Can Christians, Non-Jews, and Buddhists Study Kabbalah?

There are many misconceptions around who is and isn't permitted to study Kabbalah.

Many of these misconceptions stem from past prohibitions, where for instance, unmarried men under the age of 40 as well as women were not allowed to study Kabbalah. 

However, from the time of Kabbalist Isaac Luria (the Ari) onward, the wisdom of Kabbalah has been open to all men, women and children. 

The only prerequisite for studying Kabbalah is a desire for spirituality. One can study even without a desire for spirituality, but those who will continue studying and find a path to fulfill their souls are the ones who will specifically turn to this wisdom in order to answer the question about the meaning of life. 

Therefore, whether or not one is Jewish, or has or has not studied the Talmud is irrelevant for the study of Kabbalah. 

Kabbalah is also not religion nor mysticism, and anyone in any religion can study Kabbalah in addition to whatever they’re studying. That is, there is nothing in the wisdom of Kabbalah about a belief in a higher power. On the contrary, the wisdom of Kabbalah is a science: a science of attaining how nature works and why.

All that is relevant is one’s desire: whether the wisdom responds to what one searches for. In addition, Rav Avraham Yitzhak HaCohen Kook answered the question of who can study Kabbalah with the simple words: “Anyone who wishes it.”

Kabbalah teaches how any person can attain the revelation of the higher level of reality. It is written: “For they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them” (Jeremiah 31, 33). This means that every person will ultimately attain the complete perception and sensation of reality in its entirety, and not just the limited part we perceive with our five senses.