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| AHYMSIN NEWSLETTER, ISSUE - April 2021 | ||||||||
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Yoga and BuddhismPart 2 of 3by Swami Veda Bharati
namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammāsambuddhassa akhaṇḍa-maṇḍalākāraṁ vyāptaṁ yena carācaram, Om Founders of religions did not come in the world to create conflicts. They came to create harmony. They came to unite the different parts. Jesus Christ did not come to create conflict. The Buddha did not come to create conflict. The founder of yoga did not come to create conflict. These founders had giant consciousness, vast consciousness. Consciousness of the whole universe and beyond are their consciousness. Everything that happens in that universe is part of their understanding. Therefore, all the paths are their paths. They taught us how to combine the paths. They knew what the previous buddhas, prophets, masters, ṛṣis had taught. They did not contradict that teaching. As I said yesterday, they inquired inside themselves, verified the ancient, perennial eternal truths. And those truths became their own personal experience. We study and practice from the experience of all founders. They passed on the teachings from their own personal realization. And they always taught their disciples and followers not to come into conflict. In the Tipiṭakas, the Three Baskets of Buddhist teaching, there is one Brahmajāla Sutta in which the Buddha listed 63[62] topics of conflict in detail because he knew the different views that people hold. And in that teaching in Brahmajāla Sutta he taught his disciples never to discuss those 63[62] topics of conflicts. We have conflicts because our minds are small. When our minds begin to expand to Christ consciousness and Buddha consciousness then those points and views that seemed to be in contradiction become part of our understanding. That is why the Buddha taught many of disciples in many different ways. And all of these paths he called Majjhima-paṭipadā, the Middle Path. When we teach Kuṇḍalinī yoga we teach also the middle path, the central channel, the central nadī and of which the Buddha also have said some things in his secret teaching. So this question of where yoga fits in the Thai tradition is not a question. It is a very ancient tradition of Thailand taught by the ṛṣis to whom you all pay respect. In Wat Pho, in the temple of the reclining Buddha there were 84 sculptures of yoga āsanas, but there are about 30 there now. And they said they are sculptures of the ṛṣis. When I came to Bangkok for the first time many, many years ago I was alone. I stayed at a hotel and I looked at the literature they had for the tourists, the literature for the tourists. And it said that the Thai alphabets, the forms of Thai alphabets were based on yoga āsanas. So there’s no question of where yoga fits in the Thai tradition. The yoga will enrich the Thai tradition as it has enriched for two thousand years. As I said, Jesus Christ and the Buddha did not contradict the teachings from the fore. Many disciples asked Jesus Christ, “Are you the prophet Messiah?” because he was supporting their work but explaining it in the light of his own divine experience. You may not know that many of sentences in the Sermon on the Mount in the Bible ātmanaḥ pratikūlāni pareśāṁ na samācaret And we read in the teachings of Jesus: “Do not do unto others the act you do not wish them to do unto you” Exactly the same sentences. Same thing with the teachings of the Buddha for when he spoke of the mind [in Dhammapada] he said: dūraṅgamaṃ ekacaraṃ In our ashram in Rishikesh in India every night we recite a hymn to the mind and there we recite: dūraṅgamaṁ jyotiṣāṁ jyotir ekaṁ This mind goes, travels very far This was a recitation — dūraṅgamaṁ, in the Vedas. And the Buddha said about the mind — dūraṅgamaṁ, this mind travels very far. Those who limit themselves to only one religion will not know of the unity and harmony of all these religions. The Buddha said [in Dhammapada inPāli]: akkodhena jine kodhaṃ Conquer anger with non-anger; Now listen to the Sanskrit words of the Mahābhārata: akrodhena jayet krodham Same words. Slight difference of language. And the Brahmavihāras — you know the word Brahmavihāra, the four paths? Is it the path from Patañjali or is it the path from the Buddha? Now I will quote for you the sūtra from the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali: maitrī-karuṇā-muditopekṣāṇāṁ sukha-duḥkha-puṇyāpuṇya-viṣayāṇāṁ bhāvanātaś citta-prasādanam That the mind is made pleasant and clear, citta-prasādanam, by the practice of maitrī, infinite love, karuṇā, compassion, muditā, joyfulness, upekṣā (Sanskrit), upekkhā (Pāli), neutrality. The Buddhists must have taken it from Patañjali — or Patañjali took it from the Buddha! What is this? It is the same truth that come from spiritual realization. Before the Buddha decided to sit under the bodhi tree, one after the other he went to 6 teachers. His last teacher was someone named Ārāḍa Kālāma who was a master of Sāṅkhya philosophy, Sāṅkhya Yoga. Now what is the four parts of the Four Noble Truth — dukkha, samudaya, nirodha, magga (in Pāli) In Patañjali’s teaching we say in Sanskrit: duḥkha-heya, duḥkha-hetu, duḥkha-hāna, duḥkha-hāna-upāya Duḥkha, pain. Duḥkha-hetu, the cause of that pain — what is the cause of pain? — avijjā (Pāli) avidyā (Sanskrit). Duḥkha-hāna, removal of that pain. Duḥkha-hāna-upāya, the method for removing that pain, removing of our ignorance, our avijjā, our avidyā. There are out of nearly 200 sūtras of the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, 27 sūtras are on this subject. And the Buddha learned this from Ārāḍa Kālāma. He was not willing to accept what somebody else was saying. Sometimes when I gave my lectures I tell people, if you want to be my student don’t believe a single word of what I say. Practice and experience. Find out inside if it is true. That is the path of the Buddha. So he listened to the teaching of Ārāḍa Kālāma about the Four Truth but then he sat to experience. And then from that experience he found it and then explained it in his own words, in the kind of language people were speaking. Today we are speaking in English. I wish I could speak Thai. Half the words in Thai are from Sanskrit and Pāli. But in this life there is no time. I am 79 years old and I have other things to do. If I had a few more years I would learn Thai and I would speak to you in that language. Because teaching in translation can never have the same meaning So the Buddha realized for himself the truth of what the master of Sāṅkhya Yoga Ārāḍa Kālāma had told him and that became the Buddha’s teaching. Now it is not the teaching of Ārāḍa Kālāma. It is Buddha’s teaching. But it is also there in the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali. People are asking, “Your yoga meditation, are you teaching the path of samatha or are you teaching the path of paññā?” Now ask the Buddha, “Gautama Buddha, are you teaching the path of samatha or are you teaching the path of paññā?” Which one do you think he is teaching？The two are combined. sīla, samādhi, paññā — the three go together. Sīla (Pāli), śīla (Sanskrit), conduct, your behavior. In the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali that teaching is in the form of 5 yamas and 5 niyamas. What is the first yama in Patañjali’s yoga system? Ahiṁsā, non-violence, not hurting, not causing pain. When you go to the Buddhist temple what they will recite — pāṇātipātā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi The very first statement is the statement of ahiṁsā. Is it Yoga teaching or is it Buddha teaching？So have no fear in your mind. Same thing with samādhi and paññ. In the ariya-aṭṭhāṅgika-sacco[magga] — you know the ariya-aṭṭhāṅgika-sacco[magga]? — kāmāt krodho’bhijāyate (2.62) I will not translate the whole long passage — “When you mind is confused, your mindfulness is lost.” Smṛti. That is why in the Yoga Sūtraswe are taught smṛtyupasthāna, or satipaṭṭhāna in Pāli. So at the end of the Bhagavad Gītā Arjuna says to Kṛṣṇa: naṣṭo mahaḥ smṛtir labdhā tvat-prasādān mayācyuta (18.73) By your grace, my Lord, my confusion is gone and I regained my mindfulness. That is sammāsati, the 7th of the eight-fold path. And then comes sammāsamādhi, the 8th one, correct proper meditation. Yesterday I quoted to you: natthi jhānaṃ apaññassa paññā natthi ajhāyato said the Buddha. “natthi jhānaṃ apaññassa,” one who has no pañña cannot have meditation. “paññā natthi ajhāyato, ” and there can be no pañña (no wisdom) with someone who is not meditating. Very clear. “yamhi jhānaṃ ca paññā ca sa ve nibbāṇasantike,” the one in whom meditation and wisdom are combined, he is very close to nibbāṇa. So it is clear that there is no conflict. The two have to go together. In the Samyutta Nikāya section of the Tipiṭakas — are you familiar with the word Tipiṭakas？You know the word. Many people don’t. In India many people don’t know the name of their scriptures now. In the Samyutta Nikāya section of the Tipiṭakas So in the night a devaputta, a young god, came to the Buddha. Buddha looked at him and said, “Yes, what do you want?” These devas, they all attend upon the Enlightened Ones. They come to ask him questions. The devaputta said: antojaṭā bahijaṭā, jaṭāya jaṭitā pajā; He says, “I am tired of this world, a net full of knots in which everybody is caught.” The word used there is jaṭā, a complex net full of knots in which everybody is caught. He said, “antojaṭā,” jaṭā inside, “bahijaṭā,” jaṭā outside. Jaṭā inside, jaṭā outside. jaṭā is a net full of knots in which everybody is caught. The word for that is jaṭā. So devaputta says, inside jaṭā, outside jaṭā. “You go inside yourself is the net full of all kinds of knots; bahijaṭā, you go outside the world is a net full of all kinds of knots.” “jaṭāya jaṭitā pajā, every being is caught in this net full of knots.” “So Gotama, I am asking you, who is it who can master this complex net full of knots? Who can free himself from being caught in this net?” And the Buddha replied: sīle patiṭṭhāya naro sapañño, cittaṃ paññañca bhāvayaṃ; “Mastering the practice of sīla, the right conduct, and cittaṃ paññañca, mastering the concentrations of the mind, and mastering pañña, wisdom, at the same time, not separate; full of effort of concentration a wise man, monk, a wise monk can free himself from this complex net that’s full of knots.” So cittaṃ paññañca, concentration and wisdom. In the Bhagavad Gītā, one who has mastered this concentration and this wisdom is called sthita-prajña, a person whose pañña, whose prajñā, whose wisdom is stabilized. In the Holy Bible there are five Books that are called the “Books of Wisdom.” You should read those. Most people, most Christians only sing the few songs from the Psalms of David. They do not read the Book of Job, Book of Ecclesiastes and so on. I am not going to go to those now. So concentration, wisdom and conduct all come together I have a lot more to say but this year is my last year for traveling and teaching. From next year [2013] I go to 5 or 7 years of silence. These advanced teachers will teach you and you will come to me for sitting in silence. So no more lectures. But I have recorded 5000 hours of lectures. You can use those. I have 45,000 pages of transcripts of lectures waiting to be published. I have been traveling and teaching for the last 65 years. The Buddha was 80 years old, and he said, “My body is now weak and my back is bending and I want to put my foot on one side my foot goes the other side.” Four years ago when I was 75 that was happening with me. So I say I was 4 years ahead of the Buddha. It happened to him at age of 80. It happened to me at age of 75. So for the last 65 years I have been traveling and teaching non-stop. It is time to go inside. But I tell you one thing. The teaching in silence is far greater than teaching in words. Gather much good karma and keep it secret. And practice your meditation. And practice your path of wisdom at the same time. Because as I have shown you from the quotations, from the Tipiṭakas, one without the other is not complete. I want you to have a complete path. Eyes closed.
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