One theme. Many voices.

Often remembered for teaching love of neighbor, care for the vulnerable, and forgiveness.

• Love your neighbor as yourself, and even love those who oppose you.
• Care for the poor, the sick, the stranger, and the forgotten.

Traditionally understood as teaching a path of compassion, mindfulness, and the easing of suffering.

• All beings deserve compassion.
• Suffering arises from craving and clinging; freedom comes through awareness.

Central themes include mercy, charity, care for the poor, and the oneness of humanity before God.

• Show mercy and you will be shown mercy.
• Give in charity, especially to those in greatest need.

Associated with liberation from oppression and a moral law centered on justice and dignity.

• Care for the stranger, for you too were once a stranger.
• Pursue justice for the vulnerable.

Associated with teachings on humility, simplicity, and harmony with the natural way of things.

• The soft and yielding often overcomes the hard.
• Lead by stepping back; serve by listening.

Often remembered for teaching ethical relationships, integrity, and a kind of golden rule.

• Do not do to others what you would not want done to you.
• Cultivate sincerity and integrity in small daily acts.

Central themes include equality, honest work, shared meals, and remembrance of the divine.

• All human beings are equal in dignity.
• Serve others — the langar (shared meal) is open to everyone.

Often remembered for simplicity, care for the poor, peacemaking, and reverence for creation.

• Where there is hatred, sow love; where there is injury, pardon.
• Live simply so others may simply live.

Associated with poetry on love, longing, and the unity beneath apparent differences.

• Beyond ideas of right and wrong, there is a field — meet me there.
• Let yourself be silently drawn by what you truly love.

Often remembered for serving the dying and destitute on the streets of Kolkata.

• Do small things with great love.
• The dignity of the dying matters as much as the dignity of the living.

Associated with nonviolence, truth-telling, and dignified resistance to injustice.

• Be the change you wish to see in the world.
• Nonviolence is the weapon of the strong.