Frithjof Schuon Archive
A Resource on Frithjof Schuon’s Life and Teachings
This site is the most comprehensive repository of information pertaining to the life and work of Frithjof Schuon (1907-1998); materials include published articles, personal correspondence, private papers, poems, photographs, and works of art.
Frithjof Schuon is the preeminent spokesman of a school of thought that focuses on the expression and explanation of the Perennial Philosophy. This philosophy expresses the timeless metaphysical truths underlying the diverse religions; its written sources include the revealed Scriptures as well as the writings of the great spiritual masters. Because these truths are permanent and universal, the point of view may thus be called “Perennialist.” The Perennial Philosophy is an important perspective that can inform the study of Comparative Religion, Anthropology, Art, Literature, and many related areas.
Schuon was a philosopher in the tradition of Plato, Shankara, and Eckhart, and he wrote over two dozen books on religion, metaphysics, sacred art, and the spiritual path. Describing Schuon’s first book, The Transcendent Unity of Religions, Nobel laureate T. S. Eliot wrote, “I have met with no more impressive work in the comparative study of Oriental and Occidental religion”, and world-renowned religion scholar Huston Smith said of Schuon, “The man is a living wonder; intellectually apropos religion, equally in depth and breadth, the paragon of our time”. Schuon’s books have been translated into over a dozen languages and are respected by academic and religious authorities alike. Schuon’s writings remain unequaled in setting forth the principles of perennialist thought as well as their applications on the spiritual, aesthetic, and other related levels.
Besides his accomplishments as an author, Frithjof Schuon was also a gifted artist and poet. His art and his poetry flowed naturally from his awareness of God’s Presence in creation. Catalogue notes from a museum display of Schuon’s art explain that “springing as they do from his rich and unique personality, Schuon’s paintings…have a rare value, not only as regards artistic merit but above all because of their gift for manifesting the human soul at its noblest and most beautiful—hence, as a vehicle for Truth.” The sense of the sacred figures as much in Schuon’s art and poetry as in his philosophical writings.
The story of Schuon’s life presented in these pages demonstrates how his own intellect, personality, and actions reflected the elevated metaphysics, spiritual insights, and artistic creations that comprised his body of work.
This online resource brings together, through a survey of his many-faceted dimensions, Frithjof Schuon’s important contributions to the manifestations of the timeless Truth.
Featured Books
Gnosis – Göttliche Weisheit
The first part of the book deals with questions related to the diversity of religious traditions; the second with metaphysical and anthropological topics, including the insightful essay “Seeing God Everywhere”; the third is devoted to Christianity from the point of view of gnosis.
Featured Poems
Adastra and Stella Maris: Poems by Frithjof Schuon-Tantra
When thou seest the True in Mâyâ’s play:In woman, or in the beauty of Nature,Then — says Abhinavagupta — it is God Who shows HimselfIn forms; the form is none other than Âtmâ.This is not idolatry, but deep insight;Those who cling to the letter cannot...
Adastra and Stella Maris: Poems by Frithjof Schuon-Religio
Discern what is good in God’s eyes,Whether thou be Jew, Christian or Moslem;Religion does not mean persecuting others,Religio is what binds us to God —And nothing else. The world needs many forms —In God alone are the norms of Eternal Truth.From both sources thou...
Adastra and Stella Maris: Poems by Frithjof Schuon-Both
Diverse stars are the homeland of our life:The nearness of God, and remoteness of God;On the one hand, God reveals Himself in all things —And on the other, the world tends toward the naught.Affirmation sees what radiates on God’s earth;Negation wills that all things...
Adastra and Stella Maris: Poems by Frithjof Schuon-Wakan Tanka
Indian world: nature and wild grandeur;No lies that cover your proud nakedness.Hardness and beauty; eagle and sun;Battle and prayer is your life’s path.The Great Spirit: in Heaven and in things,In animal and man, in creatures’ struggling;Play, heroism, and never...
Featured Articles
Book Review of “In the Tracks of Buddhism”
Christopher Woodman reviews Frithjof Schuon’s In the Tracks of Buddhism, discussing both the material of the book and the difficult language it is presented in. Woodman calls the book “as difficult as it is important” and “uncompromising”; deeply informative and deeply challenging, the latter due to the terse wording which forces the reader to pay rapt attention. According to Woodman, the book assumes a certain familiarity with Buddhism on the part of the reader, with the exception of the traditions of Jodo and Shinto which are gone into in detail and explained assuming a poorer understanding.
Foreword to “The Fullness of God”
Thoughts on Reading Frithjof Schuon’s Writings on Art
Frithjof Schuon and the American Indian Spirit: Interview with Michael Fitzgerald
It is generally recognized that Frithjof Schuon had a special interest in the spiritual traditions of the American Indians, but only some aspects of his relationship with them are well known. The online journal Vincit Omnia Veritas, which published six issues between 2005 and 2007, interviewed Michael Fitzgerald on the subject of Schuon’s many decades of interest in, and study of, American Indian spirituality in its many dimensions. This interview, posted on the Religio Perennis website, remains one of the most in-depth explications of Schuon’s frequent focus on many aspects of American Indian traditions. Fitzgerald also gives some important historical context to the life and times of Schuon, to his American Indian contacts and friends, and to the work of Joseph Epes Brown, a scholar of Indian Studies and a friend to both Black Elk and Schuon.