Sacred Languages

Sacred Words

Key terms from sacred languages — 68 words across 9 tongues that open understanding.

Terms · 68

Languages · 9

Sacred Languages

Browse terms by language of origin.

Asha: Truth, righteousness, cosmic order — Zoroastrian analogue of ṛta/dharma.
Yazata: Worthy of worship; a Zoroastrian divine being below Ahura Mazda.
Ahura Mazda: Wise Lord; the supreme Zoroastrian creator-god.
Amesha Spenta: Bounteous Immortal; one of seven aspects of Ahura Mazda.
Humata, Hūkhta, Huvarshta: Good thoughts, good words, good deeds — the Zoroastrian ethical triad.
Fravashi: Guardian spirit of each human being.

Dao / Tao: The Way; the ultimate, ineffable principle underlying all existence.
De: Virtue; the Dao as manifest in a being.
Wu wei: Effortless action; responsive non-striving aligned with the Dao.
Qi / Ch'i: Vital energy animating all things.
Yin-Yang: Complementary polarities whose interplay constitutes cosmic change.
Xian: Taoist immortal; a realised practitioner.
San Qing: Three Pure Ones — the supreme Taoist triad.

Manifestation of God: A divine educator through whom God's attributes are revealed (Krishna, Buddha, Christ, Muhammad, the Báb, Baháʼu'lláh…).
Ridván: Paradise; the 12-day festival commemorating Baháʼu'lláh's 1863 declaration.
Qiblih: Direction of prayer; for Baháʼís, the Shrine of Baháʼu'lláh at Bahji.

Ik Onkar: One supreme reality; the opening statement of the Guru Granth Sahib.
Shabad: The divine Word; sacred utterance of the Gurus.
Khalsa: The community of initiated Sikhs established by Guru Gobind Singh.
Gurdwara: Door of the Guru; Sikh place of worship.
Langar: Community free kitchen central to Sikh practice.

Kami: The Shinto term for a deity, spirit, or numinous presence.
Torii: Sacred gate marking the entrance to a Shinto shrine.
Jinja: Shinto shrine.
Matsuri: Shrine festival.
Shinbutsu-shūgō: The medieval syncretic fusion of Shinto kami and Buddhist beings.

Nirvana / Nibbāna: Liberation; extinction of craving and suffering.
Dukkha: Unsatisfactoriness; suffering; the first noble truth.
Anatta / Anātman: Non-self; the doctrine that no unchanging soul exists.
Sangha: The monastic community; one of the Three Jewels.
Bodhisattva: One who vows to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all beings.
Dharmakaya: Truth-body; the ultimate nature of a Buddha.
Sunyata: Emptiness; lack of inherent existence in all phenomena.

Tirthankara: Ford-maker; a Jain enlightened being who establishes the path.
Kevala-jñāna: Omniscient knowledge attained by a Tīrthaṅkara.
Ahimsa: Non-violence; central Jain ethical principle.
Dharma: Righteous duty, cosmic order, the path of righteousness.
Karma: Action and its consequence; the moral law of cause and effect.
Moksha: Liberation from the cycle of birth and death (saṃsāra).
Atman: The innermost self or soul; in Advaita, identical with Brahman.
Brahman: The absolute, unchanging reality underlying the cosmos (distinct from the god Brahmā).

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