The first essay, What’s in a Word?, briefly outlines some of the fundamental differences between five of the largest religions and among the principal divisions in each faith. The following essays attempt to summarize many similarities among the mystical traditions in those religions. The 120 quotations of mystics highlight common views.
Essays are based on talking with mystics in 12 countries and 180 books...100 in the primary bibliography. Many people were consulted, including the directors of a Buddhist Center and of the Eastern Orthodox theological institute at two major universities, a Vedanta Society swami, the director of an Islamic Center, the director of a Reform theological college, the abbot of a Theravada temple, a Cistercian monk, a Hindu abbess, a Sufi shaykha, and a professor at a university for Judaism, plus 10 professors who each teach courses on comparative mysticism. Their suggestions led to many revisions.
The practices and/or systems of these five traditions of mysticism do vary widely, employing dissimilar terminology and concepts. These essays use generally acceptable terms and note alternate words and definitions when appropriate. Some of the quotations from mystics:
“One Nature, perfect and pervading, circulates in all natures. One Reality, all- comprehensive, contains within itself all realities.” Yung-chia Ta-shih B
Note: (685–713) Disciple of Hui-neng
“To gauge the soul we must gauge it with God, for the Ground of God and the Ground of the soul are one and the same.” Meister Eckhart C
“Wherever you look...see that one unique Presence, indivisible and eternal, is manifested in all the universe. That is because God impregnates all things.” Anandamayi Ma H
“Behold the One in all things; it is the second that leads you astray.” Kabir I/H
“There exists nothing which is not united to Him and which He does not find in His own essence.” Moses Cordovero J
“One in all, all in One. If only this is realized, there is no worry about not being perfect.” The Third Patriarch of Zen [Seng ts’an] B
“Eternally, all creatures are God in God. So far as they are in God, they are the same life, same essence, same power, same One, and nothing less.” Henry Suso C
“For the Self [soul] is not the ego; it is one with the All and the One and in finding it it is the All and the One that we discover in our Self.” Sri Aurobindo H
“I went from God to God, until they cried from me, ‘O thou I.” Bayazid of Bistun
“They are then actually united with the Divine Essence and, in all aspects, your soul is included with them.” Israel ben Eliezer [Ba’al Shem Tov] J
“The great path has no gates, thousands of roads enter it. When one passes through this gateless gate he walks freely between heaven and earth.” Zen poem B
“The soul lives by that which it loves rather than in the body which it animates. For it has not its life in the body, but rather gives it to the body and lives in that which it loves.” St. John of the Cross C
“Liberation cannot be achieved except by the perception of the identity of the individual spirit with the universal Spirit.” Shankara [Sankara] H
“I am He whom I love, and He whom I love is I. We are two spirits in one body. If thou seest me, thou seest Him. And if thou seest Him, thou seest us both.” Hallaj I