Hindu traditions
Diverse traditions centred on dharma, devotion, knowledge, ritual and liberation; yoga develops within this wider religious and philosophical world.
House of AnandaMovement · Stillness · Wisdom · JourneyTradition · dialogue · discernment
Many paths.
No forced sameness.
An exploration of Asian spiritual traditions, their historical conversations and the practices that can illuminate one another—without dissolving their differences.
A wider map
“Eastern religion” is not one religion.
Asia contains distinct languages, histories, philosophies and living communities. This map is an invitation to study each tradition on its own terms.
Buddhism
A path organised around understanding suffering, impermanence, ethical conduct, meditation and awakening, expressed through many schools and cultures.
Jain traditions
Ancient paths of radical non-harming, disciplined conduct and liberation that shared—and debated within—the wider ascetic culture from which yoga developed.
Daoism
Religious and philosophical traditions concerned with the Dào, naturalness, transformation, ritual, cultivation and living without coercive excess.
Confucian traditions
Ethical and ritual traditions emphasising cultivated character, humane relationship, responsibility, learning and harmonious social life.
Chan / Zen
Buddhist traditions shaped in China and transmitted onward; the word Zen traces through Chinese Chán to Sanskrit dhyāna, meditation.
Sikh tradition
A monotheistic tradition founded in the Punjab, centred on devotion to one God, remembrance, equality, truthful living and service.
Shintō
Japanese traditions of kami, place, purity, seasonal ritual and relationship with ancestral and natural worlds.
Yoga · Buddhism · Tai Chi
Where practices can meet.
Shared human concerns can create meaningful dialogue, while vocabulary and ultimate aims remain tradition-specific.
Embodied attention
Yoga, Buddhist meditation, Tai Chi and qigong all include ways of training attention through the body—but their aims and explanations differ.
Breath
Breath is cultivated across traditions. Prāṇa, qi and Buddhist mindfulness of breathing belong to different conceptual systems and are not synonyms.
Ethics before technique
Yoga’s yamas, Buddhist precepts, Jain ahiṃsā and Confucian cultivation all show that spiritual practice is more than exercise.
Change
Buddhist impermanence and Daoist transformation both attend to change, though they emerge from different questions and teachings.
Meditation
Dhyāna is important in Indian yoga and Buddhism; as Buddhism travelled through China it helped shape Chán and later Japanese Zen.
Compassion and service
Karuṇā, bodhisattva ideals, bhakti and karma yoga each open practice toward relationship—without becoming one doctrine.
Buddhism · a doorway to deeper study
A path of awakening.
Buddhism began in ancient India and developed into many traditions across Asia and the world. These eight entries are orientation points, not a substitute for living teachers and communities.
Explore the complete Buddhism library ↗Explore Buddhist imagery and symbols ↗Indian Buddhist philosophy ↗Four Noble Truths ↗
A framework: suffering or unsatisfactoriness; its causes; its cessation; and a path of cultivation.
Noble Eightfold Path ↗
Wise understanding, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness and concentration.
Three marks ↗
Impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and non-self are lenses through which conditioned experience is examined.
Meditation ↗
Practices include mindfulness, concentration, loving-kindness, compassion, visualisation and insight; methods vary greatly.
Theravāda ↗
A major living tradition rooted in the Pāli canon, especially prominent across Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.
Mahāyāna ↗
A diverse family emphasising the bodhisattva path and including Chan/Zen, Pure Land, Tiantai and other traditions.
Vajrayāna ↗
Esoteric Buddhist traditions using mantra, initiation, deity yoga and subtle-body practices, especially associated with Tibetan and Himalayan cultures.
Zen ↗
Japanese traditions descended from Chinese Chan, with varied lineages and disciplines—not merely a modern mood of simplicity.
Essential distinctions
Related is not identical.
Ātman and anattā
Many Hindu philosophies affirm an enduring self or consciousness; Buddhism famously analyses experience without positing a permanent, independent self.
Prāṇa and qi
Both are translated loosely as vital energy, but they belong to different languages, histories, bodily maps and practices.
Yoga and Tai Chi
Yoga emerged in South Asian religious and ascetic traditions; Tai Chi is a Chinese martial art. Their modern slow forms may feel related without sharing one origin.
Yin–yang and good–evil
Yin and yang are relational, interdependent tendencies—not opposing moral teams. Each situation can change and contain the seed of its complement.
A respectful method
Begin with curiosity. Name the tradition. Learn its history. Listen to its practitioners. Allow difference to remain.
Chinese medical traditions
Explore Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Study qi, yin–yang, Five Phases, treatments and history, then compare TCM with modern medicine and Indian traditions.