Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism

Sanatana dharma — the eternal teaching.

Shruti ("heard") is held to be revealed — the Vedas and Upanishads, the highest authority. Smriti ("remembered") was composed by named sages — the Mahabharata with the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana, the Laws of Manu.

The self or soul. In Advaita Vedanta it is held to be identical with Brahman; other schools hold it to be real but distinct and dependent on God.

The endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth in which Hindus hold the atman to be caught.

A law by which actions carry consequences that shape future lives — not a verdict handed down by a judge. The guide adds that bad karma is held to corrupt the universe, not only the person acting.

Liberation: release from samsara and from the consequences of karma.

Jnana yoga — knowledge, through study and realisation. Bhakti yoga — devotion to a personal God. Karma yoga — right action without attachment to its results.

Duty as shaped by social category (varna and jati) and by stage of life — the classical framework within which dharma is fulfilled.

Whether the atman is identical with Brahman. Shankara's Advaita Vedanta says it is; Ramanuja and Madhva hold otherwise.

Vaishnava (Vishnu and his avatars), Shaiva (Shiva), Shakta (the Goddess), Smarta (several deities as forms of one reality).

Theravada (Pali Canon), Mahayana (Sanskrit sutras), Vajrayana (Mahayana scriptures plus the tantras).

The first mark of existence. "Suffering" is the usual rendering; "unsatisfactoriness" is better — nothing within samsara stays, so nothing within it can finally satisfy.

Craving or thirst: wanting things to be other than they are, and wanting what is passing to stay.

Anicca (change), dukkha (unsatisfactoriness), anatta (no permanent self).

The claim that there is no permanent self behind experience — a person is five changing skandhas. It is the sharpest difference from Hindu accounts, which hold that an atman travels through samsara.

Buddha, dhamma/dharma and sangha — what a Buddhist takes refuge in.

There is dukkha; its cause is craving; it can cease; and there is a path to that cessation — the Noble Eightfold Path.

Wisdom (right view, right intention); ethical conduct or sila (right speech, action, livelihood); mental discipline or bhavana (right effort, mindfulness, concentration).

To refrain from harming living beings, from taking what is not given, from sexual misconduct, from false speech, and from drink and drugs that cloud the mind.

In Mahayana Buddhism, one who seeks enlightenment for the sake of all beings rather than for themselves alone.

Nirvana is not a place and not a reward given by anyone. The word carries the sense of blowing out: what is extinguished is craving.

The first of the ten human Gurus of Sikhism, born in 1469 in the Punjab.

One who takes away darkness — spiritual ignorance — and brings light, spiritual understanding.

Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru, ended it and installed the scripture as the Guru — the Guru Granth Sahib, which Sikhs consult for all spiritual matters.

The symbol standing at the opening of the Guru Granth Sahib, representing God as one.

God as one and formless.

The divine spark or light Sikhs hold to be within every person.

Maya is the delusion that what is passing is what matters. Haumai is ego-centredness — living as though the self were the centre.

Kam (lust), lobh (covetousness), moh (attachment), krodh (anger), ahankar (pride).

Manmukh is the follower of the ego; gurmukh is God-centred, living by the Gurus' teachings and reached through God's grace.

Nam japna (continual meditation on God's name), kirat karni (earning an honest living), vand chhakna (sharing one's earnings with those in need).

Altruistic service to God and to humanity, regardless of birth or gender.

The realm of truth, where Sikhs hold God to be present — the last of five khands. Sikhs hold that a person may progress by effort but enters it through gurprasad, God's grace.

The free communal meal served in a gurdwara, open to anyone regardless of background.