Yoga may have pre-Vedic origins,[c] but is first attested in the early first millennium BCE. It developed as various traditions in the eastern Ganges basin drew from a common body of practices, includingVedic elements.[7][8] Yoga-like practices are mentioned in theRigveda[9] and a number of earlyUpanishads,[10][11][12][d] but systematic yoga concepts emerge during the fifth and sixth centuries BCE in ancient India'sascetic andŚramaṇa movements, including Jainism and Buddhism.[13] TheYoga Sutras of Patanjali, the classical text on Hindu yoga,samkhya-based but influenced by Buddhism, dates to the early centuries of theCommon Era.[14][15][e]Hatha yoga texts began to emerge between the ninth and 11th centuries, originating intantra.[f]
Yoga is practiced worldwide,[16] but "yoga" in the Western world often entails a modern form of Hatha yoga and aposture-based physical fitness, stress-relief and relaxation technique,[17] consisting largely ofasanas;[18] this differs from traditional yoga, which focuses onmeditation and release from worldly attachments.[19][17][20][a] It was introduced bygurus fromIndia after the success ofSwami Vivekananda's adaptation of yoga without asanas in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[21] Vivekananda introduced theYoga Sutras to the West, and they became prominent after the 20th-century success of hatha yoga.[22]
TheSanskrit nounयोगyoga is derived from the rootyuj (युज्) "to attach, join, harness, yoke".[23][24] According to Jones and Ryan, "The word yoga is derived from the root yuj, "to yoke", probably because the early practice concentrated on restraining or "yoking in" the senses. Later the name was also seen as a metaphor for "linking" or "yoking to" the divine."[24]
Buswell and Lopez translate "yoga" as "'bond', 'restraint', and by extension "spiritual discipline."[25] Flood refers to restraining the mind as yoking the mind.[26]
Yoga is acognate of theEnglish word "yoke," since both are derived from anIndo-European root.[27] According toMikel Burley, the first use of the root of the word "yoga" is in hymn 5.81.1 of theRigveda, a dedication to the rising Sun-god, where it has been interpreted as "yoke" or "control".[28][29][g]
Pāṇini (4th c. BCE) wrote that the termyoga can be derived from either of two roots:yujir yoga (to yoke) oryuj samādhau ("to concentrate").[31] In the context of theYoga Sutras, the rootyuj samādhau (to concentrate) is considered the correct etymology by traditional commentators.[32] In accordance with Pāṇini,Vyasa (who wrote the first commentary on theYoga Sutras)[33] says that yoga meanssamadhi (concentration).[34] Larson notes that in the Vyāsa Bhāsy the term "samadhi" refers to "all levels of mental life" (sārvabhauma), that is, "all possible states of awareness, whether ordinary or extraordinary".[35]
A person who practices yoga, or follows the yoga philosophy with a high level of commitment, is called ayogi; a female yogi may also be known as ayogini.[36]
Definition
Definitions in classical texts
The term "yoga" has been defined in different ways in Indian philosophical and religious traditions.
"Because in this manner he joins thePrana (breath), theOm, and this Universe in its manifold forms, or because they join themselves (to him), therefore this (process of meditation) is called Yoga (joining). The oneness of breath, mind, and senses, and then the surrendering of all conceptions, that is called Yoga"[38]
"Pleasure and suffering arise as a result of the drawing together of the sense organs, the mind and objects. When that does not happen because the mind is in the self, there is no pleasure or suffering for one who is embodied. That is yoga" (5.2.15–16)[39]
"When the five senses, along with the mind, remain still and the intellect is not active, that is known as the highest state. They consider yoga to be firm restraint of the senses. Then one becomes un-distracted for yoga is the arising and the passing away" (6.10–11)[40]
1.2.yogas chitta vritti nirodhah – "Yoga is the calming down the fluctuations/patterns of mind" 1.3. Then theSeer is established in his own essential and fundamental nature. 1.4. In other states there is assimilation (of the Seer) with the modifications (of the mind).[43]
Yogabhasya
same asYoga Sutras
yoga samadhih - "samadhi is yoga,"[44] referring toekagrata, one-pointedness, andniruddha, that is, contentless samadhi (asamprajnata-samadhi)[35]
"With conviction, the lords of Yogins have in our doctrine defined yoga as the concurrence (sambandhah) of the three [correct knowledge (sajjñana), correct doctrine (saddarsana) and correct conduct (saccaritra)] beginning with correct knowledge, since [thereby arises] conjunction with liberation....In common usage this [term] yoga also [denotes the Self's] contact with the causes of these [three], due to the common usage of the cause for the effect." (2, 4).[46][47]
"It is said in the treatises on yoga: 'Yoga is the means of perceiving reality' (atha tattvadarsanabhyupāyo yogah)" (2.1.3)[49]
Mālinīvijayottara Tantra, one of the primary authorities in non-dualKashmir Shaivism
6th–10th century CE
"Yoga is said to be the oneness of one entity with another." (4.4–8)[50][51]
Mrgendratantravrtti, of theShaiva Siddhanta scholar Narayanakantha
6th–10th century CE
"To have self-mastery is to be a Yogin. The term Yogin means "one who is necessarily "conjoined with" the manifestation of his nature...the Siva-state (sivatvam)" (yp 2a)[52][51]
Śaradatilaka of Lakshmanadesikendra, aShaktaTantra work
11th century CE
"Yogic experts state that yoga is the oneness of the individual Self (jiva) with the atman. Others understand it to be the ascertainment of Siva and the Self as non-different. The scholars of the Agamas say that it is a Knowledge which is of the nature of Siva's Power. Other scholars say it is the knowledge of the primordial Self." (25.1–3b)[53][54]
"The union of apana and prana, one's own rajas and semen, the sun and moon, the individual Self and the supreme Self, and in the same way the union of all dualities, is called yoga. " (89)[55]
Scholarly definitions
Due to its complicated historical development, and the broad array of definitions and usage in Indian religions, scholars have warned that yoga is hard, if not impossible, to define exactly.[56] David Gordon White notes that "'Yoga' has a wider range of meanings than nearly any other word in the entire Sanskrit lexicon."[56]
In its broadest sense, yoga is a generic term for techniques aimed at controlling body and mind and attaining a soteriological goal as specified by a specific tradition:
Richard King (1999): "Yoga in the more traditional sense of the term has been practised throughout South Asia and beyond and involves a multitude of techniques leading to spiritual and ethical purification. Hindu and Buddhist traditions alike place a great deal of emphasis upon the practice of yoga as a means of attaining liberation from the world of rebirth and yogic practices have been aligned with a variety of philosophical theories and metaphysical positions."[19]
John Bowker (2000): "The means or techniques for transforming consciousness and attaining liberation (mokṣa) from karma and rebirth (saṃsāra) in Indian religions."[2]
Damien Keown (2004): "Any form of spiritual discipline aimed at gaining control over the mind with the ultimate aim of attaining liberation from rebirth."[3]
W. J. Johnson (2009): "A generic term for a wide variety of religious practices [...] At its broadest, however, ‘yoga’ simply refers to a particular method or discipline for transforming the individual [...] A narrower reading makes the practice contingent on, or derived from, control of the body and the senses, as in haṭha-yoga, or control of the breath (prāṇāyāma) and through it the mind, as in Patañjali's rājayoga. At its most neutral, yoga is therefore simply a technique, or set of techniques, including what is usually termed ‘meditation’, for attaining whatever soteriological or soteriological-cum-physiological transformation a particular tradition specifies."[4]
David Gordon White writes that yoga's core principles were more or less in place in the 5th century CE, and variations of the principles developed over time:[59]
A meditative means of discovering dysfunctional perception and cognition, as well as overcoming it to release any suffering, find inner peace, and salvation. Illustration of this principle is found in Hindu texts such as theBhagavad Gita andYogasutras, in a number of Buddhist Mahāyāna works, as well as Jain texts.[60]
The raising and expansion of consciousness from oneself to being coextensive with everyone and everything. These are discussed in sources such as in Hinduism Vedic literature and its epicMahābhārata, the Jain Praśamaratiprakarana, and Buddhist Nikaya texts.[61]
A path to omniscience and enlightened consciousness enabling one to comprehend the impermanent (illusive, delusive) and permanent (true, transcendent) reality. Examples of this are found in HinduismNyaya andVaisesika school texts as well as Buddhism Mādhyamaka texts, but in different ways.[62]
A technique for entering into other bodies, generating multiple bodies, and the attainment of other supernatural accomplishments. These are, states White, described inTantric literature of Hinduism and Buddhism, as well as the Buddhist Sāmaññaphalasutta.[63]
According to White, the last principle relates to legendary goals of yoga practice; it differs from yoga's practical goals in South Asian thought and practice since the beginning of the Common Era in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain philosophical schools.[64]James Mallinson disagrees with the inclusion of supernatural accomplishments, and suggests that such fringe practices are far removed from the mainstream Yoga's goal as meditation-driven means to liberation in Indian religions.[65]
A classic definition of yoga in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras 1.2 and 1.3,[19][27][66][67] defines yoga as "the stilling of the movements of the mind," and recognises Purusha, the witness-consciousness, as different from Prakriti, mind and matter.[27][66][67][h] According to Larson, in the context of theYoga Sutras, yoga has two meanings. The first meaning is yoga "as a general term to be translated as "disciplined meditation" that focuses on any of the many levels of ordinary awareness."[68] In the second meaning yoga is "that specific system of thought (sāstra) that has for its focus the analysis, understanding and cultivation of those altered states of awareness that lead one to the experience of spiritual liberation."[68]
Another classic understanding[19][27][66][67] sees yoga as union or connection with the highest Self (paramatman), Brahman,[66] or God, a "union, a linking of the individual to the divine."[67] This definition is based on the devotionalism (bhakti) of the Bhagavad Gita, and thejnana yoga ofVedanta.[67][66][i][j]
While yoga is often conflated with the "classical yoga" of Patanjali's yoga sutras, Karen O'Brien-Kop notes that "classical yoga" is informed by, and includes, Buddhist yoga.[72] Regarding Buddhist yoga, James Buswell in hisEncyclopedia of Buddhism treats yoga in his entry on meditation, stating that the aim of meditation is to attain samadhi, which serves as the foundation forvipasyana, "discerning the real from the unreal," liberating insight into true reality.[73] Buswell & Lopez state that "in Buddhism, [yoga is] a generic term for soteriological training or contemplative practice, including tantric practice."[25]
O'Brien-Kop further notes that "classical yoga" is not an independent category, but "was informed by the European colonialist project."[72]
History
There is no consensus on yoga's chronology or origins other than its development in ancient India. There are two broad theories explaining the origins of yoga. The linear model holds that yoga has Vedic origins (as reflected in Vedic texts), and influenced Buddhism.[74] This model is mainly supported by Hindu scholars.[74] According to the synthesis model, yoga is a synthesis of indigenous, non-Vedic practices with Vedic elements. This model is favoured in Western scholarship.[75]
The earliest yoga-practices may have appeared in the Jain tradition at ca. 900 BCE.[24] Speculations about yoga are documented in the early Upanishads of the first half of the first millennium BCE, with expositions also appearing in Jain and Buddhist textsc. 500 – c. 200 BCE. Between 200 BCE and 500 CE, traditions of Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain philosophy were taking shape; teachings were collected assutras, and a philosophical system ofPatanjaliyogasastra began to emerge.[76] The Middle Ages saw the development of a number of yoga satellite traditions. It and other aspects of Indian philosophy came to the attention of the educated Western public during the mid-19th century.
Origins
Synthesis model
Heinrich Zimmer was an exponent of the synthesis model,[77] arguing for non-Vediceastern states of India.[78] According to Zimmer, yoga is part of a non-Vedic system which includes theSamkhya school ofHindu philosophy,Jainism andBuddhism:[78] "[Jainism] does not derive from Brahman-Aryan sources, but reflects the cosmology and anthropology of a much older pre-Aryan upper class of northeastern India [Bihar] – being rooted in the same subsoil of archaic metaphysical speculation as Yoga,Sankhya, and Buddhism, the other non-Vedic Indian systems."[79][note 1] More recently,Richard Gombrich[82] and Geoffrey Samuel[83] also argue that theśramaṇa movement originated in the non-Vedic eastern Ganges basin,[83] specificallyGreater Magadha.[82]
Thomas McEvilley favors a composite model in which a pre-Aryan yoga prototype existed in the pre-Vedic period and was refined during the Vedic period.[84] According to Gavin D. Flood, the Upanishads differ fundamentally from the Vedic ritual tradition and indicate non-Vedic influences.[85] However, the traditions may be connected:
[T]his dichotomization is too simplistic, for continuities can undoubtedly be found between renunciation and vedic Brahmanism, while elements from non-Brahmanical, Sramana traditions also played an important part in the formation of the renunciate ideal.[86][note 2]
The ascetic traditions of the eastern Ganges plain are thought to drew from a common body of practices and philosophies,[88][83][89] with proto-samkhya concepts ofpurusha andprakriti as a common denominator.[90][89]
Linear model
According to Edward Fitzpatrick Crangle, Hindu researchers have favoured a linear theory which attempts "to interpret the origin and early development of Indian contemplative practices as a sequential growth from an Aryan genesis";[91][note 3] traditional Hinduism regards theVedas as the source of all spiritual knowledge.[77][note 4] Edwin Bryant wrote that authors who supportIndigenous Aryanism also tend to support the linear model.[95]
Indus Valley Civilisation
The Pashupati seal from theIndus Valley Civilisation (3300 BCE) shows a seated figure, surrounded by animals, in a posture thought by 20th century scholars to beMulabandhasana. This is rejected by more recent scholars.[96]
TheVedas, the only texts preserved from the early Vedic period and codified between c. 1200 and 900 BCE, contain references to yogic practices primarily related to ascetics outside, or on the fringes ofBrahmanism.[101][9] The earliest yoga-practices may have come from the Jain tradition at ca. 900 BCE.[24]
TheRigveda'sNasadiya Sukta suggests an early Brahmanic contemplative tradition.[note 6] Techniques for controlling breath and vital energies are mentioned in theAtharvaveda and in theBrahmanas (the second layer of the Vedas, composed c. 1000–800 BCE).[101][104][105]
According to Flood, "TheSamhitas [the mantras of the Vedas] contain some references ... to ascetics, namely theMunis orKeśins and the Vratyas."[106] Werner wrote in 1977 that theRigveda does not describe yoga, and there is little evidence of practices.[9] The earliest description of "an outsider who does not belong to the Brahminic establishment" is found in theKeśin hymn 10.136, theRigveda's youngest book, which was codified around 1000 BCE.[9] Werner wrote that there were
... individuals who were active outside the trend of Vedic mythological creativity and the Brahminic religious orthodoxy and therefore little evidence of their existence, practices and achievements has survived. And such evidence as is available in the Vedas themselves is scanty and indirect. Nevertheless the indirect evidence is strong enough not to allow any doubt about the existenceof spiritually highly advanced wanderers.[9]
According to Whicher (1998), scholarship frequently fails to see the connection between the contemplative practices of therishis and later yoga practices: "The proto-Yoga of the Vedicrishis is an early form of sacrificial mysticism and contains many elements characteristic of later Yoga that include: concentration, meditative observation, ascetic forms of practice (tapas), breath control practiced in conjunction with the recitation of sacred hymns during the ritual, the notion of self-sacrifice, impeccably accurate recitation of sacred words (prefiguringmantra-yoga), mystical experience, and the engagement with a reality far greater than our psychological identity or the ego."[107] Jacobsen wrote in 2018, "Bodily postures are closely related to the tradition oftapas, ascetic practices in the Vedic tradition"; ascetic practices used by Vedic priests "in their preparations for the performance of thesacrifice" may be precursors of yoga.[101] "The ecstatic practice of enigmatic longhairedmuni inRgveda 10.136 and the ascetic performance of thevratya-s in theAtharvaveda outside of or on the fringe of the Brahmanical ritual order, have probably contributed more to the ascetic practices of yoga."[101]
According to Bryant, practices recognizable as classical yoga first appear in the Upanishads (composed during the lateVedic period).[88] Alexander Wynne agrees that formless, elemental meditation might have originated in the Upanishadic tradition.[108] An early reference to meditation is made in theBrihadaranyaka Upanishad (c. 900 BCE), one of thePrincipal Upanishads.[106] TheChandogya Upanishad (c. 800–700 BCE) describes the five vital energies (prana), and concepts of later yoga traditions (such asblood vessels and an internal sound) are also described in this upanishad.[109] The practice ofpranayama (focusing on the breath) is mentioned in hymn 1.5.23 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad,[110] andpratyahara (withdrawal of the senses) is mentioned in hymn 8.15 of Chandogya Upanishad.[110][note 7] TheJaiminiya Upanishad Brahmana (probably before the 6th c. BCE) teaches breath control and repetition of amantra.[112] The 6th-c. BCETaittiriya Upanishad defines yoga as the mastery of body and senses.[113] According to Flood, "[T]he actual termyoga first appears in theKatha Upanishad,[26] dated to the fifth[114] to first centuries BCE.[115]
Bas-relief inBorobudur of the Buddha becoming a wandering hermit instead of a warrior
According toGeoffrey Samuel, the "best evidence to date" suggests that yogic practices "developed in the same ascetic circles as the earlyśramaṇa movements (Buddhists,Jainas andAjivikas), probably in around the sixth and fifth centuries BCE." This occurred during India'ssecond urbanisation period.[13] According to Mallinson and Singleton, these traditions were the first to use mind-body techniques (known asDhyāna andtapas) but later described as yoga, to strive for liberation from the round of rebirth.[119]
Werner writes, "The Buddha was the founder of his [Yoga] system, even though, admittedly, he made use of some of the experiences he had previously gained under various Yoga teachers of his time."[120] He notes:[121]
But it is only with Buddhism itself as expounded in thePali Canon that we can speak about a systematic and comprehensive or even integral school of Yoga practice, which is thus the first and oldest to have been preserved for us in its entirety.[121]
The chronology of these yoga-related early Buddhist texts, like the ancient Hindu texts, is unclear.[126][127] Early Buddhist sources such as theMajjhima Nikāya mention meditation; theAṅguttara Nikāya describesjhāyins (meditators) who resemble early Hindu descriptions ofmuni, the Kesin and meditating ascetics,[128] but the meditation practices are not called "yoga" in these texts.[129] The earliest known discussions of yoga in Buddhist literature, as understood in a modern context, are from the later BuddhistYogācāra andTheravada schools.[129]
Jain meditation is a yoga system which predated the Buddhist school. Since Jain sources are later than Buddhist ones, however, it is difficult to distinguish between the early Jain school and elements derived from other schools.[130] Most of the other contemporary yoga systems alluded to in the Upanishads and some Buddhist texts have been lost.[131][132][note 9]
Upanishads
The Upanishads, composed in the lateVedic period, contain the first references to practices recognizable as classical yoga.[88] The first known appearance of the word "yoga" in the modern sense is in theKatha Upanishad[97][26] (probably composed between the fifth and third centuries BCE),[134][135] where it is defined as steady control of the senses which – with cessation of mental activity – leads to a supreme state.[106][note 10] The Katha Upanishad integrates themonism of the early Upanishads with concepts ofsamkhya and yoga. It defines levels of existence by their proximity to one'sinnermost being. Yoga is viewed as a process of interiorization, or ascent of consciousness.[137][138] The upanishad is the earliest literary work which highlights the fundamentals of yoga. According to White,
The earliest extant systematic account of yoga and a bridge from the earlier Vedic uses of the term is found in the Hindu Katha Upanisad (Ku), a scripture dating from about the third century BCE ... [I]t describes the hierarchy of mind-body constituents—the senses, mind, intellect, etc.—that comprise the foundational categories of Sāmkhya philosophy, whose metaphysical system grounds the yoga of the Yogasutras, Bhagavad Gita, and other texts and schools (Ku3.10–11; 6.7–8).[139]
The hymns in book two of theShvetashvatara Upanishad (another late-first-millennium BCE text) describe a procedure in which the body is upright, the breath is restrained and the mind is meditatively focused, preferably in a cave or a place that is simple and quiet.[140][141][138]
TheMaitrayaniya Upanishad, probably composed later than the Katha and Shvetashvatara Upanishads but before theYoga Sutras of Patanjali, mentions a sixfold yoga method: breath control, introspective withdrawal of the senses, meditation (dhyana),mental concentration,logic and reasoning, andspiritual union.[97][138][142] In addition to discussions in the Principal Upanishads, the twentyYoga Upanishads and related texts (such asYoga Vasistha, composed between the sixth and 14th centuries CE) discuss yoga methods.[11][12]
Macedonian texts
Alexander the Great reached India in the 4th century BCE. In addition to his army, he brought Greek academics who wrote memoirs about its geography, people, and customs. One of Alexander's companions wasOnesicritus (quoted in Book 15, Sections 63–65 byStrabo in hisGeography), who describes yogis.[143] Onesicritus says that the yogis were aloof and adopted "different postures – standing or sitting or lying naked – and motionless".[144]
Onesicritus also mentions attempts by his colleague,Calanus, to meet them. Initially denied an audience, he was later invited because he was sent by a "king curious of wisdom and philosophy".[144] Onesicritus and Calanus learn that the yogis consider life's best doctrines to "rid the spirit of not only pain, but also pleasure", that "man trains the body for toil in order that his opinions may be strengthened", that "there is no shame in life on frugal fare", and that "the best place to inhabit is one with scantiest equipment or outfit".[143][144] According toCharles Rockwell Lanman, these principles are significant in the history of yoga's spiritual side and may reflect the roots of "undisturbed calmness" and "mindfulness through balance" in the later works ofPatanjali andBuddhaghosa.[143]
Mahabharata andBhagavad Gita
Nirodhayoga (yoga of cessation), an early form of yoga, is described in the Mokshadharma section of the 12th chapter (Shanti Parva) of the third-century BCEMahabharata.[145]Nirodhayoga emphasizes progressive withdrawal from empirical consciousness, including thoughts and sensations, untilpurusha (self) is realized. Terms such asvichara (subtle reflection) andviveka (discrimination) similar to Patanjali's terminology are used, but not described.[146] Although theMahabharata contains no uniform yogic goal, the separation of self from matter and perception ofBrahman everywhere are described as goals of yoga.Samkhya and yoga areconflated, and some verses describe them as identical.[147] Mokshadharma also describes an early practice of elemental meditation.[148] TheMahabharata defines the purpose of yoga as uniting the individualātman with the universal Brahman pervading all things.[147]
TheBhagavad Gita (Song of the Lord), part of theMahabharata, contains extensive teachings about yoga. According to Mallinson and Singleton, theGita "seeks to appropriate yoga from the renunciate milieu in which it originated, teaching that it is compatible with worldly activity carried out according to one's caste and life stage; it is only the fruits of one's actions that are to be renounced."[145] In addition to a chapter (chapter six) dedicated to traditional yoga practice (including meditation),[149] it introduces three significant types of yoga:[150]
TheGita consists of 18 chapters and 700shlokas (verses);[154] each chapter is named for a different form of yoga.[154][155][156] Some scholars divide theGita into three sections; the first six chapters (280shlokas) deal with karma yoga, the middle six (209shlokas) with bhakti yoga, and the last six (211shlokas) with jnana yoga. However, elements of all three are found throughout the work.[154]
Philosophical sutras
Yoga is discussed in the foundationalsutras ofHindu philosophy. TheVaiśeṣika Sūtra of theVaisheshika school of Hinduism, composed between the sixth and second centuries BCE, discusses yoga.[note 11] According toJohannes Bronkhorst, theVaiśeṣika Sūtra describes yoga as "a state where the mind resides only in the Self and therefore not in the senses".[157] This is equivalent topratyahara (withdrawal of the senses). The sutra asserts that yoga leads to an absence ofsukha (happiness) anddukkha (suffering), describing meditative steps in the journey towards spiritual liberation.[157]
TheBrahma Sutras, the foundation text of theVedanta school of Hinduism, also discusses yoga.[158] Estimated as completed in its surviving form between 450 BCE and 200 CE,[159][160] its sutras assert that yoga is a means to attain "subtlety of body".[158] TheNyaya Sutras—the foundation text of theNyaya school, estimated as composed between the sixth century BCE and the secondcentury CE[161][162]—discusses yoga in sutras 4.2.38–50. It includes a discussion of yogic ethics,dhyana (meditation) andsamadhi, noting that debate and philosophy are also forms of yoga.[163][164][165]
Classical era (200 BCE – 500 CE)
The Indic traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism were taking shape during the period between theMauryan and theGupta eras (c. 200 BCE – 500 CE), and systems of yoga began to emerge;[76] a number of texts from these traditions discussed and compiled yoga methods and practices. Key works of the era include theYoga Sūtras of Patañjali, theYoga-Yājñavalkya, theYogācārabhūmi-Śāstra, and theVisuddhimagga.
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
Traditional Hindu depiction ofPatanjali as an avatar of the divine serpentShesha
One of the best-known early expressions ofBrahminical yoga thought is theYoga Sutras of Patanjali (early centuries CE,[14][42][e] the original name of which may have been thePātañjalayogaśāstra-sāṃkhya-pravacana (c. 325–425 CE); some scholars believe that it included the sutras and a commentary.[166] As the name suggests, the metaphysical basis of the text issamkhya; the school is mentioned in Kauṭilya'sArthashastra as one of the three categories ofanviksikis (philosophies), with yoga andCārvāka.[167][168] Yoga and samkhya have some differences; yoga accepted the concept of a personal god, and Samkhya was a rational, non-theistic system of Hindu philosophy.[169][170][171] Patanjali's system is sometimes called "Seshvara Samkhya", distinguishing it fromKapila's Nirivara Samkhya.[172] The parallels between yoga and samkhya were so close thatMax Müller says, "The two philosophies were in popular parlance distinguished from each other as Samkhya with and Samkhya without a Lord."[173]Karel Werner wrote that the systematization of yoga which began in the middle and early Yoga Upanishads culminated in theYoga Sutras of Patanjali.[note 12]
TheYoga Sutras are also influenced by the Sramana traditions of Buddhism and Jainism, and may be a further Brahmanical attempt to adopt yoga from those traditions.[166] Larson noted a number of parallels in ancient samkhya, yoga andAbhidharma Buddhism, particularly from the second century BCE to the first century AD.[176] Patanjali'sYoga Sutras are a synthesis of the three traditions. From Samkhya, they adopt the "reflective discernment" (adhyavasaya) ofprakrti andpurusa (dualism), their metaphysical rationalism, and their threeepistemological methods of obtaining knowledge.[176] Larson says that theYoga Sutras pursue an altered state of awareness from Abhidharma Buddhism'snirodhasamadhi; unlike Buddhism's "no self or soul", however, yoga (like Samkhya) believes that each individual has a self.[176] The third concept which theYoga Sutras synthesize is theascetic tradition of meditation and introspection.[176]
Patanjali'sYoga Sutras are considered the first compilation of yoga philosophy.[note 13] The verses of theYoga Sutras are terse. Many later Indian scholars studied them and published their commentaries, such as theVyasa Bhashya (c. 350–450 CE).[177] Patanjali defines the word "yoga" in his second sutra, and his terse definition hinges on the meaning of three Sanskrit terms.I. K. Taimni translates it as "Yoga is the inhibition (nirodhaḥ) of the modifications (vṛtti) of the mind (citta)".[178]Swami Vivekananda translates the sutra as "Yoga is restraining the mind-stuff (Citta) from taking various forms (Vrittis)."[179]Edwin Bryant writes that to Patanjali, "Yoga essentially consists of meditative practices culminating in attaining a state of consciousness free from all modes of active or discursive thought, and of eventually attaining a state where consciousness is unaware of any object external to itself, that is, is only aware of its own nature as consciousness unmixed with any other object."[180][181][182]
Baba Hari Dass writes that if yoga is understood asnirodha (mental control), its goal is "the unqualified state ofniruddha (the perfection of that process)".[183] "Yoga (union) implies duality (as in joining of two things or principles); the result of yoga is the nondual state ... as the union of the lower self and higher Self. The nondual state is characterized by the absence of individuality; it can be described as eternal peace, pure love, Self-realization, or liberation."[183]
Niyama (The five "observances"):Śauca (purity, clearness of mind, speech and body),[187]Santosha (contentment, acceptance of others and of one's circumstances),[188]Tapas (persistent meditation, perseverance, austerity),[189]Svādhyāya (study of self, self-reflection, study of Vedas),[190] andIshvara-Pranidhana (contemplation of God/Supreme Being/True Self).[188]
Asana: Literally means "seat", and in Patanjali's Sutras refers to the seated position used for meditation.
Pranayama ("Breath exercises"):Prāna, breath, "āyāma", to "stretch, extend, restrain, stop".
Pratyahara ("Abstraction"): Withdrawal of the sense organs from external objects.
Dharana ("Concentration"): Fixing the attention on a single object.
Dhyana ("Meditation"): Intense contemplation of the nature of the object of meditation.
Samadhi ("Liberation"): merging consciousness with the object of meditation.
In Hindu scholasticism since the 12th century, yoga has been one of the sixorthodox philosophical schools (darsanas): traditions which accept the Vedas.[note 14][note 15][191]
Yoga and Vedanta
Yoga andVedanta are the two largest surviving schools of Hindu traditions. Although they share many principles, concepts, and the belief in Self, they differ in degree, style, and methods; yoga accepts three means to obtain knowledge, andAdvaita Vedanta accepts.[192] Yoga disputes Advaita Vedanta'smonism.[193] It believes that in the state ofmoksha, each individual discovers the blissful, liberating sense of himself or herself as an independent identity; Advaita Vedanta teaches that in the state ofmoksha, each individual discovers the blissful, liberating sense of himself or herself as part of oneness with everything, everyone and the Universal Self. They both hold that the free conscience is transcendent, liberated and self-aware. Advaita Vedanta also encourages the use of Patanjali's yoga practices and theUpanishads for those seeking the supreme good and ultimatefreedom.[193]
संयोगो योग इत्युक्तो जीवात्मपरमात्मनोः॥ saṁyogo yoga ityukto jīvātma-paramātmanoḥ॥ Yoga is the union of the individual self (jivātma) with the supreme self (paramātma).
TheYoga Yajnavalkya is a classical treatise on yoga, attributed to the Vedic sageYajnavalkya, in the form of a dialogue between Yajnavalkya and the renowned philosopherGargi Vachaknavi.[195] The origin of the 12-chapter text has been traced to the second century BCE and the fourth century CE.[196] A number of yoga texts, such as theHatha Yoga Pradipika, theYoga Kundalini and theYoga Tattva Upanishads, have borrowed from (or frequently refer to) theYoga Yajnavalkya.[197] It discusses eight yogaasanas (Swastika, Gomukha, Padma, Vira, Simha, Bhadra, Mukta and Mayura),[198] a number of breathing exercises for body cleansing,[199] and meditation.[200]
Abhidharma and Yogachara
Asanga, a fourth-century scholar and co-founder of the Yogachara ("Yoga practice") school of Mahayana Buddhism[201]
The Buddhist tradition ofAbhidharma spawned treatises which expanded teachings on Buddhist theory and yoga techniques which influencedMahayana andTheravada Buddhism. At the height of theGupta period (fourth to fifth centuries CE), a northern Mahayana movement known asYogācāra began to be systematized with the writings of Buddhist scholarsAsanga andVasubandhu. Yogācāra Buddhism provided a systematic framework for practices which lead abodhisattva towards awakening and fullBuddhahood.[202] Its teachings are found in the encyclopedicYogācārabhūmi-Śāstra (Treatise for Yoga Practitioners), which was also translated into Tibetan and Chinese and influencedEast Asian andTibetan Buddhist traditions.[203] Mallinson and Singleton write that the study of Yogācāra Buddhism is essential to understand yoga's early history, and its teachings influenced thePātañjalayogaśāstra.[204] The South India and Sri Lankan-basedTheravada school also developed manuals for yogic and meditative training, primarily theVimuttimagga and theVisuddhimagga.
According toTattvarthasutra, a second-to-fifth century Jain text, yoga is the sum of all activities of mind, speech and body.[k]Umasvati calls yoga the generator ofkarma,[205] and essential to the path to liberation.[205] In hisNiyamasara,Kundakunda describesyoga bhakti—devotion to the path to liberation—as the highest form of devotion.[206]Haribhadra andHemacandra note the five major vows of ascetics and 12 minor vows of laity in yoga. According toRobert J. Zydenbos, Jainism is a system of yogic thinking which became a religion.[207] Thefive yamas (constraints) of theYoga Sutras of Patanjali are similar to Jainism'sfive major vows, indicating cross-fertilization between these traditions.[207][note 16] Hinduism's influence on Jain yoga may be seen in Haribhadra'sYogadṛṣṭisamuccaya, which outlines an eightfold yoga influenced by Patanjali's eightfold yoga.[209]
Middle Ages (500–1500 CE)
Male and femaleyogis in 17th- and 18th-century India
The Middle Ages saw the development of satellite yoga traditions.Hatha yoga emerged during this period.[210]
In medieval Hinduism, theBhakti movement advocated the concept of apersonal god orSupreme Personality. The movement, begun by theAlvars of South India during the 6th to 9th centuries, became influential throughout India by the 12th to 15th centuries.[211]Shaiva andVaishnavabhakti traditions integrated aspects of theYoga Sutras (such as meditative exercises) with devotion.[212] TheBhagavata Purana elucidates a form of yoga known asviraha (separation)bhakti, which emphasizes concentration on Krishna.[213]
Tantra
Tantra is a range of esoteric traditions which had begun to arise in India by the 5th century CE.[214][note 17] Its use suggests that the wordtantra in theRigveda means "technique". George Samuel wrote thattantra is a contested term, but may be considered a school whose practices appeared in nearly-complete form in Buddhist and Hindu texts by about the 10th century CE.[216] Tantric yoga developed complex visualizations, which included meditation on the body as a microcosm of the cosmos. It included mantras, breath control, and body manipulation (including itsnadis andchakras. Teachings about chakras and Kundalini became central to later forms of Indian yoga.[217]
Tantric concepts influenced Hindu,Bon, Buddhist, and Jain traditions. Elements of Tantric rituals were adopted by, and influenced, state functions in medieval Buddhist and Hindu kingdoms inEast andSoutheast Asia.[218] By the turn of the first millennium,hatha yoga emerged fromtantra.[219][f]
Vajrayana and Tibetan Buddhism
Vajrayana is also known as Tantric Buddhism andTantrayāna. Its texts began to be compiled during the seventh century CE, andTibetan translations were completed the following century. Thesetantra texts were the main source of Buddhist knowledge imported into Tibet,[220] and were later translated into Chinese and other Asian languages. The Buddhist textHevajra Tantra andcaryāgiti introduced hierarchies of chakras.[221] Yoga is a significant practice in Tantric Buddhism.[222][223][224]
Tantra yoga practices include postures and breathing exercises. TheNyingma school practicesyantra yoga, a discipline which includes breath work, meditation and other exercises.[225] Nyingma meditation is divided into stages,[226] such asKriya Yoga, Upa yoga, Yoga yana,mahā yoga,Anu yoga andatiyoga.[227] TheSarma traditions also include Kriya, Upa (called "Charya"), and yoga, withanuttara yoga replacing mahayoga and atiyoga.[228]
Zen Buddhism
Zen, whose name derives from the Sanskritdhyāna via the Chinesech'an,[note 18] is a form of Mahayana Buddhism in which yoga is an integral part.[230]
Sculpture ofGorakshanath, an 11th-century yogi of theNath tradition and a proponent of hatha yoga[231]
The first references to hatha yoga are in eighth-century Buddhist works.[232] The earliest definition of hatha yoga is in the 11th-century Buddhist textVimalaprabha.[233] Hatha yoga blends elements of Patanjali'sYoga Sutras with posture and breathing exercises.[234] It marks the development of asanas into the full-body postures in current popular use[219] and, with its modern variations, is the style presently associated with the word "yoga".[235]
Sikhism
Yogic groups became prominent inPunjab during the 15th and 16th centuries, whenSikhism was beginning. Compositions byGuru Nanak (the founder of Sikhism) describe dialogues he had withJogis, a Hindu community which practiced yoga. Guru Nanak rejected the austerities, rites and rituals associated with hatha yoga, advocating sahaja yoga or nama yoga instead.[236] According to theGuru Granth Sahib,
O Yogi, Nanak tells nothing but the truth. You must discipline your mind. The devotee must meditate on the Word Divine. It is His grace which brings about the union. He understands, he also sees. Good deeds help one merge into Divination.[237]
Theosophists, includingHelena Blavatsky, also influenced the Western public's view of yoga.[242] Esoteric views at the end of the 19th century encouraged the reception of Vedanta and yoga, with their correspondence between the spiritual and the physical.[243] The reception of yoga and Vedanta entwined with the (primarilyneoplatonic) currents of religious and philosophical reform andtransformation during the 19th and early 20th centuries.Mircea Eliade brought a new element to yoga, emphasizing tantric yoga in hisYoga: Immortality and Freedom.[244] With the introduction of tantra traditions and philosophy, the conception of the "transcendent" attained by yogic practice shifted from the mind to the body.[245]
The postural yoga of the Western world is a physical activity consisting of asanas, often connected bysmooth transitions, sometimes accompanied by breathing exercises and usually ending with a period of relaxation or meditation. It is often known simply as "yoga",[18] despite older Hindu traditions (some dating to theYoga Sutras) in which asanas played little or no part; asanas were not central to any tradition.[246]
The number of asanas used in yoga has increased from 84 in 1830 (as illustrated inJoga Pradipika) to about 200 inLight on Yoga and over 900 performed byDharma Mittra by 1984. The goal of haṭha yoga (spiritual liberation through energy) was largely replaced by the goals of fitness and relaxation, and many of its more esoteric components were reduced or removed.[259] In modern usage, the term "hatha yoga" denotes gentle exercise, often forwomen.[260]
The effect of yoga as exercise on physical and mental health has been a subject of study, with evidence that regular practice is beneficial for low back pain and stress.[269][270] In 2017, aCochrane review found that yoga as exercise interventions designed for chroniclow back pain increased function at the six month mark, and modestly decreased pain after 3–4 months. The decrease in pain was found to be similar to other exercise programs designed for low-back pain, but the decrease is not large enough to be deemed clinically significant.[271]
Yoga has been a central practice inJainism. Jain spirituality is based on a strict code of nonviolence, orahimsa (which includesvegetarianism), almsgiving (dāna), faith in thethree jewels, austerities (tapas) such asfasting, and yoga.[272][273] Jain yoga aims at the liberation and purification of the self from the forces ofkarma, which binds the self to the cycle ofreincarnation. Like yoga and Sankhya, Jainism believes in a number of individual selves bound by their individual karma.[274] Only through the reduction of karmic influences and the exhaustion of collected karma can one become purified and released.[275] Early Jain yoga seems to have been divided into several types, including meditation, abandonment of the body (kāyotsarga),contemplation, and reflection (bhāvanā).[276]
These meditations were seen as supported by the other elements of theNoble Eightfold Path, such asethics,right exertion, sense restraint andright view.[277] Two mental qualities are said to be indispensable for yoga practice in Buddhism:samatha (calm, stability) andvipassanā (insight, clear seeing).[278]Samatha is a stable, relaxed mind, associated withsamadhi (mental unification, focus) anddhyana (a state of meditative absorption).Vipassanā is insight or penetrative understanding into the true nature of phenomena, also defined as "seeing things as they truly are" (yathābhūtaṃ darśanam). A unique feature of classical Buddhism is its understanding of all phenomena (dhammas) as being empty of a self.[279][280]
What is often referred to as classical yoga,ashtanga yoga, orrāja yoga is primarily the yoga outlined in the dualisticYoga Sutras of Patanjali.[282] The origins of classical yoga are unclear, although early discussions of the term appear in the Upanishads.[176]Rāja yoga (yoga of kings) originally denoted the ultimate goal of yoga;samadhi,[283] but was popularised byVivekananda as a common name for ashtanga yoga,[note 22] the eight limbs attain samadhi as described in theYoga Sutras.[284][282] Yoga philosophy came to be regarded as a distinct orthodox school (darsanas) of Hinduism in the second half of the first millennium CE.[285][web 1]
Classical yoga incorporates epistemology, metaphysics, ethical practices, systematic exercises and self-development for body, mind and spirit.[180] Itsepistemology (pramana) and metaphysics are similar to theSāṅkhya school. The Classical yoga's metaphysics, like Sāṅkhya's, primarily posits two distinct realities:prakriti (nature, the eternal and active unconscious source of the material world composed of threeguṇas) andpuruṣa (consciousness), the plural consciousnesses which are the intelligent principles of the world.[286] Moksha (liberation) results from the isolation (kaivalya) ofpuruṣa fromprakirti, and is achieved through meditation, stilling one's thought waves (citta vritti) and resting in pure awareness ofpuruṣa.[286] Unlike Sāṅkhya, which takes a non-theistic approach,[169][287] the yoga school of Hinduism accepts a "personal, yet essentially inactive, deity" or "personal god" (Ishvara).[288][289]
Vedanta is a varied tradition, with a number of sub-schools and philosophical views. It focuses on the study of theUpanishads and theBrahma Sutras (one of its early texts), about gaining spiritual knowledge ofBrahman: the unchanging, absolute reality.[290]
One of the earliest and most influential sub-traditions of Vedanta isAdvaita Vedanta, which positsnon-dualisticmonism. It emphasizesjñāna yoga (yoga of knowledge), which aims at realizing the identity of one's atman (individual consciousness) with Brahman (the Absolute consciousness).[291][292] The most influential thinker of this school isAdi Shankara (8th century), who wrote commentaries and other works on jñāna yoga. In Advaita Vedanta, jñāna is attained from scripture, one'sguru, and through a process of listening to (and meditating on) teachings.[293] Qualities such as discrimination, renunciation, tranquility, temperance, dispassion, endurance, faith, attention, and a longing for knowledge and freedom are also desirable.[294] Yoga in Advaita is a "meditative exercise of withdrawal from the particular and identification with the universal, leading to contemplation of oneself as the most universal, namely, Consciousness".[295]
Yoga Vasistha is an influential Advaita text[296] which usesshort stories and anecdotes to illustrate its ideas. Teaching seven stages of yoga practice, it was a major reference for medieval Advaita Vedanta yoga scholars and one of the most popular texts on Hindu yoga before the 12th century.[297] Another text which teaches yoga from an Advaita point of view is theYoga Yajnavalkya.[298]
According to Samuel, Tantra is a contested concept.[216] Tantra yoga may be described as practices in 9th to 10th century Buddhist and Hindu (Saiva, Shakti) texts which included yogic practices with elaborate deity visualizations using geometric arrays and drawings (mandalas), male and (particularly) female deities, life-stage-related rituals, the use ofchakras andmantras, and sexual techniques aimed at aiding one's health, longevity and liberation.[216][299]
Some scholars includeGorakshanath's 11th-centuryGoraksha Samhita on the list,[301] since Gorakshanath is considered responsible for popularizing present-day hatha yoga.[305][306][307]Vajrayana Buddhism, founded by the IndianMahasiddhas,[308] has a series of asanas and pranayamas (such astummo)[222] which resemble hatha yoga.
Laya and kundalini yoga
Laya andkundalini yoga, closely associated with hatha yoga, are often presented as independent approaches.[309] According toGeorg Feuerstein, laya yoga (yoga of dissolution or merging) "makes meditative absorption (laya) its focus. The laya-yogin seeks to transcend all memory traces and sensory experiences by dissolving the microcosm, the mind, in the transcendental Self-Consciousness."[310] Laya yoga has a number of techniques which include listening to the "inner sound" (nada), mudras such asKhechari and Shambhavi mudra, and awakeningkundalini (body energy).[311]
Kundalini yoga aims to awaken bodily andcosmic energy with breath and body techniques, uniting them with universal consciousness.[312] A common teaching method awakens kundalini in the lowestchakra and guides it through the central channel to unite with the absolute consciousness in the highest chakra, at the top of the head.[313]
In 1989 and 2003, theVatican issued two documents:Aspects of Christian meditation and "A Christian reflection on the New Age," that were mostly critical of eastern andNew Age practices. The 2003 document was published as a 90-page handbook detailing the Vatican's position.[321] The Vatican warned that concentration on the physical aspects of meditation "can degenerate into a cult of the body" and that equating bodily states with mysticism "could also lead to psychic disturbance and, at times, to moral deviations." Such has been compared to the early days of Christianity, when the church opposed thegnostics' belief that salvation came not through faith but through mystical inner knowledge.[314] The letter also says, "one can see if and how [prayer] might be enriched by meditation methods developed in other religions and cultures"[322] but maintains the idea that "there must be some fit between the nature of [other approaches to] prayer and Christian beliefs about ultimate reality."[314] Some[which?]fundamentalist Christian organizations consider yoga to be incompatible with their religious background, considering it a part of theNew Age movement inconsistent with Christianity.[323]
Islam
Early-11th-century Persian scholarAl-Biruni visited India, lived with Hindus for 16 years, and (with their help) translated several Sanskrit works into Arabic and Persian; one of these was Patanjali'sYoga Sutras.[324][325] Although Al-Biruni's translation preserved many core themes of Patañjali's yoga philosophy, some sutras and commentaries were restated for consistency with monotheistic Islamic theology.[324][326] Al-Biruni's version of theYoga Sutras reached Persia and theArabian Peninsula by about 1050. During the 16th century, the hatha yoga textAmritakunda was translated into Arabic and Persian.[327] Yoga was, however, not accepted by mainstreamSunni andShia Islam. MinorityIslamic sects such as the mysticSufi movement, particularly in South Asia, adopted Indian yoga postures and breath control.[328][329] Muhammad Ghawth, a 16th-century Shattari Sufi and translator of yoga text, was criticized for his interest in yoga and persecuted for his Sufi beliefs.[330]
Malaysia's topIslamic body imposed a legally-enforceable 2008fatwa prohibitingMuslims from practicing yoga, saying that it had elements ofHinduism and its practice washaram asblasphemy.[331][332] Malaysian Muslims who had been practicing yoga for years called the decision "insulting."[333]Sisters in Islam, a Malaysian women's-rights group, expressed disappointment and said that yoga was a form of exercise.[334] Malaysia's prime minister clarified that yoga as exercise is permissible, but the chanting of religious mantras is not.[335]
TheIndonesian Ulema Council (MUI) imposed a 2009 fatwa banning yoga because it contains Hindu elements.[336] These fatwas have been criticized byDarul Uloom Deoband, aDeobandi Islamic seminary in India.[337] Similar fatwas banning yoga for its link to Hinduism were imposed by Grand MuftiAli Gomaa inEgypt in 2004, and by Islamic clerics in Singapore earlier.[338][339]
According to Iran's yoga association, the country had about 200 yoga centres in May 2014. One-quarter were in the capital,Tehran, where groups could be seen practising in parks; conservatives were opposed.[340] In May 2009, TurkishDirectorate of Religious Affairs headAli Bardakoğlu discounted personal-development techniques such asreiki and yoga as commercial ventures which could lead to extremism. According to Bardakoğlu, reiki and yoga could be a form of proselytizing at the expense of Islam.[341]Nouf Marwaai brought yoga toSaudi Arabia in 2017, contributing to making it legal and recognized despite being allegedly threatened by her community which asserts yoga as "un-Islamic".[342]
^Zimmer's point of view is supported by other scholars, such as Niniam Smart inDoctrine and argument in Indian Philosophy, 1964, pp. 27–32, 76[80] and S. K. Belvakar andInchegeri Sampradaya inHistory of Indian philosophy, 1974 (1927), pp. 81, 303–409.[81]
^Gavin Flood: "These renouncer traditions offered a new vision of the human condition which became incorporated, to some degree, into the worldview of the Brahman householder. The ideology of asceticism and renunciation seems, at first, discontinuous with the brahmanical ideology of the affirmation of social obligations and the performance of public and domestic rituals. Indeed, there has been some debate as to whether asceticism and its ideas of retributive action, reincarnation and spiritual liberation, might not have originated outside the orthodox vedic sphere, or even outside Aryan culture: that a divergent historical origin might account for the apparent contradiction within 'Hinduism' between the world affirmation of the householder and the world negation of the renouncer. However, this dichotomization is too simplistic, for continuities can undoubtedly be found between renunciation and vedic Brahmanism, while elements from non-Brahmanical, Sramana traditions also played an important part in the formation of the renunciate ideal. Indeed there are continuities between vedic Brahmanism and Buddhism, and it has been argued that the Buddha sought to return to the ideals of a vedic society which he saw as being eroded in his own day."[87]
^See also Gavin Flood (1996),Hinduism, p.87–90, on "The orthogenetic theory" and "Non-Vedic origins of renunciation".[92]
^Some scholars are now considering the image to be an instance of Lord of the Beasts found in Eurasian neolithic mythology or the widespread motif of theMaster of Animals found in ancientNear Eastern and Mediterranean art.[99][100]
Wynne states that "The Nasadiyasukta, one of the earliest and most important cosmogonic tracts in the early Brahminic literature, contains evidence suggesting it was closely related to a tradition of early Brahminic contemplation. A close reading of this text suggests that it was closely related to a tradition of early Brahminic contemplation. The poem may have been composed by contemplatives, but even if not, an argument can be made that it marks the beginning of the contemplative/meditative trend in Indian thought."[102]
Miller suggests that the composition of Nasadiya Sukta andPurusha Sukta arises from "the subtlest meditative stage, called absorption in mind and heart" which "involves enheightened experiences" through which seer "explores the mysterious psychic and cosmic forces...".[103]
Jacobsen writes that dhyana (meditation) is derived from the Vedic term dhih which refers to "visionary insight", "thought provoking vision".[103]
^Original Sanskrit: स्वाध्यायमधीयानो धर्मिकान्विदधदात्मनि सर्वैन्द्रियाणि संप्रतिष्ठाप्याहिँसन्सर्व भूतान्यन्यत्र तीर्थेभ्यः स खल्वेवं वर्तयन्यावदायुषं ब्रह्मलोकमभिसंपद्यते न च पुनरावर्तते न च पुनरावर्तते॥ १॥ –Chandogya Upanishad, VIII.15[111] Translation 1 byMax Muller, The Upanishads, TheSacred Books of the East – Part 1, Oxford University Press: (He who engages in) self study, concentrates all his senses on the Self, never giving pain to any creature, except at the tîrthas, he who behaves thus all his life, reaches the world ofBrahman, and does not return, yea, he does not return. Translation 2 by G.N. Jha:Chandogya Upanishad VIII.15, page 488: (He who engages in self study),—and having withdrawn all his sense-organs into the Self,—never causing pain to any living beings, except in places specially ordained,—one who behaves thus throughout life reaches theRegion of Brahman and does not return,—yea, does not return.—
^Ancient Indian literature was transmitted and preserved through anoral tradition.[117] For example, the earliest written Pali Canon text is dated to the later part of the 1st century BCE, many centuries after the Buddha's death.[118]
^On the dates of the Pali canon, Gregory Schopen writes, "We know, and have known for some time, that the Pali canon as we have it — and it is generally conceded to be our oldest source — cannot be taken back further than the last quarter of the first century BCE, the date of the Alu-vihara redaction, the earliest redaction we can have some knowledge of, and that — for a critical history — it can serve, at the very most, only as a source for the Buddhism of this period. But we also know that even this is problematic ... In fact, it is not until the time of the commentaries of Buddhaghosa, Dhammapala, and others — that is to say, the fifth to sixth centuries CE — that we can know anything definite about the actual contents of [the Pali] canon."[133]
^For the date of this Upanishad see also Helmuth von Glasenapp, from the 1950 Proceedings of the "Akademie der Wissenschaften und Literatur"[136]
^The currently existing version ofVaiśeṣika Sūtra manuscript was likely finalized sometime between the 2nd century BCE and the start of the common era. Wezler has proposed that the Yoga related text may have been inserted into this Sutra later, among other things; however, Bronkhorst finds much to disagree on with Wezler.[157]
^Werner writes, "The word Yoga appears here for the first time in its fully technical meaning, namely as a systematic training, and it already received a more or less clear formulation in some other middle Upanishads....Further process of the systematization of Yoga as a path to the ultimate mystic goal is obvious in subsequent Yoga Upanishads and the culmination of this endeavour is represented by Patanjali's codification of this path into a system of the eightfold Yoga."[174]
^Worthington writes, "Yoga fully acknowledges its debt to Jainism, and Jainism reciprocates by making the practice of yoga part and parcel of life."[208]
^The earliest documented use of the word "Tantra" is in theRigveda (X.71.9).[215]
^"The Meditation school, called 'Ch'an' in Chinese from the Sanskrit 'dhyāna,' is best known in the West by the Japanese pronunciation 'Zen'".[229]
^For instance, Kamalashila (2003), p. 4, states that Buddhist meditation "includes any method of meditation that hasEnlightenment as itsultimate aim." Likewise, Bodhi (1999) writes: "To arrive at the experiential realization of the truths it is necessary to take up the practice of meditation.... At the climax of such contemplation the mental eye … shifts its focus to the unconditioned state,Nibbana ..." A similar although in some ways slightly broader definition is provided by Fischer-Schreiberet al. (1991), p. 142: "Meditation – general term for a multitude of religious practices, often quite different in method, but all having the same goal: to bring the consciousness of the practitioner to a state in which he can come to an experience of 'awakening,' 'liberation,' 'enlightenment.'" Kamalashila (2003) further allows that some Buddhist meditations are "of a more preparatory nature" (p. 4).
^ThePāli andSanskrit wordbhāvanā literally means "development" as in "mental development." For the association of this term with "meditation," see Epstein (1995), p. 105; and, Fischer-Schreiberet al. (1991), p. 20. As an example from a well-known discourse of thePali Canon, in "The Greater Exhortation to Rahula" (Maha-Rahulovada Sutta,MN 62), Ven.Sariputta tells Ven.Rahula (in Pali, based onVRI, n.d.):ānāpānassatiṃ, rāhula, bhāvanaṃ bhāvehi.Thanissaro (2006) translates this as: "Rahula, develop the meditation [bhāvana] ofmindfulness of in-&-out breathing." (Square-bracketed Pali word included based on Thanissaro, 2006, end note.)
"... [T]here is the cultivation of meditative and contemplative techniques aimed at producing what might, for the lack of a suitable technical term in English, be referred to as 'altered states of consciousness'. In the technical vocabulary of Indian religious texts such states come to be termed 'meditations' ([Skt.:]dhyāna / [Pali:]jhāna) or 'concentrations' (samādhi); the attainment of such states of consciousness was generally regarded as bringing the practitioner to deeper knowledge and experience of the nature of the world." (Gethin, 1998, p. 10.)
^abKing (1999, p. 67): "Many westerners see yoga as a variation on the modern concern for health and fitness and a means of overcoming the stresses and strains of modern day living. Most of what passes for yoga in this context, however, bears little relation to traditional practices, institutionalised as they were within established traditions or lienages (sampradaya) of teacher (guru) and pupil (śiṣya), structured according to hierarchical and initiatory stages of development and bound up with an ascetic lifestyle and world-view very different from the concerns of the modern western urbanite."
^Hindu-scholars have argued that Yoga hasIndo-Aryan Vedic origins, and influenced Jainism and Buddhism.
^The first known appearance of the word "yoga" with the same meaning as the modern term is in theKatha Upanishad (Singleton 2010, pp. 25–34,Flood 1996, p. 95), which was probably composed between the fifth and third centuries BCE (Phillips 2009, pp. 28–30,Olivelle 1998, pp. 12–13).
^abcBryant (2009, p. xxxiv): "Most scholars date the text shortly after the turn of the Common Era (circa first to second century)."
^abHatha Yoga dating: Mallinson (2012, p. 20): "The techniques of hatha yoga are not taught in Sanskrit texts until the 11th century or thereabouts." Burley (2000, p. 15) "While many scholars prefer to locate hatha-yoga's formative years somewhere between the ninth and tenth centuries CE, coinciding with the estimated flourishing of the great siddhas Matsyendra and Goraksa, other researchers and practitioners of yoga look much farther back in time."
^Original Sanskrit:युञ्जते मन उतयुञ्जते धियो विप्रा विप्रस्य बृहतो विपश्चितः। वि होत्रा दधे वयुनाविदेक इन्मही देवस्य सवितुः परिष्टुतिः॥१॥[30] Translation 1: Seers of the vast illumined seer yogically [युञ्जते, yunjante] control their minds and their intelligence... (…)[28] Translation 2: The illumined yoke their mind and they yoke their thoughts to the illuminating godhead, to the vast, to the luminous in consciousness; the one knower of all manifestation of knowledge, he alone orders the things of the sacrifice. Great is the praise of Savitri, the creating godhead.[29]
^See, for example,Grimes (1996, p. 359), who states that yoga is a process (or discipline) leading to unity (Aikyam) with the divine (Brahman) or with one's self (Ātman).
^This understanding of yoga as union with the divine is also informed by the mediaeval synthesis of Advaita Vedanta and yoga, with the Advaita Vedanta-tradition explicitly incorporating elements from the yogic tradition and texts like theYoga Vasistha and theBhagavata Purana,[69] culminating inSwami Vivekananda's full embrace and propagation of Yogic samadhi as an Advaita means of knowledge of the identity of the individual self (jivataman) and the highest self (Brahman), leading to liberation.[70][71]
^Tattvarthasutra [6.1], see Manu Doshi (2007) Translation of Tattvarthasutra, Ahmedabad: Shrut Ratnakar p. 102.
^Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark (2010). "Master of Animals and Animal Masters in the Iconography of the Indus Tradition". In Counts, Derek B.; Arnold, Bettina (eds.).The Master of Animals in Old World Iconography. Archaeolingua Alapítvány. p. 50.
^Richard Gombrich, "Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo." Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1988, p. 44.
^Barbara Stoler Miller, "Yoga: Discipline of Freedom: the Yoga Sutra Attributed to Patanjali; a Translation of the Text, with Commentary, Introduction, and Glossary of Keywords." University of California Press, 1996, p. 8.
^Mallinson, James. 2007.The Khecarīvidyā of Adinathā. London: Routledge. pp. 17–19.
^Mallinson 2012, pp. 20–21, "The Buddha himself is said to have tried both pressing his tongue to the back of his mouth, in a manner similar to that of the hathayogic khecarīmudrā, and ukkutikappadhāna, asquatting posture which may be related to hathayogic techniques such as mahāmudrā, mahābandha, mahāvedha, mūlabandha, and vajrāsana in which pressure is put on the perineum with the heel, in order to force upwards the breath or Kundalinī."
^abcCharles R Lanman,The Hindu Yoga System, Harvard Theological Review, Volume XI, Number 4, Harvard University Press, pages 355–359
^abcStrabo,GeographyArchived 1 November 2022 at theWayback Machine Book XV, Chapter 1, see Sections 63–65, Loeb Classical Library edition, Harvard University Press, Translator: H. L. Jones
^Andrew J. Nicholson (2013).Unifying Hinduism: Philosophy and Identity in Indian Intellectual History. Columbia University Press. p. 26.ISBN978-0-231-14987-7., "From a historical perspective, the Brahmasutras are best understood as a group of sutras composed by multiple authors over the course of hundreds of years, most likely composed in its current form between 400 and 450 BCE."
^NV Isaeva (1992), Shankara and Indian Philosophy, State University of New York Press,ISBN978-0-7914-1281-7, page 36, ""on the whole, scholars are rather unanimous, considering the most probable date for Brahmasutra sometime between the 2nd-century BCE and the 2nd-century CE"
^Jeaneane Fowler (2002), Perspectives of Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Hinduism, Sussex Academic Press,ISBN978-1898723943, page 129
^B. K. Matilal (1986), "Perception. An Essay on Classical Indian Theories of Knowledge", Oxford University Press, p. xiv.
^SC Vidyabhushana (1913, Translator),The Nyâya Sutras, The Sacred Book of the Hindus, Volume VIII, Bhuvaneshvar Asrama Press, pages 137–139
^Karl Potter (2004), The Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies: Indian metaphysics and epistemology, Volume 2, Motilal Banarsidass,ISBN978-8120803091, page 237
^Original Sanskrit: साङ्ख्यं योगो लोकायतं च इत्यान्वीक्षिकी | English Translation:Arthasastra Book 1, Chapter 2 Kautiliya, R Shamasastry (Translator), page 9
^Olivelle, Patrick (2013), King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India: Kautilya's Arthasastra, Oxford University Press,ISBN978-0-19-989182-5, see Introduction
^abLloyd Pflueger, Person Purity and Power in Yogasutra, in Theory and Practice of Yoga (Editor: Knut Jacobsen), Motilal Banarsidass,ISBN978-8120832329, pages 38–39
^Divanji, Prahlad, ed. (1954).Yoga Yajnavalkya: A Treatise on Yoga as Taught by Yogi Yajnavalkya. B.B.R.A. Society's Monograph. Vol. 3. Bombay, India: Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. p. 105.
^Dan Lusthaus. Buddhist Phenomenology: A Philosophical Investigation of Yogacara Buddhism and the Ch'eng Wei-shih Lun. Published 2002 (Routledge).ISBN0-7007-1186-4. pg 533
^Ulrich Timme Kragh (editor),The Foundation for Yoga Practitioners:The Buddhist Yogācārabhūmi Treatise and Its Adaptation in India, East Asia, and Tibet, Volume 1 Harvard University, Department of South Asian studies, 2013, pp. 16, 25.
^John Powers (2004), in Encyclopedia of Buddhism (Editors: Damien Keown et al.), Routledge,ISBN978-0-415-31414-5, pages 775–785
^White, David Gordon.Yoga in Practice. Princeton University Press 2012, page 14.
^abLama Yeshe (1998).The Bliss of Inner Fire. Wisdom Publications. pp. 135–141.
^Chogyam Trungpa (2001)The Lion's Roar: An Introduction to Tantra. Shambhala.ISBN1-57062-895-5
^Edmonton Patric 2007, Pali and Its Significance, p. 332
^"Yantra Yoga: The Tibetan Yoga of Movement" by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu. Snow Lion, 2008.ISBN1-55939-308-4
^The Lion's Roar: An Introduction to Tantra, by Chogyam Trungpa. Shambhala, 2001ISBN1-57062-895-5
^"Secret of the Vajra World: The Tantric Buddhism of Tibet" by Ray, Reginald A. Shambhala: 2002. pp. 37–38ISBN1-57062-917-X
^"Secret of the Vajra World: The Tantric Buddhism of Tibet" by Ray, Reginald A. Shambhala: 2002. p. 57ISBN1-57062-917-X
^The Buddhist Tradition in India, China, and Japan. Edited by William Theodore de Bary. pp. 207–208.ISBN0-394-71696-5
^Dumoulin, Heisig & Knitter 2005, p. 13: "This phenomenon merits special attention since yogic roots are to be found in the Zen Buddhist school of meditation."
^Mallinson 2012, p. 2: "The earliest references to hathayoga are scattered mentions in Buddhist canonical works and their exegesis dating from the eighth century onwards, in which it is the soteriological method of last resort."
^Mallinson 2012, p. 2: "In its earliest definition, in Pundarīka's eleventh-century Vimalaprabhā commentary on the Kālacakratantra, hathayoga is said to bring about the "unchanging moment" (aksaraksana) "through the practice of nāda by forcefully making the breath enter the central channel and through restraining the bindu of the bodhicitta in the vajra of the lotus of wisdom". While the means employed are not specified, the ends, in particular restraining bindu, semen, and making the breath enter the central channel, are similar to those mentioned in the earliest descriptions of the practices of hathayoga, to which I now turn."
^Ross, Alyson; Thomas, Sue (2010). "The Health Benefits of Yoga and Exercise: A Review of Comparison Studies".The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.16 (1):3–12.doi:10.1089/acm.2009.0044.PMID20105062.S2CID14130906.
^George Thibaut, Vedanta Sutras Part 1,The Sacred Books of the East atGoogle Books, Volume 34 (Editor: Max Muller), Oxford University Press, pages lxxii–lxxiii
^Deutsch, Eliot (1988),Advaita Vedanta: A Philosophical Reconstruction, University of Hawaii Press, pp. 104–105.ISBN0-88706-662-3
^Comans, Michael (2000),The Method of Early Advaita Vedānta: A Study of Gauḍapāda, Śaṅkara, Sureśvara, and Padmapāda, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, p. 183.
^P. P. Bilimoria (2012).Śabdapramāṇa: Word and Knowledge. Springer. pp. 299–301.ISBN978-94-009-2911-1.
^Eliot Deutsch (1980), Advaita Vedanta : A Philosophical Reconstruction, University of Hawaii Press,ISBN978-0824802714, pages 105–108
^Michael Comans (1993),The question of the importance of Samādhi in modern and classical Advaita Vedānta, Philosophy East & West. Vol. 43, Issue 1, pp. 19–38
^James Mallinson (2011). Knut A. Jacobsen; et al., eds. Haṭha Yoga in the Brill Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 3. Brill Academic. pp. 770–781.ISBN978-90-04-27128-9.
^On page 140, David Gordon White says about Gorakshanath: "... hatha yoga, in which field he was India's major systematizer and innovator."
^Bajpai writes on page 524: "Nobody can dispute about the top ranking position of Sage Gorakshanath in the philosophy of Yoga."
^Eliade writes of Gorakshanath on page 303: "...he accomplished a new synthesis among certain Shaivist traditions (Pashupata), tantrism, and the doctrines (unfortunately, so imperfectly known) of the siddhas – that is, of the perfect yogis."
^Davidson, Ronald.Indian Esoteric Buddhism. Columbia University Press. 2002, pg.169–235.
^Dr Ankerberg, John & Dr Weldon, John,Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs, Harvest House Publishers, 1996
^abS Pines and T Gelblum (Translators from Arabic to English, 1966), Al-Bīrūni (Translator from Sanskrit to Arabic, ~ 1035 AD), and Patañjali,Al-Bīrūnī's Arabic Version of Patañjali's "Yogasūtra"Archived 12 March 2017 at theWayback Machine, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 29, No. 2 (1966), pages 302–325
^Philipp Maas (2013), A Concise Historiography of Classical Yoga Philosophy, in Periodization and Historiography of Indian Philosophy (Editor: Eli Franco), Sammlung de Nobili, Institut für Südasien-, Tibet- und Buddhismuskunde der Universität Wien,ISBN978-3-900271-43-5, pages 53–90,OCLC858797956
^Satish Chandra (2007), Historiography, Religion, and State in Medieval India,ISBN978-8124100356, pages 135–136
^"Sidang Media – Fatwa Yoga". Islam.gov.my. Archived fromthe original on 6 January 2009. Retrieved5 September 2010.The Fatwas of Religious Council in Islamic affairs on Yoga. After carefully studied various reports and factual data, the Council unanimously agreed that this ancient India religious teachings, which involves physical and mental exercises, are Hinduism in nature known as wahdat al-wujud philosophy (oneness of existence; the realization of identity between the Self in man, Atman; and the Divine, BRAHMAN: 'Brahman is all, and Atman is Brahman'). It is prohibited (haram) for Muslims to practice it.
Grimes, John A. (1996).A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. State University of New York Press.ISBN978-0-7914-3067-5.
Hari Dass, Baba (1978).Ashtanga Yoga Primer. Santa Cruz: Sri Ram Publishing. pp. bk. cover.ISBN978-0-918100-04-7.
Jacobsen, Knut A., ed. (2018).Theory and Practice of Yoga: Essays in Honour of Gerald James Larson. Brill.
Jantos, Marek (2012). "Prayer and Meditation". In Cobb, Mark (ed.).Oxford Textbook of Spirituality in Healthcare. Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-957139-0.
Johnson, W.J. (2009).A Dictionary of Hinduism. Oxford University Press.
Jones, Constance A.; Ryan, James D. (2007). "Yoga".Encyclopedia of Hinduism. Facts On File, Inc.
Keown, Damien (2004).A Dictionary of Buddhism. Oxford University Press.
Larson, Gerald James (2014).The Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume 4: Samkhya, A Dualist Tradition in Indian Philosophy. Princeton University Press.
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