Spiritual Sciences of Buddhism and Yoga: Where the Paths Converge

I. Buddhism

II. Yoga

III. Overlap•History: In a Nutshell•Philosophy: Buddhism and Patanjali’s Classical Yoga•A Few Techniques: Buddhism and Yoga•(Pyschology of)•(In Western Psychology)

Buddhism•4 Noble Truths•Noble Eightfold Path•The Four Immeasurables (Minds, Limitless Ones): Love, Compassion, Joy, Equanimity.

Buddhism Review!

The Fourth Noble Truths The Eightfold Path

The truth of suffering (Dukkha)

The truth of the origin of suffering (Samudāya)

The truth of the cessation of suffering (Nirodha)

The truth of the path to the cessation of suffering (Magga)

Siddhartha Gautama•An aristocrat born during the Upanishadic era, into the Shakya clan of Koshala, a country situated at the southern border of Nepal•“I had been wounded by the enjoyment of the world, and I had come out longing to obtain peace.” He joins thousands of renunciates at 29 years old, in search of wisdom•Arada Kalapa of Magadha, taught a form of Upanishadic Yoga (“the sphere of no-thing-ness, “akimcanya-ayatana)•Rudraka Ramaputra of Vaishali, “the sphere of neither consciousness nor unconsciousness,” naiva-amjna-asamjna-ayatana•6 years of intense meditation with five other yoga adepts, near death, travel, bodhi tree in May, Bodhgaya

13-16th centuries: Muslim Invasions in India

Some of Buddha’s Relics at Sarnarth

Our enthusiastic tour guide!

The Indian Subcontinent

Lumbini, Bodhgaya, Sarnarth, Nalanda, Mohenjodaro, Indus Valley

What is yoga?

YOGA = ???

YOGA . . . Sanskrit for “yoke,” to join, to

connectHas had different meanings in

various erasThe psychospiritual technology of

India, aspects of which are found in Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism and Jainism

All branches and schools of yoga have one thing in common: “samadhi”

What are some schools of yoga?

Oldest known forms of documented yoga

Also: Japa, Laya, Kundalini, Mantra, Kriya. Some overlap in concepts due to geography/time

Hatha YogaPerfection of the body through

transmutationPreparation for Raja Yoga (the yoga of

meditation)First emerged around1100 ADHatha Yoga Pradipika (15thc CE): 15

postures, mostly seatedGheranda Samhita (17thc CE): Shat

KarmasSiva Samhita (18thc CE): 84 AsanasBasis for most of what is practiced in

popularized American yoga

How old is yoga?First possible archaeological

evidence of yoga/meditation found in the Indus Valley (3000-1900 BCE)

Seal from the Indus Valley

How old is yoga?First possible archaeological

evidence of yoga/meditation found in the Indus Valley (3000-1900 BCE)

Philosophical foundations rooted in the Vedas (“the end of knowledge,” connoting the dawn of wisdom , pre-1900 BCE)

Rigveda manuscript in Devanagari, early 19th century. Originally on birch bark or palm leaves. Largely oral until the rise of Buddhism.

“Everything has come down to us from the banks of the Ganges.“ ~ Francois Voltaire

How old is yoga?First possible archaeological

evidence of yoga/meditation found in the Indus Valley (3000-1900 BCE)

Philosophical foundations rooted in the Vedas (“the end of knowledge,” the dawn of wisdom, pre-1900 BCE)

First mention of the word “yoga” in the Taittiriya-Upanishad (2.4.1) as a controlling of the senses (1200-500 BCE)

A page from the Upanishads

How old is yoga?First possible archaeological evidence of

yoga found in the Indus Valley (3000-1900 BCE)

Philosophical foundations rooted in the Vedas (“the end of knowledge,” connoting the dawn of wisdom , 1500-1000 BCE)

First mention of the word “yoga” in the Taittiriya-Upanishad (2.4.1) as a controlling of the senses (1200-500 BCE)

Baghavad Gita defines three primary paths of yoga: Jnana, Karma, Bhakti, Raja (500-200 BCE)

Arjuna and Krishna

In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavad-gita, in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seem puny and trivial. Henry David Thoreau

Raja YogaAlso known as Patanjali,

Ashtanga, or Classical Yoga100 – 500 CEHeavily influenced by Buddhist

teachings (Nalanda University)Dualist, as opposed to the non-

dualist views of Vedanta (3000-1200 BCE), the Upanishads 1200-500 BCE), and Tantra (500-1500 CE), etc.

Common Techniques: Mudras

Hasta Mudras, nadi/sen/meridian lines, rituals, dance, healing

Common Techniques: Mandalas & YantrasFocusing device for the meditatorA map of the cosmos and the

psycheThe construction of the mandala

is a meditative act in which the initiate identifies with the specific deity or deities of the mandala and gradually passes through the various psychic experiences and states corresponding to the different aspects of the psychocosmogram.

Tibetan Mandala

Amitayus Mandala

Yogic Yantra

Anahata Yantra

Common Techniques: MantrasMan – mindTra – instrument

Common Techniques: Meditation

ReferencesCope, Stephen: The Wisdom of YogaFeuerstein, Georg: The Yoga Tradition (Chpt. 7: Yoga In Buddhism)Joshi, Lal Mani: Discerning the Buddha: A Study of Buddhism and of the Brahmanical Hindu Attitude to ItStone, Michael: Writing on the Connections Between Yoga and BuddhismTandon, SN: A Reappraisal of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras in the Light of Buddha’s TeachingArchaeology OnlineThe Story of India, a BBC and PBS 6-part seriesThe Teaching Company: Confucius, Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed