Traditions

Each holds only its own passages.

• Astrology3 passagesA practice of reading meaning from the positions of the sun, moon and planets, attested in Babylonian, Hellenistic, Indian and Chinese forms and continuous in the West since antiquity. Western astrology divides the year into twelve signs and reads the movement of the planets as a description of timing, season and disposition.
• Buddhist3 passagesA tradition originating with the teaching of the Buddha in northern India and preserved in several textual collections. The discourses gathered here come from the Pali canon, recorded as talks given to particular people in particular circumstances.
• Christian3 passagesA tradition rooted in the Hebrew scriptures and in the life and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth, carried through two millennia of churches, commentaries, liturgies and practices. Its texts are read as scripture by their communities.
• Folk custom and novelty0 passagesCustoms and objects people use to mark a moment or prompt a thought — a fortune handed out after a meal, a toy that answers questions, a paper novelty that curls in the palm. They circulate as entertainment and as small rituals of everyday life.
• Secular reflection3 passagesReflection that does not appeal to a religious or philosophical authority. The pieces here were written for this collection and make no claim to be anything other than one way of putting a question.
• Stoic3 passagesA school of Greek and Roman philosophy taught from the third century BCE onward, concerned with judgement, action and the distinction between what a person controls and what they do not. Its surviving handbooks were written as practical training rather than theory.