_The below are my personal thoughts on the differences between Yoga and Buddhism. As with the rest of this site it is a continuous work in progress._ #### Yoga vs Buddhism The title sounds a bit like I'm trying to start a fight, this versus that, but one of the central aspects of any enlightenment path is the ability to see things as they are and to discern identifying characteristics of any particular thing. And what's brought this idea of delineating these two to my mind to the point that I'm spending time putting it to writing is that I've seen a number of *yoga* and *mindfulness* teachers and schools melding the two together like their peanut butter and chocolate when they're more like two distinct tree nuts that may blend well together on a surface level but don't mix on a deeper level. Extremely long sentences aside, there are a lot of similarities between Buddhist and Yogic philosophies and even meditation practices. Which makes sense since they both arose in the same area, or same soil if you want to go into gardening analogies. One thing I really want to emphasize, because it seems that even people who have gone through a yoga teacher training program have seemed to missed it, is that the core of yoga is meditation. It's not getting into a perfect headstand, it's not sucking your stomach into your body until you can see your spine from the front, and it's not getting into an arm balance on a concrete surface near a beach so you can take a selfie and post to the gram. So there's no need to add any kind of meditative practice, like mindfulness, to yoga. It's already in there. Mindfulness practice is literally in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras (1:35). Now it is understandable that most of us in the West think yoga is just a stretching routine since that's the majority of what we see, and because we're very externally focused. But I'm seeing way too many people with lots of credentials not bring up the meditative center at the core of Yoga while simultaneously adding in Buddhist meditation and philosophy, which again Yoga does not need. It's like someone asks you what your favorite sandwich is and after you tell them they say "You know what would take that to the next level? A bun." while at the same time doing the mind blown gesture and all you can think is "But it already is on a bun." So let's begin a journey of comparison and contrast between Yoga and Buddhism. #### The Similarities The things that would fall into the external stuff category are ways we should go about living in the world. You've probably heard of The Four Noble Truths and The Eightfold Path if you've ever looked into Buddhism at all. It mostly boils down not only to "don't be a dick" but also "try to treat others and yourself with compassion". There's a decent amount of that in yoga as well, though Buddhism definitely goes into lots more detail with all its lists. And just for clarity's sake, when I speak of yogic philosophy I'm primarily referring to Patanjali's Yoga Sutra(s). Most modern teachers or gurus will talk about the Sutras a lot, with the Bhagavad Gita thrown in as well. _Suffering_ This is the core or starting point of Buddhism. It's how The Four Noble Truths start out "All existence is Dukha (suffering)". The other three truths state that the cause of suffering is craving, that suffering will end when craving ends, and that the path to ending craving and thus suffering is The Eightfold Path. Yoga talks about suffering, but often you'll see the word obstacles used. These are known as the Kleshas (obstacle, affliction, impediments, suffering). The Kleshas are: ignorance, egotism, attachment, aversion, and clinging to life. Some may say that these line up more with Buddhism's Five Hindrances (sensual desire, ill will, sloth or torpor, restlessness and worry, and doubt), but I would argue the Five Hindrances are just manifestations of the Kleshas (for instance sensual desire is a manifestation of attachment to pleasurable experiences). _Eightfold Path (Buddhism)_ This is the path Buddhism lays out for ending suffering and includes right view, right resolve, right speech, right action (isn't speech a form of action?), right livelihood, right effort, right concentration, and right mindfulness. Some may prefer the use of the word wise rather than right when listing the Eightfold Path. This is one of the many lists in Buddhism, which illustrates how heavy reductionism plays a part in Buddhist thought and we’ll come back to this in a bit. Essentially this is the external stuff, live in this way and you'll be on the path away from suffering. Yoga has this too in the form of a list of its own, the Yamas. The Yamas are your external observances, including non-violence, honesty, non-stealing, moderation or conscious control of our energy (more classically abstinence), and non-attachment. There are some other parts of the Sutras that are applicable to how we conduct ourselves in the world. Sutra 1:33 makes suggestions about how we respond to, or think of, other people as a suggestion of how to calm the mind but is useful in everyday living. The verse suggests to cultivate specific attitudes towards others that are grouped into 4 categories: those who are happy (be friendly to them), those in distress (be compassionate to them), those who are virtuous (have joy for them), and those who are less than virtuous (show them equanimity). _Meditation_ The internal stuff revolves around meditation. Most people probably think of Buddhism, or Mindfulness, when the topic of meditation comes up, but there are lots of meditation traditions, including yoga. There is a lot of overlap in Buddhist and Yogic meditation techniques but I’ve found there is a core difference, well maybe two. The first and main difference is intent. Maybe that's not quite right, as both traditions claim liberation as their goal (intent) and meditation as a main tool toward this goal. The difference is in how they define the goal. A core belief in Buddhism is there is no self (anatta). Now I've read a bit that Buddha never said there was no such thing as a soul, but he also never said there wasn't. Most Western Buddhists I've meet range from denying there's such a thing as an innermost self while not saying outright that there is no soul, to those who claim we (meaning our consciousness) are only a result of the interactions of our parts (organs, neurons, and on and on). This is what I referring to above when I mentioned reductionism and Buddhism. It kind of makes sense that many modern Westerners with scientific views of the world would gravitate toward Buddhism. Classic yoga, as in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, states their is an innermost self that is immortal and individual and that liberation happens when we experience that Self devoid of the identifications, beliefs, and habits of our material existence. While most modern schools or traditions of yoga I've been exposed to seem to ride a fine line of quoting the Yoga Sutras while simultaneously making statements drenched in non-dualism (meaning they believe we are all one soul without individuality, everything is love man, or something). Traditional Yogic philosophy is dualistic and Edwin Bryant's book on the Yoga Sutras is a great source for reading about the arguments in chapter four of the Sutras that argue against a reductionist view that claims there is no individual "soul". On a more material level, most Buddhist meditation techniques fall under what I'd consider observation based approaches. You try to keep your attention on your thoughts that arise, or feelings that arise, or physical sensations, and just observe these phenomena. I did meet an Ahjan (basically a head Buddhist monk) who told me to to focus on the mantra "buddho", so mantra practice is present in the Buddhist tradition. A more central technique that same Ahjan described was to think about the 32 parts of the body, where you mentally say the name of a body part and contemplate it. The list includes fingernails and hair and basically is a way to, again, observe things. There are techniques in yoga which focus on observation, but there are more practices focused on mantra or concentration on energy centers in the body, or contemplation on things as vast as the universe itself. In both cases you can see the intent and core belief shinning through. The Yogic belief of a core inner Self with the intent of liberating us by acknowledgment of something more expansive than our physical self, while Buddhist practices reflect the core belief that essentially we're just a product of our own imagination. #### One of These Things Is Not Like The Other No really, I left one of the words above with a lowercase first letter kind of on purpose. So, what the hell is my point? Well, mainly that Yoga does not need meditation added from an external tradition. The whole of Yoga, really the core of Yoga, is meditation for the purpose of individual liberation. The act of adding something from outside that is already there points to either a lack of knowledge about that thing, which is weird if you're a teacher of it, or a desire to gain attention for your brand of that thing by adding something that has notoriety. Another point was simply the exercise for myself of getting this distinction out of my head and onto "paper". Now, before anyone who read all that gets riled up, I don't care if you practice asana and do Mindfulness meditation. If it floats your boat then good for you. I do care that people misrepresent something, whether by accident, or worse, on purpose, and I think anyone wanting to see things as they actually are would care about that as well. Peace --- %% Buddhist Precepts Judith Ragir says are how a Buddha behaves naturally, similar to how Roy said the Yamas are how an enlightened person naturally behaves. %% Created on: 2024-03-25 [[Home]]