Spiritual Sciences of Buddhism and Yoga: Where the Paths Converge

1. 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)

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

3. 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) Buddhism Review!

4. 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 AradaKalapa of Magadha, taught a form of Upanishadic Yoga (“the sphere of no-thing-ness, “akimcanya-ayatana) RudrakaRamaputra 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

5. 13-16th centuries: Muslim Invasions in India

6. Some of Buddha’s Relics at Sarnarth Our enthusiastic tour guide!

7. The Indian Subcontinent Lumbini, Bodhgaya, Sarnarth, Nalanda, Mohenjodaro, Indus Valley

8. What is yoga?

9. YOGA = ???

10. YOGA . . . • Sanskrit for “yoke,” to join, to connect • Has had different meanings in various eras • The psychospiritualtechnology 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”

11. What are some schools of yoga?

12. Oldest known forms of documented yoga Also: Japa, Laya, Kundalini, Mantra, Kriya. Some overlap in concepts due to geography/time

13. Hatha Yoga • Perfection of the body through transmutation • Preparation for Raja Yoga (the yoga of meditation) • First emerged around1100 AD • Hatha Yoga Pradipika (15thc CE): 15 postures, mostly seated • GherandaSamhita (17thc CE): Shat Karmas • Siva Samhita (18thc CE): 84 Asanas • Basis for most of what is practiced in popularized American yoga

14. How old is yoga? • First possible archaeological evidence of yoga/meditation found in the Indus Valley (3000-1900 BCE)

16. Seal from the Indus Valley

17. 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)

18. 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

19. 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)

20. A page from the Upanishads

21. 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) • BaghavadGita defines three primary paths of yoga: Jnana, Karma, Bhakti, Raja (500-200 BCE)

22. 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

25. Raja Yoga • Also known as Patanjali, Ashtanga, or Classical Yoga • 100 – 500 CE • Heavily 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.

27. Common Techniques: Mudras HastaMudras, nadi/sen/meridian lines, rituals, dance, healing

28. Common Techniques: Mandalas & Yantras • Focusing device for the meditator • A map of the cosmos and the psyche • The 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.

29. Tibetan Mandala AmitayusMandala

30. Yogic Yantra AnahataYantra

31. Common Techniques: Mantras • Man – mind • Tra – instrument

33. Common Techniques: Meditation

34. References Cope, Stephen: The Wisdom of Yoga Feuerstein, 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 It Stone, Michael: Writing on the Connections Between Yoga and Buddhism Tandon, SN: A Reappraisal of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras in the Light of Buddha’s Teaching Archaeology Online The Story of India, a BBC and PBS 6-part series The Teaching Company: Confucius, Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed