Self-evident
We are accustomed by unenlightened scholars and partisan religionists to think of Vedanta, Taoism, Buddhism, and the other “isms,” as separate and distinct religious philosophies; but they are, in fact, but different names for the one perennial philosophy of the mystics.
Having originated independently in different lands and different times by different seers, each of these “isms” possesses its own ideosyncratic language, its own literary heritage; yet the message of the mystics remains undeviatingly the same.
All true mystics have accentuated the need for that personal enlightenment or realization by which the true nature of Reality becomes self-evident. And all have stressed that this enlightenment is attainable, not through much learning, alms-giving, or through following the precepts of ritualized religion, but only through devotion to, and contemplation of, one’s own essential Being.
From, History of Mysticism, by S Abhayananda. You can download this free eBook Here