How are yoga and Buddhism similar?
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| Richard Freeman |
If you look at something like the Yoga Sutra, you can see the Buddhism woven into it. A lot of the terminology is Mahayana terminology. The schools are similar enough, but their cultures are different—so they either infuriate or inspire one another.
The Indian yoga that is popular now in the States is not really representative of yoga. Most yogis in India will do a couple of postures, get that alignment and quit when they’re twenty-five because they hurt their necks doing it.
Then what do they do?
Then they do their meditation and pranayama. If you go all over India, that’s mostly what you find. In terms of the brilliant practice of asanas that you find in North America, that’s just one thread coming through Krishnmacharya and his students.
You teach ashtanga mainly because ...
It’s just what I wound up doing! The term “ashtanga” isn’t just referring to the vigorous methodology of Pattabhi Jois; it refers to the classical eight limbs, not unlike the eightfold path of the Buddha. Within the yoga schools, ashtanga implies a type of practice that is oriented towards insight for the purpose of liberation—not the cultivation of anything else.
Is it true that people are turning to Buddhism in order to gain insight into the three marks of existence, because those teachings aren’t available through the study of yoga?
People are turning to Buddhism for that because of the dubious quality of the instruction that is available. This is part of the social phenomenon of yoga. So many people have gone to India for teacher training, and have gotten a watered-down version for mass consumption. It’s easy and profitable.
Most of the yogic scriptures start out talking about suffering, impermanence and the basic problem of ignorance. If you were from another planet, you would say that yoga’s the same as Buddhism.
The thing with Indian yogis—and this is not universally true but it is true with some—they’re very reluctant to really teach stuff that is chewy and heavy. They have this cultural snobbery, particularly if they’re Brahmins. They figure that these students can't understand it anyway—maybe they will in their next life. Or maybe if they’re good boys and girls, they will in this life.
One of the traditional Hindu teachings is that most people aren’t really interested in the truth. So you give them some religious form that will do them good, and you keep them in their place. Then, at a certain point, they’ll inquire.
So there’s not the urgency for Indian yogis to save all beings. Eventually they want to save all beings. But they figure they have lots of time.
If you look at what’s happening in Western yoga, people are pretty much caught up in the idea of being super-healthy and full of bliss, grasping at pleasurable states of consciousness.
Does that disturb you, knowing what you know?
Oh yeah. So this is the way my contemplation usually goes: at least they’re a little bit interested in the subject. At least they’re getting started in it. If their teachers have some integrity, people will start learning more.
People come to yoga for all kinds of reasons. Mostly they want something. But the same could be said of Buddhism: people want peace of mind or something. Their desire still tends to be egocentric. But if they’ve come to a good source, they’ll start to get more than they asked for, more than they bargained for. And that’s the hope with this huge wave of popularity of yoga—that there’ll be a significant percentage of people who really take to it and really inquire into its roots. I remain optimistic.
