Comparable Across Traditions

The recurrence of practices across traditions makes them a natural point of comparison: fasting in Ramadan, in Lent, on Yom Kippur and in Hindu vratas can be set alongside one another, as can the meditative disciplines of Buddhism, Hinduism and Christian contemplation. The atlas describes each in its own tradition's terms while making such comparison possible.

The practices group by kind (devotional, ascetic, meditative, ethical, purificatory, ecstatic and the rest), so a browser can move through, say, the meditative practices of many traditions together. Set rites are treated as rituals; sustained practices are treated here.