The Upaniṣads · उपनिषद्

The end-portion of the Vedas — vedānta — and the turn from ritual outward to enquiry inward. Composed across centuries as dialogues: a boy who out-waits Death for an answer, a father teaching his son with salt dissolved in water, a sage who answers every question about the absolute by saying neti neti, not this, not this. Their great sayings are four short sentences: tat tvam asi (that thou art), ahaṃ brahmāsmi (I am Brahman), prajñānaṃ brahma, ayam ātmā brahma. The neti neti method is the door's cleanest formal rhyme with the Kabbalah — the same via negativa that strips every attribute from Ein Sof. Two traditions that decided the only honest way to point at the absolute is to keep saying what it is not.