In a world increasingly interconnected and fractious, cross-cultural dialogue about metaphysics matters more than ever. This essential resource introduces us to the multitude of ways philosophers make sense of things.

Drawing on China, Japan, the Indic world, Islamic and European thought as well as pre-colonial African and pre-Spanish meso-American traditions, a team of leading philosophers and historians of ideas bring case studies, texts, themes and thinkers of very different thought worlds into conversation, including:

- The Xunzi and Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed
- Spinoza and Wang Bi on substance and change
- The Mayan Popul Vuh and Ibn Arabi on the human role in constructing the cosmos
- Kukai and Gregory Palamas on essence and energy

On the basis of this exceptionally rich and diverse canvas, they reflect on the connections between reality, emptiness, mind and consciousness, asking questions of enduring human significance such as: What is realness? What is beyond the real? What is personhood? How do we order our world? How should we live? Crossing cultures, languages, and history, the authors' inclusive approach liberates the tradition of metaphysics and comparative philosophy from the constraints of a Western or Eurocentric interpretation.