Ideas across traditions · meditation · Renaissance & Early Modern Europe

spiritual exercises

Works in 13 traditions beyond Renaissance & Early Modern Europe attest this concept, on 676 cited pages. Translators have rendered it as “askesis”, “geistliche ubungen”, “exercitia spiritualia”, “ascetic discipline” and 6 other ways; a link through a rendering is marked as such, because another translator chose differently.

Also under: “askesis” · “geistliche ubungen” · “exercitia spiritualia” · “ascetic discipline” · “exercices spirituels” · “riyadat” · “riyada” · “askeseos” · “ascesis” · “riyazat”

100works in other traditions, with a cited page

3works in Renaissance & Early Modern Europe, its home tradition on the maps

76further works where only a vocabulary list or keyword names it; not shown

3judged analogues in other traditions (a different word for a neighbouring idea)

Analogues, judged

A different word, in another tradition, that a reviewer judged to name a neighbouring idea. These are not attestations of spiritual exercises; each carries the reviewer’s confidence and reason.

yoga Indian70%glossed 'union/spiritual discipline' - a whole Indian discipline, adjacent not equivalent
sādhana Tibetan70%Indian 'spiritual practice', a parallel discipline - and its evidence also glosses 'means/method'
mortification Christian70%glossed 'putting to death'/'suffering, chastening' - an adjacent Christian ascetic practice, not the exercises

In other traditions

Ordered by the earliest work in each tradition that attests the concept. Within a tradition, works run from earliest to latest by conventional composition date.

At home in Renaissance & Early Modern Europe

1482Ficino, Theologia Platonica XIII (on dreams, prophecy and the vacant soul)a translator’s rendering1 page · 30 editions
- askeseosome there is need not of rest, but of intense and violent torture (torture, Pfeiff. badly)."** Others say **"exercise"**Plotini Opera Omnia cum Ficini commentariis, 1835, p. 409 · flagged as a term by the translator
1585John of the Cross, works (Ascent of Mount Carmel, Dark Night, Living Flame)same word and a translator’s rendering28 pages · 3 editions
- spiritual exercises — geistliche Ubungenoul finds a sweet spiritual milk without any difficulty in all things concerning God, along with a great pleasure in itsDie geistreiche Bücher oder Schrifften, 1753, p. -197 · flagged as a term by the translator
1585John of the Cross, Ascent of Mount Carmel / Dark Night / Living Flamesame word and a translator’s rendering28 pages · 3 editions
- spiritual exercises — geistliche Ubungenoul finds a sweet spiritual milk without any difficulty in all things concerning God, along with a great pleasure in itsDie geistreiche Bücher oder Schrifften, 1753, p. -197 · flagged as a term by the translator

Evidence gate. A work is listed only where a translator marked the word as a term with a gloss, or kept the original word beside the English, on at least one page of a held edition. Vocabulary lists and keywords alone do not count: in a Greek vocabulary list ἡσυχία is the ordinary word for quiet. Up to 3 pages are shown per work, preferring those with a gloss. The vocabulary was built 2026-09-11; the graph on 2026-09-13.

Analogues, judged

In other traditions

Zoroastrianfrom 1000 BCE · 2 works

Hebrew & Jewishfrom 500 BCE · 5 works

Greekfrom 450 BCE · 6 works

Hellenistic & Late Antiquefrom 350 BCE · 16 works

Hermetic & Gnosticfrom 150 CE · 3 works

Early Christian & Monasticfrom 225 CE · 11 works

Syriac & Armenianfrom 400 CE · 5 works

Byzantine & Orthodoxfrom 600 CE · 5 works

Arabicfrom 925 CE · 22 works

Persianfrom 1070 · 16 works

Medieval Latinfrom 1300 · 5 works

Turkicfrom 1564 · 1 work

Modern Europeanfrom 1818 · 3 works

At home in Renaissance & Early Modern Europe