Index
Teachers
People who carried a tradition and left a shape in how we speak of it.
- Adi Shankara
8th-century Indian philosopher who systematized Advaita Vedanta and restored its philosophical prominence in medieval India.
- Adyashanti
American contemporary teacher of awakening — Zen-trained, direct, accessible; a central voice in the modern non-dual movement.
- Bodhidharma
The Indian monk who brought Chan (Zen) to China in the 5th or 6th century — the tradition's founding ancestor.
- Chögyam Trungpa
Tibetan Buddhist teacher (1939–1987) who founded Shambhala and brought Vajrayana to the West — brilliantly, controversially.
- Dalai Lama
The spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism — a line of reincarnated lamas; currently (the 14th) Tenzin Gyatso, born 1935.
- Dogen
Founder of the Soto school of Japanese Zen (1200–1253) and one of Buddhism's most profound philosophical writers.
- Eckhart Tolle
German-born Canadian author (1948–) whose books The Power of Now and A New Earth brought contemplative teaching to mainstream global audiences.
- Epictetus
Former slave turned Stoic teacher (c. 50–c. 135 CE) — his Discourses and Enchiridion shaped Stoic practice for centuries.
- Hafez
14th-century Persian poet — a Sufi master whose ghazals unite earthly and divine love so completely they cannot be separated.
- Hildegard of Bingen
12th-century German Benedictine abbess, mystic, composer, and natural philosopher — a genuine polymath of Christian mysticism.
- Huineng
The Sixth Patriarch of Chan Buddhism (638–713) — an illiterate woodcutter whose direct insight reshaped Zen forever.
- Ibn Arabi
Andalusian Sufi mystic and philosopher (1165–1240) — the "Greatest Shaykh," whose doctrine of the unity of being shaped Sufism for centuries.
- Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth (c. 4 BCE – c. 30 CE) — the teacher and figure at the center of Christianity, regarded variously as prophet, messiah, and incarnate God.
- Jiddu Krishnamurti
Indian-born teacher (1895–1986) who dissolved the organization meant to announce him as World Teacher and spent sixty years pointing toward freedom from all authority — including his own.
- John of the Cross
Spanish Carmelite mystic and poet (1542–1591) — author of the Dark Night of the Soul and the Ascent of Mount Carmel.
- Kabir
15th-century Indian weaver-poet whose verses mocked religious boundaries and celebrated the formless divine — claimed by Hindus, Sikhs, and Sufis.
- Laozi
Legendary author of the Tao Te Ching — foundational figure of Taoism, possibly historical, possibly composite.
- Marcus Aurelius
Roman emperor (121–180 CE) and Stoic philosopher — his private journal became the Meditations, Stoicism's most intimate text.
- Meister Eckhart
German Dominican mystic and preacher (c. 1260–c. 1328) — one of Christianity's most radical contemplative voices.
- Mirabai
16th-century Rajput princess and Bhakti poet — her songs of devotion to Krishna remain widely sung across India.
- Nagarjuna
2nd-century Indian philosopher — founder of the Madhyamaka school and the key articulator of Mahayana emptiness doctrine.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
Mumbai shopkeeper (1897–1981) whose directness and unflinching non-dual teaching, collected in I Am That, reshaped the Advaita tradition in the West.
- Osho
Twentieth-century Indian teacher whose synthesis of Zen, Tantra, Sufism, and Western psychology reached millions — and whose commune in Oregon produced the largest bioterror attack in United States history. Both facts are his legacy.
- Patanjali
The compiler of the Yoga Sutras — author, editor, or legendary figure who systematized classical yoga.
- Plotinus
Neoplatonist philosopher (c. 205–270 CE) — his vision of the One, Intellect, and Soul shaped Christian, Islamic, and Jewish mysticism for a millennium.
- Ramakrishna
Bengali mystic (1836–1886) whose experiential passage through many traditions — Hindu, Muslim, Christian — grounded modern interreligious mysticism.
- Ramana Maharshi
Indian sage (1879–1950) whose teaching of self-inquiry became a touchstone of modern Advaita.
- Rumi
13th-century Persian poet and Sufi mystic whose verse became one of the most widely read expressions of divine love.
- Shunryu Suzuki
Japanese Soto Zen priest (1904–1971) — founder of the San Francisco Zen Center and author of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.
- Swami Vivekananda
Indian monk (1863–1902) whose 1893 address at the Parliament of World Religions introduced Vedanta to the West and catalyzed modern Hindu reform.
- Teresa of Avila
Spanish Carmelite reformer and mystic (1515–1582) — author of The Interior Castle and one of Christianity's definitive guides to contemplative prayer.
- The Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama (c. 563–483 BCE) — the historical teacher whose awakening founded Buddhism.
- Thich Nhat Hanh
Vietnamese Zen monk, poet, and peace activist (1926–2022) — founder of Plum Village and a defining figure of engaged Buddhism.
- Zhuangzi
4th-century-BCE Chinese philosopher — author of much of the text bearing his name, and Taoism's most playful voice.