Asian Reflection

Asian spirituality and its impact on our world

This site advances understanding of the spiritual message at the heart of Asian religions through thoughtful and at times unique analysis. In addition to its more intellectual offerings, it also features prize-winning images and mystical passages from the region's spiritual traditions.

Imagine you are standing alone on a mountain ridge looking down into a vast lake some distance below you. Mountains surround you in all directions. All is still, quiet. As you wander down a steep path to the edge of the lake, you see the sun's reflection dancing on its surface. Looking into the clear water, you see your own reflection. Picking up a pebble you throw it in, watching it fall into the depths, out of sight. In a way, this is what Asian Reflection is about. Asia's spiritual light is reflected in our minds when we ascend the lofty summits of her teachings, and yet as we reach those heights, we see our own reflection in the stillness. Indeed, just as the lake reflects both our own image and the light of the sun, our mind is in its depths a reflection of the knowledge that our highest self and our highest conception of spiritual being are one.

Prisms and Prisons, November 2004
The influence of ethnoreligious nationalism and to a lesser extent religious fundamentalism on the nonviolent militancy of the Khudai Khidmatgars is examined in this brief essay, arguing that from the vast repository of Islamic tradition and ideas the Khudai Khidmitgars used Islam to give form to a forceful dimension of their nonviolent resistance and peacemaking work.

The Superman, 1920
Sri Aurobindo reaches startling heights in this essay on human ideals, taking as a starting point Nietzsche's conception of the superman. His discussion of the interplay of love, power and knowledge combines the beauty of poetry with the wisdom of a timeless thinker.