Niyamas (Sanskrit:नियम,romanized: niyama) are positive duties or observances.[1] InDharma, particularlyYoga,niyamas and their complement,yamas, are recommended activities and habits for healthy living, spiritual enlightenment, and a liberated state of existence.[2] It has multiple meanings depending on context in Hinduism. In Buddhism, the term extends to the determinations of nature, as in theBuddhistniyama dhammas.[3]
Niyama (नियम) is derived from the Sanskrit rootniyam (नियम्) which means "to hold". Thus,niyama translates to "rule", "observances", or "practices of self-restraint".[4][5][6]
Within theYoga school ofHindu philosophy,niyamas are described in the eight limbs (steps;ashtanga yoga) of yoga.[7]Niyama is the second limb which includes virtuous habits, behaviors, and observances (the "dos").[8][9] These virtues and ethical premises are considered in Hinduism as necessary for an individual to achieve a liberation ormoksha.[10]
Some texts suggest a different and expanded list ofniyamas. For example, the Shandilya and VarahaUpanishads,[17] theHatha Yoga Pradipika,[18] verses 552 to 557 in Book 3 of theTirumandhiram of Tirumular suggest tenniyamas.[19] The Hatha Yoga Pradipika lists the following ten niyamas in verse 1.18:[18][20]
Tapas (तपस्): persistence, perseverance in one's purpose, austerity[15][16]
Santosha (सन्तोष): contentment, acceptance of others and of one's circumstances as they are, optimism for self[2]
Āstikya (आस्तिक्य): faith in Real Self (jnana yoga, raja yoga), belief in God (bhakti yoga), conviction in Vedas/Upanishads (orthodox school)[21]
Dāna (दान): generosity, charity, sharing with others[22]
Īśvarapūjana (ईश्वरपूजन): worship of the Ishvara (God/Supreme Being,Brahman, True Self, Unchanging Reality)[23]
Huta (हुत): rituals, ceremonies such asyajna sacrifice.
Vrata (व्रत): Fulfilling religious vows, rules and observances faithfully.[27]
Some texts replace the last niyama ofHuta withVrata.[21] The niyama ofVrata means making and keeping one's vows (resolutions), which may be pious observances.[28] For example, a promise to fast and visit a pilgrimage site is a form ofVrata. The education process in ancient India, whereVedas andUpanishads were memorized and transmitted across generations without ever being written down, required a series ofVrata niyamas over a number of years.[29]
At least sixty five ancient and medieval era Indian texts are known so far that discussniyamas.[17] Most are in Sanskrit, but some are in regional Indian languages of Hindus. The number of niyamas mentioned in these texts range from just one to eleven, however five and ten are the most common.[17] The order of listed niyamas, the names and nature of each niyama, as well as the relative emphasis vary between the texts.[21] For example, Sriprashna Samhita discusses only one niyama in verse 3.22 -ahimsa.[17] Shivayoga Dipika, Sharada Tilaka,Vasishtha Samhita, Yoga Kalpalatika, Yajnavalkya Smriti, and many others, each discuss 10niyamas.[17][30] The Bhagavata Purana discusses elevenniyamas, with kind hospitality of guests, to one's best ability, as an additional virtuous behavior. Other texts substitute one or more different concepts in their list ofniyamas. For example, in the fiveniyamas listed by Markandeya Purana in verse 36.17, Matanga Parameshvaram in verse 17.31, andPashupata Sutra in verse 1.9, each suggestakrodha (non-anger) as aniyama.[17][31]
Ahimsa is the most widely discussed ethical theory and highlighted as the highest virtue by majority of these texts.[17]
Buddhist commentary from the 5th to 13th centuries CE contains thepañcavidha niyama, the fivefold niyamas, in the following texts:
In theAṭṭhasālinī (272-274), the commentary attributed to Buddhaghosa on theDhammasangaṅi, the first book of the Theravāda Abhidhamma Piṭaka;[32]
In theSumaṅgala-Vilāsinī (DA 2.431), Buddhaghosa's commentary on theDīgha Nikāya;[33]
In theAbhidhammāvatāra (PTS p. 54), a verse summary ofAbhidhamma by Buddhaghosa's contemporary, Buddhadatta.[34]
Abhidhammamātika Internal Commentary. (p. 58) TheAbhidhamma-mātika is a matrix of abstracts for the Abhidhamma, with lists of pairs and triplets of terms from which the whole of the text can theoretically be reconstructed. The passage on the niyamas is from an internal commentary on the mātika associated with the Dhammasaṅgaṇī (the niyāmas do not appear to be mentioned in the mātrix itself, but only in this appendix.); and was composed in South India by Coḷaraṭṭha Kassapa (12th–13th century).
Abhidhammāvatāra-purāṇatīkā (p. 1.68). Composed in Sri Lanka by Vācissara Mahāsāmi c. 13th century or Sāriputta c. 12th century. This text is an incomplete word-by-word commentary on the text of the Abhidhammāvatāra Nāmarūpa-parichedo (ṭīka).
The five niyamas in this set are:
utu-niyāma "the constraint of the seasons", i.e. in certain regions of the earth at certain periods the flowering and fruiting of trees all at one time (ekappahāreneva), the blowing or ceasing of wind, the degree of the heat of the sun, the amount of rain-fall, some flowers like the lotuses opening during the day and closing at night and so on;
bīja-niyāma "the constraint of seeds or germs", i.e. a seed producing its own kind as barley seed produces barley;
kammaniyāma "the constraint ofkamma", i.e. good actions produce good results and bad actions produce bad results. This constraint is said to be epitomised by [Dhammapada] verse 127 which explains that the consequences of actions are inescapable;
citta-niyāma "the constraint of mind", i.e. the order of the process of mind-activities as the preceding thought-moment causing and conditioning the succeeding one in a cause and effect relation;
dhamma-niyāma "the constraint of dhammas", i.e. such events like the quaking of the ten thousand world-systems at the Bodhisatta's conception in his mother's womb and at his birth. At the end of the discussionSumaṅgalavilāsinī passage the Commentary says thatdhammaniyāma explains the term dhammatā in the text of theMahāpadāna Sutta (D ii.12) (Cf. S 12.20 for a discussion of the use of the worddhammaniyamatā in the suttas)
In these texts the set of fivefold niyamas was introduced into commentarial discussions not to illustrate that the universe was intrinsically ethical, but as a list that demonstrated the universal scope ofpaṭicca-samuppāda. The original purpose was, according toLedi Sayadaw, neither to promote or to demote the law of karma, but to show the scope of natural law as an alternative to the claims of theism.[35]
C.A.F. Rhys Davids was the first western scholar to draw attention to the list ofpañcavidha niyama in her 1912 book,Buddhism. Her reason for mentioning it was to emphasise how for Buddhism we exist in a "moral universe" in which actions lead to just consequences according to a natural moral order, a situation she calls a "cosmodicy" in contrast with the Christian theodicy.:[36][37]
In Rhys Davids' scheme the niyamas become:
kamma niyama: ("action") consequences of one's actions
utu niyama: ("time, season") seasonal changes and climate, law of non-living matter
bīja niyama: ("seed") laws of heredity
citta niyama:("mind") will of mind
dhamma niyama: ("law") nature's tendency to perfect
This is similar to the scheme proposed by Ledi Sayadaw.[38] Western BuddhistSangharakshita has taken up Caroline Rhys Davids' conception of the niyamas and made it an important aspect of his own teachings on Buddhism.[39]
In Pāli the word is spelled bothniyama andniyāma, and the Pali Text Society Dictionary says that the two forms have become confused.[40] It is likely thatniyāma is from a causative form of the verbni√i.[citation needed]
^Cusack, Carmen (2012). "Alternative dispute resolution and niyama, the second limb of Yoga Sutra".Journal of Peace Education and Social Justice.6 (2):107–122.
^Chicago, The University of; Libraries (CRL), Center for Research."Digital South Asia Library".dsal.uchicago.edu. Retrieved4 June 2024.
^Sivasubramaniam, Thirunavukkarasu (24 May 2019)."Niyama".Classic Yoga. Retrieved4 June 2024.
^Original: तपः सन्तोष आस्तिक्यं दानम् ईश्वरपूजनम् । सिद्धान्तवाक्यश्रवणं ह्रीमती च तपो हुतम् । नियमा दश सम्प्रोक्ता योगशास्त्रविशारदैः ॥१८॥ See:Hatha Yoga Pradipika; Note: this free on-line source author lists Tapas twice in the list of niyamas; others list the second last word of second line in the above as जपो, orJapa
^Hartmut Scharfe, Handbook of Oriental Studies - Education in Ancient India, Brill,ISBN978-9004125568, pages 217-222
^K. V. Gajendragadkar (2007), Neo-upanishadic Philosophy, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, University of California Archives,OCLC1555808, pages 96-97
^S. Dasgupta (2012), A History of Indian Philosophy, Volume 5, Motilal Banarsidas,ISBN978-8120804166, pages 134-136
^Aṭṭhasālinī: Buddhaghosa’s Commentary on the Dhammasaṅgani. ed. E. Muller, PTS 1979 (orig. 1897) p.272, para. 562; trans. Pe Maung Tin as The Expositor PTS London 1921 vol.II p.360.
^Sumaṅgala-Vilāsinī, Buddhaghosa’s Commentary on the Dīgha Nikāya. ed. W. Stede PTS 1931 p.432.
^Abhidhammāvatāra in Buddhadatta’s Manuals. ed. AP Buddhadatta PTS 1980 (orig. 1915) p.54.
^Manuals of Buddhism. Bangkok: Mahamakut Press 1978. Niyama-Dipani was trans. (from Pāli) by Beni M. Barua, rev. and ed. C.A.F. Rhys Davids, n.d.
^The Three Jewels Windhorse 1977 (originally published 1967) Windhorse pp.69–70; and in the lecture ‘Karma and Rebirth’, in edited form inWho is the Buddha? Windhorse 1994, pp.105–8.
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