality (previously believed forgivable only by God), Hippolytus
– already at boiling point – was so incensed that he withdrew from the
Roman community to lead a schismatic group, and was consecrated as pope.
Hippolytus was thus the first antipope, remaining in opposition to Calixtus,
Urban I (pope, c.222–230) and Pontian (pope, c.230–236).
Hippolytus is largely remembered for his Refutation of All Heresies
(written in Greek), a biased, often inaccurate, defamatory and probably libel-
lous harangue against all he perceived as ‘heretics’, Christian or otherwise.
Included as objects of his ire are Greek philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle
and many others. The book’s chief value in present times is the information
that can be gleaned from it regarding the various groups of early Christians,
especially those of gnostic persuasion.
312 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Hippolytus and Pope Pontian were letter oneto the Sardinian mines in
both sent
235, during the persecution of Christians by the Roman emperor, Maximinus
(ruled 235–238). There, before being martyred, the two were reconciled,
jointly appointing a successor, Anterus (pope, c.235–236), recommending
their followers to support him, thus ending the schism. Their bodies were
brought to Rome for burial by Fabian (pope, 236–250).

History of Philip Also called the Acts of Philip; one of the later apocryphal Acts,
of uncertain date, purporting to recount the deeds (often miraculous) of
Philip, the Greek-speaking disciple of Jesus (John 12:20–21), on various
missionary journeys to Greece and other Mediterranean countries; said to
have originally consisted of 15 distinct ‘acts’, together with the Martyrdom
of Philip, of which numbers 10 to 14 are missing from the existing Greek
text, and only one is extant in Syriac.

Homer An eighth- or ninth-century (BCE) Greek poet, traditionally believed

by the ancient Greeks to have written the two great epic poems of ancient
Greece, the Iliad and the Odyssey; an elusive figure, about whom practi-
cally nothing is known, except that he was perhaps born on the island of
Chios, and was blind.
To the ancient Greeks, these two epics, with a cast of scheming gods,
heroic men and beautiful women, were valued as more than mere stories.
They epitomized the Greek ideals of heroism and unity, and were a source
of instruction – moral and practical, forming the basis of education and
culture in the classical world until the spread of Christianity. The Iliad de-
scribes the Trojan War between the Greeks and the Trojans, which began
with the abduction of Helen, wife of King Menelaus of Sparta by Paris,
prince of Troy. The Odyssey tells the story of the 10-year homeward jour-
ney of the wily, courageous and ever resourceful Odysseus, after the fall of
Troy. The Odyssey has also been interpreted allegorically as the homeward
journey of the soul, beset by the trials and attractions of material existence.

See also: gods (Greek) (4.2).

Hosea The biblical book of the eighth-century (BCE) Hosea; the first of the so-
called minor prophets; a comparatively short book of considerable signifi-
cance, focusing on the corruption of the people of Israel through their aban-
donment of the true worship of God, and their pursuit of foreign deities with
their related degenerate rites and ceremonies; traces the Israelites’ loss of
moral foundation as a result of their disloyalty to God and His covenant;
also predicts the doom and destruction that the Israelites will experience as
punishment for their behaviour, and the eventual purification, repentance
and divine forgiveness that the punishment will foster.
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 313

Huà Hú Chīng (Huà Hú3Jīng)june(C)

1931Lit. classic (chīng) on conversion (huà) of
barbarians (hú); written about 300 CE; of unknown provenance, believed
by some Taoists to have been authored by Lǎo Tzu; consists of an elaboration
of the Tào Té Chīng, and similarly organized into 81 poems or chapters.

Huái Nán Tzu (Huái Nán Zi) (C) Also called the Book of Huái Nán Tzu; a
Taoist work dating from the second century BCE, written by a group of
scholars commissioned by Líu Ān, the prince of Huái Nán; believed to have
originally been a compilation of the many philosophies of that era, with a
central theme of Taoism, although only the chapters on Taoism have sur-
vived. Several of the surviving Taoist chapters discuss the creation of the
cosmos, which other Taoist texts (Tào Té Chīng, Chuāng Tzu and Lièh Tzu)
do not.

Hujwīrī, Abū al-asan ‘Alī ibn ‘Uthmān ibn ‘Alī al-Ghaznawī al-Jullābī al-
(d.c.1077) A Persian Sufi, born at Hujwīr, a suburb of Ghazna, in Afghani-
stan; known in India as Dātā Ganj Bakhsh (lit. giver of treasure); studied
Sufism under Abū al-Fal Muammad ibn al-asan Khattlī; travelled
widely from Syria to Turkestan, and from the Indus to the Caspian Sea, in-
cluding Azerbaijan, Damascus, ūs, Bisām and Samarkand; met many
Sufis and Shaykhs during his wanderings; settled for some time in Iraq,
where he ran deeply into debt, and had a short and unhappy married life.
According to Riyā al-Awliyā’, he finally settled at Lahore (now in Paki-
stan), where he was imprisoned for some time. He died sometime between
1072 and 1077 in Lahore, where an impressive shrine and mosque built over
his tomb is now a place of pilgrimage.
A Sunnī and an adherent of the
anafī school of Islamic law, al-Hujwīrī,
like many other Sufis, managed to reconcile Islamic theology with an ad-
vanced mysticism in which fanā’ (extinction of the individual self) held a
dominant place. He compares fanā’ to burning by fire, which transmutes
the quality of all things to its own quality, leaving their essence unchanged.
Al-Hujwīrī is remembered for his famous treatise on Sufism, Kashf al-
Majūb li-Arbāb al-Qulūb (‘Unveiling of the Hidden for the People of the
Heart’), intended as a complete presentation of Sufism, setting out and
discussing its doctrines and practices in reply to certain questions ad-
dressed to him by his fellow countryman, Abū Sa‘īd al-Hujwīrī. It was
written in Lahore, with some difficulty owing to the loss of books which he
had left at Ghazna.

Hypostasis of the Archons A gnostic text from the Nag Hammadi library,
possibly dating from the third century, partially set as a revelation dialogue
between an angel and an inquirer; sets out to interpret Paul’s references to the
“authorities of the darkness” (Colossians 1:13) and the “spirits of wickedness”
314 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

(Ephesians 6:12) as the human struggleletter one against the authorities

for gnosis
(eksousiai) and rulers (archons) ruling creation; contains a gnostic interpre-
tation of the Genesis creation myths.

Iamblichus (c.250–330 CE) A Syrian Neo-Platonist, founder of the Syrian

branch of Neo-Platonism; a pupil of Porphyry; played a significant role in
the evolution of the mystical teachings of Plotinus into the complex pagan
mystical religion known from the works of the fifth-century Proclus; devel-
oped a philosophy that included rites and myths associated with the pagan
gods, and magical practices intended to invoke the help of the gods (theurgy)
in human spiritual development; a prolific writer (in Greek), much of whose
work has been lost; author of On the Mysteries, On the Life of Pythagoras,
Exhortation to Philosophy, On the General Science of Mathematics, On the
Arithmetic of Nicomachus, and Theological Principles of Arithmetic.

Ibn al-‘Arabī, Muyī al-Dīn Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muammad ibn ‘Alī ibn
Muammad al-‘Arabī al-ātim al- ā’ī (1165–1240) Born in Murcia in
southeastern Spain into an ancient Arab family, his father being of some
social standing, numbering the philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroës) among
his friends; moved to Seville when he was eight, where he began his formal
education; studied later at Ceuta in North Africa; a mystic, teacher and one
of the greatest metaphysical thinkers of Islam; also known as al-Shaykh
al-Akbar (the greatest Shaykh). From his home in Seville, Ibn al-‘Arabī
travelled extensively in North Africa, seeking out Sufis of spiritual develop-
ment. He speaks of many shaykhs among his teachers, including Abū Ja‘far
al-‘Uraynī, Abū Ya‘qūb al-Qaysī (a disciple of Abū Madyan), and others,
including two women. His close relatives also included a number of Sufi
adepts.
In 1198, while in Murcia, he had a vision in which he felt impelled to
leave Spain and travel to the East, a journey from which he never returned
to his homeland. Travelling first to Mecca (1201), he received a vision in
which he was instructed to begin his great work, al-Futūāt al-Makkīyah
(‘Meccan Revelations’), completed many years later in Damascus. It is a
vast work, a monumental exposition of Sufi doctrine, together with insights
into his own inner life.
From Mecca, he travelled to Egypt, in the same year, and thence to
Anatolia, where in Konya, he met adr al-Dīn Qūnawī, who became his dis-
ciple, and later his successor in the East. By the time his long journey
reached its end in Damascus, in 1223, he was known all over the Islamic
world. The remainder of his life was spent in Damascus, in meditation,
teaching and writing. During this time, he completed al-Futūāt, and in
1229, 10 years before his death, he wrote one of his most significant works,
Fuū al-
ikam (Bezels of Wisdom, a bezel being a cutting edge), a much
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 315

smaller book concerning3 june 1931 of the mystics, and an expression of Ibn
the nature
al-‘Arabī’s mature thought.
A prolific author and perhaps the most philosophical of all the great Sufi
writers, his other works included Tarjumān al-Ashwāq (‘Interpreter of
Yearnings’), a book of devotional poetry; and Rū al-Quds (‘Spirit of Holi-
ness’) and al-Durrat al-Fākhirah (‘Precious Pearl’), which contain biogra-
phies of Andalusian and a few other Sufis.
Ibn al-‘Arabī became a link between the Western Sufis of Spain and
Morocco, and those of Egypt and Syria. Through his disciple, adr al-Dīn
al-Qūnawī, he influenced Qub al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī and the later Persian mys-
tics. ‘Abd al-Karīm al-Jīlī, al-Shādhilī and others all used and developed his
terminology and mode of expression. His tomb in Damascus, below Mount
Qāsiyūn, was regarded as a part of the gardens of paradise, and was called
al-Kibrīt al-Amar (lit. red sulphur, philosopher’s stone).
Ibn al-‘Arabī, often abbreviated to Ibn ‘Arabī, should not be confused
with Abū Bakr Muammad ibn ‘Abd Allāh al-Ma‘āfirī ibn al-‘Arabī, a
traditionalist of Seville (1076–1148), or Muammad ibn Ziyād Abū ‘Abd
Allāh ibn al-‘Arabī, a philologist of the school of Kūfah.

Ibn ‘A ā’ Allāh, Amad ibn Muammad (d.1309) Born in mid-thirteenth-

century Alexandria to a scholarly Malikite family of strong religious tradi-
tions; demonstrated an excellence in Islamic studies from an early age. Ibn
‘Aā’ Allāh’s father was a disciple of al-Shādhilī (d.1258), founder of the
Shādhilī order of Sufis (who believed in following a spiritual life while still
living in the world), and would also have known al-Shādhilī’s successor,
Abū al-‘Abbās al-Mursī. As a young man, however, Ibn ‘Aā’ Allāh believed
only in the letter of the Islamic religious law. He was opposed to Sufism,
and hostile to Abū al-‘Abbās al-Mursī. Nevertheless, in 1276, he attended
one of the Shaykh’s public discourses, and was relieved to discover that
Sufism and Islamic religious law were not in opposition. Impressed with
the Shaykh, he immediately became one of al-Mursī’s most promising dis-
ciples. By the time of the Shaykh’s death, 12 years later, Ibn ‘Aā’ Allāh was
himself a Shaykh, teaching in Cairo, and had written his best-known book,
Kitāb al-
ikam (‘Book of Wisdom’), for which he received his Master’s
approval. The book – written in rhythmical, dignified Arabic – has remained
popular among both Sufis and pious Muslims, many of whom have com-
mitted its aphorisms to memory. A Shaykh of powerful presence, his funeral
procession was described as vast, and his tomb is still a place of pilgrimage.
Ibn ‘Aā’ Allāh was the first Shaykh of the Shādhilī order to put their
teachings into book form. Though not prolific, his works have endured.
They include Miftā al-Falā wa-Mibā al-Arwā (‘Key of Success and
the Lamp of the Spirits’), al-Tanwīr fī Isqā al-Tadbīr (‘Light on the Elimi-
nation of Self-Direction’) on the Shādhilī’s teaching concerning morality
316 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter al-Shaykh
and ethics, and La ā’if al-minan fī Manāqib one Abū al-‘Abbās wa-
Shaykhihi Abū al-
asan (‘Subtleties concerning the Virtues of Abū al-
‘Abbās and his Master Abū al-asan’), which concerns the first Shaykhs in
the Shādhilī line.

Ibn Mājah, Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muammad ibn Yazīd al-Raba‘ī al-Qazwīnī
(824–887) Born and lived in Qazwīn; author of Kitāb al-Sunan (‘Book of
Traditions’), which contains 4,000 adīth, the last of the six canonical
collections; travelled widely in Iraq, Syria, Hījjāj and Egypt in search of
adīth, drawing material from many sources.

See also: The Islamic Way of Life (1.10).

Ibn Sīnā, Abū ‘Alī al-usayn ibn ‘Abd Allāh (980–1037) Commonly angli-
cized as Avicenna; an ethnic Persian, born near Bukhārā in Iran (now in
Uzbekistan); regarded as the most renowned physician and philosopher-
scientist of the Islamic world; a precocious child who had memorized the
Qur’ān and a great deal of Arabic poetry by the age of 10; educated at home
by his father, who entertained many of the greatest thinkers of the time;
studied logic and metaphysics with various teachers, whom he soon out-
stripped, continuing with his own personal studies of Islamic law and medi-
cine; gained access to the extensive royal library of the Samanids (the first
Iranian dynasty following the Muslim Arab conquest) after curing the
prince, Nu ibn Man ūr, of a severe illness; was accomplished in all
branches of learning while still a young man, and was widely acclaimed as
a physician; also spent some time as a government administrator.
In 999, Ibn Sīnā’s life changed radically. His father died, the Samanid
dynasty fell to the Turkish leader, Mamūd of Ghazna (in Afghanistan), and
Ibn Sīnā began a period of wandering in tumultuous political times, which
lasted more or less for the remainder of his life. First, he travelled through
the various cities of Khurāsān, in northeastern Iran, then on to Rayy (near
modern Tehran) and Qazwīn, and thence to Hamadān, in west-central Iran.
Here, he was appointed court physician, and twice held the post of vizier.
He also became embroiled in political intrigues, went into hiding for some
time, and was even imprisoned. The last 14 years of his life were passed as
scientific adviser and physician to the ruler of I fahān, ‘Alā’ al-Dawlah. He
died of colic and exhaustion while accompanying al-Dawlah on a military
campaign.
Throughout his life, Ibn Sīnā maintained his intellectual focus, and con-
tinued his writing, often earning his living as a physician during the day,
while writing and teaching at night. His most substantial work was done
during this period, including his best-known work, Kitāb al-Shifā’ (‘Book
of Healing’), a philosophical and scientific tour-de-force, covering logic,
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 317

psychology, geometry, 3 june 1931 arithmetic, medicine, music and meta-

astronomy,
physics. The philosophy of this book owes much to the Greek philosophers,
especially, Aristotle and the Neo-Platonists. He regarded God as the one
true Existent, denying personal immortality, God’s interest in the individual,
and the creation of the world at a point in time. Everything, he argued, is
the eternal expression or emanation of the Divine. Many of his views were
contrary to orthodox Islamic thought, and although they were later coun-
tered by the philosopher and mystic, al-Ghazālī (1058–1111), Ibn Sīnā’s
philosophy remained influential throughout the Middle Ages.
His work on medicine, Qānūn fī al-ibb (‘The Canon of Medicine’), is
the single most significant book in the history of medicine, and was long
pre-eminent as a primary textbook in the Middle East and Europe. It draws
largely upon the work of Greek physicians in Roman times, together with
his own experiences. It was translated into Latin in the twelfth century, a
Hebrew translation appeared in 1491, and an Arabic version in 1593, the
second text ever printed in Arabic.
During his latter years in I fahān, he completed these two major works,
composed more than 200 treatises, and wrote several other books. In his
last major philosophical work, Kitāb al-Ishārāt wa al-Tanbīhāt (‘Book of
Directives and Remarks’), he reveals much of his own personal beliefs,
describing the journey of the mystic from the first stirrings of faith to the
ultimate vision of the Divine.

Ibrāhīm ibn Adham, Abū Isāq (c.730–780) One of the well-known early
Sufis, sometimes described as the first Sufi; of Arabian descent, said to have
been born a prince of Balkh in Khurāsān, in northeastern Iran; renounced
his kingdom and, shortly after adopting Sufism, emigrated to Syria where
he worked as a rural labourer until his death; mentioned in ‘Aār’s Tadhkirat
al-Awliyā’ (‘Memoirs of the Saints’).
Numerous stories and many sayings have been attributed to Ibrāhīm ibn
Adham. In his early search, he is said to have adopted a Christian monk as
his teacher. He said, “My first teacher in ma‘rifah (gnosis) was a monk
named Simeon.” According to an Indian legend, Kabīr (c.1398–1518) only
accepted him as a disciple after 12 years of menial work, something which
is historically impossible, their dates being adrift by several centuries. He
is said to have been killed in the war against Byzantium.

Ì Chīng (Yi Jīng) (C) Lit. classic (chīng) of change (ì); sometimes translated
(inexactly) as the Book of Changes; a form of divination believed to have
been handed down verbally for many centuries, and put into written form
around the twelfth century BCE by the Emperor Wén Wáng of the Chōu
dynasty; a famous oracle based on the fundamental Chinese principle of
duality (yīn and yáng), with the idea that the interaction of these two princi-
318 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter
ples brings about all change and creation in theone
universe. Therefore, through
a combinations of dual symbols in the form of eight trigrams consisting of
broken and unbroken lines, representing combinations of aspects of yīn
and yáng, it is believed that the tendencies and transformations of any object
or situation can be divined. Over the centuries commentaries have been
added to the Ì Chīng; the work has been included in the classics of both
Confucianism and Taoism, and is regarded as a bridge between the two
philosophical systems.

Ignatius (d.c.110) Full name, Ignatius Theophorus (lit. God-bearer); Bishop of

Antioch (in Syria), known almost entirely from seven letters written during
his journey to Rome as a prisoner, condemned to face wild beasts in the
Roman arena; influenced in his thinking by St Paul and the tradition associ-
ated with St John. His letters contain a warning against what he perceives
as ‘false’ teachings, especially of those Christians who did not accept the
authority of the New Testament, and the Docetists (from the Greek dokein,
‘to seem’), who believed that the sufferings of Jesus had been apparent, not
real. Ignatius insists on the real humanity and suffering of Christ, from
which he and countless other early Christians drew their ardent desire for
martyrdom. He also advocated a hierarchical structure of the Church, with
episcopal authority. Though nothing is known of him prior to his arrest, his
letters are often cited as a source of information of the early Church in tran-
sition from its Jewish origins to assimilation into the Graeco-Roman world.
They also reflect the spread of opinion among early Christian groups.

Inanna’s Descent A complex Sumerian myth concerning the descent of the

goddess Inanna (Lady of the Date Clusters) to the underworld. Inanna
(Akkadian, Ishtar) conceives the desire to rule the underworld after depos-
ing her sister Ereshkigal (Lady of the Greater Earth). However, her attempt
fails, she loses her life, and is turned to a piece of rotting meat in the under-
world. Through the ingenuity of Enki (Lord of Sweet Waters), she is finally
brought back to life provided she supplies a substitute. On her return, she
finds her young husband, Damuzi (Akkadian, Tammuz), enjoying himself,
not missing her at all. In a fit of jealousy, she designates him as her substi-
tute. Damuzi flees, is caught, escapes again, and so on, until finally he is
taken to the underworld. Meanwhile, his little sister, Geshtinanna, is told
by a fly where he has gone, and she goes in search of him. The story ends
with Inanna decreeing that Damuzi and Geshtinanna should each spend half
their time in the underworld, as her substitutes.

See also: Sumerian and Mesopotamian Spirituality (1.3), Tammuz

Liturgies.
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 319

3 june 1931 A musician, composer, vīa player and

‘Ināyat Khān, arat (1882–1927)
singer, the first Indian musician to bring Indian classical music to the West;
also a teacher of Sufi mystical philosophy; born and raised in Baroda, in
Gujarat, India, in the house of his grandfather, Mawlā Bakhsh, a well-known
musician (from a long line of musicians). Mawlā Bakhsh was also a Sufi,
and his house was a meeting point for an exchange of ideas on a wide range
of belief systems, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, and
so on. In this environment, ‘Ināyat Khān learnt sympathy and tolerance for
others, realizing that there are common threads in all religions. He devel-
oped a particular love of the Bhagavad Gītā.
‘Ināyat Khān studied music and learnt to play the vīa. He especially en-
joyed the poetry and songs of Indian mystics such as Kabīr, Guru Nānak,
Guru Rāmdās, Dādū, Sundardās, Tukārām and Dayānanda Sarasvatī, also
composing his own songs. At 18, he began touring India, teaching, lecturing
and giving concerts.
In 1903, he met his Murshid (Master), Sayyid Muammad Abū āshim
Madanī, in Hyderabad in 1903, where he lived until his Master’s death in
1907. Subsequently, for three years, he wandered throughout India, Sri
Lanka and Burma, giving concerts and lectures on his music. His Master’s
last instructions were to harmonize East and West through the harmony of
his music; to spread the wisdom of Sufism abroad, for “God has given you
great gifts.” Accordingly, in 1910, he travelled to the West, accompanied
by his brothers, who were also musicians, where they gave concerts and lec-
tured, in America and Europe, meeting many prominent artists of the time.
Before the First World War (1914–18), he and his brothers lived in Paris,
passing the war years in London. In London, he founded the Sufi Order
(1910) and the Sufi Movement (1916), and in Geneva, the International Sufi
Movement (1922). From 1920 to 1926, he toured Europe and America,
founding centres in 12 countries, and initiating a large number of disciples.
He met with fame and admiration, but also misunderstanding and resistance.
He was married three times; his first wife died within a few days and the
second within a year. The third was an American, Ora May Baker (a rela-
tive of Mrs Eddy Baker, the developer of Christian Science), whom he mar-
ried in London, in 1912, and with whom he had three sons and a daughter.
He was later to write in his autobiography that his work in the West would
never have been possible without the help and support of his wife.
Towards the end of 1926, he returned to India, where he died the follow-
ing year, after a short illness.
There were three main aspects to his teachings, firstly to go within one-
self using prayer and meditation; secondly, the essential oneness of all reli-
gions; and thirdly, brotherhood, the practical outcome of the first two. He
taught that the foundation of all creation is an unstruck Sound or Music. He
instituted a simple service in which a candle was lit and a short reading
320 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

was taken from the teachings of each letter onesix main world religions
of the
(Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam).
A seventh candle was lit for “all those, who whether known or unknown in
the world, have held aloft the light of truth through the darkness of human
ignorance”.
He insisted that Sufism implied mysticism in general, and that it existed
before Muammad, and so pre-dated Islam. When someone asked him the
difference between Sufism and other religions, he replied, “The difference
is that it casts away all differences.”
The Sufi Publishing Society published poetic works such as his Dīvān
(collected poems), Hindustani Lyrics and The Songs of India, as well as
‘Ināyat Khān’s teachings in books such as The Voice of ‘Ināyat, In an Eastern
Rose Garden, The Mysticism of Sound and Notes of the Unstruck Music.
His teachings also have been published as The Sufi Message of Hazrat
Inayat Khan, comprising 13 volumes of transcripted talks and lectures given
between 1910–26. In India, his most important work was Minqar-i Musiqar
(‘The Singing Bird’), written during his time in Hyderabad, in Hindustani
and Persian (1903–06). It containing descriptions of rāgas and dances, to-
gether with explanations of their inner meanings, along with a selection of
verses from Indian poets and himself.

Ion of Chios A fifth-century (BCE) Greek poet, known for his brief biographical
sketches on some of his contemporaries, such as Periclēs, Sophoclēs and
Socratēs, whom Ion mentions meeting at Samos, together with Archelaus,
a student of the philosopher Anaxagoras.

‘Irāqī, Shaykh Fakhr al-Dīn Ibrāhīm (1213–89) Born near Hamadān in the
village Kamajān; it is said that his father had a dream before he was born in
which ‘Alī informed him that his boy, ‘Irāqī, would be a ‘world conqueror’;
joined a group of Qalandarīyah Sufis at the age of 17, travelling with them
through Persia to India; received initiation from Shaykh Bahā’al-Dīn
Zakarīyā’ Multānī, and was appointed his successor in 1267, but was forced
to flee to Konya where he possibly received initiation from adr al-Dīn
Qūnawī. His book Lama‘āt (Divine Flashes), is a collection of meditations,
and is generally regarded as his masterpiece. Although not prolific, he com-
posed poetry throughout his life, and his songs, collected together in his
Dīvān, are popular today throughout the Persian-speaking world and India.

Irenaeus (c.120–202) Born of Greek parents, somewhere in Asia Minor, prob-

ably between 120–140; as a child, saw and heard Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna,
the last-known link with the apostolic era, supposed to have met the apostle
John who lived to an advanced age in Ephesus; reported by the fourth-
century Eusebius in his History of the Church to have been a missionary in
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 321

southern Gaul, and to 3have

juneacted
1931 as a mediator among the churches of Asia
Minor when troubled by heresy and other difficulties; also said by Eusebius
to have succeeded the martyred Pothinus as Bishop of Lugdunum (Lyons)
in 177. Only unreliable legends surround his death, but he is presumed to
have died around or soon after the year 200, probably in Lyons.
Irenaeus mediated in a dispute between the Roman Church and the
churches of Asia Minor concerning the date of Easter. In Rome, it was held
that Easter should always be on a Sunday (the day of Christ’s resurrection).
In Asia Minor, Easter was celebrated on the day of the Jewish Passover (14th
of Nisan). Irenaeus told the two parties that differences concerning such
external matters should not become a source of Christian disunity.
Irenaeus is largely remembered for his work, Adversus haereses (‘Against
Heresies’), a refutation of heresies written around 180, a lengthy harangue
against Marcion (leader of a Roman breakaway group) and the gnostics.
Though entirely negative and biased in its approach, his work is a valuable
source of information on early Christian gnosticism. Written in Greek, the
work survives only in a Latin translation of uncertain date (c.200–400).
In the course of this book, while attempting to establish which Christian
writings were authentic and reliable, and which doctrines were correct,
Irenaeus moved Christianity towards an accepted creed and canon of scrip-
tures, though never speaking of two testaments, old and new.
One other work attributed to Irenaeus has survived: a short Greek work
intended for pre-baptismal instruction, Demonstration of the Apostolic
Preaching, now existing only in an Armenian translation.

‘Īsá Jesus; honoured in Islam along with all the other prophets; considered a
Rasūl (Messenger) of God; also called Rū Allāh (Spirit of God).

See also: Jesus Christ.

Isaac Luria (1534–72) Full name, Isaac ben Solomon Luria; commonly known
as ha-Ari (the Lion), from the Hebrew initials for ha-Elohi Rabbi Yi
ak
(the divine Rabbi Isaac); called Rabbi Isaac Ashkenazi by his contempo-
raries in Safed. The details of Isaac Luria’s life are greatly confused by leg-
end. According to the Toledot ha-Ari (‘Life of the Ari’), an anonymous work
of uncertain reliability published 20 years after his death, and containing a
mix of legendary and historical information, Isaac Luria’s father was an
Ashkenazi (a German or Polish Jew) who moved to Jerusalem, where he
married a Sephardi girl (a Spanish or North African Jew). His father died
while he was still a boy, and the young Isaac was taken to Egypt by his
mother, where he was raised in the home of her wealthy brother, Mordecai
Frances. In Egypt, he was educated in rabbinic studies, including halakhah
(Jewish law), and also became involved in business.
322 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter
The young Isaac is said to have shown one
early signs of a mystical disposi-
tion, and eventually concentrated on the Zohar (the primary Kabbalist text)
and other works of twelfth- and thirteenth-century Kabbalists, together with
those of his contemporary, Moses Cordovero. He met and corresponded
with a number of Kabbalists in Egypt, also spending seven years in seclu-
sion on an island in the Nile that was owned by his uncle. During this period,
which may have been in the 1550s or when he was older, he wrote a com-
mentary on a section of the Zohar, the Sefer di-eni‘uta (‘Book of Conceal-
ment’). Luria’s commentary follows a traditional Kabbalistic line of thought,
exhibiting nothing of the system with which he was later to expound. At
some point, it also seems that he married his cousin, and his uncle thus
became his father-in-law.
In 1570, he went to Safed, a mountain town in Galilee that had become a
well-known Kabbalist centre, to study with Moses Cordovero, the best-
known Kabbalist of the time, who died at the end of that year. Soon after
his arrival, Luria began teaching his new system to a select group, attract-
ing many disciples, though not all who applied were accepted. He also pro-
tected his teachings from the public eye, and did not permit their propagation
during his lifetime. Luria commented that there was no conflict between his
teachings and those of Cordovero. Cordovero, he said, dealt with ‘olam ha-
tohu (world of confusion), while he himself was concerned with ‘olam ha-
tikkun (world of restitution). They were each dealing with different spiritual
realms or states of being. Indeed, few Kabbalists have attempted to com-
bine their two teachings into one system. Like many members of the Safed
community, he supported himself by means of trade, Safed being on the
main route between Egypt and Syria.
Before Luria’s arrival, the community of Kabbalists gathered around
Cordovero were already living an intensely devout and ascetic life, observing
a number of unique rituals. They went out into the fields, for instance, to
welcome the Sabbath, personified as the Sabbath Queen. Under Luria’s in-
fluence, new elements were added to these observances, including various
forms of meditation (kavvanah, intention, concentration) intended to purify
the soul and bring about her restoration to the divine Ayn-Sof from whom
she had fallen. Luria also introduced a messianic element into the Kabbalah.
He taught that historical events and the affairs of man are a part of the un-
folding of a great cosmic drama in which the Jewish people are responsible
for the final restitution and redemption of the world. The role of the Messiah
is not one of redemption. Only when restitution has been accomplished will
the Messiah appear. Luria taught for only two years before his sudden death
(in the summer of 1572) in an epidemic that swept through the town, but
the descriptions given by his disciples in subsequent years attest to his
saintly and striking personality. Like many other mystics, his life story was
soon embellished by legends and miracle stories.
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 323

With the exception 3 june 1931 well-known hymns for Sabbath meals,
of three
based on Kabbalist principles and usually included in the Jewish prayer
book, Luria himself wrote very little. He himself acknowledges that he
had difficulty writing, especially systematizing the flow of his abundant
thoughts. His method was to select subjects for elucidation, more or less at
random. Among Luria’s disciples who taught and wrote of their Master’s
doctrines after his death were Moses Jonah of Safed, Joseph ben Tabul,
and the most renowned of all, ayyim Vital. Vital published an extensive
compendium of Luria’s doctrines 20 years after his Master’s death, entitled
Sefer ‘E

ayyim (‘Book of the Tree of Life’). The work included a few
fragments of Luria’s own writing, notably his commentaries on portions of
the Zohar.
Luria committed very little to writing, and his disciples’ accounts con-
tain variations, depending upon their own interpretations. The doctrines of
a fourth significant teacher of Lurianic Kabbalah, Israel Saruk, who taught
in Italy and other European countries during the 1590s, based his teachings
on the works of Luria’s disciples, to which he added his own interpretations
and speculations. Because Saruk was the first to spread Luria’s teachings
in Italy, his teachings and writings were regarded as authentic Lurianic doc-
trine, although they actually contain a number of significant differences. It
was largely Vital’s work, however, together with his enthusiasm to gain
acceptance for Luria’s version of the Kabbalah, that resulted in the endurance
of Lurianic Kabbalism, influencing all later Jewish mysticism, including
eighteenth-century Hasidism.

See also: The Kabbalah (1.4), imum (5.2).

Isaac of Antioch (d.c.460) A native of Amida (near modern Erzurum, in Turkey);

a Syrian Christian and Syriac author of a considerable body theological
writings and historical verse concerning events in Asia Minor and Rome;
seems to have travelled widely, composing verse about the civic festivals
in Rome of 404, and the sack of Rome by the Visigoths under Alaric, in
410, an event heralding the final fall of the western Roman Empire; was
briefly jailed in Constantinople for reasons unknown; settled in a Jacobite
Christian community at Antioch in Syria (now Antakya, Turkey), where he
may have been ordained as a priest; author of an extensive account in verse
of the destruction of Antioch by earthquake in 459; credited as the author
of two collections of poetic discourses, together with a number of commen-
taries on theological and ascetic topics. This variety of material, with some-
times differing styles and viewpoints has suggested that there were two or
three contemporary writers of the same name, living in or around Antioch,
whose works have been incorrectly ascribed to a single author.
324 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Isaac the Blind (c.1160–1235) Also called letter one (abundant light); com-
Sagi Nahor
monly known as he-
asid (the pious one); a significant early Kabbalist, of
whom few biographical details have survived; known largely from the
writings of his disciples, and the tradition that formed after them, together
with a few extant fragments of his writings; son of Abraham ben David
(c.1120–1197) of Posquières, in Provence, France, and associated with the
Kabbalists of that region; generally believed by thirteenth-century Kabba-
lists to have been born blind, though his evident familiarity with books
suggests otherwise; said by Shem Tov ben Abraham ibn Ga’on (1287–1330)
to have been able to sense whether a soul was old or new – whether or not
the soul had experienced transmigration; also said to have experienced the
‘revelation of Elijah’ and other mystical states.
Isaac’s doctrine appears to have been based upon the description of the
sefirot (divine emanations) outlined in the Sefer ha-Bahir (‘Book of Illumi-
nation’), first published around 1176 in Provence, when Isaac was a young
man. He writes of three levels within the Godhead: the Ayn-Sof, which is
beyond all description, and the sefirot of Mashavah (Thought) and Dibbur
(Speech, Utterance). According to Isaac, the Mashavah should not be re-
garded as a part of the ten sefirot, and he makes up the deficiency by adding
the sefirah (emanation) of Haskel (Intellect), locating it between Mashavah
and the sefirah of
okhmah (Wisdom). Mashavah is the Ayn-Sof revealed,
the first sefirah or expression of the Divine; it is the ultimate goal to which
all mystic kavvanah (intention, concentration) or meditation is directed. He
also calls it Ayin (Nothingness), for it is ‘no thing’, no substance. From the
divine Nothingness, emanates the ten sefirot, and thence the entire creation.
Isaac conceived of the creative process symbolically as God’s Utterance
(Dibbur), commonly depicting the sefirot as words (devarim) or utterances
(dibburim). Thus, the sefirot and the creative process is God’s expression
or language, a process which originates with
okhmah. His system was
essentially a practical path of
epiyyah (contemplation), kavvanah and
devotion. He taught that the outward emanative process exists simultane-
ously with the inward return of all things to the Divine in contemplative
teshuvah (repentance). The creation is new every moment, a balance of
emanation and return; it is God contemplating Himself.

See also: Asher ben David, ‘Azri’’ el of Gerona.

Īshāvāsya Upanishad, Īsha Upanishad (S) Belonging to the Yajur Veda, the
name of this Upanishad is taken from its first word, meaning ‘pervaded by’
(vāsya) the Lord (Īsha); a short Upanishad dealing with the ātman (self)
and various aspects of the inner spiritual path.

See also: Upanishads.

 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 325

Ja‘far al-ādiq (c.702–765)3 june 1931 the Trustworthy (al-ādiq); born, lived,
Lit. Ja‘far
taught and died in Madīnah; a famous scholar of religion and mysticism;
considered by the Twelve-Imām Shi‘ites to be the sixth Imām in line from
the fourth Caliph, ‘Alī ibn Abī ālib (Muammad’s cousin), regarded by
Shi‘ites as their founder, and the first Imām after Muammad; son of the
fifth Imām, Muammad al-Bāqir, and great-grandson of ‘Alī ibn Abī ālib;
descended on his mother’s side from the first Caliph, Abū Bakr, who is con-
sidered a usurper by most Shi‘ites; father of Ismā‘īl, from whom began the
Ismā‘īlīyah gnostic movement.
Ja‘far was teacher to a circle of gifted students, including Abū anīfah
and Mālik ibn Anas, respective founders of the
anafīyah and Mālikīyah,
two of the four accepted schools of Islamic religious law, and also Wā il
ibn ‘Aā’, founder of the rationalist Mu‘tazilah school. The alchemist, Jābir
ibn ayyān (Geber), also credited Ja‘far with many of the original scien-
tific ideas for which Jābir himself became known. Ja‘far believed in limited
predestination in which God allowed human beings some freedom of choice
(a popular compromise), that a adīth should be rejected if it conflicted with
the Qur’ān, and that Muammad’s mission was a primordial ray of light,
created before Adam, manifested in Muammad, and passed on to Muam-
mad’s successors.
It is uncertain whether the Shi‘ite concept and nomination of the twelve
Imāms, as infallible religious leaders, really originated before the tenth
century. There is certainly no record of Ja‘far ever declaring himself as the
Imām after his father’s death. However, the Shi‘ites did believe that leader-
ship of Islām rightfully belonged to the descendants of ‘Alī. Consequently,
as the foremost Shi‘ite and possible claimant of the Caliphate, Ja‘far’s posi-
tion was watched, especially by the ‘Abbasids (descendants not of ‘Alī, but
of Abbās, one of Muammad’s uncles), who had ousted the Ummayads and
taken control of the Caliphate in the revolt of 749–750. Ja‘far was therefore
summoned to the new ‘Abbasid capital, Baghdad, by the Caliph, al-Man ūr
(ruled 754–775), where he could be watched. After convincing the ruler that
he posed no threat, he was permitted to return home. Baghdad, founded by
al-Man ūr as a more central city from which to rule, was built on the site of
a village of the same name. Growing rapidly, it soon became larger than
any European city, and the centre from which Islamic wealth and culture
spread throughout the Muslim world.

Jagat Singh, Sardār Bahādur (1884–1951) An Indian Saint (Sant); born in

the village of Nussī in the Punjab, not far from Beas; initiated when he was
26 years old by Mahārāj Sāwan Singh; taught at the Punjab Agricultural
College in Lyallpur, retiring in 1943 as Vice Principal; highly regarded by
his colleagues and fellow disciples for his spirituality and integrity. Follow-
ing retirement, he spent the remainder of his life in his Master’s service at
326 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Dera Baba Jaimal Singh. In 1948, hisletter

Masterone
appointed him his successor,
a position which he occupied for three years, during a time of great social
and political turmoil in India following independence from British rule and
the consequent partition.
A scientist and man of few words, he is known as the ‘perfect disciple’,
serving his Master with complete faith for 39 years before being appointed
Master. On his death, he was succeeded by Mahārāj Charan Singh. A compi-
lation of his discourses, and excerpts from his letters to seekers and disciples,
entitled The Science of the Soul, was published after his death.

Jagjīvan Sāhib (1682–1750) An Indian Saint (Sant); born in Sarhadā, district

Bārābankī, in Uttar Pradesh; a disciple of Bullā Sāhib who taught the path
of the Word; had his headquarters in the village of Kowa, Bārābankī; an
author whose works include Gyān Prakāsh (‘Light of Knowledge’), Mahā
Pralaya (‘Grand Dissolution’), Pratham Granth (‘The First Book’) and
Shabd Sāgar (‘Ocean of Shabd’).

Jaimal Singh, Bābā (1839–1903) An Indian Saint (Sant); born into an agricul-
tural family of Jat Sikhs, in Ghumān, in the Punjab; initiated by Swāmī
Shiv Dayāl Singh (1818–78) of Agra; joined the army, on the advice of his
Master, where he served for nearly 33 years, retiring in 1889; appointed by
his Master as a Guru, to teach in the Punjab. After retirement from military
service, Bābā Jaimal Singh chose a secluded place on the western bank of
the river Beas to pursue uninterrupted meditation. Soon seekers began to
visit him, laying the foundation for organized satsang (meetings with dis-
courses). During his lifetime, a well was dug, some basic accommodation
was built, and two small halls were constructed. Several months before his
death on December 29th 1903, he appointed Mahārāj Sāwan Singh as his
successor, the latter naming the nascent colony, Dera Baba Jaimal Singh,
in memory of his Master. Bābā Jaimal Singh’s letters to Mahārāj Sāwan
Singh, written between 1894 and 1903, have been published as the book,
Spiritual Letters, providing a unique insight into the formative years of a
future Master.

Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī See Rūmī, Jalāl al-Dīn.

James, The Epistle of A New Testament letter stated in its initial address to be
from “James, a servant of God”; generally attributed to James the brother
of Jesus, leader of the earliest Judaeo-Christian community in Jerusalem
(though not one of the twelve apostles), who was martyred by the Jews
around the year 62. The letter is written in Greek, with frequent Hebraisms,
by someone familiar with the Old Testament, and in a typically didactic Jew-
ish style. The language is so rich, however, that many scholars have found
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 327

it hard to accept that 3thejune 1931could have been a Galilean. On the other
writer
hand, Greek was the lingua franca of the day, spoken throughout Palestine,
and there is no reason why James (and Jesus, too) should not have spoken
Greek. Some people are also better natural linguists than others. The writer
could also have received help from someone more competent in the language.
However, the situation depicted in the letter reflects a state of ecclesiastical
organization presumed to have existed some time after the death of James.
There is therefore reason to believe that the letter is pseudo-epigraphic, or
from an altogether unknown James, probably written around the turn of the
first century.
The letter is addressed “to the twelve tribes of the Diaspora (Dispersion)”,
i.e. to Jewish immigrants settled outside Palestine. More a sermon than a
letter, its consists almost entirely of moral and ethical advice. The author is
thus presumed to have had no proselytizing intent, but to be writing to es-
tablished Christian communities. He counsels steadfastness in times of trial,
control of the tongue, making no distinction between rich and poor, dishar-
mony, and patience regarding the arrival of the Second Coming, which the
writer believed to be imminent. He points out that the source of temptation
is always within oneself, not God; he praises the poor and admonishes the
rich; he also insists that faith is nothing if not put into practice and, in a well-
known passage, criticizes those who preach doctrine without action (“Faith
without works is dead” 2:20, KJV).

Jāmī, Shaykh Nūr al-Dīn ‘Abd al-Ramān ibn Amad (1414–92) Born in
the town of Jām; often regarded as the last great Sufi Persian poet; a mem-
ber of the Naqshbandīyah order of Sufis; passed much of his life in Herāt;
received many offers of patronage from various rulers, most of which he
declined, preferring a quiet, contemplative and scholarly life to that of
court poet.
Jāmī’s works are characterized by freshness, vitality and clarity. His
prose works include Quranic commentaries, and treatises on Sufism and
music; his poetry deals with mystical, philosophical and ethical subjects.
His best-known books are the Bahāristān (‘Abode of Spring’); Lawā’i
(‘Flashes’), a concise exposition of Sufi doctrine concerning wadat al-
wujūd – unity of being – along with observations on the experiences of other
well known Sufis; Nafaāt al-Uns (lit. fragrant breaths of the intimate), a
biography of Sufi saints; and Haft Awrang (‘Seven Thrones’), a seven-part
collection that includes Yūsuf and Zulaykhā and Salāmān and Absāl, an
allegorical poem concerning the creation of man and his return to God.

janamsākhī (Pu) Lit. birth (janam) witness (sākhī); stories related in the Sikh
tradition concerning the birth and life of Guru Nānak (1469–1539). Although
a number of janamsākhīs are in circulation, they all stem from essentially
328 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter
four main traditions. Firstly, there are one Janamsākhīs (ancient
the Purātan
janamsākhī). Of these, two manuscripts are the most significant: the Cole-
brooke or Vilāyat Vālī Janamsākhī (the ‘overseas’ janamsākhī), originally
donated to the Library of East India House by H.T. Colebrooke in 1815 or
1816 and rediscovered in 1872 by the historian of Sikhism, Dr Trumpp,
while examining the Gurmukhī manuscripts at the India Office Library; and
the Hāfizābad Janamsākhī, found sometime around 1884 in Hāfizābad. The
text of these two janamsākhīs is very similar, with few divergences, and they
clearly share a common origin. Neither bears an explicit date, but the
Colebrooke Janamsākhī points to 1635 as the date of original composition.
Other indications also suggest the first half of the seventeenth century as
the date of composition. This is more than a hundred years after the death
of Guru Nānak.
A number of other janamsākhī manuscripts in the Purātan tradition have
subsequently been discovered. Of these, one acquired by the India Office
Library in 1907, numbered MSS. Pañjābī B40 in their catalogue, is the most
significant. After following the Hāfizābad manuscript in its early part, it
diverges, and very little of it subsequently corresponds to the Colebrooke
and Hāfizābad text. Interestingly, the stories are less elaborate, and seem to
represent an earlier stage in the janamsākhī tradition. Some of them consist
of little more than a verse from Guru Nānak with a brief narrative to pro-
vide a setting.
The second of the four main janamsākhī traditions is the Meharbān
janamsākhī, attributed to Sohī Meharbān (1581–1640), son of Prithī Chand
(1558–1619), the eldest son of Guru Rāmdās, who disputed the succession
of his younger brother, Guru Arjun, and developed a following of his own.
His group came to be known as the Mīās. Because the Mīās were under-
stood to have been inimical to the Gurus from the time of Guru Arjun, it
was generally assumed that this ill-feeling would have permeated the writ-
ings of Meharbān. In the absence of his janamsākhī, the prejudice persisted.
In 1940, however, a manuscript of half of the janamsākhī was discovered at
Damdamā. Contrary to popular belief, the content was entirely favourable
towards Guru Nānak. In fact, the narrative material is remarkably restrained,
and serves largely as the setting for expositions of the Guru’s teachings.
The complete work once consisted of six po hīs (books), of which only
the first book (Po hī Sach Kha) was attributed to Meharbān. Three of the
six books were contained in the manuscript discovered at Damdamā, but
only the Po hī Sach Kha contains biographical material concerning Guru
Nānak. The other two books are purely expositions of the Guru’s teachings,
as indeed were the final three, which have never been found. Po hī Sach
Kha is believed to have been written between 1640 and Meharbān’s death
in 1650. Like the Purātan texts, this is more than a hundred years after the
death of the Guru.
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 329

3 june 1931
The third of the janamsākhī traditions is the Bālā Janamsākhī, attributed
to Bhāī Bālā, a disciple of Guru Nānak. According to popular tradition, these
stories were dictated by Bhāī Bālā in the presence of the second Guru, Guru
Angad. Prior to the discovery of the two Purātan Janamsākhīs, the Bālā
Janamsākhī was the primary source of stories concerning Guru Nānak. Even
today, the popular janamsākhīs sold in bookstalls are based on the Bālā
tradition. However, the tradition contains many factual errors, and the legen-
dary elaboration of the stories far surpasses that of the other janamsākhīs.
Scholars readily dismiss the traditional story concerning its origins. So
where has it come from?
The original manuscript versions of the janamsākhīs are of help here, for
they contain numerous indications that they are the product of the Hiālīs,
a seventeenth-century breakaway group contemporary with the sixth Guru.
Whether the entire work was the product of the Hiālīs or whether the
Hiālīs overwrote an earlier janamsākhī is uncertain. The regular pub-
lished versions of the Bālā Janamsākhī makes no mention of the Hiālīs
because all such material has been purged by the publishers.
The last of the four janamsākhī traditions is the Gyān Ratanāvalī, attrib-
uted to Bhāī Manī Singh, a respected member of the Sikh community in the
time of the tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh (Guru, 1675–1708). According
to an account given at the start of the work, Bhāī Manī Singh was requested
by a number of disciples to prepare an authoritative account of the life of
Guru Nānak. He referred them to the Vārān of Bhāī Gurdās, but they re-
plied that they wanted an expanded version, presumably one that related to
the many sākhīs that were in circulation. It is supposed that Bhāī Manī Singh
consented, and that the work was approved by Guru Gobind Singh.
However, the surviving version of the Gyān Ratanāvalī is not the work
of Bhāī Manī Singh. It is a composite document, drawing on a number of
janamsākhī sources including the Bālā tradition, as well as Bhāī Manī
Singh’s original collection of sākhīs. As a source of historical information
concerning the life of Guru Nānak, it has much the same value as the other
janamsākhīs (GNS pp.15–24).

Jazā’irī, Shaykh Abū Bakr al- (1921–99) A twentieth-century Muslim, born

near al-Jazā’ir in Algeria; lost his father when he was less than a year old,
and raised by his mother; educated in his home town, and worked as a
teacher in al-Jazā’ir; left his native country in 1952, during the fight against
French colonialization; settled in Madīnah, in Saudia Arabia, where he
became a teacher in the Mosque of the Prophet, later joining al-Madīnah
University; aligned in thought to the eighteenth-century Wahabīyah and the
nineteenth-century Salafīyah reformist groups, both holding strictly orthodox
views; believed that Sufism was the reason why the Muslims lost their strug-
gle against European colonialism; author of a number of books, including
330 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Manhaj al-Muslim (‘Way of a Muslim’),letter‘Ayīdah

one Mu’min (‘Believer’s
Creed’), and the anti-Sufism book, ‘Illat-i Taawwuf yā ‘Ibādallāh (‘Run to
Sufism, O Servants of Allāh’). His teachings have been the centre of con-
siderable on-going controversy within Islam.

Jeremiah The biblical book of seventh-century Jeremiah, a major Israelite

prophet who prophesied the impending destruction of the kingdom of Israel
and the exile that followed, as expressions of divine punishment for sin,
emphasizing the need for repentance as a way to find God’s forgiveness and
love.

Jerome (c.347–420) Latin name, Eusebius Hieronymus; born into a wealthy

family at Stridon, in Dalmatia (now in Croatia), probably near modern
Ljubljana; educated at home during his early years, then in Rome from the
age of 12, studying grammar, rhetoric, philosophy and Latin literature;
baptized towards the end of his stay in Rome, around 366, possibly by Pope
Liberius (pope, 352–366); visited Treveris (now Trier, western Germany)
soon after, where he became interested in monasticism; returned to Stridon
around 369; went to Aquileia (in northeast Italy, on the Adriatic), where he
met Rufinus (who later translated Origen and others) and was part of an
ascetically oriented group; travelled East after the break up of the group
(c.373).
In 374, Jerome reached Antioch, the centre of Eastern Christianity, where
– travel-weary and inwardly troubled – he stayed with the mystically-
minded theologian, Evagrius (346–399). It was probably around this time
that he wrote his first-known work, De septies percussa (‘Concerning Seven
Beatings’). In Lent of 375, while very ill, he had an influential dream in
which he was dragged before a divine tribunal, accused of being a follower
of the first-century (BCE) Roman, Cicero, and severely whipped. For many
years, the dream prevented him from reading classical literature. As a result
of the dream, Jerome composed his first biblical commentary, an allegorical
interpretation of Obadiah, which two decades later he dismissed as the prod-
uct of ignorant and impassioned youth.
In 375, he began a two-year stretch as a hermit in the desert of Chalcis,
in quest of inner peace. Although claiming to be happy, he admits to being
racked by sexual desire, which he countered by fasting and constant prayer.
He also disliked desert food, which upset his stomach. Unable to speak the
Syriac and Greek of the country, and a novice in ascetic life with no experi-
enced guide, he kept up an active correspondence with friends. He also
learnt Hebrew from a Jewish convert, and studied Greek. He returned to
Antioch, after becoming involved a theological dispute.
Known by now as a monk and scholar of significance, Paulinus, Bishop
of Antioch, offered to ordain Jerome, who accepted on condition that his
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 331

3 junenot
monastic aspirations would 1931be compromised, and that he would not be
coerced into ecclesiastical duties. Jerome now entered on several years’
study of the scriptures, with such notables as Gregory of Nazianus (c.329–-
389, Bishop of Caesarea), at the same time improving his Greek. He also
visited the Judaeo-Christians (Nazarenes) of Beroea to see a copy of the
Gospel of the Hebrews, which they claimed to be the original gospel of
Matthew. During this period, he studied Origen (c.185–254), for whom he
developed a high regard, translating 14 of his sermons on the Old Testa-
ment into Latin. He also translated Eusebius’ History of the Church, carry-
ing it forward from 324 (where Eusebius had left it) to 378.
From 382–385, Jerome was in Rome as secretary to Pope Damasus. Here,
he continued both his literary work and his interest in monastic life. He trans-
lated more of Origen and, commissioned by Damasus, he also revised the
Old Latin translation of the gospels in the light of the best Greek manuscripts
at his disposal. Likewise, though less successfully, he revised the Old Latin
Psalter, based on Greek Septuagint manuscripts. At the same time, he be-
came spiritual director to a group of monastically minded Roman widows
and virgins, among whom were Paula and her two daughters.
However, his criticism of the Roman clergy, self-indulgent monks and
insincere virgins, together with his gospel corrections, aroused such a storm
of criticism that he left Rome (“Babylon”, he called it bitterly). Accompa-
nied by Paula and a group of virgins, he set out on a pilgrimage to Palestine
and the monastic centres of Egypt. In 386, he was in Bethlehem, where Paula
completed a monastery (under Jerome’s direction), a convent (under her
own), and a serai for pilgrims. Here Jerome lived, apart from brief trips, for
the next 34 years.
During this time, he continued his prodigious literary output, much of
which was in response to the various controversies of the day. He was caught
up in the anti-Origen bandwagon, turning against the work of the man he
had once admired. He quarrelled with Augustine, who had had the temerity
to criticize his biblical work. He wrote in support of a celibate clergy, and
of virginity in general rather than marriage. He continued his revision of
the Old Latin translation of the Old Testament, this time working from the
Hebrew, a task he completed around 405, his translation becoming known
as the Vulgate. He composed commentaries (often allegorical) on Old Testa-
ment texts and on four of Paul’s letters, and wrote a literal interpretation of
Matthew. He also maintained a vigorous and at times contentious corre-
spondence with various ecclesiastical notables, together with various monks
and virgins under his spiritual direction.
Jerome was a learned though temperamental scholar; a traditionalist re-
sponding to circumstances rather than an original thinker; a translator and
interpreter, not a creative writer. His influence has been far-reaching, not
only through the Vulgate, which became the everyday Latin Bible of the
332 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter one and his part in the trans-

Church, but also through his biblical commentaries
mission of Greek thought to the West.

See also: Rufinus.

Jesus Christ (c.6 BCE – 30 CE) Also called Jesus the Messiah, Jesus of Galilee
and Jesus of Nazareth; regarded as the founder of Christianity. The history
and teachings of Jesus are known entirely from Christian tradition and leg-
end. It seems that he was born of Jewish parents in Judaea, and that his
apparently short life passed almost unnoticed by the majority of his con-
temporaries. He wrote not one word that has survived, and none of the
stories concerning him can be traced to him with any degree of certainty.
The accounts in the Christian gospels – from which all that is known about
him is derived – are conflicting, at variance with the known history of the
period, and reflect the beliefs of later Christians. He is mentioned very
briefly by the Jewish historian, Josephus (c.37–100), by the Roman governor
of Bithynia, Pliny the Younger (c.62–113), and the Roman historians,
Suetonius (c.75–150) and Tacitus (c.55–120), none of whom have anything
more to say about him than passing comments based on current popular
traditions.

See also: Christianity (1.5).

Jewish Prayer Book A collection of hymns written over the centuries, together
with biblical selections, collated into a specific order for weekdays, Sab-
baths and festivals, with specific liturgies for morning, afternoon and
evening prayers.

Jīlānī, ‘Abd al-Qādir al- (c.1077–1166) A Persian Sufi from Nayf (Nīf), in the
region of Jīlān, south of the Caspian Sea; credited with founding the
Qādirīyah order of Sufis; studied Islamic law in Baghdad; came to Sufism
somewhat late in life; first appeared as a teacher in 1127, reconciling Sufi
mystical doctrines with orthodox Islam, and attracting a large number of
followers from throughout the Muslim world, including many Christians
and Jews; became known as the qu b (spiritual axis or Saint) of his time;
taught submission to God, and that the true holy war (jihād) is to be waged
against one’s own egotism and worldliness; the subject of many apocryphal
stories concerning his holiness, and still regarded by some as an intercessor
with the Divine; died and is buried in Baghdad, where his tomb is still vener-
ated. Two collections of his discourses are extant, both well-known to Islamic
readers: al-Fat al-Rabbānī (‘Divine Revelation’) and al-Futū al-Ghayb
(‘Revelations of the Unseen’).
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 333

Jīlī, ‘Abd al-Karīm Qu b 3 june 1931

al-Dīn ibn Ibrāhīm al- (c.1365–1428) A Sufi of
whom little is known; a descendant of ‘Abd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī, founder of
the Qādirīyah order of Sufis; relates that he had travelled to India (probably
in 1387) before living in Zabīd in Yemen (possibly around 1393–1403) with
his Shaykh, Sharaf al-Dīn Ismā‘īl ibn Ibrāhīm al-Jabartī; author of more than
30 works, of which the best known is al-Insān al-Kāmil fī Ma‘rifat al-
Awākhir wa-al-Awā’il (‘The Perfect Man in Knowledge of the Last and First
Things’), an exposition of the manifestations of absolute Being as Essence,
Names, Attributes and Divinity, and of corresponding spiritual stages on
the path of union. He taught that the great prophets, from Adam to Muam-
mad, had all been ‘perfect men’, and had attained oneness with the divine
Being. An adherent of Ibn ‘Arabī, al-Jīlī also wrote a commentary on Ibn
‘Arabī’s Futūāt (‘Revelations’). His writings express the teachings of Ibn
‘Arabī in a systematic and a unique manner.

Job One of the later books included in the biblical canon; possibly written in
the early fifth century BCE; set in the form of a poetic dialogue concerning
Job, a rich, happy and righteous man whom God permits Satan to test,
putting Job through a series of catastrophes. Divine justice, suffering and
piety are the subjects of the discussion between Job and several characters,
who are the personifications of doubt. Job maintains his faith in God de-
spite all adversity, and ultimately his faith is vindicated.

Joel The biblical book of the prophet, Joel, the second of the twelve ‘minor
prophets’; a short book in two distinct parts, one prophesying a plague of
locusts, the other the Day of Yahweh, from both of which repentance and
prayer are proposed as the means of deliverance; difficult to date because it
contains no biographical or other information from which to establish a date,
and because Joel is not mentioned in any other biblical books; probably
written around 400 BCE. Echoes of Joel are present in Amos and Malachi,
but there is nothing to link them directly to Joel.

John Fire Lame Deer (1903–76) A chief of the Mnikowoju tribe, and a Lakota
(Sioux) holy man from the Rosebud Reservation, South Dakota; the father
of Archie Fire Lame Deer.

See Some Recent Native Americans (1.14).

John, Gospel According to St The New Testament gospel attributed to the

apostle John, the “beloved disciple” of Jesus, though who the author really
was is a matter of debate.

See John’s Gospel (1.5).

334 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

John of the Cross (1542–91) Original name,letter

Juanone
de Yepes y Alvarez; born in
Fontiveros, near Ávila, in Spain; lost his father in 1543, while still a baby;
as a child, moved to Arévalo, and then to Medina del Campo; educated in
Medina at the Colegio de los Niños de la Doctrina and the College of the
Society of Jesus; joined the Carmelite order at Medina del Campo in 1563;
took a three-year course in Arts at the University of Salamanca, graduating
in 1565; ordained as a priest in 1567, returning to the University for a one-
year course in theology.
In 1567, John first met Teresa of Ávila. He was thinking of joining the
Carthusian order, and Teresa asked him to join her Discalced (barefoot)
Carmelite reform movement, whose ideals were to restore the original
Carmelite austerity. The first Discalced Carmelite monastery was opened
in 1569. Between 1568 and 1574, he lived in a number of Discalced
Carmelite communities, acting variously as rector, confessor and adviser.
Feelings ran high among the Calced Carmelites concerning the reform
movement, and in 1576, John was kidnapped by them, and imprisoned in
their priory in Medina del Campo. It is said that the morning after his cap-
ture, he managed to escape. Returning to his monastery, he barely had
enough time to destroy some important papers (some by swallowing), prob-
ably regarding the infant reform movement, before recapture. Later, he was
freed by the intervention of a high papal official.
In 1577, he was again kidnapped, this time being imprisoned at the
Calced priory in Toledo. Here, his jailer was a kindly man, doing what he
could to reduce his prisoner’s sufferings. During this period, he composed
some stanzas of The Spiritual Canticle, and possibly The Dark Night of the
Soul, and other works. The following year, managing to escape to the
Carmelite convent in Toledo, he eventually reached home with the escort
of the Canon of Toledo.
From then until the end of his life, John remained active in the reformed
Carmelite movement, founding and visiting various monasteries and con-
vents, and (in 1579) founding a reform college at Baeza. From 1582–88, he
was based in Granada. From 1585–87, he was Vicar Provincial of Andalu-
sia (southwest Spain). He still had his opponents, however, even within the
movement, and in June 1591, the Chapter-General in Madrid relieved John
of all his positions, intending to send him to Mexico, a decision which was
later revoked. In September of that year, John contracted a high fever while
staying at La Peñuela. He moved to Ubeda, where he died in December of
the same year. He was beatified in 1675, and canonized in 1726.
John of the Cross is regarded as one of the finest Spanish writers in Chris-
tian mysticism. His poems, The Dark Night of the Soul, Spiritual Canticle
and The Living Flame of Love (the latter written around 1585, in 15 days, at
the request of a certain Doña Ana de Peñalosa), together with his commen-
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 335

taries on them, depict3the

june 1931spiritual ascent and love of God. Much of
soul’s
his work was written in response to the demands of his flock. His stay in
Granada was an especially productive period, during which time he com-
pleted The Ascent of Mount Carmel, and wrote his other prose treatises.

Joseph and Aseneth An apocryphal legend, stemming from early Christian

times, possibly as early as the first century, almost certainly written in Greek
by someone with a Jewish and Christian background; takes, as its theme,
the betrothal and marriage of Joseph – portrayed as a man of the Spirit and
a Son of God – to Aseneth, daughter of Pentephres, priest of Heliopolis; a
symbolic story, containing many elements that convey a primarily gnostic
message; a legend elaborated from a passing comment in Genesis (41:46).
The earliest known manuscript is a Syriac translation, dated no later than
569, where it is preceded by a letter addressed to a certain Moses of Ingila.
The writer of the letter says that he found the text in a very old Greek book,
and asks for a translation and interpretation of the story which he clearly
considers to be an allegory. Only a part of Moses’ answer is preserved, but
from this it seems that Moses of Ingila understood the text to describe the
union of the soul (symbolized as Aseneth) with the divine Logos or Word
of God (represented by Joseph).

Josephus, Flavius (c.37–100 CE) Original name, Joseph ben Matthias; born into
an aristocratic priestly family in Jerusalem; showed early signs of a schol-
arly future, acquiring an early knowledge of Jewish law; at 16, began a
retreat of three years in the desert with the hermit Bannus, a Jewish ascetic;
returned to Jerusalem and joined the Pharisees; was sent to Rome in 64 CE
(where he was much impressed with Roman culture, organization and mili-
tary strength) to obtain the release of some Jewish priests, a mission accom-
plished with the help of Nero’s second wife, Poppaea Sabina.
Though in favour of compromise with the Romans, Josephus was ap-
pointed military commander of Galilee in the unsuccessful Jewish revolt of
66–70. Ultimately, he surrendered and was held captive, but escaped ex-
ecution by ‘prophesying’, when in chains before Vespasian (the Roman
general in command of quelling the uprising) that the general would be the
next emperor. Released in 69, when his prediction came true, he adopted
Vespasian’s family name of Flavius, and returned to Rome with his protec-
tor. In 70, during the siege of Jerusalem, Josephus tried to mediate, but hated
by the Jews as a turncoat and distrusted by the Romans as a Jew, he was
ineffective. After the sack of Jerusalem in 70, he returned to Rome, where
he passed the remainder of his life in literary pursuits under imperial patron-
age. Josephus was granted Roman citizenship, received a Roman pension
in addition to a tax-free income from his Judaean estate, and married his
336 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

fourth wife, an heiress from Crete. letter

His firstone
wife had died in the Jewish
revolt; his second deserted him in Judaea; and he divorced the third whom
he had married soon after his arrival in Rome.
In his first work, Jewish Wars, written in Aramaic and translated with
assistance into excellent Greek, he stresses the futility of armed resistance
to the invincible might of Rome. In Antiquities of the Jews, he presents
Judaism to the Hellenistic world, describing Jewish history and customs
from the creation to 66 CE. His other works are largely in support of Judaism
against Hellenistic writers, as well as personal explanations of his actions
during the Jewish rebellion. Despite the patronage and no doubt necessary
protection afforded him by the Romans, Josephus remained committed to
his Jewish faith.

Joshua A historical book of the Bible, relating the story of the Israelites after
the death of Moses, and their entry into the promised land of Canaan under
the leadership of Joshua (c.1240 BCE), the spiritual and political successor
of Moses; recounts Joshua’s battles and conquests, the division of the prom-
ised land among the twelve tribes, and the people’s covenant to God to al-
ways be faithful to Him.

Judah ben Barzillai Also known as ha-Nasi and al-Bargeloni; a late-eleventh-

and early-twelfth-century rabbi of Barcelona; an important authority on
Jewish halakhah (law). He wrote on topics such as the Sabbath and Jewish
festivals, civil law, marriage and personal law. Like many others, he also
wrote a commentary on the early mystical text, the Sefer Ye
irah (‘Book of
Formation’). His works were influential, and were much used and quoted
until the sixteenth century, after which other legal codes gained favour,
largely because of Judah ben Barzillai’s wide range and excessive wordiness.

Judges More correctly, ‘Chieftains’; a historical book of the Bible, written

around 1200–1000 BCE, relating the continuous infighting among the Isra-
elites following the death of Joshua, their intermarriage among people of
the surrounding nations, their worship of idols and pagan gods, and their
engaging in various base practices. God then sends the ‘chieftains’, who
embody the Spirit of God, and the people rediscover the pure worship of
God, subsequently reverting once again to forgetfulness of their covenant
with Him; includes the stories of Deborah, and Samson and Delilah.

Junayd, Abū al-Qāsim ibn Muammad al- (d.910) An early Sufi of whose
life, little is known; born and raised in Baghdad, where he earned his living
as a merchant; initiated into Sufism by his uncle, Sarī al-Saqaī; taught
his disciples to live a family life while pursuing the mystic path; regarded
as the founder, together with al-Muāsibī (d.857), of the path of aw
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 337

3 june
(sobriety), and the most 1931 of the early Sufis; quoted by later Sufis
renowned
to such an extent that he became known by several epithets, including Sul ān
al-‘Ārifīn (king of mystics) and Shaykh al-Mashā’ikh (Master of Masters);
spoke of recognizing God, the one and only Doer, as He was before crea-
tion; author of a number of treatises, including Kitāb al-Fanā’ (‘Book of
Annihilation’), Kitāb al-Tawīd (‘Book on Unification’) and Kitāb Dawā’
al-Arwā (‘Book on the Remedy for Souls’); the Shaykh of Shaykh Shiblī,
another well-known Sufi. Of Junayd’s works, only his treatises and a series
of letters have survived. He is not thought to have written any extensive
exposition of his teachings, but they are reported in the al-Luma‘ fī al-
Taawwuf (‘Light on Sufism’) of al-Sarrāj (d.988).

Jurjānī, Alī ibn Muammad al-Sayyid al-Sharīf al- (c.1339–1413) Born at

Jurjān or Tājū near Astarābād in the Caspian province of Iran; studied at
Herāt under Muammad al-Fanārī in Qaramān, travelling with him on a visit
to Egypt, where he continued his studies; visited Constantinople in 1374;
returned in 1377, and received a teaching post in Shīrāz. A decade later, in
1387, Shīrāz was taken by the Mongol conqueror, Tīmūr (Tamerlane).
Jurjānī had by then become well known as a teacher and scholar, and he
was taken to Tīmūr’s capital, Samarkand, in Transoxania (now roughly
Uzbekistan). On Tīmūr’s death in 1405, he returned to Shīrāz, where he
passed the remainder of his life.
Jurjānī was a writer on Islamic religious studies, as well as philosophy,
science, astronomy, mathematics, logic, grammar, syntax, debate and
rhetoric. Brockelmann enumerates 31 of his works, all of which are in Ara-
bic. Rieu’s Persian catalogue mentions three Persian works and an Arabic
grammar. Jurjānī is known largely because of his Kitāb al-Ta‘rīfāt (‘Book
of Definitions’), a treatise on Sufi technical terms.

Justin Martyr (d.c.165) Born, probably sometime between 100–115 CE, at Flavia
Neapolis (now Nabulus), in Palestine, where he was raised; writes that he is
the “son of Priscus and grandson of Bacchius, natives of Flavia Neapolis”,
probably of Roman origin; a Greek-speaking pagan; educated in Platonic,
Stoic, Cynic and other Greek philosophies before adopting Christianity,
perhaps around 132, possibly at Ephesus in Asia Minor (near modern Selçuk,
Turkey); began the life of a wandering ‘missionary’ not long after 135, in-
tending to convert educated pagans; settled in Rome where he lived for some
years; denounced to the Romans as subversive after debates with the Cynics,
and martyred; one of the most important of the early Christian fathers.
The significance of Justin Martyr is that he is the first known Christian
to have justified Christianity by reference to Greek philosophy. He believed
that the essence of both Platonism and Christianity is the same transcendent
God. The divine Logos (Reason, Intelligence, Word), well known to the
338 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Greek philosophers, was (he believed) letter one

only partially revealed to them, but
was fully revealed in Jesus as the incarnation of the Logos. Jesus therefore
came to teach the whole Truth, and to deliver men from the power of
“wicked demons”. It is because the Logos is also the essence of man’s being
that not only can man understand the essential nature of creation, but he also
has an affinity with the Divine, possessing the freedom to choose between
good and evil. Justin Martyr thus laid the foundations of a Christian theol-
ogy, based on Greek philosophy, an approach which was built upon by the
later fathers.
Justin’s extant works include two Apologies for Christianity, addressed
to the Romans. In his First Apology, he points out that Christians are not
atheistic and that they pose no threat to the Roman Empire, going on to out-
line his philosophy, and ending with an objective description of the early
Christian Eucharist and baptism rituals (which had been portrayed in lurid
terms by Christian detractors). In his Second Apology, he argues that the
Roman Christians are being unfairly treated.
In his Dialogue with the Jew Trypho, he maintains that Jesus is the Jewish
Messiah, foretold by the prophets. He is the fulfilment of the old covenant,
now superseded by a new covenant. Jesus is the incarnation of the Logos,
through whom God revealed Himself in the Jewish scriptures. The Jews
were once the chosen people of God, but now it is the turn of the Gentiles.
The argument is more or less the same as the one he uses concerning Greek
philosophy, but set in a Jewish context. The two streams meet and merge in
Christianity. Of interest is his belief that the course of history is divinely
charted for the purpose of human salvation, reaching its fulfilment in the
ministry of Jesus.
Interestingly, Justin refers to the first three gospels, omitting John’s
gospel, which is based on the doctrine of the Logos. He also quotes from
and paraphrases Paul’s letters, and is the first known author to quote from
the Acts of the Apostles.

Kabīr (c.1398–1518) One of the best-known Indian Saints (Sants); a Muslim

by birth, and a weaver by profession; lived in the Hindu stronghold of
Vārāasī; linked with the Hindu ascetic, Rāmānand, although the nature of
the association is uncertain; a contemporary of the other Indian Sants, Guru
Nānak and Guru Ravidās.
Details of Kabīr’s life are unknown. No one is sure of where or when he
was born, where or when he died, whether or not he was married or had
children, and so on. Legends, often miraculous, surround his birth, life and
death, and both Hindus and Muslims claim him as their own. One legend
accords Kabīr a virgin birth. His mother is said to have become pregnant
after visiting a Hindu shrine, but since she was unmarried, she abandoned
the baby, who was raised by a Muslim weaver.
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 339

3 june 1931
Kabīr taught the existence of one God to be reached through the practice
of His Name (Nām), the central importance of the Guru, the reality of trans-
migration and the law of karma, and the equality of all human beings in the
eyes of God, regardless of their caste or beliefs. His outspoken attacks on
the priestly classes of both Hindus and Muslims outraged them, but reawak-
ened popular interest in the spiritual life. His poetry, written in a vernacular
Hindi with little regard to grammar or literary elegance, appeals to the com-
mon man, and is notable for its pithy and often amusing condemnation of
the follies and external observances of Hindus and Muslims alike. His in-
tention was to get through to a people heavily bogged down in caste, ritual,
idolatry and superstition, and believing in asceticism as the path to God. To
further emphasize his point – according to legend – when the time came for
him to die, he went to Magahar, because it was believed that anyone who
died there would be reborn as a donkey.
A selection of his poems is included in the Ādi Granth, and his writings
are still widely quoted in daily life throughout India, having become a part
of folk music and culture. A number of groups have formed around his
teachings, of which the largest are the Kabīrpanthīs.

Kaivalya Upanishad (S) Belongs, according to the Muktikā Upanishad, to the

Yajur Veda; other authorities say it belongs to the Atharva Veda; kaivalya
means liberation, beatitude, absolute unity, detachment; a short text, set as
the reply by Brahmā to Āshvalāyana’s request to be taught the science of
the highest Reality. Āshvalāyana was the founder of a Vedic school, a
teacher of the ig Veda.

See also: Upanishads.

Ka ha Upanishad (S) Possibly derived from the name of the sage, Kaha, asso-
ciated with the Yajur Veda; generally said to belong to the Atharva Veda,
but by others to the Yajur or Sāma Vedas; one of the most readable, and
most sublime of the Upanishads, held in great esteem by the Vedānta school
of Indian philosophy; addresses the subject of Brahman by means of an
illustrative story concerning a young man, Nachiketas, who visits Yama, the
lord of death. Because Yama is away when Nachiketas calls, he offers the
young man three boons to compensate for his lack of hospitality. Nachiketas’
third boon is a request to know the nature of the ātman (self, soul), the
answer to which takes up the bulk of the text.

See also: Upanishads.

Kaula Jñāna Niraya (S) Lit. ascertainment (niraya) of Kaula knowledge

(jñāna), the Kaulas being a Tantric group; a mid-eleventh-century (CE)
340 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letterMatsyendra;
Tantric work ascribed to the yoga teacher, one the oldest-known
source concerning the doctrine of the Kaulas.

Kena Upanishad (S) Belonging to the Sāma Veda, the name of this short
Upanishad is taken from the first word kena (by whom) of the opening verse
in which a disciple asks “by whose” power the mind, the prāa (subtle life
energy), the power of speech, the eyes and ears operate; addresses the sub-
jects of the ātman (self, soul) and Brahman.

See also: Upanishads.

Kephalaia of the Teacher Literally, kephalaia means ‘of the head’, i.e. head-
lines, summaries, topics; a Coptic text, being a translation of Syriac mate-
rial; part of the Medinet Madi cache of manuscripts found in Egypt around
1930; presents Manichaean teachings using the literary device of Mānī’s
replies to various questions, much of the text being consequently attributed
to Mānī (c.216–276) himself; contains both Manichaean teachings, espe-
cially concerning Manichaean cosmogony, and a spiritual autobiography
of Mānī.

See also: Mānī and the Manichaeans (1.8).

Kharaqānī, Abū al-asan ‘Alī al- (c.960–1033) A Persian Sufi; an illiterate

peasant from Kharaqān, a village in the mountains to the north of Bisām,
in the province of Qūmis; claimed to be the spiritual heir of al-Bisāmī
(d.c.875) through al-Bisāmī’s spiritual essence (rūānīyat), despite the
century between them. According to the legend, al-Bisāmī is said to have
heralded Kharaqānī’s ministry, initiating him in a dream after Kharaqānī
had made a series of miraculous nightly visits to al-Bisāmī’s tomb in
Bisām. A spiritual relationship of this kind, in which the normal require-
ments of personal contact are absent is commonly designated an Uwaysī
relationship, referring to the spiritual relationship between Muammad and
Uways al-Qaranī.
The sayings of Kharaqānī were collected by one of his followers in the
Kitāb Nūr al-‘Ulūm (‘Book of Light on the Spiritual Sciences’). In Hujwīrī’s,
Kashf al-Majūb, Kharaqānī is quoted as saying, “There are two ways, one
wrong and one right. The wrong way is man’s way to God, and the right
way is God’s way to man. Whoever says he has attained to God has not
attained; but when anyone says that he has been made to attain to God, know
that he has really attained” (KM p.163). Kharaqānī is also mentioned in
‘Aār’s Tadhkirat al-Awliyā’ (‘Memoirs of the Saints’). Among his disciples
was An ārī of Herāt.
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 341

3 june 1931 (ki

ur) of the Shelah, an acronym (She-

Kiur Shelah (He) Lit. abridgement
La-H) of Shenai Lu ot ha-Brit (‘Two Tablets of the Covenant’) by Isaiah
ben Abraham ha-Levi Horowitz (1565–1630), a rabbi and Kabbalist of Po-
land; a lengthy and comprehensive work combining Jewish law, essays and
Kabbalistic insights aimed at pointing the way towards an ethical life. An
abridgement of the Shelah was made by Rabbi Yehi’el Mikhal ben Abraham
ha-Levi Epstein (d.1706) in Germany, in order to educate Jews living in
remote isolated villages. Epstein not only abridged Horowitz’s original
work, but added additional material and a section on the reform of Jewish
education. In 1720, the Ki

ur Shelah was translated into Yiddish under the
title ‘E

ayyim (‘Tree of Life’), of which numerous editions have been
published.

Kisha One of the most widely revered of the Hindu gods, regarded as an
incarnation of Vishu, and the subject of many devotional works.

See Kisha (4.2).

Kubrá, Najm al-Dīn (c.1145–1220) Born in Central Asia; original name, Abū
al-Jannāb Amad ibn ‘Umar Najm al-Dīn; given the title of al-āmma al-
Kubrá, meaning ‘the greatest affliction’ or ‘the major disaster’, a nickname
earned from his talent for polemic dispute; founder of the Kubrāwīyah order
of Sufis; travelled widely, eventually returning to Central Asia where he was
killed during the Mughul invasion; seventh in the line of succession from
al-Junayd; wrote extensive Arabic commentaries on the Qur’ān, mystical
treatises on the 10 stages for novices, and his most significant work, Fawā’i
al-Jamāl wa Fawāti al-Jalāl (‘Fragrant Breaths of Beauty and the Ap-
proaches of Majesty’), in which he describes the visions and ecstasy that a
mystic may experience.

K’ǔng Fū Tzu (Kǒng Fū Zi) See Confucius.

Lactantius, Lucius Caecilius Firmianus (c.240–320) Born somewhere in

North Africa; appointed teacher of rhetoric at Nicomedia (now Izmit, in
northwest Turkey) by the Roman emperor, Diocletian (ruled 284–305);
resigned after Diocletian began persecuting Christians in 303; around 317,
appointed tutor to Crispus son of the Emperor Constantine (who had converted
to Christianity), at Augusta Treverorum, now Trier, in western Germany,
where he died.
Remembered as the author of the first Latin account of Christian prin-
ciples. In his primary work, Divinae institutiones (‘Divine Institutes’ or
‘Divine Precepts’), he refutes early-fourth-century attacks on Christianity,
arguing for the superiority of Christian monotheism over the superstitions
342 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

of pagan ritualism. In On the Death letter one he maintains that un-

of Persecutors,
like the remote God of the Stoics, the Christian God takes an active part in
historical events, intervening on the side of justice. Lactantius therefore
proposed that the Christian ideal of universal brotherhood in one divine
Father is a better basis for human justice than the Roman concept of aequitas
(equity). The most-published of the early Latin fathers, Lactantius was more
of a moralist than a theologian.

Lāhījī, Shams al-Dīn Muammad ibn Yayá (d.1506) A Sufi, poet and theo-
logian from Lāhījān in the Caspian region of Persia, during the Timurid-
Safavid period; a well-known early Shaykh of the Nūrbakhshīyah Sufi order
in Shīrāz, spending 16 years under the spiritual guidance of Sayyid Muam-
mad Nūrbakhsh, before founding a khānaqāh (monastery for Sufis) after
the death of Nūrbakhsh in 1464. Lāhījī’s works include a Dīvān (collected
poems); a didactic maśnavī, Asrār al-Shuhūd (‘Secrets of Manifestation’);
Mafāti al-I‘jāz (‘Keys of Wonder’); and an extensive commentary (shar)
on the well-known Gulshan-i Rāz (‘Rose Garden of Mystery’) of Mamūd-
i Shabistarī.

Lamentations One of the five scrolls of the biblical Writings (Hagiographa);

known in Hebrew as Eikhah, meaning ‘How’ (could it have happened that
…); a poignant lament over the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity
of its people, presumably by the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar in 586
BCE. The philosophical foundation of the book is the quest for the mean-
ing of suffering; the author or (possibly) authors suggest that suffering can
be positive and instructive, having a purpose in the divine plan; uses a
‘proverbs’ style in many places, having significant similarities to biblical
Wisdom literature. The traditional ascription of the work to the seventh-
century (BCE) prophet, Jeremiah, who lived before Nebuchadnezzar’s sack
of Jerusalem, seems unlikely.

Lǎo Tzu (Lao Zi) (c.604–531 BCE) Probably the best-known and most revered
figure of Taoism, believed to have been born around 600 BCE.

See Taoism (1.14).

Legends of the Jews A work by Louis Ginzberg (1873–1953), in 7 volumes

(1909–38); a synthesis of legends, maxims and parables taken from the
entire midrashic literature, and moulded into a continuous narrative of the
lives of the major biblical personalities. While exploring the origins of
aggadah (rabbinic narrative and legend), Ginzberg researched many non-
canonical and early Christian sources for lost legends of Jewish origin,
which he collected together in these volumes.
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 343

3 june A1931
Leonard Crow Dog (b.1942) twentieth-century Lakota (Sioux) Native
American; son of Henry Crow Dog; the fourth generation to carry the
Crow Dog name, claiming that he can trace his Crow Dog ancestry for nine
generations.

See Some Recent Native Americans (1.14).

Leviticus See Pentateuch.

Lièh Tzu (Liè Zi) A Taoist philosopher, frequently mentioned in the Chuāng
Tzu, of uncertain date. Little is known about Lièh Tzu except the book that
bears his name, the Book of Lièh Tzu or simply the Lièh Tzu. Like Lǎo Tzu,
there is some doubt as to his actual existence. Lièh Tzu’s teachings, like
Chuāng Tzu’s, use parables, ancient folk tales and myths to elaborate the
short, often cryptic passages of Lǎo Tzu’s Tào Té Chīng.

Longinus, Cassius (c.213–273 CE) A Greek rhetorician and philosopher; taught

rhetoric at Athens, the Neo-Platonist, Porphyry, being one of his pupils;
later, a counsellor to Queen Zenobia of Palmyra, in central Syria, but handed
over to the Romans for execution as a traitor on the failure of the anti-Roman
policy he advocated; also attended the lectures of the philosopher-mystic,
Ammonius Saccas. A man of great learning, Longinus was described by
Porphyry as the “first among critics”; by the Greek rhetorician and historian,
Eunapius (c.345–420), as “a living library and a walking encyclopaedia”;
and by Plotinus as “a scholar, but not a philosopher”. He is said to have been
a prolific writer, though only fragments of his writings have survived. He
has sometimes been confused with the first-century (CE) Dionysius Longinus,
author of On the Sublime, a Greek treatise on literary criticism.

Luis de León (1527–91) Born at Belmonte, in Cuenca Province, in east central

Spain; a brilliant monk, mystic and poet; joined the Augustines around 1543;
educated largely at the University of Salamanca, studying theology, where
he was appointed professor of theology in 1561; denounced to the Inquisi-
tion by rival academics (Dominicans) in which a number of issues were
raised, including the fact that his great-grandmother had been Jewish, but
especially his translation of the Song of Solomon from Hebrew into Spanish,
together with commentary, in which he criticized the Latin translation of
the Vulgate; arrested in 1572, spending four or five years in gaol in Valladolid,
vigorously defending himself before being acquitted, with cautions and
reprimands, in 1576; given a new professorship at the University, where he
is reputed to have begun his opening lecture with the words, “As we were
saying yesterday, …”; continued various bitter rivalries with academic
colleagues, not only Dominicans; survived an unsuccessful second denun-
344 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

ciation in 1582, receiving the customary letter oneThroughout his academic

caution.
career, Luis maintained an ascetic discipline of fasts, all-night vigils and
other austerities, writing of life in the body as “this dark, low prison-house”.
He died in 1591 at Madrigal de las Altas.
Knowledgeable in Hebrew, Greek, Latin and Italian, as well as his native
Spanish, Luis’ written works are a major contribution to Spanish Renais-
sance literature. He was a vigorous defender of his own vernacular tongue
against Latin, often using it in his writings when others would have used
Latin. His works encompass translations and commentaries of biblical texts,
including the Song of Solomon, the Book of Job, and some of the psalms;
various theological treatises, including De los nombres de Cristo (‘On the
Names of Christ’) (1583–85), described as his prose masterpiece, full of
lyrical imagery concerning the many epithets used for Christ, such as the
Shepherd, King, Beloved, Son of God and so on; a collection of lyric poetry,
regarded by many as comparable in quality to that of John of the Cross; and
La perfecta casada (The Perfect Married Woman, 1583), a commentary in
Spanish on Proverbs 31 (an acrostic that begins “The perfect wife – who
can find her?”), which reflects medieval attitudes towards women, and con-
tains entertaining glimpses of feminine customs of the period.

Luke, Gospel According to St The New Testament gospel attributed to Luke;

addressed in its opening verses to “most excellent Theophilus”, though
who he was or whether he was a literary invention is unknown. Although
ascribed from at least the late second century (in the Muratorian Canon)
to Luke the physician, the companion of Paul mentioned in Paul’s letters,
there is no reliable historical record of who really wrote this gospel.
Moreover, the gospel is not markedly Pauline in content. Like Mark and
Matthew, the message is eschatological, as are Paul’s letters, but there are
also some differences between Luke and Paul’s versions of the Second
Coming. The destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem (70 CE) is mentioned
in a prophecy concerning the Second Coming (21:5–6, 20), and a suggested
date of authorship of around 80 CE is commonly accepted. It is generally
presumed to have been written by a non-Jew, living outside Palestine, be-
cause (like Mark) the author’s knowledge of Palestinian geography is some-
times inaccurate.
Luke’s gospel is comprised of about 30 percent Mark (about half of
Mark), 20 percent Q (the source of Jesus’ sayings common to Matthew and
Luke), and 50 percent from unique sources. The unique material includes
parables such as the good Samaritan, the prodigal son, the lost coin, and the
rich fool; the nativity and infancy stories concerning John the Baptist and
Jesus; additions to the passion, crucifixion and resurrection narratives; and
the story of the ascension, which only occurs in this gospel. Luke also in-
cludes three otherwise unknown psalms, the Magnificat, the Benedictus
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 345

and the Nunc Dimittis, 3 june

which1931
are similar in style to the biblical psalms or
the Thanksgiving Hymns from the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Though somewhat hampered by the style of his sources, the Greek of
Luke’s own writing is excellent, often consciously mirroring the Septuagint
(the Greek translation of the Old Testament). Frequently, he improves
Mark’s rough Greek, or makes various minor adjustments for one reason or
another. Things that might cause offence are toned down or omitted, such
as the injunction in Mark to cut off your hand or pluck out your eye if they
become the source of temptation (Mark 9:43–48). Some scholars have main-
tained that Luke was writing, at least in part, for the attention of the Roman
authorities, to present Christianity as a harmless faith, and thus to prevent
or stop persecution. Whether this is correct is uncertain. It is true, however,
that Luke’s editorial process involves removing or softening incidents that
may be construed as a cause of civil disturbance. A discourse common to
Matthew and Luke, for instance, in which Jesus berates the Pharisees, is
greatly softened and truncated in Luke (Luke 11:37ff., Matthew 23:1ff.).
Luke’s viewpoint also presumes a divine purpose in the unfolding of history,
depicting the Church as the instrument of salvation in the period between
Christ’s ministry and the Second Coming. Although his narrative sources
are largely legendary, his gospel is written as a history, something which
becomes even clearer in the second part of his work, the Acts of the Apostles.

See also: Acts of the Apostles, Jesus’ Teaching in the Gospels (1.5), The
Synoptic Gospels (1.5).

Madhva (c.1197–1276) Also called Madhvāchārya; born into a brāhma family,

at Rajatapīha (probably modern Kalyāpur), near Uipi, Karnataka, in
India; initiated by Achyutapreksha (whom Madhva is said to have ultimately
converted to his own doctrines), and received the name Pūraprājña and,
later, Ānandatīrtha; one of the principal āchāryas or exponents of Vedānta,
holding the view that the self and God are two different entities; his school
is thus called dualistic or Dvaita Vedānta; his followers are known as
Mādhvas.
Madhva travelled extensively, first in South India, where he established
himself as the leader of a new faith, and then in North India. In support of
his doctrines, he debated vigorously with exponents of other Indian philos-
ophies, especially the followers of Shankara’s non-dualist school, Advaita
Vedānta. There was a well-known Shankarite ma ha (monastery) at Sh in-
geri, 40 miles west of Uipi, which he visited, engaging the monks in heated
discussion.
Shankara (c.788–820) took the traditional Indian view that only Brah-
man, the divine Absolute, is real; the material world and the ego or indi-
vidual self are an illusion (māyā). Madhva maintained that because things
346 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

are transient does not mean they are letter one

unreal. Contrary to traditional Hindu
thought, he believed in eternal salvation or damnation in heaven or hell. To
this, he added the Hindu belief in reincarnation and transmigration as an
endless purgatory for souls. He held that knowledge is relative, not abso-
lute. As a religious leader, he banned temple prostitution, and substituted
dough models for blood sacrifices. His followers characteristically branded
themselves on the shoulder with a many-armed image of Vishu.
Madhva may have been influenced early in his life by a community of
Nestorian Christians living in Kalyāpur. A number of miracles attributed
to him have clearly been borrowed from the Christian gospels, and his phi-
losophy contains elements of both orthodox and gnostic Christianity. As a
young man, his parents discovered him after a four-day search, in earnest
and learned conversation with the priests of Vishu; on a pilgrimage to
Vārāasī, he is said to have walked on water, calmed a storm, fed the multi-
tude with a few loaves of bread, and to have become a ‘fisher of men’.
Thirty-seven Sanskrit works are attributed to Madhva, the majority being
commentaries on Hindu scriptures and treatises on his own philosophical
system.

Madhyamaka Kārikā See Nāgārjuna.

Maghribī, Mullā Muammad Shīrīn (d.c.1408) Full name, Abū ‘Abd Allāh
Muammad ibn ‘Izz al-Dīn ibn ‘Ādil ibn Yūsuf Tabrīzī; born in the village
of Ammand, near Lake Urūmiya, in northwestern Iran; one of the most signifi-
cant Persian Sufi poets of the school of Ibn ‘Arabī, whose most prevalent
themes are wadat al-wujūd (unity of being) and the ecstasy of contem-
plation. Although associated with a number of Sufi schools, his principal
Shaykh was the Kubrāwī Sufi, Ismā‘īl Sīsī.
A writer in both Arabic and Persian, his best-known work is his Dīvān
(collected verses). His writing is influenced by Shabistarī and Sa‘īd al-Dīn
Farqānī, and in turn influenced Shāh Ni‘mat Allāh Valī and Muammad
Lāhījī. A number of images and expressions from his poetry have become
Persian proverbs, and his literary influence remains, even in present times.

Mahābhārata (S) The great (mahā) epic of the Bharata dynasty; an epic saga
of ancient Indian history, legend and mythology, traditionally ascribed to
the sage Vyāsa, whose central story is the struggle for supremacy between
two groups of cousins, the Pāavas and the Kauravas, and tells of the
friendship and guidance offered by K isha to the Pāavas; a major source
of information concerning the development in Hinduism from about 400
BCE to 200 CE.
The conflict arises because the younger of two princes, Pāu, is made king
in preference to his elder brother, Dh itarāshra, because of Dh itarāshra’s
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 347

blindness. Pāu later 3 june

passes1931
over the kingdom to Dh itarāshra, to live
the life of a hermit in the forest. Each brother has five sons, the Pāavas
and the Kauravas, who grow up together in the palace. A seething jealousy
develops between the two groups, and when Pāu dies, the Pāavas are
forced out of the palace to live in the forest. There they jointly marry Draupadi
and meet K isha, who becomes their friend and guide. Some while later,
they return to rule over a divided kingdom, but have to leave once more when
the elder brother, Yudhishhira, loses everything in a game of dice with the
eldest Kaurava. The story develops and culminates in a series of battles in
which the only survivors are K isha and the five Pāavas. K isha is killed
by a hunter who mistakes him for a deer, and the Pāavas, along with
Draupadi and a dog who has joined them (the goddess of dharma in disguise)
set out for Indra’s heaven. With the exception of Yudhishhira, all are killed
on the way, but when he eventually reaches paradise, after further tests of
his steadfastness, he is reunited with Draupadi and his five brothers.
This story itself, which may have once been a separate poem, constitutes
somewhat less than a quarter of the entire work. Between its various epi-
sodes are interwoven a multitude of other tales, myths and legends, along
with descriptions of holy places, discussions concerning the ages of the
universe, and so on. It is a compendium of Hindu lore, built up over a period
spanning almost a millennium.
The over 90,000 couplets of the Mahābhārata (more than twice the size
of Rūmī’s Maśnavī, and more than seven times that of Homer’s Iliad and
Odyssey combined) are divided into 18 parvans (books). The fourth book,
for instance, the Virā aparvan, describes the adventures of the Pāavas
while in the service of the king Virāa. The sixth book, the Bhīshmaparvan,
contains the Bhagavad Gītā. The twelfth book, Shāntiparvan (‘Book of
Peace’), deals with rājadharma, the dharma of a king. The thirteenth book,
the Anushāsanaparvan (‘Book of Precepts’), deals with the governance of
a state. The underlying message throughout is essentially that of dharma
(duties, moral law, way of life).
The battle that forms the central event of the story is traditionally dated
to the twelfth or thirteenth century BCE, although some scholars suggest a
later date, while some traditionalists place it in the fourth millennium BCE.
The date of composition, probably building on earlier material, is very un-
certain, but is believed to have been already well established by the time of
the Buddha, in the fifth and sixth centuries BCE. Additions and modifica-
tions are estimated to have taken place up to the fifth or sixth century CE,
after which the bulk of the work is thought to have remained the same.
Like the other great Hindu epic, the Rāmāyaa, the impact of the story
on Indian culture can hardly be underestimated. The Mahābhārata is also
popular throughout South and Southeast Asia, where stone carvings of scenes
from the story have been found as far away as Cambodia and Indonesia.
348 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter oneand the Bhagavad Gītā

See also: The Rāmāyaa, the Mahābhārata
(1.11).

Mahāparinibbāna Sutta (Pa), Mahāparinirvāa Sūtra (S) Lit. The sutta (Pa)
or sūtra (S) of the great (mahā) liberation (Pa. nibbāna, S. nirvāa); a
Buddhist sūtra from the Pali texts that relates the Buddha’s activities and
teaching during his last year of life, and describes his death, also glorifying
the eternal, personal and sublime nature of nirvāa.

See also: Buddhism (1.12).

Mahārāj Sāwan Singh See Sāwan Singh, Mahārāj.

Mahā Upanishad (S) Lit. the great (mahā) Upanishad; belonging to the Sāma
Veda; a short text describing the creation of the universe at the start of
every age from the self-existent Nārāyaa; then proceeds to deal with the
various other aspects of spiritual knowledge in the form of two dialogues,
one between King Janaka and Shukadeva and the other between sage
ibhu and his son Nidōrgha; partially derived from the Mahānārāyaa and
Artharvashira Upanishads.

See also: Upanishads.

Maitreya Upanishad (S) Belonging to the Sāma Veda; clearly related to the
Maitrī Upanishad of the Yajur Veda, though the texts differ in many places.

See also: Maitrī Upanishad.

Maitrī Upanishad (S) Belonging to the Yajur Veda, although some attribute it
to the Sāma Veda; takes its name from its principal teacher, Maitri; con-
tains seven chapters, the last two being more recent than the remainder;
written later than the classical Upanishads, which it quotes frequently; refers
to the trimūrti (three-formed) conception of Brahmā, Vishu and Shiva,
linking them to the three guas (attributes).

See also: Upanishads.

Majjhima Nikāya (Pa) Lit. medium (majjhima) collection (nikāya); a collec-

tion of 152 medium-length sūtras (S) or suttas (Pa) in Pali, largely attributed
to the Buddha, although some are ascribed to his disciples, covering many
aspects of Buddhist thought, including meditation, monastic life, problems
associated with asceticism, the evils of caste, Buddha’s discussion with the
Jains, many myths and stories, and the fundamentals of Buddhist doctrine;
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 349

3 june(nikāyas)
one of the five collections 1931 of texts comprising the Suttapi aka
(‘Basket of Discourses’), the extensive body of texts constituting one of
the Tripi akas (‘Three Baskets’) that make up the Pali canon of Theravāda
Buddhism.

See also: Buddhism (1.12).

Malachi The biblical book of Malachi, the last of the twelve ‘minor prophets’;
probably composed c.500 BCE, the main themes being a condemnation of
corrupt religious, moral and social behaviour, and a reiteration of the need
to restore the Israelites’ relationship with God. Malachi is a contracted form
of ‘my messenger’, the identity of this prophet being unknown.

Malūkdās (1631–1739) An Indian Saint Sant); born in the village of Ka ā, in

the district of Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, who taught the path of the mystic
Name of God; the author of many books, of which Ratnakhān (‘Mine of
Jewels’) and Gyānbodha (‘Knowledge and Enlightenment’) are the best
known; an initiate of the South Indian, Vihaldās.

Mandaean Ginzā Full name, Ginzā Rba (‘Great Treasure’), ginzā meaning
‘treasure’, ‘mystery’ or ‘sacrament’; a miscellany of Mandaean sacred texts.

Mandaean John-Book A Mandaean text containing a number of gnostic alle-

gories, including the Fisher of Souls, together with historical sections relat-
ing Mandaean beliefs concerning John the Baptist (Md. Yōhānā, A. Yayá),
and the story of the original Mandaeans’ persecution by the Jews, their
breach with Judaism, and their journey to the banks of the Euphrates.

Mandaean Prayer Book The ‘canonical’ collection of Mandaean prayers, used

for centuries by Mandaean priests, and given to E.S. Drower in 1954 by a
Mandaean head priest.

Māūkya Kārikā (S) See Gauapāda.

Māūkya Upanishad (S) Belonging to the Atharva Veda; probably named

after its writer; a short text describing everything as a manifestation of the
creative syllable, Om, or Brahman, including the span of human conscious-
ness, from deep sleep to superconsciousness; one of the most important and
earliest expressions of inward-looking mysticism, written with an emphasis
on turning within the self (ātman) to find the sublime peace and oneness of
the highest Consciousness and Reality.

See also: Upanishads.

350 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Mānī (c.216–276) A third-century Iranian letter

mystic, inone
whose name the Manichaean
religion was founded.

See Mānī and the Manichaeans (1.8).

Manichaean Homilies A collection of Manichaean discourses in Coptic, which

include a description of the last journey of Mānī (c.216–276) and his ex-
ecution by Bahrām; according to ancient lists of such texts, a great many
more homilies once existed than the few now preserved.

Manichaean Hymns Texts discovered by four German expeditions (1902–14)

to the ruins of the ancient towns on the borders of the Takla Makan desert
in Chinese Turkestan, Central Asia, 500 miles or so to the north of Afghani-
stan and far to the west of the Gobi desert. Manuscripts of many kinds were
found in 17 languages, the most significant Manichaean hymns being in
Parthian and Chinese.

See also: Mānī and the Manichaeans (1.8).

Manichaean Psalm Book A Coptic psalm book, found by Professor Carl

Schmidt in 1930 in the bazaars of Cairo, probably dating from the fourth
century; part of the Medinet Madi cache of manuscripts; includes transla-
tions and versions of material that may have originated at a much earlier
date; contains devotional writings of a mystic nature praising both Mānī
(c.216–276) and Jesus as mystic Saviours, often in the same psalm; includes
a collection called the Psalms of Heracleidēs and another, the Psalms of
Thomas, the latter being a translation of earlier Mandaean hymns.

See also: Mānī and the Manichaeans (1.8).

Manūr al-allāj See allāj, Manūr al-

Manu The first man, in Indian mythology; from the Sanskrit man (to think); the
mythological author of the code of law known as the Manu Sm
iti; the
performer of the first Vedic sacrifice; also, the first king, to whom most
dynasties of medieval India traced their descent, through Manu’s son or
daughter. In a myth with obvious biblical parallels, the Shatapatha Brāh-
maa relates how Manu is warned by a fish of an impending flood that will
destroy humanity. Manu therefore builds a boat, and when the flood comes,
ties it to the horn of the fish, and is so steered to safety on a mountaintop.
When the flood recedes, finding himself the sole survivor, Manu gives
thanks. He performs a sacrifice, pouring an oblation of sour milk and butter
onto the waters. A year later, a woman is born from the waters who announces
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 351

3 june
herself as his daughter. 1931 they become the ancestors of all human-
Together,
kind, repopulating the earth. In the Mahābhārata, the fish is said to be
Brahmā, while in the Purāas, the fish is identified as Matsya, the fish-
incarnation of Vishu.
In the cosmological mythology of the Purāas, the universe undergoes
periodic dissolution and recreation over vast spans of time. Accounts vary,
but in one such story, a new Manu appears at the start of every recreation,
to repopulate the earth. Presently, we are said to be in the seventh such cycle
of the current age.

See also: pralaya (5.2).

Manu Smiti (S) Lit. the tradition of Manu, the law-book of Manu; a Sanskrit
text attributed to the legendary first man, Manu; the popular name of the
Mānava-Dharma-Shāstra, also called the Manu Sahitā; dates in its cur-
rent form from the first century BCE; regarded as the most authoritative
description of the Dharma-Shāstra, the traditional Hindu social code,
describing the dharma (way of life) prescribed for the four principal Indian
castes in each of the four stages (āshramas) of life. Throughout the text, no
particular distinction is made between secular and religious affairs. In its
2,694 stanzas, spanning 12 chapters, it defines dharma, and covers such
topics as sacraments, initiation, Vedic study, marriage, hospitality, funeral
rites, diet, pollution and ritual purification, the conduct of women and wives,
the dharma of kings, legal matters, charitable donations, compensation,
karma, the soul, and hell. The text has influenced every aspect of Hindu
life, and has provided a social framework and code of morality that has
lasted more than 2,000 years.

See also: Manu.

Marina de Escobar (1554–1633) Born at Valladolid, Spain; daughter of

Margaret Montana, daughter of Charles V’s physician, and Iago de Escobar,
a professor of civil and Roman Catholic law, one time governor of Osuna,
and noted for his devout life; an able scholar, showing a contemplative
nature even in youth; devoted herself to her own spiritual perfection until
her 45th year, after which she gave her attention to the spiritual advance-
ment of others; became bedridden at the age of 50, for the rest of her life.
Marina received a revelation that she should found a branch of the Order
of the Holy Saviour (the Brigittines), with rules modified to suit her times
and country. But she also knew that she would not live to see the work fully
accomplished. She was the recipient of many other revelations, visions and
mystic experiences, which she wrote down, she believed, by divine com-
mand, and when too infirm, dictated. Her spiritual guide and confessor, the
352 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Jesuit and writer, Luis de la Puente letter one collected and arranged
(1554–1624),
them for publication after her death, together with observations of his own
and an unfinished biography of her life. He writes in the preface that he
believes in their genuineness because of her piety, purity, lack of pride,
peace in prayer and obedience to her confessor.
Her work, divided into six books, was published in one volume. She
writes freely, with simplicity and frankness, of her great variety of visions
concerning God and the Trinity, the mysteries of redemption, guardian
angels, the Virgin Mary, ways to help souls on earth and in purgatory,
mystic espousals, the vision of saints, internal stigmata, and so on. Her
visions were always instructive and picturesque, though enjoyable or fright-
ening, according to their content.

Mark, Gospel According to St The New Testament gospel attributed to John

Mark (Acts 12:12, 15:37), an associate of Paul and disciple of Peter.

See The Synoptic Gospels (1.5).

Marsanēs A poorly preserved, gnostic text from the Coptic Nag Hammadi
codices, lacking evidence of any Christian influence, and probably written
during the third century; an apocalypse addressed to initiates of an unknown
gnostic community, possibly Sethian, and attributed in the text – probably
pseudo-epigraphically – to Marsanēs, a gnostic prophet; purports to relate
the visions and revelations of the soul on its ascent into heavenly realms,
and ultimately to the “unknown Silent One”; explains the esoteric meaning
of the letters of the alphabet, and their relationship both to the soul and to
the gods and angels of the heavenly regions; contains evidence of an under-
lying theurgy, in which the gods were invoked by means of ritual to assist
the soul’s ascent; includes encouragement to seekers of God.

Massekhet Hekhalot (He) Lit. the chariot (hekhalot) treatise (massekhet); also
called the Workings of the Chariot; one of a body of literature produced in
the post-biblical rabbinic period that describes the inner journey taken by
some of the rabbis of the Talmud, and their vision of the divine throne and
chariot, the chariot being both the vehicle for the inner travel and the throne
itself.

Matthew, Gospel According to St The New Testament gospel attributed to

Jesus’ disciple, Matthew the tax collector; arranged in seven major sections,
starting with the nativity and infancy stories, followed by five main blocks
of Jesus’ sayings with associated narrative material, and ending with the
passion, crucifixion and resurrection narratives. Matthew’s gospel is some-
times called the Jewish gospel, because of the evident Jewish background
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 353

of the compiler. There3 are

june11 1931
instances, for example, where he arranges his
material, so as to lead into the formula, “that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, …”, at which point he
quotes a messianic prophecy from the Old Testament. However, the gospel
is generally regarded as being aimed at Gentiles, rather than Jews, and is
commonly thought to have been written at Antioch or some other early
centre of Eastern Christianity.
Matthew was long regarded as the earliest gospel, although studies over
the last 150 years have made it clear that the compiler of Matthew has
copied from Mark, which is now regarded as the earliest gospel. Matthew’s
gospel mentions the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple in a
prophecy concerning the Second Coming and the end of the world (24:1ff.).
The Romans entered Jerusalem in 70 CE, so the date of composition is
generally set between 80 and 95 CE.

See also: Jesus’ Teaching in the Gospels (1.5), The Synoptic Gospels
(1.5).

Maximos the Confessor (c.580–662) Born in Constantinople to an aristocratic

family; received an excellent education; entered the civil service in the court
of the eastern Roman emperor, Heraclius I (ruled 610–641), perhaps as his
secretary; joined the monastery of Philippikos in Chrysopolis (now Üsküdar),
near Constantinople on the Black Sea (c.614); took refuge from the Persian
invasion of 626, first in Crete, and later in North Africa.
The author of over 90 works, Maximos was a prolific writer and a crea-
tive thinker, the most influential theologian of the Eastern Church of his
time. This got him into serious difficulties with the authorities. From
633–634 onwards, he was involved in a theological controversy over the
divine and human natures of Christ. Accepting the established doctrine
that the two natures were distinct in the one person of Christ, he disagreed
with the Monothelite contention (ultimately deemed heretical) that the two
natures acted under only one divine will. Maximos supported a dual-will
hypothesis, arguing that a human nature without a human will made no
sense, and was an unreal abstraction. He was arrested by the imperial
authorities in 653, sent to Constantinople for trial, and exiled. Subjected to
further accusations, trials and condemnations, in 662, he was flogged, his
tongue cut out, and his right hand cut off, presumably to prevent him
speaking and writing ‘heresy’. Sent once more into exile, he died shortly
afterwards in the Caucasus.
The commentaries of Maximos on the mystical theology of Dionysius
the Areopagite and the Greek fathers remained influential into medieval
times. In the Philokalia, his writings occupy more space than any other,
and he is frequently quoted by the later Orthodox fathers. Teaching both
354 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter
mystical theology as well as the monastic and one
ascetic way, he sought a prac-
tical balance between asceticism and a charitably disposed everyday life.

Mechthild of Magdeburg (c.1210–97) A Christian mystic; born into a noble

family in Saxony, north Germany; raised as a Christian but with no particu-
larly religious leanings until, at the age of 12, she “was greeted by the Holy
Ghost”, an experience which was repeated daily thereafter, and following
which “she could no longer give way to serious daily sins”; left her loving
home in her early twenties to become a Beguine at Magdeburg, where she
had only one friend (whom she avoided), desiring to renounce the world;
led a life of prayer and mortification, under the spiritual guidance of the
Dominicans.
At Magdeburg, her inspirations and ecstatic visions became more fre-
quent, dispelling all doubt from her confessor’s mind as to their validity
and divine origin. Soon after her arrival she had her first experience of God
and Jesus, which she describes as “such sweetness of love, such heavenly
knowledge, such inconceivable wonders”. Feeling compelled to write of
her experiences, yet engulfed by the shame of her own unworthiness, she
was encouraged by her friend and probably spiritual director, the Dominican,
Heinrich von Halle, Lector of Neu-Ruppin. She recorded her visions on
loose sheets of paper.
Mechthild probably lived at the Convent of St Agnes where it is possible
she was Abbess from 1273. Both Church and State, however, were in a state
of decadence at the time, and Mechthild’s outspoken denunciation of
them, especially of the clergy, resulted in her persecution. Charged with
being unlearned, lay and (even worse) a woman, with even her own Sisters
finding her ideals too high, she finally moved to the Cistercian Convent
of Helfde in Saxony, probably around 1285. Here, with Mechthild of
Hackeborn and the Abbess Gertrude, both writers and visionaries, she found
a sympathetic welcome and true understanding in a convent with a repu-
tation as a mystical centre. Despite failing health and eyesight, she felt in-
spired by God to write once more of her experiences, which she dictated
to the nuns.
Mechthild’s entire work is generally known as The Flowing Light of the
Godhead. She wrote in her own dialect of Low German, handing over the
loose sheets to Heinrich von Halle. He then rearranged them into chapters,
by subject, according to his own ideas. He also translated them into Latin,
and at the same time, “cut, smoothed and softened” them, presumably losing
some of their original force. Mechthild’s original manuscript no longer
exists, and it is largely from the work of von Halle and a later High German
translation (1344) that her life and visions are known. The material written
at Helfde, together with many earlier sheets, was added to the book after
the death of both Mechthild and von Halle.
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 355

Mechthild’s writing3 june 1931 flowery, expressive of her feelings, and

is forceful,
often interspersed with her own beautiful poetry. Sometimes, it is difficult
to know how much of her visions have been augmented by her own imagi-
nation. Her descriptions of hell, for instance, are particularly detailed and
graphic. There is some reason to believe that this part of her work provided
inspiration for Dante’s Divine Comedy.

Micah A biblical text concerning the late-eighth-century (BCE), Micah, one of

the twelve ‘minor prophets’; a possible contemporary of Isaiah, sharing
elements of his teaching, even echoing his language; offers a message of
consolation concerning the love of God for his people, despite the punish-
ment they have had to undergo as a result of their misdeeds; teaches the
supremacy of mercy and compassion over sacrifice and ritual; remembered
for the verse: “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth
the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:8, KJV).

Midrash (He/Ar) (pl. midrashim) A genre of rabbinic literature consisting of

interpretations of biblical texts, written during three main periods: the third
to sixth centuries CE in Babylonia and Palestine was the origin of the early
or classical midrashim, e.g. Genesis Rabbah; the middle period, after the
Muslim conquest, saw the influence of pseudo-epigraphic and apocalyptic
literature, and works by individual authors, such as Midrash Tanuma; the
eleventh and twelfth centuries, when later midrashim were written.

Midrash Rabbah (He/Ar) Rabbinic interpretations of biblical texts, events and

stories, which follow the structure of the biblical narrative. There is a
Midrash Rabbah for each of the five books of the Pentateuch, as well as for
the five scrolls (Ruth, Song of Songs, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and
Esther). These midrashim were actually written at different times, begin-
ning in the third century CE, but the name Rabbah was attached to all of
them when they were published together in 1545, in Venice, Italy.

Midrash Tanuma (He) A well-known collection of midrashim on the Penta-

teuch, edited in the ninth or tenth centuries; attributed to Rabbi Tanuma.

Milton, John (1608–74) An English poet and prolific writer; the son of a
wealthy, self-made father (a notary and moneylender) who had been disin-
herited by his own father for turning from Catholicism to Protestantism;
educated first at St Paul’s School, London, where he studied Latin, Greek
and Hebrew, and by private tutors at home, probably including modern lan-
guages; admitted to Christ’s College, Cambridge, in 1625, where he was
nicknamed “The Lady” for his refined features and a purity of mind that
356 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

disdained the coarser pursuits of his letter

fellows. one
From this early period of his
life until the 1630s, he wrote a considerable volume of Latin and English
verse, though he was little recognized at the time. These early works reflect
the thinking of a young Renaissance humanist who was also a Christian and
a Platonist.
In the early 1640s, Milton largely put aside his poetic aspirations to ad-
dress the religious, social and political issues of his time. He became a
passionate supporter of the Parliamentary cause during the Civil War (cul-
minating in the execution of Charles I in 1649). Much of his literary output
during this period (1641–60) consists of pamphlets in support of religious
and civil liberties. Included among these were a plea for the return to the
democratic simplicity of the early apostolic Church, freedom of the press,
and the right of divorce on grounds other than adultery, the latter stemming
from his own unhappy marriage.
Milton is particularly remembered for his epic poems, Paradise Lost
(1667, rev. 1674), Paradise Regained (1671) and his verse drama, Samson
Agonistes (1671), all three written in blank verse during the latter period
of his life. Paradise Lost relates a much elaborated version of the story of
Satan’s rebellion against God, his expulsion from heaven, and the subse-
quent events with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. In Paradise Re-
gained, Christ, as the second Adam, regains for man what the original Adam
had lost. Samson Agonistes tells the story of the last days of the biblical
Samson. These poems express a purified faith in God and the spiritual
strength of the individual, rather than the political and socials matters which
had earlier concerned him. Blind in his later years, Milton’s epic poems were
composed in his head, often at night, and dictated during the day to assist-
ants, family members, friends or students, frequently with one leg flung over
the arm of his chair.
Born into low-church Anglicanism, he moved to Presbyterianism, then
to Independency (believing in the right of local churches to self-govern-
ment), and finally to personal independence of all churches. Of his personal
spiritual life, Samuel Johnson observed, “His studies and meditations were
an habitual prayer.” He died (according to his early biographer, John
Toland) “of the gout stuck in”, just before his sixty-sixth birthday,

Mīrābāī (c.1498–1547) A Rajput princess, whose songs of devotion and longing

are still popular throughout India; born in Mertā, a powerful independent
state in Rajasthan. Surrounded by legends, often miraculous, little is ac-
tually known of her life. Rajasthani chroniclers of the period either fail to
mention her, or mention her only in passing. Without her songs, she would
soon have been forgotten. Only by piecing together the few autobiographical
comments in her songs with traditional legends and the recorded history of
period, does a sketch of her life emerge.
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 357

Mīrā was the daughter3 june 1931 Ratna Singh, the ruler of Jodhpur, one of
of Rāo
the younger sons of the veteran warrior, Rāo Dūda, ruler of Mertā. Her
mother died when she was barely two years old, and she was raised at her
grandfather’s court in Mertā. Rāo Dūda possessed a devotional bent of mind,
and holy men, whom Mīrā would have met, were welcome at his palace.
Her education would have included knowledge of the scriptures, music, spin-
ning and sewing, along with archery, fencing, horse-riding and charioteering.
She is reputed to have grown up into a soft-spoken, affectionate, charitable
and extraordinarily beautiful princess.
Hearing of her qualities and accomplishments, Rāā Sangā Singh, the
powerful king of Mewā , sought her hand in marriage for his eldest son and
heir, Prince Bhojrāj. Shortly after the engagement, Rāo Dūda died. Never-
theless, at the age of 18, Mīrā was married, and was welcomed into her new
home at the fort of Chittor, with much rejoicing, destined, it was believed,
to be the next queen. The next few years passed peacefully. But five or ten
years after their marriage, her husband was killed in battle, followed shortly
after by the death of her father in the battle against the Mughul invader,
Bābur. Her father-in-law, Rāā Sangā, was wounded in the same fight, and
was poisoned a few month later in a court intrigue. The year was 1527. Mīrā
was around the age of 30.
In her childhood and youth, Mīrā had been a devotee of K isha. At some
point, however, she had become a disciple of Ravidās, a low-caste cobbler
Saint, whom she mentions in her songs, and whom – she says – she visited
daily whenever he was in Chittor. However, the new Rāā of Mewā , Rāā
Ratna Singh, her husband’s younger brother, was unsympathetic to Mīrā’s
spiritual life. Her father, grandfather, father-in-law and husband were no
longer there to support her. Her association with a low-caste cobbler and
her singing of devotional songs with other devotees, regardless of their caste
were considered scandalous by the orthodox brāhmas and other people of
Chittor. Rāā Ratna Singh therefore began to persecute Mīrā, assisted by
his cousin Ūdābāī, who hated her.
Various miracle stories are related of this period. On one occasion, hear-
ing Mīrā talking in her room, Ūdā believed her to be with a man. Calling
the Rāā, they ran to the room, but when the Rāā burst in with drawn sword,
they found Mīrā lost in ecstasy. She had been talking to her Lord, and her
radiance filled the room. The Rāā was disconcerted, and left. Ūdā realized
her mistake, and ultimately became a devotee. Two other ladies sent by the
Rāā to ‘bring Mīrā round’ met the same fate as Ūdā.
In 1531, Rāā Ratna Singh was killed, a victim of his own plot to mur-
der his maternal uncle. His successor, Rāā Vikram was worse than his
predecessor. He tried to kill her. According to the legend, he sent Mīrā a
cup of poison, which he insisted was charaam
it (lit. nectar of the feet,
water or syrup blessed by a Saint or used to wash the feet of temple idols).
358 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Mīrā had been forewarned of the plot, letter one to have drunk the poison
but is said
all the same, with no ill effects. On another occasion, she was sent a poi-
sonous snake in a casket, but on arrival, the snake had become a string of
pearls. Mīrā mentions these incidents in her songs, which – working back-
wards – were probably the source of the embellished legends. But she was
always forgiving, never vindictive. In one of her songs, she sings, “Why do
you want to kill me, O Rāā? I have never harmed you, nor have I done
any wrong.”
By this time, Mīrā had become well known for her devotion and for her
songs, and she received many visitors, which must have further enraged the
Rāā. Finally, however, she left the court, in 1534. A few months later, the
fort was taken by Bahādur Shāh, sul ān of Gujarat, and although Rāā
Vikram made good his escape, most of the inhabitants died in the fight. Mīrā
went to her uncle’s home in Mertā, where she was warmly welcomed. But
her songs denouncing the priestly class and religious rituals were by now
so popular that to avoid embarrassing her uncle, she quietly left Mertā.
Little is known of her life after that. Now in her mid- to late-thirties, she
is believed to have visited V indāvan, a place of pilgrimage and a brāhma
stronghold, before making her way to Dvārka, in Gujarat, in search of her
Ravidās, who had many disciples there. She is believed to have stayed in
Gujarat for some time, where she composed a great many songs in Gujarati,
and is regarded as one of the finest devotional poets in Gujarati literature.
Meanwhile, back in Chittor, the once powerful state had been reduced to
a small principality. Rāā Ratna Singh and Rāā Vikram had both met vio-
lent ends. The people of Chittor who had persecuted Mīrā had been devas-
tated by war. Public opinion against Mīrā now swung around, and people
began to feel that their misfortune was a result of the way she had been
treated. The current Rāā therefore sent a deputation of brāhmas to beg
her to return. But Mīrā was happy in her life, and declined the offer. The
brāhmas – afraid of the Rāā’s displeasure – began a hunger strike until
she should change her mind. Mīrā therefore relented, and agreed to go with
them the following day. During the night, however, she went into a nearby
temple, and when the priests unlocked the gates in the morning only her
scarf could be found. The priests concluded that she had merged into the
image of K isha. According to legend, so ended the life of a much-loved
devotee, in a way that only added to her renown, and let the brāhmas
return in safety to Chittor. She would have been about 48 years old.
Mīrā, perhaps, with the help of an accomplice, made good her escape,
and was never heard of again. Yet some songs from what seems to be a later
period of her life still exist. In one, she speaks of being “old”, her hair turned
grey. Her songs are full of longing to meet her Master, whom she refers to
as her jogī, though whether she ever found him again is unknown.
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 359

Mir’āt-i ‘Ushshāq (P) Lit.3 mirror

june 1931
(mir’āt) of lovers (‘ushshāq); an anonymous
glossary of Sufi technical terms, found in Y.E. Bertel’s, Taawwuf va-
Adabīyāt-i Taawwuf (‘Sufism and Sufi Literature’).

Mishnah (He) The first layer of rabbinic discussion of the Bible, attempting to
distil the oral tradition of biblical interpretation into a code of religious law;
organized into six orders, each dealing with a different aspect of Jewish life;
completed in the third century CE, under the editorial direction of Rabbi
Judah ha-Nasi. The Talmud consists of both the Mishnah and the further
discussions and interpretations thereon of later rabbis through to the sixth
or seventh century.

Moses bar Kepha (c.813–903) Born at Balad (now in northern Iraq); a re-
nowned Jacobite bishop and writer in Syriac; a Christian monk who later
became bishop of three cities, Beth-Ramman, Beth-Kionaya and Mosul (al-
Mawsīl) on the Tigris, taking the name of Severus; patriarchal periodeutēs
(visitor) of the diocese of Tagrit, where his wisdom and learning earned him
a considerable reputation; buried at the monastery of St Sergius, on the
Tigris, near his home town. Moses bar Kepha was a prolific writer, whose
numerous works include commentaries on the Old and New Testaments,
on the liturgy, on the writings of St Gregory Nazianus, and on Aristotle’s
Dialectics; various treatises on free will and predestination, on the soul (in
40 chapters), on prayers for the dead, and on the sacraments; and a history
of the Church, a book against heresies, and various discourses and homilies.

Moses Cordovero (1522–70) A well-known Kabbalist of Safed, a mountain

town in Galilee, Palestine; presumed from his name to have been born into
a family of Spanish origin; a disciple of Joseph Caro and Solomon Alkabez,
and a teacher of Isaac Luria (1534–72); most remembered for his system-
atic explanation of Kabbalistic principles in his Pardes Rimmonim (‘Or-
chard of Pomegranates’), completed at the age of 27, and in his Elimah
Rabbati (‘Great Work to Elim’), finished ten years later; the author of a
number of other works, including Tomer Devorah (‘Palm Tree of Deborah’),
which consists of short chapters of moral and ethical instruction on how to
spiritually identify with each of the ten sefirot (divine emanations) and im-
bibe their qualities, thus drawing closer to the sefirot and to the Divine.
Tomer Devorah paved the way for a proliferation of Kabbalistic ethical lit-
erature during the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, and influenced many
later Kabbalists in Safed and Eastern Europe. He also wrote an extensive
commentary on the Zohar.
Cordovero is commonly portrayed as a synthesizer and harmonizer of
the sometimes divergent elements of Kabbalism prior to his time. God, he
taught, is an utterly transcendent Being, like no other. No attribute can be
360 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

assigned to Him, because He is beyond letterallone

attributes and anthropom-
orphisms. In this, Cordovero agreed with the philosophers; but the differ-
ence between the Kabbalah and philosophy, he said, lay in the Kabbalah’s
practical approach to God by means of the sefirot.
According to Cordovero, the sefirot are the instruments or vessels of God.
His substance is immanent in them. God reveals Himself by concealing
Himself in the sefirot. Thus, God is revealed through the sefirot. The divine
will is likewise an emanation of the Divine. Emanation itself takes place
through the inner dynamics of and interactions between the sefirot. The
world of emanation comes into being from an interplay between the direct
light of the Divine and the light reflected within the sefirot. The lower world
is formed out of the sefirot in a similar manner, and there is a seamless tran-
sition between the two.

Moses de León (1240–1305) Original name, Moses ben Shem Tov; a Spanish
Kabbalist of whom little is known, considered by modern scholars to have
been the author of much of the Zohar (‘The Book of Splendour’), the best-
known work of the Kabbalah, and whose influence in Judaism at one time
rivalled that of the Bible and the Talmud; born in León, a region and former
kingdom in northwest Spain; attracted to both religious and philosophical
studies; known to have commissioned a copy of Moses Maimonides’ Guide
of the Perplexed in 1264; until around 1290, lived in the Kabbalist centre of
Guadalajara in central Spain, subsequently travelling extensively before
settling in Ávila, to the west of Madrid.
The Zohar, which first appeared in the 1280s, is largely written in a pe-
culiar and artificial Aramaic. Very similar in style to traditional rabbinic
midrashim, it is arranged as a collection of dialogues between Rabbi Simeon
ben Yoai and his disciples, set in second-century Palestine. The work is
essentially a mystical commentary on the Torah or Pentateuch, the first five
books of the Bible.
According to an entry in the diary of the Kabbalist Isaac ben Samuel,
Isaac met Moses in Valladolid. Moses told him that he possessed the origi-
nal manuscript of the Zohar at his home in Ávila, which he agreed to show
to Isaac, but died before being able to do so. Later, Isaac heard that Moses’
wife had said that there was no such manuscript, and that the Zohar had in
fact been written by Moses himself.
Nevertheless, the tradition persisted (and still does in some quarters) that
the Zohar was second century in origin. It was Gershom Scholem, one of
the great twentieth-century scholars of Jewish mysticism, who demonstrated
that the Zohar almost certainly originated in medieval times. There are, for
instance, oblique historical references to the Crusades and subsequent Arab
rule in Palestine, while some of the laws and customs mentioned relate more
to medieval Europe than second-century Palestine.
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 361

3 junethat
Scholem further showed 1931not only is the philosophy of the Zohar in-
fluenced by third- and fourth-century Neo-Platonism, but also that some of
its key terminology comes from Ginnat Egoz (‘Nut Orchard’), the work of
the Spanish Kabbalist, Joseph Gikatilla, a contemporary and probably friend
of Moses de León. Scholem also demonstrated that the Aramaic vocabulary
and idiom of the Zohar is not only that of a native Hebrew speaker, but also
has parallels to the Hebrew works of Moses de León.
Based on Moses de León’s own comments in his other works, Scholem
suggested that the author’s intention was to counter the rising tide of intel-
lectual rationalism in Spanish Judaism, which was leading to the neglect of
religious life. The Zohar was part of Moses de León’s attempt to breathe
new life into traditional Judaism by providing a fresh interpretation of the
Pentateuch, ascribed to a revered, though mythical, authority. Moses de
León also wrote a number of other works (such as the Testament of Rabbi
Eliezer the Great), which he ascribed pseudo-epigraphically to others. He
is said to have been the author of over 20 books on Kabbalistic topics, of
which 18 are wholly or partly extant.

Moses Maimonides (1135–1204) Original name, Moses ben Maimon; the fore-
most Jewish philosopher, legal authority and physician of medieval Judaism,
whose influence spread far beyond the Jewish world; born into a distin-
guished family in Córdoba, Spain; educated by his scholarly father and other
teachers, who were impressed by Moses’ depth and scope. In 1148, when
he was barely 13, Córdoba fell to the fanatic Muslim sect, the Muwaidūn
(believers in tawīd, the oneness of God). As in the rest of Islamic Spain,
the previous Muslim rulers had accorded the people of Córdoba religious
freedom. Now the Jews were faced with the alternatives of exile or conver-
sion to Islam.
What happened over the next decade is uncertain. Some authorities sug-
gest that the Maimons chose to practise Judaism in their own home, while
appearing as Muslims in public. Muslim records say that the Maimons were
converted to Islam sometime between 1150 and 1160. But this is unreliably
claimed of many Jewish scholars. Other authorities say that the Maimons
led a wandering life in Spain and probably Provence, in France. In any event,
the youthful Moses managed to continue his studies.
Around 1160, the family settled in Fez, in Morocco. Although the city
was also under Muwaidūn rule, detection was less likely since the
Maimons were strangers there. Moreover, the aging ruler of the Muwaidūn
had become more tolerant in his old age, especially of Jews in the central,
Moroccan part of his realm. Here, Moses, now in his mid-twenties, contin-
ued his studies of Jewish tradition and Greek philosophy, and began his
study of medicine. In his medical writings, he often mentions the knowl-
edge he acquired from North African Muslims.
362 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

In 1165, one of Moses’ well-known letter oneRabbi Judah ben Shoshan,

teachers,
was convicted of being a practising Jew, and was executed. Shortly after,
the Maimons sailed to Palestine, where they made a tour of the Holy Land.
Perhaps because the country was suffering economically and they were un-
able to make a suitable livelihood, the family moved once more, this time
to al-Fusā, the old city of Cairo. Here, Jews were free to practise their reli-
gion, though any who converted to Islam and later reverted to Judaism were
liable to execution. Because of his past, Moses was once accused of having
been a Muslim, and had to prove that he had never really adopted Islam.
Shortly before or after their arrival in Egypt, Moses’ father died. The fam-
ily, however, were supported by Moses’ younger brother, David, who be-
came a prosperous jeweller, giving Moses the time he needed to devote to
scholarly pursuits and to his work in the Jewish community. In 1169, David
was drowned in the Indian Ocean on a business trip, taking the family fortune
with him, and leaving a wife and two children. Needing to support the family,
and unwilling to make a living from religion, Moses became a physician.
He did not find immediate success, however, and it was only in 1185,
after being appointed one of the court physicians to the vizier (the effective
ruler of Egypt), that his fame began to spread. Retaining his private practice,
he also lectured to his fellow physicians at the state hospital. Around 1177,
he had become leader of the Jewish community, teaching and dealing with
their various problems. These included an ongoing struggle against the
Karaites, a Jewish school that rejected the authority of the rabbis, and whose
religious observances were at variance with the orthodox rabbinic tradition.
Moses’ first wife had died young, and some time after moving to Egypt,
he remarried. The couple had one son, Abraham, who also became re-
nowned for his scholarship. Abraham and his son, Obadyah, were mystics
influenced by the Sufi tradition.
In common with other great polymaths of the past, Maimonides’ literary
output was considerable and varied. Influenced by Aristotle, his first work,
written in Arabic at the age of 16, was on the terminology of logic and meta-
physics (Millot ha-Higgayon, ‘Treatise on Logical Terminology’). Another
early treatise, again in Arabic, was Ma’amar Ha‘ibur (‘Essay on the Calen-
dar’). At the age of 23, he began his first major work Kitāb al-Sirāj (‘Book
of Lights’), a commentary on the Mishnah. The work, which took him 10
years, is a comprehensive compendium of and commentary on Jewish legal
decisions from earliest times to the third century CE. It includes relevant
theological, archaeological and scientific information, and incorporates a
number of introductory essays on various issues raised in the Mishnah,
together with a summary of Judaism in 13 articles of faith.
This work was followed by another ten-year project – a masterly sys-
tematization of Jewish law, written in lucid Hebrew, Mishneh Torah (‘Torah
Reviewed’). In this work, Maimonides restricts himself to traditional views,
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 363

and only occasionally, 3 june

when1931
he can find no support for his views among
the rabbis of the Talmud, does he circumspectly advance his own opinions,
usually introduced by such phrases as “it appears to me”. This is true, for
instance, of his views concerning resurrection or that the messianic age
refers to the political independence of Israel. Even in medical matters, when
his knowledge was more advanced than in Talmudic times, he gives priority
to Talmudic practice. Only in regard to witchcraft and enchantment, having
given in great detail the Talmudic views and laws concerning such prac-
tices, does Maimonides express his own opinion in forceful terms, calling
such practices, “lies and falsehood ... not fitting for Jews who are intelligent
and wise”, and describing anyone who believes in such things as “fools and
ignoramuses” and like “immature women and children” (Mishneh Torah,
‘Avodat Kokhavim 11:16).
In 1176, aged 41, Maimonides began the work for which he is most re-
membered, Dalālat al-Hā’irīn (He. Moreh Nevukhim, ‘Guide of the Per-
plexed’) written in Arabic. The work takes a rational approach to Judaism,
attempting to harmonize philosophy, science and religion. While Mishneh
Torah was written for the devout Jew, Guide of the Perplexed was written
for the more enquiring person who had read philosophy, and who had doubts
about the rationality of many aspects of Judaism and the Bible. The work
attempts to resolve apparent irrationalities in the traditional faith. He ex-
plains, for example, that the anthropomorphic descriptions of God in the
Bible are not meant to be taken literally. They are figurative portrayals of a
spiritual reality. He also provides interpretations of some obscure biblical
parables. Maimonides permitted himself more latitude in the Guide than in
Mishneh Torah, expressing far more of his personal views. An influential
book in the history of religious thought, the Guide was translated into He-
brew during Maimonides’ lifetime, and later into Latin and many other
European languages.
Mishneh Torah was the only book Maimonides wrote in Hebrew, and he
expressed regret for not having translated his Arabic works into Hebrew. In
a letter responding to the request of the rabbis of Lunel to translate the Guide
into Hebrew, he replied that he wished he were young enough to do so.
Maimonides also wrote numerous lesser works and treatises on Jewish
law, religion, philosophy and medicine (including a popular compendium
of health rules dedicated to the sul ān). He also maintained an active corre-
spondence with scholars, students and other Jewish leaders, in which his
warmth and humanity are apparent.
He often commented that the pressures of his many duties and activities
gave him no peace of mind and weakened his health. When he died in al-
Fusā, in 1204, public mourning was declared in all parts of the Jewish
world. His remains were taken to Tiberias, in Palestine, where his shrine
still attracts many pilgrims.
364 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter one rational and often (at the

Though always highly regarded, Maimonides’
time) radical views were not received without controversy and opposition,
both during and after his lifetime. His belief in the incorporeality of God,
for instance, was a minority view in his day, the majority believing that the
scriptures supported the idea of a corporeal Divinity. After his death, the
zealous Rabbi Solomon of Montpellier even persuaded the Christian au-
thorities (in 1233) to burn Guide of the Perplexed as seriously heretical.
With the passage of time, Maimonides came to be regarded as a main-
stay of traditional Judaism, and the greatest of all Jewish philosophers.
His influence on the development of Judaism has been immeasurable. His
medical writings were a significant advance in their own era, and his basic
concepts have been described in recent times as remarkably modern. His
philosophic work influenced many medieval, as well as later, scholars and
creative thinkers. In one way or another almost all medieval writers on
philosophy refer to him.

Muammad Dārā Shikoh (1615–59) Born near Ajmer; the brilliant and eldest
of the four sons of the Mughul emperor, Shāh Jahān (1592–1666), appointed
by his father as heir designate; challenged for the successorship by his fanatic
brother, Aurangzeb (1618–1707), when Shāh Jahān became seriously sick
in 1657; defeated by an alliance between Aurangzeb and their brother,
Murād Bakhsh, at the Battle of Samūga h (1658).
After the battle, Aurangzeb declared himself emperor, imprisoned both
his father, Shāh Jahān (who had made an unexpected recovery), and his
brother, Murād Bakhsh, and set out in pursuit of Dārā, who is traditionally
believed to have been helped by Guru Har Rāi (1630–61), the seventh Sikh
Guru. Dārā was captured after a long pursuit and a second battle (Battle of
Deorai, 1659), in which he was relying on his ally Jaswant Singh of Mārwār,
who deserted him three days before the battle. Defeated after three days
of fierce fighting, he was executed by Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb was an able
administrator and a military commander of considerable courage and skill.
He was also ruthless and ambitious. In consolidating his power, he caused
the death of one brother, and had the two others executed, together with a
son and a nephew.
Dārā Shikoh was a student of Sufism, meeting many Muslim and Hindu
mystics, the most notable being Miyān Mīr (d.1635), Shāh Muibb Allāh
Illāhābādī, Shāh Dilrubā, Sarmad, Bābā Lāldās Bayrāgī (a follower of
Kabīr), and Mullā Shāh (d.1661) of the Qādirīyah order, whose disciple he
became in 1640. He aroused controversy over his belief in the underlying
unity of the various religions, as in his observation, “The science of Vedānta
is the science of Sufism”; author of Risālah-i
aqq Numā (‘Treatise that
Reveals the Truth’), written in 1646.
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 365

3 june 1931Born in Mecca, and lived in what is now

Muammad, Prophet (c.570–632)
Saudi Arabia; the founder of Islam, who taught the importance of worship-
ping the one God. His revelations are recorded in the Qur’ān, and traditions
concerning his life and teachings are found in the
adīth.

See Islam (1.10).

Mu‘īn al-Dīn Chishtī, Khwājah (c.1143–1236) A well-known Sufi born in

Sīstān, now in southwestern Afghanistan; moved at an early age to Ajmer
in Rajasthan, India, where it is said that he remained in meditation for 17
years before beginning to teach; believed to have been a disciple of Abū
Najīb Suhravardī; belonged to the Chishtīyah Sufi order, and regarded as
its founder in India, although the order itself was named after the village of
Chisht, near Herāt (then in Persia, now Afghanistan), where the Syrian
founder, Abū Ishāq, had lived; a writer in Persian, of whom a dīvān (collec-
tion of poems) of unknown authenticity still exists.
Distilling Sufism to its essence, Chishtī taught that a Sufi should pos-
sess, “a generosity like that of the ocean, a mildness like that of the sun, and
a modesty like that of the earth” (MDI p.346). The Chishtīyah order em-
phasized the unity of being (wadat al-wujūd) or oneness with God, to be
attained through both mental and vocal repetition (dhikr) of the Names of
God. Material possessions were regarded as distractions on the path of
meditation, and members avoided all violence. During the height of its
popularity (c.1200–1350), a network of Chishtīyah khānaqāh (monasteries)
were located throughout North India, in Rajasthan, the Punjab and Uttar
Pradesh, from which various sub-branches of the order flourished. Mu‘īn
al-Dīn Chishtī’s shrine in Ajmer has become a place of pilgrimage, visited by
people of all religions.

Muktikā Upanishad (S) Lit. pearl (muktikā) Upanishad; belonging to the Yajur
Veda; notable for listing the 108 Upanishads, and may thus be regarded as
a later work; a short text, set as a series of questions asked of Rāma (as the
Lord) by the semidivine, monkey-like being, Hanumān, who begins by
asking how he can be easily released from bondage to material things, and
attain salvation.

See also: Upanishads.

Muaka Upanishad (S) Belonging to the Atharva Veda; said to take its name
from mua (shorn), because all who understand its teaching are liberated
and ‘shorn’ of all illusion; a short, but highly esteemed text, set as the reply
of Angiras to Shaunaka’s query, “What is it, by knowing which, everything
else becomes known?” Angiras is regarded as one of the seven mythological
366 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

ishis (sapta-
ishi), the progenitorsletter one The Upanishad distin-
of mankind.
guishes between the higher (parā) knowledge of the supreme Brahman and
the lower (aparā) knowledge of the phenomenal world.

See also: Upanishads.

Muslim ibn al-ajjāj al-Qushayrī, Abū al-usayn (c.817–875) Born in

Nīshāpūr, in Iran; died at Na rābād, a suburb of Nīshāpūr; a Muslim scholar,
well known as one of the major collectors of adīth – the sayings and stories
of Muammad handed down by oral tradition. The results of his extensive
travels throughout Arabia, Egypt, Syria and Iraq in search of adīth are
collected in the
adīth aī Muslim (‘Genuine Traditions of Muslim’),
said to have been compiled from around 300,000 adīth. His work is one of
the six accepted collections of adīth. For each adīth, he provided its chain
of transmission, and recorded textual variations. The work also includes an
overview of early Islamic theology and a discussion of the Qur’ān.

See also: The Islamic Way of Life (1.10).

Myth of Adapa The Sumerian myth concerning the fall of man; a precursor to
the Genesis story; preserved among the cuneiform tablets of the library of
the Assyrian king, Ashurbanipal (reigned 668–627 BCE), unearthed at
Nineveh during the nineteenth century. Although endowed with all knowl-
edge by Enki (Sumerian god of knowledge and wisdom), Adapa is denied
immortality. Summoned to receive punishment from Anu, the sky god, for
breaking the wings of the south wind when it blew him into the sea, Adapa
is advised by Enki not to accept the bread and water that will be offered to
him. Anu’s doorkeepers, Tammuz and Ningishzida, act as advocates for
Adapa, advising Anu that Adapa only needs immortality to become a god.
In a change of heart, Anu therefore offers him the Bread and the Water of
Immortality. But as advised by Enki, Adapa refuses, and man thus loses his
chance and becomes mortal.

See also: Sumerian and Mesopotamian Spirituality (1.3).

Naassene Hymn A gnostic text preserved by Hippolytus (fl.210–236) in his

Refutation of All Heresies.

See reincarnation and transmigration (in Christianity): Other Gnostics

(6.3).

Nāda Bindu Upanishad (S) Lit. point (bindu) of Sound (Nāda) Upanishad;
belonging to the ig Veda; addresses the attainment of liberation and
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 367

3 june 1931
annulment of karma, through the practice of yoga and listening to the mystic
Sound (Nāda); regarded as one of the Yoga Upanishads.

See also: Upanishads.

Nadīm, Muammad ibn Isāq al- (c.935–995) A book dealer from Baghdad;
also called al-Warrāq (the manuscriptist); his Kitāb al-Fihrist (‘The Cata-
logue’), written about 987–988, lists the authors of his time and before,
together with notes, commentaries and observations on various matters,
including religion and mysticism. Al-Fihrist is the sole source of informa-
tion on many subjects, and is hence of considerable value to researchers of
this period.

Nāgārjuna A second- and/or third-century (CE) Indian Buddhist philosopher-

monk; founder of Mādhyamika (Middle Way) Buddhism, and regarded as a
patriarch by several subsequent schools. Although many texts in Chinese
and Tibetan are attributed to him (many incorrectly), Nāgārjuna is particu-
larly remembered for his Madhyamaka Kārikā (full name, Mūlamadhyamaka
Kārikā, often called the Mādhyamika Kārikā), a Sanskrit verse exposition
(kārikā) of the Middle Way (Mādhyamika). He is also the author of the
Sanskrit work, Vigrahavyāvartanī (lit. no separation). Both these texts
concern the nature of Reality, the origin of existence and the way to attain
knowledge. His elucidation of shūnyatā (emptiness, non-attachment), a key
aspect of Mādhyamika, is considered intellectually brilliant. A well-known
commentary on the Madhyamaka Kārikā, known as the Prasannapadā (lit.
clear-worded), was written by the seventh-century Chandrakīrti.
Nāgārjuna maintained that all existence is relative: nothing exists inde-
pendent of its context. There is no eternal soul, no eternal Reality underly-
ing transient forms; even unconditioned enlightenment (nirvāa) of this
state of affairs is not independent of change. The enlightened ones are fully
and permanently conscious that all moments are relative.
Little is known of Nāgārjuna’s life, and when he lived: different texts
provide dates that span 500 years. The earliest biographical account, in Chi-
nese by a well-known Buddhist translator, Kumārajīva, is dated to about
405 CE. However, although there is some disagreement between accounts
in various texts, it is generally agreed that he was born in South India to a
brāhma family; showed early signs of intellectual brilliance; was deeply
affected when first hearing the doctrines of Mahāyāna Buddhism; and
taught the Dharma (Truth) in India, defeating many opponents in learned
discussions. He is traditionally believed to have lived to an old age before
terminating his own life.

See also: Madhyamaka Kārikā.

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Nag Hammadi Codices, Nag Hammadi letter oneA rare find of 12 gnostic
Library
codices or leather-bound, papyrus books, discovered in December 1945 by
two Egyptian farmers in the Naj’ Hammadi region of Upper Egypt. Con-
taining a total of 52 gnostic texts, copied and buried during the mid-fourth
century CE, they have become the most important literary source for the
modern understanding of gnosticism. Written in Coptic, probably all of the
texts are translations from the Greek, most of which appear to have been
written during the first to mid-fourth centuries CE.
A considerable period elapsed between the finding of the codices and
their first publication, even in the original Coptic. The Gospel of Thomas
was first published in 1959, and Codex I, called the Jung Codex after its
acquisition in 1952 by the Jung Institute of Zurich, was published in six
volumes between 1956 and 1975. The remaining codices, however, were
held in the Coptic Museum in Cairo, and although various ineffectual plans
were made for their publication, nothing actually happened until the ap-
pointment of the International Committee for the Nag Hammadi Codices,
at the end of 1970. The Facsimile Edition of the Nag Hammadi Codices was
subsequently published in 12 volumes between 1972 and 1984. The first
complete English edition was published in 1977, and a revised edition in
1988. After publication, the Jung Codex was returned to the Coptic Museum,
where the complete collection now resides.

See also: Gnosticism (1.6).

Nahua Poetry See The Nahua of Central America (1.14).

Nāmdev (c.1270–1350) A well-known poet-Saint (Sant) of medieval India,

known as the Saint from Maharashtra; born, according to some, at Paharpur,
and others, at Narsibamnī in the Marāhwāā region; the son of a devout
family, whose father was a devotee of Vi hal, a local idol of the deity,
Vishu, at Paharpur; a tailor and calico printer by profession, and thus of
a low caste.
Little is known of Nāmdev’s life, and many of the traditional stories about
him are conflicting. According to one tradition, for instance, from an early
age, Nāmdev was a devotee of Vi hal, like his father. On one occasion, the
young Nāmdev was distressed when Vi hal did not drink the milk offering
which his busy father had asked him to place before the idol. His lament
was heard, however, and the idol drank the milk. Another legend has Nāmdev
as a member of a gang of murderous thieves. Overcome by remorse one day
on hearing the pitiful laments of the wife of a man he had killed, he was
about to take his own life, when he was saved by a vision of Vishu. What-
ever the truth, it seems he adopted the practice of the mystic Name (Nām)
when he met his his Guru, Visobā Khechar, and received initiation from him.
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 369

3 june
In his late twenties, 1931began an itinerant life which lasted more
Nāmdev
than 25 years. He travelled through Gujarat, Kathiawar, Central India,
Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and the Punjab. Even today, there are me-
morials, places and traditions associated with his name in all these states,
and small groups of devotees who claim to be his followers. Finally, he
settled in a lonely place in the Gurdāspur district of the Punjab, and the
village which sprang up around him became known as Ghumān. Here, he
lived for the remaining 15 or 20 years of his life.
In Maharashtra, the Vārkarī (Pilgrim) School was founded in his name,
so called because of its emphasis on pilgrimage to Paharpur to worship
Vi hal, and characterized by bhakti (devotion) and freedom from caste in a
religious context. But it seems Nāmdev, never retuned to live in Maha-
rashtra. Indeed, two of his devotees, Godā and Vihā, write, “Nāma has left
Paharpur” and “He has orphaned us.”
Nāmdev wrote thousands of devotional poems in Hindi, Marathi and
Punjabi, some of which have been preserved in the Nāmdev Gāthā, and a
few included in the Ādi Granth. His themes are the quest for God within,
the illusion of the world, the equality of all human beings, bhakti to the
one God, the Guru and the mystic Name (Nām), and so on. Very popular
in the Punjab and Maharashtra, his writings inspired a tradition of Marathi
devotional poetry.

Nasafī, ‘Azīz al-Dīn (d.1263) Born in Nasaf, probably during the thirteenth
century; lost all his family in the Persian-Mughul wars; travelled a great
deal, living in Bactria for a while, finally settling in the Persian state of Fārs;
the author of six books, of which al-Insān al-Kāmil (‘The Perfect Man’) is
the best known, in which he describes the characteristics of a perfect man
and expresses his views on creation, ethics and morality, how to live in
this world, and that mysticism, as the way to Reality, is the ultimate goal of
human existence.

Nehemiah The biblical book of the fifth-century (BCE) Nehemiah (lit. Yahweh
has comforted), also called Zerubabel; an official at the court of the Persian
king, Artaxerxēs I (465–425 BCE); appointed governor of Judah upon the
return of the Jews from Babylonian exile; in charge of rebuilding the walls
of Jerusalem and reorganizing the Judaean province. The moral and reli-
gious reforms of Nehemiah are recorded in the biblical books of Ezra and
Nehemiah. Pre-fifteenth-century Hebrew manuscripts, as well as the Greek
Septuagint (c.C3rd–C2nd BCE) regard Ezra and Nehemiah as one book.
Nehemiah and Ezra are also credited with being the authors of 1 and 2
Chronicles. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah are also called 1 and 2 Esdras.

See also: Ezra.

370 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter
Nestorians An early branch of Christianity whichone
broke away from the main-
stream after the turbulent Council of Ephesus in 431 CE. Nestorius (d.451),
appointed Patriarch of Constantinople in 428 CE by the Roman Emperor
Theodosius II (401–450), taught that Jesus had two natures, human and di-
vine. This was the generally accepted theological position. However, he
went on to say that Jesus was two persons and had at times been one, and at
times the other. This was contradictory to the established point of view
which taught – and still teaches – that the two natures are merged into one
person. Nestorius’ doctrine has been called Diophysite. The Council of
Ephesus, later endorsed by the Council of Chalcedon in 451, asserted the
‘one person’ point of view and Nestorius was deposed, going into exile in
Antioch where there were many who agreed with him.

Nezahualcóyotl A fifteenth-century king of the Nahua, ruling the state of

Texcoco, bordering Mexico. It is said that as a boy, Nezahualcóyotl, hiding
in a tree, saw his own father, the present king, murdered by the enemies of
his people. Later, he wandered in poverty for many years with a price on
his head until his kingdom was restored to him. Formed a triple alliance with
the Aztec state of Tenochtitlán (founded in 1325) and the state of Tlacopan,
which early on assumed an inferior role in the alliance. During the reigns of
Nezahualcóyotl (1431–72) and his successor, Nezahualpilli (1472–1516),
the alliance conquered a vast territory, but which by 1519 had succumbed
to Aztec dominance.

See also: The Nahua of Central America (1.14).

Nikhilānanda, Swāmī (1895–1973) A Vedantist and disciple of Swāmī Vivek-

ānanda; became a monk of the Rāmak isha order in 1924; passed several
years in a Himalayan āshram, during which time he studied Hinduism and
other systems of religion and philosophy; was sent to the USA in 1931,
founding the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center in 1933, remaining its spir-
itual leader until his death in 1973. His most significant writings include
The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, and his translations and commentaries on
the principal Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gītā and Shankara’s Ātmabodha
(Self-Knowledge).

Nishmat ayyim (He) Lit. soul (nishmat) of life (ayyim); a book defending
the concept of transmigration by the Kabbalist, Manasseh ben Israel; pub-
lished in Amsterdam in 1652.

Niyāz Amad Barelvī, Shāh (c.1760–1834) A Sufi, born at Sirhind, in the Pun-
jab, India; lost his father when very young; educated by his mother, before
moving to Delhi at the age of seventeen, where he continued his education
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 371

3 june
under the Sufi, Mawlānā 1931al-Dīn; worked as a teacher for some time,
Fakhr
before being instructed by Fakhr al-Dīn to move to Bareily in western Uttar
Pradesh, where he established a khānaqāh (Sufi ‘monastery’). A prolific
author, his works on Sufism include a number of treatises, some in a deli-
cate and refined Urdu, together with some excellent poetry in Arabic and
Persian. A favourite theme of his writings is wadat al-wujūd (unity of
being). Shāh Niyāz had disciples in India, Iran and Arabic countries, includ-
ing Afghanistan and Samarkand.

Niām al-Dīn Awliyā’, Shaykh (c.1243–1325) A well-known Sufi of the

Chishtīyah order, of Delhi in North India, whose ancestors came to India
from Bukhārā, Central Asia; popularly known as Maūb-i Ilāhī (God’s
Beloved) and Sul ān al-Mashā’ikh (King of Saints). His teachings are known
through a number of extant discourses. His tomb in Delhi is a popular place
of pilgrimage.

Nisiha Uttara Tāpanīya Upanishad (S) Lit. the later (uttara) (part) of the
Upanishad regarding ascetic self-sacrifice (tāpanīya) to N
isiha (lit.
man-lion), a mythological incarnation of the deity Vishu; a short text
belonging to the Atharva Veda.

See also: Upanishads.

Numbers See Pentateuch.

Nūrbakhsh, Muammad (1393–1465) A Sufi, born in Persia of an east Ara-

bian family, who claimed to be descendants of Muammad; real name,
Muammad ibn ‘Abd Allāh, but given the name Nūrbakhsh, meaning ‘gift
(baksh) of light (nūr)’, by his Shaykh, Isāq al-Khuttalānī; declared himself
to be the Madi (Muslim Messiah), assuming the title of Caliph, leading
several local uprisings in an attempt to gain power in Persia. A Sufi order
bearing his name is descended from him.

Odes of Solomon A collection of 42 mystic, devotional and often ecstatic poems

in praise of the Lord, the Word and the Saviour; composed very early in the
Christian era, possibly around 100 CE or even earlier, probably in or around
the city of Antioch; contain literary images and mystical truths also found
in Jewish psalms and Wisdom literature, as well as Christian, Mandaean
and Manichaean mystical writings; almost certainly written in Greek or
Syriac, perhaps by a writer who was bilingual and wrote the Odes in both
languages or supervised their translation from one to the other at an early date.
The Odes of Solomon survive in only two main manuscripts, both in
Syriac. The first dates from the fifteenth century, and contains all the odes
372 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

except 1, 2 and the beginning of 3. The letter

secondone
dates from the tenth century,
and is lacking its earlier part, beginning in the middle of Ode 17. Ode 11 is
also known from a third-century Greek papyrus. Five other odes (1, 5, 6, 22
and 25) are extant in Coptic, embedded in a well-known gnostic text, the
fourth-century Pistis Sophia. Pooling these resources, only Ode 2 and the
beginning of Ode 3 are entirely missing.
Neither of the two Syriac manuscripts are of an early date, and there are
differences between these texts, often minor, sometimes significant. One
of these two also has occasional verses missing due to the inattention of
the scribe. It is certain, therefore, that the extant texts are not entirely as
originally penned, and the possibility of significant editing having taken
place in some of the odes cannot be ruled out. However, in the main, the
consistency of the odes suggests that they are largely as the original author
intended.
The fifteenth-century manuscript was found one day by the early twenti-
eth-century biblical scholar, Rendel Harris, while sorting through a pile of
miscellaneous manuscripts lying in a corner of his office. Harris soon real-
ized that he unknowingly had in his possession an almost complete text of
the previously lost, Odes of Solomon. His first annotated edition of the origi-
nal text, together with an English translation, was published the following
year, in 1909. Since then this collection of beautiful odes has been the sub-
ject of a number of scholarly translations and discussions. Harris himself
remained intrigued and enchanted with the Odes, publishing the last of a
number of revised editions of his work in 1920, in collaboration with his
friend and fellow scholar, Alphonse Mingana.

On the Cosmos (Gk. Peri cosmos, L. De mundo) A probably first-century (CE)

composition, written in Greek, attributed to Aristotle, but generally believed
to be by an unknown hand; describes the known universe in terms of Greek
natural science, followed by a lyrical account of how the one God, through
His creative Power (Dynamis), creates, sustains and rules everything in a
single harmonious whole.

On the Origin of the World An untitled gnostic text from the Nag Hammadi
codices, the name of which has been assigned by modern scholars; prob-
ably written during the early fourth century; represents no particular school
of gnostic thought; draws from a number of sources to support its thesis,
including Greek, Egyptian, Jewish, Christian and Manichaean traditions;
concerns the emanation of the heavenly realms of creation out of the
“shadow” which exists on the exterior of the “limitless light” of the “eternal
aeon of Truth”, through the agency of Pistis Sophia (Faith-Wisdom) and
the archon (ruler), Yaldabaoth; includes an extended gnostic interpretation
of the creation of man from the primal “Adam of light”; ends with an apoca-
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 373

3 june
lyptic description of the 1931 of the heavens so created in which the
dissolution
perfect return to the “eternal realm”, while the imperfect enter the “kingdoms
of the immortals”.

Oracle of Apollo From the Latin, oraculum (to pray, to request, to speak); in
the classical world, an ‘oracle’ was a divine communication, often ambigu-
ous or allegorical, delivered through the medium of the priest or priestess
of a shrine in response to a suppliant’s request, and presumed to come from
the deity to whom the shrine was dedicated. The ‘oracle’ was also the priest
or priestess, or the shrine itself.
Such shrines were common in the ancient world, though the means by
which the message was received varied from shrine to shrine. Usually, it
was by some form of divination like the interpretation of the rustling of
leaves on a sacred tree or the sound of a temple gong, or by drinking the
waters of a sacred spring, or by ‘incubation’, in which the petitioner slept in
the temple precincts and received an answer in a dream. Offerings were also
expected in the form of a sacrificial animal (in a good state of health!) or of
some other kind.
The most renowned was the Oracle of Apollo, at Delphi, on the slopes of
Mount Parnassus. According to legend, the oracle first belonged to Gaia
(goddess of the earth), but later became Apollo’s, either by gift or theft. Here,
the presiding priestess, known as the Pythia, was a woman over 50 living
apart from her husband. Her advice or blessing was sought by the rich and
powerful, often regarding the possible outcome of war or some political
action. After bathing in the Castalian spring and drinking from the sacred
spring of Cassotis, the Pythia entered the temple, descended into a base-
ment cell, and there chewed the poisonous leaves of the laurel, the sacred
tree of Apollo. Her words, intelligible or otherwise, were then recorded
and interpreted by the priests, who wrote down the results in often highly
ambiguous verse.
Other well-known Grecian oracles existed at Dodona (of Zeus), Epidaurus
(of Asclepius), Amphicleia (of Dionysus), Oropus (of the hero Amphiaraus),
and of Apollo at Thēbes, Tegyra, Abae, Coropē, Ptoon, and on the island of
Delos, Apollo’s birthplace. In Anatolia (now the Asian part of Turkey), there
were oracles of Apollo at Patara, Branchidae, Claros and Grynium. None of
these were as prestigious as the oracle of Apollo at Delphi.

Origen (c.185–254) Latin name, Oregenes Adamantius; probably born in Alex-

andria, Egypt; the son of pagan parents, according to the Neo-Platonist,
Porphyry; the son of Christian parents, according to the Church historian,
Eusebius, who says that Origen’s father, Leonidēs, was martyred in 202,
leaving Origen to provide for his mother and six younger brothers; lived
in the house of an affluent lady for a while, then worked as a teacher of
374 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

grammar, while practising a rigorousletter one a student of Clement of

asceticism;
Alexandria at the school for Christian instruction, taking over the school,
probably sometime during the first decade of the third century; according
to Eusebius, castrated himself while still a young man in order to work more
comfortably with female neophytes, although the story may be fictitious;
according to Porphyry, attended the discourses of Ammonius Saccas (perhaps
the one Origen refers to in a letter as his “teacher of philosophy”).
Around 212, Origen requested a certain Heraclas, whom he had met at
the philosophy discourses, to help him with beginners at the school, leav-
ing him free to study, and to teach the more advanced students. Origen
learned Hebrew, and began one of his most significant works, the Hexapla,
a comparative arrangement of six versions of the Old Testament in parallel
columns, in Greek and Hebrew, one of which he had found in a jar in the
Jordan valley. Apart from the intrinsic interest of the work, the motivation
was to provide a comparison of the Greek and Hebrew for discussions with
the rabbis, who only acknowledged the authenticity of the Hebrew.
Some while later, he received support from a wealthy Christian, Ambrose
(one of Origen’s converts), who provided Origen with shorthand scribes,
and to whom Origen dedicated a number of his works. Origen produced a
rapid succession of commentaries on Old Testament texts, as well as works
such as On the Resurrection (‘Peri anastaseos’) and On First Principles (‘De
principiis’). He also began his commentary on John’s gospel, originally
begun as a refutation of the commentary of the gnostic Heracleon, a disciple
of Valentinus. During this period, he also travelled to Rome, Arabia, Antioch,
Greece and Palestine. In Caesarea Palestine, he was ordained as a presbyter.
That Origen was a layman had aroused the hostility of Demetrias, Bishop
of Alexandria, who was envious of Origen’s renown and demand as a
preacher. Origen therefore remained in Caesarea as a teacher, where he at-
tracted many students, including Gregory Thaumaturgus, later Bishop of
Neo–Caesarea. Around 235, at the time of the persecution of the Roman
emperor, Maximinus (ruled 235–238), Origen was in Cappadocia. Some
while after (c.248), he wrote Contra Celsum (‘Against Celsus’), a detailed
response to the summary dismissal of Christianity by the second-century
pagan philosopher, Celsus. During the persecution of the Emperor Decius
(ruled 249–251) in 250, he was jailed and tortured, but survived, to die some
years later in Tyre, where his tomb still existed at the time of the Crusades.
Origen’s main literary contribution was his exegesis of the entire Bible,
together with his Hexapla. Sadly, his fall from favour two centuries later
resulted in the destruction of many of his works. Very little of his original
Greek has survived, and the Latin translations that exist are largely the work
of the fourth-century Rufinus, who so paraphrased, edited, ‘corrected’ and
truncated Origen’s work that it is difficult to distinguish Origen from
Rufinus.
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 375

Origen’s philosophy 3 june 1931 to summarize in a few words. The centre

is difficult
of his thinking was God, the divine transcendent Being who is all-loving,
all-powerful and the source of all. Through His Logos (Word), out of His
abundant love, He created spiritual beings and gave them freedom, an act
which necessarily entailed some degree of self-limitation on His part. On
the one hand, God needs the creation for the expression of His love and
power. On the other, He can bring it to an end whenever He wishes. Origen
was aware of the paradoxes.
By ignoring God, the created beings fell from grace: some became angels,
some human beings, some devils. Souls are thus pre-existent: they exist
prior to human birth (though whether reincarnation and transmigration
were a part of Origen’s scenario remains a matter of debate). Salvation is
the process of spiritual re-education. The nature of this world is corrective
and remedial. Even Satan has the power to change.
Only one soul, the Son, had remained in loving communion with God.
Uniting himself with the Son, the Logos took birth as Christ, and became
the means of salvation for other souls, for restoring souls from matter to spirit.
Those who met Christ saw him according to their own spiritual capacity.
Some saw just a normal human being, others saw their Lord and Saviour.
God is one, but the Son is like a ladder: mystic steps on the way to the
vision of the one Divine. The soul is united with God in Christ; both the
soul and the Church become the bride of the Logos, as portrayed in Origen’s
interpretation of the biblical Song of Songs. The Spirit is veiled by symbols,
parables and allegory in history, in scriptures, in the sacraments. The con-
cern of the commentator is to reveal this spirit.
Salvation is a process of spiritual transformation. The Church is a school,
but the process continues in the next life. Thus, hell cannot be eternal, only
corrective, since God would never abandon any of His creatures. But be-
cause He respects the freedom He has given to His souls, it may take time.
Nor is heaven permanent. Because souls are free, there is no conclusion to
the process, for virtue has no value if it is not the consequence of free choice.
Christ’s work continues until all souls have been saved, after which the
process may begin all over again.
Origen lived at a time when apart from the basic apostolic doctrine, Chris-
tians were free to think creatively and to speculate. Inevitably, this led to
differences of opinion, divisions and even schisms. The later councils of
the early fourth century onwards, after Christianity had received official
Roman sanction, were largely designed to formulate belief and eradicate
‘heresy’. The introduction of Greek philosophy into the Christian agenda
by Justin Martyr, Clement, Origen and others was innovative, and paved
the way for what became ‘orthodox’ theology. Until the late fourth century,
Origen was held in high esteem, but as the character of the continuous theo-
logical debate changed and crystallized, so did the perception of Origen’s
376 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter
work. In the end, his ideas, which had one a stimulus for so many,
provided
were rejected. Not until he became subject to the more objective scholarly
approach of the twentieth century was his reputation as one of the finest
thinkers of the early Church restored.

See also: reincarnation and transmigration (in Christianity) (6.3).

Orphic Texts Any of a number of texts used by the Orphic mystery schools,
named after the legendary Orpheus, and dealing with such subjects as human
perfection, the immortality of the soul, transmigration, and the afterlife.

See also: Orpheus (1.9).

Ovid (c.43 BCE – 17 CE) Full name, Publius Ovidus Naso; born in Sulmo (now
Sulmona, Italy), into an old and reputable family; educated in Rome, where
– despite the remonstrances of his father – he neglected his studies in favour
of poetry; a Roman poet whose verse is noted for its technical excellence
and its rich interpretations of classical mythology; remembered especially
for his Metamorphoses (‘Transformation’) and Ars amatoria (‘Art of Love’).
After finishing school in Athens and some time travelling in Asia Minor
and Sicily, the young Ovid, seemingly destined for a career in public life,
dutifully accepted the offer of minor judicial posts as the first step on the
ladder. Realizing, however, that his interests and talent lay in his poetry, he
soon gave up the idea of public life to devote himself to poetry. His earlier
works – witty reflections on seduction, amorous intrigue and worldly love
– mirrored the sophisticated hedonist society in which he moved, and were
an immediate success. This success, however, was rudely interrupted when,
in 8 CE, he was banished by the Emperor Augustus to Tomis, on the Black
Sea, in what is now Romania, on the very edge of the Roman Empire. His
books were also banned from public libraries.
Ovid gives two reasons for the exile: one, his book, Ars amatoria, and
the other an “indiscretion” which he does not identify, but which is prob-
ably related in some way to the adultery of Augustus’ granddaughter, Julia,
who was banished at the same time. The emperor, at that time, was engaged
in a programme of moral reform. Despite all his pleas, Ovid was not per-
mitted to return, and he died in exile nine years later.

Oxyrhynchus Papyri A collection of papyri, dating from the first to the eighth
centuries CE, found in the rubbish heaps of the ancient town of Oxyrhynchus,
once capital of the nineteenth province of Upper Egypt and present site of
the village of al-Bahnasa, situated on the western edge of the Nile Valley;
first discovered by two young British archaeologists from Oxford, Bernard
Grenfell and Arthur Hunt, in 1897; largely written in Greek and Latin, but
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 377

3 june
also in demotic Egyptian, 1931 Hebrew, Syriac and Arabic; including –
Coptic,
often only as sections or fragments – religious texts, early copies of the New
Testament, some fragments of previously unknown sayings attributed to
Jesus (which turned out to be from the Gospel of Thomas), and a number of
Greek classics, previously lost, such as Pindar, Menander and Callimachus.
The thought of unknown gospels in the everyday use of people who lived
so close to Jesus’ time caught both the public as well as scholarly imagina-
tion and prompted an intensive period of Egyptian excavation. Over the
following decade, a vast number of papyri were unearthed from various
sites. It was from a study of these documents, that it became clear that the
language of the New Testament was not – as previously thought – the Greek
of the Holy Spirit, but the Greek of the common people.
Rubbish is a window into the lives of the depositors, and far more was
found at Oxyrhynchus than religious and philosophical fragments. Of
the great mass of papyri discovered only two or three percent were literary.
The vast majority were private documents – “letters, invitations, petitions,
contracts, deeds, leases, lists, tickets, accounts, birth notices, death notices,
complaints, reports, accounts, receipts, wills, marriage agreements, di-
vorces, legal proceedings, questions to the oracles, and so on” (MNT p.101).
All aspects of everyday life are represented, including the contents of the
Roman record office which appears to have undergone a thorough clear-
out in early Christian times. The old records had been carried out to the
rubbish heap in baskets and set alight. But supervision must have been
scant, for the fire went out before they were all consumed, and the sand
blew over the remains, burying and preserving them for maybe 1,800 years.
Some of these papyri were even carried into Grenfell’s camp in the same
baskets in which they had been taken out to the city limits, so many cen-
turies before.
Many of the letters have a personal touch that reaches across the centu-
ries through the familiar human feelings they express. One small boy who
had clearly been left behind against his will when his father had set out on a
trip to Alexandria, writes (among other things), “If you won’t take me along
with you to Alexandria, I won’t write you a letter, or speak to you, or say
goodbye to you, and if you go to Alexandria, I won’t take your hand or ever
greet you again!” (in MNT p.101).

Padma Purāa (S) One of the 18 principal Purāas, exalting the deity Vishu.

See also: Purāas.

Paingala Upanishad (S) Belonging to the Yajur Veda; consists of the answers
of the sage Yājñavalkya to a series of questions put by the seeker, Paingala,
concerning the generation of the universe, how the Lord (Īshvara) acquired
378 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

the status of a jīva (incarnate soul), letter one

the mahāvākyas (great utterances) of
the Vedas, and the nature of a jñānī (one who knows).

See also: Upanishads.

Paltū (c.1710–80) An eighteenth-century Indian Saint (Sant) and poet, of whom

little is known, even the exact dates of his birth and death being largely
guesswork. According to Bhajnāvalī (lit. songs of devotion), a work by
Paltū’s brother, Paltū Prasād, Paltū was born in Nangā-Jalālpur in Uttar
Pradesh, near the sacred Hindu town of Ayodhyā (the birthplace of the
legendary Rāma Chandra, hero of the Rāmāyaa). Paltū states in his poetry
that he led a householder’s life, and belonged to the Baniyā (grocers’) caste.
There are still those in Uttar Pradesh who claim Paltū as an ancestor.
It is sometimes said that Paltū and his brother were initiated by Bhīkhā,
a well-known North Indian Saint (Sant). However, Paltū himself does not
mention Bhīkhā’s name in any of his poems. On the other hand, Paltū Prasād
says that he and his brother were disciples of Govind Jī. This is supported
by the traditional story that when Paltū left Ayodhyā in search of a perfect
Master, he went to Vārāasī, where he went to Gulāl Sāhib. Gulāl Sāhib
referred him to his disciple, Bhīkhā – who sent him back to his Master. Gulāl
Sāhib then told the young Paltū to go to Govind Sāhib, who also taught the
path of the Shabd (Word), and who initiated him. Paltū Prasād says that
after his initiation, Paltū made rapid spiritual progress, and achieved the
highest spiritual goal. It is because of this rapid transformation that his
Master renamed him Paltū, meaning ‘one who has been transformed’, from
pala nā (to turn back, to return, to transform).
Paltū’s poetry is remarkable for its robust and outspoken language. His
criticism of the rituals and customs of organized religion and the hypocrisy
of self-styled priests and holy men endeared him to the people, but earned
him enemies among the religious authorities. Persecuted for the boldness
of his expression, he was burnt alive when his door was barricaded and his
hut set on fire, supposedly by opponents of his teachings.

Papias Second-century Bishop of Hierapolis, in Phrygia (now in Turkey); a

friend of Polycarp (Bishop of Smyrna in the early first century); said by
later writers to have been martyred in 163, some say in Rome, others in
Pergamum (in northwest Asia Minor); author of a five-volume work, The
Sayings of the Lord Explained, now extant only in a few fragments quoted
in the works of others, but providing some important information concern-
ing early Christianity and gospel origins.
Papias himself says that he never met any of the apostles, but whenever
he got the chance, he questioned their followers to find out precisely what
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 379

3 june
“the Lord” had said, “For 1931
I imagined that what was to be got from books
was not so profitable to me as what came from the living and abiding voice”
(in Eusebius, History of the Church 3:39). Papias’ work was used by the
early Christian fathers of both the Eastern and Western churches until the
early fourth century. The fourth-century Eusebius, who quotes only four
short passages from Papias (in Eusebius, History of the Church 2:15, 3:39),
says that Papias propagated the idea that after the resurrection of the dead,
Christ’s kingdom would be materially established on earth for a period of
1,000 years, a common belief among the early fathers. Eusebius suggests
that Papias and others got such notions by misinterpreting the mystic and
symbolic language of the apostles (Eusebius, History of the Church 3:39).

Pardes Rimmonim (He) Lit. orchard (pardes) of pomegranates (rimmonim); a

systematic explanation of Kabbalistic principles by Rabbi Moses Cordovero
(1522–70) of Safed, Palestine.

See also: Moses Cordovero.

pastoral letters Three short New Testament letters (1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus)
written as if from Paul, and addressed to Timothy and Titus, two of Paul’s
closest associates, mentioned in his other letters (Timothy also appears in
Acts); referred to since the eighteenth century as the pastoral letters.
These three letters, which share a common style and may reasonably be
attributed to the same author, are of questionable authenticity. Nineteenth-
century German scholars were the first to document the differences of con-
tent, style and vocabulary between them and the other letters attributed to
Paul. There are also anachronistic descriptions of church organization,
historical and biographical events and the heresies of the day. The letters
are listed in the Muratorian Canon (c.180), but are missing from the collec-
tion of Pauline letters in the early-third century manuscript, P46. In fact,
they are not mentioned by any early Christians until the end of the second
century.
The letters contain pastoral instructions on the efficient running of a
developed Christian community, the appointment of qualified personnel, the
maintenance of discipline (personal and in the churches), the preservation
of the faith from heresy, and the conduct of prayer. All this indicates condi-
tions long after the demise of Paul, reflecting a time of religious stability
when expectations of an imminent Second Coming had abated. The letters
also contain advice concerning the behaviour and morality expected of
Christians, including unconvincing echoes of Paul’s genuine letters. For all
these reasons many modern scholars regard the pastoral letters as second-
century forgeries.
380 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Patañjali (c.200 BCE) Pseudonym of theletter one

author or authors of the Yoga Sūtras,
which explains the classical system of rāja yoga, also called Pātañjala or
ash ānga yoga.

See also: Yoga Sūtras.

Pentateuch The first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Num-
bers and Deuteronomy; also called the ‘law of Moses’ and the Torah
(‘Law’); covers the history of Israel up to the death of Moses, together with
the two creation stories with which Genesis opens. The Hebrew names are
taken from the first words of each book: Bereshit (‘In the Beginning’),
Shemot (‘Names’), Va-Yikra (‘And He called’), Ba-Midbar (‘In the desert’),
and Devarim (‘Words’). The Greek names relate to the contents: Genesis
(‘Birth’), Exodos (‘Departure’), Leuitikos (‘Of the Levites’), Arithmoi
(‘Numbers’), and Deuteronomion (‘Second Law’), the principle followed
in most other languages.
Genesis is the first book of the Bible. It relates mythological stories
concerning God’s creation of the world; the origin of man; and the great
flood, sent as a punishment for human wickedness, and survived only by
Noah and the inhabitants of his ark, from which the earth is repopulated.
It tells the legendary history of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
(Israel) and his twelve sons – the progenitors of the twelve tribes of Israel;
the selling into slavery of Jacob’s favourite son, Joseph, by his jealous brothers;
Joseph’s arrival in Egypt, his life there, and his eventual appointment as a
high-ranking officer in Pharaoh’s administration; the emigration of Joseph’s
brothers to Egypt during a time of famine; their reunion with Joseph; and
Joseph’s death in Egypt.
The origins of Genesis are uncertain. The two creation myths and the
story of the flood, however, have antecedents in early Mesopotamian mythol-
ogy, where symbols such as the Tree of Life are commonly encountered.
Genesis tells the story of the patriarchs and the origin of the Israelites,
including God’s “everlasting covenant” with Abraham (17:7, 13, 19), and
His promise to make Abraham’s people a “great nation” (12:2) and lead
them to the promised land of Canaan (12:1, 15:7, 35:12). Exodus, Leviticus
and Numbers are centred on the life of Moses. These three books recount
the formation of the children of Israel, and the constitution of their code of
social and religious law.
Exodus has two primary themes: the Israelites’ escape from Egypt, where
they had become slaves, and God’s renewed covenant with the Israelites
through the prophet Moses. Moses receives a revelation of the divine Name
on the mountain of Yahweh (Mount Sinai), to which he leads the Israelites
through the desert. There, God reaffirms His original covenant with the
people. Almost immediately, the covenant is broken by the people’s adora-
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 381

3 june
tion of an idol (a golden calf),1931
a pattern that is often repeated, according to
later biblical texts. God, however, forgives their transgression, and once
again renews His covenant, giving them the laws by which they are to live
and worship, summarized in the ten commandments. The story ends with
the construction of the tabernacle in the desert, two years after their depar-
ture from Egypt.
Leviticus, often called the Priests’ Manual, is a digression from the main
events of the Pentateuch. It is a manual for the correct observance of cultic
rituals and sacrifices, and an account of legislation regarding ritual purity
and impurity, festivals, and many social laws. Of uncertain date, a number
of scholars have suggested that it was written during the seventh century
BCE.
Numbers returns to the main story. It begins with a census of the Israel-
ites, and is chiefly concerned with their further adventures as they wander
in the desert under the leadership of Moses. After an unsuccessful attempt
to enter Canaan from the south, they spend a long time at Kadesh, before
resuming their journey. Reaching the plains of Moab, near Jericho, the
Midianites are defeated, and the tribes of Reuben and Gad settle in Trans-
jordan. Interspersed between the various sections of the narrative are more
laws, supplementing the Sinaitic code or in preparation for life in Canaan.
Numbers became a part of the Torah during the fifth century BCE.
The last book of the Pentateuch is Deuteronomy. The Greek name,
Deuteronomion, means ‘second law’, i.e. repetition of the law, from deuteros
(second) law (nomia). The work repeats the history and law recounted in
the first four books. The majority of the book consists of three discourses
by Moses, in the second of which a lengthy code of social and religious laws
is inserted, partially restating the Sinaitic code. The discourses recall the
history of the Israelites from the time they left Egypt, explaining the reli-
gious significance of events, emphasizing the importance of the law, and
encouraging the people to remain faithful to Yahweh. The latter part of
Deuteronomy deals with Moses’ appointment of Joshua, his final blessings,
and his death. The date of composition is difficult to determine, but the book
is first mentioned in 2 Kings in connection with its discovery in the Temple
in 622 BCE.
Over the centuries and millennia, the Genesis and Exodus stories (in
particular) have been variously interpreted by Jewish, Christian and Mus-
lim commentators. The orthodox have generally tended towards a literal
understanding, while the more mystically minded have inclined towards
an allegorical interpretation. Thus, the garden of Eden is understood as the
heavenly realms of creation, the serpent is the devil, Egypt is the physical
universe where souls are enslaved by their corporeality, and so on. Some
Jewish mystics have also provided mystical or spiritual interpretations of
the many Jewish laws, social and religious, given in the Torah.
382 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Although traditionally ascribed to letter

Moses, anone
analysis of the books them-
selves suggests otherwise. Nowhere do any of the texts say that Moses was
their author. In fact, they contain a number of things that Moses could not
have written or was unlikely to have said. Deuteronomy, for instance, de-
scribes the death of Moses (34:5ff.), while Numbers says that Moses was
the humblest man on earth (12:3). There are also contradictions in the text,
and the same event is sometimes told twice in conflicting ways.
In Genesis, for example, Noah is told to take a single pair of each species
aboard the ark (6:19–20). A little later, he is instructed to take seven pairs
of birds and clean animals, and one pair of unclean animals (7:2–3). A third
passage then relates that Noah actually took two of each species, regardless
of their status, clean or unclean (7:8–9). In one place, it is said that 40 days
of rain were followed by 14 days for the flood to subside (7:4, 12, 17;
8:6–11). Another place speaks of 150 days of rain and flood (7:11, 24;
8:3–4), with a year and ten days before Noah could disembark.
There are many other discrepancies, too. As biblical scholar Richard
Friedman observes, “It would report events in a particular order, and later it
would say that these events happened in a different order.... It would say
that Moabites did something, and later it would say that it was the Midianites
who did it. It would describe Moses as going to a tabernacle in a chapter
before Moses built the tabernacle” (WWB pp.17–18).
A careful analysis of the books reveals that they are a compilation of a
number of different sources, sometimes purporting to describe the same
events – but with differing details. Genesis, for instance, consists of at least
three sources. Firstly, there is a Judaean source (Y) that uses Yahweh as the
name for God, dating perhaps from as early as 950 BCE. Here, contact with
God is usually depicted as direct. Secondly, there is a source (E) traceable
to the northern kingdom of Israel that speaks of God as Elohim, and written
around 900–700 BCE. Here, contact with God is generally through an inter-
mediary such as a dream or an angel. Sometime after the fall of the north-
ern kingdom, these two sources were combined into one document.
Thirdly, there is a priestly source (P), concerned with cultic matters and
priestly laws, generally dated to the fifth century BCE. This, too, was woven
into the text, creating the book of Genesis in something like the form in
which it is now known. Each of these sources contains elements drawn from
prior oral and written traditions.
In Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, the priestly tradition is fairly
easy to distinguish. In Genesis, the Yahwistic and Elohistic elements are
also reasonably clearly differentiated. In Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers,
however, it is difficult to determine which of the remainder belongs to which
tradition. Deuteronomy, on the other hand, is written in such a different and
distinctive style from the other four books that it is classed as a separate
source (D) in its own right. It seems, therefore, that the books of the Penta-
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 383

3 juneof1931
teuch evolved over a period time, with many of the details of their devel-
opment remaining a matter of scholarly study and debate.

See also: The Hebrew Bible and Other Texts (1.4), Sumerian and
Mesopotamian Spirituality (1.2).

Petelia Tablet A pre-Socratic, Orphic document from the fourth or third cen-
tury BCE, found in excavations of a tomb in southern Italy, and now in the
British Museum; written in Greek on a sheet of gold, about 45mm x 27mm
in size; rolled up and enclosed in a hexagonal cylinder on a delicate gold
chain, evidently intended to be worn as an amulet by the deceased, to pro-
vide protection and guidance in the underworld.

Philo Judaeus (c.20 BCE – 50 CE) A Greek-speaking Jewish philosopher of

first-century Alexandria, Egypt; remembered for his integration of tradi-
tional Judaism with Greek philosophy and terminology, often interpreting
biblical stories allegorically; a member of a noble family, whose father had
been a prominent Jew in Palestine before moving to Alexandria; brother of
Alexander Lysimachus, in charge of tax administration in Alexandria, and
the wealthiest man in the city; a polymath, whose studies must have included
all branches of Greek learning, including arithmetic, geometry, astronomy,
harmonics, philosophy, grammar, rhetoric and logic; well-versed in the phi-
losophy of Plato and the Stoics; believed in the creative power of the Logos
as the bridge between God and man; attempted on one occasion to with-
draw from busy city existence for the life of a contemplative, but finding
himself unable to cope with the required discipline, returned to Alexandria
and his literary pursuits; one of the two main sources of information on the
esoteric Jewish group, the Essenes, for whom he had much admiration.
In about 40 CE, Philo headed a delegation to Rome to petition the tyran-
nical Emperor Caligula for the restoration of the rights granted to the Jews
during the Ptolemaic rule of Egypt (305–30 BCE), confirmed during the
long rule of Emperor Augustus (27 BCE – 14 CE), but taken away by order
of Caligula (ruled 37–41 CE). The request was denied, but Philo advised
his fellow delegates not to be troubled because God would punish Caligula,
who was assassinated soon after.
Philo was a prolific writer, the author of over 30 books, many of which
are extant. In works such as Allegorical Interpretation and The Sacrifices
of Cain and Abel, he interprets the Pentateuch (the first five biblical books,
attributed to Moses). In books like Every Good Man who is Virtuous is also
Free and On Providence, he writes on general philosophical subjects. And
in texts such as On the Contemplative Life (a description of the Therapeutae)
and On the Embassy to Gaius (against Caligula), he addresses more con-
temporary issues.
384 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Philokalia (Gk) Lit. love of the good, love letter oneBeautiful; an eighteenth-
of the
century collection of the prose writings (in Greek) of the desert fathers and
other holy men of the Eastern Church dating from the fourth to the fifteenth
centuries, including the previously unpublished works of all the major
monks and hermits from Evagrius Ponticus (346–399) to Gregory Palamas
(1296–1359); put together by two Greek monks, Nikodimos of the Holy
Mountain of Athos (1749–1809) and Makarios of Corinth (1731–1805);
originated as part of a movement towards spiritual rejuvenation in Eastern
monasticism and the Orthodox Church. The Philokalia was first published
in Venice in 1782. A second edition, with additional material on prayer by
Patriarch Kallistos, was published in Athens in 1893, followed by a third
five-volume edition, also published in Athens from 1957 to 1963.
The Philokalia has been enormously influential in Slavic countries,
especially Russia, where a Church Slavonic version (Dobrotolubiye) was
published in St Petersburg in 1793. The translator was the Russian monk
and starets (spiritual teacher), Paisii Velichkovskii (1722–94), a spiritual
reformer of Russian and Moldavian monasticism, who visited Mount Athos
and later settled in Moldavia. The Dobrotolubiye became one of the most
popular spiritual books in Russia during the nineteenth century. It is frequently
mentioned in the novels of Dostoyevsky, himself an assiduous reader of the
work. It was also the inspiration behind the author of the well-known book,
The Way of a Pilgrim. A Russian translation by Ignatii Brianchaninov
(1807–67) was published in 1857. The first volume of a further Russian
translation, in five volumes, still with the title Dobrotolubiye, was published
in 1877 by Theophan Zatvornik (Theophan the Recluse, 1815–94), former
Bishop of Tambov. He included several texts absent from the original Greek,
and omitted or paraphrased certain parts of the original Greek edition.
In Greece, outside certain monastic schools, the work has had less influ-
ence. An English translation of the Philokalia, in five volumes, has currently
reached the fourth volume (1979, 1981, 1984, 1995). Romanian and French
translations are also under way.
The Philokalia is a guide to the spiritual and contemplative, inner life,
and the quest for hesychia (stillness). Much of the advice and philosophy it
contains is relevant to anyone following a spiritual path, whatever religion
they may profess, whether within or outside a monastic environment. Sub-
jects include the daily recollection of personal mortality, and the constant
remembrance of God. The Philokalia has been responsible for populariz-
ing the ‘Jesus prayer’ as a means of constant recollection.

Philolaus A fifth-century (BCE) Pythagorean philosopher; born in southern

Italy, and a part of the early Pythagorean movement whose headquarters
were in Croton, where Pythagoras had taught; fled from Italy to Thēbes in
Greece for some while because of local opposition to and violence against
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3 june
the Pythagoreans; played 1931
a significant part in the science of his time, espe-
cially astronomy and mathematics; a student of the number theory attrib-
uted to Pythagoras.

Pīpā, Rāja (1408–68) An Indian mystic who had previously been the ruler of
Gagaraunga h, near Koā, in Rajasthan; a disciple of Ravidās; one of his
compositions is included in the Ādi Granth.

Pirkei Avot (He) Lit. ethics (pirkei) of the fathers (avot); a text of the Mishnah;
a selection of sayings and stories of the rabbis, conveying ethical, moral,
legendary and mystical teachings; traces the transmission of the rabbinic
teachings from the revelation at Sinai to the generation of rabbis of the
period following the destruction of the Second Temple (first century CE);
often recited in the synagogue.

Pistis Sophia Also called the Askew Codex; a Coptic codex, measuring 210 x
165 mm, written on vellum (fine leather parchment) in the dialect of Upper
Egypt; bought for ten pounds by the British Museum in 1785 from the heirs
of the London doctor and antiquary, Dr Anthony Askew, who bought it from
a London bookseller in 1772, its earlier provenance being unknown.
The codex is a compilation of four books. The first is untitled, but the
second – a continuation of the first – is designated, The Second Book of the
Pistis Sophia, the name by which the entire codex has come to be known.
Part of the second book, together with the third, are designated “A Portion
of the Books of Saviour”, while the fourth book (similar in content to the
third) is untitled.
Pistis Sophia is an allegory of the soul’s descent into the material realm,
and her rescue by the Saviour, Jesus. In the Books of the Saviour, Jesus is in
conversation with his disciples, discoursing, telling stories and answering
questions. Common themes are the treasury of Light, the vestures or robes
of the soul, the inner realms or (aeons) and the inner mysteries, baptism or
initiation, the five names, the Five Trees, the five archons (rulers), the great
Name, the seven Voices, reincarnation, and much else of a gnostic character.
The earliest date of composition of these texts is probably the second
century CE, although they may have been written as late as the third century.

Plato (c.427–347 BCE) One of the most renowned of the ancient Greek phi-
losophers; born of noble and distinguished Athenian parents, Ariston and
Perictionē; probably lost his father when he was a boy, his mother subse-
quently marrying her uncle, Pyrilampēs, a leading supporter of the statesman,
Periclēs, who had died immediately prior to Plato’s birth. Plato’s mentor,
Socratēs, was known to members of his mother’s family. Critias and
Charmidēs, the cousin and brother of Perictionē, were both acquainted with
386 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Socratēs, and Plato probably knew him letter

sinceone
childhood. Critias was later
one of the more unprincipled of the ‘thirty tyrants’ who briefly governed
Athens after the breakdown of the democracy.
When Socratēs was condemned to death in 399 BCE, Plato and a number
of other disciples of Socratēs sought refuge with the philosopher and their
fellow disciple, Eucleidēs of Megara. Subsequently, Plato travelled for some
years in Greece, Egypt and Italy. In one of his letters (VII), he says that when
he visited Italy and Sicily at the age of 40, he found the gross sensuality of
their life abhorrent, although discovering a kindred spirit in Dion, the brother
of one of the two wives of Dionysius I, ruler of the Sicilian city of Syracuse.
By 387 BCE, Plato must have been back in Athens, for that was the year
that he founded his famous Academy, presiding over it for the remainder of
his life. From the available evidence, it seems probable that the curriculum
included the sciences, and subjects such as rhetoric, as well as philosophy.
Although posterity remembers Plato for his writings, it seems that Plato him-
self placed more value on his Academy, where he could teach living phi-
losophy to living students. Many of the significant natural scientists,
biologists, mathematicians and legalists of the time were Plato’s students.
After his death, the orientation of the Academy changed, but it remained an
intellectual focus in the Greek world for two and a half centuries. It remained
open for nearly 1,000 years, before being closed by the Roman emperor,
Justinian, in 529 CE, in the name of orthodox Christianity.
So far as is known, Plato largely steered clear of active involvement in
politics. In 367, however, on the death of Dionysius I, he was invited back
to Syracuse by his old friend, Dion, to tutor the poorly educated Dionysius
II. The plan was to train the new ruler in philosophy and science, and so
make him more fit to govern. Plato was not very enthusiastic, but acceded
to his friend’s desire. The plan fell through, however, when Dionysius, out
of fear and jealousy, drove Dion into effective banishment. In 361–360,
Plato paid a longer visit to Syracuse to try and effect a reconciliation, but to
no avail. In 357, Dion effected a coup, but was murdered in 354. This seems
to have been Plato’s last foray into active politics.
Little is known of Plato as a person. Aristotle, Plato’s most renowned
student, writes that it would be blasphemy for base persons to even praise
Plato, meaning that Plato’s character was so upright that the ignoble should
not even speak of him.
The works attributed to Plato are generally numbered as 36, the 13 letters
being included as one item. All of these works are extant, although a few of
the less significant works are considered by most modern scholars to be of
dubious authenticity, and the majority of his letters are regarded as forgeries,
except perhaps the seventh.
Many of Plato’s dialogues seem to be built upon the mystical philosophy
of Socratēs, discussing ethics, morals, social and political philosophy,
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 387

mythology, cosmology, 3 june

and 1931
sometimes mysticism, using dialogue as the
means of expression. Often, philosophy is explained in terms of the tradi-
tional mysteries. He speaks, for example, of the soul’s essential immortality
(e.g. Phaedrus, Republic), its forgetfulness of its divine origins and its trans-
migration in other physical bodies (e.g. Phaedo, Phaedrus, Republic,
Timaeus), of a just recompense for the good or bad deeds of human life
(e.g. Republic), of initiation into the mysteries (e.g. Phaedo), of learning to
die well (e.g. Phaedo), of the Logos (e.g. Phaedo, Phaedrus, Republic),
of the Music of the Spheres (e.g. Timaeus), of the creation of the world
(e.g. Timaeus), and of material existence as founded upon a realm of eternal
‘absolutes’, from which the transient world comes into existence (Republic).
Although Plato had known Socratēs, and was deeply influenced by him,
it is unclear to what extent he was a disciple of the philosopher. In a number
of Plato’s dialogues, Socratēs plays no part, perhaps because Plato is pre-
senting ideas in these works that were entirely his own, and he did not wish
them to be understood as the philosophy of Socratēs. Scholars sometimes
suggest that the non-Socratic dialogues were a part of Plato’s later work,
and that as his thought evolved, he explored other fields of study. In fact,
since Plato himself never appears as a character in his dialogues, it is diffi-
cult to know the nature of his personal philosophy. In many instances, it
seems that he is simply exploring or presenting ideas that he himself may
or may not have personally espoused. But there is no certainty to any of these
speculations. Though Western philosophers since the Renaissance have
liked to view Plato purely as an intellectual, tradition closer to his own time
dubbed him, the “divine Plato”, viewing him as a mystical philosopher and
a Pythagorean.

See also: Socratēs and Plato (1.9).

Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE) Full name, Gaius Plinius Secundus; remembered
as the author of the encyclopaedic Natural History; born into a wealthy fam-
ily and studied in Rome; remained unmarried throughout his life; joined the
Roman army at 23, and was posted to Germany, where he served with
Vespasian, rising to the rank of military commander; returned to Rome, de-
voting himself to his studies, until towards the end of Nero’s reign (54–68),
when he was made procurator (governor) of Spain; returned to official duties
in Rome after Vespasian became emperor in 69. While commander of the
fleet in the Bay of Naples, assigned to deal with a piracy problem, Pliny
heard of an unusual ‘cloud formation’. Going ashore to investigate and
reassure the frightened citizens, he was overcome by the fumes of the
erupting Mount Vesuvius, and died, along with many others.
Pliny’s Natural History was used as a scientific and medical authority
until the Middle Ages. His strength was his attention to detail, and the ability
388 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter one
to organize previously unrelated information, all woven with interesting
fables and stories. His work, including magic and superstition, remained
unchallenged partly because there was no other source of information, and
partly because many of his assertions remained untested or were untestable.
His work was first seriously questioned in 1492, in a treatise concerning
the errors of Pliny, by the Italian, Niccolò Leoniceno, after which his influ-
ence increasingly declined.

Plotinus (c.205–270 BCE) A philosopher and mystic, generally regarded as the

founder of Neo-Platonism.

See Plotinus and the Neo-Platonists (1.9).

Plutarch (c.46–119 CE) A Greek writer and biographer; son of Aristobulus, also
a biographer; married with at least four sons; studied philosophy and math-
ematics in Athens; travelled widely throughout Greece, also visiting Asia
Minor, Alexandria and Rome, where he seems to have become acquainted
with the emperors Trajan and Hadrian; lived in Chaeronea, where he occu-
pied several official positions, and ran a school offering a broad range of
studies with philosophy, especially ethics, as a primary focus; was closely
associated with the Academy at Athens and with Delphi, where (from 95
onward) he held a priesthood (presumably part time); well-loved and re-
spected in his own time, and by posterity.
Plutarch is said to have written of over 200 works, of which two are the
most significant. Bioi paralleloi (‘Parallel Lives’) is a collection of biogra-
phies of Greek and Roman personalities, arranged in pairs (of which 22
have survived) according to their similarities, with frequent ethical and
anecdotal digressions, designed to create mutual respect between Greeks
and Romans. Moralia (‘Morals’) is a compilation of more than 60 essays
mostly in the form of dialogues or diatribes on physical, political, literary,
ethical and religious topics, including The Ei at Delphi.
Plutarch’s basic philosophy was Platonism, with borrowings from the
Pythagoreans, Stoics and Peripatetics. He had a mystical side, believing in
the immortality of the soul, and was an initiate of the mysteries of the
Dionysian school.

Porphyry (c.232–305 CE) A Syrian philosopher and writer, born in Tyre, whose
original name was Malchus (lit. king), his name having been Hellenized by
Cassius Longinus, with whom he studied rhetoric in Athens (porphyros
means ‘purple’, an allusion to the purple robes of a king); came to Rome
where, in 263, he met the philosopher-mystic, Plotinus (c.205–270); re-
corder and arranger of the teachings of Plotinus in the Enneads, to which he
added a short biography, the Life of Plotinus.
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 389

3 june 1931 and carefully on philosophy, religion,

Porphyry wrote voluminously
philology and science. As well as the Enneads, he is remembered for his
commentary on Aristotle’s Categories, which was influential in the devel-
opment of logic in medieval times. Surviving fragments of Against the
Christians, a book condemned to burning in 448, indicate Porphyry’s
antithesis to the new religion. He also wrote a Life of Pythagoras and On
Abstinence from Animal Food, in support of vegetarianism. He was also a
teacher of the Syrian Neo-Platonist, Iamblichus.

See also: Plotinus and the Neo-Platonists (1.9).

Prajñāpāramitās (S) Lit. perfection (pāramitā) of wisdom (prajñā), transcend-

ent wisdom; sometimes called the ‘wisdom texts’ or the ‘wisdom literature’
of Buddhism; a body of sūtras and their commentaries believed to have been
composed between 100 BCE and 150 CE, containing the teachings of the
oldest of the major forms of Mahāyāna Buddhism, extending the Mahāyāna
concept of shūnyatā (voidness, emptiness) and elevating prajñā, part of the
Buddha’s original eightfold path, to the supreme position and the primary
road to nirvāa.
In Buddhism, prajñā refers to the wisdom that perceives the illusory
nature of the transient world. In the Prajñāpāramitās, the meaning is ex-
tended to cover the illusion of the heavenly worlds as well. The Prajñāpār-
amitā movement began as an attempt to break free from the intellectuality
which had engulfed Buddhism. Later on, however, scholarly commentaries
on the Prajñāpāramitās were written in the Mādhyamika monasteries of
eastern India, thus re-introducing the same intellectual complexity they had
originally sought to escape.
The best-known of the Prajñāpāramitās is the Ash asāhasrikā Prajñā-
pāramitā, consisting of eight thousand (ash asāhasrikā) verses, first trans-
lated into Chinese in 179 CE. Eighteen smaller wisdom texts or portable
editions were later derived from the Prajñāpāramitās, the best known of
which is the Vajrachhedikā Sūtra (Diamond Sūtra).
Prajñāpāramitā also became personified as a goddess, and Indian images
of her are described by the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, Fǎ Hsiěn, as early as
400 CE. In India, images survive that date back to the ninth century, and
are still found in Nepal, Tibet and Southeast Asia. In Tantric Buddhism, the
goddess appears as the consort of the Ādi-Buddha (primal Buddha). Images
of her are generally yellow or white; her two hands (sometimes more) are
in the teaching mudrā (posture) or may hold a lotus and a sacred text. Often
she has with her a rosary (symbolizing meditation), a sword (to cut away
ignorance), a thunderbolt (vajra, symbolizing the shūnyatā) or a begging
bowl (symbolizing the renunciation necessary for the acquisition of wisdom).

See also: Buddhism (1.12).

390 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter
Prasannapadā (S) Lit. the clear- (prasanna) one(pāda); a commentary by
worded
Chandrakīrti (c.600–650 CE) on the Madhyamaka Kārikā of the Buddhist
sage Nāgārjuna. Chandrakīrti was the principal representative of the Prā-
sangika school of Buddhist logic. His Prasannapadā became the most
authoritative commentary on Nāgārjuna, and is the only commentary that
has been preserved in Sanskrit. Others only survive in Tibetan translation.

Prashna Upanishad (S) Belonging to the Atharva Veda; derives its name
from prashna meaning ‘question’; presented as a sequence of answers to
six questions put by different disciples to the
ishi, Pippalāda, discussing
the nature of prāa (understood as the essential life force animating all
creation); meditation on Om (as a symbol of Brahman); and realization of
the one supreme Being (Purusha) who lies within.

See also: Upanishads.

Preaching of Andrew An apocryphal text, of uncertain date, purporting to

recount the missionary activities of the apostle Andrew among the Kurds;
extant in Ethiopic and Arabic, with some variations between the two; this
text is different from the Greek Acts of Andrew.

Proverbs One of the three biblical books of canonical Wisdom Literature, con-
taining wisdom poems and many moral sayings concerning the development
of wisdom (okhmah); in other poems and proverbs, Wisdom is personi-
fied and identified with the divine creative Power of Yahweh. Traditionally
attributed to King Solomon, though comprised of several parts of different
authorship, the present form of the book is normally dated to the sixth cen-
tury BCE, though including earlier material.

Psalms One of the three biblical books of canonical Wisdom Literature,

containing a collection of 150 psalms written over a period of time, com-
piled and arranged in their present form around the third century BCE.
Traditionally ascribed to King David (C11th–C10th BCE), some of the
psalms may indeed have originated in David’s time.

Psalms of Solomon A pseudo-epigraphic work comprising 18 psalms, originally

composed in Hebrew, now surviving in only Greek and Syriac transla-
tions, and consisting of hymns, psalms of thanksgiving and lamentation, and
poems of moral and spiritual exhortation. Those concerned with moral and
spiritual issues are difficult to date; those containing references to Pompey’s
conquest of Rome in 63 BCE, and the subsequent demise of the Judaean
Hasmonean dynasty, can be dated to the mid- to late-first century BCE.
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 391

Pseudo-Aristotle See On3the

june 1931
Cosmos.

Purāas (S) Lit. ancient, old, of ancient times; hence, ancient lore; sacred Hindu
texts, often large and encyclopaedic, comprising myth, legend and geneal-
ogy, including accounts of the origin, destruction and renewal of the uni-
verse, together with legends concerning the lives, deeds and sagas of gods,
saints, ascetics, heroes and royal dynasties; generally written in narrative
couplets in a flowing style.
There are 18 principal Purāas, of greatly varying provenance and date,
most of which are estimated to have originated between 400 BCE and 500
CE, and are roughly divided into those exalting Vishu, Shiva or Brahmā,
although each school has tried to be included in all the more popular
Purāas. The best known is the Bhāgavata Purāa, especially the tenth
book, which tells the story of K isha’s childhood. There are also 18 lesser
Purāas (Upapurāas), as well as a considerable body of sthala-Purāas
or mahātmyas, extolling the virtues of various temples or holy places, and
used in temple services.
The Purāas gained in popularity because they were accessible to every-
one, including women and members of the lowest caste, unlike the Vedas
which could only be read by initiated men of the three higher castes. The
Purāas were also accepted by the brāhmas, who – although not the main
writers of the Purāas – nevertheless used them to some extent to intro-
duce new elements into their religion. The Purāas also reflected and in-
fluenced the roles occupied by the various deities in Puranic times. In the
ig Veda, for instance, Indra is chief of the gods and a divine warrior, as
well as god of the sky and rain, but by the time of the Purāas, his role was
much diminished, and he was understood mostly as the rain god, and so he
appears in the Purāas. Vishu and Shiva, on the other hand, are compara-
tively minor Vedic deities, but their enhanced stature in the Purāas reflects
the more significant place they occupied in Indian religion of those times.

See also: Bhāgavata Purāa.

Qāshānī, ‘Abd al-Razzāq al- (d.1329) A Sufi of the school of Ibn ‘Arabī; be-
lieved to have been a disciple of Mu’ayyid al-Dīn al-Jandī (d.1291, a disciple
of al-Qūnawī, the successor of Ibn ‘Arabī); however, Jāmī says in Nafaāt
al-Uns (‘Fragment Breaths of the Intimate’) that he was a disciple of Nūr
al-Dīn ‘Abd al-amad and a contemporary of Rukn al-Dīn ‘Alā’ al-Dawlah
al-Simnānī (d.1336); author of a well-known commentary on Ibn ‘Arabī’s
Fuū al-
ikam and also I ilāāt al-ūfīyah (‘Dictionary of Sufism’); one
of the Sufis who brought some clarity to the teachings of Ibn ‘Arabī, help-
ing Ibn ‘Arabī’s writings to become well-known in the Muslim world.
392 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Qāshānī, ‘Izz al-Dīn Mamūd ibn ‘Alīletter one

(d.1353) Sufi author of Mibā al-
Hidāyah wa-Miftā al-Kifāyah (‘Lamp of Right Guidance and Key to What
is Sufficient’), written in Persian, and based on Shihāb al-Dīn Abū af
‘Umar al-Suhravardī’s ‘Awārif al-Ma‘ārif (‘Gifts of Divine Knowledge’),
which Qāshānī slightly rearranged and added new material, and which con-
tains such chapters as “How the disciple (murīd) should behave towards his
Master (Shaykh).”

Qayarī, Dā’ūd al- (d.1350) A disciple of al-Qāshānī; author of a well-known

commentary (shar) on Ibn ‘Arabī’s Fuū al-
ikam, which includes an
extensive and well-organized introduction to Sufi philosophy; one of the
Sufis who brought some clarity to the teachings of Ibn ‘Arabī, helping Ibn
‘Arabī’s writings to become well-known in the Muslim world.

Qūnawī, adr al-Dīn al- (d.1274) A Persian Sufi who lived in Konya (now in
Turkey); the stepson and successor of his stepfather, Ibn ‘Arabī; a lucid
writer who systematized the teachings of Ibn ‘Arabī, setting the scene for
their later popularity throughout the Islamic world; two of his more well-
known disciples were Qub al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī and Fakhr al-Dīn al-‘Irāqī;
an intimate friend and colleague of Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī in Konya.

Qur’ān (A) The holy book of Islam, revealed to the Prophet Muammad.

See The Qur’ān (1.10).

Qushayrī, Abū al-Qāsim ‘Abd al-Karīm al- (986–1074) An early Persian Sufi;
a disciple of Daqqāq; author of Risālah, a treatise on Sufism, and a mystical
commentary on the Qur’ān; quoted on several occasions by al-Hujwīrī in
Kashf al-Majūb (‘Unveiling of the Hidden’), where al-Hujwīrī eulogizes,
“In his time he was a wonder. His rank is high and his position is great, and
his spiritual life and manifold virtues are well known to the people of the
present age. He is the author of many fine sayings and exquisite works, all
of them profoundly theosophical, in every branch of science” (Kashf al-
Majūb XII, KM p.167).

Qu b al-Dīn Bakhtiyār Kākī, Khwājah (d.1235) A renowned Indian Sufi of

Delhi; a disciple of Mu‘īn al-Dīn Chishtī and the Shaykh of Shaykh Farīd.

Rābi‘ah al-‘Adawīyah (c.717–801) Born in Ba rah, now in Iraq; also known as

Rābi‘ah Ba rī; one of the best-known mystics of Islam; born – according to
the traditional story – into a poor family, and sold into slavery following
the death of her parents in a famine; given her freedom when her owner saw
a great light hovering over her while she was praying; said to have lived a
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 393

3 june
simple life, focusing on 1931
prayer and meditation; credited with having intro-
duced divine love into Sufism, converting its asceticism to mysticism. The
sayings and poems attributed to her have remained popular in the Islamic
world, some being invoked as proverbs to this day. Poems attributed to her
frequently emphasize maabbah (divine love) and uns (intimacy with God).

Rāmakisha (1836–86) Also called Gadādhar Chaopādhyāya; an Indian

mystic around whom so much legend has accumulated that it is difficult to
distinguish fact from fiction; born in Kamarpukur, in West Bengal to a poor
brāhma family; had little education, spoke a rough Bengali dialect, and
learnt neither English nor Sanskrit; first experienced God-intoxication at the
age of seven; became a priest at the temple of Kālī at Dakshieshvar near
Calcutta, worshipping her as the divine Mother and highest manifestation
of God. Yearning for Kālī to manifest herself, he passed long periods in
tears, experiencing a burning sensation all over his body (cf. Richard Rolle).
He was subjected to exorcism and various medical treatments, but to no
avail. Subsequently, he found peace and ecstasy in visions of Kālī, whom
he once described as “a limitless, effulgent ocean of spirit”.
Rāmak isha refused the education offered by his elder brother, a Sanskrit
scholar, on the grounds that he wished to know God by direct experience
rather than through books. He believed that sex and the desire for money
were primary hindrances in the way of spiritual enlightenment. At 23, hoping
to ‘stabilize’ him, his family married him to Shāradā Devī, but the marriage
was never consummated because of his celibacy.
After his marriage, Rāmak isha practised asceticism for 12 years, ex-
periencing various states of samādhi (transcendent consciousness). He
learnt tantric yoga. He also became a Vaishnavite (devotee of Vishu), and
experienced a vision of K isha (regarded as an incarnation of Vishu). He
was initiated as a sannyāsin (renunciate) by Swāmī Totāpurī, who taught
him Advaita Vedānta, and he rapidly achieved the nirvikalpa samādhi (union
with Brahman). At this point, he took the new name Rāmak isha.
When he studied and practised Islam, he reputedly had a vision of
Muammad; when he studied Christianity, he likewise had a vision of Jesus.
From all these experiences, he came to believe that all religions are true and
essentially the same. He compared them to the steps leading into tank of
water, from which everyone draws the same liquid, but which Hindus call
‘jal’, Muslims ‘pānī’ and Christians ‘water’.
As his visions and teachings became known, his fame spread throughout
India, and thousands gathered at his Calcutta home to hear him speak. He
was never a writer, but his disciples collected his sayings into several vol-
umes. The philosophy he taught was spread by his disciples, such as Shāradā
Devī and Swāmī Vivekānanda, the latter being the first to take his message
to America and the Western world, in 1893. Rāmak isha died in Calcutta
394 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

in 1896. In 1897, Swāmī Vivekānanda letter onethe Ramakrishna Mission,

founded
dedicated to social service in India and to teaching the philosophy of
Rāmak isha. At the present time, the Mission has many centres worldwide.

Rāmānuja (c.1017–1137) A well-known Hindu philosopher of South India,

belonging to the Vaishava tradition; born in Shrīperumbudur and settled
in Shrīrangam, after a long pilgrimage, where he taught the path of devo-
tion (bhakti) to the deity, Vishu, organizing temple worship and founding
centres; the foremost thinker of devotional Hinduism; a reformer and author
of several treatises on Vedānta, founding the school of Vishish a Advaita
(qualified non-dualism). His works include a voluminous commentary on
the Brahma Sūtras known as Shrī Bhāshya (‘Great Commentary’); a
commentary on the Bhagavad Gītā (Bhagavad Gītā Bhāshya); a work
named Gadyatraya (‘Prose Triad’); the Vedārtha Sangraha (‘Collection of
Vedic Meanings’); an exposition of the Vaishava philosophy and religion;
and two other shorter books, Vedāntasāra (‘Essence of Vedānta’) and
Vedāntadīpa (‘Light on Vedānta’).

See also: Vedānta (1.11).

Rāma Uttara Tāpanīya Upanishad (S) Lit. the later (uttara) (part) of the
Upanishad regarding ascetic self-sacrifice (tāpanīya) to Rāma, a mytho-
logical incarnation of the deity Vishu; consists mostly of passages taken
from other Upanishads.

See also: Upanishads.

Rāmāyaa (S) An epic poem, the first poetic work in classical Sanskrit, tradi-
tionally ascribed to the legendary ishi Vālmīki; of uncertain date, ascribed
by different scholars to varying dates between the sixth millennium BCE
and the fourth century CE, but – based on internal linguistic, stylistic, cul-
tural, political and geographical evidence – believed to have been composed
(not necessarily all at the same time or by the same author) before the time
of the Buddha (c.560–480 BCE), probably some time between 750 and
500 BCE.
The Rāmāyaa, overflowing throughout with colourful imagery, re-
counts the childhood and youth of prince Rāmachandra; how he is tricked
out of inheriting his father’s kingdom; his years of voluntary exile in the
forests with his devoted wife, Sītā, and his steadfast brother, Lakshmaa;
the abduction of Sītā by the demon, Rāvaa, king of Lankā; Rāma’s alli-
ance with Hanumān, loyal general of the monkey kingdom; the subsequent
war and rescue of Sītā; the restoration of Rāma’s throne; followed by the
alienation of Rāma and Sītā, her time in a tranquil forest hermitage with the
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 395

ishi Vālmīki, and the 3 june 1931

birth of twin sons to Rāma and Sītā; and their final
reconciliation.
The Rāmāyaa and the Mahābhārata are the two greatest epics of In-
dian literature, both enjoying immense popularity. Translated into the many
Indian vernaculars, their stories have been a major source of guidance in
morality and social conduct, and have provided inspiration in drama, dance,
art, sculpture and all aspects of Indian culture for two or three millennia.
The stories have also spread throughout southeast Asia, where they have
exercised something of the same cultural influence as in India. Scenes from
the Rāmāyaa are even carved on many Indonesian monuments.

See also: The Rāmāyaa, the Mahābhārata and the Bhagavad Gītā (1.11).

Rām Charit Mānas (H) Lit. sacred lake (Mānas) of the deeds (charit) of Rām;
a masterpiece of medieval Hindi literature, written by Tulsīdās, notable for
its expression of divine love; instrumental in strengthening the worship of
Rām as an incarnation of Vishu throughout much of North India; written
around 1575, in seven cantos, although the earliest extant manuscript dates
from about 100 years later.

See also: Tulsīdās.

Rāmdās A seventeenth-century Maharashtran Saint (Sant) and contemporary

of Tukārām; the author of thousands of devotional poems, many of which
are collectively published in Marathi under the title of Dās Bodh – lit. the
realization (bodh) of a slave (dās); not to be confused with Guru Rāmdās,
the fourth Sikh Guru.

Rasā’il Ikhwān al-afā’ (A) Lit. the Treatises (Rasā’il) of the Brotherhood
(Ikhwān) of Purity (afā’); a 51–part encyclopaedia consisting of philoso-
phy, theology, metaphysics, cosmology and the natural sciences. The
Brotherhood of Purity was a secret society founded in Ba rah around 951,
associated with the Ismā‘īlī gnostic movement. Their philosophy was linked
to self-knowledge, the liberation of the soul from the material world, and
the return to God. Although their works were officially condemned and
burned in 1160, by order of the Caliph, the wide influence of the Rasā’il
has continued.

Ravidās, Guru (c.1414–1540) Also known as Raidās, Rohidās, and other re-
gional variants; an Indian Saint (Sant), born near Vārāasī, Uttar Pradesh,
of whose life history, little is certain; probably poorly educated; showed
early signs of a devotional temperament; married by his family at an early
age in an unsuccessful attempt to interest him in worldly affairs; a contempo-
396 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter
rary of Guru Nānak and Kabīr, still living oneKabīr died in 1518; prob-
when
ably a disciple of Kabīr, although he is also associated with Rāmānand;
believed to have lived to an advanced age, through there is considerable
debate concerning his exact dates, variants including 1376–1527, 1399–1527
and 1414–1540.
Ravidās records in his poetry that he is a cobbler, making and repairing
shoes, using “leather bought from the market”. In India of those times, ani-
mals were not killed for their hides. Tradition records that his generosity
towards Saints, holy men and poor people was such that he would offer them
shoes at a nominal price or at no price at all. This is said to have irritated his
father so much that he made Ravidās and his wife live in the back yard of
the family house.
Ravidās travelled widely, visiting Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh,
Maharashtra, and a number of places in North India, teaching the path of
the Word, and presenting his teachings in a spirit of gentle persuasion and
humble submission. His disciples included Rāja Pīpā, a Rajput king of
Gagaraunga h, as well as Mīrābāī, princess of Mewā . According to tradi-
tion, Mīrābāī tried to give Ravidās a diamond to save herself from being
ridiculed for having a poor low-caste cobbler as her Guru. He, however,
declined the gift, saying that he had sufficient divine treasures.
Forty of his poems are included in the Ādi Granth, one of which is a rep-
etition. His poetry expresses his great love and devotion for God, echoing
the ecstasy and the agony of his personal experience. In keeping with the
miraculous legends that surround many Saints, when Ravidās died, he is
said to have simply disappeared from the world, leaving only his footprints
(supposedly preserved at Chittor). Others believe he died a normal death, at
an advanced age, in Vārāasī.

Ra’’ aya Meheimna (Ar) Lit. the faithful (meheimna) shepherd (ra’aya) – a
reference to Moses; a work on the Kabbalistic significance of the biblical
commandments in which a number of mystics and scholars of antiquity have
a vision of Moses and other personalities of the celestial world, who ex-
plain the spiritual meaning of the commandments; an imitation of the Zohar
written at the end of the thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth centuries,
eventually incorporated into the Zohar itself.

See also: Zohar.

Revelations See Book of Revelation.

Richard Rolle de Hampole (c.1300–49) Born in Thornton-le-Dale, Yorkshire,

in England; died at Hampole, near Doncaster, in Yorkshire; an English
mystic, ascetic and writer; went up to Oxford University, sponsored finan-
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 397

3 juneArchdeacon
cially by Thomas Neville, 1931 of Durham, but left without com-
pleting his studies; back in Yorkshire, he left home after making a hermit’s
attire out of his father’s rain hood and two of his sister’s frocks (“one white
and the other grey”); found refuge the following day on the estate of John
de Dalton, squire of Dalton and Constable of Pickering Castle, who pro-
vided him with food, suitable clothes and a hermit’s cell, although not at
the time licensed or blessed by a bishop as a hermit.
Richard’s extremes soon aroused the hostility of the local monks and
clergy, whom he roundly rebukes in his Judica me, Deus (‘Judge me, God’)
and Melos amoris (‘Song of Love’). He seems to have possessed a rugged
independence which saw him through a wandering life and many changes
of patron, while staying in contact with a number of religious communities
in the north. Mellowing as he matured, by his death he was spiritual direc-
tor of the Cistercian convent in Hampole, where he died, possibly of the
Black Death, which was ravaging Europe at that time.
Richard Rolle is remembered for his rich and varied prose and poetry,
especially his devotional, Incendium amoris (Fire of Love, 1343). The work
opens with a description of the sensation of burning in his body which ac-
companied his ecstasies (cf. Rāmak isha), and goes on to extol the virtues
of contemplation and solitude, describing the ecstasies of the inner life and
union with God. Other works include a commentary on the Song of Songs.
He is not, however, the author of all the works ascribed to him. He clearly
enjoyed the use of words, and his vital and energetic English is regarded by
some as more readable than his somewhat rhetorical Latin. He was a pioneer
of writing in the vernacular. Known as St Richard Hermit (though never
canonized), he became the centre of a cult, and 30 years or so after his death,
miracles were reported at his grave. The cult endured, and he remained in-
fluential until the time of the Reformation in the sixteenth century.

ig Veda (S) See Vedas.

Robe of Glory Also called the Hymn of the Pearl; an allegorical poem, extant
in Syriac and Greek and found in the Acts of Thomas, relating the gnostic
story of the soul’s descent into this world, its experiences here, and its
eventual rescue by a Saviour; often attributed to the Syrian gnostic, Bar
Daisan (155–233), although the authorship is uncertain.

See also: Acts of Thomas.

Romans See Galatians.

Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) An Austrian-born philosopher and educationalist,

born in Kraljevic; from 1889–96, editor of the complete works of Goethe,
398 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

in the German city of Weimar; thereafter,letter

movedoneto Berlin to become editor
of the literary journal, Magazin für Literatur; founder of the Anthroposophical
Society in 1912, at Dornach, near Basel, in Switzerland, the underlying
philosophy being that there exists a spiritual world that can be understood
and experienced by a purified mind, with spiritual senses functioning inde-
pendently of their physical counterparts; built his first school at Dornach in
1913, which he described as a ‘school of spiritual science’. Steiner’s edu-
cational work is the basis of the Waldorf school movement, which by 1969
had around 80 schools in Europe and the USA. A number of other specialist
schools and teaching methods are based upon his work. Steiner’s varied
literary output includes The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity (1894), Occult
Science: An Outline (1913) and The Story of My Life (1924).

Rufinus (c.345–410) Born at Concordia, near Aquileia, in Italy; educated in

Rome, where he met Jerome (c.347–420); entered a monastery at Aquileia,
frequently visited by Jerome, where they became good friends. Rufinus and
Jerome lived at a time when Latin was replacing Greek as the lingua franca
in the West, and both were to become major translators of texts from Greek
to Latin. Jerome is known especially for his translation of the Bible into
Latin (the Vulgate).
Around 373, Rufinus began a study of the writings of Origen, one of the
earliest Christian fathers to introduce elements of Greek philosophy into
Christian theology. A few years later, when Jerome had acquired a better
grasp of Greek, he too studied Origen, for whom he developed a high re-
gard, translating a number of Origen’s sermons on the Old Testament into
Latin. By the early 390s, however, Origen was suspected of entertaining
heretical elements and, in 393, Rufinus and Jerome were charged with
Origenist tendencies. Jerome readily admitted his fault and retracted, but
Rufinus did not, and an on-going quarrel developed between them. By 397,
it had abated, but when Rufinus published a Latin translation of Origen’s
De principiis (‘On First Principles’), with a preface describing Jerome as
an admirer of Origen, the row flared up a second time. Jerome never for-
gave Rufinus, subjecting him to constant abuse thereafter. Suspected of
unorthodoxy, Rufinus was summoned to Rome by Pope Anastasius, and had
to write an official apology.
Rufinus then devoted himself to literary pursuits. His translations in-
cluded many of Origen’s biblical commentaries and homilies, sermons by
Gregory of Nazianus (c.329–389, Bishop of Caesarea) and Basil the Great,
and Eusebius’ History of the Church. None of his works have survived in
toto, however. Rufinus’ stated method was to paraphrase or edit his sources
whenever they seemed to him to deviate from orthodox doctrine, something
which he justified as correcting the errors of previous redactors of his sub-
ject’s work. In fact, whenever both the original Greek still exists and is
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 399

compared with Rufinus’3 june 1931

translation, it is clear that his translations tend to
be a very free rendering of the original. As a result, they are viewed with
some caution by modern scholars. Among his own writings are a commen-
tary on the Apostle’s Creed, providing an example of the instruction given
to new converts at that time. He died in Sicily, possibly at Messina.

See also: Apocryphal Sources (1.5), reincarnation and transmigration

(in Christianity) (6.3).

Rūmī, Mawlānā Jalāl al-Dīn (1207–73) Born at Balkh in Khurāsān, in north-

eastern Iran; his family settled in Iconium (now Konya) in Rūm (now Tur-
key), hence his epithet; known in India as Mawlānā Rūm; regarded as the
greatest Sufi mystic and poet in the Persian language. Few details are known
of Rūmī’s life. His father, Bahā’ al-Dīn Walad, was a well-known author
and teacher of mystical theology, who moved from Balkh in about 1218
owing to the threat of invading Mongols. After a pilgrimage to Mecca and
various Middle Eastern travels, Bahā’ al-Dīn and his family arrived at
Laranda, in Rūm, a country still enjoying peace and prosperity under Turk-
ish Saljūq rule. There is a traditional story that, during their travels, they
met the great Persian poet and mystic Farīd al-Dīn ‘Aār, who was much
impressed by the young Rūmī, and blessed him. Soon after their arrival in
Rūm, Rūmī’s mother died. Moving to the capital, Konya, in 1228, Bahā’ al-
Dīn taught at one of the many religious schools. When he died in 1231, the
young Rūmī took his place.
In Konya, Rūmī’s spiritual life was greatly influenced by one of his fa-
ther’s former students, Sayyid Burhān al-Dīn Muaqqiq. He is also believed
to have travelled to Syria, where he may have met Ibn ‘Arabī, whose step-
son, adr al-Dīn Qūnawī, was Rūmī’s close friend and colleague in Konya.
In 1244, in his late thirties, Rūmī met the wandering dervish, Shams al-Dīn
of Tabrīz, whom he may have previously met in Syria. Shams is not associ-
ated with any of the usual Sūfī orders, and has remained a mystery character,
but he seems to have opened up Rūmī’s mystical life in a dramatic manner.
For many months, Rūmī could hardly be separated from his beloved
Master, and he so neglected his family and students that they finally forced
Shams to leave town. Rūmī was desolate, and his eldest son, Sulān Walad,
went to Syria to persuade Shams to return. The jealousy continued, how-
ever, and one night in 1246, Shams disappeared, believed to have been
murdered.
Experiencing the ache of divine longing, Rūmī turned to poetry, com-
posing his Rubā‘īyāts and the Dīvān-i Shams-i Tabrīz. His classic master-
piece, the Maśnavī, addressed to his disciple and successor-to-be, usām
al-Dīn Chelebī, comprises 27,500 distichs (rhyming couplets), and consists
of six books of stories, dialogues and discourses written in a lyrical and
400 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

entertaining style, replete with a rich letter

imagery.one
It is said that he would often
compose verses in the bath, or while out walking, and usām al-Dīn would
write them down.
Soon after completion of the Maśnavī, Rūmī died. usām al-Dīn’s suc-
cessor was Rūmī’s eldest son, Sulān Walad, who founded the Mawlawīyah
or Mevlevī order of Sufis, known in the West as the ‘whirling dervishes’ on
account of their ritual dance. Sulān Walad’s poetry is the most important
source of information concerning Rūmī’s life.
Apart from his poetry, Rūmī’s other writings include Maktūbāt (‘Divine
Inscriptions’), Majālis-i Sab‘ah (‘Assemblies of the Seven’), Fīhi mā Fīhi
(lit. in it what is in it, a collection of discourses and conversations), and some
letters. His writings have had a powerful influence in both the East and West,
where he has become one of the best-known Sufis. His influence on Sufi
poetry and Turkish culture has been immense. His mausoleum, the Green
Dome, now a museum in Konya, remains a place of pilgrimage, visited by
thousands.

Rūzbihān, Ibn Abī Nar al-Fasā’ī al-Daylamī al-Baqlī al-Shīrāzī adr al-

Dīn Abū Muammad (1128–1209) A Persian Sufi author, initiated into a
branch of the Kādharūnī arīqah; taught for 50 years in the mosque of
Shīrāz, establishing a meeting place for Sufis. Although his own order, the
arīqah Rūzbihānīyah, did not endure, his mystical commentary on the
Qur’ān is studied up to the present time in Central Asia, in previously Otto-
man territories and in India. Among his writings on Sufism are the Shar-i
Sha īyāt (‘Commentary on Ecstatic Utterances’); a Persian translation of
the Man iq al-Asrār (‘Pronouncement of Mysteries’), an Arabic collection
of ecstatic sayings, with a commentary and lexicon of Sufi terminology;
Kashf al-Asrār (‘Disclosure of Hidden Secrets’), a spiritual autobiography
in Arabic, written in 1181–82; and Mashrab al-Arwā (‘Drink of Souls’),
an Arabic treatise on 1,001 spiritual states (awāl).

Sa‘adia Ga’’ on (c.882–942) Full name, Sa‘adia ben Joseph; a Jewish scholar,
philosopher, author, grammarian and leader of Babylonian Jewry; one of
the most significant Jewish scholars of his time; born in Pithom, in the al-
Fayyūm region of Egypt. Little is known of Sa‘adia’s parents and early
life. His father was probably not a scholar, but earned his living by manual
labour. Sa‘adia was married and the father of children. Before leaving Egypt,
he was already an established scholar of the Torah and secular sciences,
with many students, and had composed an Arabic–Hebrew dictionary, later
revised.
After leaving Egypt (for unknown reasons), he lived and studied for a
while in Palestine. Here, he encountered a growing community of Karaites,
a group who rejected the Talmud, and who were supported by the local
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 401

Muslim authorities. The3 june 1931contains several centuries’ worth of rabbinic

Talmud
interpretation of Jewish law and lore.
From a surviving fragment of a letter, it seems that he was in Aleppo (in
northwest Syria) in 921, from where he travelled to Baghdad, which became
his home for the remainder of his life. In Baghdad, Sa‘adia again encoun-
tered the Karaites, as well as further deviations from orthodox Judaism in
the form of gnosticism. His response was to write a number of polemical
works defending orthodox Judaism against the Karaite and gnostic ‘her-
esies’. He believed that the Talmudic tradition of rabbinic interpretation was
essential in order to make sense of the otherwise confusing elements in the
law of Moses.
Soon after his arrival in Baghdad, he became the leading protagonist of
the Babylonian Jews in an acrimonious dispute with Aaron ben Me’ir, head
of the Palestinian academy. Aaron advocated far-reaching changes to the
Jewish religious calendar, which meant changing the dates fixed for the
Passover and other Jewish religious festivals. The conflict ended with no
definite victory for either side, except that Aaron ben Me’ir failed to im-
pose his will upon the Babylonian Jews. The result was a schism in which
the Babylonians no longer accepted decisions made in Jerusalem. Passover
and other festivals were therefore celebrated on different days by the two
communities. Sa‘adia’s part in the affair established him as a fearless leading
figure in Babylonian Jewry, and he was asked to write a history of the matter,
which he did, together with a work in defence of the traditional rabbinic
calendar, completed in 928.
In the spring of 928, the exilarch (head of Babylonian Jewry), David ben
Zakkai, appointed Sa‘adia the new ga’on (lit. sage) or head of the rabbinic
academy of Sura, which had fallen in standing, and whose closure had even
been considered. Sa‘adia’s appointment was controversial because the post
usually went to a scholar from a well-connected family. Sa‘adia was ultimately
offered the position because he was the foremost scholar in Babylonian
Jewry, and because of his high principles.
Sa‘adia immediately applied his significant energy and skill to restoring
the status of the academy. He began by raising the necessary funds from
Jews, throughout Jewry and especially in Egypt. On the literary side, per-
ceiving a need to systematize Talmudic law, he wrote a series of definitive
works on the subject. He also compiled and arranged the Jewish prayers, to
which he added some of his own original religious poetry. Although these
works further established his position as the leading scholar, Sa‘adia also
seems to have alienated some of his friends and to have disturbed his rela-
tionship with the exilarch.
In 932, he refused to provide legal endorsement to an inheritance that
had been left to the exilarch in a will, and an open quarrel ensued. David
ben Zakkai excommunicated Sa‘adia, who responded by excommunicating
402 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letterinone
the exilarch. After three years of conflict, which both sides had their
supporters among the rich and influential Jews of Baghdad, David ben
Zakkai persuaded the Muslim ruler to remove Sa‘adia from office.
Sa‘adia went into seclusion, and in the next five years produced his major
philosophical work, Emunot ve-De‘ot (‘Beliefs and Opinions’). The book
is an attempt to harmonize the fruits of revelation and reason, a point of view
influenced by the Muslim rationalist school, the Mu‘tazilah. It includes
chapters on the nature of the soul and on ethical living.
In 937, Sa‘adia and David ben Zakkai were reconciled, and Sa‘adia was
reinstated as ga’on. In 940, the exilarch died, followed seven months later
by his son. Sa‘adia took the orphaned grandson of the exilarch into his own
home, treating him as his own child. Sa‘adia himself died in September 942.
Like many scholars of his time, Sa‘adia wrote on a wide range of subjects
including Jewish law, philosophy, grammar and polemics. He translated
the Pentateuch and a number of other biblical books into Arabic, adding
a commentary to many of them. He composed an Arabic–Hebrew diction-
ary and, like many others, he also wrote a commentary of the early mystical
work, the Sefer Ye
irah (‘Book of Formation’).
Raised in a Muslim world, Sa‘adia wrote poetry in Hebrew and prose in
Arabic. He is responsible for introducing Hebrew into Babylonian Judaism
as the language of liturgical poetry. The purpose of his Arabic–Hebrew
dictionary was help make Hebrew accessible as a language of poetry. In the
introduction, he compares Hebrew to a woman whose beauty has been
slighted by the children of Israel by their preference for the imperfect foreign
languages of their exile.

Sadānanda Yogīndra Sarasvatī See Vedāntasāra.

Sa‘dī, Shaykh Abū ‘Abd Allāh Musharrif al-Dīn ibn Muli (c.1213–91)
Born in Shīrāz, Persia; a Persian poet and social reformer who also wrote
on mysticism; said (with questionable authenticity) to have taken the name
Sa‘dī from his patron, Sa‘d ibn Zangī, the Atābak of Fārs; lost his father
while he was still a child; studied and subsequently taught at the celebrated
Ni
āmīyah college of Islamic studies in Baghdad, where Shihāb al-Dīn Abū
af ‘Umar Suhravardī and Ibn al-Jawzī were his teachers.
Because of the uncertainties following the Mongol invasion of Persia,
Sa‘dī travelled extensively in Anatolia, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, the Yemen and
India, where he learned Hindustani. In Syria, he is believed to have been
appointed Imām and kha īb (preacher) at a mosque. He returned to Shīrāz
after 37 years of travelling, where he passed the remainder of his life.
Sa‘dī’s most famous works in Persian are the Gulistān (‘The Rose Gar-
den’), the Būstān (lit. the fragrant garden, commonly translated as ‘The
Orchard’ to distinguish it from the Gulistān), Ghazalīyāt (‘Lyrics’) and
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 403

Qasā’id (‘Odes’). The3 Būstān,

june 1931
written entirely in verse, aside from its rich
human and mystical insight, is considered a masterpiece of classical Persian
literature and is a set school book in modern Iran. The Gulistān is a mixture
of prose and verse, much like the Lama‘āt (‘Divine Flashes’) of ‘Irāqī or the
Sawāni (lit. happenings; aphorisms on love) of Amad Ghazālī, the
younger brother of Abū āmid al-Ghazālī. It contains stories, aphorisms
and advice, permeated by Sa‘dī’s kindly, wry and humorous perception of
human existence.

adr al-Dīn Muammad ibn Ibrāhīm Qawāmī Shīrāzī (1572–1640) Popularly

known as Mullā adrā; born in Shīrāz, the son of a leading family; educated
at I fahān, the foremost cultural centre in Iran at that time; a student of Mīr
Dāmād, the leading Shī‘ah philosopher of the Safavid era; a Persian scholar,
philosopher, mystic and original thinker, combining mysticism, philosophy
and theology; a principal member of the Ishrāqī (Illuminationist) school of
philosopher-mystics; generally considered by Iranians as their greatest phi-
losopher; returned to Shīrāz to teach in his latter years, where he was perse-
cuted by the Shi‘ite orthodoxy as a heretic, but was protected by his family
connections; died at Ba rah (in Iraq) on a pilgrimage to Arabia.
The author of a number of books, of which al-Asfār al-Arba‘ah (‘The
Four Journeys’), written after a 15-year retreat at the village of Kahak, near
Qum, in Iran, is the most remembered. In it, he describes the spiritual path
as four journeys. Firstly, man detaches himself from the world and the ma-
terial self, reaching extinction in God. Secondly, he attains the station of
sainthood, that of the divine Names and Attributes in which all he does is
through the Divine. Thirdly, the last traces of the individual self become
extinct in God, leaving only a transformed remainder of the self in this
world. Fourthly, the Saint returns to this world for the benefit and guidance
of others. Mullā adrā also believed that nature is both eternal and transient.
It is the permanent link between the eternal and the created, the essential
substance of all things, and the ground of all change.

Sahajobāī An eighteenth-century mystic and folk heroine who led a house-

holder’s life; known for her selfless devotion to her Master, Charadās; born
into a prominent family in the Mewāt region of Rajasthan; author of a book
of poems, Sahaj Prakāsh (‘Light on the Natural State’), which are simple
and direct in expression, full with devotion and love for her Master.

Sā’ib Tabrīzī, Mīrzā Muammad ‘Alī (c.1603–77) A Persian poet, born in

Shīrāz; received his training in poetry from Ruknā Masī of Kāshān; jour-
neyed through Herāt and Kābul on his way to India, around 1624–25; gained
access to the Mughul court through afar Khān, an administrator of Kābul
during the rule of Shāh Jahān, who conferred on him the title of Musta‘idd
404 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter
Khān (able nobleman); remained in India forone
seven years before returning
to Persia, where Shāh ‘Abbās II appointed him chief poet in his court; died
sometime between 1670 and 1678.
Sā’ib Tabrīzī was one of most prolific poets of his time, writing on mysti-
cal and spiritual themes. He was a leading exponent of the Indian style of
Persian poetry, and highly acclaimed by oriental critics. His works include
a long maśnavī (poem in rhymed couplets) – Qandahār-Nāmah (‘Book of
Qandahār’), Mir’āt al-Jamāl (‘Mirror of Beauty’), Mir’āt al-Khayāl (‘Mirror
of Thought’), and Maykhānah (‘The Tavern’). He also compiled an anthol-
ogy, Bayā (‘Book’) containing selections of his own verses as well as those
of other poets, past and present.

Sajjādī, Sayyid Ja‘far A modern Iranian scholar of Tehran; author of Farhang-

i Lughāt va-I ilāāt va-Ta‘bīrāt ‘Irfānī (‘Dictionary of Mystic Words,
Terms and Interpretations’), published in 1991.

Sāma Veda (S) See Vedas.

amdī, Farīd Amad A twentieth-century writer; author of I ilāāt-i ūfīyah

(‘Dictionary of Sufi Terms’) in Urdu, dictated and explained by his father,
a learned Sufi, arat Khwājah Shāh Muammad ‘Abd al-amd Farīdī
Fakhrī Chishtī. The work is not to be confused with the better-known
I ilāāt al-ūfīyah of ‘Abd al-Razzāq Qāshānī.

Sanā’ī, akīm Abū al-Majd Majdūd ibn Ādam al-Ghaznawī (d.c.1131) Born
at Ghazna, in Afghanistan; the first of the great Persian poets, influencing
the future development of Persian poetry; the first poet to use verse forms
such as the ghazal (lyric poem), the qasīdah (ode) and the maśnavī (rhymed
couplet) to express Sufi philosophy; author of some 30,000 verses; court
poet of the Ghaznavid sul āns for some time, writing eulogies of his patrons;
had achieved some renown as a poet before receiving instruction from
Shaykh Yūsuf Hamadānī, and becoming a Sufi, following which he left
Ghazna to live in Merv (in Turkmenistan); returned to Ghazna many years
later, where he lived a quiet life, resisting the invitations of the sul ān,
Bahrām Shāh (1118–52), to join his court.
Sanā’ī’s masterpiece,
aīqat al-
aqīqah wa Sharī‘at al-arīqah
(‘Garden of Truth and the Law of the Path’), dedicated to Bahrām Shāh,
was written after a pilgrimage to Mecca; his other works include arīq al-
Taqīq (‘Path to Realized Truth’), Gharīb-Nāmah (‘Book of Strangers’),
Sayr al-‘Ibād ilā al-Ma‘ād (‘Journey of the Servant to the Hereafter’), Kār-
Nāmah (‘Book of Deeds’), ‘Ishq-Nāmah (‘Book of Love’), ‘Aql-Nāmah
(‘Book of Reason’), and a Dīvān (collected poems). His works were stud-
ied by later Sufis, such as Rūmī and his disciples.
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 405

3 june(S)
Sānkhyapravachana Bhāshya 1931
Lit. commentary (bhāshya) on the doctrines
(pravachana) of Sānkhya; written by the sixteenth-century Vijñānabhikshu
as a commentary on the fourteenth-century (CE) Sānkhya Sūtra.

Sānkhya Sūtra (S) A fourteenth-century (CE) composition, comprising six

books of aphorisms on the doctrines of the Sānkhya school of Indian phi-
losophy, said to be based upon a now lost work, traditionally ascribed to
the sage Kapila (fl.c.500 BCE). However, the Sānkhya Sūtra has elements
of monistic theism, and thus differs philosophically from Kapila’s atheistic
Sānkhya system, as elucidated in the Sānkhya Kārikā, written by Īshvara-
k isha, probably during the third or fourth century CE, and described by
Īshvarak isha as being based on the doctrine of Kapila as conveyed to
Āsuri, and by Āsuri to Pañchasikha.

Sarmad, Muammad Sa‘īd (c.1618–1660) A Jewish merchant, born in an

Armenian family living in Kāshān, in Iran; studied Jewish theology at an
early age and is said to have committed the Torah to memory; also studied
the New Testament and Christianity; studied Islamic theology and science
in Iran with adr al-Dīn Muammad (commonly known as Mullā adrā)
and Mīr Abū al-Qāsim Findarskī, converting to Islam on their account;
learnt Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Sanskrit; earned his living as a merchant,
trading between Iran and India.
In 1634–35, Sarmad went to Lahore and thence to Hyderabad, where
Sulān ‘Abd Allāh Shāh’s prime minister, Shaykh Muammad Khān, was
greatly impressed with him. Around 1654, Sarmad settled in Delhi, by which
time he is said to have taken to going about naked. Sarmad taught the path
of the mystic Word, and is believed to have had a large following in Delhi.
Here, he also met Muammad Dārā Shikoh (the eldest son of Shāh Jahān
and the brother of Aurangzeb), who had a considerable interest in Sufism.
Dārā Shikoh kept company with Sarmad, attending his discourses and
visiting him whenever he could.
Like many other mystics, Sarmad was a free thinker, and his manner of
expression was considered blasphemous by the Mughul religious authori-
ties. By order of the Emperor Aurangzeb, he was arrested and sentenced to
death after a summary trial by a court presided over by Sarmad’s most sig-
nificant enemy, Mullā Qavī, the chief Qāī. It has been suggested that
Sarmad’s association with Dārā Shikoh was at least partially responsible
for his execution. As the eldest son of Shāh Jahān, Dārā Shikoh was the heir
apparent, but had been defeated in battle by Aurangzeb, who had challenged
Dārā Shikoh for the throne. By Aurangzeb’s orders, Dārā was executed in
1659. In consolidating his power, Aurangzeb wreaked bloody vengeance
on all those he thought had assisted Dārā Shikoh. While Dārā Shikoh lived,
his patronage would also have protected Sarmad from the vengeance of
406 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Mullā Qavī. After the downfall of Dārā letter one Sarmad was left with no
Shikoh,
political protector. Sarmad was beheaded in front of the Jāmi‘ Masjid in Old
Delhi, where his tomb now stands.
There are many variant and conflicting anecdotes woven around Sarmad’s
death, especially his fearless replies to his prosecutors and his executioner.
It is said that he was asked by Aurangzeb to explain why he did not recite
the full profession of Muslim faith (lā ilāha illā Allāh, there is no god but
God), instead of only its negative part, lā ilāha (there is no god). He replied
that he was so deeply engrossed in its first part that he had no time consider
the latter part, illā Allāh (but God). He is also supposed to have remarked
that he welcomed his beheading because he had for some time been suffer-
ing from a headache.
When Sarmad was taken to the place of execution and the executioner
began to cover Sarmad’s eyes, Sarmad prevented him from doing so. Casting
a glance at his executioner, Sarmad said with a smile, “Come in whatever
garb you choose, I recognize you well.” It is said that when he was beheaded,
every drop of his blood called out “Anā al-
aqq (I am God)”, the saying
more commonly associated with al-allāj. Another anecdote asserts that
after his execution, his severed head recited the full profession of faith.
Sarmad was a prolific poet, composing verse in a variety of forms, in-
cluding the ghazal (lyric ode), rubā‘ī (quatrain), qit‘ah (distich), and so on.
His themes are the transitory nature of life, the supreme Reality, love of the
divine Beloved, and so on. He also writes of his Master, though who his
Master was is unknown.

Sarrāj, Abū Nar al- (d.988) An early Sufi from the city of ūs in Khurāsān
in northeastern Iran, a significant area in early Sufism; author of Kitāb al-
Luma‘ fī al-Taawwuf (‘Book of Light on Sufism’), the first systematic
exposition of Sufism as a way of life, and a significant source of informa-
tion on early Sufism.

Sarva Upanishad (S) Lit. the all-encompassing (sarva) Upanishad; also called
the Sarvasāra Upanishad; belonging to the Yajur Veda; a short Upanishad,
opening with a series of 23 questions concerning the fundamentals of
Vedānta – what are bondage, liberation, ignorance, knowledge, waking,
dreaming, dreamless sleep, the various coverings of the soul, and so on –
which the Upanishad then proceeds to elucidate in a concise manner.

See also: Upanishads.

Sāwan Singh, Mahārāj (1858–1948) Also called the Great Master; an Indian
Saint (Sant); born in the village of Jaānā, district Ludhiānā, in the Punjab;
initiated by Bābā Jaimal Singh, who designated him as his successor in
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 407

1903. A professional 3engineer

june 1931
who had spent his working years as a civil
engineer in the army, Mahārāj Sāwan Singh was responsible for the first
phase of development at Dera Baba Jaimal Singh, the headquarters of Radha
Soami Satsang Beas in the Punjab. He also toured extensively in India and
what is now Pakistan. His books include Gurmat Sidhānt (‘Philosophy of
the Masters’) – a comprehensive exposition of Sant teachings – as well as
two volumes of letters written to Western disciples, and a volume of his dis-
courses. The Tales of the Mystic East is a compilation of stories told by him.
Under his guidance, an American disciple, Dr. Julian Johnson, wrote two
books, With a Great Master in India and The Path of the Masters, which
helped to introduce Sant teachings to the West. A short while before his
death, he drew up a written will, nominating Sardār Bahādur Jagat Singh as
his successor.

Second Apocalypse of James A gnostic text from the Nag Hammadi library,
preserved in an extremely fragmentary state, entitled the Apocalypse of James,
but designated the “Second” by modern scholars to distinguish it from an-
other text of otherwise the same name; set as a report to Theuda (James’
father) by Mareim (a priest and relative of Theuda, said to have been present
at the stoning of James); contains two discourses of James, including a report
of two discourses of Jesus to James, in the second of which, James is appointed
as the “Illuminator” and gnostic redeemer; also describes the martyrdom of
James, and his prayer for grace and release from this world of death.

Second Book of Jeu See Bruce Codex.

Second Treatise of the Great Seth A gnostic text from the Nag Hammadi
codices; set as a revelational narrative in which Jesus Christ describes his
commission by the heavenly “Assembly” to descend to earth “to reveal the
glory to my kindred and fellow spirits”; the confusion of the ignorant
archons (rulers) on his arrival; his confrontation with the equally ignorant
chief archon, Yaldabaoth; his arrival in a body by casting “out the one who
was in it first”; his persecution by those who had no idea who he was nor
his purpose in coming here, including “those who think they are advancing
the name of Christ”; his apparent crucifixion while another was crucified in
his place (Simon of Cyrene); and his return to the eternal realm. The name
Seth is mentioned only in the title. According to gnostic tradition, the gnostic
wisdom of Adam passed to his son, Seth. Subsequently lost for long ages, it
was again revealed to the followers of the Sethian school. In the case of this
text, the source of this new revelation is presumably Christ.

Sefer ‘E ayyim (He) Lit. book (sefer) of the tree (‘e
) of life (ayyim). A work
by ayyim Vital (1542–1640) in which he presented the teachings of his
408 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter
Master, Rabbi Isaac Luria, including such one as the emanation and the
subjects
creation of the world, the soul and its transmigrations, meditation and con-
templation, and commentaries on the Bible, the Talmud and the Zohar. This
material was subsequently published many times separately and in group-
ings with different arrangements of their contents. Some of these editions
were called by the same name as the original work, some were called Pri
‘E

ayyim (‘Fruit of the Tree of Life’).

See also: ayyim Vital.

Sefer ha-Bahir (He) Lit. book (sefer) of radiance or illumination (ha-bahir);

first published anonymously around 1176 in Provence, France, the Bahir is
one of the oldest and most important Kabbalistic texts. Most of its teach-
ings are written as short parables and stories.

Sefer ha-Nefesh ha-akhamah (He) Lit. book (sefer) of the soul (nefesh) of
wisdom (
akhamah) or Book of the Wise Soul; a Kabbalistic work written
in 1290 by Moses de León, probable author of the Zohar; written for his
pupil Jacob, referring to many of the same sources as the Zohar.

See also: Moses de León.

Sefer Yeirah (He) Lit. book (sefer) of formation or creation (ye
irah); a cryptic
work, probably written between the second and fourth centuries CE; the
oldest Kabbalistic text; uses numbers and symbols to describe the creation,
and may have also been a manual for meditation techniques.

Seneca, Lucius Annaeus (c.4 BCE – 65 CE) Also called Seneca the Younger;
a Roman philosopher, statesman and dramatist; born in Córdoba, Spain; the
second son of a wealthy family, whose elder brother (Gallio) met St Paul in
Achaea in 52 CE; educated in Rome in oratory and at a school that blended
Stoicism and Pythagorean asceticism; suffered ill-health, recuperated in
Egypt, and returned to Rome around 31; began a political career, but soon
fell foul of the tyrannical emperor, Caligula, who was only persuaded to
spare his life on the grounds that he was unlikely to live very long; charged
by Emperor Claudius, in 41, with adultery with the emperor’s niece, Julia
Livilla, and banished to Corsica, passing his time in study and writing; re-
called to Rome in 49; made praetor (a high ranking senior magistrate) in
50; married the wealthy Pompeia Paulina, and built up a powerful group of
friends; became tutor and counsellor to the future emperor, Nero (37–68);
drafted Nero’s first speech after the assassination of Claudius, and – with
his friends – was a powerful force in the Roman world during the early part
of Nero’s rule, introducing various fiscal, judicial and humane reforms;
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 409

retired in 62, but was3denounced

june 1931 by his enemies in 65 as party to the con-
spiracy to assassinate Nero and make Gaius Calpurnius Piso emperor, and
was ordered to commit suicide.
Seneca’s writings are broadly divided into two categories. His philo-
sophical and moralistic works such as On Tranquillity of Mind (‘De tranquil-
litate animi’), On Anger (‘De ira’) and On Mercy (‘De clementia’) –
addressed to Nero – present a broad-based Stoicism. His dramatic tragedies,
designed more for reading than performance, highlight human vice and im-
perfection. His Apocolocyntosis divi Claudii – literally, the ‘Pumpkinifi-
cation of the Divine Claudius’ fits neither category, and is a witty and
scathing political sketch on the ‘deification’ of Claudius.

Sentences of Sextus A collection of around 450 aphorisms or sayings concerning

spiritual perfection attributed to Sextus the Pythagorean; widely read by
Christians of all persuasions; extant in two manuscripts in the original
Greek, together with Coptic, Latin (translated by Rufinus), Syriac, Armenian
and Georgian translations. The Coptic version, included in the Nag Hammadi
library, is the earliest extant manuscript of the text, of which only 10 out of
the original 39 pages have survived.

Septuagint Abbreviation LXX; from the Latin septuaginta (seventy); the earliest
surviving Greek translation (from the original Hebrew) of the Old Testa-
ment, including the Apocrypha; made for the use of Greek-speaking Jews
in Alexandria when Greek was the lingua franca of the area; linguistic
analysis suggests that the Pentateuch was translated in the mid-third century
BCE, and the remainder over a period of time during the second century BCE.
According to legend, seventy-two Jewish translators, six from each of
the twelve tribes of Israel, were confined to individual cells. Each translated
the whole, and when their work was compared, they were all identical. How-
ever, there are considerable stylistic differences between the translations of
the Pentateuch and the rest of the Bible. The tradition that the work was
begun at the instigation of Ptolemy II (285–246 BCE), who asked Eleazar,
the chief priest at Jerusalem, to send a team of translators to Alexandria,
has its origins in the Letter of Aristeas. This letter, purporting to have been
written by Aristeas, an official in Ptolemy’s court, is full of inaccuracies
and is generally regarded as spurious. It was probably written in the mid-
second century (BCE) in support of Judaism.
The Septuagint was the Greek text used by Christians to find ‘prophe-
cies’ concerning Christ. The Jews regarded this as inappropriate, and
stopped using it, especially because of its many divergencies from the origi-
nal Hebrew. The further history of the Septuagint was subsequently con-
fined to Christianity, where it remains the standard translation used by the
Greek Orthodox Church.
410 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter
Because of copyists’ errors, the text oneincreasingly corrupt, and
became
many widely differing versions were in circulation. During the early third
century, Origen (c.185–254), a Christian scholar from Alexandria, tried to
correct these, while other scholars consulted the Hebrew to check the accu-
racy of the translation. Nevertheless, the Septuagint was used as the main
source for the translations into Old Latin, Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian,
Georgian, Slavonic and part of the Arabic Bibles. Jerome (c.347–420) began
his Latin translation (the Vulgate) from the Septuagint, but was dissatisfied,
and used the original Hebrew when he returned to the work.
Although there are many early papyrus fragments of the Septuagint, the
earliest complete manuscripts are the fourth-century (CE) Codex Vaticanus
and the Codex Sinaiticus, and the fifth-century Codex Alexandrinus.

Seth Shiv Dayāl Singh, Swāmī (1818–78) A nineteenth century Indian Saint
(Sant); born in Agra; raised on the teachings of the Ādi Granth; a disciple
of Tulsī Sāhib of Hāthras, near Agra; said to have spent 17 years in medita-
tion before starting to teach the path of the Shabd (Word) in 1861; directed
his disciple, Bābā Jaimal Singh, a few months before his death, to return to
the Punjab and start satsang (discourses) and initiation; the author of Sār
Bachan Poetry and Sār Bachan Prose (Sār Bachan meaning ‘true sayings’).

Sextus Empiricus A third-century (BCE) Greek philosopher and medical doctor;

foremost exponent of Pyrrho’s (c.365–275) Scepticism, which taught that
real knowledge of anything is impossible, thus contradicting the arguments
of those philosophers who based their conclusions on logic; author of Out-
lines of Pyrrhonism and Against the Logicians.

Sha‘arei Kedushah (He) Lit. gates (sha‘arei) of holiness (kedushah); a moral-

izing tract by ayyim Vital, first published in Constantinople in 1734.

See also: ayyim Vital.

Shabistarī, Shaykh Sa‘d al-Dīn Mamūd ibn ‘Abd al-Karīm ibn Yayā
(c.1250–1320) A Sufi mystic, born in Shabistar, near Tabrīz in Persia. Little
is known of his life, but it seems that much of it was spent in Tabrīz, though
he also travelled widely, meeting many mystics and scholars. After the
Mongol invasion and the final fall of Persia in 1258, Tabrīz became the
Mongol capital. Impassioned doctrinal disputes took place between Muslims
and Christians in the attempt to win the patronage of the heathen rulers, and
Shabistarī demonstrates a knowledge of Christian beliefs. Perhaps as a re-
sponse to the confusion surrounding him, he sought refuge in a spiritual life.
His works include two Sufi treatises,
aqq al-Yaqīn (‘Certain Truth’)
and Risālah-i Shāhid (‘Discourse of the Witness’), the latter no longer extant,
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 411

3 june
and his classic Sufi text, 1931 Rāz (‘Rose Garden of Mystery’), written
Gulshan-i
in 1311 or perhaps 1317 in the form of questions and answers concerning
Sufi doctrine. First introduced to Europe around 1700, it was translated into
German in 1821. The book became popular for some time, and was read by
Christians in search of a non-ritualistic and mystical approach to union with
the Divine. Shabistarī writes, “In God there is no duality. In that presence
‘I’ and ‘we’ and ‘you’ do not exist. ‘I’ and ‘you’ and ‘we’ and ‘He’ become
one. Since in the Unity, there is no distinction, the quest and the way and
the seeker become one” (in “Mysticism”, EB).

Shāfi‘ī Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muammad ibn Idrīs, Imām al- (767–820) An Is-
lamic legalist and a primary figure in the founding of Islamic religious law
(the Sunnah); born in Arabia; lost his father while still very young, and
raised in poverty by his mother, in Mecca; belonged to the Quraysh tribe,
of which Muammad was a member, and who inhabited Mecca at the time
of Muammad; spent much time with the Bedouin, from whom he became
familiar with Arabic poetry; travelled to Madīnah when about 20, to study
with Mālik ibn Anas; on the death of Mālik in 795, went to the Yemen,
where he became involved in subversive activities, and was briefly impris-
oned in Syria in 803; studied in Baghdad for some time with al-Shaybānī of
the
anafī school of Islamic religious law; went to al-Fusā, the old city of
Cairo, in Egypt; returned to Baghdad in 810, where he taught Islamic law;
returned to al-Fusā around 815-16, where he stayed for the remainder of
his life, and where he wrote his seminal and influential book, Risālah (‘Dis-
courses’). For a long time after his death, his tomb was a place of pilgrimage.
Through his travels, al-Shāfi‘ī gained a broad knowledge of Islamic reli-
gious law, creating an organized synthesis of the various schools of thought.
This was formed by his students into the Shāfi‘īyah school, which was uni-
versally adopted by other schools. His primary concerns were the sources
of religious law, and their application to contemporary events. He promoted
the
adīth (traditional sayings and stories of Muammad) and Sunnah
(Islamic law) as the basis for interpretation of the Qur’ān.

Shāhburkān A book, now lost, written by the third-century Iranian mystic,

Mānī (c.216–276), and dedicated to King Shāpūr, whose patronage and
support Mānī enjoyed; mentioned by the great eleventh-century Arabic
scholar, al-Bīrūnī.

Shāh Ni‘mat Allāh Valī See Valī, Shāh Ni‘mat Allāh Nūr al-Dīn ibn Allāh.

Shakespeare, William (1564–1616) An English playwright and poet; born

and died at Stratford-upon-Avon, having spent most of his working life in
London. Little is known of Shakespeare’s life apart from a few comments
412 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

from contemporary sources, and some letter

bare one
details gleaned from official
documents – dates of birth, marriage, death, wills, conveyances, and so on.
It seems his father, John Shakespeare, was a local businessman, a burgess
of the borough who became an alderman in 1565 and bailiff (equivalent to
mayor) in 1568. His mother was Mary Arden, of Wilmcote, Warwickshire,
from an ancient family, and an heiress of some land. He probably attended
the local grammar school, where he would have studied Latin and some of
the classical historians, dramatists and poets. There is no evidence that he
had any higher education.
According to the episcopal register at Worcester, Shakespeare was mar-
ried in November 1582 to Anne Hathaway of Stratford at the age of 18,
and his first daughter is recorded as being baptized six months later in May
1583. In 1585, he became the father of twins, a girl and a boy, the latter
dying at the age of 11. The next eight years or so are a mystery, until his
name first appears in London theatre records. A number of later legends
have him poaching deer from a local magnate, earning his living as a school-
teacher, and obtaining entry to the thespian world by minding the horses
of theatregoers.
Shakespeare’s 33 plays, exhibiting a universally acknowledged dramatic
skill, a comprehensive and often witty command of the English language,
and an acute perception of human nature, were written between 1590 and
1612. Not much is known of his personal beliefs, but it has been said that
his character Prospero, the shipwrecked and marooned duke of Milan in The
Tempest, who becomes a master of the supernatural, embodies Shake-
speare’s own philosophy in such famous observations as, “We are such stuff
as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep” (4:1). His
sonnets, a source of much scholarly speculation, were published in 1609.

Shams-i Tabrīz (1206–48) Full name, Shams al-Dīn Muammad ibn ‘Alī ibn
Malik dād Tabrīzī; a Persian Sufi, of whom very little is known; the subject
of a number of legendary stories; presumed to have been born and/or edu-
cated in Tabrīz, capital of Azerbaijan, then in northwest Iran; commonly
described as a wandering dervish, who earned himself the nickname of
Prandah (Flier); apparently unattached to any particular Sufi order, though
said to have studied under Bābā Kamāl Jundī, Abū Bakr Sillah-bāf and Rukn
al-Dīn Sanjāsī; believed to have been in Syria for some time, where it is
possible that he met Ibn ‘Arabī; travelled to Konya (now in Turkey) in 1244,
where Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī became his disciple; returned to Tabrīz, due to the
hostility and jealousy of Rūmī’s family and college students, but recalled
by Rūmī who went to find him; returned to Damascus, where he remained
for two years.
Unable to bear the separation, and hearing that Shams al-Dīn was in
Damascus, Rūmī dispatched his eldest son, Sulān Walad, to beg Shams to
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 413

3 june 1931
return. Sulān Walad returned with Shams, who now stayed in Rūmī’s house.
The hostility continued, however, and in 1247, Shams disappeared under
uncertain circumstances, which have been the subject of a number of apocry-
phal explanations by various Sufis, though all presume that he was murdered.
A number of these legends are related by Jāmī in Nafaāt al-Uns (‘Frag-
ment Breaths of the Intimate’). According to one version of events, says
Jāmī, Shams and Rūmī were sitting together one evening, when someone
called to Shams to come outside immediately. Shams said, “I am called to
my death.” He went outside, and was set upon by seven conspirators armed
with daggers. Shams uttered such a terrible cry that his murderers were
dumbfounded. When they recovered their wits, Shams had completely dis-
appeared. All they could find was a few drops of blood. Each of the villains
met their death soon after, including Rūmī’s younger son, Allāh al-Dīn
Muammad, who died of a strange and sudden disease. Jāmī goes on to say
that according to other legends, the conspirators threw the body of Shams
into a well. Subsequently, Rūmī’s elder son, Sulān Walad, had a dream in
which Shams appeared and told him he was asleep in the well. At midnight,
Sulān Walad and some close friends extracted the body and buried it be-
side the tomb of the founder of the college where Rūmī taught.
Shams was the inspiration behind Rūmī’s, Dīvān-i Shams-i Tabrīz, pos-
sibly written after Shams al-Dīn’s return to Damascus and/or after his final
disappearance. No writings attributed to Shams, if there were any, have been
preserved.

See also: Rūmī.

Shankara (c.788–820 CE) Also called Shankarāchārya; the most influential

classical Indian philosophers; a well-known teacher of Vedantic philosophy,
credited with founding the Advaita (non-dualistic) school of Vedānta, which
teaches that God is the only Reality and that everything else is false, illusory
and impermanent; the subject of at least 11 ancient biographies, all written
several centuries after his life, and sometimes mutually conflicting; tradi-
tionally assigned the dates 788–820 CE, but regarded by many twentieth-
century scholars as having lived from approximately 700 to 750, though
some have assigned him to the first century BCE.
According to one tradition, he was born in Kālai, Kerala, to a devout
brāhma family, losing his father while still young. He became a sannyāsin
(renunciate), against his mother’s wishes, and a disciple of Govinda. Little
is known of Govinda except that he was a disciple of Gauapāda, the author
of a verse commentary (kārikā) on the Māūkya Upanishad.
Shankara’s biographers agree that he went to the religious, spiritual and
intellectual centre of Vārāasī, in Uttar Pradesh. During his time there, he
is said to have held a lively debate with Maana Mishra, a proponent of
414 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Mīmāsā philosophy, which teaches inletter

the strictone
performance of Vedic rituals.
The debate reflects part of the religious environment in which Shankara
taught. Subsequently, he undertook extensive teaching tours throughout
village India, where he gradually earned the respect of the brāhmas. It is
said that he would not teach in the cities, where Buddhism and Jainism were
still strong faiths, and where people sought comfort and pleasure. He sought
to re-establish Vedānta, reinterpreting it in terms distinct from the Buddhist
philosophy which had claimed it. He also established four āshrams, which
became significant in the later development of his teaching into India’s
leading philosophy. He is said to have died at Kedārnāth in the Himalayas.
A prolific writer, more than 300 works are attributed to him, though most
are of dubious authenticity. He wrote extensive commentaries on the
Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gītā, and the Brahma Sūtras (regarded as his
masterpiece, now a standard work on Vedānta), as well as a great many
independent treatises on Vedānta, including Bhaja Govindam (‘Worship
God’), Brahmajñānāvalīmālā (‘Garland of Divine Knowledge’), Tattvabodha
(‘Knowledge of Reality’), Ātmabodha (‘Self-Knowledge’) and Vivek-
achūāmai (‘Crown Jewel of Wisdom’). His style is lucid, analytical and
perceptive.

See also: Gauapāda.

Shatapatha Brāhmaa (S) Lit. the Brāhmaa of one hundred (shata) paths
(patha); a Brāhmaa associated with the Yajur Veda, consisting of one
hundred lessons; regarded as highly as the ig Veda.

See also: Brāhmaas.

Shaykh Taqī A Muslim religious scholar and seeker of whom practically

nothing is known; remembered for the three ghazals (lyric poems) of Tulsī
Sāhib, written specifically for him, in which the mystic truth behind certain
Muslim traditions is explained. According to tradition, Shaykh Taqī had set
up camp close to Tulsī Sāhib’s cottage during his return from a pilgrimage
to Mecca.

Shepherd of Hermas A late-first- or second-century Christian text relating five

visions experienced by the author Hermas, and named after the angel of
repentance who appears in the fifth vision in the garb of a shepherd; also
contains 12 mandates (moral commandments) and 10 parables; concerned
with sin, repentance and morals rather than theology; regarded as scripture
by Irenaeus (c.120–202), Clement of Alexandria (c.150–215), Origen
(c.185–254) and Tertullian (fl.190–220), but denied by the Muratorian
Canon (c.180, the oldest extant list of New Testament writings) to have been
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 415

3 june
inspired; popular in the 1931Church, but said by Jerome to have been
Eastern
little known in the Western Church; present in the fourth-century Greek
biblical manuscript, the Codex Sinaiticus; also extant in Latin and Ethiopic,
and as fragments in Coptic and Persian. Dated from the late first or early
second century, the author describes himself as a Christian slave, who was
given his freedom, became a wealthy merchant, lost his property, and did
penance for past sins.

Shiva Sahitā (S) One of the principal manuals of yoga, probably written in
the late-seventeenth or early-eighteenth century CE; discusses karma, jñāna
(mystic knowledge), the spirit, māyā (illusion), avidyā (spiritual ignorance),
the jīva (incarnate soul), the microcosm of the body, the nāīs, prāas, the
guru, prāāyāma, siddhis (powers), destruction of karma through listening
to the Praava Om, āsanas (postures), mudrās (poses), kualinī, dhāraā
(concentration), the six chakras, rāja yoga, and so on.

Shne’’ur Zalman of Lyady (1745–1813) Born, according to family tradition,

in Liozna in Belorussia; following his marriage in 1760, devoted himself
to study of the Torah; realizing that he knew “a little about learning, but
nothing about prayer” (in “Shne’ur Zalman”, EJCD), went to the leader of
the Hasidic movement, Dov Baer, the maggid (lit. preacher) of Mezhericz
and successor of the Ba‘al Shem Tov, of whom he became a close disciple.
Despite his young age, he was deputed by Dov Baer in 1770 to write a
new and up- to-date version of Joseph Karo’s legal code, Shulan ‘Arukh
(‘The Laid Table’). Although he worked on this project for many years, only
small parts of it were ever published in his lifetime. About two thirds were
destroyed by fire, and the remaining third was published after his death.
Though not on Hasidism, the work illustrates Shne’ur Zalman’s lucid Hebrew
style, and his ability to explain complex matters in a simple manner. The
work became an authority on Jewish legal matters among the Hasidim of
Lubavitch.
In 1788, he was appointed Hasidic leader of Reisen by Menaem Mendel
of Vitebsk, then leader of the Hasidic movement, a post which was more or
less an endorsement of the actuality, since Rabbi Shne’ur Zalman already
had many followers. Shne’ur Zalman had by this time created a distinct form
of Hasidism, which became known as
aBaD. In 1797, he published his
Likkutei Amarim (‘Collected Sayings’), anonymously. This lucid exposi-
tion, which became known as the Tanya (‘It has been taught’), rapidly found
acceptance as the “written law of
aBaD” Hasidism.
aBaD is an acrostic
of the Kabbalistic terms
okhmah (Wisdom), Binah (Understanding) and
Da‘at (Knowledge), three of the highest sefirot (divine emanations), which,
according to
aBaD, represent “germinal, developmental and conclusive”
knowledge, embodying Shne’ur Zalman’s systematic approach.
416 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

The growth in popularity of Hasidismletter one

gave rise to a counter-movement
among Jewish traditionalists, the Mitnaggedim (lit. opponents), who at-
tempted to check its growth by informing on its members to the Russian
authorities. Avigdor ben Joseph ayyim, the Rabbi of Pinsk, accused
Shne’ur Zalman of forming a new religious sect (illegal in Russia at the time)
and of ‘treason’ (sending money to Palestine, interpreted as “helping the
Turkish sul ān”). In 1798, Shne’ur Zalman was arrested and sent for trial
to St Petersburg, but was acquitted of all charges. In 1801, he was again
arrested, but released upon the accession of the tsar, Alexander I. Shne’ur
Zalman subsequently made his home in Lyady.
As Hasidism evolved, its exposition became more intellectual, and a
number of conflicts and rivalries developed between the different Hasidic
schools, all of which caused Shne’ur Zalman considerable pain, although
his influence remained undiminished. When Napoleon invaded Russia in
1812, Shne’ur Zalman encouraged support of the Russian cause, believing
that this would benefit Judaism more than a victory by the revolutionary
French. Fleeing with the retreating Russian army, he died at Piena (Kursk
district) in 1813, and was buried in Hadich (Poltava district).
Shne’ur Zalman was one of the most significant Jewish personalities of
his day. His scholarship covered the Talmud and the Kabbalah, as well as
science and mathematics. His masterly ability to organize material into a
simple understandable system was enhanced by a lucid manner of exposition.
Possessed of personal charisma, his teachings blended mysticism with com-
mon sense. He also composed a number of fine Hasidic melodies. After his
death,
aBaD Hasidism was led by his eldest son, Dov Baer (1773–1827).
Shne’ur Zalman taught that an entirely ‘intuitive’ and emotional approach
to the life of prayer could easily give rise to self-deception. He therefore
advocated regular study as a means of strengthening faith, together with the
necessity of continuous spiritual exercises to maintain lasting spiritual
progress. He also developed the idea of the beinoni (the average man). The
addik, or spiritual Master, he said, was an exceptional person, chosen from
birth for the position. The beinoni or average person cannot be expected to
reach the same heights of identification with the Divine. He can only strive
for individual perfection by resisting evil and living his daily life to a high
moral and spiritual standard. To accomplish this, he taught, he must awaken
the love which dwells from birth in every Jewish heart. At the same time,
the head must rule the emotions. The way to achieve this is through medita-
tion on the greatness of the Creator, and through love and reverence for Him.
This awakens the soul’s primal and essential feelings of love for the Divine.
Although the Tanya is Shne’ur Zalman’s most well-known work, he is
also the author of a number of other books, including Likkutei Torah
(‘Gleanings from the Torah’), Torah Or (‘Torah of Light’) and Ma’amarei
Admor ha-Zaken (‘Sayings of the Ancient Admor’) – Admor being an
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 417

3 junetitle
abbreviation of the Hebrew 1931used for Hasidic rabbis, Adonenu, Morenu
ve-Rabenu (our lord, teacher and Master).

Shrī Yukteshwar (1855–1936) Full name, Jñānāvatār Swāmī Shrī Yukteshwar

Giri; a disciple of Lahiri Mahāsaya; best known as the Guru of Paramhansa
Yogananda; author of Kaivalya Darshana. Kaivalya Darshana means light
(darshana) on kaivalya (liberation, beatitude, absolute unity, detachment).
The book points out parallels between the biblical Book of Revelation and
the Indian Sānkhya philosophy.

Shvetāshvatara Upanishad (S) Belonging to the Yajur Veda; named after the

ishi who is said in the last chapter (6:21) to have taught it to his disciples;
one of the more ancient Upanishads, regarded as a principal one; lays im-
partial emphasis on knowledge, devotion and other aspects of spiritual life,
demonstrating features common to all schools of Indian spiritual philosophy.

See also: Upanishads.

Sibylline Oracles A varied collection of prophecies in which Jewish or Chris-

tian doctrines are confirmed by a sibyl (legendary Greek oracle or prophet-
ess); written between the second century BCE and the seventh century CE;
actually composed by Jewish and Christian writers; not to be confused with
the Sibylline Books, a much earlier collection of such prophecies. By first
‘predicting’ recent events, the author gained the reader’s confidence, going
on to predict future happenings and to set forth Jewish and Christian doc-
trines; taken as genuine by a number of Jewish and Christian writers, in-
cluding the Jewish historian, Josephus, and the second-century Christian
theologians, Clement of Alexandria and Theophilus of Antioch, who re-
garded the sibyl to be as inspired as the biblical prophets; dated in modern
times, often with considerable uncertainty, by comparing actual events with
the predictions, and noting the onset of errors. No earlier than the sixth
century CE, 12 of the oracles were collected into one document, containing
14 books, of which books 9 and 10 are lost.

Sikh Gurus A line of Gurus, beginning with Guru Nānak, who lived in the
Punjab region of North India, spanning a period of nearly two and a half
centuries, from 1469 to 1708. The writings of the first five Gurus were col-
lected together in the Ādi Granth by the fifth Guru, Guru Arjun, to which
those of the ninth Guru were added by the tenth Guru. The ten Gurus were:

Guru Nānak (1469–1539) Born in Talwaī, now known as Nankānā

Sāhib, district Shaykhupurā, near Lahore, now in Pakistan; spent a large part
of his life travelling to spread the doctrine of the mystic Name (Nām) or
418 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Word (Shabd), at a time when there was letter one

no mechanized form of transport;
appointed his disciple, Bhāī Lehnā, as his successor, who he renamed as
Guru Angad.
Guru Angad (1504–52) Born in Matte-dī-Sarāe, district Ferozpur, in the
Punjab; a disciple of Guru Nānak, who appointed him as his successor, a
position he held for 13 years.
Guru Amardās (1479–1574) Born in the village of Bāsarke in Amritsar
district; part farmer and part trader by profession; a devout Vaishnavite be-
fore meeting his Master, Guru Angad, at the age of 61; appointed Guru at
the age of 73, a position he held for 22 years; collected together the works
of his two predecessors, to which he added his own poetic works of 907
shabds, a collection which became the basis of Guru Arjun’s later compila-
tion, the Ādi Granth.
Guru Rāmdās (1534–81) Born into humble circumstances at Lahore;
became the son-in-law of Guru Amardās, who appointed him as his successor.
Guru Arjun (1563–1606) The youngest son of the fourth Guru; respon-
sible for compiling the book now known as the Ādi Granth, including his
own shabds, numbering over 2,200; died a martyr’s death at Lahore in 1606.
Guru Hargobind (1595–1644) The son of Guru Arjun; became the Guru
when he was only 11 years old; uncertain whether he was appointed by his
father or by a group of Guru Arjun’s disciples; organised his followers into
a military brotherhood and built the Akāl Takht which stands opposite the
Golden Temple in Amritsar; said to have been fond of hunting; succeeded
by his grandson, Har Rāi.
Guru Har Rāi (1630–61) The grandson of Guru Hargobind; believed to
have been extremely soft-hearted, avoiding clashes with the Mughul rulers,
despite keeping a fighting force of 2,200 to defend the Sikh community;
said, like his father, to have been fond of hunting, but preferring to catch
his prey alive, keeping them in a large zoo or aviary; succeeded by his five-
year-old son, Har Krisha.
Guru Har Krisha (1656–64) The son of Guru Har Rāi; barely five
years old when appointed by his father to succeed him as Guru; died of
smallpox at the age of eight; succeeded by his grand-uncle, the son of
Hargobind, Tegh Bahādur.
Guru Tegh Bahādur (1621–75) Appointed Guru by a group of disciples;
the son of Guru Hargobind; 59 shabds and 57 of his shaloks were included
in the Ādi Granth by his son, Gobind Singh; beheaded at Chāndnī Chowk,
Delhi in November 1675 by order of Emperor Aurangzeb, for refusing to
embrace Islam; appointed his only son, Gobind Singh, to succeed him as
Guru.
Gobind Singh (1666–1708) Son of Guru Tegh Bahādur; born in Panā,
Bihar, becoming Guru at the age of nine, on the martyrdom of his father;
founder of the Khālsā (pure of faith); organized his followers into a military
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 419

3 june
force; author of a number 1931 although perhaps not all those ascribed
of works,
to him.

See also: Sikhism (1.11).

Simnānī, Rukn al-Dīn Abū al-Makārim Amad ibn Sharaf al-Dīn Muam-
mad ibn Amad al-Biyābānakī ‘Alā’ al-Dawlah al- (1261–1336) Born in
Dhū al-ijjah in Simnān, in the region of Khurāsān (in northeastern Iran),
to a rich and prominent family, whose father became governor of Iraq for a
short while; left Simnān at the age of 15, and entered government service;
said to have had a vision of the other world in 1284, near Qazwīn, during
a military campaign; remained in service until 1286, before returning on
leave to Simnān; adopted Sunnī orthodoxy and Sufism, performing spiritual
exercises in accordance with the instructions contained in Abū ālib al-
Makkī’s Qūt al-Qulūb (‘Sustenance of the Heart’), until he met Sharaf
al-Dīn Sa‘d Allāh, from whom he learnt a particular form of recollection
(źikr), the practice of which resulted in internal manifestations of light during
his first night of practice.
Sa‘d Allāh had been sent to al-Simnānī by al-Kasirqī al-Isfarā’inī. Wish-
ing to become a disciple of al-Kasirqī, who lived in Baghdad, al-Simnānī
set out for the capital. After some considerable adventures, including his
arrest and detention on matters concerning his previous government service
and affiliations, he finally reached Baghdad in 1289. In 1290, following
orders from al-Kasirqī, he went on a pilgrimage to Mecca and Madīnah,
returning to Baghdad in 1290. From there, he travelled on to Simnān, where
he began the instruction of Sufis in the Khānaqāh-i Sakkākī (a Sufi ‘monas-
tery’), where he died in 1336.
Al-Simnānī was a Sunnī and condemned several Shi‘ite tendencies. The
Shi‘ites were in power, and although he advocated war against unbelievers,
he rejected the idea of armed revolt against the Shi‘ites, advising patience
under oppression. In his Sufi affiliation, he was a Kubrāwī, al-Kasirqī
being a direct spiritual descendant of al-Kubrá (c.1145–1220). But he
also venerated other Shaykhs, particularly Abū af ‘Umar al-Suhravardī
(1135–1234). He respected Rūmī, but did not completely agree with him.
He had a high regard for al-Ghazālī, but accused him of emphasizing theory
over experience.
His bête noire was Ibn ‘Arabī (1165–1240), whose ‘pantheistic’ system,
he vehemently opposed, both in his writings and in his correspondence with
‘Abd al-Razzāq al-Qāshānī (d.1329), a disciple of al-Qūnawī, the successor
of Ibn ‘Arabī. His main point of contention was that he saw being (wujūd)
as an eternal Attribute (ifah) of God, distinct from His Essence (Dhāt),
while Ibn ‘Arabī identified Wujūd with God. From this viewpoint flowed a
number of other disagreements with Ibn ‘Arabī.
420 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Al-Simnānī appears to have had aletter one affinity and awareness

considerable
of the spiritual vibrations in his environment, feeling the living presence of
Khair (the Lord). He also seems to have attempted to contact the departed
spirits of the great, in an almost mediumistic manner.
Like most Kubrāwīs, he accepted Junayd’s eightfold conditions of the
Sufi path. He believed that although Sufis should give away all their pos-
sessions, they should still earn their own living, and not be beggars. Al-
Simnānī advocated intensive cultivation of the soil as a means of both work
and service to humanity. He also practised listening to music (samā‘) as
means to ecstasy, and repeated the Islamic profession of faith, lā ilāha illā
Allāh (there is no god but God), with the attention directed to different parts
of the body for each word.
Al-Simnānī aspired to large number of disciples, hoping to find one
among them who was chosen to be his successor. His most important disciple
seems to have been ‘Alī-i Hamadānī. Al-Simnānī was a prolific writer in
both Arabic and Persian, but his works exist only in manuscript form (some
perhaps dating to the time of the author himself), and have never been pub-
lished. There is also a collection of his sayings made by his disciple Iqbāl
ibn Sābiq-i Sīstānī.

Simplicius (fl.c.530 CE) A Greek philosopher who studied in Athens and Alex-
andria, passing much of his life in Athens except for a brief period after the
Christian emperor, Justinian, closed Plato’s old Athenian Academy in 529;
author of learned commentaries on Aristotle’s Physics, On the Heavens
(‘De caelo’), On the Soul (‘De anima’) and Categories (‘Categoriae’),
significant for the fragments they contain from the writings of pre-Socratic
philosophers.

Skanda Purāa (S) One of the 18 principal Purāas, exalting the deity Shiva.

See also: Purāas.

Song of Songs The first of the ‘five scrolls’ included in the Hagiographic
(Writings) in the Hebrew Bible, comprising a series of love poems express-
ing the joy of love and the yearning of the lover for the beloved, and vice
versa; characterized by colourful and ample imagery, including descriptions
of the physical beauty of the lovers. Since the first century CE, there has
been discussion about why this book should have been included in the Bible,
but the greatest rabbis of antiquity, including Rabbi Akiva and many others,
have attested to its spiritual import. It has been interpreted allegorically as
an expression of God’s love for Israel, and later by Christians as the relation-
ship of Christ and the Church. Mystics of the Judaeo-Christian world have
also understood it more generally as the story of the soul’s relationship with
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3 june
the divine Beloved. The 1931of the Song of Songs is uncertain. Some of
origins
the songs are possibly pre-exilic, the collection being finally edited in the
fifth or fourth century BCE. The sequence of poems, however, form one
sequence, and may thus have been the work of just one author.

Sophia of Jesus Christ A Christian overwriting of Eugnostos the Blessed,

both being gnostic texts from the Nag Hammadi library; possibly dates
from the first century; set as a discourse given by Jesus to his disciples
after his resurrection, “not in his previous form, but in the invisible spirit”;
an excellent example of the Christianizing of a previously more universal
text; describes the hierarchy of the creation, man’s fall to the material world,
and the sending of a Saviour, who is named as Jesus in the Sophia of Jesus
Christ, but left unnamed in Eugnostos the Blessed.

Sophoclēs (c.496–406 BCE) One of the three great classical tragedians of an-
cient Athens, along with Aeschylus and Euripidēs; most remembered for
Oedipus the King; born at Colonus, a village near Athens; son of Sophillus,
a wealthy armourer; chosen at 16 for his handsome and athletic appearance,
and his musical talent, to lead a song of praise to the gods after the decisive
defeat of the Persian navy at the Battle of Salamis; participated fully in com-
munity life, with grace and charm, and the exercise of considerable artistic
talents, occupying various high official and military positions; one of 10
appointees, in 413 (aged about 83), charged with the restoration of Athe-
nian finances after their crushing defeat at the Sicilian city of Syracuse;
leader of a chorus in public mourning for the death of Euripidēs, in 406,
shortly before his own death, and two years before the final surrender of
Athens to Sparta in 404.
A prolific playwright, credited with 123 dramas, Sophoclēs first won the
Dionysian dramatic festival in 468, defeating Aeschylus. Over the years,
he probably won as many as twenty-four victories, compared with Aeschylus’
thirteen and Euripidēs’ four.

Suhravardī, Abū al-Najīb ‘Abd al-Qāhir ibn ‘Abd Allāh al-Bakrī
iya’ al-
Dīn al- (1097–1168) A Sufi and scholar, who earned his living as a water
carrier; born in Suhravard, moving to Baghdad in 1113, where he studied
adīth and Shāfi‘ī law; went to I fahān in 1126 to join the celebrated Sufi,
Amad al-Ghazālī, the younger brother of Abū āmid al-Ghazālī; returned
to Baghdad around 1130, where he became a disciple of ammād al-
Dabbās; best known for his Arabic work, Ādāb al-Murīdīn (‘The Way of
Disciples’), a classic of mystical instruction. The Suhravardīyah order of
Sufis was founded in his name by his nephew, Shihāb al-Dīn Abū af
‘Umar Suhravardī.
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Suhravardī al-Maqtūl, Shihāb al-Dīn Yayāletter(1154–91)

one Also called Shaykh
al-Ishrāq (Master of Illumination); born in northwestern Persia, later trav-
elling to Aleppo near Damascus; taught gnosis or knowledge based upon
personal inner experience, rather than intellectual reasoning; believed to
have been highly disciplined and a brilliant debater, perhaps provoking envy
among the philosophers, scholars and theologians with whom he came into
contact; imprisoned and executed on a charge of heresy at the age of 36;
often called al-Maqtūl (he who was killed) to avoid confusion with the other
two Suhravardīs with whom the Suhravardīyah order of Sufis originated. A
prolific author, despite his short life, his works include Lughat-i Mūrān
(‘Language of the Ants’), Avāz-i Par-i Jibrā’īl (‘The Sound of Gabriel’s
Wing’), ‘Aql-i Surkh (‘Red Wisdom’), Naghmāt al-Samavīyah (‘Heavenly
Melodies’) and afīr-i Sīmurgh (‘Cry of the Phoenix’), which describes the
divine Music reverberating within all human beings. His philosophy was
later followed mainly by the Shī‘ah philosophers and was an important
element in Persian thought of the later Middle Ages. Suhravardī’s doctrines
culminate in the
ikmat al-Ishrāq (‘Philosophy of Illumination’). His
shorter work, Hayākil al-Nūr (‘Temples of Light’) has been read in Muslim
India for centuries.

Suhravardī, Shihāb al-Dīn Abū af ‘Umar (1145–1234) The nephew of ‘Abd
al-Qāhir Abū Najīb Suhravardī; politician, statesman and Sufi; founded the
Suhravardīyah order of Sufis in his uncle’s name; author of ‘Awārif al-
Ma‘ārif (‘Gifts of Divine Knowledge’), which outlines all the major tenets
of Sufism, drawing widely on the writings of previous Sufis, and which
helped to spread the Suhravardīyah order as far as India; one of the teachers
of Shaykh Sa‘dī at the esteemed Ni
āmīyah college of Islamic studies in
Baghdad, where he was the officially appointed Sufi Master and, under
Caliph al-Nā ir, assisted in the revival of Islamic spiritual life.

Sumerian Psalms Religious literature, dating from the fourth millennium BCE,
from both temple liturgies and private prayers of the individual, including
prayers and praises addressed to the various gods, penitential compositions
inspired by an awareness of human weakness and divine power, lamenta-
tions over misfortune, and so on.

See also: Sumerian and Mesopotamian Spirituality (1.3).

Sūrdās (b.c.1528) Original name, Madan Mohan; a brāhma who governed the
province of Saīlā in Avadh during the reign of the Mughul emperor,
Akbar; a scholar of Sanskrit, Hindi and Persian; later, became a sannyāsin
(renunciate); died at Vārāasī, Uttar Pradesh; two of his hymns are included
in the Ādi Granth; not to be confused with the blind Hindi poet, also called
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 423

3 june(‘Ocean
Sūrdās, author of Sūr Sāgar 1931 of Sūr’), a devotee of K isha and later
a disciple of Vallabhāchārya.

Sushruta Sahitā (S) A medical text, probably originating sometime after 200
BCE, taking its final form by about 700 CE, and basing its medical science
on the existence of three elementary substances – wind, phlegm and bile.

Suyū ī, Abū al-Fal ‘Abd al-Ramān ibn Abī Bakr ibn Muammad Jalāl
al-Dīn al-Khuayrī al- (c.1445–1505) A renowned Egyptian polymath,
adīth master, scholar of Islamic law, philologist, historian, Sufi of the
Shādhilīyah order, and prolific author, who wrote on history, astronomy,
geography, lexicography, medicine, dietetics, Sufism and, in fact, on virtu-
ally every branch of Islamic knowledge; also called Ibn al-Kutub (Son of
Books); born in Cairo to a Turkish mother and non-Arab father, and raised
as an orphan; studied many branches of Islamic religious knowledge at an
early age, including tafsīr (commentary), adīth (traditional sayings and
deeds of Muammad), and shāfi‘ī law; included among his approximately
150 shaykhs (teachers) were ‘Ālam al-Dīn al-Bulqīnī, Sharaf al-Dīn al-
Munāwī and Muyī al-Dīn al-Kafyājī.
A person of prodigious memory, Suyūī had memorized the Qur’ān by
the age of eight, along with several works of Islamic religious law and
Arabic grammar, later committing to memory as many as 200,000 adīth.
In 1496, he was named ‘Supreme Qāī (Judge)’ by the Caliph. He travelled
widely throughout Egypt, Morocco, and thence eastward to Damascus, the
ijāz, Yemen and India. He was head teacher of adīth at the Shaykhūnīyah
school in Cairo for some time, and then at the Baybarsīyah khānaqāh (Sufi
‘monastery’), from which he was ousted as a result of complaints from
unhappy shaykhs whom he had replaced. He subsequently retired into
scholarly seclusion, at the age of around 40, in the Garden of al-Miqyās, on
the banks of the Nile, shunning the company even of old friends, and re-
fusing invitations and gifts, monetary and otherwise, even from the sul ān.
Devoting himself to his writing, he wrote nearly 600 books and treatises,
many quite short, some controversial, and sometimes criticized for their
lack of thoroughness. His works included Jam‘al-Jawāmi‘ (‘Collection of
Collections’), a 10–volume compilation of adīth; Itqān fī ‘Ulūm al-Qur’ān
(‘Proficiency in Quranic Sciences’), which became a standard reference
work; and a number of works in defence of Sufism.

Tahmuras Fragments Fragments of Zoroastrian texts obtained from Iran by

the Parsee Zoroastrian of India, Tahmuras Dinshawji Anklesaria, during the
late nineteenth century. Tahmuras was responsible for obtaining a number
of Avestan texts with their Pahlavi translations from Iran, adding signifi-
cantly to the number of available Zoroastrian texts.
424 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Taittirīya Brāhmaa (S) A Brāhmaa of letter oneVeda; associated with the

the Yajur
school of Tittiri, a school of the Yajur Veda.

See also: Brāhmaas.

Taittirīya Upanishad (S) Taittirīya means the ‘pupils of Tittiri’, referring to a

school of the Yajur Veda, to which the Upanishad belongs; one of the older
Upanishads, regarded as a principal one; covers a broad spectrum of
Upanishadic topics, including correct pronunciation while chanting and
in meditation, various rituals and forms of meditation for different types of
student, the ideal of a householder’s life, the removal of ignorance by the
knowledge of Brahman, the nature of Brahman, and so on.

See also: Upanishads.

Talmud (He/Ar) Lit. study; a record of the discussion and interpretation of the
Mishnah by the generations of rabbis in the academies of Babylonia and
Palestine. The Palestinian or Jerusalem Talmud dates from the fifth century
CE, and is about half the size of the Babylonian Talmud, which is the more
significant of the two; also called the Gemara (completion), both terms often
being used to refer to the entire collection of the Mishnah, along with the
various subsequent texts.

Tammuz Liturgies Texts related to the cult of the Sumerian deity, Damuzi (lit.
faithful son; Akkadian, Tammuz), god of fertility, first mentioned in texts
from around 2600–2334 BCE, but certainly of far earlier origin. Originally,
a pastoral deity, whose common epithet was ‘Shepherd’, Tammuz evolved
into an agricultural deity when the cult spread to Assyria during the second
and first millennia BCE. Here, the deity appears to have been symbolized
in rituals by an arrangement of vegetables, honey and other foods. The
Tammuz cult was centred on two annual festivals, one celebrating his mar-
riage to the goddess Inanna, the other lamenting his death at the hands of
underworld demons. A number of myths are related of Tammuz, which –
like much mythology – are often mutually inconsistent. The liturgies relate
to the mythology, or to the deity’s role in nature and associated human needs.

See also: Inanna’s Descent, Sumerian and Mesopotamian Spirituality

(1.3).

Tāya Mahā Brāhmaa (S) A Brāhmaa of the Sāma Veda, associated with
the school of Tāin, a school of the Sāma Veda.

See also: Brāhmaas.

 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 425

3 june
Tanya See Shne’’ ur Zalman 1931
of Lyady.

Tào Té Chīng (Dào Dé Jīng) (C) Lit. classic (chīng) of the Way (Tào) and its
power (té); also translated as the Canon of the Way and its Virtue, the Way
and its Power, and the Way of Life; also called the Book of Lǎo Tzu or just
the Lǎo Tzu; the fundamental text of both philosophical (early mystical) and
the later religious Taoism.

See Taoism (1.14).

Teachings of Aikar A folk text dating from as early as the fifth century BCE,
probably of Aramaean-Assyrian origin, existing in a number ancient Near
Eastern languages; well known among the Jewish colonists in southern
Egypt, and widespread in the Aramaic-speaking world; an example of the
Wisdom tradition, consisting of aphorisms spoken by the legendary Aikar
to his adopted son, Nadan.

Teachings of Silvanus A Nag Hammadi treatise in which the author sets out to
demonstrate that the teachings of Jesus were compatible with both Jewish
and Greek mystical tradition; considers the Logos or Nous, approached by
the cultivation of “logismos (meditation)”, as the means to become free from
the “Adversary” and the “wild, savage beasts” of human weaknesses, and
attain salvation.

Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs A pseudo-epigraphic, pietistic Jewish

work, written in Greek, probably dating from the late second century with
later Christian interpolations; purports to relate the last words of the twelve
sons of Jacob, founders of the twelve tribes of Israel; modelled on Jacob’s
blessing of his sons in Genesis (49:1–33), but containing extended moral
exhortations related to the supposed sin or virtue of each of the twelve. Each
testament contains autobiographical details of the patriarch, elaborated by
folk legend; based on a belief in physical resurrection and the Day of Judg-
ment; extant in several Greek manuscripts, and in Armenian and Slavonic
translations.

Testimony of Truth A poorly preserved gnostic treatise from the Nag Hammadi
library, of which almost half is lost; a didactic homily by a gnostic Chris-
tian, criticizing both the Jewish law and catholic Christianity, decrying (for
example) a belief in Christ without any real (gnostic) knowledge of Christ’s
teachings, and the belief in resurrection of the material body; describes the
god of the Adam and Eve story in Genesis as a “malicious grudger”; em-
phasizes baptism into the “life-giving Word”, through which a person is
truly “born again” and attains salvation.
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letter
Tevijja Sutta (Pa) A Buddhist text in Pali, one the brāhma (priestly)
contrasting
culture with Buddhist ideals.

Thanksgiving Hymns One of the Dead Sea Scrolls found in the caves at Khirbet
Qumran, containing beautiful and often ecstatic psalms of praise and thanks-
giving; often attributed to the Teacher of Righteousness, although there is
no direct evidence for this.

See also: Dead Sea Scrolls, The Essenes (1.4).

Theodotus (fl.160–170) A mid-second-century gnostic who taught in Asia Mi-

nor, some of whose teachings were preserved by Clement of Alexandria
(c.150–215) in a collection of fragments he headed, Excerpta ex Theodoto
(‘Extracts from Theodotus’), a sort of unstructured personal notebook of
material tacked onto his Stromata (‘Miscellanies’), and which includes his
own comments, often difficult to distinguish from his source material; from
the school of the early-second-century gnostic teacher, Valentinus.
Being a set of somewhat haphazard personal notes written down by
Clement for his own use, the text is not easy to follow. It discusses the com-
plex Valentinian gnostic teachings, quoting frequently from the Christian
gospels, especially John and Matthew, and the letters of Paul. It elaborates
on the role of the Logos as the Monogenēs (Only-begotten), the “First-
created of God”, also identified with the “Name”. The Saviour or Son is
described as an “offspring of the essential Logos”. Of baptism, he says,
“Baptism is called death and an end of the old life, when we take leave of
the evil principalities; but it is also called life according to Christ.”

Theognis (c.570–490 BCE) Born at Megara, near Athens; an ancient Greek

gnomic and elegiac poet, a gnome being a proverb or moral aphorism, and
elegiac verse being quatrains in iambic pentameter, alternate lines rhyming.
Some of his poems consist of praise of the aristocracy and hatred of the
lower class rulers who had taken control of Megara; some are love poems
to his beloved, a boy named Cyrnus; others contain traditional Greek wisdom
sayings.

Thought of Norea One of the shortest texts in the Nag Hammadi library, con-
taining only 52 lines of text; an untitled text using both Jewish and Greek
mystical expression. God is represented as the Primal Thought, at one with
the “Voice of Truth, upright Nous, untouchable Logos and Ineffable Voice”;
demonstrates that the Greek Nous (usually translated by scholars as ‘Mind’)
and Logos (usually translated as ‘Word’ or ‘Reason’) were both used by
gnostics to refer to the same divine creative Power.
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 427

3 june 1931(Md. Alf Trisar Shuialia) A collection of

Thousand and Twelve Questions
seven varied Mandaean texts, originally separate, taking its name from
the first and longest part; provides a detailed picture of the rites and beliefs
of a gnostic sect; previously given to a young Mandaean priest only at his
initiation, and usually never imparted to the laity.

Three Steles of Seth A gnostic text from the Nag Hammadi library; presented
as a revelation to Dositheos, a Samaritan gnostic, said in the Clementine
Recognitions to have been a disciple of John the Baptist. According to
gnostic tradition, the gnostic wisdom of Adam passed to his third son, Seth.
Subsequently lost for long ages, it was again revealed to the followers of
the Sethian school, in this case, through Dositheos. In a Jewish legend re-
corded by the Jewish historian, Josephus (c.37–100 CE), and based on the
Bible story, the descendants of Seth followed his ways for seven genera-
tions, increasing their knowledge. Falling into depravity and forewarned of
impending divine judgment, they preserved this knowledge for posterity on
two steles (tablets), one of stone (to survive flood) and one of brick (to
survive fire).
According to the text, Dositheos is granted a vision of three steles of Seth,
which he commits to memory, and reproduces for the benefit of the “elect”.
The three steles consist of prayers, blessings or eulogies addressed to the
Self-begotten Son (Seth); the virginal Spirit, Barbelo (the Mother); and the
unbegotten Father.

Thunder: Perfect Mind An unusual text from the Nag Hammadi library
codices, not classifiable as the work of any particular school, written in the
first person in a self-proclamatory style (“I am …”), where the “I” appears
to be the transcendant, yet immanent, divine Power; of often contrasting
identifications, such as “the first and the last”, “the hearing that can be heard
in everything”, the “speech that cannot be grasped”, “the Name of the
Sound” and “the Sound of the Name”; somewhat similar in style to chapter
11 of the Bhagavad Gītā, where K isha proclaims himself as the divine
presence in all things.

Tilimsānī, ‘Afīf al-Dīn A thirteenth-century Sufi, presumed to be from Tilimsen

(previously Tlemsen), in northwestern Algeria; a disciple of Ibn ‘Arabī and
friend of adr al-Dīn al-Qūnawī.

Timothy, Patriarch of Alexandria A Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria (the 23rd)

during the fourth century.

Titus See pastoral letters.

428 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Treatise on the Resurrection A Christian letter

gnosticone
text from the Nag Hammadi
codices, in which the unnamed writer addresses himself to “my son Rheginos”
concerning the true nature of the resurrection. He says that Jesus “swallowed
up death” by raising himself to the “imperishable aeon” (i.e. God), and
that those who are devoted to Jesus will be drawn to him in a “spiritual
resurrection”. Resurrection, he maintains, is only of the “living” parts of a
person, not the “visible” or “dead” parts, and it can and should be attained
during this present life by freeing oneself from “the divisions and the fetters”
of physical existence.

Trimorphic Protennoia Lit. the three-formed primal Thought; a Nag Hammadi

library text relating the story of the descent of the divine Word or Voice
into this world, as the Son and Saviour, initiation into which is described
as immersion in the “Water of Life” and the receiving of the “five seals”;
contains various additions from the hand of a later Christian editor.

Tripartite Tractate An elaborate, comprehensive, untitled gnostic treatise from

the Nag Hammadi library, probably originating in the Valentinian gnostic
school, and written during the first half of the third century; divided by
scribal decorations into three parts, hence its modern name. The text first
describes the emanation of two powers from the primal, divine and utterly
transcendant Father – the Son and the Church – the three forming the divine
Pleroma (fullness). Further creation comes about through the agency of the
“abundant love” and the independent choice of the Logos, though in accord-
ance with the Father’s will. From the outward-going creative activity of
the Logos are formed material forces, while his inward-going repentance
and desire to return to the Source produce more spiritual forces. The higher
aspect of the Logos then returns to the Pleroma to plead intercession for
his lower part. From the higher part is formed the Saviour, the Son, whose
purpose is to grant gnostic experience both to the aeons within the Pleroma
and to those without.
The text then describes the creation of man through the agency of the
Demiurge, who forms man’s physical and subtle aspects, and the Logos,
who provides his spiritual part. The third section of the treatise describes
the advent of the Saviour, and the spectrum of ways in which he is greeted
by the people of the world – from the dedicated gnostic to those who are
altogether materially minded. The concluding portion of the manuscript
speaks of the salvation of “those who are called”, though the manuscript is
increasingly fragmentary and difficult to follow. The work ends with a hymn
in praise of the Saviour.

Tukārām (c.1598–1649) A poet-Saint (Sant), well known in India, where he

is often described as the finest writer in Marathi, though he wrote in the
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 429

vernacular language of3 june 1931born into a family of farmers in Dehū, near
the time;
Pūnā (now Pue) in Maharashtra, who made a living selling grain from their
farm shop, and were devoted to Vi hal, a local idol of the deity, Vishu, at
Paharpur; writes that he lost his wife and son, and incurred heavy business
losses in a great famine some time before 1619; lived the life of a solitary for
some time before receiving initiation from Bābājī Rāghav Chaitanya in 1619;
subsequently lost all further interest in the family business, giving his share
to his younger brother; remarried to a woman who, though devoted to him,
grumbled at him continually for subjecting them and their children to a life
of poverty; thanked God for this in his poetry, since (he writes) it saved him
from attachment; persecuted by members of the Hindu orthodoxy for having
the affront (being a low-caste farmer and grain seller) to teach about God.
Tukārām composed thousands of poems (abhangs) advocating love and
devotion for God, and the practice of the divine Name (Nām) as the means
of finding Him within and of gaining liberation from the law of karma and
the cycle of birth and death. He also writes in praise of his own Satguru
(true Guru); he denounces all ceremonial forms of worship, and teaches that
all human beings are equal in the eyes of God, and so on. His teachings are
those commonly associated with the Saints (Sants) of India. Nearly 5,000
of his poems have been collected together under the titles Sārth Shrī
Tukārāmāchī Gāthā and Shrī Tukārām Bāvāñchyā Abhangāñchī Gāthā.

Tulsīdās (c.1532–1623) A well-known Indian poet who lived and died in

Vārāasī, Uttar Pradesh; born, probably in Rājapur, into a very poor family;
author of the epic poem and popular Hindi classic, Rām Charit Mānas
(‘Sacred Lake of the Acts of Rāma’) – a version of the great Sanskrit epic,
the Rāmāyaa; written in Avadhī, an eastern Hindi dialect, between 1574
and 1576–77.
Tulsīdās is regarded as the greatest devotional poet of medieval India,
and the cultural influence of his poem has been immense. Though unlikely
to have been his intention, the poem’s success has been largely responsible
for replacing the worship of K isha with that of Rāma in North India.
Rām Charit Mānas extols – among other things – devotion (bhakti) to a
personal God (Rāma) and to the mystic Name (Nām), also exemplifying the
conduct of the ideal husband and ruler (Rāma), wife (Sītā) and brother
(Lakshmaa). Tulsīdās is believed to have been influenced to some extent
by the earlier medieval work, Adhyātma Rāmāyaa, which sought to syn-
thesize the philosophical Advaita Vedānta and the devotional cult of Rāma.
In addition that of a good story, part of the poem’s appeal is the way in which
Tulsīdās brings together many of the universal elements in Hindu philoso-
phy and religion.
His eclectic viewpoint is also seen in the variety of the other 11 works
attributed with some certainty to him. They include K
isha Gītāvalī, a
430 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letterVinayapatrikā
collection of songs in praise of K isha; one (‘Petition’), a
collection of hymns addressed to Rāma; and Kavitāvalī, relating stories of
Rāma.

Tulsī Sāhib (c.1763–1843) An Indian Saint (Sant) and poet. According to an

biographical note in the introduction to a 1909 edition of his Ratan Sāgar
(‘Ocean of Jewels’), he was born into a noble brāhma family; developed
an aversion to worldly life in his boyhood; renounced everything and be-
came a recluse, eventually settling in Hāthras, near Agra, Uttar Pradesh.
According to a similar note in a 1911 edition of his Gha Rāmāya
(‘Rāmāyaa within the Body’), he was the eldest son of the peshvās (ad-
ministrative rulers) of Pūnā (now Pue) in Maharashtra in southwest India.
He was a brāhma, whose real name was Shyām Rāv; was married at an
early age, against his own wishes, to Lakshmī Bāī, and was the father of
one son. His spiritually inclined father wanted to renounce his position in
favour of his eldest son, in order to spend the rest of his life in devotion.
Shyām Rāv, himself averse to life at court, fled the palace the day before
his investiture, probably disguised as a sadhu. All search proving futile, his
younger brother was made the new ruler. Shyām Rāv led a wandering life
for many years until he settled in Hāthras, where he became known as Tulsī
Sāhib.
In Hāthras, he was also known as Dakhanī Bābā (sage from the south).
Among his disciples were Swāmī Shiv Dayāl Singh and his family. His
writings indicate that he taught the path of the mystic Name (Nām) or Word
(Shabd), but when and where he met his Master and who his Master was
are unknown.
Towards the end of his life, it is said that his consciousness was so drawn
up into the spiritual realms that his lower limbs remained numb. Being un-
able to walk, his disciples had to carry him around.

Tustarī, Abū Muammad ibn ‘Abd Allāh Sahl al- (818–896) Born and lived
a quiet life in Tustar, Khūzistān, in Iran; an Islamic theologian with mysti-
cal tendencies; received his basic education from his maternal uncle,
Muammad ibn Sawwār (who transmitted adīth on the authority of Sufyān
al-Thawrī), and amzah al-‘Abbādānī, a little-known spiritual instructor
living in the ribāt (monastery) where al-Tustarī had a vision of God’s Great-
est Name (Ism Allāh al-A‘
am), written across the sky in green light, from
east to west; met Dhū al-Nun Mi rī; credited with formulating many
fundamental Sunnī doctrines, including an analysis of the steps involved in
devotion and in tawbah (repentance), the turning towards God; the early
teacher of al-allāj; died at Ba rah.
Al-Tustarī founded the Sālimīyah school of semi-mystical Muslim theol-
ogy, named after his disciple, Muammad ibn Sālim al-Ba rī. The Sālimīyah
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 431

taught that on the Day3 june 1931

of Judgement, God would appear in human form.
His light would then envelop all creation, and all created things would be
granted salvation. They also believed that since God created man in His own
image, union with Him could be achieved by constant inner contemplation.

Udāna (Pa) A collection of 82 sayings of the Buddha, each one illustrated by

the incident which, it is believed, gave rise to the saying; a part of the
Khuddaka Nikāya (‘Short Collection’), the fifth and last section of the Pali
canon.

‘Umar ibn al-Kha āb (581–644) The second Khalīfah (Caliph, Successor)

after Muammad, following the death of Abū Bakr in 634; a father-in-law
of Muammad; credited with contributing greatly to the spread of Islam;
believed to have established the Muslim era dating system (AH) from the
year of the al-Hijrah (the year of Muammad’s flight to Madīnah); died of
wounds inflicted by a disaffected slave.

See also: The Death of Muammad (1.10).

‘Umar Khayyām (c.1048–1122) Full name, Ghiyāth al-Dīn Abū al-Fat ‘Umar
ibn Ibrāhīm al-Khayyāmī al-Nīshāpūrī; commonly anglicized as Omar
Khayyam, Khayyām meaning ‘tentmaker’, possibly relating to his father’s
occupation; a brilliant Persian polymath, whose studies included mathemat-
ics, astronomy, medicine, philosophy, metaphysics, history and law; well
known in his own time for his scientific achievements; educated in science
and philosophy at his native Nīshāpūr and later at Balkh; moved to Samarkand
where he wrote a significant treatise on algebra; requested by the Saljūq
sul ān, Malik Shāh, to make the astronomical observations required for the
reform of the calendar, thus contributing to the development of the Ta’rīkh-
i Jalālī calendar; collaborated with other astronomers in the building of an
observatory in the city of I fahān; undertook a pilgrimage to Mecca after
the death of the sul ān, returning thence to Nīshāpūr, where he worked as a
teacher, occasionally serving the court
‘Umar Khayyām was made famous in the West by Edward Fitzgerald’s
free rendering in English verse of his Rubā‘īyāt, a collection of quatrains
(four-line verses), published in 1859. Since his verses passed unnoticed in
his own time, some scholars have doubted whether they were really written
by him, although A.J. Arberry has made a convincing case for the authen-
ticity of about 250 of them. Fitzgerald’s free paraphrasing include such
memorable lines as “Take the cash, and let the credit go” and “The flower
that once has blown forever dies.” The verses themselves indicate an honest
and questing mind, concerned by the nature of Reality and eternity, the tran-
sience of life, human ignorance, the dubious nature of religious faith, and
432 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

the existence or otherwise of divineletter one and the afterlife. They

providence
advocate a modest appreciation of the pleasures and beauties of material
existence. ‘Umar Khayyām died at Nīshāpūr around 1131.
In recent times, Arabic and Persian manuscripts on metaphysics, Sufism
and mathematics, attributed to ‘Umar Khayyām, have been discovered and
published in Iran.

Untitled Text See Bruce Codex.

Upanishads (S) Lit. to sit near, to sit close, implying sitting near or close to a
guru; a collection of 108 largely philosophical compositions in prose and
poetry, probably written between 900 BCE and 600 BCE, exploring and
expanding upon the mystical and philosophical dimensions of the Vedas;
the fundamental texts of the Vedānta school of Indian philosophy.

See also: The Vedas and the Upanishads (1.11).

‘Uthmān ibn ‘Affān (d.656) The third Khalīfah (Caliph, Successor); credited
with establishing an authoritative version of the Qur’ān from previously
existing versions, and from those who had memorized the entire Qur’ān by
heart; murdered in a revolt against the Caliphate in 656.

See also: The Death of Muammad (1.10).

‘Uways al-Qaranī A mystic with whom the Prophet Muammad is believed to

have associated, although the historical facts are unknown. According to
the traditional legend, ‘Uways lived in the Yemen and, although it is be-
lieved that the two never met, they knew of each other, communicating in
dreams and visions. After the death of Muammad, it is related that ‘Uways
came to Madīnah, to receive a mantle which the Prophet had left for him.
Some have interpreted this to mean that ‘Uways was appointed by Muammad
as his successor. The Sufi order, ‘Uwaysīyah, was founded in his name. Sufis
who have no Shaykh, but have been the recipients of divine grace are also
called ‘Uwaysīs.

Valī, Shāh Ni‘mat Allāh Nūr al-Dīn ibn Allāh (1330–1431) Born in Aleppo;
educated in Shīrāz with Jalāl al-Dīn Khwārazmī and ‘Aud al-Dīn al-Ījī;
founder of the Ni‘mat Allāhīyah Sufi order, the most prominent and wide-
spread of the Shī‘ah Sufi orders, with numerous branches in India as well as
Persia; initiated into Sufism by the Yemeni historian and traditionalist, ‘Abd
Allāh al-Yāfi‘ī; travelled widely, visiting Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Azerbaijan;
presented himself in Transoxania (now roughly Uzbekistan) as a Murshid
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 433

3 june 1931of the Ni‘mat Allāhīyah Sufi order; recruited

(spiritual Master) and propagator
so many nomads from the area of Shahr-i Sabz that he was expelled from
Transoxania by Tīmūr; died in Māhān, where he was buried close to the
madrasah (religious school) and khānaqāh (Sufi ‘monastery’); a writer of
exegetical essays on the Qur’ān, several hundred treatises (rasā’il) on vari-
ous subjects, a commentary on Ibn ‘Arabī’s, Fuū al-
ikam (‘Bezels of
Wisdom’), and a Dīvān, containing verses expounding the nature of wadat
al-wujūd (unity of being).

Vallabhāchārya (c.1481–1533) Born into a brāhma family in Vārāasī, show-

ing early signs of spiritual and intellectual potential; said to have initiated
his first disciple when still a child; founder of a Vaishava school of Vedānta
which came to be known as Vallabhasampradāya (doctrine of Vallabha),
Push i-mārga (way of well-being) or Shuddha Advaita (pure non-dualism),
teaching that through love, devotion and surrender to K isha (an incarna-
tion of Vishu), rather than fasting and asceticism, the jīvātma can reach
K
isha loka (region of K isha, i.e. Brahman), and become one with him;
believed that salvation is only possible by the grace of God; had his head-
quarters at Mathurā, where – at the foot of Mount Govardhana – he found
an image of K isha (Shrī Nāthajī), which became a central cultic symbol
of his school; travelled extensively throughout India in pursuit of his mis-
sion; originally a member of the Rudra school, founded by Vishusvāmin,
whose philosophy closely resembles that of Vallabhāchārya; married, with
two sons, one of whom (Vihala) succeeded him as head of the school;
became a sannyāsin (renunciate) shortly before he died.

Vālmīki, ishi An ancient sage, traditionally regarded as the author of the

Rāmāyaa, the first poetic work in classical Sanskrit, probably composed
some time between 750 and 500 BCE.

Vārān Bhāī Gurdās Verses composed by the scholar and devotee, Bhāī Gurdās
(c.1551–1636), a contemporary of the third, fourth, fifth and sixth Gurus in
the line of Guru Nānak. For authentic details of Guru Nānak’s life, most
scholars rely on the Vārān Bhāī Gurdās and on certain verses incorporated
into the Ādi Granth, rather than on the janamsākhīs (life stories) composed
some 50 to 80 years after the death of the Guru. A vār (pl. vārān) is a Punjabi
verse form, used by the Gurus in the line of Guru Nānak. The Ādi Granth
contains 22 vārs: three by Guru Nānak, four by Guru Amardās, eight by
Guru Rāmdās, six by Guru Arjun, and one by the brothers, Sattā and
Balvand, disciples of Guru Arjun.

See also: Bhāī Gurdās.

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letter
Vedānta (S/H) Lit. end (anta) of the Vedas one the quintessence of the
(veda);
Vedas; one of the six systems of Hindu philosophy; a monistic philosophy
based on the Upanishads.

See also: Vedānta (1.11).

Vedāntasāra (S) Lit. essence (sāra) of Vedānta; a succinct and highly esteemed
summary of the meaning of the key terms in Vedānta, written by Sadānanda
Yogīndra Sarasvatī, a fifteenth-century Vedantic scholar and sannyāsin
(monk) of the Sarasvatī order of Shankara’s school. Other writers, such as
Rāmānuja, have also written works with the same name.

Vedas (S) Lit. knowledge; the oldest and most sacred Hindu scriptures; written
in archaic Sanskrit, probably between 1500 BCE and 1200 BCE, although
scholarly opinion varies, some placing them much earlier; four collections
(sahitās) of hymns, liturgical chants and sacred formulae recited by priests
during sacrificial rites and ceremonies; preserved orally for centuries by
various priestly families before being committed to writing.
The four sahitās are the ig Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sāma Veda and
the Atharva Veda. Narrowly defined, the Vedas comprise just these four
sahitās. More broadly speaking, the Vedas also include three other types
of text which have become associated with them over the course of time.
These are: the Brāhmaas, prose texts explaining the significance of the
rituals; Ārayakas (lit. forest), intended as reading matter for forest hermits,
containing esoteric reflections as well as descriptions of important rites; and
the Upanishads, philosophical, mystical and speculative texts on the nature
of Reality.
The oldest and foremost of the four Vedas is the ig Veda, it is also the
main source of the hymns found in the Yajur and Sāma Vedas – the second
and third Vedas. The Sāma Veda is also known as the ‘Veda of Chants’, the
verses being used for melodic recitations. The collection of hymns, incan-
tations and magic spells in the Atharva Veda represents a more folk level of
the Vedic religion than the other three.

See also: Brāhmaas, Upanishads.

Vinayapatrikā (H) See Tulsīdās.

Virgil (70–19 BCE) Full name, Publius Vergilius Maro; a Roman poet of a
peasant family, born at Andes, near Mantua; educated in classical Greek
and Roman literature, rhetoric and philosophy at Cremona, Milan and
Rome. Virgil’s poetry reads with rhythm and melody, exhibiting significant
structural skill, and expressing universal aspects of human nature and
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 435

experience often in the 3 june 1931of contemporary events. In the Eclogues,

context
for instance, he writes of the sufferings of farmers dispossessed of their land
for the benefit of veteran soldiers’ pensions (as happened to Virgil himself),
of farmland fallen into neglect when the farmers are forced to go to war,
and of the simple joy of the Italian countryside.
Virgil was regarded by the Romans as their national poet, the spokes-
man of their beliefs and achievements. He is most remembered for his epic
poem, the Aeneid, which relates with vivid mythological colour and imagi-
nation, the adventures of the ‘original Roman’, Aeneas, an exiled Trojan
prince after the Greek sack of Troy (C12th BCE) who founded the city of
Lavinium, the parent town of Alba Longa and Rome. The Aeneid presents
the Roman mission as the divinely guided civilizing of the world. It commends
the best of Roman life and culture, being reborn, in the hopeful mind of
Virgil, during the long and peaceful rule of Augustus (27 BCE – 14 CE),
after a period of intense civil war, which had been regarded by many Romans
as insane. The family of Augustus traced its origins to Aeneas. The epic is
no eulogy of Roman life, however, but presents both sides of the picture –
the human suffering resulting from violence and war, as well as the benefits
of civilization and social stability. Virgil has had a major influence on
European literature, and has been the inspiration for many epic poets since
his time.

Vishu Purāa (S) One of the 18 principal Purāas, exalting the deity Vishu.

See also: Purāas.

Vishu Sahasranāma (S) Lit. the thousand (sahasra) names (nāma) of Vishu,
whose repetition is regarded as a meritorious act of devotion, performed
daily by many Vaishavas.

Vivekānanda, Swāmī (1863–1902) Born in Calcutta, and a graduate of the

Christian Mission College, later becoming a disciple of Rāmak isha. His
speech on the philosophical aspects of Hinduism at the Congress of World
Religions in Chicago in 1893 was greatly lauded and created considerable
interest in Indian philosophy. One of the great exponents of Vedānta.

Wisdom of Jesus ben Sirach Also called Ecclesiasticus; a book included in

the biblical Apocrypha; written in Hebrew by Jesus ben Sirach, in Pales-
tine, around 180–175 BCE; translated into Greek by the author’s grandson
shortly before 132 BCE; was included in the Greek Septuagint, from where
it was accepted into the Christian Bible, but was later excluded from the
Jewish canon and Protestant Bibles; emphasizes the importance of Wisdom
(Gk. Sophia) as the creative Power, which is identified with the Mosaic law
436 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letterpersonalities,
(Torah), also containing eulogies of biblical one and much advice
of an ethical and moral nature; extant in Greek and Hebrew manuscripts.

Wisdom of Solomon A book included in the biblical Apocrypha, belonging to

the tradition of Wisdom literature; extant and probably written in Greek,
though parts of it may have been originally composed in Hebrew; of uncer-
tain date, attributed by some to first-century BCE Alexandria. The first part
deals with the fate of the righteous and the wicked; the second part presents
Wisdom as the personified creative Power; the third part is a commentary
on the biblical story of the exodus from Egypt and the ten plagues.

Wordsworth, William (1770–1850) English romantic poet and poet laureate

(1843–50), whose descriptions of nature were much inspired by the Lake
District, where he lived for much of his life. The second of five children of
a moderately prosperous estate manager, William lost his mother when only
seven, and his father when he was 13. The orphans were sent by their uncle
to a Lake District school in Hawkshead, where he was educated in classics,
literature and mathematics.
Entered St John’s College Cambridge in 1787, electing to pass his days
in idleness, receiving an undistinguished degree; spent the summer vaca-
tion of 1790 on a walking holiday in France where he was caught up in the
wake of enthusiasm following the fall of the Bastille in 1789, becoming an
ardent supporter of the republican ideal; returned to France in 1791, where
he became romantically involved with Annette Vallon; returned to England
before their child, Caroline, was born in December 1792, and was unable to
return due to the outbreak of war between France and England.
Wordsworth then passed three or four miserable and more or less penni-
less years in London before becoming the recipient of a friend’s legacy in
1795. This made possible a reunion with his beloved sister Dorothy, and in
1797, the two moved into a house in Bristol. Here, Wordsworth became
friends with fellow poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, with whom he collabo-
rated on Lyrical Ballads, often described as the first instance of English
romantic poetry, which opened with Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mari-
ner and closed with Wordsworth’s Lines Written above Tintern Abbey. Their
intention was to use the English of the ordinary man, taking subjects from
everyday life, thus breaking with the Neo-Classical tradition. Their work
paved the way for twentieth-century verse. Influenced by Coleridge, the
affection and care of his sister and the healing touch of nature, Wordsworth
left behind his earlier long poems, inclining more to the short poems in
praise of nature for which he is most remembered.
In 1799, Wordsworth moved into Dove Cottage, at the head of Lake Gras-
mere, in the Lake District, where he lived for eight productive years. In
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 437

3 june
1802, during a short-lived 1931in the hostilities between France and Eng-
break
land, he went to Calais where he met his daughter for the first time, and was
reconciled to Annette. Returning to England, he married Mary Hutchinson,
a childhood friend, and by 1810 had produced a family of three sons and
two daughters. In 1805, his brother John, a ship’s captain, was drowned,
the experience of grief and distress resulting in a noticeable humanizing of
Wordsworth’s style. In 1808, he moved to a larger home in Grasmere, and
five years later to Rydal Mount, near Ambleside, where he passed the re-
minder of his life. In 1813, he accepted the post of distributor of stamps for
Westmorland, a position which gave him an annual salary of 400 pounds.
In 1843, he succeeded his friend Robert Southey as poet laureate, a post he
held until his death in 1850.
Wordsworth’s poetry is often divided into two periods, early and late,
most readers preferring the freshness of the young romantic revolutionary
to the aging Tory and Anglican humanist. A habitual tinkerer with his poems,
a number were published in revised editions, of which the original versions
are often deemed to be better. As time passed, he lost his youthful capacity
to see the “celestial light” infusing all things, coming to view it as illusory,
“a poet’s dream”. Until the publication in 1820 of The River Duddon, his
poetry was the subject of persistent scorn by the critics, and only by the
mid–1830s was his reputation established among both critics and the general
public.

Wovoka (Wagud, ‘Wood cutter’) (1856–1932) A Paiute prophet, dreamer, vi-

sionary and Native American leader from Pyramid Lake, Mason Valley,
Nevada, 40 miles northwest of the Walker Lake Reservation; founder, in
1890, of the Ghost Dance; son of Tavibo; also called Jack or Jocko Wilson,
and known as the Messiah or the Prophet.

See Some Recent Native Americans (1.14).

Yajur Veda (S) See Vedas.

Yalkut adash (He) Lit. new (adash) anthology (yalkut); composed in the
seventeenth century by Israel ben Benjamin of Belzec, Poland; a collection
of sermons taken from the midrash, aggadah (legend and folk narrative)
and Kabbalah.

Yalkut Re’’ ubeni (He) Lit. Reuben’s anthology (Yalkut); composed in the late
seventeenth century by Reuben Hoeshke of Prague; a collection of Kabba-
listic aggadah (legends and narratives) drawn from 500 years of Kabbalistic
literature.
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letter one
Yasht (Av) From the Avestan yeshti (worship by praise); one of the nasks
(books) of the Zoroastrian Avestā (the Zoroastrian scriptures in Avestan); a
collection of hymns in praise of the various deities (yazata, worshipful ones)
of the Zoroastrian pantheon.

See Zarathushtra and Zoroastrianism (1.3).

Yasna (Av) Lit. offering, sacrifice; offering with prayers, hence worship; an
Avestan word, related to the Sanskrit yajña (sacrifice); the Zoroastrian Book
of Worship; the foremost nask (book) of the Avestā, the Zoroastrian scrip-
tures in Avestan, containing the oldest strata of Zoroastrian writings, includ-
ing the Gāthās of Zarathushtra, his sole surviving work.

See also: Zarathushtra and Zoroastrianism (1.3).

Yogananda, Paramhansa (1893–1952) Original name, Mukunda Lāl Ghosh;

born in Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh; joined a monastic order at the age of
about 21; initiated by his Guru, Shrī Yukteshwar (1855–1936); in 1918,
founded a yoga school in Rāñchī, now capital of the newly-created state of
Jharkhanda; founded a yoga institute in Los Angeles in 1925, teaching kriyā
yoga, which is somewhat similar to the rāja yoga of Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtras;
established the Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles in 1935, with
centres throughout the USA; given the title paramahasa (supreme soul,
lit. supreme swan) by his Guru, in 1935; died in 1952, following which the
Self-Realization Fellowship and its centres have been managed by his dis-
ciples and later followers; well known from his book, The Autobiography
of a Yogi (1946), which describes his life in India, his time with his Guru,
and his meetings with many of India holy men and women.
In modern times, there are Self-Realization Fellowship centres world-
wide, where kriyā yoga classes and services for worship are held, the latter
combining elements of Hinduism and Christianity with meditation, dis-
courses and music. The Fellowship has both lay members and those who
have taken monastic vows, and who play the part of a clergy.

Yogashikhā Upanishad (S) Also called Yogashikshā Upanishad; lit. ‘crest or

peak (shikhā) of’ or ‘instruction (shikshā) in’ yoga Upanishad; belongs to
the Yajur Veda; set as the answer to a question on the nature of the path
leading from illusion and bondage to salvation, the answer being the yoga
of mystic knowledge (jñāna), which includes control of the six chakras,
control of the mind and senses, and contact with the inner Nāda (Sound);
advocates kualinī yoga as the means of the soul’s ascent.

See also: Upanishads.

 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 439

Yoga Sūtras (S) The basic 3 june 1931 of yogic doctrine, in four sections; tradi-
principles
tionally attributed to Patañjali, also called Gonardīya and Goikāputra. The
first section of the text is entitled samādhi (absorption in superconsciousness);
the second, the practice of yoga; the third, siddhis (supernatural powers);
the fourth, kaivalya (liberation). The attribution to Patañjali is uncertain,
since the first three sections have been dated to the second century BCE,
and the fourth to the fifth century CE, although opinions vary considerably.
Moreover, the name Patañjali, implying divine descent from the mytho-
logical Serpent, Shesha, seems to be a pseudonym, since it denotes no caste.
Patañjali is also the name of a grammarian who wrote another Hindu classic,
the Mahābhāshya (‘Great Commentary’), concerning the grammarian,
Paini, but he is generally conceded by modern scholars to be a different
individual from the author of the Yoga Sūtras. Patañjali has also been used
as a pseudonym by a number of writers on subjects as varied as medicine,
music and alchemy.

Zand (Pv) Lit. commentary; the Pahlavi commentaries on the Avestā (the Zoro-
astrian scriptures in Avestan); also used as an abbreviation of Zand-Avestā.

Zand-Avestā (Av) The Avestā (Zoroastrian scriptures in Avestan), together with

the traditional interpretative commentaries in Avestan.

Zarathushtra Spitamā An Iranian mystic, born perhaps around 1500 BCE,

though traditions and scholarly research vary widely; said to have been a
prolific writer, although only a small number of his gāthās, written in
Avestan, have survived to present times. The Zoroastrian religion, known
in India as the Parsee religion, was founded in his name.

See Zarathushtra and Zoroastrianism (1.3).

Zayd ibn al-ārith (d.630) A slave given to Muammad by his first wife,
Khadījah. Later, Zayd’s father found him, and tried to obtain his freedom,
but Zayd would not leave the Prophet. Muammad therefore gave Zayd his
freedom, making him an adopted son. Traditionally, Zayd is believed to
have attained mystic realization through his love of and association with
the Prophet, a story which is retold by Rūmī in his Maśnavī (I:3500ff.).

Zechariah The biblical book traditionally attributed to the late-sixth-century

(BCE) prophet, Zechariah, regarded as one of the last of the prophets upon
whom the Holy Spirit rested; comprised of two unrelated parts (chapters 1–8
and 9–14), written at different times by different authors. The first part, dated
from its opening passage to 520 BCE, is post-exilic. It begins with a de-
scription of eight visions of Zechariah (1:7–6:8), and is largely preoccupied
440 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter exile
with the return of the Jews from Babylonian one and the rebuilding of the
Temple. It goes on to recount a brief traditional history of Israel (7:1–14),
followed by an anticipation of the messianic age that is to come (8:1–23).
The second part (undated and unascribed), from which Zechariah and the
rebuilding of the Temple are absent, was almost certainly written at a later
date, probably during the late fourth century (BCE). It is itself comprised of
two sections: chapters 9–11 are almost entirely in verse, while chapters
12–14 are largely in prose. Written in a different style from chapters 1–8,
chapters 9–11 refers to historical events which are difficult to identify with
any certainty, and chapters 12–14 are eschatological, describing the trials
and triumphs of Jerusalem in the last days. Its somewhat disorganized
messianic teaching, prophesying the re-establishment of the house of David
(ch. 12, passim), the coming of a humble and peace-loving Messiah (9:9–10),
together with an obscure passage about someone who is “pierced” (12:10)
are quoted or alluded to in the Christian gospels according to Matthew
(21:4–5, 26:31, 27:9), Mark (14:27) and John (19:37).

Zephaniah The biblical book of one of the twelve ‘minor prophets’, Zephaniah
(C7th BCE), characterized by the use of vivid poetic language denouncing
the Israelites’ neglect of Yahweh and their worship of the stars, and casti-
gating the deity Ba‘al and other aspects of Assyrian religion; contains a
warning of the impending destruction of Judah and Jerusalem by the
Assyrians, depicting it as a day of darkness and gloom, and judgment by
fire. The people are enjoined to adhere to a moral and ethical life of right-
eousness and humility; an image of ultimate universal salvation is presented,
where all people utter the Name of God and worship at “His holy mountain”.

Zohar (He/Ar) Lit. splendour, radiance; full name, Sefer ha-Zohar (‘Book of
Splendour’); written largely in Aramaic, with some parts in Hebrew; be-
lieved by modern scholarship to have been mostly written by the Spanish
Kabbalist, Moses de León (1240–1305); the most significant and influential
work of the Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), drawing on earlier Kabbalistic
literature, gnostic teachings, the Talmud, midrash and other sources; written
as the sayings and deeds of Rabbi Simeon ben Yoai of the second century
CE, a literary device that many Kabbalists still regard as true.
The Zohar is a composite work comprising several books of midrashim
(studies, interpretations), homilies and discussions, mostly depicted as the
sayings of Rabbi Simeon ben Yoai and his disciples, as well as other rabbis
who make occasional appearances. The setting is Palestine in the second
century CE. Printed editions are usually composed of five volumes in which
the first three are called Sefer ha-Zohar al ha-Torah (‘Book of Splendour on
the Torah’), and the fourth is the Tikkunei ha-Zohar (‘Sections of the Zohar’).
The fifth, Zohar
adash (‘The New Zohar’), is a collection of the sayings
 Biographic and Bibliographic Glossary 441

and writings of the Safed3 june 1931

Kabbalists assembled by Abraham ben Eliezer
ha-Levi Berukhim, and added after the original publication of the Zohar.
Some parts of the Zohar, such as Ra’aya Meheimna (‘Faithful Shepherd’),
Tikkunei ha-Zohar and Zohar
adash are independent works which have
been added to the original text of the Zohar. There were also a number of
sections known to some early Kabbalists that were never included in printed
editions of the Zohar, and have subsequently been lost.
The midrashim are largely interpretations of passages from the Torah or
Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible), interspersed with digressions,
insertions, anecdotes, legends, and expositions of passages from other bibli-
cal books such as the Song of Songs, the Psalms, the Prophets, and so on. There
are considerable variations between Zohar manuscripts, even as to the loca-
tion of many passages. Some passages also appear in two or three places.
The digressions and insertions include two descriptions of the seven palaces
in the garden of Eden, to which souls ascend in prayer or upon death; a de-
scription of a mystical journey undertaken by Rabbi Simeon and his disciples
to the garden of Eden, together with a long discourse from a ‘senior’ soul in
the hierarchy of the next world; a passage on physiognomy and chiromancy,
based on Exodus 18:21; an account of the disciples’ meeting with Rabbi
Yeiva, an old man and a great Kabbalist, who disguises himself as a poor
donkey driver, and delivers a discourse on the soul; stories concerning young
children who discourse insightfully on mystical topics; an interpretation of
Ezekiel’s vision of the chariot; passages attributed to a mysterious heavenly
voice urging the disciples to open their hearts to mystical understanding and
summarizing Kabbalistic principles in an enigmatic style; and so on.
From earliest times, the origins of the book and its several parts have been
the subject of speculation. To begin with, it was widely believed that the
book was the work of Simeon ben Yoai; some maintained he had written
it while hiding from the Romans in a cave. Others believed it had been put
together soon after Rabbi Simeon’s death. Others thought that it had been
assembled several centuries later from the writings of Rabbi Abba, Rabbi
Simeon’s scribe. In the sixteenth century, the belief developed that the 2,000
tightly printed pages of the Zohar represented only a fragment of the original,
which had required 40 camels to transport it.
None of these ideas are supported by an analysis of the Zohar itself. The
text contains a great many anachronisms and other errors and oddities, lin-
guistic and historical; it copies mistakes originating in medieval texts; there
are allusions to Islam; the climate of social and religious laws and customs is
commonly that of medieval Europe rather than second-century Palestine; and
so forth. Cutting a long story short, during the twentieth century, from a de-
tailed analysis of the text, the Jewish scholar, Gershom Scholem, demonstrated
that large sections of the Zohar, with the exception of Ra’aya Meheimna,
Tikkunei ha-Zohar and Zohar
adash had been written by Moses de León.
442 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter
After the first appearance of the book, one themselves felt free to
Kabbalists
imitate it, something they would never have done had they believed in the
genuine antiquity of the work. Initially, complete manuscripts of the Zohar
did not exist, and a number of anthologies of various sections circulated.
The Zohar was understood as a valuable compendium of Kabbalistic lore,
but was not regarded as a holy book. It was only during the fifteenth cen-
tury, and especially after the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, when
Jewish thought turned to eschatology and the coming of the Messiah, that
the Zohar began to acquire an aura of sanctity. Its influence reached a peak
during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
The first printed editions of the Zohar appeared in 1558–60, produced
by two rival printers in the neighbouring Spanish towns of Mantua and
Cremona. Since the printers had used different manuscripts, there were
differences between the two editions. Both were also full of typographical,
printing and other errors, many corrected in later editions. Some Kabbalists
were opposed to its publication in printed form. Others warned that it con-
tained many errors of a doctrinal nature. Gradually, however, the variant
printed editions converged on one common arrangement, as generally found
in modern editions, and criticism of the work itself subsided. With the benefit
of hindsight, it is clear that no other work of the Kabbalah has had such a
far-reaching or long-standing influence.

See also: The Kabbalah (1.4), Moses de León.

Zoroaster The name given by the ancient Greeks to Zarathushtra.

See Zarathushtra and Zoroastrianism (1.3).

Zostrianos One of the longest texts in the Nag Hammadi library; badly damaged,
with lacunae (gaps) in the papyrus on almost every page; tells the story of
how Zostrianos, yearning for a true understanding of spiritual truths, be-
comes deeply depressed, contemplating whether or not to commit suicide
by delivering himself to the “wild beasts of the desert for a violent death”.
At this moment, his yearnings are answered and he receives a vision from
an angel, and is taken up, out of his physical body, and shown the inner
workings of creation. This literary and fictional framework provides the
author with a means, common enough in ancient times, of describing the
inner regions of creation, as he understood them. The text contains a sig-
nificant element of Greek mystical expression. Several revelational gnostic
texts, including one called Zostrianos, are mentioned by the Neo-Platonist,
Porphyry, in his Life of Plotinus (16). Plotinus is opposed to the teachings
of at least some of the gnostic schools, especially their dualism, jargon and
fanciful cosmogonies.
 443

3 june 1931

B IBLIOGRAPHY

Books are listed alphabetically, by title. Leading definite and indefinite articles in
the various languages (i.e. ‘the’, ‘a’, ‘an’ etc.) are ignored when alphabetizing. Dates
in square brackets are the first publication of the work. Dates are CE unless other-
wise stated. Languages stated include the romanization of various non-roman scripts,
and indicate the main languages used in a book, not necessarily every language which
happens to appear. Where more than one language is listed, the first is generally the
language of translation and discussion, the others are usually of the primary texts.

Anthologies: Cross-Cultural
An Anthology of Mysticism and Mystical Philosophy, W. Kingsland; Methuen,
London, 1927 (English).
Reincarnation in World Thought, J. Head and S.L. Cranston; Causeway, New York,
1967 (English).
Reincarnation: An East-West Anthology, J. Head and S.L. Cranston; Julian, New
York, 1961 (English).
Reincarnation: A Study of Forgotten Truth, E.D. Walker; Rider, London, 1913
[1888] (English).
The Ring of Return, E. Martin; Philip Allan, London, 1927 (English).
A Treasury of Traditional Wisdom, Whitall N. Perry; George Allen and Unwin,
London, 1971 (English).

Anthroplogy and Native Cultures

Aboriginal Conception Beliefs, C.P. Mountford; Hyland House, Melbourne, 1981
(English).
American Indian Myths and Legends, sel. & ed. Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz;
Pantheon Books, New York, 1984 (English).
American Indian Voices, ed. Karen Harvey; Millbrook Press, Brookfield, Connecti-
cut, 1995 (English).
Ancestor Spirits, ed. Max Charlesworth; Deakin University Press, Geelong, 1990
(English).
Ancient Nahuatl Poetry, Daniel G. Brinton; AMS, Philadephia, 1969 [1887] (English,
Nahuatl).
Angle of Geese and Other Poems, N. Scott Momaday; David R. Godine, Boston,
Massachusetts, 1974 (English).
Aspectos Fundamentais da Cultura Guaraní, Egon Schaden; Difusao Europeia Do
Livro, Sáo Paulo, 1962 (Portuguese).
“Ayvu Rapyta”, León Cádogan; in Textos Miticos de los Mbyá-Guaraní del Guairá,
Boletim 227, Anthropology Series 5, Universidade de Sáo Paulo, Faculdade de
Filosofia, Ciéncias e Letras, Sáo Paulo, 1959 (Spanish).

443
444 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter one
A Black Civilization: A Social Study of an Australian Tribe, W.L. Warner; Harper,
New York, 1937 (English).
Black Elk: Flaming Arrow, Hilda Neihardt Petri; University of Nebraska Press,
Lincoln, 1995 (English).
Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux, as told
through John G. Neihardt; University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 1988 [1932]
(English).
The Book of the Hopi, Frank Waters; Penguin, London, 1977 (English).
Le Chamanisme et les techniques archaïques de l’extase, Mircéa Eliade; Paris, 1951
(French).
Conquista espiritual hecha por los religiosos de la Compañía de Jesus en las
provincias del Paraguay, Paraná, Uruguay y Tape, Antonio Ruiz de Montoya
(1585–1652); Corazón de Jesus, Bilbao, 1892 (Spanish).
Crow Dog: Four Generations of Sioux Medicine Men, Leonard Crow Dog and
Richard Erdoes; HarperCollins, New York, 1995 (English).
Crying for a Dream: The World through Native American Eyes, Richard Erdoes;
Bear, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1989 (English).
Dances with Wolves: The Illustrated Story of the Epic Film, Kevin Costner, Michael
Blake and Jim Wilson; Newmarket Press, New York, 1993 (English).
Dreamings: The Art of Aboriginal Australia, ed. Peter Sutton; Viking, London, 1989
(English).
The Feathered Sun: Plains Indians in Art and Philosophy, Frithjof Schuon; World
Wisdom Books, Bloomington, Indiana, 1990 (English).
Firefly in the Night, Irene Nicholson; Faber & Faber, London, 1959 (English).
Fools Crow: Wisdom and Power, Thomas E. Mails; Council Oak Books, Tulsa,
Oklahoma, 1991 (English).
Gift of Power: The Life and Teachings of a Lakota Medicine Man, Archie Fire Lame
Deer and Richard Erdoes; Bear, Sante Fe, New Mexico, 1992 (English).
“Guarani Genesis”, Rubén Bareior Saguier; in UNESCO Courier 18 (May 1990),
Paris (English).
Icanchu’s Drum: An Orientation to Meaning in South American Religions, Lawrence
E. Sullivan; Macmillan, New York, 1988 (English).
Lakota Belief and Ritual, James R. Walker, ed. Raymond J. DeMallie and Elaine
Jahner; University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 1991 (English).
Lame Deer: Seeker of Visions, John (Fire) Lame Deer and Richard Erdoes; Simon &
Schuster, New York, 1972 (English).
Leyenda de la Creación y Juicio Final del Mundo, Curt Nimuendajú (1914), ed. &
tr. J.F. Recalde; Sao Paulo, 1944 (Spanish).
Listening to Nature: How to Deepen your Awareness of Nature, Joseph Cornell;
Dawn, Nevada City, California, 1987 (English).
La Literatura de los Guaraníes, León Cádogan; Legado de la América Indigena,
Editorial Mortiz, Mexico City, 1965 (Spanish).
The Lost Paradise: An Account of the Jesuits in Paraguay, 1607–1768, Philip
Caraman; Sidgwick & Jackson, London, 1975 (English).
Man, Land & Myth in North Australia, R.M. & C.H. Berndt; Ure Smith, Sydney,
1970 (English).
Los Mitos de Creación y de Destrucción del Mundo como Fundamentos de la
 Bibliography 445

3 june 1931
Religión de los Apapokuva-Guaraní, Curt Nimuendajú, ed. Jurgen Riester;
Centro Amazónico de Antropologia y Aplicación Práctica, Lima, 1978 (Spanish).
The Mythology of All Races, vol. 10: North American, H.B. Alexander; Archaeo-
logical Institute of America, Boston, Massachusetts, 1916 (English).
Myths and Legends of the Australian Aboriginals, W. Ramsay; Harrap, London, 1930
(English).
The Myths of the North American Indians, Lewis Spence, Harrap, London, 1914
(English).
Native Religions of North America: The Power of Visions and Fertility, Ake Hultkrantz;
HarperCollins, San Francisco, 1987 (English).
Native Tribes of the Northern Territory of Australia, W.B. Spencer; Macmillan,
London, 1914 (English).
News of the Universe, ed. Robert Bly; Yolla Bolly Press, Covelo, California, 1985
(English).
“Notas sobre el cambio cultural Guaraní”, Miguel A. Bartolomé; in Revista del
Museo Americanista de Buenos Aires l:47–61, Buenos Aires, 1969 (Spanish).
A Place for Strangers: Towards a History of Australian Aboriginal Being, Tony
Swain; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1993 (English).
A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms: being an account by the Chinese monk Fâ-Hien
of his travels in India and Ceylon (AD 399–414) in search of the Buddhist books
of discipline, tr. & annotated with a Corean recension of the Chinese text, James
Legge; Oriental Publishers, Delhi, 1971 [1886] (English, Chinese).
“Religion and Shamanism”, Alfred Métraux; in Handbook of South American In-
dians, vol. 5, pp.559–599, being Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 143,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., 1949 (English).
Religion in the Andes, Sabine MacCormack; Princeton University Press, Princeton,
New Jersey, 199l (English).
Religions of Mesoamerica, David Carrasco; Harper, San Francisco, 1990 (English).
Sacred Language: The Nature of Supernatural Discourse in Lakota, William K.
Powers; University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1986 (English).
The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk’s Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux, re-
corded & ed. Joseph Epes Brown; University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1989
[1953] (English).
Sayings of the Ancestors: The Spiritual Life of the Sibundoy Indians, John Holmes
McDowell; University of Kentucky, Lexington, 1989 (English).
The Serpent and the Rainbow, Wade Davis; Collins, London, 1986 (English).
“Shamanism Among the Avá-Chiripá”, Miguel A. Bartolomé, in Spirits, Shamans,
and Stars: Perspectives from South America, ed. David L. Browman and Ronald
A. Schwarz; Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin, 1979 (English).
Shamanismo y Religion Entre los Ava-Katu-Ete, Miguel A. Bartolomé; Mexico,
Instituto Indigenista Interamericano, l977 (Spanish).
Les singularités de la France antarctique, André Thevet; Le Temps, Paris, 1982
[1558] (French).
“Sintesis de la medicina racional y mística Mbya Guaraní”, León Cádogan; in
América Indígena 9(1):21–35 (Spanish).
Sioux Indian Religion: Tradition and Innovation, ed. Raymond J. DeMallie and
Douglas R. Parks; University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1987 (English).
446 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

The Sixth Grandfather: Black Elk’s Teachingsletter

Givenone
to John G. Neihardt, James R.
Walker, ed. Raymond J. DeMallie; University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 1984
(English).
Songs and Stories of the Netsilik Eskimos, ed. Edward Field; Cambridge Massachu-
setts Education Development Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1970 (English).
The Soul of the Indian: An Interpretation, Charles Alexander Eastman (Ohiyesa);
Bison, 1980 [1911] (English).
Spirits, Shamans, and Stars, David L. Browman and Ronald A. Schwarz; Mouton,
New York, 1979 (English).
To Square with Genesis: Causal Statements and Shamanic Ideas in Wīyapí, Alan
Tormaid Campbell; Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 1989 (English).
La Terre sans mal: Le prophétisme Tupi-Guaraní, Hélène Clastres; Editions du Seuil,
Paris, 1976 (French).

Buddhism
2500 Years of Buddhism, ed. P.V. Bapat; Ministry of Information, Government of
India, New Delhi, 1956 (English).
Buddhism, Christmas Humphrey; Penguin, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, UK, 1995
(English).
Buddhist Records of the Western World (“Si-Yu-Ki”), 2 vols., S. Beal; Trubner,
London, 1884 (English).
The Dhammapada, tr. S. Radhakrishnan; Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1950
(English, Pali).
The Dhammapada: Pāli Text and Translation, with Stories in Brief and Notes, Narada
Thera; Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation, Taiwan, 1993
[1963] (English, Pali).
Early Buddhism and the Bhagavadgītā, K.N. Upadhyaya; Motilal Banarsidass,
Delhi, 1971 (English).
“Fa-Hsien and His English Translators”, Thomas Watters; in The China Review,
Hong Kong, 1879–80 (English, Chinese).
Hokken den sakuin, Shôshin Kuwayama; Kyôto, Sentâ, 1994 (Japanese).
Hokken den yakuchû kaisetsu: Hokusôbon nansôbon kôrai daizôkyôbon ishiyama-
derabon yonshu eiin to sono hikaku kenkyû, Kazutoshi Nakagawa; Yûzankaku
Shuppan, Tokyo, 1996 (Japanese).
The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Majjhima
Nikāya, tr. Bhikhu Nānamoli and Bhikhu Bodhi; Wisdom, Boston, Massachusetts,
1995 (English).
The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha, E.A. Burtt; Mentor, New York, 1955
(English).
“Travels of Fa-Hsien”; in Taisho Tripitaka, vol. 51, no. 2085, pp.857–66 (Japanese).
Travels of Fah-Hian and Sun Yun, Buddhist Pilgrims from China to India, tr. Samuel
Beal; Susil Gupta, London, 1964 [1869] (English).

Christian Bibles and Prayer Books

The Authentic New Testament, tr. H.J. Schonfield; Dennis Dobson, London (1956)
(English).
 Bibliography 447

The Authorized Version of the3 june

Bible1931
(The King James Bible) [1611]; Oxford Univer-
sity Press, Oxford (English).
The Book of Common Prayer; SPCK, London, undated (English).
The Holy Bible: New International Version; Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1988
[1973] (English).
The Jerusalem Bible; Darton, Longman & Todd, London; Doubleday, New York,
1966 (English).
The New English Bible; Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1961 (English).
New Gospel Parallels, 2 vols., R.W. Funk; Fortress, Phildelphia, 1985, 1990
(English).
The New Jerusalem Bible; Darton, Longman & Todd, London, 1985 (English).
The New Revised Standard Version; Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1962 (English).
The New Revised Version; Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1989 (English).
The New Testament in Modern English, tr. J.B. Phillips; Geoffrey Bles, London, 1960
(English).
The New Testament: Revised Standard Version and King James Version in Parallel
Columns; Thomas Nelson, New York, 1960 (English).
The New Testament: The Text of the Worms Edition of 1526 in Original Spelling,
tr. William Tyndale, ed. W.R. Cooper; British Library, 2000 [1526] (English).
The Revised Standard Version; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1952
(English).
The Scholars’ Bible, Vol. I: The Gospel of Mark, D.D. Schmidt; Polebridge, Sonoma,
1991 (English).
Synopsis of the Four Gospels: Greek-English Edition, ed. K. Aland; United Bible
Societies, 1970 (English, Greek).
The Unvarnished Gospels, A. Gaus; Threshold, Battlebro, Vermont, 1988 (English).

Christian: Early Literature

Against Heresies. See The Writings of Irenaeus.
“Anaphora Sancti Timothei Patriarchae Alexandrini”, A. Rücker; in Anaphorae
Syriacae I (1939), Pontificium Institutum Orientalium Studiorum, Rome
(Latin, Syriac).
Ancient Syriac Documents Relative to the Earliest Establishment of Christianity in
Edessa and the Neighbouring Countries, W. Cureton; Williams & Norgate,
London, 1864 (English, Syriac).
The Apocalypse of Adam: A Literary Source Analysis, Charles W. Hedrick; Scholars’
Press, Chico, California, 1980 (English, Coptic).
The Apology of Aristides on Behalf of the Christians, J.R. Harris; Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, 1891 (English, Greek).
The Apostolic Fathers, 2 vols., tr. Kirsopp Lake; Heinemann, London, 1912–13
(English, Greek).
The Apostolic Fathers, J.B. Lightfoot; Macmillan, London, 1891 (English, Greek).
The Apostolic Fathers: An American Translation, E.J. Goodspeed; Harper & Broth-
ers, New York, 1950 (English).
The Apostolical Constitutions: Constitutions of the Holy Apostles by Clement,
Bishop and Citizen of Rome, ed. James Donaldson; T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh,
1870 (English).
448 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Arnobius of Sicca: The Case Against the Pagans letter(Adversus

one Nationes), 2 vols., tr.
G.E. McCracken; Longmans, Green, London, 1949 (English).
Beiträge zur Kenntnis der religiösen Dichtung Balai’s, K.V. Zetterstéen; Leipzig,
1902 (German, Syriac).
Breviarium Chaldaicum, 3 vols., P. Bedjan; Leipzig, 1886–87 (German, Latin,
Syriac).
A Christian Palestinian Syriac Horologion, ed. M. Black; Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge, 1954 (English, Syriac).
Christology of the Later Fathers, ed. E.R. Hardy; SCM, London, 1954 (English).
The Church History of Eusebius, tr. A.C. McGiffert; James Parker, Oxford, 1890
(English).
Clement of Alexandria, J. Ferguson; Twayne Publishers, New York, 1974 (English).
Clement of Alexandria: Christ the Educator, tr. S.P. Wood; Catholic University of
America, Washington, D.C., 1953 (English).
The Confessions of Saint Augustine, tr. E.B. Pusey, ed. Thomas Smith; Grant
Richards, London, 1900 (English).
A Critical Investigation of Epiphanius’ Knowledge of the Ebionites: A Translation
and Discussion of Panarion 30, G.A. Koch; PhD thesis, University of Pennsyl-
vania, 1976 (extracts appear in VJC) (English).
Cyril of Alexandria: Select Letters, ed. & tr. L.R. Wickham; Oxford University Press,
Oxford, 1983 (English, Greek).
De inquisitione pacis sive de studio oratione, Fr. Alvarez de Paz, vol. III of his com-
plete works; Vivés, Paris, 1875 (Latin).
The Dialogues of St Gregory the Great, ed. & tr. H.J. Coleridge; Burns & Oates,
London, 1874 (English).
Early Christian Fathers, ed. & tr. C.C. Richardson; SCM, London, 1953 (English).
An Early Christian Philosopher: Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho, Chapters
One to Nine, J.C.M. van Winden; E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1971 (English, Greek).
Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers, tr. Maxwell Staniforth; Penguin,
London, 1968 (English).
Early Liturgies and Other Documents, tr. W. MacDonald et al.; T. & T. Clark,
Edinburgh, 1872 (English).
Ephraim Syrus: The Repentance of Nineveh: A Metrical Homily on the Mission of
Jonah, tr. H. Burgess; R.B. Blackader, London, 1853 (English).
“The Excerpta ex Theodoto of Clement of Alexandria”, R.P. Casey; in Studies and
Documents I (1934), Christophers, London (English, Greek).
“Die Gedichte Cyrillonas”, G.S. Bickell; in ZDMG 27 (1873) (Syriac).
History of the Martyrs in Palestine by Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea, ed. & tr.
W. Cureton; Williams & Norgate, London, 1861 (English, Latin, Syriac).
Holy Fire: The Stories of the Fathers of the Eastern Church, R. Payne; Skeffington,
London, 1958 (English).
The Hymns and Homilies of Ephraim the Syrian and the Demonstrations of Aphrahat
the Persian Sage, tr. J. Gwynn; James Parker, Oxford, 1898 (English).
Isaaci Antiochi, Doctoris Syrorum, Opera Omnia, 2 vols., G.S. Bickell; Glessae,
1873, 1877 (Syriac).
Legends of Eastern Saints, 2 vols., ed. & tr. A.J. Wensinck; E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1911
(English, Arabic, Coptic, Ethiopic, Karshuni, Syriac).
 Bibliography 449

“The Liturgical Homilies of3 Narsai”,

june 1931
R.H. Connolly; in Texts and Studies 8 (1909),
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (English).
The Nestorians and Their Rituals, 2 vols., G.P. Badger; Joseph Masters, London,
1852 (English).
Origen Contra Celsum, Origen, tr. H. Chadwick; Cambridge University Press, Cam-
bridge, 1986 (English).
“Origen on 1 Corinthians”, C.H. Turner; in Journal of Theological Studies 10 (1909),
Oxford University Press, Oxford (English, Greek).
Origen on First Principles, tr. G.W. Butterworth; SPCK, London, 1936 (English).
Origen: Homilies on Leviticus, tr. G.W. Barkley; Catholic University of America,
Washington, D.C., 1990 (English).
Origen: Prayer and Exhortation to Martyrdom, tr. J.J. O’Meara; Longmans, Green,
London, 1954 (English).
Origen: The Song of Songs, Commentary and Homilies, tr. R.P. Lawson; Longmans,
Green & Co., London, 1957 (English).
Origen’s Treatise on Prayer, E.G. Jay; SPCK, London, 1954 (English).
Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis: Book I (Sects 1–46), tr. F. Williams; E.J. Brill,
Leiden, 1987 (English).
The Panarion of St Epiphanius, Bishop of Salamis: Selected Passages, P.R. Amidon;
Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1990 (English).
“Patristic Evidence for Jewish-Christian Sects”, A.F.J. Klijn and G.J. Reinink; in
Supplements to Novum Testamentum 36 (1973), E.J. Brill, Leiden (English,
Greek, Latin).
The Philosophy of Clement of Alexandria, E.F. Osborn; Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, 1957 (English).
The Principal Works of St Jerome, tr. W.H. Fremantle et al.; A Select Library of
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Vol. 6, St Jerome:
Letters and Select Works, ed. H. Wace and P. Schaff; James Parker, Oxford, 1893
(English).
Refutation of All Heresies, Hippolytus, tr. S.D.F. Salmond; T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh,
1868 (English).
S. Ephraemi Syri Carmina Nisibena, ed. G.S. Bickell; Brockhaus, Lipsiae, 1866
(Syriac, Latin).
S. Ephraemi Syri, Rabulae episcopi Edesseni, Balaei aliorumque Opera selecta: E
codicibus syriacis manuscriptis in museo Britannico et bibliotheca Bodleiana
asservatis primus, ed. J. Josephus Overbeck; Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1865
(Syriac, Latin).
Sancti Ephraemi Syri Hymni et Sermones, 4 vols., ed. T.J. Lamy; Mechliniae,
1882–1902 (Syriac, Latin).
Select Works of St Ephrem the Syrian, tr. J.B. Morris; John Henry Parker, Oxford,
1847 (English).
Selections from the Commentaries and Homilies of Origen, tr. R.B. Tollington;
SPCK, London, 1929 (English).
The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church, ed. H.R. Percival; James
Parker, Oxford, 1900 (English).
Spicilegium Syriacum: Containing Remains of Bardesan, Meliton, Ambrose, Mara
Bar Serapion, ed. & tr. W. Cureton; London, 1855 (English, Greek, Latin).
450 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letterofone
St Augustine on the Psalms, 6 vols., A Library Fathers of the Holy Catholic
Church, tr. members of the English Church; John Henry Parker, Oxford,
1848–57 (English).
St Augustine: Against the Academics, tr. J.J. O’Meara; Longmans, Green, London,
1951 (English, Latin).
St Augustine: The Writings Against the Manichaeans and Against the Donatists, tr.
R. Stothert and A.H. Newman, ed. P. Schaff; W.B. Eerdsmans, Grand Rapids,
Michigan, 1974 [1887] (English).
St Ephraim’s Prose Refutations of Mani, Marcion and Bardaisan, 2 vols., C.W.
Mitchell; Williams & Norgate, London, 1912, 1921 (English, Syriac).
St Gregory Thaumaturgus: Life and Works, tr. Michael Slusser; Catholic University
of America, Washington D.C., 1998 (English).
St Jerome: Dogmatic and Polemical Works, J.N. Hritzu; Catholic University of
America, Washington, D.C., 1965 [1939] (English).
Syrische Wechsellieder von Narses, F. Feldmann; Leipzig, 1896 (German, Syriac).
The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, C.Taylor; Deighton Bell, Cambridge, 1886
(English).
Tertullian Adversus Marcionem, ed. & tr. Ernest Evans; Oxford University Press,
Oxford, 1972 (English, Latin).
Tertullian Against Marcion, tr. P. Holmes; T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1868 (English).
Tertullian: Apologetical Works and Minucius Felix Octavius, tr. R. Arbesmann et al.;
Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., 1950 (English).
Tertullian: On the Testimony of the Soul and On the ‘Prescription’ of Heretics, tr.
T.H. Bindley; SPCK, Brighton, 1914 (English).
Two Commentaries on the Jacobite Liturgy, R.H. Connolly and H.W. Codrington;
Williams & Norgate, London, 1913 (English, Syriac).
Unknown Sayings of Jesus, J. Jeremias; SPCK, London, 1957 (English).
The Works of Bernard of Clairvaux, On the Song of Songs, 4 vols., tr. K. Walsh (vols.
1–3) and I.M. Edmonds (vols. 3–4); Irish University Press (vol. 1), Shannon,
1971; Cistercian Publications (vols. 2–4), Kalamazoo, Michigan, 1976, 1979,
1980 (English).
The Works of Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius of Alexandria and Archelaus, tr.
S.D.F. Salmond; T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1871 (English).
The Works of Lactantius, ed. A. Roberts and J. Donaldson; T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh,
1871 (English).
The Writings of Clement of Alexandria, 2 vols., tr. W. Wilson; T. & T. Clark,
Edinburgh, 1867, 1869 (English).
The Writings of Irenaeus, 2 vols., tr. A. Roberts and W.H. Rambaut; T. & T. Clark,
Edinburgh, 1868–69 (English).
The Writings of Justin Martyr and Athenagoras, tr. M. Dods et al.; T. & T. Clark,
Edinburgh, 1867 (English).
The Writings of Origen, 2 vols., tr. F. Crombie; T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1869, 1872
(English).
The Writings of Tatian and Theophilus and the Clementine Recognitions, tr. B.P.
Pratten, Marcus Dods and Thomas Smith; T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1867
(English).
 Bibliography 451

The Writings of Tertullian,33june

vols.,1931
tr. S. Thelwall and P. Holmes; T. & T. Clark,
Edinburgh, 1869–70 (English).
The Writings of the Apostolic Fathers, tr. A. Roberts et al.; T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh,
1867 (English).

Christian and Jewish Apocryphal Literature

Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha: Post Constantium Tischendorf, 3 vols., ed. R.A.
Lipsius and M. Bonnet; Hermannum Mendelssohn, Lipsiae, 1891, 1898, 1903
(Greek, Latin).
Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Additional Volume Containing Early Christian
Works Discovered Since the Completion of the Series, and Selections from the
Commentaries of Origen, ed. A. Menzies, tr. J.A. Robinson et al.; T. & T. Clark,
Edinburgh, 1897 (English).
Apocalypse of Baruch, tr. R.H. Charles; SPCK, London, 1917 (English).
The Apocrypha and Pseudoepigrapha of the Old Testament in English, 2 vols., R.H.
Charles; Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1913 (English).
“Apocrypha Anecdota II”, ed. & tr. M.R. James; in Texts and Studies V (1899), Cam-
bridge University Press, Cambridge (English, Greek).
The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, 2 vols. (text & translation), ed. & tr. W.R.
Wright; Williams & Norgate, Edinburgh, 1871 (English, Syriac).
Apocryphal Gospels, Acts, and Revelations, tr. A. Walker; T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh,
1870 (English).
The Apocryphal New Testament, tr. M.R. James; Oxford University Press, Oxford,
1989 [1924] (English).
The Apocryphal New Testament: A Collection of Apocryphal Christian Literature in
an English Translation based on M.R. James, ed. J.K. Elliott; Oxford Univer-
sity Press, Oxford, 1993 (English).
The Apocryphal Old Testament, ed. H.E.D. Sparks; Oxford University Press, Oxford,
1985 (English).
Are These the Words of Jesus? I. Wilson; Lennard, Oxford, 1990 (English).
The Book of Enoch, tr. R.H. Charles; SPCK, London, 1987 [1917] (English).
The Clementine Homilies, tr. Thomas Smith et al.; T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1870
(English).
The Clementine Recognitions, tr. Thomas Smith; in The Writings of Tatian and
Theophilus and the Clementine Recognitions, tr. B.P. Pratten, Marcus Dods and
Thomas Smith; T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1867 (English).
Contributions to the Apocryphal Literature of the New Testament, tr. W.R. Wright;
Williams & Norgate, London, 1865 (English, Syriac).
Coptic Apocrypha in the Dialect of Upper Egypt, ed. & tr. E.A.W. Budge; British
Museum, London, 1913 (English, Coptic).
“Coptic Apocryphal Gospels”, tr. F. Robinson; in Texts and Studies 4:2 (1896),
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (English, Coptic).
Diatessaron of Tatian: A Harmony of the Four Gospels Compiled in the Third
Quarter of the Second Century, S. Hemphill; Hodder & Stoughton, London,
1888 (English, Latin).
The Diatessaron of Tatian: A Preliminary Study, J.R. Harris; C.J. Clay, London, 1890
(English, Greek).
452 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letterTrübner,
The Doctrine of Addai the Apostle, tr. G. Phillips; one London, 1876 (English,
Syriac).
The Earliest Life of Christ Ever Compiled from the Four Gospels, Being the Diates-
saron of Tatian, J.H. Hill; T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1894 (English).
The Ethiopic Book of Enoch, M.A. Knibb; Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1978
(English, Aramaic).
“Fragments of the Acts of Judas Thomas from the Sinaitic Palimpsest”, F.C. Burkitt;
in Studia Sinaitica 9 (1900), pp.23ff., C.J. Clay, London (English, Greek).
The Gospel of the Twelve Apostles, tr. J.R. Harris; Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, 1900 (English).
The Infancy Gospels of James and Thomas, R.F. Hock; Polebridge, Santa Rosa,
California, 1995 (English, Greek).
Jewish and Christian Apocalypses, F.C. Burkitt; Oxford University Press, London,
1913 (English).
Joseph and Asenath, E.W. Brooks; SPCK, London, 1918 (English).
The Lost Books of the Bible and the Forgotten Books of Eden, a compilation; World
Publishing Co., 1963 (English).
The Lost Prophet: The Book of Enoch and its Influence on Christianity, M. Barker;
SPCK, London, 1988 (English).
Miscellaneous Coptic Texts in the Dialect of Upper Egypt, 3 vols., E.A.W. Budge;
British Museum, London, 1915 (English, Coptic).
“The Mysteries of Baptism by Moses bar Kepha Compared with the Odes of Solomon”,
R.A. Aytoun; in The Expositor, Eighth Series (1911), vol. 2, pp.338–58, Hodder
and Stoughton, London (English).
“The Mythological Acts of the Apostles”, A.S. Lewis; in Horae Semiticae 4 (1904),
C.J. Clay, London (English).
New Testament Apocrypha, 2 vols., E. Hennecke, ed. W. Schneemelcher, tr. R.McL.
Wilson; Westminster, Pennsylvania, 1963–64 (English).
The Odes and Psalms of Solomon, 2 vols., J.R. Harris and A. Mingana; Longmans,
Green & Company, London, 1920 [1909] (English, Coptic, Greek, Latin,
Syriac).
The Odes and Psalms of Solomon, J.R. Harris; Cambridge University Press, Cam-
bridge, 1911 (English, Greek, Latin, Syriac).
“The Odes of Solomon”, tr. J.A. Emerton; in The Apocryphal Old Testament, ed.
H.E.D. Sparks; Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1985 (English).
The Odes of Solomon, tr. J.H. Bernard; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
1912 (English, Greek).
“The Odes of Solomon”, tr. J.H. Charlesworth; in The Old Testament Pseudo-
epigrapha, 2 vols., ed. J.H. Charlesworth; Darton, Longman & Todd, London,
1983 (English).
The Odes of Solomon, tr. J.H. Charlesworth; Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1973
(English, Coptic, Syriac).
The Old Testament Pseudoepigrapha, 2 vols., ed. J.H. Charlesworth; Darton,
Longman & Todd, London, 1983 (English).
The Other Gospels, ed. R. Cameron; Lutterworth, Cambridge, 1988 (English).
A Popular Account of the Newly-Recovered Gospel of Peter, J.R. Harris; Hodder &
Stoughton, London, 1893 (English).
 Bibliography 453

3 june 1931
Psalms of the Pharisees, Commonly Called the Psalms of Solomon, ed. & tr. H.E.
Ryle and M.R. James; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1891 (English,
Greek).
The Uncanonical Writings of the Old Testament Found in the Armenian mss. of the
Library of St Lazarus, tr. J. Issaverdens; Armenian Monastery of St Lazarus,
Venice, 1901 (English).

Christian Mysticism
The Ascent of Mount Carmel, St John of the Cross, tr. D. Lewis, ed. B. Zimmerman;
Thomas Baker, London, 1906 (English).
The Ascetic Works of Saint Basil, tr. W.K.L. Clarke; SPCK, London, 1925
(English).
The Book of Divine Consolation of the Blessed Angela of Foligno, tr. M. Steegman;
Chatto & Windus, London, 1909 (English).
The Book of Visions and Instructions of Blessed Angela of Foligno, tr. by a secular
priest (A.P. Cruikshank); T. Richardson, London, 1871 (English).
The Collected Works of St John of the Cross, tr. K. Kavanaugh and O. Rodriguez;
Thomas Nelson, London, 1966 (English).
Complete Works of St John of the Cross, 2 vols., tr. D. Lewis; London, 1864, 1906
(English).
Complete Works of St John of the Cross, 3 vols.-in-one, tr. & ed. E. Allison Peers;
Burns & Oates, London, 1964 [1935] (English).
The Complete Works of St Teresa of Jesus, tr. E. Allison Peers; Sheed & Ward,
London, 1946 (English).
The Fire of Love and the Mending of Life or the Rule of Living, Richard Rolle, tr. R.
Misyn, ed. R. Harvey; Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, London, 1896 [1434–35]
(English).
From Glory to Glory: Texts From Gregory of Nyssa’s Mystical Writings, tr. & ed.
H. Musurillo; John Murray, London, 1962 (English).
The Graces of Interior Prayer, A. Poulain, tr. L.L.Y. Smith; Routledge & Kegan
Paul, London, 1950 [1910] (English).
Interior Castle or the Mansions, St Teresa, tr. Benedictines of Stanbrook, ed. B.
Zimmerman; 3rd edn., Thomas Baker, London, 1921 (English).
An Introduction to the History of Mysticism, Margaret Smith; SPCK, London, 1930
(English).
The Ladder of Perfection, Walter Hilton, tr. L. Sherley-Price; Penguin, London, 1988
(English).
Leben und Schriften, Heinrich Suso, ed. M. Diepenbrock; Rari Rollman, Augsburg,
1854 (German).
The Life of Blessed Henry Suso, Henry Suso, tr. T.F. Knox; Methuen, London, 1913
[1865] (English).
The Life of Richard Rolle: Together with an Edition of his English Lyrics, F.M.M.
Comper; Methuen, London, 1969 [1928] (English).
The Life of St Teresa of Jesus, St Teresa, tr. D. Lewis, ed. B. Zimmerman; 4th edn.,
Thomas Baker, London, 1911 (English).
The Life of the Servant, Henry Suso, tr. J.M. Clarke; James Clarke, London, 1952
(English).
454 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter
The Lives of Saints with other Feasts of the Year, one to the Roman Calendar,
According
P. Ribadeneira, ed. & tr. W. Petre; London, 1730 (English).
Luis de Leon: A Study of the Spanish Renaissance, A.F.G. Bell; Oxford University
Press, Oxford, 1925 (English).
Mysticism: A Study and an Anthology, F.C. Happold; Penguin, London, 1970 (English).
Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Man’s Spiritual Conscious-
ness, E. Underhill; Methuen, London, 1948 [1911] (English).
The Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition From Plato to Denys, A. Louth;
Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1981 (English).
The Philokalia: The Complete Text, Compiled by St Nikodimos of the Holy Moun-
tain and St Makarios of Corinth, 4 vols., tr. & ed. G.E.H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard,
Kallistos Ware; Faber & Faber, London, 1979, 1981, 1984, 1995 (English).
The Revelations of Mechthild of Magdeburg, tr. L. Menzies; Longmans, Green,
London, 1953 (English).
Studies of the Spanish Mystics, 3 vols., E. Allison Peers; SPCK, London, 1951–60
[1926, 1960] (English).
Vida (Life) and other works, 2 vols., Marina de Escobar; compiled from her writings,
Madrid, 1665, 1673 (Spanish).
Western Mysticism: The Teachings of Sts Augustine, Gregory and Bernard on
Contemplation and the Contemplative Life, C. Butler; Constable, London, 1927
[1922] (English).
Woodbrooke Studies: Christian Documents in Syriac, Arabic and Garshuni, 7 vols.,
ed. & tr. A. Mingana; W. Heffer, Cambridge, 1927–34 (English, Arabic,
Garshuni, Syriac).
The Writings of St Francis of Assisi, Constance, Countess de la Warr; Burns and
Oates, London, 1907 (English).

Christian: New Testament Studies and Early Christianity

The Anatomy of the Fourth Gospel: A Study in Literary Design, R.A. Culpepper;
Fortress, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1983 (English).
Androcles and the Lion, Bernard Shaw; Penguin, London, 1946 [1916] (English).
An Aramaic Approach to the Gospels and Acts, M. Black; Oxford University Press,
Oxford, 1967 (English).
The Aramaic Origin of the Fourth Gospel, C.F. Burney; Oxford University Press,
Oxford, 1922 (English).
The Archaeology of the New Testament, J. Finegan; Princeton University Press,
Princeton, New Jersey, 1969 (English).
Behind the First Gospel, B. Lindars; SPCK, London, 1971 (English).
The Birth of the New Testament, C.F.D. Moule; A. & C. Black, London, 1962
(English).
Bread From Heaven: An Exegetical Study of the Concept of Manna in the Gospel of
John and the Writings of Philo, P. Borgen; E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1965 (English).
Can We Trust the New Testament? J.A.T. Robinson; Mowbray, London, 1979 (English).
The Christian Platonists of Alexandria, C. Bigg; Oxford University Press, Oxford,
1913 (English).
Christianity in Talmud and Midrash, R.T. Herford; Gregg International, Farnborough,
UK, 1972 [1903] (English).
 Bibliography 455

3 june 1931 New Testament Vocabulary, D. Holly;

A Complete Categorized Greek-English
Samuel Bagster, London, 1978 (English, Greek).
The Complete Gospels, ed. R.J. Miller; Polebridge, Santa Rosa, California, 1995
(English).
Coptic Egypt, B. Waterson; Scottish Academic, Edinburgh, 1988 (English).
The Death of Jesus, J. Carmichael; Victor Gollancz, London, 1963 (English).
Did Jesus Live 100 BC?, G.R.S. Mead; Theosophical Publishing House, London,
1903 (English).
Do You Know Greek? J.N. Sevenster; E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1968 (English).
The Earliest Gospel, F.C. Grant; Abingdon-Cokesbury, New York, 1943 (English).
The Earliest Lives of Jesus, R.M. Grant; SPCK, London, 1961 (English).
The Earliest Sources for the Life of Jesus, F.C. Burkitt; Houghton Mifflin, New York,
1910 (English).
The Early Days of Christianity, F.W. Farrar; Cassell, London, 1898 (English).
Early Eastern Christianity, F.C. Burkitt; John Murray, London, 1904 (English).
Early Egyptian Christianity: From Its Origins to 451 C.E., C.W. Griggs; E.J. Brill,
Leiden, 1990 (English).
Edessa: ‘The Blessed City’, J.B. Segal; Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1970 (English).
The Eleven Religions and Their Proverbial Lore: A Comparative Study, S.G.
Champion; Routledge & Sons, London, 1944 (English).
The Enigma of the Fourth Gospel: Its Author and Writer, R.E. Eisler; Methuen,
London, 1938 (English).
The First Gospel: An Introduction to Q, A.D. Jacobson; Polebridge, Sonoma,
California, 1988 (English).
The Five Gospels: The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus, R.W. Funk and R.W.
Hoover; Macmillan, New York, 1993 (English).
The Forgotten Beginnings of Creation and Christianity, C.A. Skriver; Vegetarian
Press, Denver, Colorado, 1990 (English).
The Formation of the Christian Biblical Canon, L.M. McDonald; Abingdon, Nash-
ville, Tennessee, 1988 (English).
The Formation of the New Testament, E.J. Goodspeed; University of Chicago Press,
Chicago, 1926 (English).
The Formation of the New Testament, R.M. Grant; Hutchinson, London, 1965
(English).
The Four Gospels: A Study of Origins, B.H. Streeter; Macmillan, London, 1936
(English).
Four Other Gospels, J.D. Crossan; Polebridge, Sonoma, California, 1992 (English).
The Fourth Gospel and the Logos-Doctrine, R.G. Bury; W. Heffer, Cambridge, 1940
(English).
The Genesis of John, A.Q. Morton and J. McLeman; St Andrew, Edinburgh, 1980
(English).
The Gospel According to Jesus, S. Mitchell; HarperCollins, New York, 1991 (English).
The Gospel Before the Gospels, B.S. Easton; Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York,
1928 (English).
The Gospel of Jesus: In Search of His Original Teachings, John Davidson; Element,
Shaftesbury, UK, 1995 (English).
The Gospel of Mark (Red Letter Edition), R.W. Funk and M.H. Smith; Polebridge,
Sonoma, California, 1991 (English).
456 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

The Gospel of Mark, B.H. Branscomb; Hodder letter one London, 1937 (English).
& Stoughton,
The Gospel of Mark: Its Composition and Date, B.W. Bacon; Yale University Press,
New Haven, Connecticut, 1925 (English).
The Gospel of Thomas and Jesus, S.J. Patterson; Polebridge, Sonoma, California,
1993 (English).
The Gospels as Historical Documents, 3 vols., V.H. Stanton; Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge, 1903, 1909, 1920 (English).
The Gospels in the Making: An Introduction to the Recent Criticism of the Synoptic
Gospels, A. Richardson; SCM, London, 1938 (English).
The Gospels: Their Origin and Growth, D.W. Riddle; University of Chicago Press,
Chicago, Illinois, 1939 (English).
The Gospels: Their Origin and Their Growth, F.C. Grant; Harper & Brothers, New
York, 1957 (English).
The Historical Evidence for Jesus, G.A. Wells; Prometheus, New York, 1982
(English).
The Historical Figure of Jesus, E.P. Sanders; Penguin, London, 1993 (English).
The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant, J.D. Crossan;
Harper, San Francisco, 1991 (English).
A History of Heresy, D. Christie-Murray; Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1976
(English).
The History of the Church, Eusebius, tr. G.A. Williamson; Penguin, London, 1965
(English).
The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 BC–135 AD), 3
vols., E. Schürer, rev. ed. & tr. G. Vermes et al.; T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh,
1973–87 (English).
The History of the Synoptic Tradition, R. Bultmann, tr. J. Marsh; Basil Blackwell,
Oxford, 1963 (English).
Honest to God, J.A.T. Robinson; SCM, London, 1963 (English).
The Human Face of God, J.A.T. Robinson; SCM, London, 1972 (English).
The ‘I am’ of the Fourth Gospel: A Study in Johannine Usage and Thought, P.B.
Harner; Facet, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1970 (English).
The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel, C.H. Dodd; Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, 1953 (English).
The Interpretation of the New Testament 1861–1961, S. Neill; Oxford University
Press, Oxford, 1964 (English).
Introduction to the New Testament, W.G. Kümmel, tr. A.J. Matill; SCM, London,
1970 (English).
Jesus and Christian Origins Outside the New Testament, F.F. Bruce; Hodder &
Stoughton, London, 1974 (English).
Jesus, Aramaic and Greek, G.R. Selby; Brynmill, Doncaster, UK, 1989 (English,
Aramaic, Greek).
Jesus Christ in the Talmud, Midrash, Zohar, and the Liturgy of the Synagogue, G.
Dalman, tr. A.W. Streane; Deighton Bell, Cambridge, 1893 (English, Aramaic,
Hebrew).
Jesus in the Jewish Tradition, M. Goldstein; Macmillan, New York, 1950 (English).
Jesus-Jeshua: Studies in the Gospels, G. Dalman, tr. P.P. Levertoff; SPCK, London,
1929 (English).
 Bibliography 457

Jesus of Nazareth: His Life, 3Times

juneand
1931
Teaching, J. Klausner, tr. H.D. Danby; George
Allen & Unwin, London, 1929 (English).
The Jesus of the Early Christians, G.A. Wells; Pemberton, London, 1971 (English).
Jesus on Trial: A Study in the Fourth Gospel, A.E. Harvey; SPCK, London, 1976
(English).
Jesus the Jew: A Historian’s Reading of the Gospels, G. Vermes; Williams Collins,
London, 1973 (English).
Jesus the Magician, M. Smith; Gollancz, London, 1978 (English).
Jesus: A Life, A.N. Wilson; Sinclair-Stevenson, London, 1992 (English).
Jesus: The Man and the Myth, J.P. Mackey; SCM, London, 1979 (English).
The Jew of Tarsus: An Unorthodox Portrait of Paul, H.J. Schonfield; Macdonald,
London, 1946 (English).
The Jewish–Christian Argument: A History of Theologies in Conflict, H.J. Schoeps,
tr. D.E. Green; Faber & Faber, London, 1963 (English).
John Wycliffe: A Quincentenary Tribute, J.J. Wray; James Nisbet, London, 1884
(English).
The Life of Jesus Critically Examined, D.F. Strauss, tr. G. Eliot; Chapman, London,
1846 (English).
Light on Saint John, Maharaj Charan Singh; Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Punjab,
India, 1996 [1958] (English).
Light on Saint Matthew, Maharaj Charan Singh; Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Punjab,
India, 2000 [1978] (English).
A Lost Edition of the Letters of Paul: A Reassessment of the Text of the Pauline Corpus
Attested by Marcion, J.J. Clabeaux; Catholic Biblical Association of America,
Washington D.C., 1989 (English, Greek, Latin).
The Lost Gospel: The Book of Q and Christian Origins, Burton L. Mack; Harper-
Collins, San Francisco, 1993 (English).
The Making of Luke-Acts, H.J. Cadbury; Macmillan, London, 1927 (English).
The Making of the English New Testament, E.J. Goodspeed; University of Chicago
Press, Chicago, 1925 (English).
Marcion and the New Testament: An Essay in the Early History of the Canon, J.
Knox; University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1942 (English).
A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, J.P. Meier; Doubleday, New York,
1991 (English).
The Messiah Jesus and John the Baptist According to Flavius Josephus’ Recently
Discovered ‘Capture of Jerusalem’ and Other Jewish and Christian Sources,
R. Eisler, tr. A.H. Krappe; Methuen, London, 1931 (English).
Moses or Jesus: An Essay in Johannine Christology, M.-E. Boismard, tr. B.T.
Viviano; Fortress, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1993 (English).
“Myth and Miracle: Isis, Wisdom and the Logos of John”, H.C. Kee; in Myth Symbol
and Reality, ed. A.M. Olson; University of Notre Dame Press, London, 1980
(English).
“‘Nazareth’ and ‘Jerusalem’ in Luke Chs. I and II”, P. Winter; in New Testament
Studies 3 (1956–57), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (English).
The Nestorian Documents and Relics in China, P.Y. Saeki; Academy of Oriental
Culture, Tokyo Institute, Maruzen, Tokyo, 1951 (English).
Nestorius and His Teaching: A Fresh Examination of the Evidence, J.F. Bethune-
Baker; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1908 (English).
458 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

The New Testament Documents: Their Origin letterandoneEarly History, G. Milligan;

Macmillan, London, 1913 (English).
New Testament Fundamentals, S.L. Davies; Polebridge, Sonoma, California, 1994
(English).
New Testament Studies, C.H. Dodd; Manchester University Press, Manchester,
UK, 1953 (English).
The Origin of the Doctrine of the Trinity: A Popular Exposition, J.R. Harris;
Longmans, Green, Manchester, UK, 1919 (English).
The Origin of the Prologue to St John’s Gospel, J.R. Harris; Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge, 1917 (English).
The Oxford Companion to the Bible, ed. B.M. Metzger and M.D. Coogan; Oxford
University Press, Oxford, 1993 (English).
The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, rev. edn. F.L. Cross and E.A.
Livingstone; Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1983 (English).
The Parables of Jesus, R.W. Funk et al.; Polebridge, Sonoma, California, 1990
(English).
The Passover Plot: New Light on the History of Jesus, H.J. Schonfield; Hutchinson,
London, 1965 (English).
Patrologia Greco-Latina, 161 vols., J.-P. Migne; Paris, 1857–67 (Greek, Latin).
Paul, E.P. Sanders; Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1991 (English).
Paul: The Theology of the Apostle in the Light of Jewish Religious History, H.J.
Schoeps; Lutterworth, London, 1961 (English).
Q Parallels, J.S. Kloppenborg; Polebridge, Sonoma, California, 1988 (English).
The Q-Thomas Reader: The Gospels Before the Gospels, J.S. Kloppenborg et al.;
Polebridge, Sonoma, California, 1990 (English, Coptic).
“The Quest for the Historical Jesus”, G. Vermes; in Jewish Chronicle Literary
Supplement (12 December 1969) (English).
The Quest for the Messiah, J. Painter; T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1993 (English).
Rabbinic Literature and Gospel Teachings, C.G. Montefiore; Macmillan, London,
1930 (English).
Redating the New Testament, J.A.T. Robinson; SCM, London, 1976 (English).
Reincarnation and Christianity, a clergyman of the Church of England; Rider,
London, 1910 (English).
Reincarnation in the New Testament, J.M. Pryse; Elliot B. Page, New York, 1900
(English).
Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, J.S. Spong; Harper, San Francisco, 1991
(English).
Resurrection: Myth or Reality?, J.S. Spong; Harper, San Francisco, 1994 (English).
The Rise of Christianity, W.H.C. Frend; Darton. Longman & Todd, London, 1984
(English).
The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church, ed. H.R. Percival; James
Parker, Oxford, 1900 (English).
The Sources of the Second Gospel, A.T. Cadoux; James Clarke, London, 1935 (English).
The Sources of the Synoptic Gospels, 2 vols., W.L. Knox; Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge, 1953 (English).
The Text of the New Testament, K. & B. Aland, tr. E.F. Rhodes; William B. Eerdmans
& E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1987 (English).
 Bibliography 459

3 june
The Text of the New Testament: 1931
Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration, B.M.
Metzger; Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1968 (English).
Understanding the Fourth Gospel, J. Ashton; Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1991
(English).
The Vegetarianism of Jesus Christ, C.P. Vaclavik; Kaweah, Three Rivers, California,
1986 (English).
Who Was Jesus?, C. Cross; Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1970 (English).
The Words of Jesus: Considered in the Light of Post-Biblical Jewish Writings and
the Aramaic Language, G. Dalman, tr. D.M. Kay; T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh,
1902 (English, Aramaic, Greek, Hebrew).

Christian: Oxyrhynchus Sayings of Jesus

Fragment of an Uncanonical Gospel from Oxyrhynchus, B.P. Grenfell and A.S.
Hunt; Oxford University Press, London, 1908 (English, Greek).
New Sayings of Jesus and Fragment of a Lost Gospel: From Oxyrhynchus, B.P.
Grenfell and A.S. Hunt; Henry Frowde, London, 1904 (English, Greek).
The Oxyrhynchus Logia and the Apocryphal Gospels, C. Taylor; Oxford University
Press, Oxford, 1899 (English, Greek).
Sayings of Our Lord: From an Early Greek Papyrus, B.P. Grenfell and A.S. Hunt;
Henry Frowde, London, 1897 (English, Greek).

Dead Sea Scrolls

The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English, Geza Vermes; Penguin, London, 1997
(English).
A Crack in the Jar: What Ancient Jewish Documents Tell us about the New Testament,
N.S. Fujita; Paulist, New York, 1986 (English).
The Dead Sea Scrolls in English, Geza Vermes; Penguin, London, 1988 (English).
The Dead Sea Scrolls, J. Allegro; Penguin, London, 1958 (English).
The Dead Sea Scrolls, M. Burrows; Viking, New York, 1955 (English).
The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered, R. Eisenman and M. Wise; Element, Shaftesbury,
UK, 1993 (English).
The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Preliminary Survey, A. Dupont-Sommer, tr. E.M. Rowley;
Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1952 (English).
The Essene Writings from Qumran, A. Dupont-Sommer, tr. G. Vermes; Basil
Blackwell, Oxford, 1961 (English).
The Jewish Sect of Qumran and the Essenes: New Studies on the Dead Sea Scrolls,
A. Dupont-Sommer, tr. R.D. Barnett; Valentine, Mitchell, London, 1954
(English).
The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls, A.P. Davies; New American Library, New
York, 1956 (English).
The Monks of Qumran: as Depicted in the Dead Sea Scrolls, E.F. Sutcliffe; Burns &
Oates, London, 1960 (English).
The Scrolls and Christian Origins: Studies in the Jewish Background of the New
Testament, M. Black; Thomas Nelson, London, 1961 (English).
The Scrolls and Christianity, ed. M. Black; SPCK, London, 1969 (English).
The Scrolls and the New Testament, ed. K. Stendahl; Harper & Brothers, New York,
1957 (English).
460 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter
The Scrolls from the Dead Sea, E. Wilson; W.H. oneLondon, 1958 (English).
Allen,
The Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Studies Towards Their Solution, H.J. Schonfield;
Valentine, Mitchell, London, 1956 (English).

Gnosticism
The Acts of Thomas: Introduction, Text, Commentary, A.F.J. Klijn; E.J. Brill, Leiden,
1962 (English, Greek, Syriac).
Bardaian of Edessa, H.J.W. Drijvers, tr. G.E. van Baaren-Pape; van Gorcum, Assen,
The Netherlands, 1966 (English, Syriac).
Biblical Interpretation in the Gnostic Gospel of Truth from Nag Hammadi, J.A.
Williams; Scholars’ Press, Atlanta, Georgia, 1988 (English, Coptic, Greek).
The Book of Thomas the Contender from Codex II of the Cairo Gnostic Library from
Nag Hammadi, J.D. Turner; Scholars’ Press, Missoula, Montana, 1970 (English,
Coptic).
The Books of Jeu and the Untitled Text in the Bruce Codex, tr. Violet MacDermot;
E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1978 (English, Coptic).
“A Comparison of the Parables of the Gospel According to Thomas and of the
Synoptic Gospels”, H. Montefiore; in New Testament Studies 7 (1960–61), Cam-
bridge University Press, Cambridge (English, Greek).
The Complete Echoes from the Gnosis, G.R.S. Mead, ed. S. Ronan; Chthonios,
Hastings, UK, 1987 [1906–8] (English).
Fragments of a Faith Forgotten, G.R.S. Mead; Health Research, Mokelumne Hill,
California, 1976 [1906] (English).
The Fragments of Heracleon, A.E. Brooke; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
1891 (English, Greek).
Gnosis: An Esoteric Tradition of Mystical Visions and Unions, D. Merkur; State
University of New York Press, Albany, 1993 (English).
The Gnostic Gospels, E. Pagels; Random House, New York, 1979 (English).
The Gnostic Mystery: A Connection Between Ancient and Modern Mysticism, A.G.
Diem; Mt Antonio College Press, Walnut, California, 1992 (English).
The Gnostic Paul: Gnostic Exegesis of the Pauline Letters, E.H. Pagels; Fortress,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1975 (English).
The Gnostic Religion, H. Jonas; Beacon, Boston, Massachusetts, 1963 (English).
The Gnostic Scriptures, Bentley Layton; SCM, London, 1987 (English).
The Gnostic Treatise on Resurrection from Nag Hammadi, ed. & tr. Bentley Layton;
Scholars’ Press, Missoula, Montana, 1979 (English, Coptic, Greek).
Gnosticism and Early Christianity, R.M. Grant; Columbia University Press, New
York, 1959 (English).
Gnosticism: Its History and Influence, B. Walker; Thorsons, Wellingborough, UK,
1983 (English).
Gnosticism: Mystery of Mysteries: A Study in the Symbols of Transformation, J.J.
Hurtak; Academy for Future Science, Los Gatos, California, 1988 (English).
The Gnostics and Their Remains, C.W. King; Bell & Daldy, London, 1864 (English).
The Gospel According to Thomas, tr. A. Guillaumont et al.; E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1959
(English, Coptic).
The Gospel of Truth, K. Grobel; Adam & Charles Black, London, 1960 (English).
Heresy: Heretical Truth or Orthodox Error? J. O’Grady; Element, Shaftesbury, UK,
1985 (English).
 Bibliography 461

The Hymn of Jesus, tr. G.R.S.3 june 1931

Mead; Watkins, London, 1963 [1907] (English).
The Hymn of the Soul: Contained in the Syriac Acts of Thomas, ed. & tr. A.A. Bevan;
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1897 (English, Syriac).
The Johannine Gospel in Gnostic Exegesis: Heracleon’s Commentary on John, E.H.
Pagels; Abingdon, Nashville, Tennessee, 1973 (English).
Jung and the Lost Gospels: Insights into the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi
Library, S.A. Hoeller; Theosophical Publishing House, Wheaton, Illinois, 1989
(English).
The Letter of Peter to Philip, tr. M.W. Meyer; Scholars’ Press, Chico, California,
1981 (English, Coptic).
Marcion and His Influence, E.C. Blackman; SPCK, London, 1948 (English).
Marcion: The Gospel of the Alien God, A. Harnack, tr. J.E. Steely and L.D. Bierma;
Labyrinth, Durham, North Carolina, 1924 (English).
Marcion: On the Restitution of Christianity, R.J. Hoffmann; Scholars’ Press, Chico,
California, 1984 (English).
Marcion: A Study of a Second Century Heretic, R.S. Wilson; James Clarke, London,
1933 (English).
Nag Hammadi, Gnosticism and Early Christianity, ed. Charles W. Hedrick and R.
Hodgson Jr.; Hedrickson, Peabody, Massachussetts, 1986 (English).
The Nag Hammadi Library in English, ed. James M. Robinson; E.J. Brill, Leiden,
1988 (English).
Nag Hammadi Studies IV: Nag Hammadi Codices III,2 and IV,2, The Gospel of the
Egyptians, ed. Alexander Böhlig and Frederik Wisse; E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1979
(English, Coptic).
Nag Hammadi Studies XI: Nag Hammadi Codices V,2–5 and VI, ed. Douglas M.
Parrott; E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1979 (English, Coptic).
Nag Hammadi Studies XV: Nag Hammadi Codices IX and X, ed. Birger A. Pearson;
E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1981 (English, Coptic).
Nag Hammadi Studies XX: Nag Hammadi Codex II,2–7, vol. 1, ed. Bentley Layton;
E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1989 (English, Coptic).
Nag Hammadi Studies XXI: Nag Hammadi Codex II,2–7, vol. 2, ed. Bentley Layton;
E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1989 (English, Coptic).
Nag Hammadi Studies XXII: Nag Hammadi Codex I (the Jung Codex), vol. 1, ed.
Harold W. Attridge; E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1985 (English, Coptic).
Nag Hammadi Studies XXIII: Nag Hammadi Codex I (the Jung Codex), vol. 2, ed.
Harold W. Attridge; E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1985 (English, Coptic).
Nag Hammadi Studies XXVI: Nag Hammadi Codex III,5, The Dialogue of the
Saviour, ed. Stephen Emmel; E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1984 (English, Coptic).
Nag Hammadi Studies XXVII: Nag Hammadi Codices III,3–4 and V,1, with Papyrus
Berolinensis 8502,3 and Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 1081, Eugnostos and The
Sophia of Jesus Christ, ed. Douglas M. Parrott; E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1979 (English,
Coptic).
Nag Hammadi Studies XXVIII: Nag Hammadi Codices XI, XII, XIII, ed. Charles
W. Hedrick; E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1990 (English, Coptic).
Nag Hammadi Studies XXX: Nag Hammadi Codex VII, XIII, ed. Birger A. Pearson;
E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1996 (English, Coptic).
Nag Hammadi Studies XXXI: Nag Hammadi Codex VIII, ed. John H. Sieber; E.J.
Brill, Leiden, 1991 (English, Coptic).
462 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Nag Hammadi Studies XXXIII: Synopsis ofletter one Codices II,1, III,1, and
Nag Hammadi
IV,1 with BG 8502,2, ed. M. Waldstein and Frederik Wisse; E.J. Brill, Leiden,
1995 (English, Coptic).
The Path of Light, a translation & interpretation of the Askew & Bruce codices,
C. O’Brien; unpublished ms., Cambridge, 1995 (English).
Pistis Sophia, tr. G. Horner; SPCK, London, 1924 (English).
Pistis Sophia, tr. Violet MacDermot; E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1978 (English, Coptic).
Pistis Sophia: A Gnostic Gospel, G.R.S. Mead; Garber Communications, New York,
1984, reprinted from Mead’s 1921 edition (English).
Pre-Christian Gnosticism, E. Yamauchi; SCM, London, 1973 (English).
The Robe of Glory, John Davidson; Element, Shaftesbury, UK, 1992 (English).
The Secret Books of the Egyptian Gnosis, J. Doresse; Inner Traditions, Rochester,
Vermont, 1986 (English).
The Secret Gospel, M. Smith; Dawn Horse, Clearlake, California, 1982 (English).
The Teachings of Silvanus, J. Zandee; Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije, Oosten,
Leiden, 1991 (English, Coptic).

Gnosticism: Mandaean
By Tigris and Euphrates, E.S. Stevens (later E.S. Drower); Hurst & Blackett,
London, 1923 (English).
The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans, tr. E.S. Drower; E.J. Brill, Leiden,
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Gnosticism: Manichaean
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466 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

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Kitāb al-Insān al-Kāmil, ‘Azīz al-Dīn Nasafī, lettered. one

Marijan Molé; Kitāb Khānah
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aqq al-Yaqīn, Mir’āt al-Muaqqiqīn, Maratib al-‘Ārifīn, ed. amad Muwaid;
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Majmū‘at Rasā’il (Collection of Letters), 7 vols., al-Ghazālī; Dār al-Kutub al-
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Māntiq al-Tayr, Nīshābūrī Farīd al-Dīn ‘Aār; ed. Sayyid ādiq Gawharīn; Tehran,
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A Manual of Hadith, Maulana Muhammad Ali; Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam,
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488 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet, Karen letter one Harper, San Fransisco,
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Mystical Dimensions of Islam, Annemarie Schimmel; University of North Carolina
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Rubaiyat-i-Sarmad, ed. & tr. Fal Mamūd Asīrī; Visya Bhārati, Sāntiniketan, India,
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Shar-i Ta‘arruf, Abū Isāq Muammad ibn-i letter

Ibrāhīmone
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Signs of The Unseen: The Discourses of Jalaluddin Rumi, tr. W.M.Thackston Jr.;
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Studies in Islamic Mysticism, R.A. Nicholson; Cambridge University Press, Cam-
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The Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan, 13 vols., Hazrat Inayat Khan (from teach-
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The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn al-‘Arabi’s Metaphysics of Imagination, William
C. Chittick; State University of New York Press, Albany, 1989 (English).
The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rūmī, William C. Chittick; State
University of New York Press, Albany, 1983 (English).
Sufi Symbolism: The Nurbakhsh Encyclopedia of Sufi Terminology, 15 vols.,
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Sufism: A Dictionary with Profiles of Saint-Poets, T.C. Rastogi; Vanguard, Lahore,
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Tadhkirat al-Awliyā’ (Memoirs of the Saints), Shaykh Farīd al-Dīn ‘Aār Nīshābūrī,
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Tadhkirat al-Awliyā’, Shaykh Farīd al-Dīn ‘Aār Nīshābūrī, ed. Muammad Isti’lāmī;
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The Triumphal Sun: A Study of the Works of Jalāloddin Rūmī, Annemarie Schimmel;
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Jewish Bibles
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Judaism
Adam and Eve: The Spiritual Symbolism of Genesis and Exodus, S.D. Fohr; Univer-
sity Press of America, Lanham, Maryland, 1986 (English).
Apocalypse of Elijah, ed. G. Steindorff; 1899 (German, Coptic).
492 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letter one Abraham Abulafia”, A.

“Apokalypse des Pseudo-Propheten und Pseudo-Messias
Jellinek; in Graetz-Jubelschrift (1887) (German, Hebrew).
“Apples of Gold: Sacred Texts in Medieval Judaism”, Frank Talmage; in Jewish
Spirituality, vol. 1, ed. Arthur Green; Crossroads, New York, 1986 (English).
Back to the Sources, ed. Barry Holtz; Touchstone, Simon & Schuster, New York,
1992 (English).
The Bahir (Illumination), tr. & commentary Aryeh Kaplan; Samuel Weiser, York
Beach, Maine, 1989 (English, Hebrew).
Bet ha-Midrash, 2 vols., A. Jellinek; Jerusalem, 1967 [1853–77] (Hebrew).
Bet ha-Midrash, 6 vols., A. Jellinek; Leipzig, 1853–77 (Hebrew).
The Book of Legends (Sefer ha-Aggadah): Legends from the Talmud and Midrash,
ed. Hayim Nahmun Bialik and Yehoshua Hana Ravnitzky, tr. W.G. Braude;
Schocken, New York, 1992 (English).
The CD-ROM Judaic Classics Library (The Soncino Talmud, The Soncino Midrash
Rabbah, The Soncino Zohar, The Bible); Institute for Computers in Jewish Life
& Davka Corporation, Chicago, 1991–96 (English, Aramaic, Hebrew).
A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers
of English, Ernest Klein; Carta Jerusalem, University of Haifa, Israel, 1987
(English, Hebrew).
Daily Prayer Book, tr. & annotated Philip Birnbaum; Hebrew Publishing Co.,
New York, 1992 [1949] (English, Hebrew).
Derekh Emunah, Me’ir ibn Gabbai; Warsaw, 1850 (Hebrew).
Devat Bran, Jirí Langer; Prague, 1937 (Czech).
The Early Kabbalah, Joseph Dan and Ronald C. Kiener; Paulist Press, Mahwah,
New Jersey, 1986 (English).
Elimah Rabbati, Moses Cordovero; Auzat Yisra’el, Jerusalem, 1966 (Hebrew).
Encyclopedia Judaica, CD-ROM; Judaica Multimedia (Israel), Jerusalem, 1997
(English).
The Essential Kabbalah: The Heart of Jewish Mysticism, Daniel C. Matt; Harper-
Collins, San Francisco, 1996 (English).
The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan, tr. Judah Goldin; vol. 1 of Yale Judaica
Series, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1955 (English).
Gabriel’s Palace: Jewish Mystical Tales, selected & retold by Howard Schwartz;
Oxford University Press, New York, 1993 (English).
God in Search of Man, Abraham Joshua Heschel; Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New
York, 2000 [1955] (English).
Ha-Kabbalah be Kitvei Rabbenu Baya ben Asher, Ephraim Gottlieb; Jerusalem,
Kiryath Sepher, 1970 (Hebrew).
“HaBaD: The Contemplative Ascent to God”, Rachel Elior; in Jewish Spirituality,
vol. 2, ed. Arthur Green; Crossroads, New York, 1987 (English).
Hasidism and Modern Man, Martin Buber; Humanities Press, New Jersey, 1988
[1958] (English).

ayyei ‘Olam ha-Ba (Life of the Future World), Abraham Abulafia; MS. 2158 in
Jewish Theological Seminary, New York (Hebrew).
The Hebrew Book of Enoch, tr. H. Odeburg; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
1928 (English, Hebrew).
The High Holy Day Prayer Book, ed. & tr. Ben Zion Bokser; Hebrew Publishing
Co., New York, 1959 (English, Hebrew).
 Bibliography 493

The High Ways to Perfection 3 june 1931

of Abraham Maimonides, Samuel Rosenblatt; Co-
lumbia University Press, 1927 (English, Arabic).
History and Variety of Jewish Meditation, Mark Verman; J. Aronson, London &
Northvale, New Jersey, 1996 (English).
The History of God, Karen Armstrong; Random House, London, 1999 (English).
History of Jewish Mysticism, Ernst Muller; Yesod, New York, undated (English).
A History of the Jews, Paul Johnson; Harper & Row, New York, 1988 (English).
The Holy Name: Mysticism in Judaism, Miriam Bokser Caravella; Radha Soami
Satsang Beas, Punjab, India, 2000 [1989] (English).
The Idea of the Holy: An Inquiry into the Non-rational Factor in the Idea of the
Divine and its Relation to the Rational, Rudolf Otto, tr. John W. Harvey;
Oxford, 1923 (English).
The Jewish Mystical Tradition, Ben Zion Bokser; Pilgrim Press, New York, 1981
(English).
Jewish Spirituality: From the Bible Through the Middle Ages (vol. 1) and Jewish
Spirituality: From the Sixteenth-Century Revival to the Present (vol. 2), ed.
Arthur Green; vols. 13–14 of World Spirituality: An Encyclopedic History of
the Religious Quest, Crossroads, New York, 1986–87 (English).
The Jewish War, Josephus, tr. G.A. Williamson, rev. E.M. Smallwood; Penguin,
London, 1981 (English).
The Jewish War, Josephus, tr. G.A. Williamson; Penguin, London, 1st edn., 1959
(English).
Josephus, 10 vols., tr. H. St.J. Thackeray et al.; Heinemann, London, 1966–69, 1981
[1927–] (English, Greek).
Josephus: His Complete Works, tr. W. Whiston; Pickering & Inglis, London, 1963
[1867] (English).
Kabbalah: The Way of the Jewish Mystic, Perle Epstein; Shambhala, Boston,
Massachusetts, 1988 (English).
Kabbalah: New Perspectives, Moshe Idel; Yale University Press, New Haven, 1988
(English).
Legends of the Bible, Louis Ginzberg, tr. from German, Henrietta Szold; Jewish
Publication Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1992 [1913] (English).
Legends of the Jews (CD-ROM), Louis Ginzberg; Institute for Computers in Jewish
Life and Davka Corporation, Chicago, 1998 (English).
Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, Gershom G. Scholem; Schocken, New York,
1972 (English).
Meditation and the Bible, Aryeh Kaplan; Samuel Weiser, New York, 1978 (English).
Meditation and the Kabbalah, Aryeh Kaplan; Samuel Weiser, York Beach, Maine,
1982 (English).
Moses Cordovero’s Introduction to Kabbalah: An Annotated Translation of His Or
Ne‘erav, Ira Robinson; Yeshiva University Press, New York, 1994 (English,
Hebrew).
The Mystic Quest: An Introduction to Jewish Mysticism, David Ariel; Schocken, New
York, 1992 (English).
Nine Gates, Jirí Langer, tr. Stephen Jolly; James Clarke, London, 1961 (English).
Nine Gates to the Chasidic Mysteries, Jirí Langer, tr. Stephen Jolly; Jason Aronson,
Northvale, New Jersey, 1993 [1961] (English).
494 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism, Gershom letter one

G. Scholem; Schocken, New York,
1970 (English).
Or Ne‘erav, Moses Cordovero, ed. Yehuda Z. Brandwein; Yeshivat Qol Yehudah,
Jerusalem, 1965 (Hebrew).
Pardes Rimmonim (Orchard of Pomegranates), Moses Cordovero; Mordekai Etyah,
Jerusalem, 1962 (Hebrew).
Philo, 10 vols., tr. F.H. Colson and G.H. Whitaker; Heinemann, London, 1941
(English, Greek).
Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Eliezer; Amsterdam, 1709; Warsaw 1852 (Aramaic).
The Prayer Book: Weekday, Sabbath and Festival, including Pirkei Avot (Ethics of
the Fathers), tr. Ben Zion Bokser; Hebrew Publishing Co., New York, 1957
(English, Hebrew).
Sabbatai evi: The Mystical Messiah, Gershom G. Scholem; Princeton University
Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1975 (English).
Safed Spirituality: Rules of Mystical Piety, The Beginning of Wisdom, tr. Lawrence
Fine; Paulist Press, 1984 (English).
The Schocken Book of Jewish Mystical Testimonies, Louis Jacobs; Schocken, New
York, 1997 [1977] (English).
Sefer Eliyahu, ed. M. Buttenwieser; 1897 (German, Hebrew).
Sefer ha-Rimmon (The Book of the Pomegranate), Moses de Leon, ed. Elliot R.
Wolfson; Scholars’ Press, Atlanta, 1988 (Hebrew).
Sefer ‘E

ayyim, ayyim Vital; Jerusalem, 1910 (Hebrew).
Sha‘arei Kedushah, Part 4, ayyim Vital; British Museum MS. 749 (Hebrew).
Shulan ‘Arukh ha-Ari, ayyim Vital; Jerusalem, 1961 (Hebrew).
A Talmudic Miscellany: A Thousand and One Extracts from the Talmud, the Mid-
rashim and the Kabbalah, tr. Paul Isaac Hershon; Trübner, London, 1880
(English).
The Treatise of the Pool, Obadyah Maimonides, ed. & tr. Paul Fenton; Octagon,
London, 1981 (English).
The Tree of Life: Chayyim Vital’s Introduction to the Kabbalah of Isaac Luria
(The Palace of Adam Kadmon), tr. Donald Wilder Menzi and Zwe Padeh; Jason
Aronson, Northvale, New Jersey, 1999 (English).
Understanding Jewish Mysticism, David Blumenthal; Ktav Publishing House, New
York, 1978 (English).
Who Wrote the Bible? R.E. Friedman; Jonathan Cape, London, 1988 (English).
The Wisdom of Solomon, tr. David Winston; The Anchor Bible (vol. 43), Doubleday,
New York, 1979 (English).
The Wisdom of the Zohar: An Anthology of Texts, 3 vols., arranged by Fischel
Lachower and Isaiah Tishby, with extensive introductions & explanations by
Isaiah Tishby, tr. David Goldstein; Littman Library of Jewish Civilization,
Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1989, 1991 (English).
The Works of Philo Judaeus, 4 vols., tr. C.D. Yonge; H.G. Bohn, London, 1855
(English).
Yahwe and the Gods of Canaan, W.F. Albright; Doubleday, New York & London,
1968 (English).
The Zohar, 5 vols., tr. Harry Sperling and Maurice Simon; Soncino Press, London,
1984 [1931–34] (English).
 Bibliography 495

3 june 1931
Zohar: The Book of Enlightenment, tr. Daniel Matt; Paulist Press, Mahwah, New
Jersey, 1983 (English).
The Zohar: The Book of Splendour, selected & ed. Gershom G. Scholem; Rider, 1977
[1949] (English).

Mesopotamian and Ancient Near/Middle Eastern Literature

“The Amarna Tablet”, O. Schroeder; in Vorderasiatische Schriftdenkmäler 12,
Leipzig (German, Akkadian).
Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, ed. J.B. Pritchard;
Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1969 (English).
“Assyrian and Babylonian Religious Texts: Being Prayers, Oracles, Hymns etc.,
Copied from the Original Tablets Preserved in the British Museum”, 2 parts,
J.A. Craig; in Assyriologische Bibliothek 13 (1895–97), Leipzig (Semitic).
“Assyrisch-babylonische Mythen und Epen”, transcription & tr. P. Jensen; in
Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek 6:1, Celibus, Amsterdam 1970 [1900] (German,
Assyrian).
“Die assyrische Beschwörungssammlung Maqlû neu bearbeitet”, G. Meier; in Archiv
für Orientforschung 2 (1937), Beiheft, Berlin (German, Akkadian).
The Babylonian Epic of Creation, S.H. Langdon; Oxford University Press, Oxford,
1923 (English).
The Babylonian Genesis: The Story of Creation, A. Heidel; University of Chicago
Press, Chicago, 1951 (English).
Babylonian Wisdom, S.H. Langdon; Luzac, London, 1923 (English).
“La Déesse Nina et ses poissons”, V. Scheil; in Revue d’assyriologie et d’archéologie
orientale 15:2 (1918), Paris (French, Sumerian).
Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia, 2 vols., R.C. Thomson; Luzac, London, 1903–4
(English, Semitic).
The Epic of Gilgamesh, N.K. Sandars; Penguin, London, 1972 (English).
The Epic of Gilgamesh, R.C. Thompson; Luzac, London, 1928 (English, Semitic).
From the Tablets of Sumer, S.N. Kramer; Falcon’s Wing, Indian Hills, Colorado,
1956 (English).
The Gilgamesh Epic and Old Testament Parallels, A. Heidel; University of Chicago
Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1946 (English).
The Great Vohu Manah and the Apostle of God, G. Widengren; Uppsala, Sweden,
1945 (English, Middle Persian).
Keilschrifttexte aus Assur religiösen Inhalts, Erich Ebeling; Autographien von E.
Ebeling 1–9, Leipzig, 1915–23 (Sumerian).
“Keilschrifttexte medizinischen Inhalts”, 4 parts, Erich Eberling; in AGM 13:1–2
(1921), pp.1–42, AGM 13:5–6 (1921), pp.129–44, AGM 14:1–2 (1922), pp.26–47,
AGM 14:3–4 (1923), pp.65–78 (German, Sumerian).
The King and the Tree of Life in Ancient Near Eastern Religion, G. Widengren;
University of Uppsala Press, Uppsala, Sweden, 1951 (English).
Looking for Dilmun, Geoffrey Bibby; New American Library, New York, 1974
(English).
Mithras: The Fellow in the Cap, E. Wynne-Tyson; Rider, London, 1958 (English).
The Mysteries of Mithra, Franz Cumont, tr. Thomas J. McCormack; Kegan Paul,
Trench & Trübner, London, 1903 (English).
496 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

The Mythology of All Races: Semitic, vol. 5,letter one Archaeological Institute
S.H. Langdon;
of America, Marshall Jones, Boston, Massachusetts, 1931 (English).
New Light on the Gathas of Holy Zarathushtra, A.F. Khabardar; A.F. Khabardar,
Bombay, India, 1952 (English, Avestan).
“Un nouveau roi d’Our”, M.F. Thureau-Dangin; in Revue d’assyriologie et d’archéologie
orientale 6:2 (1904), Paris (French, Sumerian).
The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism, F. Cumont; Open Court, Chicago,
Illinois, 1911 (English).
Pagan Christs: Studies in Comparative Hierology, J.M. Robertson; Watts, London,
1911 (English).
The Royal Inscriptions of Sumer and Akkad, G. Barton; Library of Ancient Semitic
Inscriptions I, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1929 (English, Akkadian,
Sumerian).
Sumerian and Babylonian Psalms, S.H. Langdon; Luzac, London, 1909 (English,
Semitic, Sumerian).
Sumerian and Semitic Religious and Historical Texts, S.H. Langdon; Oxford
University Press, Oxford, 1923 (English, Semitic, Sumerian).
“Sumerian Literature: A Preliminary Survey of the Oldest Literature in the World”,
S.N. Kramer; in Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 85 (1942),
American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (English, Sumerian).
Sumerian Mythology: A Study of Spiritual and Literary Development in the Third
Millennium BC, S.N. Kramer; American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, 1944 (English).
Tammuz and Ishtar: A Monograph upon Babylonian Religion and Theology, S.H.
Langdon; Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1914 (English).
“Tammuz-Liturgien und Verwandtes”, P.M. Witzel; in Analecta Orientalia 10
(1935), Pontificio Istituto Biblico, Rome (German, Sumerian).
Textes religieux assyriens et babyloniens, 2 vols., F. Martin; Emile Bouillon, Paris,
1900 (French, Akkadian).

Miscellaneous
The Cosmic Blueprint: Order and Complexity at the Edge of Chaos, Paul Davies;
Penguin, London, 1995 [1987] (English).
A Dictionary of the History of Ideas, 4 vols., ed. Philip P. Weiner; Charles Scribner’s
Sons, New York, 1973 (English).
Encyclopaedia Britannica, CD-ROM edn.; Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc., 2001
(English).
Essays Classical and Modern, F.W.H. Myers; Macmillan, London, 1921 (English).
The History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, 3 vols., H. Lea; Harper & Row,
New York, 1955 (English).
History of Western Philosophy, Bertrand Russell; Routledge, London, 2000 [1946]
(English).
The Poetical Works of Dryden, George R. Noyes; Houghton Mifflin, Boston,
Massachusetts, 1950 (English).
The Symbiotic Universe, G. Greenstein; William Morrow, New York, 1988 (English).
World Spirituality: An Encyclopedic History of the Religious Quest, 16 vols.; Cross-
roads, New York, 1986–2000 (English).
 Bibliography 497

Prenatal Medicine 3 june 1931

Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self: The Neurobiology of Emotional Devel-
opment, Alan N. Schore; Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, New Jersey,
1994 (English).
“Babies Are Not What We Thought: Call for a New Paradigm”, David B. Chamber-
lain; in International Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Studies, vol. 4:3–4
(1992), Mattes Verlag, Heidelberg (English).
“Babies Remember Pain”, David B. Chamberlain; in Journal of Prenatal and
Perinatal Psychology and Health, vol. 3:4 (1989), Association for Pre- and
Perinatal Psychology and Health, Geyserville, California (English).
“Cellular Consciousness and Conception: An Interview with Dr Graham Farrant”,
interviewed by Steven Raymond; in Pre- and Perinatal Psychology News, vol. 2,
no. 2 (Summer 1998), Pre- and Perinatal Psychology Association of North
America, Dobbs Ferry, New York (English).
A Child is Born, Lennart Nilsson; Bantam, Doubleday, Dell Publishing, New York,
1990 [1966] (English).
The Enduring Effects of Prenatal Experience, Ludwig Janus; Jason Aronson,
Northvale, New Jersey, 1997 (English).
Frank Lake’s Maternal-Fetal Distress Syndrome: An Analysis, dissertation, Stephen
M. Maret; Clinical Theology Association, St Mary’s House, Church Westcote,
Oxon, England, 1999 (English).
From Fetus to Child, Alessandra Piontelli; Routledge, New York, 1992 (English).
Life Magazine, April 30th 1965 and June 13th 1969; Time Inc., Chicago, Illinois
(English).
“Maternal Perception and Doppler Detection of Fetal Movement”, Timothy R.
Johnson; Clinical Perinatology 21 (December 1994), Mosby, St Louis, Missouri
(English).
The Mind of Your Newborn Baby, David B. Chamberlain; North Atlantic Books,
Berkeley, California, 1998 (English).
Natalistic Art in Therapy Theory: Working with Birth and Prenatal Issues Through
Art, dissertation, Michael C. Irving; Union Institute Graduate College, Toronto,
1995 (English).
“The Polarity Therapy paradigm regarding pre-conception, prenatal and birth
imprinting”, Raymond Castellino, presented to the American Polarity Therapy
Association, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, June 1995; Santa Barbara,
California, 1995 (English).
Pre- and Peri-Natal Regression Therapy: Collected Works of William Emerson,
vol. 2, William R. Emerson; Emerson Training Seminars, Petaluma, California,
2000 (English).
The Prenatal Prescription, Peter Nathanielsz; HarperCollins, New York, 2000
(English).
Psychology of the Future, Stanislav Grof; State University of New York Press,
Albany, 2000 (English).
Remembering Our Home, Sheila and Dennis Linn, William Emerson and Matthew
Linn; Paulist Press, Mahwah, New Jersey, 1999 (English).
The Scientification of Love, Michel Odent; Free Association Books, London, 1999
(English).
498 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

The Secret Life of the Unborn Child, Thomasletter one

Verny and John Kelly; Dell, New York,
1981 (English).
Treatment of Birth Trauma in Infants and Children: Collected Works of William
Emerson, vol. 1, William R. Emerson; Emerson Training Seminars, Petaluma,
California, 1996 (English).

Taoism
The Book of Lieh-Tzu, tr. A.C. Graham; HarperCollins, London, 1991 [1960]
(English).
Chuang Tse: English Translations of The Chinese Classics Series, tr. Lin Yutang;
World Book Co., Taipei, 1957 (English).
Chuang Tzu: Basic Writings, tr. Burton Watson; Columbia University Press, New
York, 1968 (English).
Chuang Tzu: Taoist Philosopher and Chinese Mystic, tr. Herbert A. Giles; George
Allen & Unwin, London, 1961 (English).
The Essential Tao: An initiation into the heart of Taoism throught the authentic Tao
Te Ching and the inner teachings of Chuang Tzu, tr. Thomas Cleary; Harper,
San Francisco, 1991 (English).
A Gallery of Chinese Immortals: Selected Biographies, tr. Lionel Giles; John Murray,
London, 1948 (English).
Gateway to Wisdom, John Blofeld; Shambhala, Boulder, Colorado, 1980 (English).
Hua Hu Ching: The Later Teachings of Lao Tzu, Hua-Ching Ni; Shambhala, Boston,
Massachusetts, 1995 (English).
I Ching or Book of Changes: The Richard Wilhelm Translation, tr. Cary F. Baynes;
Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1977 (English).
The I Ching: The Book of Changes, tr. James Legge; Dover, New York, 1963
(English).
Lao-tzu: Te-tao Ching: A new translation based on the recently discovered Ma-wang
tui texts, tr. & commentary Robert G. Henricks; Ballantine, New York, 1989
(English, Chinese).
Lao Tzu: Text, Notes and Comments, Ch’en Ku-ying, tr. & adapted Rhett Y.W.
Young and Roger T. Ames; Chinese Materials Center, Taipei, 1981 (English,
Chinese).
Musings of a Chinese Mystic, Lionel Giles; John Murray, London, 1955 (English).
The Shambhala Dictionary of Taoism, Ingrid Fischer-Schreiber; Shambhala,
Boston, Massachusetts, 1996 (English).
A Short History of Chinese Philosophy, Fung Yu-lan; Macmillan, New York, 1966
(English).
A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, tr. Wing-tsit Chan; Princeton University Press,
Princeton, New Jersey, 1963 (English).
Sources of Chinese Tradition, vol. 1, comp. T. de Bary, Wing-tsih Chan and Burton
Watson, et al.; Columbia University Press, New York, 1960 (English).
The Spirit of Chinese Philosophy, Fung Yu-lan; Beacon Press, Boston, Massa-
chusetts, 1962 (English).
Tao The Great Luminant: Essays from Huai Nan Tzu, tr. Evan Morgan; Ch’eng-Wen
Publishing Co., Taipei, 1966 (English).
Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu, tr. D.C. Lau; Penguin, London, 1963 (English).
 Bibliography 499

3 june
Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu, tr. John 1931
C. H. Wu; Shambhala, Boston, Massachusetts, 1989
(English, Chinese).
Tao Te Ching, Stephen Mitchell; Harper Perennial, New York, 1988 (English).
Tao Te Ching, tr. Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English; Vintage, New York, 1972 (English,
Chinese).
Tao Te Ching: The Classic Book of Integrity and The Way, tr. Victor H. Mair;
Bantam, New York, 1990 (English).
Tao Te Ching: A New Translation, Ch’u Ta-Kao; George Allen & Unwin, London,
1959 (English).
Tao: A New Way of Thinking, Chang Chung-yuan; Harper & Row, New York, 1975
(English).
Taoism: The Parting of the Way, Homes Welch; Beacon Press, Boston, Massachu-
setts, 1957 (English).
Taoism: The Road to Immortality, John Blofeld; Shambhala, Boulder, Colorado,
1978 (English).
The Taoist Experience: An Anthology, Livia Kohn; State University of New York
Press, Albany, 1993 (English).
Taoist Meditation: The Mao Shan Tradition of Great Purity, Isabelle Robinet; State
University of New York Press, Albany, 1993 (English).
Taoist Mystical Philosophy: The Scripture of Western Ascension, Livia Kohn; State
University of New York Press, Albany, 1968 (English).
A Taoist Notebook, Edward Herbert; John Murray, London, 1955 (English).
Taoist Teachings, Lionel Giles; John Murray, London, 1947 (English).
The Taoist Vision, William McNaughton; Ann Arbor Paperbacks, University of
Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 1971 (English).
The Teachings of the Mystics, Walter T. Stace; Mentor, New York, 1960 (English).
The Texts of Taoism, 2 vols., tr. James Legge; vol 1: The Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu:
The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Books I-XVII); vol. 2: The Writings of Chuang
Tzu (Books XVIII-XXXIII), The T’ai Shang Tractate of Actions and Their
Retributions, Appendices I-VIII; Dover, New York, 1962 (English).
Three Ways of Thought in Ancient China, Arthur Waley; Doubleday Anchor, Garden
City, New Jersey, undated (English).
The Way of Chuang Tzu, tr. Thomas Merton; New Directions, New York, 1965
(English).
The Way of Life According to Lao Tzu, tr. & commentary Witter Bynner; Capricorn,
New York, 1962 (English).
The Way of Life Lao Tzu: A New Translation of the Tao Te Ching, R.B. Blakney;
Mentor, New York, 1964 (English).
Wen-Tzu – Understanding the Mysteries: Further Teachings of Lao Tzu, tr. Thomas
Cleary; Shambhala, Boston, Massachusetts, 1992 (English).
The Wisdom of Laotse, tr. Lin Yutang; Random House, New York, 1948 (English).
Yuen Dao: Tracing Dao to its Source, tr. D.C. Lau and Roger T. Ames; Ballantine,
New York, 1998 (English, Chinese).

Western Mysticism, Occultism and Spirituality

The Ancient Wisdom: An Outline of Theosophical Teaching, Annie Besant; Theo-
sophical Publishing House, Adyar, Madras, India, 1954 [1897] (English).
500 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

letterPublishing
The Astral Body, Arthur E. Powell; Theosophical one House, London, 1954
[1927] (English).
The Causal Body and the Ego, Arthur E. Powell; Theosophical Publishing House,
London, 1956 [1928] (English).
The Chakras, Charles W. Leadbeater; Theosophical Publishing House, Madras, 1987
[1927] (English).
Closer to the Light: Learning from the Near-Death Experiences of Children, Melvin
Morse with Paul Perry; Ballantine, New York, 1991 (English).
The Etheric Double, Arthur E. Powell; Theosophical Publishing House, London,
1953 [1925] (English).
The Inner Life, Charles W. Leadbeater (abridged from the author’s original 2 vol.,
1910–11 edn.); Theosophical Publishing House, London, 1992 [1978] (English).
Life After Life, Raymond A. Moody; Bantam, New York, 1976 (English).
The Mental Body, Arthur E. Powell; Theosophical Publishing House, London, 1956
[1927] (English).
Mysticism in English Literature, C.F.E. Spurgeon; Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, 1913 (English).
Occult Science: An Outline, Rudolf Steiner, tr. George & Mary Adams; Rudolf
Steiner Press, London, 1969 (English).
The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature, William James,
Gifford Lectures on Natural Religion 1901–2; Longmans, Green & Co., London,
1928 [1902] (English).
The Voice of the Silence, H.P. Blavatsky; Theosophical University Press, Pasadena,
1976 [1889] (English).

Zoroastrianism
Ahuna Vairya and the Argument of the Gāthās, I.J.S. Taraporewala; B.I. Taraporewala,
Bombay, undated (English).
Avesta: The Religious Book of the Parsees: From Professor Spiegel’s German trans-
lation of the Original Manuscripts, 3 vols., tr. A.H. Bleek; Bernard Quaritch,
London, 1864 (English).
The Avestan Hymn to Mithra, tr. & commentary Ilya Gershevitch; Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, 1959 (English, Avestan).
Chants of Zarathustra, I.J.S. Taraporewala; D.B. Taraporevala Sons & Co.; Treasure
House of Books, Bombay, 1951 (English, Avestan).
The Complete Text of the Pahlavi Dinkard, 2 Parts, ed. D.M. Madan; Society for the
Promotion of Researches into the Zoroastrian Religion; Bombay, 1911 (English,
Pahlavi).
The Divine Songs of Zarathustra, I.J.S. Taraporewala; Hukhta Foundation, Bombay,
1993 [1951] (English, Avestan).
The Gospel of Zarathustra, tr. & ed. by Duncan Greenlees; Theosophical Publishing
House, Madras, India, 1951 (English).
History of Zoroastrianism, M.N. Dhalla; Oxford University Press, London, 1938
(English).
Songs of Zarathushtra, tr. Dastur Framroze Ardeshir Bode and Piloo Nanavutty;
George Allen & Unwin, London, 1952 (English).
 Bibliography 501

3 june 1931 contributed to Encyclopedia of Morals, ed.

Zoroastrian Morals, I.J.S. Taraporewala,
Vergilius Ferm; B.I. Taraporewala, Bombay, 1956 (English).
Zoroastrian Philosophy, I.J.S. Taraporewala, contributed to A History of Philo-
sophical Systems; B.I. Taraporewala, Bombay, 1950 (English).
Zoroastrian Theology: From the Earliest Times to the Present Day, M.N. Dhalla;
New York, 1914 (English).
 I NDEX OF H EADWORDS

Headwords are indexed to their section number, the first element of the section
number (e.g. 2.) being the volume number. Where several headwords are listed
at the head of an entry, they are eached indexed separately. If one of these is not
alphabetically adjacent to the first in the list, its location is indicated by means of
‘See’. Thus, ajñāna, agyān is indexed as agyān See ajñāna 6.2 / ajñāna 6.2.

āb (P) 3.1, 5.1 Achint Prabhu (Pu) 2.1

Ābā’ al-‘Ulwīyah (A) 2.1 Achint Purakh (Pu) 2.1
abad (A/P) 2.1 Achint Purush (H) 2.1
Abaddon (He) 4.1, 6.1 achintya (S) 2.1
ābā’-u ummahāt (P) 3.1 Active Intellect 3.1
ābā’ wa-ummahāt (A) 3.1 ‘ad (He) 2.1
Ābā-yi ‘Ulvī (P) See Ābā’ al-‘Ulwīyah 2.1 ‘adam (A/P) 2.2
abhed(a) (S/H/Pu) 2.2 Adam (He) 5.1
Āb-i āb (P) 3.1 Ādam (A/P) 5.1
Āb-i ayāt (P) 3.1 adamah (He) See promised land 2.1
Āb-i ayvān (P) 3.1 Adam Kadmon (He) 5.2
Āb-i ‘ināyat (P) 3.1 adād (A) 5.2
Āb-i kharābāt (P) 3.1 ādhār(a) chakra (S/H/Pu) See mūl(a)
Āb-i Khir (P) 3.1 chakra 5.1
abināshī (Pu) See avināshī 2.1 ādi (S/H/Pu) 2.1
abināsī (Pu) See avināshī 2.1 ādi dhām (H/Pu) 2.1
Āb-i Zindagānī (P) See Āb-i ayāt 3.1 ādi Dhārā (H) 3.1
Āb-i Zindagī (P) See Āb-i ayāt 3.1 ādi Dhun (H) 3.1
abode (blessed, everlasting, native, of the ādi karma (H) 6.3
Good) 2.1 Ādi Kumārī (H) 6.2
abode of darkness 6.2 Ādi Māyā (H) 6.2
āb-u gil (P) 5.1 ādi Nām (H) 3.1
abyss 4.1 Ādi Nirañjan (Pu) 2.1
achet (H/Pu) 6.2 Ādi Purakh (Pu) 2.1
achhar (H/Pu) See akshar(a) 2.1 Ādi Purkh (Pu) 2.1
Achhar Purush (H/Pu) See Akshar(a) Ādi Purush(a) (S/H) 2.1
Purush(a) 2.1 adir (He) 2.1
achint (Pu) 2.1 ādi Shabd (H) 3.1
achintā (Pu) 2.1 Ādi Shakti (H) 6.2
achint dīp (H/Pu) 4.1 adon (He) 2.1
achint kanwal (H/Pu) 4.1 Adonai (He) 2.1
Achint Prabh (Pu) 2.1 Adversary 6.1

503
504 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

aeon(s) 4.1 letter

Akāl one(Pu) 2.1
Purakh
aether See ether 5.1 Akāl Purkh (Pu) 2.1
af‘āl (A/P) 4.1 Akāl Purush (Pu) 2.1
āftāb (P) 4.1 ākār(a) (S/H/Pu) 6.2
afterlife 4.1 ākāsh(a) (S/H/Pu) 5.1
agādh (H/Pu) 2.1 ākāsh(a) Shabd(a) (S/H) 3.1
agādh bodh (H/Pu) 2.1 ākāshavat (S) 2.2
agam (H/Pu) 2.1 ākāsh Bāī (Pu) 3.1
agam lok (H/Pu) 2.1 akashic records 5.2
agam mahal (H/Pu) 2.1 akath (H/Pu) See akah 2.1
Agam Purakh (Pu) 2.1 akath Kathā (H/Pu) 3.1
Agam Purush (H) 2.1 akathya (S) See akah 2.1
agamya (S/H) 2.1 akha(a) (S/H/Pu) 2.1
agan (Pu) 6.2 akha Kīrtan (Pu) 3.1
ages of classical Greece and Rome 5.2 ākhirah, al- (A) 4.1
agni (S/H) 5.1, 6.2 Ākhir, al- (A/P) 2.1
Agni (S/H) 4.2 ākhir al-zamān (A) 5.2
āgyā chakra (H) See ājñā chakra 5.1 ākhirat (P) 4.1
agyān (H/Pu) See ajñāna 6.2 ākhir-i zamān (P) 5.2
agyānī (H/Pu) See ajñānī 6.2 akhtar (P) 4.1
agyāntā (H/Pu) See ajñāna 6.2 akkhar (Pu) 2.1
Aad, al- (A/P) 2.1 Akkhar (Pu) 3.1
aadīyah (A) 2.2 Akō Mainyu (Av) 6.1
aadīyat (P) 2.2 Akoman (Pv) 6.1
aham (S/H) 5.1 Akō Manō (Av) 6.1
aha Brahmāsmi (S) 5.1 akshar(a) (S/H) 2.1, 4.1
Ahriman (Pv/P) 6.1 Akshar(a) (S/H) 3.1
asan al-taqwīm (A) 5.1 akshara Avyakta (S) 2.1
asan-i taqvīm (P) 5.1 Akshar(a) Purush(a) (S/H) 2.1
asani taqwīm (A) 5.1 alakh (H/Pu) 2.1
Ahurā Mazdā (Av) 2.1 alakh lok (H/Pu) 2.1
air 4.1 Alakh Nirañjan (H/Pu) 2.1
air of joy 4.1 Alakh Purush (H) 2.1
airy-earth 4.1 alakshya (S) 2.1
aja (S) 2.1 ‘ālam (A/P) 4.1
ajanmā (S/H) 2.1 ‘ālam al-Amr (A) 4.1
ajar(a) (S/H/Pu) 2.1, 5.1 ‘ālam al-arwā (A) 4.1
ajarāvar (Pu) 5.1 ‘ālam al-bāqī (A) 2.1
ajar Nām (H/Pu) 3.1 ‘ālam al-Ghayb (A) 4.1
ājñā chakra (S) 5.1 ‘ālam al-hāhūt (A) 2.1
ajñāna (S) 6.2 ‘ālam al-ilāq (A) 4.1
ajñānī (S) 6.2 ‘ālam al-‘izzah (A) 4.1
ajoni (H/Pu) See ayoni 2.1 ‘ālam al-‘izzat (P) 4.1
ajsām (A/P) See jism 5.1 ‘ālam al-jabarūt (A) 4.1
ajūnī (Pu) See ayoni 2.1 ‘ālam al-kabīr, al- (A) 5.1
ajyāitī (Av) 6.3 ‘ālam al-khalq (A) 4.1
akah (H/Pu) 2.1 ‘ālam al-lāhūt (A) 2.1
akah lok (H/Pu) 2.1 ‘ālam al-malakūt (A) 4.1
Akāl (Pu) 2.1 ‘ālam al-mithāl (A) 4.1
 Index of Headwords 505

‘ālam al-mulk (A) 4.1 3 june 1931 Amar Phal (H/Pu) 3.1
‘ālam al-nāsūt (A) 4.1 ambrosia 3.1
‘ālam al- aghīr, al- (A) 5.1 ambrosial food 3.1
‘ālam al-shahādah (A) 4.1 Ameshā Spentās (Av) 3.1
‘ālam al-taqayyud (A) 4.1 Amī (H/Pu) See Am it(a) 3.1
‘ālam-i Amr (P) See ‘ālam al-Amr 4.1 Amī Phal (H/Pu) See Amar Phal 3.1
‘ālam-i arvā (P) See ‘ālam al-arwā 4.1 Amr, al- (A/P) 3.1
‘ālam-i bāqī (P) 2.1 Amr al-taklīfī, al- (A) 3.1
‘ālam-i Ghayb (P) See ‘ālam al-Ghayb 4.1 Amr al-takwīnī, al- (A) 3.1
‘ālam-i hāhūt (P) 2.1 Amrit (Pu) 3.1
‘ālam-i ayavānī (P) 5.1 Am it(a) (S/H) 3.1
‘ālam-i ilāq (P) See ‘ālam al-ilāq 4.1 Amr-i taklīfī (P) See Amr al-taklīfī, al- 3.1
‘ālam-i ‘izzat (P) See ‘ālam al-‘izzah 4.1 Amr-i takvīnī (P) See Amr al-takwīnī, al- 3.1
‘ālam-i jabarūt (P) See ‘ālam al-jabarūt 4.1 Amrit Bāī (Pu) 3.1
‘ālam-i kabīr (P) 5.1 Amrit Dhārā (Pu) 3.1
‘ālam-i khāk (P) 4.1 Amrit Jal (Pu) 3.1
‘ālam-i khalq (P) See ‘ālam al-khalq 4.1 Amrit Nām (Pu) 3.1
‘ālam-i lāhūt (P) 2.1 Amrit Phal (Pu) See Amar Phal 3.1
‘ālam-i malakūt (P) See ‘ālam al-malakūt 4.1 Am it Phal (H) See Amar Phal 3.1
‘ālam-i miśāl (P) See ‘ālam al-mithāl 4.1 Amrit Ras (Pu) 3.1
‘ālam-i mulk (P) See ‘ālam al-mulk 4.1 amrit sar (Pu) 4.1
‘ālam-i nāsūt (P) See ‘ālam al-nāsūt 4.1 am it sar (H) 4.1
‘ālam-i aghīr (P) 5.1 Amrit Tatt (Pu) 3.1
‘ālam-i shahādat (P) See ‘ālam al-shahādah Am it Tattva (H) 3.1
4.1 Amshāspands (Pv) See Ameshā Spentās 3.1
‘ālam-i taqayyud (P) See ‘ālam al-taqayyud amukta (S/H/Pu) 6.3
4.1 amūrt(a) (S/H) 2.1
ālayavijñāna (S) 5.1 anādi (S/H/Pu) 2.1
‘Alī, al- (A/P) 2.1 anad rūp (Pu) See ānand(a) rūp(a) 5.1
alien 6.2 anaghra raochah (Pv) 2.1
alif (A/P) 2.2 anāhad (H) 3.1
‘Alīm, al- (A/P) 2.1 anāhad chakkar (Pu) 5.1
‘Alīy, al- (A) 2.1 anāhad chakra (H) 5.1
Allāh (A/P) 2.1 anāhad Shabd (S/H/Pu) 3.1
Allāh, ninety-nine names of See Asmā’ al- anāhat(a) (S/H) 3.1
usná, al- (A) 2.1 anāhat(a) chakra (S/H) 5.1
Allāh Ta‘ālá (P) 2.1 anāhat(a) Shabd(a) (S/H/Pu) 3.1
Allāhu Ta‘ālá (A) 2.1 anāhat Dhvani (S/H) 3.1
All (the) 4.1 anāhat Nād(a) (S/H/Pu) 3.1
‘Amā’, al- (A/P) 5.2 Anām (H/Pu) 2.1
amānah (A) 5.1 Anāmī (H/Pu) 2.1
amānat (P) 5.1 anāmī dhām (H/Pu) 2.1
Amar (Pu) See Amr, al- 3.1 Anāmī Purush (H) 2.1
amar(a) (S/H/Pu) 2.1, 5.1 Anāmī Rūp (H/Pu) 2.1
amar(a) lok(a) (S/H/Pu) 2.1 ānandamaya-kosha (S) 5.1
amar(a) pad(a) (S/H/Pu) 2.1 ānand(a) rūp(a) (S/H/Pu) 5.1
amar(ā) pur (Pu) 2.1 anand rūp (Pu) 5.1
amar(a) pur(a) (S/H/Pu) 2.1 anant(a) (S/H/Pu) 2.1
amar dhām (H/Pu) 2.1 anattā (Pa) 6.2
506 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

a(a) (S/H) 4.1 letter

‘Aql oneal- (A) 3.1
al-Kullī,
aaj(a) (S/H) 6.3 ‘aql al-wahbī, al- (A) 5.1
andhā (H/Pu) 6.2 ‘Aql-i ‘aql (P) See ‘Aql al-‘aql, al- 3.1
andhakār(a) (S/H/Pu) 6.2 ‘Aql-i Avval (P) See ‘Aql al-Awwal, al- 3.1
andherā (H/Pu) See andhakār(a) 6.2 ‘Aql-i Fa‘‘āl (P) See ‘Aql al-Fa‘‘āl, al- 3.1
andhiār (Pu) See andhakār(a) 6.2 ‘aql-i juz’ī (P) 5.1
aī (H) 4.1 ‘aql-i juzvī (P) 5.1
aī man (H) 5.1 ‘aql-i kasbī (P) 5.1
angel of death 4.2 ‘Aql-i Kull (P) See ‘Aql al-Kullī, al- 3.1
angel(s) 4.2 ‘Aql-i Mushīr (P) See ‘Aql al-Fa‘‘āl, al- 3.1
Angra Mainyu (Av) 6.1 ‘aql-i ta īlī (P) See ‘aql al-kasbī, al- 5.1
angüery (G) 5.1 ‘aql-i vahbī (P) See ‘aql al-wahbī, al- 5.1
anhad (H/Pu) See anāhat(a) 3.1 ‘ara (A) 5.2
anhad Bājā (H/Pu) See anāhat(a) 3.1 ará-kañi (G) 5.2
anhad Dhun(i) (H/Pu) See anāhat(a) 3.1 ‘ara (P) See ‘ara 5.2
anhad Nād (S/H/Pu) See anāhat(a) 3.1 arba‘ ‘anā ir (A/P) 5.1
anhad Shabd (S/H/Pu) See anāhat(a) 3.1 Archē (Gk) 3.1
anhat (H/Pu) See anāhat(a) 3.1 archon (Gk) 4.2
anhat Bāī (H/Pu) See anāhat(a) 3.1 arghan (P) 3.2
anichcha (Pa) 6.2 arghanūn (P) 3.2
anit (Pu) 6.2 Arikh Anpin (Am) See erekh apayim 2.1
anitya (S/H) 6.2 ‘arsh, al- (A/P) 2.1
annamaya-kosha (S) 5.1 ‘arsh al-‘a
īm, al- (A) 2.1
annamaya-purusha (S) 5.1 ‘arsh al-mu‘allá, al- (A) 2.1
Anokhi (He) 2.1 ‘arsh-i ‘a
īm (P) 2.1
antakara(a) (S/H/Pu) 5.1 ‘arsh-i mu‘allá (P) 2.1
antargat(a) (S/H/Pu) 5.1 Arta (Pv) See Ashā 3.1
antarindriya (S/H) 5.1 arūp(a) (S/H/Pu) 2.1
antarjāmī (H/Pu) 2.1 arūp(a) chaitanya (S/H) 5.1
antaryāmī (S/H) 2.1 arvā (P) 4.2
Anu (Su) 2.1 arwā (A) 4.2
anūp (H/Pu) 2.1 asat (S/H/Pu) 2.2
anupam(a) (S/H) 2.1 asat des (H/Pu) 6.2
apān(a) (S/H) 5.1 asat desh (H/Pu) 6.2
apār(a) (S/H/Pu) 2.1 asat pad (H/Pu) 6.2
aparampār (H) 2.1 asatya (S) 2.2
aparapar (Pu) 2.1 Ashā (Av) 3.1
apocatastasis (Gk) 5.2 Ashabda (S) 3.1
Apollyon (Gk) 6.1 Ashabda Brahman (S) 3.1
apple tree See Tree of Life 3.1 ashānt(a) (S/H/Pu) 6.2
apsarā (S/H) 4.2 Ashā vahishta (Av) 3.1
‘āqibah (A) 4.1 āshcharya (S) 2.1
‘āqibat (P) 4.1 ashraf al-makhlūqāt (A) 5.1
‘aql (A/P) 5.1 Ashāngī (S/H) 4.2
‘Aql al-‘aql, al- (A) 3.1 ash dal kanwal (H) 4.1
‘Aql al-Awwal, al- (A) 3.1 Ashvattha (S) 3.1
‘Aql al-Fa‘‘āl, al- (A) 3.1 aśīr (P) See athīr 4.1
‘aql al-juz’ī, al- (A) 5.1 a l (A/P) 5.1
‘aql al-kasbī, al- (A) 5.1 asmā’ (A/P) 2.2
 Index of Headwords 507

asmā’ al-dhātīyah (A) 2.2 3 june 1931 Āvāz-i Khudā (P) 3.1
Asmā’ al-usná, al- (A/P) 2.1 Āvāz-i mustaqīm (P/U) 3.1
asmā’ al-jalāl, al- (A) 2.1 āveh jāveh (Pu) 6.3
asmā’ al-jamāl, al- (A) 2.1 avidyā (S/H) 6.2
asmā’ al-lufīyah (A) 2.1 avijjā (Pa) 6.2
asmā’ al-qahrīyah (A) 2.1 avināshī (S/H) 2.1
āsmān (P) 5.1 avyāk it(a) (S/H) 4.1
asmā’-yi jalāl (P) 2.1 avyakta (S/H) 5.2
asmā’-yi jamāl (P) 2.1 Awwal, al- (A/P) 2.1
asmā’-yi lufīyah (P) 2.1 axe 6.2
asmā’-yi qahrīyah (P) 2.1 ayam ātmā Brahma (S) 5.1
asmā’-yi źātī (P) 2.2 Ayin (He) 2.1
‘assiah (He) 4.1 āyinah-khānah (P) 6.2
asthir (Pu) See sthir(a) 2.1 ‘Ayn (A/P) 2.1
asthūl (Pu) 5.1 ‘Ayn al-ayāt (A) 3.1
asti (S/H/Pu) 2.1 ‘Ayn al-thābitah, al- (A) 2.1
astral body 5.1 ‘Ayn-i ayāt (P) 3.1
astral plane See region(s) 4.1 ‘Ayn-i śābitah (P) 2.1
astral realm See region(s) 4.1 Ayn-Sof (He) 2.1
astral region See region(s) 4.1 ayoni (S/H) 2.1
astral world See region(s) 4.1 azal (A/P) 2.1
asur(a) (S/H/Pu) 4.2 azal al-azal (A) 2.1
asur(a) lok(a) (S/H) 4.1 azal-i azal (P) 2.1
asynguá (G) 5.1 ‘Azāzīl (A/P) 6.1
ātam (Pu) See ātman 5.1 ‘Azaz’el (He) 6.1
ātar (Av) 2.1 adād (P) See adād 5.2
‘atarah (He) 2.1 a
ilut (He) See ‘olam ha-a
ilut 4.1
athāh (H/Pu) 2.1 ‘A
īm, al- (A/P) 2.1
athīr (A) 4.1 azmān arba‘ (A/P) 6.3
‘Atika Kadisha (Am) 2.1 ‘a
mut (He) 3.1
ātish (P) 5.1 Azrael (A/P) 4.2
ātmā (S/H/Pu) 5.1
ātman (S) 5.1 Babel 6.2
ātmatattva (H) 5.1 Babylon 6.2
attā (Pa) 5.1 Bachan (H/Pu) 3.1
Audible Life Stream 3.1 bād (P) 3.1, 5.1
Aum (S/H) See Om 3.1 badhik (Pu) See vyādh 6.1
aur (He) 2.1 bād-i abā (P) 3.1
Aur Ayn-Sof (He) 2.1 bar (A/P) 2.1, 4.1
aur ‘olam (He) 2.1 bar-i ‘aā’ (P) 2.1
aur panekha (He) 2.1 bar-i bī-pāyān (P) 2.1
authority 4.2 bar-i jūd (P) 2.1
Autogenēs (Gk) 3.1 bar-i muī (P) 2.1
āvāgaman (H/Pu) 6.3 bar-i nā-mutanāhī (P) 2.1
āvāgavan (Pu) 6.3 baikuh (H/Pu) See vaikuh(a) 4.1
āva jāā (Pu) 6.3 basarī (H/Pu) 3.2
āvara(a) (S/H) 6.2 bāmsarī (H/Pu) 3.2
Āvāz (P) 3.1 basī (H/Pu) 3.2
Āvāz-i aqq (P) 3.1 bandhan(a) (S/H/Pu) 6.3
508 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

bandhanī (Pu) 6.3 letterjal(a)

bhav(a) one(S/H/Pu) 6.2
bandīkhānā (H) 6.3 bhav(a) sāgar(a) (S/H/Pu) 6.2
bandīvān (H) 6.3 bhed(a) (S/H/Pu) 2.2
Bāng-i ilāhī (P) 3.1 bherī (S/H) 3.2
Bāng-i āsmānī (P) 3.1 bhog(a) bhūmi (S/H/Pu) 6.3
Bāng-i aqq (P) 3.1 bhog(a) yoni (S/H) 6.3
bāng-i nay (P) 3.2 bhog bhūmī (Pu) 6.3
bāng-i nāy (P) 3.2 bhog jūnī (Pu) 6.3
bāng-i rubāb (P) 3.2 bhram(a) (S/H) 6.2
Bānī (H) 3.1 bhuiang (Pu) 6.2
Bāī (Pu) 3.1 bhuiangam (Pu) 6.2
bank kamal (H) 4.1 bhujang(a) (S/H/Pu) 6.2
bank nāl (H) 4.1 bhūl (H/Pu) 6.2
Bāqī, al- (A/P) 2.1 bhūl sunn (H) 5.1
barātmik (Pu) See varātmak(a) 2.2 bhūmitraya (S) See trilok(a) 4.1
barzakh (A/P) 4.1 bhūt(a) (S/H/Pu) 4.2, 5.1
Ba īr, al- (A/P) 2.1 bihisht-u dūzakh (P) 4.1
bāsnā (Pu) See vāsanā 6.3 bīj(a) sharīr(a) (S/H) 5.1
bast (H/Pu) See vastu 2.2 bimal (Pu) 2.1
bastu (H/Pu) See vastu 2.2 bīn (H) See vīā 3.2
bāil (A/P) 6.2 bīn (H/Pu) 3.2
Bāin, al- (A/P) 2.1 bī (Pu) See vīā 3.2
bayit (He) 2.1 bīnā (H/Pu) See vīā 3.2
beant (Pu) 2.1 bīā (Pu) See vīā 3.2
Beelzebub 6.1 Binah (He) 4.1
Begam (H) 2.1 bird 5.1
Begampurā (H/Pu) 2.1 birth and death See reincarnation 6.3
Beginning 3.1 Bisan (Pu) See Vishu 4.2
Belial 6.1 Bishan (Pu) See Vishu 4.2
Beliar 6.1 Bisnu (Pu) See Vishu 4.2
bells of the Holy Spirit 3.2 Bīhal (Pu) See Vihal(a) 2.1
Beloved 2.1 Bihalā (Pu) 2.1
ben (Pu) See vīā 3.2 Bihal (Pu) See Vihal(a) 2.1
benei elim (He) 4.2 blessed abode See abode 2.1
benei elohim (He) 4.2 blindness 6.2
beparwāh (H/Pu) See Veparwāh 2.1 body, mind, soul (Haitian, Native North
bhāg(a) (S/H/Pu) 6.3 American) 5.1
Bhagavān (S) 2.1 body of air 5.1
Bhagavant (S) 2.1 body of earth 5.1
Bhagavat (S) 2.1 body of fire See body of air 5.1
Bhagvān (H/Pu) 2.1 body of wind 5.1
Bhagvant (H/Pu) 2.1 bondage See captive(s) 6.3
bhai jal (Pu) 6.2 bo
ina di-kardinuta (Am) 5.2
bhai sāgar (H/Pu) 6.2 Brahm(a) (S/H/Pu) See Brahman 2.1
bhanwar guphā (H) 4.1 Brahmā (S/H/Pu) 4.2
bhanwar kamal (H) 4.1 Brahmachakra (S/H) 5.2
bharam (H/Pu) See bhram(a) 6.2 Brahmaloka (S) 4.1
bhau jal (Pu) 6.2 Brahman (S) 2.1
bhau sāgar (Pu) 6.2 brahma (Pu) 4.1
 Index of Headwords 509

brahmā(a) (S/H) 4.1 3 june 1931 chakra (S/H) 5.1

brahmāī man (H) 5.1 chamber(s) See room(s) 4.1
Brahmapura (S) 4.1 chand (H/Pu) 4.1
Brahmapurī (S) 4.1 chandra (S/H/Pu) 4.1
Brahmarandhra (S/H) 5.1 chang (P) 3.2
Brahm lok (H/Pu) See Brahmaloka 4.1 ch’áng (cháng) (C) 2.1
Brahm purī (H/Pu) See Brahmaloka 4.1 ch’áng Míng (cháng Míng) (C) 3.1
branch 4.1 chār antakara (H) 5.1
Bread 3.1 chār dal kanwal (H) 5.1
Bread from heaven 3.1 chār jug (Pu) 5.2
Bread of God 3.1 chār khāni (H/Pu) 6.3
Bread of Life 3.1 chār ‘un ur (P) See arba‘ ‘anā ir 5.1
Bread of understanding 3.1 chāryug(a) (H/Pu) 5.2
Breath of God 3.1 Chashmah-’i Āb-i ayāt (P) 3.1
Breath of His Mouth 3.1 Chashmah-’i Kawśar (P) 3.1
Breath of Life 3.1 Chashmah-’i Khir (P) 3.1
Breath of the aeons 3.1 Chashmah-’i Zindagānī (P) 3.1
Breath of the Air 3.1 chaturvidha sharīra (S) See chār khāni 6.3
Breath of the Living 3.1 chaupa (H) 6.3
Breath of the Spirit 3.1 chaurāsī (H/Pu) 6.3
Breath of the Wind 3.1 chaurāsī dā chakkar (Pu) 6.3
breeze 3.1 chaurāsī joni (H/Pu) 6.3
briah (He) 4.1 chaurāsī jūnī (Pu) 6.3
bridge 6.2 chaurāsī kā chakra (H) 6.3
Bud 3.1 chausar (H) 6.3
buddh (Pu) 5.1 cherubim 4.2
Buddha nature 5.1 chetan(a) (S/H/Pu) 5.1
buddhi (S/H/Pu) 5.1 chetanā (S/H) 5.1
bustān (A/P) 4.1 chetan(a) ākāsh(a) (S/H) 5.1
byādh (H/Pu) See vyādh 6.1 chetan ash (H) 5.1
byāpak (H) See vyāpak(a) 5.2 chetantā (Pu) See chaitanya 5.1
chhal(a) (S/H/Pu) 6.2
Call 3.1 chhap lok (H) 2.1
Call of Life 3.1 chidākāsh(a) (S/H) See chetan(a) ākāsh(a)
captive(s) 6.3 5.1
captivity 6.3 chihn (H) 3.2
caravanserai 6.2 chihn chihn (H) 3.2
causal body 5.1 chiñchiī (S) 3.2
causal plane See region(s) 4.1 chīng (jīng) (C) 5.1
causal realm See region(s) 4.1 chiī (S) 3.2
causal region See region(s) 4.1 Chintāmani (Pu) 3.1
causal world See region(s) 4.1 Chintāmai (S/H) 3.1
causation 5.2 Chinvatō Peretū (Av) 6.3
cedar See Tree of Life 3.1 ch’ì (qì) (C) 5.1
chahār ‘anā ir (P) See arba‘ ‘anā ir 5.1 chit (S/H/Pu) 5.1
chahār band (P) 5.1 Chitargupat (Pu) 6.1
chahār ab‘ (P) 5.1 Chitragupt(a) (S/H) 6.1
chaitanya (S) 5.1 chitriī (S/H) 6.2
chakkar (Pu) 5.1 chitta (S/Pa/H) 5.1
510 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

cholā (H/Pu) 5.1 letter(H)

daphalā one 3.2
city 5.1 daphālī (H) 3.2
city of God 2.1 dār (A/P) 2.1
city of nine gates 5.1 darajāt al-suflá, al- (A) 5.1
city of ten gates 5.1 darajāt-i siflī (P) 5.1
city of the Living God 2.1 darajāt-i suflī (P) 5.1
city of Truth 2.1 dār al-ākhirah (A/P) 2.1
cloud 2.1 dār al-baqā’ (A/P) 2.1
Command 3.1 dār al-fanā’ (A/P) 2.1
Commandment 3.1 dār al-qarār (A) 2.1
condemnation 6.3 dār al-salām (A/P) 2.1
consciousness 5.1 darbār (P/U/H/Pu) 2.1
Conversation 3.1 dār-i ākhirah (A/P) 2.1
Converse 3.1 dār-i baqā’ (A/P) 2.1
corrupt bridegroom 6.1 dār-i fanā’ (A/P) 2.1
corruption 6.2 dār-i qarār (P) 2.1
Cosmic Music See Music (Cosmic) 3.2 darkness 6.2
Cosmocrator 6.1 daryā (P/Pu) 2.1
Counsel 3.1 dasam duār (Pu) 4.1
Counsel of Thy Truth 3.1 dasht-i ‘Adam (P) 2.1
countenance of God 2.1 daswain duār (Pu) 4.1
counterfeit spirit 5.1 daswān dwār (H) 4.1
country (of peace and happiness) See land 2.1 dātā (H/Pu) 2.1
Covenant 3.1 dātār (Pu) 2.1
Covenant of Peace 3.1 Date Palm See Palm Tree 2.1
Creative Word 3.1 Davar (He) 3.1
Crown 2.1 Davar Yahweh (He) 3.1
Cry 3.1 Dayāl (H/Pu) 2.1
cup of forgetfulness 6.3 Dayāl Prabh (Pu) 2.1
cup of soberness 6.3 Dayāl Prabhu (H/Pu) 2.1
curtain See veil 4.1 Dayāl Purakh (Pu) 2.1
custom 6.3 Dayāl Purush (H/Pu) 2.1
cycle of birth and death See reincarnation 6.3 Dayālu (H/Pu) 2.1
cypress See Tree of Life 3.1 deafness 6.2
death 6.2
da‘at (He) 4.1 debt 6.3
Dabūr (A/P) 6.2 debtor 6.3
daemon(s) 6.1 deh(a) (S/H/Pu) 5.1
daff (A/P) 3.2 dehī (H/Pu) 5.1
dahān (P) 3.1 Deliverer See Saviour 2.1
dahān-i kūchak (P) 3.1 Demiurge 6.1
dahān-i shīrīn (P) 3.1 demoniac 6.1
dahān-i tang (P) 3.1 demon king 6.1
dā’irah-’i imkān (P) 4.1 demons See devils 6.1
dā’irat al-imkān (A) 4.1 demut (He) 5.1
dal(a) (S/H) 5.1 deo (Pu) 4.2
Dam (P) 3.1 Deo (Pu) 2.1
Dam-i ‘Īsá (P) 3.1 Depth 2.1
daph (H) 3.2 erā (H/Pu) 2.1
 Index of Headwords 511

desert 6.2 3 june 1931 Dhur kī Bāī (Pu) 3.1

desert of this world 6.2 dhur pad (H/Pu) 2.1
desh(a) (S/H) 2.1 dhvanyātmaka (S) 2.2
destiny 6.3 diadem 5.1
dev(a) (S/H/Pu) 4.2 Diadem 3.1
Deva (S/H) 2.1 diadem of light 5.1
devadundubhi (S/H) 3.2 diadem of sovereignty 5.1
devaloka (S) 4.1 Dibbur kadmon (He) 3.1
devatā (S/H) 4.2 dih (P) 5.1
Devatā (S/H) 2.1 dikpāl(a) (S/H) 4.2
dev(a) Vāī (S/H) 3.1 Din (He) 4.1
dev Bānī (H) 3.1 dīn dayāl (H/Pu) 2.1
dev Bāī (Pu) 3.1 dīp (H/Pu) See dvīp(a) 4.1
Devī (S/H) 4.2 Discord 6.1
devil 6.1 Discourse 3.1
devils 6.1 disease(s) 6.2
devlok (H/Pu) 4.1 divine Music 3.2
Dew 3.1 divine Music (Taoism) 3.2
Dew of heaven 3.1 divine Song See Song 3.2
Dew of lights 3.1 divine Sound See Sound Current 3.1
Dew of the Lord 3.1 divine Whisper 3.1
Dew of the wind 3.1 dojak (Pu) 4.1
dews 3.1 dominion(s) 4.1
dews of the Column of Glory 3.1 dozakh (Pu) 4.1
dhām(a) (S/H/Pu) 2.1 Dragon 6.1
dhanb (A/P) 6.2 Draught of Life 3.1
Dhanī (H/Pu) 2.1 dream 6.2
Dhār (H/Pu) 3.1 D ishi-s ishi-vād(a) (S/H) 5.2
Dhārā (H/Pu) 3.1 drought See desert 6.2, Living Water 3.1,
dharam kha (Pu) 4.1 Water of Life 3.1, Water(s) 3.1
Dharam Rāi (H/Pu) 6.1 Druj (Av/Pv) 6.1
Dharam Rāj (H/Pu) 6.1 drujō demāna (Av) 6.2
Dharm(a) Rāj (S/H) 6.1 drunkenness 6.2
Dhāt, al- (A) 2.2 duality 5.2
Dhāt al-Allāh (A) 2.2 duāpar jug (Pu) See dvāparayuga 5.2
dhātī Kalimah (A) 3.1 dubidhā (Pu) See dvait(a) 5.2
Dhū al-‘arsh (A) 2.1 duff (A/P) See daff 3.2
dhunātmak (H) 2.2 dukha (S) 6.2
dhunātmak Nām (H) 3.1 du’ī (P) 5.2
dhunātmak Shabd (H) 3.1 duī (Pu/H) 5.2
dhunātmik (Pu) 2.2 dūjā (Pu) 5.2
dhundhūkār (H/Pu) 5.2 dūjī (Pu) 5.2
dhundhūkārā (Pu) 5.2 dukh (H/Pu) See dukha 6.2
Dhun(i) (H/Pu) 3.1 dukkha (Pa) See dukha 6.2
Dhur (H/Pu) 2.1 dumbness 6.2
dhur des (H/Pu) 2.1 dungeon See prison 6.3
dhur desh (H/Pu) 2.1 dunyā, al- (A/P) 6.2
dhur dhām (H/Pu) 2.1 dunyā-u ākhirat (P) 4.1
dhur ghar (H/Pu) 2.1 dunyā wa-ākhirah (A) 4.1
512 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Durgā (S/H) 4.2 letter one

everlasting Bud See Bud 3.1
Durrah-’i Bayā’ (P) 2.2 everlasting life See life eternal 5.1
Durrat al-Bayā’, al- (A) 2.2 Evil One 6.1
Dūst (P) 2.1 evil spirits See devils 6.1
dūt(a) (S/H/Pu) 4.2 exile 6.2
dūzakh (P) 4.1 Exodus 6.2
dvādas dal kanwal (H) 5.1 ‘E
ayyim (He) 3.1
dvait(a) (S/H) 5.2
dvandva (S/H) 5.2 face of God See countenance of God 2.1
dvāparayuga (S) 5.2 farīb (P) 6.2
dvāpar yug(a) (H/Pu) 5.2 farq al-awwal, al- (A) 6.2
dvīp(a) (S/H) 4.1 farq-i avval (P) 6.2
dwelling place 2.1 Fates 6.3
dwelling(s) 4.1 Father 2.1
dybbuk (He) 6.1 far (A/P) 6.2
dyukana (Ar) 5.1 Fattā, al- (A/P) 2.1
fay (A) 5.2
Egypt 6.2 Fay al-Aqdas, al- (A) 2.1
Ek(a) (S/H/Pu) 2.1 Fay al-Muqaddas, al- (A) 2.1
ek Akkhar (Pu) 3.1 fay (P) 5.2
ek Akshar(a) (S/H) 3.1 Fay-i Aqdas (P) 2.1
Ekankār (Pu) 2.1 Fay-i Muqaddas (P) 2.1
Ekonkār (Pu) 2.1 field(s) See garden(s) 4.1
Ek Onkār (H/Pu) 2.1 Finger(s) of God 3.1
El (He) 2.1 firdaws (A/P) 4.1
El ‘Elyon (He) 2.1 firishtah (P) 4.2
Eloha (He) See Elohim 2.1 firmament 4.1
elohim (He) 4.2 First-born 3.1
Elohim (He) 2.1 First-born Son 3.1
Elohim eva’ot (He) See Yahweh eva’ot 2.1 first homeland 2.1
emanation(s) 4.1 First Life 2.1
Emet (He) 2.2 First Mānā 3.1
Enemy 6.1 First Mystery 3.1
Enki (Su) 2.1 First Power See Power 3.1
Enlil 3.1 First Vine 3.1
erekh apayim (He) 2.1 fish 6.3
ere
(He) See promised land 2.1 Five Bodies 3.1
ere

almavet See
almavet 6.2 Five Divine Presences See al-aarāt al-
Error 6.2 Ilāhīyah al-Khams 4.1
esh (He) 2.1 Five Greatnesses 4.1
eternal Existent 2.1 Five Law-bodies 3.1
eternal Fountain 3.1 Five Light-bodies 3.1
eternal life See life eternal 5.1 Five Trees 3.1
eternal One 2.1 flute 3.2
eternal realm 2.1 folly 6.2
eternal region 2.1 food and drink (of the soul) 3.1
eternity 2.1 fool 6.2
ether 5.1 foolishness 6.2
etheric body 5.1 forgetfulness 6.2
 Index of Headwords 513

Fount(ain) of Life 3.1 3 june 1931 gharīb-parwar (U/Pu) 2.1

Fountain of Living Water(s) 3.1 gha (H/Pu) 5.1
Fountain(s) 3.1 Ghayb, al- (A/P) 4.1
Fountains of Salvation 3.1 ghor kaliyug(a) (H/Pu) 5.2
Fragrance (of Life) 3.1 ghost 4.2
framer of bodies 6.1 ghūl (A/P) 6.1
fravashi (Av) 4.2 gilgul (He) 6.3
freedom 6.3 gilgul ha-nefesh (He) 6.3
free will 6.3 gilgul nefashot (He) 6.3
Fruit of Immortality 3.1 glory See hod 2.1, kavod 2.1
Fruit of Life 3.1 Gobind (H/Pu) See Govind(a) 2.1
Fruit of Light 3.1 God 2.1
Fruit of the Tree of Life 3.1 God (among the early Greeks) 2.1
God (in early Christianity) 2.1
Gabriel (He) 4.2 God (in Indian thought) 2.1
gagan(a) (S/H/Pu) 4.1 God (in Judaism) 2.1
gagan maal (H) 4.1 god(s) 4.2
galgal (He) 4.2 gods (Greek) 4.2
galut 6.2 Gopāl(a) (S/H/Pu) 2.1
game 6.2 Gosāīn (H/Pu) See Goswāmī 2.1
gan (He) 4.1 Goswāmī (S) 2.1
Gaapati (S/H) 4.2 governor(s) See archon 4.2, rulers 4.2
Gaesh(a) (S/H) 4.2 Govind(a) (S/H) 2.1
Gaesh chakra (H) 5.1 grave 6.2
garden of Adam 4.1 greater mind 6.1
garden of Eden 4.1 Great Glory 2.1
garden of ether spirit 4.1 Great Life 2.1
garden of Life 4.1 Great One 2.1
garden of the Lord 4.1 great Power See Power 3.1
garden(s) 4.1 Great Spirit (Native North American) 2.1
gardens of fragrance 4.1 guardian angels 4.2
gardens of light 4.1 gudā chakra (S/H) See mūlādhāra chakra 5.1
ga h (H/Pu) 5.1 gua (S/H/Pu) 5.2
garland 5.1 guphā (H/Pu) 5.1
garment See robe 5.1 gupt(ī) Bāī (Pu) 3.1
garō demāna (Av) 2.1 gupt(ī) Nām (Pu) 3.1
garotman (Pv) 2.1 Gurbāī (Pu) See Guru kī Bānī 3.1
gaya (Av) 6.3 Gur kī Bāī (Pu) See Guru kī Bānī 3.1
Gehenna 4.1 Gurubānī (H) 3.1
Geush Tashā (Av) 2.1 Guru kī Bānī (H) 3.1
geush urvā (Av) 5.1 Guru pad (H/Pu) 4.1
Gevurah (He) 4.1 Gusāīn (Pu) See Goswāmī 2.1
ghaflah (A) 6.2 gyānendriya (H) See jñānendriya 5.1
ghaflat (P) 6.2 gyān indrī (Pu) 5.1
ghaā (S/H) 3.2 gyān kha (Pu) 4.1
ghar (H/Pu) 5.1
gharīb (A/P/Pu) 6.2 habā’, al- (A/P) 6.2
gharīb-navāz (U/H) 2.1 habitations 4.1
gharīb-nivāz (Pu) 2.1 hadar (He) 2.1
514 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

aarāt al-Ilāhīyah al-Khams, al- (A) 4.1 letter

hastī one
(P) 2.2
Hadēs (Gk) 4.1 havare pishyasū (Av) 4.1
Hādī, al- (A/P) 2.1 awāss al-bāin (A) 5.1
āfi
(A/P) 4.2 awāss al-
āhir (A) 5.1
āfi
ah (A/P) 5.1 awāss-i bāin (P) 5.1
āfi
, al- (A/P) 2.1 awāss-i
āhir (P) 5.1
hāhūt, al- (A/P) 2.1 aw al-Kawthar (A) 4.1
hairat(-rūp) (H/Pu) 2.1 awrā’ (A/P) 4.2
akīm, al- (A/P) 2.1 aw-i Kawśar (P) 4.1
aluk (He) 5.2 ayavānāt (P) 6.3
has(a) (S/H/Pu) 5.1 ayawānāt (A) 6.3
hasī (S/H/Pu) 5.1 hayūlá, al- (A/P) 6.2
hasikā (S/H/Pu) 5.1 ayyah (He) 5.1
hasnī (H/Pu) 5.1 ayy, al- (A/P) 2.1
hasnī nāl (H) 4.1 ayyot (He) 4.2
hasnī surang (H) 4.1 aarāt-i Ilāhī-i Khams (P) See aarāt al-
Hand of God 3.1 Ilāhīyah al-Khams, al- 4.1
Hand of the Father 3.1 head money 6.3
Hand of the Lord 3.1 heavenly Father See Father 2.1
hans(a) (S/H/Pu) See has(a) 5.1 heavenly Jerusalem See Jerusalem 2.1
aqā’iq (A/P) 5.2 heavenly regions 4.1
aqīqah, al- (A) 2.2 heavens (Nahua) 4.1
aqīqat (P) 2.2 heaven(s) 4.1
aqq, al- (A/P/U) 2.1 Height 2.1
aqqīyah (A/P) 2.1 hekhal (He) 2.1
harbour 2.1 hekhal ha-kodesh (He) 2.1
harbour of Life 2.1 hekhal ha-Melekh (He) 2.1
harbour of peace 2.1 hell 4.1
harbour of the immortals 2.1 hellfire 4.1
Har ha-Elohim oreb (He) 2.1 héng (héng) (C) 2.1
har ha-kodesh (He) 2.1 hereafter, the 4.1
Hari (S/H/Pu) 2.1 esed (He) 2.1
Hari Kīrat (Pu) 3.2 esed (He) 4.1
Hari Kīrtan (H/Pu) 3.2 evel (He) 6.3
Hari mandar (Pu) 5.1 evlei mavet (He) 6.3
Hari mandir (H/Pu) 5.1 evlei Sheol (He) 6.3
Hari Nām (H/Pu) 3.1 higher regions See heaven(s) 4.1,
Hari Om (H) 3.1 mansion(s) 4.1, region(s) 4.1
Hari Rāi (H/Pu) 2.1 higher worlds See heaven(s) 4.1,
Hari Ras (H/Pu) 3.1 mansion(s) 4.1, region(s) 4.1
har kodesh (He) See har ha-kodesh 2.1 ijāb, al- (A/P) 6.2
harlots See publicans and harlots 6.2 hill of frankincense See mountain(s) 4.1
har mo‘ed (He) 2.1 hills See mountain(s) 4.1
harp and lyre 3.2 hirayagarbha (S/H) 4.1
Harp of many tunes 3.2 hirde chakkar (Pu) See h iday(a) chakra 5.1
Harp of the Holy Spirit 3.2 isāb (A/P) 6.3
harp(s) 3.2 iss al-mushtarak, al- (A) 5.1
ha-Shem (He) 3.1 iss-i mushtarak (P) 5.1
hast (P) 2.2 iyyut (He) 3.1
 Index of Headwords 515

hod (He) 2.1 3 june 1931 iā (S) 5.1

Hod (He) 4.1 Idea See Thought 3.1
okhmah (He) 3.1 ignorance See spiritual ignorance 6.2
Holy Edict 3.1 ikhtiyār (A/P) 6.3
Holy Ghost 3.1 ilāh (A/P) 2.1
holy Jerusalem See Jerusalem 2.1 ‘Illah al-Ūlá, al- (A) 2.1
holy land 2.1 ‘Illat-i Ūlá (P) 2.1
holy mount 2.1 illness See sickness 6.2
holy mountain 2.1 illusion 6.2
Holy Name See Name of God 3.1 illusion (in Taoism) 6.2
holy of holies 2.1 image of God 5.1
Holy Spell 3.1 Image of God 3.1
Holy Spirit See Spirit 3.1 imkān (A/P) 4.1
honey 3.1 immortal food 3.1
honeycomb 3.1 immortality of the soul 5.1
house 5.1 impermanence 6.2
house of God 2.1 imra (He) 3.1
house of Life 2.1 im yir
eh ha-Shem (He) 6.3
house of perfection 2.1 Indar (Pu) 4.2
house of poverty 5.1 Indar purī (Pu) 4.1
house of refuge 2.1 individual mind 5.1
house of the Lord See house of God 2.1 Indra (S/H) 4.2
h iday(a) chakra (S/H) 5.1 Indralok(a) (S/H/Pu) 4.1
h iday(a) kamal(a) (S/H) 5.1 Indrapurī (S/H/Pu) 4.1
hsìng (xìng) (C) 5.2 indrī (Pu) 5.1
hsīn (xīn) (C) 5.1 indrī chakra (Pu) 5.1
hsī Shén (xī Shén) (C) 3.2 indrī kanwal (Pu) 5.1
hsī Yīn (xī Yīn) (C) 3.2 indriya (S/H) 5.1
hsüán (xuán) (C) 2.2 infinity 2.1
hsǖ (xū) (C) 2.2 iniquity See sin and evil 6.2
Hu (He) 2.1, 3.1 inner Music See divine Music 3.2
Hū (P) 2.1, 3.1 inner regions See heaven(s) 4.1, mansion(s)
huàn hsiàng (huàn xiàng) (C) 6.2 4.1, region(s) 4.1
huàn mèng (huàn mèng) (C) 6.2 insānīyah (A) 5.1
ubb (A/P) 2.1 insānīyat (P) 5.1
Hukam (H/Pu) 3.1 in shā’ Allāh (A/P) 6.3
ukm, al- (A/P) 3.1 Intellect 3.1
hún (hún) (C) 5.1 Intellectus Agens (L) 3.1
hunter 6.1 intoxication 6.2
huntress 6.2 i ā (H/Pu) See iā 5.1
ūr (P) See awrā’ 4.2 irin (Am) 4.2
ūrīyah (A/P) See awrā’ 4.2 irji‘ī (A) 3.1
Huwa (A) 2.1, 3.1 Īsar (Pu) 2.1, 4.2
hylē (Gk) 6.2 Īshar (Pu) 2.1
ishtibāh (A/P) 6.2
I am that I am 2.1 Īshvar(a) (S/H/Pu) 2.1, 4.2
ibbur (He) 6.3 ism (A/P) 2.2
Iblīs (A/P) 6.1 iśm (P) See ithm 6.2
ichchhā Pūrak (Pu) 2.1 Ism al-A‘
am, al- (A) 3.1
516 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Ism al-dhātī, al- (A) 3.1 letter

jaras (A/P)one3.2
Ism-i A‘
am (P) 3.1 jarāyuja (S) 6.3
Ism-i Źātī (P) 3.1 ja chetan (H) 6.2
Isrāfīl (A/P) 4.2 jaharāgni (S/H/Pu) 6.3
ithm (A) 6.2 jawhar (A/P) 5.2
I will be what I will be See I am that I am 2.1 Jehovah (He) See Yahweh 2.1
ì (yì) (C) 5.2 jeraj (H/Pu) See jarāyuja 6.3
‘Izrā’īl (A/P) 4.2 Jerusalem 2.1
jewel(s) 3.1, 4.2
jabarūt (A/P) 4.1 jhajhrī (H) 4.1
jabr (A/P) 6.3 jhajhrī dīp (H) 4.1
Jabra’īl (A/P) 4.2 jhajhrī dvīp (H) 4.1
ja(a) (S/H) 6.2 jhāñjh (H) 3.2
Jagadīsha (S) 2.1 jhankār (H) 3.2
jagat (H/Pu) 6.2 jhīngur (H) 3.2
jagat jāl (H/Pu) 6.2 jīa (H/Pu) See jīv(a) 5.1
jagat-traya (S) See trilok(a) 4.1 jihah (A) 5.2
Jagdīs (H/Pu) 2.1 jihat (P) 5.2
Jagdīsh (H/Pu) 2.1 jinn (A/P) 4.2
jāgnā (H) 6.2 jism (A/P) 5.1
jahannam (A/P) 4.1 jism al-laīf, al- (A) See jism 5.1
jail See prison 6.3 jism al-nārī, al- (A) See jism 5.1
jakkh (Pu) See yaksha 4.2 jism al-nūrī, al- (A) See jism 5.1
jal(a) (S/H/Pu) 5.1 jism-i laīf (P) See jism 5.1
jāl(a) (S/H/Pu) 6.2 jism-i nārī (P) See jism 5.1
jalāl (A/P) 2.1 jism-i nūrī (P) See jism 5.1
Jam (H/Pu) See Yam(a) 4.2, 6.1 jīv(a) (S/H/Pu) 5.1
jamād (A/P) 5.2 jīvan(a) (S/H/Pu) 5.1
jamāl (A/P) 2.1 jīvansākshī (S/H) 5.1
jam‘ al-adād (A) 5.2 jīvātmā (S/H/Pu) 5.1
jambu dvīp (H) 4.1 jīvātman (S) 5.1
jambu dvīp(a) (S/H) 4.1 jñānendriya (S) 5.1
jamdūt (H/Pu) See yamadūta 4.2 joni (H/Pu) See yoni 6.3
Jāmi‘, al- (A/P) 2.1 Jordan 3.1
jam‘-i adād (P) 5.2 jubilee 5.2
Jam Rāi (H/Pu) See Yam(a) 6.1 Judge 6.1
Jam Rāj (H/Pu) See Yam(a) 4.2, 6.1 judgment See law of cause and effect 6.3
jān (P) 5.1 jug (Pu) See yug(a) 5.2
janam (H/Pu) See janm(a) 5.1 jūnī (Pu) See yoni 6.3
janam-mara (H/Pu) 6.3 justice See law of cause and effect 6.3
jān-i ātish (P) 5.1 jyoti-svarūpa Bhagavān (S) 4.2
jān-i rabbānī (P) 5.1 Jyoti Nirañjan (H) 4.2
jañjāl (H/Pu) 6.2 jyoti-svarūp Bhagvān (H) 4.2
jañjār (Pu) 6.2 Jyot Nirañjan (H) 4.2
janm(a) (S/H) 5.1
janma-mara(a) (S/H) 6.3 Kabīr, al- (A/P/U/Pu) 2.1
jannah, al- (A) 4.1 kadishin (Ar) See kedoshim 4.2
jannat (P) 4.1 Kadosh (He) 2.1
ja (H) 6.2 kāg (H/Pu) 5.1
 Index of Headwords 517

Kailās(a) (S/H) 4.1 3 june 1931 karam rog (Pu) See rog 6.3
Kailāsh (H) 4.1 kāra(a) sharīr(a) (S/H/Pu) 5.1
kāj (H/Pu) 5.1 Kara kāra (Pu) 2.1
kājal kī kohrī (H/Pu) 6.2 kāra man (H/Pu) 5.1
kājar koh (Pu) 6.2 Karīm, al- (A/P) 2.1
kalā (S/H/Pu) 5.2 karm(a) (S/H) 6.3
Kāl(a) (S/H/Pu) 6.1 karm(a) bhūmi (S/H) 6.3
Kalām (A/P) 3.1 karma (in Jainism) (S/H) 6.3
Kalām al-aqq (A) 3.1 karm(a) joni (H) See karm(a) yoni 6.3
Kalām al-Īzid (A) 3.1 karman (S) 6.3
Kalām Allāh (A/P) 3.1 karma rog (H) See rog 6.3
Kalām-i aqq (P) 3.1 karm(a) yoni (S/H) 6.3
Kalām-i Īzid (P) 3.1 karmendriya (S/H) 5.1
Kāl desh (H) 4.1 Kartā (S/H/Pu) 2.1
Kālī (S/H) 4.2 Kartār (Pu) 2.1
kalijug (Pu) 5.2 Karuāmaya (S/H) 2.1
Kalimah (A/P/U) 3.1 kasb (A/P) 6.3
Kalimat al-aqq (A) 3.1 kaśrat (P) See kathrah 6.2
Kalimat al-Lāh (A) 3.1 Kathā (S/H/Pu) 3.1
Kalimat ilāhī (A) 3.1 kathrah (A) 6.2
kaliyug(a) (S/H/Pu) 5.2 kav ha-midah (He) 5.2
Kalmā (Pu/H) 3.1 kavod (He) 2.1
Kalmah (U) 3.1 kawn, al- (A/P) 4.1
Kāl mat (H/Pu) 6.2 kawn-u fasād (P) 5.2
Kāl Nirañjan (Pu) 6.1 kawn wa-fasād (A) 5.2
kalp(a) (S/H) 5.2 Kawśar (P) 3.1
Kāl Purakh (Pu) 6.1 Kawthar, al- (A) 3.1
Kāl Purush (Pu) 6.1 kawwā (H/U) See kāg 5.1
Kalyptos (Gk) 2.1 kāyā (S/H/Pu) 5.1
kamal(a) (S/H/Pu) 5.1 kedoshim (He) 4.2
kāmendriya (S) 5.1 kelipot (He) 5.2
kām indrī (Pu) 5.1 kerem (He) 4.1
kām indriya (H) 5.1 Keshav(a) (S/H) 2.1
kamma (Pa) See karm(a) 6.3 Kesho (H/Pu) 2.1
kanj kanwal (H) 5.1 Keso (H/Pu) 2.1
kah(a) chakra (S/H) 5.1 Keter (He) 2.1
kanwal (H/Pu) See kamal(a) 5.1 khāk (P) 5.1
kā’o (H/P) See kāg 5.1 khalaq (Pu) 4.1
kāraj (Pu) 5.1 Khālaq (Pu) 2.1
karam (Pu) See karm(a) 6.3 Khāliq, al- (A/P/U) 2.1
karam (A/P/U/Pu) See karam ò2 khalq, al- (A/P) 4.1
karam bhūmi (Pu) See karm(a) bhūmi 6.3 kha(a) (S/H/Pu) 4.1
karam bhūmī (Pu) See karm(a) bhūmi 6.3 khar (P) 5.1
karam Bidhātā (Pu) 2.1 Khasam (Pu) 2.1
karam dhartī (Pu) See karm(a) bhūmi 6.3 Khasm (H) 2.1
karam indrī (Pu) See karmendriya 5.1 Kha m (A/P/U) 2.1
karam joni (Pu) See karm(a) yoni 6.3 khaa’ (A) 6.2
karam jūnī (Pu) See karm(a) yoni 6.3 khaā’ (A/P) 6.2
karam kha (Pu) 4.1 kha chakkar (Pu) 5.1
518 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

kha chakra (H) 5.1 letter one

lā-maqām (A/P) 2.1
kha dal kamal (H/Pu) 5.1 lamp 5.1
kha dal kanwal (Pu) 5.1 land 2.1
khaī’ah (A) 6.2 land flowing with milk and honey See
khayāl (A/P) 5.1, 6.2 promised land 2.1
khel (H/Pu) 6.2 land of rest 2.1
Khiāb (A/P) 3.1 land of the Buddhas 2.1
khiyāl (P) See khayāl 5.1, 6.2 land of the immortal 2.1
Khudā (P/U) 2.1 land of the living 4.1
khurshed paya (Pv) 4.1 land of the Living Ones 2.1
khvāb (P) 6.2 laā’if (A/P) 5.1
King 2.1 laīfah al-insānīyah, al- (A) 5.1
kingdom 2.1 laīfah-’i insānī (P) 5.1
kingdom of God 2.1 Law 3.1
kingdom of heaven 2.1 law (A/P) 6.3
King of Glory 2.1 lawlessness See rebellion 6.2
kingrī (P/Pu/H) 3.2 law of cause and effect 6.3
kirtam nām (Pu) 2.2 Law of Life 3.1
Kīrtan (H/Pu) 3.2 law of recompense 6.3
Kodesh (He) See Kadosh 2.1 law of sin and death 6.3
kodesh kodashim (He) 2.1 le‘ad (He) 2.1
Kol (He) 3.1 leader of the darkness 6.1
kosh(a) (S/H/Pu) 5.1 Letter 3.1
Krishan (Pu) 4.2 lhā (T) 4.2
K isha (S/H) 4.2 life 5.1
k itayuga (S) 5.2 Life 2.1
k itrim nām (H) 2.2 life eternal See life 5.1
kriyamān karam (Pu) 6.3 life everlasting See life 5.1
kriyamān karma (H) 6.3 Life Force 3.1
kshar(a) (S/H) 6.2 Life Stream 3.1
kshetra (S) 4.1 light See aur 2.1
kǔ (gǔ) (C) 2.2 light-nature See nature of light 5.1
kuǐ (guǐ) (C) 4.2 light of Your countenance See aur 2.1
Kun (A/P) 3.1 līlā (S/H/Pu) 6.2
kualinī (S/H) 5.1 Lilith (He) 4.2
Kurahy (G) 2.1 ling(a) chakra (S/H) 5.1
kursī, al- (A/P/H) 4.1 líng hún (líng hún) (C) 5.1
kūshā (Md) 3.1 linkage of everything (Native North
American) 5.2
lā (A/P) 6.2 lion 6.1
lab (P) 3.1 lion-faced power 6.1
labyrinth 6.2 Living Air 3.1
Lacchmī (Pu) 4.2 Living Bread See Bread of Life 3.1
lāhūt, al- (A/P) 5.1 Living Cry See Cry 3.1
Lakhmī (Pu) 4.2 Living God 2.1
laksh (H/Pu) 2.2 Living Seed See Seed 3.1
Lakshmī (S/H/Pu) 4.2 Living Spring See Spring 3.1
lakshya (S) 2.2 Living Tree See Tree of Life 3.1
lā-makān (A/P) 2.1 Living Voice 3.1
 Index of Headwords 519

Living Water(s) 3.1 3 june 1931 makhlūq (A/P) 5.1

Living Wine 3.1 makom (He) 2.1
loa (Pu) 4.1 makr al-aqq (A) 6.3
Logos (Gk) 3.1 makr-i aqq (P) 6.3
lok(a) (S/H/Pu) 4.1 maktūb (A/P) 6.3
lokatraya (S) See trilok(a) 4.1 malā’ikat al-‘adhāb (A) 4.2
Lord 2.1 malā’ik-i ‘aźāb (P) 4.2
Lord of Hosts See Yahweh eva’ot 2.1 malak (A/P) 4.2
lubb, al- (A/P) 2.2 mal’ak (A) 4.2
lute 3.2 Mālak (Pu) 2.1
malakūt (A/P) 4.1
mā’ (A) 3.1 Malik, al- (A/P) 2.1
Mā’ al-ma‘īn, al- (A) 3.1 Mālik, al- (A/P/U/H) 2.1
ma’amarot (He/Am) 3.1 Mālik al-kull (A) 2.1
ma‘ayan (He) 3.1 Mālik al-mulk (A) 2.1
Ma‘ayanei ha-Yeshua‘ (He) 3.1 Mālik-i kull (P/U) 2.1
Ma‘ayanei Mayyim ayyim (He) 3.1 Mālik-i mulk (P) 2.1
mabda’-u ma‘ād (P) 2.2 Mālik-i Yawm-i Dīn (P/U) 2.1
mabda’ wa-ma‘ād (A) 2.2 Mālik Yawm al-Dīn (A) 2.1
ma‘danīyāh (A) 6.3 malkut (He) 2.1
ma‘danīyāt (P) 6.3 Malkut (He) 4.1
Mādhav(a) (S/H/Pu) 2.1 mal’akh (He) 4.2
Mādho (H/Pu) 2.1 mammon 6.2
madness 6.2 man (S/H/Pu) 5.1
maghrib (A/P) 6.2 man 5.1
mahā ākāsh (H/Pu) 4.1 Mānā (Md) See Vohu Manō 3.1
Mahādev(a) (S/H) 4.2 ma‘ná, al- (A/P) 5.2
Mahā Kāl (H/Pu) 4.2 mana (S) 5.1
mahāmāyā (S/H/Pu) 6.2 manas (S) 5.1
mahā Nād (H/Pu) 3.1 mānasarovara (S) 4.1
mahā pralaya (S/H) 5.2 mandar (Pu) 5.1
mahā sunn (H) 4.1 mandir (H/Pu) 5.1
mahat (S/H) 5.2 maipūr(a) chakra (S/H) 5.1
mahāvāk (H/Pu) 5.1 maipūrak(a) chakra (S/H) 5.1
mahāvākya (S/H) 5.1 manna 3.1
mahāyug(a) (S/H) 5.2 man of war See mighty in battle (the) 2.1
Mabūb (A/P) 2.1 manomaya-kosha (S) 5.1
Mahesh (S/H/Pu) 4.2 mānsarovar (H) 4.1
Maheshvar(a) (S/H/Pu) 4.2 mansion(s) 4.1
mah paya (Pv) 4.1 Manthrā (Av) 3.1
Mashavah (He) 3.1 mānukh janam (H/Pu) 5.1
māiā (Pu) See māyā 6.2 mānush(a) janm(a) (S/H) 5.1
maidān (Pu/H) 4.1 manzil (P) 4.1
Maiden 3.1 maqām (A/P) 4.1
Maiden of Light 3.1 Māra (Pa) 6.1
Mā’-i ma‘īn (P) See Mā’ al-ma‘īn, al- 3.1 marātib al-kullīyah, al- (A) 4.1
mainyu (Av) 3.1 marātib al-masūsah, al- (A) 6.3
makān (A/P) 4.1 marātib-i kullī (P) 4.1
makar(a) (S/H/Pu) 5.1 mardang (Pu) See m idang(a) 3.2
520 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

mārghna (Md) 3.1 letter

mirt one See m ityu lok(a) 4.1
lok (H/Pu)
marom (He) 2.1 mi bā (A/P) 5.1
martabah-i insānīyah (P) 6.3 Mithra (Av/P) 4.2
martabat al-insānīyah (A) 6.3 Mithras (Av/P) 4.2
Ma‘shūq (A/P) 2.1 mithyā (S/H/Pu) 6.2
ma‘ iyah (A) 6.2 Mitra (S) 4.2 4.2
ma‘ iyat (P) 6.2 mīzān, al- (A/P) 6.3
maskh (A/P) 6.3 mizmor (He) 3.2
ma nū‘ (A/P) 6.2 Monogenēs (Gk) 3.1
mat(a) (S/H) 5.1 Moshia‘ (He) 2.1
maarata (Md) 4.1 Mother 3.1
makā (H/Pu) 5.1 Mother of Wisdom 3.1
makī (H/Pu) 5.1 mount See mountain(s) 4.1
Malūb, al- (A/P) 2.1 mountain of myrrh 4.1
maukī (Pu) 5.1 mountain of Yahweh 4.1
ma-u mā (P) 6.2 mountains (Native North American) 4.1
māyā (S/H/Pu) 6.2 mountain(s) 4.1
maydān (P) See maidān 4.1 mountains of God 4.1
mayl (A/P) 5.1 mountains of radiance 4.1
Mazdā (Av) See Ahurā Mazdā 2.1 mountains of the Covenant 4.1
meadow(s) See garden(s) 4.1 Mount Carmel 2.1
Medicine 3.1 Mount Zion See holy mount 2.1
Medicine(s) of Life 3.1 Mouth of God 3.1
mekor Mayyim ayyim (He) 3.1 Mouth of the Lord 3.1
Melekh (He) 2.1 Mouth of the Most High 3.1
Memra (Am) 3.1 m idang(a) (S/H) 3.2
mèng huàn (mèng huàn) (C) 6.2 m ityu lok(a) (S/H) 4.1
menorah (He) 4.1 mshunia kūshā (Md) 4.1
merchant 5.1 Mu’aśśir-i aqīqī (P) 2.1
Meru da(a) (S/H) 5.1 Mu’aththir al-aqīqī, al- (A) 2.1
Metatron (He) 4.2 Mubdi’, al- (A/P) 2.1
metempsychosis (Gk) 6.3 Mudhill, al- (A) 2.1
Michael (He) 4.2 mudaś (P) 6.2
midot (He) 4.1 mudath (A) 6.2
mighty in battle (the) 2.1 mūl(a) chakra (S/H/Pu) 5.1
Mīkhā’īl (A/P) 4.2 mūlādhār(a) chakra (S/H/Pu) 5.1
milk 3.1 mūl Nād (H/Pu) 3.1
milk and honey 3.1 mūl Nām (H/Pu) 3.1
mind 5.1 mūl pad (H/Pu) 2.1
Mind 3.1 mūl Shabd (H/Pu) 3.1
mìng (mìng) (C) 6.3 mumkin (A/P) 4.1
mir’āt al-arat (A) 2.2 Munkar (A/P) 6.3
mir’āt al-Kawn (A) 2.2 muralī (S/H) 3.2
mir’āt al-Wujūd (A) 2.2 muraliyā (H/Pu) 3.2
mir’āt-i arat (P) 2.2 musammá (A/P) 2.2
mir’āt-i Kawn (P) 2.2 Music (Cosmic) 3.2
mir’āt-i Vujūd (P) 2.2 Music of the gods 3.2
Miriam’s Well 3.1 Music of the Spheres 3.2
mirror 5.1 muta arrifah (A/P) 5.1
 Index of Headwords 521

3 june 1931
Muźill (P) See Mudhill, al- 2.1 Name of Truth 3.1
myrrh See Fragrance 3.1 Nāmī (H/Pu) 2.1
Nāmūs (A/P) 4.2
nabāt (A/P) 6.3 Nanderú Guazú (G) 2.1
nābhi chakra (S/H/Pu) 5.1 nār (A) 5.1
nābhi padma (S/H/Pu) 5.1 nar(a) (S/H/Pu) 5.1
Nād(a) (S/H/Pu) 3.1 nar(a) deh(a) (S/H/Pu) 5.1
Nāda Brahman (S) 3.1 Narāi (Pu) See Nārāya(a) 2.1, 4.2
nāī (S) 5.1 Nārāi (Pu) See Nārāya(a) 2.1, 4.2
Nafas (A/P) 3.1 narak(a) (S/H/Pu) 4.1
Nafas al-Ramān (A/P) 3.1 nar(a) rūp(a) (S/H/Pu) 5.1
Nafas ‘Īsá (A/P) 3.1 Nārāya(a) (S/H) 2.1, 4.2
nafah (A) 3.1 nā ī (H/Pu) See nāī 5.1
nafat (P) 3.1 nar nārāyaī deh (H/Pu) 5.1
nafīrī (P/H) 3.2 nasīm (A/P) 3.1
nafkh (A/P) 3.1 Nā īrūtha (Md) 2.2
nafs (A/P) 5.1 naskh al-arwā (A) 6.3
nafs al-ammārah, al- (A) 5.1 naskh-i arvā (P) 6.3
nafs al-ayawānīyah, al- (A) 5.1 Nāth(a) (S/H/Pu) 2.1
nafs al-kullīyah, al- (A) 6.1 native abode See abode 2.1
nafs al-nabātīyah, al- (A) 5.1 nature 5.1
nafs al-nāiqah, al- (A) 5.1 nature of light 5.1
nafs al-ūlá, al- (A) 6.1 nau dar (Pu) 5.1
nafs al-wāidah, al- (A) 5.1 nau darvājā (Pu) 5.1
nafs-i ammārah (P) See nafs al-ammārah, nau dwār (H) 5.1
al- 5.1 nava-dvāra (S) 5.1
nafs-i avval (P) See nafs al-ūlá, al- 6.1 nawbah (A) 3.2
nafs-i ayavānī (P) See nafs al-ayawānīyah, nawbat (P) 3.2
al- 5.1 nay (P) 3.2
nafs-i kull (P) See nafs al-kullīyah, al- 6.1 nāy (P) 3.2
nafs-i kullī (P) See nafs al-kullīyah, al- 6.1 nectar See ambrosia 3.1, Am it 3.1, Dew
nafs-i nabātī (P) See nafs al-nabātīyah, al- 5.1 3.1, honey 3.1
nafs-i nāiqah (P) See nafs al-nāiqah, al- 5.1 ñe’eng (G) 5.1
nafs-i vāid (P) See nafs al-wāidah, al- 5.1 ñe’eng-güery (G) 4.1
naghamah (A) 3.2 nefesh (He) 5.1
naghmah (A/P) 3.2 nefillim (He) 4.2
nāgin (H) 5.1 negative power 6.1
Nahuaque (Nahua) 2.1 neginah (He) 3.2
nai (P) See nay 3.2 nèi ch’ì (nèi qì) (C) 5.1
Nakīr (A/P) 6.3 nescience See spiritual ignorance 6.2
nāl (H) 5.1 neshamah (He) 5.1
Nām (H/Pu) 3.1 Net 3.1
Nām Dhun (Pu) 3.1 neti neti (S) 2.2
Nām Dhun Bāī (Pu) 3.1 net(s) 6.2
Name 3.1 next world 4.1
Name of God 3.1 ne
a (He) 2.1
Name of Life 3.1 Ne
a (He) 4.1
Name of the Father 3.1 Nidā’ (A/P) 3.1
Name of the Lord 3.1 Nidā’ al-Sulānī, al- (A) 3.1
522 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Nidā’-yi āsmānī (P) 3.1 letter

Nuq one
(A/P) 3.1
Nidā’-yi Sulānī (P) 3.1 Nuq al-Khāliq (A) 3.1
nidrā (S/H) 6.2 Nuq-i Khāliq (P) 3.1
niggun (He) 3.2 nuzūl (A/P) 4.1
nihachhar Nām (H/Pu) 3.1
nihakshar (H) 4.1 oblivion 6.2
nihakshar Nām (H/Pu) 3.1 ocean 6.2
nihchal (Pu) See nishchal(a) 2.1 ofanim (He) 4.2
nij (H) 5.1 ohel (He) 2.1
nij des (H/Pu) 2.1 Oil 3.1
nij desh (H/Pu) 2.1 Oil of Gladness 3.1
nij dhām (H/Pu) 2.1 Oil of Incorruption 3.1
nij ghar (H/Pu) 2.1 Oil of Joy 3.1
nij man (H) 5.1 Ointment See Oil 3.1
nij Nām (H) 3.1 oka-vusú (AC) 4.1
nij pad (H/Pu) 2.1 ‘olam (He) 2.1, 4.1
nimitta (S/H) 5.2 ‘olam ha-‘assiah (He) 4.1
nīnd (H/Pu) See nidrā 6.2 ‘olam ha-a
ilut (He) 4.1
Nirākār(a) (S/H) 2.1 ‘olam ha-ba (He) 4.1
nirālā (H/Pu) 2.1 ‘olam ha-briah (He) 4.1
Nirañjan(a) (S/H/Pu) 2.1, 4.1 ‘olam ha-merkavah (He) 4.1
Nirañjan desh (H) 4.1 ‘olam ha-ye
irah (He) 4.1
Nirañjan dhām (H) 4.1 Om (S/H) 3.1
Nirankār (Pu) See Nirākār(a) 2.1 Okār (H/Pu) 2.1, 3.1
nirārā (Pu) See nirālā 2.1 One (The) 2.1
nirbhau (Pu) 2.1 Onkār(a) (S/H/Pu) 2.1, 3.1, 4.2
nirbhay (H/Pu) 2.1 Only-begotten 3.1
nirgu(a) (S/H/Pu) 2.2 Only-begotten One 3.1
nirgu(a) Brahman (S/H/Pu) 2.2 Only-begotten Son 3.1
nirlep(a) (S/H/Pu) 2.1 orchard See garden(s) 6.2, nut orchard 6.2,
nirmal(a) (S/H/Pu) 2.1 pardes 4.1
nirvair (Pu) 2.1 Ormazd (Pv) See Ahurā Mazdā 2.1
nirvikār(a) (S/H/Pu) 2.1 otaprota (S) 3.1
nischal (Pu) 2.1 otpot (Pu) 3.1
nischal dhām (Pu) 2.1 otprot (H) 3.1
nishchal(a) (S/H) 2.1 outer darkness 4.1
nīst (P) 2.2
nīstī (P) 2.2 pad(a) (S/H/Pu) 4.1
nitya (S/H) 2.1, 5.1 padam (H/Pu) 5.1
ni
o
ot (He) 5.2 padma (S/H) 5.1
nogah (He) 2.1 Pād Shāh (P) 2.1
nomad See stranger 6.2 pakshī (S/H) 5.1
noumenon 5.2 pālang (H) 5.2
Nous (Gk) 3.1 Palm Tree See Date Palm 2.1
Nous of Light (Gk) 3.1 panchhī (H/Pu) See pakshī 5.1
Nūr, al- (A/P) 2.1 pañch Shabd (H/Pu) 3.1
nūr-i mahal (P) 2.1 pānī (H) 5.1
nut 6.2 pāī (Pu) 5.1
nut orchard 6.2 panj nawbat (P) 3.2
 Index of Headwords 523

pankhī (H/Pu) See pakshī 5.13 june 1931 perfection 2.1

pāp(a) (S/H/Pu) 6.2 perfect Light 2.1
parabrahma (S) 2.1 perfect Mother-Father 2.1
paradise 4.1 perfect One 2.1
paradise of light 2.1 perfect Power See Power 3.1
paraloka (S) 4.1 perfume See Fragrance 3.1
paralysis 6.2 Pharaoh 5.1
param(a) (S/H/Pu) 2.1 physical body 5.1
param(a) dhām(a) (S/H/Pu) 2.1 physical universe See region(s) 4.1
paramahasa (S/H) 5.1 pi(a) (S/H/Pu) 4.1
param Akshar (H) 2.1 piī (S/H/Pu) 4.1
Paramākshara (S) 2.1 piī man (H/Pu) 5.1
param(a) pad(a) (S/H/Pu) 2.1 piī māyā (H/Pu) 6.2
Param(a) Purush(a) (S/H) 2.1 pingalā (S/H/Pu) 5.1
param(a) Tattva (S/H) 2.2 pingulā (Pu) 5.1
Paramātmā (S/H/Pu) 2.1 Pirāg (Pu) See Prayāg(a) 4.1
Paramātman (S) 2.1 Pit 4.1
Parameshvar(a) (S/H) 2.1 pitar lok (Pu) See pit ilok(a) 4.1
paramhas (H) 5.1 pit of destruction 4.1
paramhans (Pu) 5.1 pit of fire 4.1
Param Purakh (Pu) 2.1 pit of ignorance 4.1
param Tant (Pu) 2.2 pit of no forgiveness 4.1
param Tatt (Pu) 2.2 pitri lok (Pu) 4.1
Pārbatī (H/Pu) See Pārvatī 4.2 pit ilok(a) (S/H) 4.1
parbrahm (H) See parabrahma 2.1, 4.1 pit iyān(a) (S/H) 4.1
pārbrahm (Pu) See parabrahma 2.1, 4.1 pits See Pit 4.1
pardah-’i
ulmat (P) 4.1 place of emancipation 2.1
pardes (P/He) 4.1 place of Life 2.1
parī (P) 4.2 place of light 2.1
parlay (Pu) See pralaya 5.2 place of my inheritance 2.1
parlo (Pu) See pralaya 5.2 place of salvation 2.1
parlok (H/Pu) See paraloka 4.1 place of the blessed 2.1
Parmesar (Pu) See Parameshvar(a) 2.1 place of the true God 2.1
Parmeshar (Pu) See Parameshvar(a) 2.1 Plant of Life 3.1
particle of light 5.1 Pleroma (Gk) 4.1
Pārvatī (S/H/Pu) 4.2 pneuma (Gk) 3.1
par
ufim (He) 5.2 poll tax See custom 6.3, head money 6.3,
pasture(s) See garden(s) 4.1 tax collectors 6.3
pātāl(a) (S/H/Pu) 4.1 pomegranate See Tree of Life 3.1
pātāl(a) lok(a) (S/H/Pu) 4.1 p’ò (pò) (C) 5.1
patang (H/Pu) 5.1 port See harbour 2.1
Pātsāh (Pu) See Pād Shāh 2.1 Power 3.1
Pātshāh (Pu) See Pād Shāh 2.1 Power of God 3.1
pavan(a) (S/H) 5.1 powers 4.2
payām (P) 3.1 Prabh (Pu) 2.1
payment 6.3 Prabh Swāmī (Pu) 2.1
pearl 3.1, 5.1 Prabhu (S/H/Pu) 2.1
perfect aeon 2.1 Prabhu Swāmī (H/Pu) 2.1
perfect Blessed One 2.1 prakriti (Pu) 5.2
524 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

prak iti (S/H) 5.2 letteral-‘Alá,

Qalam one al- (A) 6.3
prālabdh karam (Pu) 6.3 Qalam-i ‘Alá (P) 6.3
prālabdh karma (H) 6.3 Qalam-i Avval (P) 6.3
pralaya (S/H) 5.2 qatām (A/P) 6.2
prān (Pu) 5.1 Qayyūm, al- (A/P) 2.1
prā(a) (S/H) 5.1 qaā’ (P) See qaā’ 6.3
prāamaya-kosha (S) 5.1 qismah (A) 6.3
Praav(a) (S/H) 3.1 qismat (P) 6.3
prārabdh(a) karma (S/H) 6.3 qudrah (A) 4.1
Prayāg(a) (S/H) 4.1 qudrat (P/Pu) 4.1
pre-existence of the soul 5.1
prenatal development See jaharāgni 6.3 rabāb (A/Pu) 3.2
presence of God See countenance of God 2.1 Rabb, al- (A/P) 2.1
pret(a) (S/H/Pu) 4.2 Rabb al-‘ālamīn (A/P) 2.1
prince of the power of the air 6.1 Rabb al-‘izzah (A) 2.1
prince of this world 6.1 Rabb-i ‘izzat (P) 2.1
principality 4.1 rachanā (S/H) 5.2
prison 6.3 rachnā (Pu) 5.2
prisoner 6.3 Rādhā Swāmī (H) 2.1
Prītam (H/Pu) 2.1 Rādhā Swāmī dhām (H/Pu) 2.1
prithvī (Pu) 5.1 Rādhā Swāmī pad (H/Pu) 2.1
p ithvī (S/H) 5.1 radla (He) 2.1
promised land 2.1 Rafīq, al- (A/P) 2.1
prostitute 6.2 raamim (He) 2.1
publicans and harlots 6.2 Raīm, al- (A/P) 2.1
publicans and sinners 6.2 Ramān, al- (A/P) 2.1
puhup dīp (H) 4.1 raum (He) 2.1
puhup dvīp (H) 4.1 raiment See robe 5.1
Pul-i irā (P) 6.3 rain 3.1
P’ǔ (Pǔ) (C) 2.2 rajas (S) 5.2
pura (S) 5.1 rajogu(a) (S/H) 5.2
pūrā (H/Pu) See pūra 2.1 Rām(a) (S/H/Pu) 2.1
pūran (Pu) See pūra 2.1 Rām (kī) Dhun (H/Pu) 3.1
pūra (H) See pūra 2.1 Rām Nām (H/Pu) 3.1
pure land See land 2.1 Rapha’el (He) 4.2
pure place See place of emancipation 2.1 Rārankār (H) 4.2
purī (S/H/Pu) 5.1 ras(a) (S/H/Pu) 3.1
Purkhotam (Pu) See Purushottam(a) 2.1 Rashīd, al- (A/P) 2.1
pūra (S/H) 2.1 Rashnu (Av) 6.3
purush(a) (S/H) 2.1, 5.2 Ratu (Av) 2.1
purush cholā (H/Pu) 5.1 ravān (P) 5.1
Purushottam(a) (S/H) 2.1 Razi’el (He) 4.2
realm(s) See region(s) 4.1
qaā’ (A) 6.3 Reason 3.1
qadar (A/P) 6.3 rebellion 6.2
qadīm (A/P) 2.1 rebellious powers 6.2
Qahhār, al- (A/P) 2.1 Redeemer See Saviour 2.1
qahr (A/P) 6.2 region of commixture See region(s) 4.1
Qalam, al- (A) 6.3 region(s) 4.1
 Index of Headwords 525

3 june
regions of the midst See region(s) 4.11931 rū-i ayavānī (P) See rū al-ayawānī, al- 5.1
reincarnation 6.3 rū-i insānī (P) See rū al-insānīyah, al- 5.1
reincarnation and transmigration (in an- rū-i nabātī (P) See rū al-nabātīyah, al- 5.1
cient Greek philosophy) 6.3 rū-i nāiqah (P) See rū al-nāiqah, al- 5.1
reincarnation and transmigration (in Chris- Rū-i Qudsī (P) 3.1
tianity) 6.3 rū-i vay (P) 5.1
reincarnation and transmigration (in Juda- rukmiī nāl (H) 4.1
ism) 6.3 rukmiī surang (H) 4.1
reincarnation and transmigration (in Mani- rulers 4.2
chaeism) 6.3 rūp(a) (S/H/Pu) 5.1
reincarnation and transmigration (in Mithra-
ism) 6.3 sā‘ah (A) 5.2
Reshit (He) 3.1 sā‘at (P) 5.2
reward See law of cause and effect 6.3 abā (P) See bād-i abā 3.1
Right Hand See Hand of God 3.1 sab‘a samāwāt (A) 4.1
Right Hand of God See Hand of God 3.1 Saba’oth See Yahweh eva’ot 2.1
ita (S) 2.2 Sabd (H/Pu) See Shabd(a) 3.1
River 3.1 sab‘ samāwāt A/P) 4.1
robe 5.1 sabū (P) 5.1
robe of glory 5.1 abūr, al- (A/P) 2.1
robe of light 5.1 sach (H/Pu) See sat 2.2
rock 2.1 sachchā Pātsāh (Pu) 2.1
ro‘eh (He) 2.1 sachchā Pātshāh (Pu) 2.1
rog (H) 6.3 sachchidānand(a) (S/H) 5.1
room(s) 4.1 sach kha (H/Pu) 2.1
Root 3.1 adā (A/P) 3.1
Root of enlightenment 3.1 sagu(a) (S/H/Pu) 2.2
Root of immortality 3.1 sagu(a) Brahman (S/H/Pu) 2.2
Root of Life 3.1 sahaj achint (H) 4.1
Root of light 3.1 sahaj Dhun (H/Pu) 3.1
rosh ha-Karmel (He) 2.1 sahaj dīp (H/Pu) 4.1
rū (P) 2.1 sahaj dvīp (H) 4.1
rua (He) 5.1 sahans dal kanwal (H/Pu) 4.1
Rua ha-Kodesh (He) 3.1 sahasra dal(a) kamal(a) (S/H) 4.1, 5.1
Rua Yahweh (He) 3.1 sahasrār(a) (S/H) 5.1
rubāb (P) See rabāb 3.2 sahasrār(a) chakr(a) (S/H) 5.1
rū (A/P) 5.1 Sāhib (A/H/Pu) 2.1
Rū, al- (A/P) 4.2 arā-yi Nīstī (P) 2.1
rū al-‘ayn, al- (A) 5.1 arā-yi qudsī (P) 2.1
Rū al-A‘
am, al- (A) 2.1 Sāīn (H/Pu) 2.1
rū al-ayawānī, al- (A) 5.1 Sājan (H) 2.1
rū al-insānīyah, al- (A) 5.1 Sajjan (Pu) 2.1
rū al-nabātīyah, al- (A) 5.1 sakhar va‘onesh (He) 6.3
rū al-nāiqah, al- (A) 5.1 Sakhun (P) See Sukhun 3.1
Rū al-Quds (A) 3.1 Saklas (Am) 6.1
Rū al-Qudus (A) 3.1 sākshī (S/H) 5.1
rū-i ‘ayn (P) See rū al-‘ayn, al- 5.1 Salām, al- (A/P) 2.1
Rū-i A‘
am (P) 2.1 samā’, al- (A/P) 4.1
rū-i bād (P) 5.1 amad, al- (A/P) 2.1
526 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

samān(a) (S/H/Pu) 5.1 lettershiva

satya one sundaram (S) 2.1
Sama’el (He) 6.1 satyayuga (S) 5.2
sasār(a) (S/Pa/H/Pu) 6.2 satyug(a) (H) 5.2
sanātana Purush(a) (S/H) 2.1 Saviour 2.1
sañchit(a) karm(a) (S/H) 6.3 Savit i (S/H) 4.2
Sandalfon (He) 4.2 Sāvitrī (S/H) 4.2
sankh (Pu) See shankh(a) 3.2 awt (A/P) 3.1
sān pǎo (sān bǎo) (C) 5.1 awt al-nādir, al- (P) 3.1
sanskār(a) (S/H/Pu) 6.3 awt al-sarmadī, al- (A) 3.1
sanskārī (H/Pu) 6.3 awt-i nādir (P) 3.1
santāp(a) (S/H/Pu) 6.2 awt-i sarmadī (P) 3.1
sār (H/Pu) 2.2 sāyah (P) 5.2
saram kha (Pu) 4.1 sea 6.2
sārangī (H) 3.2 Seed 3.1
saras (H) 4.1 Seed of Truth 3.1
Sarasvatī (S/H/Pu) 4.2 sefirot (He) 4.1
sarāy (P/U/H) 6.2 sekhel (He) 5.1
sargu (H/Pu) 2.2 Sekh Nāg (Pu) See Shesh(a) Nāg(a) 4.2
sarīr (Pu) See sharīr(a) 5.1 sela‘ (He) 2.1
sarmad (A/P) 2.1 self-begotten perfect One 2.1
sarmadī (A/P) 2.1 serpent 6.1
sarovar(a) (S/H/Pu) 4.1 Ses Nāg (Pu) See Shesh(a) Nāg(a) 4.2
sār Shabd (H/Pu) 3.1 setaj (Pu) See svedaj(a) 6.3
sarvajña (S/H) 2.1 set kanwal (H) 4.1
sarva khalvida Brahma (S) 5.1 set sunn (H) 4.1
sarvashaktimān (H) 2.1 seven heavens See heaven(s) 4.1
sarvātmā (S/H) 2.1 Shabd(a) (S/H/Pu) 3.1
sarvātman (S/H) 2.1 Shabd (kī) Dhār(ā) (H) 3.1
sarvavyāpak(a) (S/H) 2.1 sha chakra (S) See kha chakra 5.1
sarvavyāpi(n) (S/H) 2.1 Shaddai (He) 2.1
sat (S/H/Pu) 2.2 sha-dala-kamala (S) See kha dal kamal 5.1
Satan 6.1 shadow 6.2
satar paya (Pv) 4.1 Shadow of God 3.1
sat des (H/Pu) 2.1 shāh rag (P/H/U) 4.1
sat desh (H/Pu) 2.1 Shakti (S/H/Pu) 4.2
sat dhām (H/Pu) 2.1 shām (P) 6.2
satjug (Pu) See satyug(a) 5.2 Shàng Tì (Shàng Dì) (C) 2.1
sat lok (H/Pu) 2.1 Shankar(a) (S/H) 4.2
Sat Nām (H/Pu) 2.1, 3.1 shankh(a) (S/H/Pu) 3.2
Sat Nām Kartā Purakh (Pu) 2.1 shānti sāgar (S/H/Pu) 2.1
satogu(a) (H/Pu) 5.2 sharīr(a) (S/H/Pu) 5.1
sat pad (H/Pu) See sat desh 2.1 sharr (A/P) 6.2
Sat Purakh (Pu) 2.1 shash jihat (P) See sitt jihah 5.2
Sat Purush (H/Pu) 2.1 Shayān (A/P) 6.1
Sat Purush Rādhā Swāmī (H) 2.1 shefa (He) 3.1
sat Shabd (H/Pu) See sār Shabd 3.1 Shem (He) 3.1
sattva gua (S) 5.2 shemittot (He) 5.2
satya (S) 2.2 Shem Kodsho (He) 3.1
satyalok(a) (S/H) See sat desh 2.1 shèng t’āi (shèng tāi) 5.1
 Index of Headwords 527

shén (shén) (C) 5.1 3 june 1931 sirr al-aqīqah, al- (A) 2.2
Sheol (He) 4.1 sirr-i aqīqat (P) 2.2
Shepherd 2.1 sitār (H/Pu) 3.2
Shepherd’s Pipe of Truth 3.2 sitārah (P) 4.1
Shesh(a) Nāg(a) (S/H) 4.2 sitr (A/P) 6.2
shevirat ha-kelim (He) 5.2 sitra ara (Am) 6.1
shíh shén (shí shén) (C) 5.1 sitt jihah (A) 5.2
shikārī (H) 6.1 skandha (S/H) 5.1
shipmaster 5.1 skies 4.1
shir (He) 3.2 sky 4.1
shirah (He) 3.2 slavery 6.3
Shiv(a) (S/H/Pu) 4.2 slave(s) 6.3
Shivaloka (S) 4.1 sleep 6.2
Shivapurī (S) 4.1 snake 6.1
Shiv lok (H/Pu) 4.1 Snarer 6.1
Shiv purī (H/Pu) 4.1 snare(s) See nets 6.1, Snarer 6.1
shkinta (Md) 4.1 sod ha-Elohut (He) 2.2
shoasha-dala-kamala (S) See solah dal so’ham (S/H) 4.1
kamal 5.1 sohang (Pu) 4.1
shofar (He) 3.2 solah dal kamal (H) 4.1, 5.1
shokhen marom (He) 2.1 Son 3.1
shoot See branch 4.1 Song of Sweetness 3.2
shuk(a) (S/H) 5.1 Song(s) 3.2
shūnya (S/H) See sunn 4.1 Songs of Deliverance 3.2
shūnyatā (S/H) 2.2 son of God 5.1
shvās(a) (S/H) 5.1 Son of God 3.1
shyām kanj (H) 4.1 sonorous Sound 3.1
sickness See disease 6.2 soul 5.1
Sidrah-i muntahā (P) 4.1 Sound 3.1
Sidrat al-muntahá, al- (A) 4.1 Sound Current 3.1
ifah (A) 2.2 sounding Solitude 3.1
ifat (P) 2.2 Sound of God 3.1
sihtar (P) See sitār 3.2 Sovereign 2.1
sijn (A/P) 6.3 sovereignty 4.1
Silence 3.1 Speech 3.1
silent Music 3.1 Speech of Life 3.1
silver cord 5.1 Spentā Mainyu (Av) 2.1
sihāsan(a) (S/H) 2.1 spentā Manthrā (Av) 3.1
sin and evil 6.2 spice(s) 3.1
siñchit karam (Pu) See sañchit(a) karm(a) 6.3 spirit 5.1
singhāsan (Pu) 2.1 Spirit 3.1
singī (H/Pu) 3.2 Spirit of God 3.1
sin (in early Christianity) 6.2 Spirit of Holiness 3.1
sin (in Judaism) 6.2 Spirit of the Lord 3.1
Sinner 6.1 spirit of wickedness 6.1
sinner(s) 6.2 spiritual ignorance 6.2
Sirjanhār (H) 2.1 spiritual Sound 3.1
Sirjahār (Pu) 2.1 spiritual Voice 3.1
sirr (A/P) 5.1 Spring 3.1
528 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Spring of the Lord 3.1 letter (S/H)

svapn(a) one 6.2
squbrā (Md) 3.2 svarg(a) (S/H/Pu) 4.1
Sraosha (Av) 3.1 svarg(a) lok(a) (S/H/Pu) 4.1
Srōshahrāy (Parthian) 3.1 svās (H/Pu) See shvās(a) 5.1
Srōshāv (Parthian) 3.1 svedaj(a) (S/H) 6.3
Ssū Mìng (Sī Mìng) (C) 6.1 Swāmī (H) 2.1
sthir(a) (S/H) 2.1
sthūl(a) sharīr(a) (S/H) 5.1 ta‘ayyun (A/P) 4.1
sthūl deh (H) 5.1 tabaq (Pu/H) 4.1
still small voice See Voice 3.1 abaq (A/P) 4.1
still waters See Living Water 3.1 abaqat (A) 4.1
storm 6.2 abī‘ah al-basharīyah, al- (A) 5.1
stormy sea 6.2 abī‘ah al-kullī (A) 5.1
stranger 6.2 abī‘at-i basharī (P) 5.1
Stream 3.1 abī‘at-i kullī (P) 5.1
Strife 6.1 abqah (P) 4.1
strong man 6.1 taf īl (A/P) 2.2
Styx (Gk) 6.3 T’ài Chí (Tài Jí) (C) 2.2
Suāmī (Pu) See Swāmī 2.1 T’ài Hsüán (Tài Xuán) (C) 2.2
udūr (A/P) 5.2 T’ài Hsǖ (Tài Xū) (C) 2.2
sūha (Pu) 5.1 T’ài Ī (Tài Yī) (C) 2.1
sukh(a) (S/Pa/H/Pu) 6.2 taijasa sharīra (S) 5.1
sukhman (Pu) See sushumā 4.1 T’ài Shǐh (Tài Shǐ) (C) 2.2
sukhmanā (Pu) See sushumā 4.1 T’ài Yüèh Tà Tì (Tài Yuè Dà Dì) (C) 6.1
sukhmanā nā ī (Pu) See sushumā 4.1 tajaddud al-amthāl, al- (A) 5.2
sukh sāgar (H/Pu) 2.1 tajaddud-i amśāl (P) 5.2
Sukhun (P) 3.1 takht (A/P/U/Pu/H) 2.1
sūkshma ang(a) (S/H) 5.1 takht-gāh-i Malik (P) 2.1
sūkshma man (H) 5.1 tāl(a) (S/H/Pu) 3.2
sūkshma sarūp (H) 5.1 tamas (S) 5.2
sūkshma sharīr(a) (S/H) 5.1 tamāsā (Pu) 6.2
sunn (H/Pu) 4.1 tamāshā (H/Pu) 6.2
supan (H/Pu) See svapn(a) 6.2 tambourine 3.2
supnā (H/Pu) See svapn(a) 6.2 Tà Mìng (Dà Mìng) (C) 3.1
sur(a) (S/H/Pu) 4.2 tamogu(a) (S/H/Pu) 5.2
ūrah (A) 5.2 tan (P/U/H/Pu) 5.1
ūrah al-mithālīyah (A) 5.1 tanāsukh (A/P) 6.3
surat (H/Pu) 5.1 tanazzul (A/P) 4.1
ūrat (P) 5.2 tanmātra (S/H) 5.1
ūrat-i miśālī (P) See ūrah al-mithālīyah 5.1 tantrī (S/H) 3.2
Surūsh (P) 4.2 tanzīh (A/P) 2.2
Surya (He) 4.2 tanzīl (A/P) 3.1
sūrya lok(a) (S/H) 4.1 Tào (Dào) 2.2
sushman (H) 4.1 tārā (H/Pu) 4.1
sushmanā (H) 4.1 tārā maal (H/Pu) 4.1
sushumā (S/H) 4.1 tarāzū (P) 6.3
sushumā nāī (S) 4.1 tarkīb (A/P) 6.2
sushumā nā ī (H) 4.1 tashbīh (A/P) 4.1
svādhishhān(a) chakra (S/H) 5.1 tathātā (S) 2.2
 Index of Headwords 529

tatt (Pu) 2.2, 5.1 3 june 1931 toll collectors See tax collectors 6.3
tattva (S/H/Pu) 2.2, 5.1 tomb 6.2
Tat tvam asi (S) 5.1 Torah (He) 3.1
tax See custom 6.3, head money 6.3 Totalities 4.1
tax collectors 6.3 Totality 4.1
tax gatherers See tax collectors 6.3 transmigration 6.3
té (dé) (C) 5.2 treasury of (the) Light 2.1
tehiru (He) 5.2 Tree 3.1
tej (H) 5.1 Tree of Bitterness 6.1
tejas (S) 5.1 Tree of Death 6.1
tempest See storm 6.2 Tree of Glory 3.1
temple of God 5.1 Tree of Immortality 3.1
Tempter 6.1 Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil 6.1
teru‘ah (He) 3.2 Tree of Life 3.1
hākur (H/Pu) 2.1 Tree of Nature and Life 3.1
hākur dwārā (H/Pu) 5.1 Tree of Radiance 3.1
the mighty of war See mighty in battle 2.1 Tree of Rest 3.1
thir (Pu) See sthir(a) 2.1 Tree of the Law-Nature 3.1
Thought 3.1 trees 5.1
Thought of God 3.1 trees of life 5.1
Thought of His Heart 3.1 tretājug (Pu) 5.2
Thought of Knowledge 3.1 tretāyug(a) (S/H/Pu) 5.2
Thought of the Father 3.1 tribeī (H/Pu) See triveī 4.1
Thought of Truth 3.1 tribhava (Pu) See trilok(a) 4.1
three realms See lok(a) 4.1, region(s) 4.1, tribhuvan (S/H) See trilok(a) 4.1
trilok(a) 4.1 tribhuva (Pu) See trilok(a) 4.1
three worlds See lok(a) 4.1, region(s) 4.1, tribute 6.3
trilok(a) 4.1 trikuī (H/Pu) 4.1
throne 2.1 Trilochan(a) (S/H/Pu) 4.2
throne of God 2.1 trilok(a) (S/H/Pu) 4.1
tì (dì) (C) 4.2 trilokī (S/H/Pu) 4.1
T’iēn Lài (Tiān Lài) (C) 3.2 trimūrti (S/H) 4.2
T’iēn (Tiān) (C) 4.1 triveī (S/H) 4.1
T’iēn Wáng (Tiān Wáng) (C) 2.1 True Vine 3.1
Tiferet (He) 4.1 True Word See Word 3.1
tikkun (He) 5.2 trumpet 3.2
ilasm (A) 5.1 Truth 2.2
ilism (P) 5.1 tūr (Pu) 3.2
tiloka (Pa) See trilok(a) 4.1 turhī (H) 3.2
timar (Pu) 6.2 tūrya (S) 3.2
timir (H) 6.2 tzù ján (zì rán) (C) 2.2
timir kha (H) 4.1
tīn lok (H/Pu) See trilok(a) 4.1 ‘ūd (A/P) 3.2
tirlokī (H/Pu) See trilok(a) 4.1 udān(a) (S/H) 5.1
tiryāk (P) 3.1 udbhij (H) 6.3
tiryāq (A/P) 3.1 udbhijja (S) 6.3
tohu va-bohu (He) 5.2 Udgīth(a) (S/H) 3.1
toll See custom 6.3, head money 6.3, tax ummahāt al-arba‘ah, al- (A) 5.1
collectors 6.3 ummahāt-i arba‘ah (P) 5.1
530 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

Umm al-Kitāb (A/P) 3.1 letter (S)

vibhutva one2.1
Unclean Spirit See devil 6.1 vijñāna (S) 5.1
unclean spirit(s) See devils 6.1 vijñānamaya-kosha (S) 5.1
Unction (of Incorruption) See Oil 3.1 vīā (S/H/Pu) 3.2
universal mind 6.1 Vine See True Vine 3.1
upādhi (S/H/Pu) 5.1 Vine of Life See True Vine 3.1
urghun (A) See arghan 3.2 Vine of souls See True Vine 3.1
Uri’el (He) 4.2 vine of the five branches 5.1
urvā (Av) 5.1 vines 5.1
utbhuj (Pu) See udbhijja 6.3 vine trees 5.1
‘uthra(s) (Md) 4.2 virā (S/H) 4.1
utpati (Pu) 5.2 virā purush(a) (S/H) 4.1
utpatti (S/H/Pu) 5.2 virārūp(a) (S/H) 4.1
Utterance 3.1 virā-svarūpa Bhagavān (S) 4.1
virā-svarūp Bhagvān (H) 4.1
vāch (H/Pu) 2.2 Virginal Spirit 3.1
Vāch (S/H/Pu) 3.1 Virgin of Light 3.1
Vāgdevī (S/H) 4.2 Virgin of the Holy Spirit 3.1
Vāhaguru (Pu) See Wāhiguru 2.1 Vishnū (Pu) 4.2
vadānīyat (P) See wadānīyah 2.2 Vishu (S/H) 4.2
vadat (P) See wadah 2.2 Vishu-dhām(a) (S/H/Pu) 4.1
vāidīyat (P) See wāidīyah 2.2 Vishulok(a) (S/H/Pu) See Vishu-dhām(a)
Vāhiguru (Pu) See Wāhiguru 2.1 4.1
Vahishta Manō (Av) 3.1 Vishupurī (S/H/Pu) See Vishu-dhām(a)
vahm (P) See wahm 5.1 4.1
Vahman (Pv) See Vohu Manō 3.1 vishuddha chakra (S/H) 5.1
vaikuh(a) (S/H) 4.1 vishvarūp(a) (S/H) 4.1
Vaitaraī (S/H) 6.3 Vihal(a) (S/H/M) 2.1
Vājib al-Vujūd (P) See Wājib al-Wujūd 2.2 Vohu Manō (Av) 3.1
vāk (H/Pu) See vāch 2.2 Vohu Xshathrā (Av) See Xshathrā 3.1
Vāk (S/H/Pu) See Vāch 3.1 Voice 3.1
valley 6.2 Voice from heaven 3.1
valley of the shadow of death 6.2 Voice of a great thunder 3.1
valley of the weeper 6.2 Voice of God 3.1
valleys of Sheol 6.2 Voice of harpers 3.1
Vāī (S/H) See Bānī 3.1 Voice of Life 3.1
varātmak(a) (S/H) 2.2 Voice of Living Waters 3.1
varātmak nām (H) 2.2 Voice of many waters 3.1
varātmak shabd (H) 2.2 Voice of the Silence 3.1
vāsanā (S/H/Pu) 6.3 Voice of Truth 3.1
vāshnā (Pu) 6.3 voice of Wakan-Tanka (Native North Ameri-
vastu (H/Pu) 2.2 can) 3.2
vāyu (S/H) 5.1 vujūd (P) See wujūd, al- 2.2
veil 4.1 vyādh (H/Pu) 6.1
Veparwāh (Pu) 2.1 vyān(a) (S/H) 5.1
Verbum (L) 3.1 vyāpak(a) (S/H) 5.2
vibhūti (S/H) 4.1 vyāpt(a) (S/H) 5.2
vibhūtī (Pu) 4.1 vyāpya (S) 5.2
 Index of Headwords 531

wadah (A) 2.2 3 june 1931 wreath of ether 5.1

wadānīyah (A) 2.2 wreath of Life 5.1
Wāhgurū (Pu) 2.1 Wǔ Chí (Wǔ Jí) (C) 2.2
wāid (A/P) 2.2 wǔ hsíng (wǔ xíng) (C) 5.2
wāidīyah (A) 2.2 wujūd, al- (A) 2.2
Wāhiguru (Pu) 2.1 Wǔ (Wǔ) (C) 2.2
wahm (A) 5.1
wài ch’ì (wài qì) (C) 5.1 Xratu (Av) 3.1
wajh (A/P) 2.1 Xshathrā (Av) 3.1
Wājib al-Wujūd (A) 2.2 Xshathrā Vairya (Av) 3.1
Wakan-Tanka (Native North American) 2.1 xvāthrē (Av) 2.1
Walī, al- (A/P) 2.1
Walīy, al- (A/P) 2.1 Yaho’el (He) 4.2
wanderer 6.2 Yahweh (He) 2.1
wàn wù (wàn wù) (C) 5.2 Yahweh eva’ot (He) 2.1
waqt (A/P/U) 5.2 yakka (Pa) 4.2
watchers 4.2 yaksha (S/H) 4.2
Water of emancipation See Water(s) 3.1 Yaldabaoth (He) 6.1
Water of Life See Living Water 3.1 Yam(a) (S/H) 4.2, 6.1
Water of Memory 3.1 yamadūta (S) 4.2
water(s) 4.1 Yam(a) Rāj(a) (S/H) 4.2, 6.1
Water(s) 3.1 yamdūt (H) 4.2
waves See storm 6.2 yamin (He) 3.1
wayfarer 6.2 Yāqūtah al-Bayā’, al- (A) 3.1
way of the midst See region(s) 4.1 Yāqūtah-’i Bayā’ (P) 3.1
weeping and gnashing of teeth 6.2 Yār (P) 2.1
Well 3.1 yazata (Av) 4.2
Well of Water 3.1 yeidah (He) 5.1
Wellspring 3.1 Yehovah (He) See Yahweh 2.1
Wellspring of Life 3.1 Yesh (He) 3.1
wheel of birth and death 6.3 Yeshut (He) 3.1
wheels 4.2 Yesod (He) 4.1
Wicked One 6.1 ye
irah (He) 4.1
wildān mukhalladūn (A/P) 4.2 yhiapú guasuva (AC) 3.2
wilderness See desert 6.2 yīn kuǒ (yīn guǒ) (C) 6.3
wind 3.1, 6.2 yīn yáng (yīn yáng) (C) 5.2
Wisdom 3.1 Yoel (He) See Yaho’el 4.2
Wisdom of God 3.1 yoni (S/H) 6.3
Wolf 6.1 yoshev ha-keruvim (He) 2.1
Word 3.1 Yo
er (He) 2.1
Word of God 3.1 yüén ch’ì (yuán qì) (C) 5.2
Word of Knowledge 3.1 yüén shén (yuán shén) (C) 5.1
Word of Truth 3.1 Yüén Shǐh T’iēn Tsūn (Yuán Shǐ Tiān Zūn)
Word of Wisdom 3.1 (C) 2.1
world(s) of darkness 6.2 yug(a) (S/H/Pu) 5.2
world(s) of light 4.1 Yǜ Huáng (Yù Huáng) (C) 4.2
wound(s) 6.2 yǔ (yǒu) (C) 2.2
wreath 5.1 ywy mará ey (G) 4.1
532 VOLUME 1: THE UNIVERSE OF SPIRITUALITY

zabān (P) 3.1 letter one

addik (He) 2.1
āhir, al- (A/P) 2.1

almavet 6.2
Źāt (P) See Dhāt, al- 2.2
Źāt-i Allāh (P) See Dhāt al-Allāh 2.2
źātī Kalimah (P/U/Pu) See dhātī Kalimah 3.1
Źāt-i Khudā (P) See Dhāt, al- 2.2
źātī Nām (P/U/Pu) 3.1

edek (He) See
addik 2.1
e‘ir Anpin (Am) 4.1

elem (He) 5.1
zephyr 3.1
Zeus (Gk) 2.1
zimrah (He) 3.2

im
um (He) 5.2
Zion See holy mount 2.1
Źū al-‘arsh (P) See Dhū al-‘arsh 2.1

ulmah (A) 6.2

ulmat (P) 6.2

ur (He) 2.1
 533

3 june 1931

Are there not enough names now?

Is this not the time to stop?
Lǎo Tzu, Tao Te Ching 32, TTCW p.65