Buddhism & Yoga
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SeanFeitOakes.com | 2018 Buddhism & Yoga: Integrating the Traditions Sean Feit Oakes, PhD | Spirit Rock Dharma & Yoga Program 2018 Parallel vocabulary & concepts between some Hindu & Buddhist Yoga systems Path Aspect Hindu Yogas Buddhist Yogas Ethics & Discipline yama (Outer Disciplines) sīla (Precepts) niyama (Inner Disciplines) vinaya (Monastic Discipline) [sīla] saṃnyāsa (Renunciate/Monastic) bhikkhu/-nī (Renunciate/Monastic) Steadiness & Energy Classical Yoga (Patañjali 200 CE) Early Buddhism (Theravāda 100 BCE) āsana (Posture) kayagatasati (Mindfulness of Body) [samādhi] prāṇāyāma (Breath Regulation) anāpānasati (Mindfulness of Breathing) pratyāhāra (Withdrawal of the Senses) samatha (Tranquillity/Concentration) dhāraṇā (Concentration/Focus) sati (Mindfulness/Focus) dhyana (Meditative Absorption) jhāna (Absorption) samādhi (Integration) samādhi (Integration) abhyāsa (Cultivation, Practice) bhavana (Cultivation, Practice) vairāgya (Non-reactivity) upekkhā (Equanimity) Haṭha Yoga (Hindu/Śaiva) Yantra Yoga/Trulkhor (Tibetan) mudrā (Esoteric Gesture/Seal) mudrā (Esoteric Gesture/Seal) bandha (Esoteric Bond) bandha (Esoteric Bond) kriya (Esoteric Movement/Shape) yantra (Esoteric Movement/Shape) prāṇa (Breath/Energy) lung (Breath/Energy) kuṇḍalinī (The Coiled One/Goddess) tummo (Inner Fire), pīti (Rapture) siddhi (Subtle Powers) iddhi/siddhi (Subtle Powers) Inquiry & Liberation saṃyama (Perfect Discipline) 4th jhāna (Perfection of Mindfulness) viveka (Discriminating Insight) vipassanā (Clear Seeing/Insight) [pañña] vidya (Knowledge) pañña/prajña (Wisdom) mokṣa/mukti (Liberation [Vedānta]) nibbāna/nirvāṇa (Unbound/Cooled) kaivalya (Independence [Yoga]) jivanmukta (Liberated Being) arahant (Liberated Being) mahasiddha (Semi-divine Sage) bodhisattva (Semi-divine Sage) 1 SeanFeitOakes.com | 2018 Death as Guru (The Kaṭha Upaniṣad) (500-300 BCE) 1 Uśan, the son of Vājaśravas, once gave away all his possessions. He had a son named Naciketas. 2 Young as he was, faith took hold of him while the cows presented as sacrificial gifts were being led away, and he reflected: 3 “They’ve drunk all their water, eaten all their fodder, They have been milked dry, they are totally barren — ‘Joyless’ are those worlds called, to which a man goes who gives them as gifts.” 4 So he asked his father: “Father, to whom will you give me?” He repeated it for a second time, and again for a third time. His father yelled at him: “I’ll give you to Death!” 5 I go as the very first of many. I go as the middlemost of many. What’s it that Yama must do, That he will do with me today? 6 Look ahead! See how they have gone, those who have gone before us! Look back! So will they go, those who will come after us. A mortal man ripens like grain, And like grain he is born again. ... 9 Three nights, O Brahmin, you stayed in my house, a guest worthy of homage, without any food; Three wishes, therefore, deign to make in return. So homage to you, O Brahmin! And may I fare well! Naciketas’s 3 Wishes 1. His father’s good will when he returns [relational healing] 2. Explanation of “the fire-altar that leads to heaven” [formal study & internalization of the ritual] 3. The answer to the question of existence after death [existential knowledge & liberating insight] Adhyātma Yoga (taught by Death to Naciketas, Kaṭha U.) 3.3 Know the self as a rider in a chariot, and the body, as simply the chariot. Know the intellect as the charioteer, and the mind, as simply the reins. 4 The senses, they say, are the horses, and sense objects are the paths around them; He who is linked to the body, senses, and mind, the wise proclaim as the one who enjoys. 5 When a man lacks understanding, and his mind is never controlled; His senses do not obey him, as bad horses, a charioteer. 6 But when a man has understanding, and his mind is ever controlled; His senses do obey him, as good horses, a charioteer. 7 When a man lacks understanding, is unmindful and always impure; He does not reach that final step, but gets on the round of rebirth. 8 But when a man has understanding, is mindful and always pure; He does reach that final step, from which he is not reborn again. ...6.10 When the five perceptions are stilled, together with the mind, And not even reason bestirs itself; they call it the highest state. 11 When senses are firmly reined in, that is Yoga, so people think. From distractions a man is then free, for Yoga is the coming-into-being, as well as the ceasing-to-be. 2 SeanFeitOakes.com | 2018 25 Tattva (elements/qualities) 1. puruṣa — individual consciousness, knowing subject, witness, seer, pure awareness: ātman, jīva, kṣetrajña 2. prakṛti — power, nature, the substance of the universe, matter/energy, manifests as all lower tattva: the 3 inner instruments (antaḥkaraṇa) 3. Intelligence (buddhi) — reason, imagination, awakeness, knowing, intelligence; like a mirror 4. Sense of Self (ahaṅkāra) — the I AM sense, identity, the felt sense of self 5. Mind (manas) — thought, attention, perception, preferences, memory (past) & fantasy/fear (future) Instruments of Knowing (jñānendriya) Instruments of Action (karmendriya) 6. ears (śrotra): hearing 11. mouth (vāk): speech 7. skin (tvak): contact 12. hands (pāni): manipulation 8. eyes (cakṣus): sight 13. feet (pāda): locomotion 9. tongue (rasanā): taste 14. genitals (upastha): procreation 10. nose (ghrāṇa): smell 15. bowels (pāyu): elimination Physical Senses (tanmātra) Great Elements (mahā-bhūta) 16. sound (śabda) 21. space (ākāśa) bīja: HAM 17. touch (sparśa) 22. air (vāyu) bīja: YAM 18. form (rūpa) 23. fire (tejas / agni) bīja: RAM 19. taste (rasa) 24. water (āpaḥ) bīja: VAM 20. smell (gandha) 25. earth (prthvī) bīja: LAM Practice Inquiry: Bring awareness to contact each tattva individually, in reverse order (gross to subtle). Sensing each quality or activity, notice its qualities, and notice the awareness of it. Is this quality or activity stable? ...permanent? ...pleasant or unpleasant? Is it me, or my self, or a “part” of me, or “external” to me? Am I attached to this quality or activity being a certain way? ...continuing/ceasing? ...existing? Meditation: Withdrawal of the Senses (pratyāhāra) Observing sense activity, aware of +/- charge Non-engagement with sense activity: presence without preference Reflection: What conditions support you to not get hooked by sensory experiences? When you notice you’re hooked, how do you recover your presence? What’s it like when you’re not hooked? 3 SeanFeitOakes.com | 2018 Gotama’s renunciation “Bhikkhus, before my enlightenment, while I was still only an unenlightened Bodhisatta, I too, being myself subject to birth, sought what was also subject to birth; being myself subject to aging, sickness, death, sorrow, and defilement, I sought what was also subject to aging, sickness, death, sorrow, and defilement. Then I considered thus: ‘Why, being myself subject to birth, do I seek what is also subject to birth? Why, being myself subject to aging, sickness, death, sorrow, and defilement, do I seek what is also subject to aging, sickness, death, sorrow, and defilement? Suppose that, being myself subject to birth, having understood the danger in what is subject to birth, I seek the unborn supreme security from bondage, Nibbāna. Suppose that, being myself subject to aging, sickness, death, sorrow, and defilement, having understood the danger in what is subject to aging, sickness, death, sorrow, and defilement, I seek the unaging, unailing, deathless, sorrowless, and undefiled supreme security from bondage, Nibbāna.’ “Later, while still young, a black-haired young man endowed with the blessing of youth, in the prime of life, though my mother and father wished otherwise and wept with tearful faces, I shaved off my hair and beard, put on the yellow robe, and went forth from the home life into homelessness.”1 Gotama’s practice of yoga (samādhi) “Having gone forth, bhikkhus, in search of what is wholesome, seeking the supreme state of sublime peace, I went to Āḷāra Kālāma and said to him: ‘Friend Kālāma, I want to lead the holy life in this Dhamma and Discipline.’ Āḷāra Kālāma replied: ‘The venerable one may stay here. This Dhamma is such that a wise man can soon enter upon and abide in it, realising for himself through direct knowledge his own teacher’s doctrine.’ I soon quickly learned that Dhamma. As far as mere lip-reciting and rehearsal of his teaching went, I could speak with knowledge and assurance, and I claimed, ‘I know and see’—and there were others who did likewise. “I considered: ‘It is not through mere faith alone that Āḷāra Kālāma declares: “By realising for myself with direct knowledge, I enter upon and abide in this Dhamma.” Certainly Āḷāra Kālāma abides knowing and seeing this Dhamma.’ Then I went to Āḷāra Kālāma and asked him: ‘Friend Kālāma, in what way do you declare that by realising for yourself with direct knowledge you enter upon and abide in this Dhamma?’ In reply he declared the base of nothingness. “I considered: ‘Not only Āḷāra Kālāma has faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom. I too have faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom. Suppose I endeavor to realize the Dhamma that Āḷāra Kālāma declares he enters upon and abides in by realising for himself with direct knowledge?’ “I soon quickly entered upon and abided in that Dhamma by realising for myself with direct knowledge. Then I went to Āḷāra Kālāma and asked him: ‘Friend Kālāma, is it in this way that you declare that you enter upon and abide in this Dhamma by realising for yourself with direct knowledge?’—‘That is the way, friend.’—‘It is in this way, friend, that I also enter upon and abide in this Dhamma by realising for myself 1 MN 26: Ariyapariyesanā Sutta (“The Noble Search”). https://suttacentral.net/en/mn26 4 SeanFeitOakes.com | 2018 with direct knowledge.’ … ‘So you know the Dhamma that I know and I know the Dhamma that you know. As I am, so are you; as you are, so am I.