道 dào

Mesopotamia & Egypt

the will of the family god, men in general would soon discover that the way of the transgressor was hard, and that it only led to loss and ruin. When, at the end of the Neolithic Period, the Egyptians had learned to write, among the first t… Instruction of Amenemope (with other Egyptian wisdom texts), Budge 1924 p.3 ¶11

" 7 Nevertheless Osiris does not really belong to the kingdom of the living. His dominion is the gloomy Nether World beneath the earth, to which he at once descends. After his death, one of the oldest sources says of him: "He entered the se… Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, Breasted, Religion and Thought Lecture 1 ¶56

India

And Ānanda, this is what I was referring to in ‘The Way to the Far Shore’, in ‘The Questions of Puṇṇaka’ when I said: Aṅguttara Nikāya (Numbered Discourses), AN3.32 5

I am not known To evil-doers, nor to foolish ones, Nor to the base and churlish; nor to those Whose mind is cheated by the show of things, Nor those that take the way of Asuras.[FN#12] Four sorts of mortals know me: he who weeps, Arjuna! an… Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavad Gita 7 (Arnold) ¶3

China & Japan

The Master said, 'While a man's father is alive, look at the bent of his will; when his father is dead, look at his conduct. If for three years he does not alter from the way of his father, he may be called filial.' Analects, Analects 1.11

Persia & Islam

Another characteristic of Ghazzali which ap¬ peals to the modern mind is the way in which he exjDounds the religious argument from probability much as Bishop Butler and Browning do ( vide the end of Chapter IV. in the present book). Ghazzal… The Alchemy of Happiness (Kimiya-yi Sa'adat), Alchemy p.12 ¶8

Shall melt, but senseless of its Union: / But in that Mirror if with purged eyes / Thy Shadow Thou for Shadow recognise, / Then shalt Thou back into thy Centre fall / A conscious Ray of that eternal All.' / He ceased, and for awhile Amazeme… The Conference of the Birds (Mantiq al-Tayr), Bird Parliament ll. 621-640

Hebrew & Jewish

And said, Thy heart hath gone to far in this world, and thinkest thou to comprehend the way of the most High? Apocrypha (Deuterocanonical books: Esdras, Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, Maccabees, ...), 2 Esdras 4:2

So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden the Cherubim, and the flame of a sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. The Bible (Old and New Testaments), Genesis 3:24

Greek & Roman

Pygmalion’s treasure left behind. The vessels, heavy laden, put to sea With prosp’rous winds; a woman leads the way. I know not, if by stress of weather driv’n, Or was their fatal course dispos’d by Heav’n; At last they landed, where from f… The Aeneid, Aeneid (Dryden), Book I ¶25

ARGUMENT Xerxes, son of Darius and of his wife Atossa, daughter of Cyrus, went forth against Hellas, to take vengeance upon those who had defeated his father at Marathon. But ill fortune befell the king and his army both by land and sea; ne… Aeschylus: Tragedies (Oresteia, Prometheus Bound, etc.), Aeschylus The Persians ¶1

if he really had this art and taught so reasonably. I myself should be vain and put on airs, if I understood these things; but I do not understand them, men of Athens . Now perhaps someone might rejoin: But, Socrates, what is the trouble ab… Apology of Socrates, Apology 20c

Hidden streams

Again these chapters will recall to many of my readers the extraordinary magical effects which Faust ts satd ta have produced ; who, by the way, as I have before remarked, was in all probability contempcrary with Abraham the “few. But the m… The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin the Mage, Abramelin p.5 ¶35

Now as foon as I had read this Writing, all my joy was near vanifhed again, ind I who before Sang merrily, tegafl y.a Avitons now inwardly to Lament.' For al- '^^'^^'^''' rhopgh I faw all the ihree ways before riie, and nnderHood that hence… The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz, Chymical Wedding ¶16

Studies in Hellenistic Theosophy and Gnosis Being a Translation of the Extant Sermons and Fragments of the Trismegistic Literature, with Prolegomena, Commentaries, and Notes G. R. S. Mead Volume II. — Sermons The Theosophical Publishing Soc… Corpus Hermeticum, TGH II ¶1

Christian

The author praises Gratian's zeal for instruction in the Faith, and speaks lowly of his own merits. Taught of God Himself, the Emperor stands in no need of human instruction; yet this his devoutness prepares the way to victory. The task app… Exposition of the Christian Faith (De fide, to Gratian), Ambrose, On the Christian Faith, Prefatory Note, Prologue. ¶1

18. Now, I clearly have my pledge which no change can any more tear from me; I have the relics which I may embrace, I have the tomb which I may cover with my body, I have the grave on which I may lie, and I shall believe that I am more acce… On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus (De excessu fratris; incl. On Belief in the Resurrection), Ambrose, On the Decease of Satyrus, Three Books on the Duties of the Clergy, Book I. ¶17

In the first book he divides duties into "ordinary," or the way of the commandments, binding upon all alike; and "perfect," which consist in following the counsels. After treating then of some elementary duties, such as those towards parent… On the Duties of the Clergy (De officiis ministrorum), Ambrose, Duties of the Clergy, Introduction. ¶2

Modern West

OF MISSIONS AND REVELATIONS. Every national church or religion has established itself by pretending some special mission from God, communicated to certain individuals. The Jews have their Moses; the Christians their Jesus Christ, their apos… The Age of Reason, Age of Reason Part I, Chapter 2 ¶1

Suspicions that the mind of itself gathers, are but buzzes; but suspicions that are artificially nourished, and put into men's heads, by the tales and whisperings of others, have stings. Certainly, the best mean, to clear the way in this sa… Essays, or Counsels Civil and Moral, Bacon Of Suspicion ¶1b

As regards materialistic atomism, it is one of the best-refuted theories that have been advanced, and in Europe there is now perhaps no one in the learned world so unscholarly as to attach serious signification to it, except for convenient … Beyond Good and Evil, BGE §12