(2) Shallow translation of etymology
The word yoga originated from the Sanskrit word "Yuji", which originally meant to connect with a yoke, meaning "a person who strangles a cow or horse in front of a shaft" (Ci Hai). Later, it was extended to the meaning of inheritance, connection, combination, unity, unity, identity and unity, which meant harmony and equality. Interestingly, the English word "yoke" is also a "yoke", and its Latin etymology also means "connection" and "combination".
Important Indian classics in ancient times, such as Upanishads and Vedas, all mentioned "yoga" many times. It refers to the harmony between "ego Atman" and "ego Mahatman", which is what China people call the realm of the unity of all things and the unity of man and nature. This is in line with the Samadhi (Samadhi), awakening, awakening, liberation and nirvana referred to by Buddhism and Hinduism. For example, in the Bhagavad-gita, an important Hindu book, Krishna, the god of heaven, repeatedly explained to Ah Zhou what yoga is.
In the second century BC, patanjali summarized various yoga practices and wrote the Yoga Sutra [Note 1], which resulted in the famous "Eight Branches of Yoga", namely, eight aspects of practice: (1) abstinence (keeping precepts) (2) (6) persistence (concentration) (7) meditation.
In the practical tradition of India, this "self" is regarded as the energy reflection of the "cosmic self" (that is, according to Christianity, man was created in the image of God), so there is a way to reunite the two. This "reflection" (energy) curls in the form of three and a half times and sleeps in the sacrum at the bottom of the human spine. Under suitable conditions, this hidden and sleeping energy will be awakened and raised until it passes through the top of the head (the top chakra), which makes people wake up and realize, that is, the so-called self-realization (self-awareness-self-awakening). The state of mind, body and spirit has been improved. Yoga is such a state.
Another interesting phenomenon appears in modern medical terminology: the original meaning of sacrum in ancient Greek is "sacred"; Relative to the position of the crown wheel, that is, the skull, it means fontanel in English and fountain in Latin. This is completely consistent with the description of ancient Indian poets and sages. In addition, the positions of three and seven chakras and the number of petals conform to modern anatomy. Does this mean that different cultures have the same understanding when the ancients looked inward? It was not until the emergence of mechanical materialism that the tradition of inner practice and understanding was submerged?
(3) Chinese Yoga
The word yoga has been translated freely in Buddhist scriptures, and the old translation of "correspondence" seems to have been widely transliterated since Xuanzang. From then on, the word began to change in meaning, complexity and thinking, and even deviated from its original intention. Especially Tibetan Buddhism. Open the Buddhist or religious dictionary in China at a glance.
Should we do "yoga" or "yoga"? Say goodbye to the sea and only take "Jia". Other reference books at hand only take Jia. The word "home" is mostly used to translate words (such as) and has no independent meaning. And "A" refers to women's jewelry. Their national sounds are slightly different, but their Cantonese sounds are the same. In computer typing and Cangjie input method, the associative fonts of Yu characters are Jia and Jia, with Jia as the head.
In modern times, many people use yoga, which has become fashionable. It is likely to be the same radical as the word Yu, with a unified shape and easy to remember. It is more likely to be the orientation of pronunciation: Jia's national voice "now" is translated more accurately. However, is it because foreigners in the Yuan and Qing Dynasties entered China, and the orthography of Chinese was disturbed, and the northern sound moved south? Or has the original text also undergone phonetic evolution? That's a subject of linguistics.
As for the sleeping energy awakened in yoga practice, Kundalini, located in the sacrum at the bottom of the spine, is transliterated as Kundalini. When Indian culture was first introduced to China, it was translated into a spirit snake because its Sanskrit original meaning was "Kunda", and when it rose, it appeared as a snake winding stick (such as a double dragon winding column). There is also the transliteration of "Junduli" and so on. Taoism calls it psionics. Tantric alchemy is translated as "clumsy fire" in practice, which is really a serious misunderstanding. It is only because of the consequences caused by its wrong method (sexual intercourse between men and women or witchcraft) that the "reflection of the greater self" in the sacrum triangle has been humiliated and punished. True practice not only makes people enjoy a peaceful paradise, but also makes them feel cool and happy in Shu Tai. It can be said that this magic has polluted the whole yoga system. In India, such things have been abandoned, but some people still sell them to westerners for personal benefit.
In order to avoid misunderstanding, Kundalini is now translated into spiritual quantity, which means spiritual sacred power.
(4) Yoga school
From the original meaning of the word yoga, we can see that the ultimate goal of yoga practice is to jump out of the secular frame and achieve unity and enlightenment.
The Yoga Sutra, which was handed down more than 2,000 years ago and has always been regarded as a standard, tells us that yoga is an all-round practice of body and mind, and it needs to be fully coordinated in different ways to achieve liberation. The predecessors realized that many lessons are helpful to practice, such as proper diet, precepts, doing good deeds (karma), regulating the movement of the spine (pranayama), paying attention to breathing (pranayama), and even chanting (mantras), godliness (Bhakti), increasing knowledge (Prajna), awakening spiritual energy (Kundalini) and so on. However, if patanjali were alive in the spirit of heaven and saw later generations divide these practices into factions and rigid dogmatism, he would surely shake his head and sigh.
He repeatedly emphasized the importance of meditation. However, there is little pen and ink on "body adjustment".
Obviously, even if cartilage is used to adjust the spine, so as to adjust different energy centers (three pulses and seven rounds), it is necessary to diagnose and prescribe drugs, and one action only corresponds to one problem. It's a pity that people nowadays not only regard this kind of sports yoga (officially called hatha yoga/Jutuo yoga, also called Sun Moon Yoga) as everything in yoga, but also don't know how to diagnose it! Practicing all postures (asanas) with a basket is off track. It's like swallowing one medicine after another in a medicine cabinet. What other topics such as weight-loss yoga and beauty yoga appear, which is too far from the point.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that the ancients called Raja Yoga, loyal to the eight branches of yoga, with a comprehensive and lofty status, which means yoga with a lofty status as a king. The Bhagavad-gita is called Rajavidya. Unfortunately, this term has been registered by a modern organization. It is not convenient to comment on whether it is worthy of the name, but obviously don't be too naive. Just ask them a few questions and things will speak for themselves.
(5) the religious view of yoga
Yoga philosophy and practice mode emphasize the unity of man and nature. What is the sky? Indians call the universe Brahma, Brahma, Brahma and even Shiva, and they also call the omnipresent forces of the universe Paramchaitanya, Ritambhara-Pragna and so on. Sometimes this "great power" is worshipped and worshipped in different forms. China people implicitly and simply call it "Tian" (or, as I said, it is indescribable, let's just call it "Tao"). As for what is "man" in the integration of heaven and earth, it is not a few words, but can involve many profound philosophies. From this point of view, yoga practice explores the relationship and essence between heaven and man, and the three veins and seven rounds represent the different faces and qualities between heaven and man. With such a complete world outlook, it can obviously be called "religion". However, it is an "internal" religion, or "dharma dharma"; It is very different from the general external, tangible, dogmatic and institutionalized religion. It is an ancient, personal and internal exploration and practice of "true self".
(6) Conclusion: The impact of modern times is the treasure house of the past.
Today, to understand the essence of Indian culture, we must learn yoga. Yoga philosophy not only influenced the way of life and thinking of Indians in past dynasties, but also had a far-reaching impact on Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and Persian Zoroastrianism.
But it can be said that the great ship of modernization came in the name of science, and India experienced a century-long British colonial rule, so many ancient traditional intelligences, such as medical care and medicine, were irretrievably violated. Yoga knowledge is no exception.
Coupled with the minimalism, material priority and fast food culture in modern society, deep and internal things have no market at all, and are submerged or oversimplified faster, leading to distortion. For example, in order to understand yoga, most westerners only practice Hada yoga and bend their hands and feet. Part of the reason is that in order to introduce the health care methods of Indians to the western world with Christianity as the main body, they have to avoid the part where heaven and man are one, mysterious or will lead to religious disputes. In addition, under the materialistic haze of modern western medicine, only talking about functional body and doing stretching exercise will save a lot of trouble; On the other hand, modern people are happy and used to seeing spectacular images, and cartilage solutions have a great market. In addition to the last point above, the fate of Chinese medicine in today's generation is similar, and the metaphysics part has also experienced a modern washing and impact. 〕
As for the view that Kundalini is the maternal energy (the center that nourishes all energy), which embodies the maternal status in heaven, it is difficult to have living space under the paternal governance mode of Christian church in western culture. What is the mother of all things, Adi Shakti (the mother of the original) [Note 2], westerners are at a loss. Anyone who speaks out is in danger of being labeled as heresy at any time.
You know, the word Kundalini not only contains the meaning of Kunda (curly), but also the suffix lini has revealed her maternal identity.
As the saying goes, it was in deep meditation that the ancients realized the mystery of "true self" and the unity of this small universe and this big universe. It emphasizes personal experience rather than scientific dialectics or argumentation. However, the relevant ancient literature coincides with today's scientific discovery.
It can be said that yoga meditation is an invaluable treasure given to mankind by God.