Taoism, Jainism, Baha'i Faith

The Way — described in Taoist teaching as the source everything flows out of and returns to, as how things move when nothing forces them, and as our own original nature.

That the Tao is our original nature and nothing is evil, but that things are out of balance because human beings departed from the Way — civilization having tried to improve on nature, producing conflict and chaos.

We are already there, but have to realise it by becoming fully in accord with the Tao. Everything flows out of Tao and returns to Tao.

The invariable law of nature by which everything returns to a balanced state.

Non-action — usually explained as acting without forcing, in accord with how things already move. The guide phrases it as not interfering.

Yin is described as female, dark and receptive; yang as male, bright and assertive. They are complementary rather than good and evil, and balance between them is the aim.

The life force, which Taoist practice seeks to release.

A contemplative life in nature; taking no action; balancing yin with yang; reconciling opposites at a higher or intuitive level; releasing ch'i.

The central Taoist text, attributed to Laozi. It opens by saying that the Tao which can be spoken is not the eternal Tao.

Philosophical Taoism is concerned with living in accord with the Way; religious Taoism has temples, priests, deities and ritual. Both are part of the tradition.

The twenty-fourth tirthankara or "ford-maker". Jains do not describe him as founding the tradition, but as the most recent teacher of something without beginning.

Jiva is the soul, held to be pure and knowing by nature; ajiva is the world of matter, the non-living, in which the jiva becomes entangled.

Jains describe it as a fine material substance drawn to the soul by action, which weighs the jiva down within ajiva — not only as a law connecting action to consequence.

That humans are caught in samsara — the endless cycle of life, death and rebirth — characterised by ignorance and suffering, with the jiva weighed down within ajiva by collected karma.

Liberation of the jiva from the ajiva: the soul freed of karmic matter and remaining in its own nature.

A pure, omniscient consciousness, attained when the karma obscuring knowledge is destroyed. One who attains it is a kevalin.

Ahimsa (non-violence), satya (truthfulness), asteya (not taking what is not given), brahmacharya (chastity), aparigraha (non-attachment to possessions).

The five mahavratas are taken in full by ascetics; lay Jains take them in limited form, the anuvratas, within a set of twelve vows. The guide phrases this the other way round.

Vegetarianism and for many the avoidance of root vegetables; avoiding occupations that involve harm; among some monastics, sweeping the path ahead or wearing a cloth over the mouth.

Because if karma is a substance weighing the soul down, ahimsa and the vows can only stop new karma arriving. Fasting and bodily austerity shed what is already there.

Digambara ("sky-clad") monks renounce clothing, hold that a woman must be reborn as a man to attain liberation, and hold the original scriptures lost. Svetambara ("white-clad") monastics wear white, hold that women can attain liberation, and preserve a canon.

Baha'is hold that each child is born pure and holy, and that human beings were created with immortal souls and a dual nature: an animalistic and selfish side, and a spiritual side with reason.

The Manifestation of God for this age in Baha'i teaching, whose writings are the central Baha'i scripture. The Bab is regarded as his herald.

In Baha'i teaching, one through whom God's message is revealed to an age.

The Baha'i teaching that God has sent a succession of Manifestations, each teaching what humanity was ready to receive at the time. It must always be attributed to Baha'is.

As states, not places. Paradise is a state of perfection in harmony with God's will; hell a state of imperfection, far removed from God and in conflict with his will.

Acknowledging the oneness of God and the unity of the Manifestations; developing our divine attributes, including reason, and being involved in God's plan for humanity; aligning our lives with the teachings, laws and obligations revealed by Baha'u'llah.

Because Baha'is describe it as an independent revelation given through Baha'u'llah for this age. The unity of religion is a claim about God's plan, not a blending of practices.

The elected international governing body of the Baha'i Faith, which has no clergy.

The equality of women and men, universal education, and the elimination of extremes of wealth and poverty — all following from the oneness of humanity.

On the spiritual side of the dual nature, as one of the divine attributes to be developed. Baha'is often express this as the harmony of science and religion.