What have wisdom traditions taught about love, and how does love take shape in the way we live with other people?
These passages speak directly about love as a human practice: loving others, the character of a loving person, and the place of love in a well-lived life.
Common Ground
These traditions teach that love is a defining quality of a wise person and a natural expression of the human soul. The Dhammapada names love alongside truth and virtue as the mark of a mature person. Marcus Aurelius writes that loving one's neighbor is natural to the human soul and that we should love mankind. Sikhism teaches that love is the crucible through which truth becomes real in a person's life. Across these sources, love is a practice and a quality of character, placed at the center of what it means to live well.
He in whom there is truth, virtue, love, restraint, moderation, he who is free from impurity and is wise, he is called an elder.
Buddhism - The Dhammapada, v. 261-263, F. Max Müller, 1881
Read in the libraryAll men tremble at punishment, all men fear death; remember that you are like unto them, and do not kill, nor cause slaughter. All men tremble at punishment, all men love life; remember that you are like unto them, and do not kill, nor cause slaughter.
Buddhism - The Dhammapada, v. 129-130, F. Max Müller, 1881
Read in the libraryFinally, love mankind; obey God.
Stoicism - Meditations, Book VII, Marcus Aurelius, Meric Casaubon, 1634
Read in the libraryAs proper is it, and natural to the soul of man to love her neighbour, to be true and modest; and to regard nothing so much as herself: which is also the property of the law.
Stoicism - Meditations, Book XI, Marcus Aurelius, Meric Casaubon, 1634
Read in the libraryTrue is the Master, True is His Name. Speak it with infinite love.
Sikhism - Guru Granth Sahib, Section 01 - Jup, Part 002
Read in the libraryIn the crucible of love, melt the Nectar of the Name, and mint the True Coin of the Shabad, the Word of God.
Sikhism - Guru Granth Sahib, Section 01 - Jup, Part 003
Read in the libraryDifferent Paths
Buddhism
Buddhism grounds love in the recognition of shared vulnerability: all beings love life and fear death, and this shared nature calls us to protect them.
Browse Buddhism sourcesStoicism
Stoicism frames love as natural to the rational soul: we love our neighbor because it is proper to our nature as reasoning beings, and because the universe itself is a shared community.
Browse Stoicism sourcesSikhism
Sikhism places love at the center of devotion: love is the way truth is internalized and expressed, the refining fire through which a person becomes what they are meant to be.
Browse Sikhism sourcesSources
All passages are drawn from public domain sources. Read them in full in the library.