Paths of Wisdom

Pilot collection. Sources and links have been checked, but each entry is still awaiting review by readers from its own tradition. We do not claim that all traditions describe the same deity or teach the same thing.

Cosmic Wisdom: Explore the heavens. Understand the traditions. Examine yourself. The stars may inspire reflection; they do not relieve anyone of responsibility.

• Islam · Qur'an

  Change that begins within

  Inner change and responsibility

  “Lo! Allah changeth not the condition of a folk until they (first) change that which is in their hearts;”Marmaduke Pickthall

  Surah 13 (Ar-Ra'd), verse 11

• Islam · Qur'an

  Light upon light

  Clarity, guidance, and truth

  “Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The similitude of His light is as a niche wherein is a lamp.”Marmaduke Pickthall

  Surah 24 (An-Nur), verse 35 (Ayat an-Nur, 'Verse of Light')

• Islam · Qur'an

  The bee and the paths made easy

  Signs in creation and mutual dependence

  “Lo! herein is indeed a portent for people who reflect.”Marmaduke Pickthall

  Surah 16 (An-Nahl, 'The Bee'), verse 69 (read with 16:68)

• Hindu yoga philosophy (Yoga darshana) · Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

  Practice and non-attachment

  Sustained practice

  “This becomes a firm resting-place, when followed long, persistently, with earnestness.”Charles Johnston

  Samadhi Pada (Book 1), sutras 1.12–1.14

• Hindu philosophy · Bhagavad Gita (within the Mahabharata, Bhishma Parva)

  The mind as friend or enemy

  Self-governance

  “One must deliver himself with the help of his mind, and not degrade himself.”A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Bhagavad-gita As It Is

  Chapter 6 (Dhyana Yoga), verse 5

• Sikhism · Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji

  Air, water, and earth

  The ordinary gifts of creation

  “Air is the Guru, Water is the Father, and Earth is the Great Mother of all.”Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

  Ang 8, Japji Sahib, closing Salok (begins 'Pavan guru, paani pita, maata dharat mahat')

• Buddhism · Dhammapada (Khuddaka Nikaya, Pali Canon)

  Avoid harm, do good, train the mind

  Conduct and the mind

  “Not to do any evil; to embrace the good; to purify one’s mind: this is the instruction of the Buddhas.”Bhikkhu Sujato

  Dhammapada verse 183, Buddhavagga (Chapter 14, 'The Buddha', vv. 179–196)

• Daoism · Tao Te Ching (Daodejing)

  The excellence of water

  Humility and responsiveness

  “The highest excellence is like (that of) water. The excellence of water appears in its benefiting all things,”James Legge

  Chapter 8

• Judaism · Mishnah, tractate Pirkei Avot (Avot, 'Ethics of the Fathers')

  If not now, when?

  Responsibility and deeds

  “If I am not for myself, who is for me? But if I am for my own self [only], what am I?”Dr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit

  Pirkei Avot 1:14 (Hillel), 1:15 (Shammai), 1:16 (Rabban Gamaliel), 1:17 (Shimon son of Gamaliel)

• Yoruba Ifá · Ifá literary corpus (Odu Ifá), oral tradition. UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage record, not a scripture passage

  Ifá: knowledge, ethics, and decisions

  A living tradition of wisdom and decision

  “The Ifa divination system is applied whenever an important individual or collective decision has to be made.”UNESCO, Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

  UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity: 'Ifa divination system' (Nigeria), element 00146, inscribed 2008 (3.COM), originally proclaimed 2005

• Hermetic / Western alchemical tradition · Emerald Tablet (Tabula Smaragdina), attributed to Hermes Trismegistus

  As above, so below

  Inner and outer correspondence

  “That which is below is like that which is above & that which is above is like that which is below”Isaac Newton

  Isaac Newton's English translation, Keynes MS. 28, fol. 2r (King's College, Cambridge); Newton Project catalogue ALCH00017

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