glossary of terms used by frithjof schuon - Sophia Perennis

those who think otherwise, and whom they vilify shamelessly; a one-way charity
necessarily ends in an upside-down justice. [PM, On Intention]
Unity: Unity is the first principle that penetrates and regulates universal Manifestation, in
the sense that on the one hand it projects its reflections everywhere, and on the other hand
brings phenomena back to Unity. [EH, Concerning Pythagorean Numbers]
Universal Radiation: Universal radiation is the unfolding of accidents, starting from
initial Relativity; necessary Being, radiating by virtue of its infinitude, gives rise to
Contingency. [EPW, The Mystery of the Veil]
Universal Spirit: The Universal Spirit is the divine Intelligence incarnate in Existence; it
is like the reflection of the divine Sun in the cosmic Substance: God projects Himself, so
to speak, into that “void” or “nothingness” which is the plane of the creature. He creates
Himself, it might be said, as “the Spirit of God” moving “upon the face of the waters,”
and it is from these – from the chaos of cosmic possibilities – that He causes the world to
come forth. This Spirit is thus the divine Intellect immanent in the Cosmos, of which It
constitutes the center and the heart; It penetrates as by innumerable arteries of light into
all realms – or into all microcosms – of the manifested Universe; it is thus that God is
present at the center of everything. [SW, Manifestations of the Divine Principle]
Universe: The universe is an order that is so to speak architectural, deployed from the
Supreme Principle by way of intermediaries, or of hierarchies of intermediaries, down to
earthly creatures; all the cosmic principles and their rays are divine, or half-divine, which
amounts to saying that they are envisaged in relation to their essential and functional
divinity. [LAW, Dialogue between Hellenists and Christians]
Upaya: The upaya is a “skillful means” by which Heaven seeks to win souls; since souls
are in illusion, the “means” necessarily takes on something of the illusory, hence the
diversity of doctrines, methods, and religions, or rather the incomparability of their
various aspects. [FSR, Truth and Presence]
Let us recall that in Buddhist terminology an upaya is a “celestial stratagem” meant to
save us from the world of suffering, and which can vary according to the needs of men;
its “truth” is not literal, it is primarily practical or efficient. [SME, The Irrefutable
Religion]
Let us recall that by upaya the Buddhists understand a “divine stratagem” or a “saving
mirage”: it is not intrinsic truth that is of primary importance, but saving efficacy. [CI,
Alternations in Semitic Monotheism]
If, on the one hand, it is as an upaya that the limitative dogma is given or accepted by
Heaven, it is, on the other hand, because of its limitation that this upaya will be
providentially contradicted by other upayas: hence religious divergences, which are at
once a scandal and a blessing. It is the limitlessness of Atma that necessitates the plurality
of upayas; every limit demands a repetition that completes it while apparently
contradicting it. [LT, Evidence and Mystery]
We have had recourse more than once to the Buddhist notion of upaya, the “saving
stratagem”: now an upaya, by the very fact that it is a means “sanctified by the end,” has
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