World religions

Every way people have prayed

37 traditions — where they began, what they read, and a prayer or a stillness you can try today. We don't rank the paths; each is described as closely as we can to how it describes itself. Then step into its room and sit for a while.

한국어 · English

Abrahamic traditions

Judaism유대교The covenant faith of the Jewish people: one God who made the world, chose a people and gave them a teaching (Torah) to live by.Kabbalah카발라The mystical stream within Judaism.Christianity기독교Faith in Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ — God's love made flesh, crucified and risen.Catholicism가톨릭 (천주교)The largest Christian communion, in unity with the Bishop of Rome.Eastern Orthodoxy동방 정교회A family of self-governing churches keeping the liturgy and creeds of the first Christian millennium.Protestantism개신교Churches born of the Reformation: grace received by faith, Scripture in the people's own language, every believer a priest.The Desert Fathers & Mothers사막 교부들Christian hermits who left the cities for caves and cells in the desert, to pray without ceasing.Islam이슬람Submission (islām) to the one God, Allah, as revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, who first heard the revelation in the cave of Hira.Sufism수피즘The inner, mystical path of Islam: polishing the heart until it mirrors God.Bahá'í Faith바하이 신앙Teaches one God, the unity of all religions as chapters of one story, and the oneness of humankind.

Traditions born in India

Hinduism (Sanātana Dharma)힌두교Not one founder but a vast family of traditions.Yoga & Vedānta요가와 베단타Yoga is a discipline for stilling the movements of the mind; Vedānta is the philosophy that the deepest self (atman) is one with Brahman.Buddhism불교The path taught by Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha ('awakened one'): life is marked by suffering, suffering has a cause in craving, it can end, and the Eightfold Path leads there.Theravāda Buddhism테라와다 (남방) 불교'The teaching of the elders', the oldest surviving school, living in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.Seon / Zen Buddhism선불교 (선종)The meditation school of Mahayana Buddhism: awakening is not far away but is your own original mind, seen directly.Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayāna)티베트 불교 (금강승)Mahayana compassion joined to the tantric methods of the 'diamond vehicle': mantra, visualisation and the guidance of a lama.Jainism자이나교A path of radical non-violence (ahimsa) towards every living being, truthfulness and non-possession.Sikhism시크교One God (Ik Onkar), equality of all people, and honest work, sharing and remembrance of God in daily life.

East Asian traditions

Confucianism유교A way of becoming fully human through learning, ritual and right relationships — parent and child, ruler and people, friend and friend.Taoism (Daoism)도교·도가Harmony with the Dao — the nameless way of nature that 'does nothing, yet leaves nothing undone'.Chinese folk religion중국 민간 신앙The everyday religion of hundreds of millions: honouring ancestors, local gods and heroes such as Guan Yu and Mazu, mixing Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian elements freely.Shinto신토The way of the kami — sacred presences in mountains, rivers, trees, ancestors and great people.Korean shamanism (Musok)무속 (한국 샤머니즘)Korea's oldest living religion: the mudang (shaman) mediates between people and spirits — mountain gods, ancestors, the restless dead — through gut rituals of music, dance and costume.Cheondogyo천도교'The heavenly way', born from the Donghak ('Eastern learning') movement.Won Buddhism원불교A modern Korean Buddhism with the circle (Il-Won-Sang) as the symbol of the one truth.

Iranian traditions

Zoroastrianism조로아스터교One of the oldest revealed religions: the wise lord Ahura Mazda, and a world where every person chooses between truth (asha) and the lie.Manichaeism마니교Once a world religion stretching from Rome to China: a struggle between light and darkness, and the freeing of light trapped in the world.

Indigenous & folk traditions

Shamanism (Siberia & Central Asia)샤머니즘 (시베리아·중앙아시아)The word 'shaman' comes from the Evenki of Siberia: a person who travels in trance to the spirit world to heal and guide the community.Tengrism텡그리 신앙Reverence for Tengri, the Eternal Blue Sky, and Mother Earth, with ancestors and nature spirits between them.Native American spiritualities아메리카 원주민 영성Not one religion but many, each tied to a people and a land.Yoruba religion (Ifá, Òrìṣà)요루바 종교 (이파·오리샤)Olódùmarè, the high God, and the Òrìṣà — Ọ̀ṣun of rivers, Ògún of iron, Ṣàngó of thunder — who touch daily life.Bön뵌교Tibet's indigenous religion, today a school standing beside Tibetan Buddhism with its own founder, Tonpa Shenrab.

Religions of the ancient world

Ancient Egyptian religion고대 이집트 종교Gods of sun, river and afterlife — Ra, Osiris, Isis — and the cosmic order Maat that kings and people had to uphold.Greek & Roman religion그리스·로마 종교A religion of doing more than believing: sacrifices, festivals and oracles kept good relations with the Olympian gods.Norse religion북유럽 신앙Odin, Thor, Freyja and the world-tree Yggdrasil joining nine worlds.

Modern paths & practices

Mindfulness & secular meditation마음챙김과 세속 명상Paying attention, on purpose and without judgement, to this moment.Tarot as reflection성찰로서의 타로Not a religion but a symbolic language: 22 major and 56 minor arcana whose images invite reflection.

Sources & further reading