In this book, Ms. Bailey provides the great service of examining Eastern thought with a critical mind, with a mind ready to recognize that Eastern thought, just like Western thought, cannot claim absolute wisdom.

It does not come with garments and gestures that inspire awe, asking the Westerner to abandon their crude shortcomings to embrace a mysterious doctrine that encompasses all wonders, because to them it may seem absurd.

If for no other reason, this book is important as an attempt not only to interpret the East and the West and the West in the East but to harmoniously unite the two lines of thought under the same perspective. It remains for the reader to judge whether this integration was successful.

[Excerpt from the text of the preface]