A Truth We All Share
The great religious, spiritual and mystical traditions share the same ultimate truth at the heart of their teachings
“Many paths lead from the foot of the mountain, but at the peak we all gaze at the single bright moon.” ~ Ikkyu
All the world's great religions, spiritual and mystical traditions converge on a central shared understanding. Namely, that the true nature of reality is that of an indivisible, infinite, limitless, ever-present being. And that the world—including every human, plant, insect, animal, and object—is in no way separate from this reality.
In short, that we share our being with one another, and that this being isn’t different from the infinite being of God.
This truth is the 'single bright moon' to which Ikkyu refers in his poem above. It is also the insight that inspired the philosophical tradition of Perennialism.
It's what the Persian poet, Jalāl al-Dīn Rumi, pointed to when he said, "The lamps are different, but the Light is the same. One matter, one energy, one Light, one Light-mind, endlessly emanating all things."
It's the idea that the successful writer Aldous Huxley exclaimed when he wrote, "Beneath the revelations of all the great world religions, the teachings of the wise and holy of all faiths, and the mystical experiences of every race and age, there lies a basic unity."
Frithjof Schuon, often referred to as the father of Perennial Philosophy—the philosophical tradition that is often celebrated for formalizing this insight—famously wrote, "Truth is one, though the sages know it as many . . . God is one, though different religions approach Him differently."
The widely celebrated Indian Hindu monk, Swami Vivekananda, echoed this sentiment, declaring, "Truth is one; sages call it by various names.”
The American religious scholar, Huston Smith once said, "Religions are different roads converging upon the same point. What does it matter that we take different roads, so long as we reach the same goal?"
The French philosopher, Rene Guenon, captured the sentiment elegantly, noting, "It can be said without any exaggeration that every tradition is in essence only a more or less direct adaptation of one and the same tradition, which is primordial."
That such a diverse array of spiritual teachers, monks, poets, and philosophers arrived at the same perennial view regarding the core teachings of the many religious and spiritual traditions is astounding and beautiful.
IN THEIR WORDS:
Exploring the different expressions of teachers and words from the central texts that point at the unifying truth at the heart of all the great traditions.
THE NATURE OF ULTIMATE REALITY
All the major religious, spiritual and mystical traditions agree that the true nature of reality is an indivisible (whole), limitless (infinite), eternal (ever-present) being (awareness/consciousness).
Hinduism:
In Advaita (Non-dual) Vedanta, which is a sub-school of Vedanta, one of the six classical darshanas (systems) of Hinduism, ultimate reality is called Brahman—absolute, infinite, all-encompassing, indescribable and incomprehensible being.
“Satyam, Jnanam, Anantam Brahman.” Which translates as ‘Brahman is of the nature of truth, knowledge and infinity.’ ~ Taittiriya Upanishad.
“Prajnanam Brahma”, which means ‘Consciousness is Brahman.’ ~ Aitareya Upanishad
Tantrism:
Within the non-dual tantra school of Kashmir Shaivism, Shiva represents supreme, universal consciousness, whose nature is boundless, all-pervading and eternal.
"The nature of the ultimate reality is pure consciousness. It is both immanent in and transcendent to the entire cosmos. That reality is Shiva." ~ Abhinavagupta
"Just as waves, bubbles, and froth are not different from water, so in the same way, all this which has come into existence, beginning from the state of Shiva, is not different from Shiva." ~ Ashtavakra Samhita
Christianity:
Within the Christian tradition ultimate reality is called God, which is described in a similar way to that of Shiva and Brahman. Often described as omnipresent, all-encompassing and eternal.
"For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever!" ~ Romans 11:36
"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty." ~ Revelation 1:8
Catholism, one of the major schools (denominations) within Christianity, has many teachers that described God in a similar way.
As the theological philosopher and doctor of the Catholic Church, St. Thomas Aquinas, expressed ~ "God is in all things, but so too, all things are in God."
Or more simply, as St. Francis of Assisi said "God is everywhere."
Within Christian Mysticism, there are also many lovely descriptions of the nature of God, our ultimate reality, as the nameless whole that pervades all things.
"There is in all visible things an invisible fecundity, a dimmed light, a meek namelessness, a hidden wholeness. This mysterious Unity and Integrity is Wisdom, the Mother of all, Natura naturans." ~ Thomas Merton, Christian mystic, and an inspirational leader in facilitating dialogue between the major religious traditions.
"The day of my spiritual awakening was the day I saw and knew I saw all things in God and God in all things." — Mechtild of Magdeburg, Christian medieval mystic.
Judaism:
One of the most famous and central prayers within the Jewish tradition is the Shema, which points to the nature of God as being whole, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one."
Yigdal, a hymn based on Maimonides' 13 Principles of Faith, contains a lovely line that echoes the Shema ~ "He is One, and there is no unity like His Oneness. Inscrutable and infinite is His Oneness."
There are also many beautiful texts in the book of Psalms that share a similar depiction of God to that of the Christian, Tantric and Hindu traditions.
Eternal and infinite: "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God." ~ Psalm 90:2
Omnipresent: "Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there." ~ Psalm 139:7-8
Kabbalah:
The mystical branch of Judaism, Kabbalah, uses the term Ein-Sof (‘Without End’) to describe the most abstract and incomprehensible aspect of God. That which transcends name, attribute, thought and form. Utterly infinite. Endless. Many Kabbalah teachers speak elegantly of this unlimited, eternal being.
"Ein Sof fills the entire world, and there is no place void of It." ~ Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, Derech Hashem
"The world is not separated from the Divine, but is an emanation of the Divine." ~ Rabbi Isaac Luria
"The essence of Divinity is found in every single thing — nothing but it exists. Since it causes every thing to be, no thing can live by anything else. It enlivens them; its existence exists in each existent." ~ Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, Elimah Rabasi
"There is nothing but God." ~ Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov
Islam:
Within the Arabic tradition of Islam, Allah is often described in a similar to that God, Brahma, Shiva and Ein-Sof. Especially in the qualities of being ever-present, and all-pervading.
"He is the First and the Last, the Outward and the Inward; and He is, of all things, Knowing." ~ Quran, Surah Al-Hadid
"Allah - there is no deity except Him, the Ever-Living, the Sustainer of all existence." ~ Quran, 2:255
"And with Him are the keys of the unseen; none knows them except Him. And He knows what is on the land and in the sea. Not a leaf falls but that He knows it." ~ Quran, 6:59
Sufism:
The Islamic mystical tradition of Sufism has some of the most beautifully poetic descriptions of the ultimate nature of reality, and in essence it is not different from any of the other traditions.
"The universe is a great circle and its center, an infinite point which is everywhere." ~ Ibn Arabi
"He is a sea without shore. Dive into Him if you wish, for you cannot find an end to Him." ~ Attar of Nishapur
Buddhism:
There are many schools within Buddhism, but they all have their root in the same understanding that is shared by all the other great religious and spiritual traditions. Namely, that the nature of reality (the original ground of being in Buddhist terms) is boundless and ever-present. Unlimited. Formless, and yet the source from which all forms arises.
As the popular Buddhist Zen proverb goes, "The one true reality is vast and boundless.”
The Heart Sutra also points to the limitless nature of reality when it says, "Form is emptiness; emptiness is form. Emptiness is not other than form; form also is not other than emptiness."
Taoism:
The ancient Chinese religious and philosophical tradition of Taoism has an overarching emphasis on living a life that is aligned with the Tao (Dao)—In English, ‘The Way’.
The Dao is famously (and wisely) placed above the possibility of description: "The Dao that can be told is not the eternal Dao; The name that can be named is not the eternal name."
And yet, when examined, the closest thing to qualities that can be ascribed to the Dao are eternal, unlimited (ineffable), formless and yet all-pervading.
"There is a thing, formless yet complete. Before heaven and earth it existed. Without sound, without substance, it stands alone and unchanging. It is all-pervading and unfailing. We can regard it as the mother of heaven and earth. I do not know its name, so I call it the Dao." ~ Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching.
Boundless, or ‘edgeless’ as Zaungzhi puts it, "The Way is vast and broad, yet people always think they can find its edges." Or as the Liezi says, "The Dao has its root in the formless, its beginning in the undifferentiated.”
"The Tao is like an empty container: it can never be emptied and can never be filled. Infinitely deep, it is the source of all things." ~ Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
ULTIMATE REALITY IN RELATION TO US
If the nature of ultimate reality is unlimited, indivisible and eternal being, how do we fit in? What are you and me, in relation to the divine?
Again, all the major religious, spiritual and mystical traditions share the same understanding of this truth:
That although it appears like we are in some way separate from ultimate reality, the truth is that we are no different. God’s nature is our nature. His kingdom is within us. Allah is near. Brahman is Atman. Shivaham, Shivaham!
There is no duality. No separation. No distance. No inherent difference between your true nature and God’s nature. As ultimate reality is indivisible (whole), unlimited (infinite) and ever-present (eternal), so are you and I expressing the same indivisible, unlimited and ever-present being.
Christianity:
Although, it may appear like the teachings of Christianity are dualistic (man and God are separate), the heart of the tradition is inherently non-dual. According modern theologians like Father, Richard Rohr, what happened was that Christianity got organised through the lens of Greek (and subsequently Western) thinking:
"You would have thought that Christianity would have been masterful at understanding non-duality because our basic doctrines can't be understood without it. What happened, of course, is it got filtered through Greek thinking. And while Greek thinking is wonderful, it tends for the sake of clarity to be rather dualistic. It differentiates; it clarifies. This filter, originally through the Greek mind and then overtaken largely by the West, resulted in us not developing the non-dual understanding and not teaching it to people. They had a doctrine that Jesus is fully human and fully divine, but they didn't have the mind to really know how to understand that. So you can see why we emphasize belief – well, believe it, not really experience it."
If we return to the core of Jesus Christ’s teachings, it is very clear that he saw man as in no way separate God. One could argue that his entire life was a symbol of the non-dual understanding.
"I and the Father are one.” ~ John 10:30, a simple and clear example of the non-dual teaching. And of course, Jesus wasn’t saying that this truth was in someway, unique to him, just that it was realized as him. he wanted everyone to realise this too:
"Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." ~ Jesus Christ, Luke 17:21
"I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you." ~ Jesus Christ, John 14:20
Christian Mystics quietly carried and nurtured this understanding through the ages, expressing it in beautifully poetic and yet simple ways:
"The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye and God's eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love." ~ Meister Eckhart
"You find God in yourself and yourself in God." ~ St. Teresa of Ávila
"God is nearer to us than our own soul." ~ Julian of Norwich:
Islam:
Islam speaks of Allah’s oneness (Tawhid) and celebrates the intimacy and immanence of God (Allah) and man. Curiously though, the tradition resists saying Allah and man are not separate, perhaps out of the wisdom of understanding the risks involved here. Indeed, one of the major sins in Islam is shirk (the sin of association), relating Allah with partners (other Gods, idols, man), which may arise from misinterpretations of non-dual teachings.
Ofcourse, shirk can only occur if man and Allah are seen as two different entities so that the qualities of one (Allah: infinite, all-pervading) can be associated with another (man: limited, finite, separate). Which would contradict the oneness of Tawhid.
Nonetheless, the emphasis on the closeness between man and God is evident in certain verses within the Quran:
“We (Allah) are closer to him than [his] jugular vein." ~ Surah Qaf (50:16)
"And when My servants ask you concerning Me, indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me." ~ Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:186
And although controversial in some Islamic circles, Muhammad’s Sacred Hadith, “Whosoever knows himself knows his Lord”, is the kind of non-dual pointing that the Buddhists, Daoists, Advait Hindus and Christian Mystics would easily agree with.
Sufism:
Like Islam, the mystical tradition of Sufism celebrates the ultimate oneness of reality that is Tawhid. And yet, the Sufi’s (sometimes controversially) move beyond the language of ‘closeness, nearness and immanence’, and speak of Allah’s (God’s) divinity within us. Where man’s consciousness is seen to be inseparable from the consciousness of God.
"You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop." ~ Jalāl al-Dīn Rumi
Rumi, also wrote, "I looked for God. I went to a temple, and I didn't find him there. Then I went to a church, and I didn't find him there. Then I went to a mosque, and I didn't find him there. Then finally I looked in my heart, and there he was."
"I saw my Lord with the eye of the heart. I asked, 'Who are You?' He replied, 'You.'" ~ Mansur Al-Hallaj
Buddhism:
The Buddhists speak of ultimate reality being boundless and empty. Limitless and eternal, and that this reality is the true nature of our minds (Buddha nature). In this sense, our minds are no different or separate from ultimate reality.
"Every single being has the nature of Buddha. They are only temporarily obscured by fleeting stains." ~ Maitreya’s Uttaratantra Shastra
"Mind's nature is Buddha from the beginning. It has never been otherwise." ~ Longchenpa
And then Bahiya, clearly emphasizing the non-dual understanding, and absence of separation between us and ultimate reality, "In seeing, there is just seeing. No seer and nothing seen. In hearing, there is just hearing. No hearer and nothing heard."
Judaism:
In similar manner to Islam, Judaism is careful not the equate man (limited, finite) with God (unlimited, infinite), while still celebrating the inherent unity of man and God.
"Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." ~ Genesis 2:7 points to the divine origins of man. Similarly, Psalms 82:6 points a similar understanding, "I have said, 'You are gods; you are all sons of the Most High.'"
The Jewish Hasidic Master, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, is also famous for saying, "The essence of a human being is the Godly soul."
Kabbalah:
In the Jewish mystical tradition of Kabbalah echoes a similar sentiment to that of the other mystical traditions in the way to understand ourselves in relation to God.
"When you contemplate the Creator, realize that His luminescence is in your inner heart, and that you are a mirror reflecting Him." ~ Zohar
"The Infinite One is within every person." ~ Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov
Taoism:
Although Taoist writing is often cryptic and tricky to decipher, there are texts and passages that point to human’s having their origin in ultimate reality (the Dao).
"Man takes his law from the Earth; the Earth takes its law from Heaven; Heaven takes its law from the Tao. The law of the Tao is its being what it is." ~ Tao Te Ching
Hinduism:
Like the other major religious and spiritual traditions, Hinduism (especially the non-dual schools of Vedanta), holds the understanding that man is in no way separate or different from ultimate reality.
This relationship is often spoken about as the connect between Atman and Brahman. Atman referring to the true essence of an individual, and Brahman referring to ultimate nature as inherently unlimited, indivisible and ever-present.
As it says in the Mandukya Upanishads, "Atman (soul) is Brahman." And as the Chandogya Upanishad adds, "That which is the finest essence — this whole world has that as its soul. That is Reality. That is Atman. That art thou."
The Advaita Vedanta teacher, Ramana Maharshi, communicates this understanding when he says, "You are the Self, here and now. That is the master key to truth." And famously, “Aham Brahmasmi!”—I am Brahman.
Adi Shankaracharya also put it nicely when he said, “There is ultimately no difference between Brahman and individual self.”
Tantrism:
In Kashmir Shaivism, one of the major non-dual schools of Tantra, there are many beautiful writings that point to the absence of separation between us and Shiva (unlimited, indivisible, ever-present being).
As the famous Kashmir Shaivism philosopher, Abhinavagupta wrote, "The individual, though appearing different due to limiting conditions, in essence is never different from Shiva, the universal being." He also expressed this teaching very directly in the following understanding, “That which is responsible for perceiving the external universe is the Light of one’s own Self.”
Swami Lakshmanjoo, the masterful Advaita Tantra echoes this understanding when he wrote wrote, "In every action, in every thought, in every breath you take, in every movement of yours, there is God consciousness. You are That. You are one with That."
THE ESSENCE OF SEEKING
Many of these religious and spiritual traditions understand the essence of all seeking to be a longing to remember or realise our true selves—our true selves being no different from ultimate reality. Infinite being. A dissolving into God.
As Rupert Spira writes, "All we long for — love, peace, beauty and happiness — are the perfume of our own being." Our own being as not something limited or separate, but rather, the same being as the ultimate reality—unlimited, whole and eternal,
"You are what you are seeking.", as Ramana Maharshi said, and as St. Francis of Assisi echoed, "What you are looking for is what is looking."
And then as we come to the place that Jalāl al-Dīn Rumi did, "I once had a thousand desires, but in my one desire to know you, all else melted away." and then later he said, "The universe is not outside of you. Look inside yourself; everything that you want, you already are."
MANY PATHS, ONE BRIGHT MOON
What we are all inherently seeking (whether it is evident or not) is the realisation of our infinite and ever-present being. And that the apparent limitation and separation we identify with is just a cosmically creative case of mis-association.
All the great religious, spiritual and mystical traditions understood this, they just had different methods, tools and language for helping us realise it. Tools, methods and language that suited the minds of the times, cultures and places that these traditions were alive.
Let us not forget that Christianity was formed over 2000 years ago. Judaism around 3800 years ago. Hinduism over 4000 years ago. Islam is around 1400 years old, and Taoism emerged 2800 years ago.
A big question for me at the moment:
What methods and tools are the most suitable for supporting the contemporary minds of the 21st century in coming to the shared understanding that all these great traditions were pointing at?
Loved the diverse aspects of different traditions brought together in a single succinct article. And thank you for the quotes - a treasure chest of wisdom from across space, time and culture!