Rethinking 'Classical Yoga' and Buddhism


Book Description

This book revisits the early systemic formation of meditation practices called 'yoga' in South Asia by employing metaphor theory. Karen O'Brien-Kop also develops an alternative way of analysing the reception history of yoga that aims to decentre the Eurocentric and imperialist enterprises of the nineteenth-century to reframe the cultural period of the 1st – 5th centuries CE using categorical markers from South Asian intellectual history. Buddhist traditions were just as concerned as Hindu traditions with meditative disciplines of yoga. By exploring the intertextuality of the Patanjalayogasastra with texts such as Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakosabhasya and Asanga's Yogacarabhumisastra, this book highlights and clarifies many ideologically Buddhist concepts and practices in Patanjala yoga. Karen O'Brien-Kop demonstrates that 'classical yoga' was co-constructed systemically by both Hindu and Buddhist thinkers who were drawing on the same conceptual metaphors of the period. This analysis demystifies early yoga-meditation as a timeless 'classical' practice and locates it in a specific material context of agrarian and urban economies.




Samādhi


Book Description

A historical and comparative study grounded in close readings of important works, this book explores the dynamics of the theory and practice of yoga in Hindu and Buddhist contexts. Author Stuart Ray Sarbacker explores the fascinating, contrasting perceptions that meditation leads to the attainment of divine, or numinous, power, and to complete escape from worldly existence, or cessation. Sarbacker demonstrates that these two dimensions of spiritual experience have affected the doctrine and cultural significance of yoga from its origins to its contemporary practice. He also integrates sociological and psychological perspectives on religious experience into a larger phenomenological model to address the multifaceted nature of religious experience. Speaking to a broad range of methodological and contextual issues, Samadhi provides numerous insights into the theory and practice of yoga that are relevant to both scholars of religious studies and practitioners of contemporary yoga and meditation traditions.




The Routledge Companion to Mindfulness at Work


Book Description

Given the ever-growing interest in the benefits of mindfulness to organizations and the individuals who work in them, this Companion is a comprehensive primary reference work for mindfulness (including creativity and flow) in the workplace, including business, healthcare, and educational settings. Research shows that mindfulness boosts creativity through greater insight, receptivity, and balance, and increases energy and a sense of wellbeing. This Companion traces the genesis and growth of this burgeoning field, tracks its application to the workplace, and suggests trends and future directions. With contributions from leading scholars and practitioners in business, leadership, psychology, healthcare, education, and other related fields, The Routledge Companion to Mindfulness at Work is an extensive reference work which will be a vital resource to the fields of management and organizational studies, human resource management, psychology, spirituality, cultural anthropology, and sociology. Each chapter will present a listing of key topics, a case or situation that illustrates the application of the themes, workplace lessons, and reflection questions.




Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali


Book Description

Note that due to the limitations of some ereading devices not all diacritical marks can be shown. BKS Iyengar’s translation and commentary on these ancient yoga sutras has been described as the “bible” of yoga. This edition contains an introduction by BKS Iyengar, as well as a foreword by Godfrey Devereux, author of Dynamic Yoga.




Yogacara Texts: Indo-Tibetan Sources of Dzogchen Mahamudra


Book Description

The Yogacara Doctrine teaches one fundamental truth, namely that all beings are Buddha-'sattva Buddha evam'-or, in other words, all beings are aspects of one all-embracing absolute awareness, were they but to know it. This book sets a context for the study and meditation on ten pivotal texts of Yogacara. The source texts, translated from a practice perspective, derive from the Indo-Tibetan mahasiddha tradition and are presented with an ecumenical approach. As this collection of pithy Yogacara works will readily prove to the reader, the ancient 'Practice Tradition of the Yogin' (rnal-bhyor-pa'i sgrub-brgyud) is based on a clearly active realization of the essential nature of mind and consciousness gained through years of intensive examination and reflection. Yogacara approach advocates a dynamic form of meditation that is neither suppressive nor lethargic. The guide to this attainment, the mechanism that sharpens the mind's penetrative and illuminative qualities, is metaphysical inquiry.




The Wisdom of Patañjali's Yoga Sutras


Book Description

"A new translation of: The yoga sutras of Patanjali, the ancient Indian text which sets forth the practical and philosophical foundations of yoga, presented here with extensive commentary and spiritual exercises to assist in the practice and understanding of one's own spiritual search"--Provided by publisher.




Dharma and Abhidharma


Book Description

Contributed articles presented at the fourth Biannual International Conference on Dharma and Abhidharma at University of Mumbai, held in March 2006.




Indian Books in Print


Book Description