The Tao

Advaita Vedanta

The non-dualist school of Hindu philosophy teaching that Atman and Brahman are ultimately identical.

Alchemy

An ancient art of transformation — outwardly the attempt to transmute base metals into gold, inwardly a system of spiritual refinement.

Atman

The eternal, unchanging self — the innermost essence of the individual, which the Upanishads identify with Brahman, the ground of all being.

Brahman

The ultimate, infinite reality — the ground of all being from which everything arises and to which everything returns.

Dharma

Cosmic order, moral law, and one's individual duty — one of the four aims of human life in Hindu philosophy.

The Emerald Tablet

A short, cryptic alchemical text attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, containing the foundational principle 'As above, so below.'

Gnosis

Direct, experiential knowledge of the divine — not belief about God, but immediate inner knowing of ultimate reality.

Hermes Trismegistus

The legendary 'Thrice-Great Hermes' — a mythical sage combining the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth, credited as the author of the Hermetic texts.

Hermeticism

A philosophical and spiritual tradition rooted in the writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, teaching that the cosmos is a living mind and that self-knowledge is the path to the divine.

Karma

The universal law of cause and effect — every action generates consequences that shape future experience, in this life and beyond.

Koan

A paradoxical question or story used in Zen training to break through conceptual thinking and provoke direct insight into the nature of mind.

Maya

The cosmic power of illusion — the force that makes the one ultimate reality appear as the multiplicity of the world.

Moksha

Liberation — freedom from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth (samsara) through the direct realization of one's true nature.

Neoplatonism

A philosophical tradition founded by Plotinus in the 3rd century CE, teaching that all reality emanates from a single transcendent source — the One.

The Perennial Philosophy

The idea that all the world's great spiritual traditions share a common core of metaphysical truth — a single wisdom expressed in different cultural forms.

The Philosopher's Stone

The legendary agent of perfect alchemical transformation — capable of transmuting base metals into gold and, spiritually, of perfecting the soul.

Samsara

The cycle of birth, death, and rebirth — the endless round of conditioned existence from which liberation (moksha or nirvana) is the escape.

Satori

Sudden awakening — the direct, immediate recognition of one's true nature in Zen Buddhism.

The Seven Hermetic Principles

The seven universal laws described in The Kybalion: Mentalism, Correspondence, Vibration, Polarity, Rhythm, Cause and Effect, and Gender.

Solve et Coagula

The central alchemical maxim: 'Dissolve and coagulate' — break down the old form, then rebuild it in a more refined and perfected state.

The Tao

The Way — the fundamental, unnameable principle underlying all of existence in Taoist philosophy.

Tat Tvam Asi

Sanskrit for 'That Thou Art' — one of the four great sayings (mahavakyas) of the Upanishads, declaring the identity of the individual self and ultimate reality.

Yoga

Union — a family of spiritual disciplines in Hindu philosophy aimed at the liberation of the self through the integration of body, mind, and spirit.

Zazen

Seated meditation — the core practice of Zen Buddhism, in which one simply sits with open, non-grasping awareness.

The Corpus Hermeticum

A collection of Greek philosophical and theological texts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, composed in Alexandria between roughly 100 and 300 CE.

Buddha-Nature

The innate capacity for awakening present in all sentient beings — the seed of enlightenment that is already fully present, waiting to be recognized.

As Above, So Below

The foundational Hermetic principle of correspondence — that the patterns of the cosmos are reflected in the human soul, and vice versa.

The Upanishads

A collection of ancient Indian philosophical texts forming the basis of Hindu philosophy — profound explorations of the self, the cosmos, and the path to liberation.

Zen Buddhism

A school of Mahayana Buddhism emphasizing direct, experiential awakening through meditation and the guidance of a teacher, rather than doctrinal study.

Gnosticism

A diverse family of ancient religious movements emphasizing direct inner knowledge (gnosis) of the divine as the path to salvation.

Christian Mysticism

The tradition within Christianity emphasizing direct, experiential encounter with God — not merely belief about God, but immediate, transformative experience of the divine.