Atlas of Consciousness · a living inquiry
Wisdom of the masters
A word humanity has passed down for thousands of years. Here is the whole compendium of its bearers: watch the film, listen in voice, read the profile. Filter by tradition and by what the master taught.
Advaita Vedanta The one who sees Ramana Maharshi Who is looking through these eyes right now? Not at the screen – the one who looks. 
Dzogchen A dying man's letter Longchenpa A last letter, written just before death. A death he did not fear. 
Sufism The circle of love Rumi A music plays quietly inside you. You hardly hear it – yet you have danced to it your whole life. The faces that carried the word
Seven in depth
Full profiles: the whole nature of the master, his faces across the ages, quotes in the original.
Shamanic Traditions · V–XII cc. · Celtic tradition Merlin Vita Merlini · Historia Regum Britanniae A wild prophet who became the archetype of the sage. Nine faces — from the madman of the Caledonian Wood to the passing into the… Open the profile → 
Advaita Vedanta · 1879–1950 Ramana Maharshi Who Am I? · Nan Yar A boy who lived through his own death and woke up free. The clearest voice of the direct path. Open the profile → 
Advaita Vedanta · 1897–1981 Nisargadatta Maharaj I Am That A cigarette seller from Bombay with whom the whole modern wave of direct pointing in the West began. Open the profile → 
Indian Saints · 1863–1902 Swami Vivekananda Raja Yoga · Bhakti Yoga The fire of Ramakrishna carried across the world. The one who turned love of God into service of man. Open the profile → 
Sufism · 1207–1273 Jalal ad-Din Rumi Masnavi · Divan of Shams A learned theologian who met a wanderer and burned in love, leaving the world the most intoxicating verses ever written of God. Open the profile → 
Dzogchen · 1308–1364 Longchenpa The Seven Treasuries · Treasury of the Way of Abiding The one who gave Dzogchen its clear language. The fullest voice of the Great Perfection. Open the profile → 
Dzogchen · Eighth century Padmasambhava Instructions on the Great Perfection The one who brought Dzogchen to Tibet and hid it for times to come. Open the profile → The whole compendium
89 masters · 19 traditions
Each bearer — his own tradition, his own teaching. Choose by the path that is nearest to you.
89 masters
Longchenpa The one who gave Dzogchen its clear language. The fullest voice of the Great Perfection. Direct pointing Ramana Maharshi A boy who lived through his own death and woke up free. The clearest voice of the direct path. Self-inquiry Nisargadatta Maharaj A cigarette seller from Bombay with whom the whole modern wave of direct pointing in the West… Self-inquiry Padmasambhava The one who brought Dzogchen to Tibet and hid it for times to come. Direct pointing Jalal ad-Din Rumi A learned theologian who met a wanderer and burned in love, leaving the world the most… Devotion Merlin A wild prophet who became the archetype of the sage. Nine faces — from the madman of the… The way of nature Swami Vivekananda The fire of Ramakrishna carried across the world. The one who turned love of God into service… Devotion 
Ajahn Chah A forest teacher who turned every small thing in life into teaching. The warmest, most grounded… Mindfulness 
Jiddu Krishnamurti The one who dissolved his own order and refused to be a guru. The most uncompromising voice of… Mindfulness 
Wu Hsin An ancient voice that sounds like today's: for the weary seeker, ready to let go of the very… Direct pointing 
Thomas Merton A twentieth-century monk who gave contemplation back to a noisy world. A bridge between the… Contemplation 
Annamalai Swami The one who served Ramana with his body for years and carried his instruction to its utmost… Self-inquiry 
Jean Klein A European musician and physician who brought Advaita to the West in the language of subtle… Self-inquiry 
Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche The clearest modern voice. The one who reduced the practice to four words: "short moments, many… Direct pointing 
Meister Eckhart The boldest voice of the Christian West. He speaks of God so directly that Advaita Vedanta… Contemplation 
Anandamayi Ma "The Mother filled with joy" – she who lived in a constant bliss of unity and taught by her… Devotion 
Ryokan Taigu A monk who played ball with children and owned a single bowl. Zen as joyful simplicity. Mindfulness 
Shantideva A quiet monk whose poem of compassion has dissolved self-love for a thousand years in everyone… Energy and tantra 
Upasika Kee Nanayon A laywoman who reached the heart of it without monastic robes, and taught a stark clarity… Mindfulness 
Chuang Tzu A sage who laughed where others frowned. Freedom for those who are choked by the expectations… The way of nature 
Dogen The one who reduced the whole path to a single word: just sit. And in that sitting – already… Mindfulness 
Hafiz The drunken poet of Shiraz, whose verses shatter the ego's defences and call you to trade… Devotion 
Huangbo The most uncompromising voice of Chan: with one blow it knocks away every reliance on words. Mindfulness 
Patrul Rinpoche A wandering yogin with a sharp tongue against spiritual self-deception. Direct pointing 
Bodhidharma The one who came from the West and kept silent at the wall for nine years. The root of the… Mindfulness 
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche For the one caught in anxiety about himself and ready for a radical medicine – to give up the… Devotion 
Garab Dorje The source of the lineage. The one who reduced all the Great Perfection to three phrases. Direct pointing 
Huineng An illiterate woodcutter who woke before the learned monks. The voice of sudden awakening. Mindfulness 
John of the Cross The one who gave a name to the hardest place on the path – the dark night. A voice for the one… Devotion 
Lao Tzu The elder who left five thousand words and vanished into the west. The voice with which the… The way of nature 
Milarepa The one who went from murderer to saint. He sang his instructions straight from the slope of an… Energy and tantra 
Paramahansa Yogananda The one who brought Kriya Yoga to the West and showed that holiness is a portable paradise… Energy and tantra 
Teresa of Ávila The one who saw the soul as a castle of many rooms, and God – within, in the innermost. Contemplation 
The Buddha The prince who went out beyond the palace gate, saw old age and death, and found no peace until… Mindfulness 
Abhinavagupta Yogi, poet, and scholar who gathered the whole tradition into one radiant system. The summit of… Energy and tantra 
Ajahn Buddhadasa A teacher who stripped nibbana of its otherworldly varnish and returned it to this very life. Mindfulness 
Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo A master of the breath who gave the most precise, embodied method for entering deep stillness. Mindfulness 
Ajahn Maha Boowa A fearless forest master who drew the line between the mind that comes and goes and the one… Mindfulness 
Ajahn Sumedho A Western student of Ajahn Chah who translated the silence of the forest into the language of… Mindfulness 
Black Elk A seer who at nine years old beheld the great hoop of all the peoples of the earth, and carried… The way of nature 
Hakuin Ekaku The one who revived the koan and healed burnout with warm butter on the crown of the head. Mindfulness 
Julian of Norwich The first woman to write a book in English. Her message is simple and unconquerable: at the… Contemplation 
Kahlil Gibran The poet who turned parting, labor, and death into a hymn to love. The most read mystic of the… Poetry 
Mirabai A princess who threw away her throne for love of Krishna and sang like one possessed, unafraid… Devotion 
Vimala Thakar The one who carried direct seeing and served the poor at the same time – silence without… Silence 
Abu Hamid al-Ghazali The great theologian who left fame for the path of the heart and drew a map of the soul's… Devotion 
An-Niffari The voice of sacred bewilderment: the more you claim to know God, the thicker the veil between… Devotion 
Ananda The one who for twenty-five years stayed close and remembered every word, so that it might… Mindfulness 
Atisha Dipankara The one who reduced the whole path to a single rule: tame not others – your own mind. Mindfulness 
Ayya Khema She who passed through war and loss and brought the Buddha's teaching to the West in plain,… Mindfulness 
Dionysius the Areopagite The one who gave the West a language for the unsayable. God is not light, but a radiance so… Contemplation 
Etty Hillesum A voice from the very darkness of the twentieth century: how to keep the light and the love… Contemplation 
Frank Fools Crow A medicine man whose healing began by his becoming nothing – an empty bone in the hand of the… The way of nature 
Helen Keller Robbed of sight and hearing – she saw more clearly than many who have eyes. Proof that the… Devotion 
Ibn Arabi The Greatest Sheikh, whose insight cancels the seeker himself: there is only the One, and there… Direct pointing 
Jnaneshwar A boy-saint who at sixteen wrote an immortal commentary on the Gita in the people's own tongue. Devotion 
Lahiri Mahasaya A householder and a clerk who returned Kriya to the world and proved: the path is open even… Mindfulness 
Machig Labdron A woman who founded a lineage that flowed out into Tibet, not in from India. She taught the… Energy and tantra 
Miriam Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann An elder who gave the world her people's ancient word for listening in silence – Dadirri. Silence 
Nagarjuna The one who took apart the very notion of "existence" – and saved Mahayana both from solid… Energy and tantra 
Naropa A brilliant scholar who left his chair for the squalid trials of a living teacher. The source… Energy and tantra 
Neem Karoli Baba He who reduced the whole path to three words: love everyone, serve everyone, remember God. Devotion 
Philo of Alexandria A Hellenistic sage who, two thousand years before neo-advaita, took apart the "I" with the same… Direct pointing 
Rabia of Basra The woman who first named Sufism love: she prayed to God with no hope of paradise and no fear… Devotion 
Rabindranath Tagore The Bengali poet whose songs to God built a bridge between the mysticism of India and the heart… Poetry 
Ramakrishna A priest who loved the Goddess so dearly that a single utterance of her name would cast him… Devotion 
Sant Tukaram A simple merchant who composed verses by the river and said: holiness cannot be bought, it is… Devotion 
Sarada Devi A quiet woman whose motherly love turned no one away. The silent heart of the lineage. Devotion 
Sariputta The clearest mind of the sangha – the one who could lay out the teaching so plainly that it… Mindfulness 
Sun Bu'er A woman master who carried the way down into body and breath. A voice of inner alchemy and… The way of nature 
The Buddha · Lankavatara For the one ready to doubt the very ground – the outer world that seems so solid. Mindfulness 
Thich Nhat Hanh The one who returned the great teaching to a simple in-breath – and showed that home is not… Mindfulness 
Abraham Abulafia A wandering mystic who sought not a teaching about God but a direct experience – through the… Contemplation 
Basilides An Alexandrian sage who began not with God, but with what stands above the very word "God." Contemplation 
Isaac Luria The Holy Lion of Safed, who in a few short years overturned all of Kabbalah with the image of… Contemplation 
Kshemaraja The one who compressed an immense system into the twenty sutras of the Heart of Recognition.… Energy and tantra 
Lieh Tzu The one whom the wind carried. A teacher of naturalness for those still trying to fly by force… The way of nature 
Moses Cordovero The mind that gathered scattered Kabbalah into an ordered garden – teacher to a whole… Contemplation 
Moses de León The one through whom the central book of Kabbalah came into the world – a radiance that lit all… Contemplation 
Patanjali The one who drew all of yoga into a thread of short lines – a map from the first step to union. Energy and tantra 
Sophia · the fall and the return The myth of how Wisdom herself lost her way – and why her fall explains your own longing. Contemplation 
Sri Yukteswar Giri Yogananda's stern, lucid teacher, who joined the science of the West and the wisdom of the… Energy and tantra 
Swami Lakshman Joo The last great master of the living Kashmiri lineage, who carried the oral transmission down to… Energy and tantra 
the Baal Shem Tov The one who carried high Kabbalah out of the scholars' books to the simple heart: serve God… Contemplation 
The Gospel of Thomas One hundred fourteen secret sayings: the Kingdom will not come – it is already spread across… Contemplation 
The Thunder, Perfect Mind Not a person but a voice – the divine Sophia speaking from every contradiction at once,… Contemplation 
Utpaladeva A philosopher who sang to Shiva from the very heart. He gave the tradition its precise language… Devotion 
Valentinus The most gifted of the Gnostics – who all but became bishop of Rome, and became instead the… Contemplation 
Vasugupta The one to whom, as the story goes, the revelation appeared carved upon a rock. With him the… Energy and tantra No one matches this filter.
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