Every culture dreams of mastery: over body, mind, and fate. But in the East, those dreams became sciences—complete systems for cultivating energy (qi, prāṇa), concentration, and insight.

This 10-week online program explores the historical evolution and inner logic of the “siddhi traditions” of Hinduism, Taoism, and Buddhism, tracing how each moved through three great phases of spiritual power:

1. Discipline and Concentration – powers born of focus and self-mastery.
2. Energetic Embodiment – powers born of awakening the subtle body.
3. Wisdom and Grace – powers transmuted into compassion and effortless action.

This course follows that three-stage historical progression inside Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism, revealing the shared architecture of the siddhi path and the unique flavor of each tradition’s genius. Thus, combining classical texts, scholarly interpretation, and experiential reflection, the course invites participants to understand—and personally contemplate—how “miraculous” capacities were seen as milestones on the path toward awakening.

Course Flow (10 Weeks)

Week 1 — Introduction: The Human Quest for Power and Presence
We begin with the psychology, philosophy, and neuroscience of extraordinary capacities.

What exactly are siddhis? What differentiates miracle from mastery?
You’ll meet the key Sanskrit and Chinese terms—siddhi, abhijñā, shéntōng—and trace how they were understood as both scientific phenomena and expressions of grace.

Weeks 2 – 4: Hinduism — From Yoga to Tantra to Vedānta

• Week 2: The Yogic Age — Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtras and the eight classical siddhis. Concentration, control, and the disciplined path of mastery.
• Week 3: The Tantric Revolution — Śiva and Śakti, Kundalinī and the subtle body. Siddhis as the play of divine energy in Haṭha and Kashmir Śaivism.
• Week 4: Vedānta and Bhakti — The turn toward wisdom and devotion. How Yogananda, Aurobindo, and Ramana reinterpreted siddhis as by-products of realization.

Weeks 5 – 7: Buddhism — From Concentration to Compassion to Suchness

• Week 5: Early Buddhism — The Six Abhijñās of the Buddha: clairvoyance, telepathy, levitation, and their role in the jhānas.
• Week 6: Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna — Bodhisattvas and tantric adepts. The union of wisdom and power through mantra, mudrā, and visualization.
• Week 7: Chan, Zen, and Dzogchen — The final transcendence of miracle. When every act is a siddhi because nothing is apart from awakening.

Weeks 8 – 10: Taoism — From Natural Virtue to Inner Alchemy to Complete Perfection

• Week 8: Philosophical Taoism — Laozi, Zhuangzi, and the power of wu wei. The spontaneous siddhi of harmony.
• Week 9: Religious and Alchemical Taoism — The Shangqing and Lingbao revelations; transformation of jing–qi–shen into light and immortality.
• Week 10: Quanzhen and the Inner Way — When power becomes purity. Meditation, virtue, and the supreme siddhi of effortless resonance with the Dao.

What You’ll Gain

• A panoramic understanding of three civilizations’ approaches to spiritual power.
• A working vocabulary of the key texts, lineages, and practices where siddhis appear.
• Insight into the psychology of the extraordinary—how concentration, energy, and nonduality unfold as a single continuum.
• Reflection prompts and optional meditative exercises for direct exploration.
• A recognition that the greatest siddhi may be not walking on water, but walking through the world with wisdom, love, and grace.

By the end of the course you will:

• Understand the three-stage siddhi framework and how it unfolds differently in Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism.
• Recognize key texts, concepts, and historical figures within each lineage.
• Analyze how cultural, metaphysical, and psychological assumptions shape views of spiritual power and human potential.
• Reflect on your own relationship to mastery, energy, and grace.
• Appreciate the ultimate teaching common to all three paths: that the highest siddhi is liberated awareness itself. 

Who This Course Is For

Scholars, practitioners, and curious seekers alike—anyone fascinated by consciousness studies, esoteric philosophy, comparative mysticism, or the outer edges of human potential. No previous background in these contemplative traditions is required; intellectual openness and a taste for wonder are.

Join the Journey

Across ten weeks, you’ll traverse millennia of wisdom—from Himalayan caves to Tang-dynasty temples, from Indian forests to Zen gardens—discovering how humanity’s vision of the “superhuman” ultimately returns to the fully human.

Join a global community exploring the frontiers of human potential. Discover how the sages of India, China, and Tibet understood the science—and the transcendence—of spiritual power.