A report on Perennial philosophy

Perspective in philosophy and spirituality that views all of the world's religious traditions as sharing a single, metaphysical truth or origin from which all esoteric and exoteric knowledge and doctrine has grown.

- Perennial philosophy

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René Guénon, Ananda Coomaraswamy and Frithjof Schuon.

Traditionalist School (perennialism)

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René Guénon, Ananda Coomaraswamy and Frithjof Schuon.

The Traditionalist or Perennialist School is a group of 20th- and 21st-century thinkers who believe in the existence of a perennial wisdom or perennial philosophy, primordial and universal truths which form the source for, and are shared by, all the major world religions.

Frithjof Schuon

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Swiss metaphysician of German descent, belonging to the Perennialist or Traditionalist School of thought.

Swiss metaphysician of German descent, belonging to the Perennialist or Traditionalist School of thought.

With René Guénon and Ananda Coomaraswamy, Schuon is recognized as one of the major 20th-century representatives of the philosophia perennis.

Nasr in 2007

Seyyed Hossein Nasr

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Iranian philosopher and University Professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University.

Iranian philosopher and University Professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University.

Nasr in 2007
Nasr in 2002

The 1979 revolution forced him to exile with his family to the United States, where he has lived and taught Islamic sciences and philosophy ever since, establishing himself as one of the world's leading representatives of the Islamic philosophical tradition and the perennialist school of thought.

The tree of life as represented in the Kabbalah, containing the Sephiroth.

Western esotericism

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Term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society.

Term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society.

The tree of life as represented in the Kabbalah, containing the Sephiroth.
A colored version of the 1888 Flammarion engraving
The Magician, a tarot card displaying the Hermetic concept of "as above, so below." Faivre connected this concept to 'correspondences', his first defining characteristic of esotericism
A later illustration of Hermes Trismegistus
The Masonic Square and Compasses.
Hypnotic séance. Painting by Swedish artist Richard Bergh, 1887
Pentagram of Eliphas Levi
Sculpture of the Horned God of Wicca found in the Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle, Cornwall
London's Warburg Institute was one of the first centres to encourage the academic study of Western esotericism
Prominent scholar of esotericism Wouter Hanegraaff

One view adopts a definition from certain esotericist schools of thought themselves, treating "esotericism" as a perennial hidden inner tradition.

Titus Burckhardt

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Swiss writer and a leading member of the Perennialist or Traditionalist School.

Swiss writer and a leading member of the Perennialist or Traditionalist School.

Following Guénon, Coomaraswamy and Schuon, Burckhardt became identified as one of the great 20th century spokesmen of the philosophia perennis, "that 'uncreated wisdom' expressed in Platonism, the Vedanta, Sufism, Taoism and other authentic esoteric and sapiential teachings".

Purusha-Pakriti

Nondualism

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Fuzzy concept for which many definitions can be found, including: a rejection of dualistic thinking originating in Indian philosophy; the nondifference of subject and object; the common identity of metaphysical phenomena and the Absolute; the "nonduality of duality and nonduality"; the unity of God and man; or simply monism, the nonplurality of the world, or double-aspect theory.

Fuzzy concept for which many definitions can be found, including: a rejection of dualistic thinking originating in Indian philosophy; the nondifference of subject and object; the common identity of metaphysical phenomena and the Absolute; the "nonduality of duality and nonduality"; the unity of God and man; or simply monism, the nonplurality of the world, or double-aspect theory.

Purusha-Pakriti
The layman Vimalakīrti Debates Manjusri, Dunhuang Mogao Caves
Nagarjuna (right), Aryadeva (middle) and the Tenth Karmapa (left).
Asaṅga (fl. 4th century C.E.), a Mahayana scholar who wrote numerous works which discuss the Yogacara view and practice.
Saṃvara with Vajravārāhī in Yab-Yum. These tantric Buddhist depictions of sexual union symbolize the non-dual union of compassion and emptiness.
A 3D rendering of Indra's net, an illustration of the Huayan concept of interpenetration.
Dogen
Swans are important figures in Advaita
Ramanuja, founder of Vishishtadvaita Vedanta, taught 'qualified nondualism' doctrine.
Ramana Maharshi (1879–1950) explained his insight using Shaiva Siddhanta, Advaita Vedanta and Yoga teachings.
Taijitu
The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine, St John the Baptist, St Antony Abbot

Western Neo-Platonism is an essential element of both Christian contemplation and mysticism, and of Western esotericism and modern spirituality, especially Unitarianism, Transcendentalism, Universalism and Perennialism.

Adi Shankara, the most prominent exponent of Advaita Vedānta tradition.

Advaita Vedanta

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Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience, and the oldest extant tradition of the orthodox Hindu school Vedānta.

Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience, and the oldest extant tradition of the orthodox Hindu school Vedānta.

Adi Shankara, the most prominent exponent of Advaita Vedānta tradition.
A drop merging in the Ocean, an analogy for the Jivatman merging into Brahman
The swan is an important motif in Advaita. The swan symbolises the ability to discern Satya (Real, Eternal) from Mithya (Unreal, Changing), just like the mythical swan Paramahamsa discerns milk from water.
Ramana Maharshi, the Indian sage who was widely regarded as a Jivanmukta
(Vidyashankara temple) at Sringeri Sharada Peetham, Shringeri
Gaudapada, one of the most important pre-Śaṅkara philosophers in Advaita tradition
Mahatma Gandhi stated "I am an advaitist".

The historiography of Advaita Vedanta is coloured by Orientalist notions, while modern formulations of Advaita Vedānta, which developed as a reaction to western Orientalism and Perennialism have "become a dominant force in Indian intellectual thought."

First United Kingdom edition, 1946

The Perennial Philosophy

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Comparative study of mysticism by the British writer and novelist Aldous Huxley.

Comparative study of mysticism by the British writer and novelist Aldous Huxley.

First United Kingdom edition, 1946
First United Kingdom edition, 1946
Publisher's jacket blurb for the first United Kingdom edition

Its title derives from the theological tradition of perennial philosophy.

Agostino Steuco

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Born at Gubbio in Umbria.

Born at Gubbio in Umbria.

He discoursed on the subject of perennial philosophy and coined the term philosophia perennis.

Robert K. C. Forman

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Former professor of religion at the City University of New York, author of several studies on religious experience, and co-editor of the Journal of Consciousness Studies.

Former professor of religion at the City University of New York, author of several studies on religious experience, and co-editor of the Journal of Consciousness Studies.

Notable representatives of this perennial philosophy school, such as William James, Evelyn Underhill, James Bissett Pratt, Mircea Eliade and Walter Terence Stace, argue that mystical experience gives a direct contact with an absolute reality, which is thereafter interpreted according to one's religious and cultural background.