Nontheist currents in Eastern spirituality are best approached through those classical sources that place liberation, insight, and ethical cultivation at the center, rather than devotion to a creator-god. Early Buddhist texts are foundational here: the discourses of the Pāli Canon, especially collections such as the Dhammapada, the Majjhima Nikāya, the Saṃyutta Nikāya, and the Sutta Nipāta, articulate a path grounded in the Four Noble Truths, non-self, and meditative discipline. Within this early material, the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta stands out as a systematic presentation of mindfulness and insight practice. Later Buddhist developments deepen this nontheist orientation: the Heart Sūtra and Diamond Sūtra from the Prajñāpāramitā corpus, along with Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, explore emptiness and dependent arising in a rigorously non-substantialist way, while Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra integrates ethics, compassion, and wisdom without appeal to a creator deity.

Chan and Zen writings carry this same spirit into a more experiential register. The Platform Sūtra of the Sixth Patriarch presents sudden awakening and inherent mind-nature as directly accessible, while Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō reflects on non-duality, time, and practice-realization in a manner that leaves little room for theistic dependence. Koan collections such as the Gateless Gate and the Blue Cliff Record function as catalysts for insight, using paradox and shock to loosen attachment to conceptual thinking. These texts exemplify a spirituality that trusts direct experience and disciplined practice over metaphysical speculation about divine beings.

Outside Buddhism, several Hindu and Jain sources articulate paths that can be read in a nontheist or transtheist key. The principal Upaniṣads, including works such as the Bṛhadāraṇyaka, Chāndogya, Kena, Īśa, Muṇḍaka, and Māṇḍūkya, approach ultimate reality and liberation in a largely philosophical mode, while texts like the Ashtavakra Gītā and the Yoga Sūtra of Patañjali emphasize inner realization, detachment, and meditative discipline more than ritual or devotional dependence. The Sāṃkhya Kārikā offers a compact vision of liberation through discerning consciousness from nature, and Jain works such as the Tattvārtha Sūtra, the Ācāranga Sūtra, and the Sūtrakṛtāṅga present a rigorous path of nonviolence, ethical restraint, and karmic purification that does not rely on divine grace.

Chinese traditions add further dimensions to this landscape. The Dao De Jing and the Zhuangzi present the Dao as an impersonal, ineffable principle, inviting a life of simplicity, spontaneity, and alignment with a reality that is not personified as a creator-god. Confucian texts such as the Analects, the Mencius, the Great Learning, and the Doctrine of the Mean articulate a form of spiritual cultivation rooted in virtue, sincerity, and harmonious relationships, again without centering religious life on a personal deity. Taken together, these works sketch a broad, interwoven tapestry of Eastern spiritual paths in which liberation, wisdom, and ethical refinement arise from disciplined inquiry and practice rather than from the favor of a supreme being.