spiritual master
Enlightenment's living conduit
A spiritual master is a teacher or guide in religious or mystical traditions, one regarded as having achieved advanced understanding or enlightenment.
The term implies a relationship in which disciples seek instruction and often surrender to the master's authority: She studied with a spiritual master in India for three years.
Some traditions use specific titles—guru, roshi, swami—but spiritual master serves as a general English term across traditions.
- mysticSeeker of sacred truth
- holy manPious religious devotee
- yogiDevoted meditation practitioner
- priestOne who performs sacraments
- guruRevered authority figure
rabbi · shaman · medicine man · bodhisattva · mentor · sage · wise elder · swami · ascetic · sadhu · seer · lama · teacher · oracle · monk · imam · hermit · reformer
spiritual masterdisciple
Committed follower of teaching
student · seeker · neophyte · beginner · uninitiated
spiritual masterfalse prophet
Deceiver claiming divine insight
charlatan · cult leader · fake guru · con artist · deceiver
spiritual mastermaterialist
Values physical over spiritual
hedonist · atheist · skeptic · secularist · nihilist
spiritual, spiritually, spirituality, spirit, spirits, spirited, spiritedly, dispirit, dispirited