Philosophical yoga is a yoga with philosophy as the dominant content, characterized by the development based on philosophical dialogue, and its main purpose is to carry forward philosophical thoughts.
The fundamental goal of philosophical yoga is to carry forward philosophical thoughts such as world outlook, outlook on life, values and knowledge, and all the explanations of yoga principles in its whole theoretical system are related to this goal.
In the history of Indian culture, the only thing that can really be called philosophical yoga is the yoga system developed from one of the six schools of philosophy. Yoga school is a philosophical school with talking about yoga as its core content and a theoretical system of yoga with philosophical exploration as its main goal.
Yoga Sutra is a symbol of the maturity of philosophical yoga and a fundamental classic of philosophical yoga.
The compilation of Yoga Sutra contains the views of the sages of yoga school on the world, life and knowledge, and also tells the principles, obstacles, achievements and ultimate goals of yoga practice.
The historical significance of Yoga Sutra is that it separates the concept of "yoga" from Brahmanism for the first time and constructs a relatively perfect system. Its gradual elaboration laid the foundation for the popularization of yoga. Because of the special contribution of Yoga Sutra to the development of yoga, the yoga advocated by Yoga Sutra is called "raja yoga".
The Yoga Sutra develops the concept of yoga in five aspects:
1. Cultivation goal: while keeping consistent with "liberation", further interpret its state as "Samadhi", which is divided into different stages from low to high.
2. Philosophical theory: developed a world outlook with "self-nature" and "divinity" as its core content.
3. Religious belief: Give up most religious worship and only keep basic worship.
4. Practice steps: refine the six branches of yoga in Upanishads into eight branches, so as to make the practice of yoga more clear.
5. Understanding of the human body: In its theoretical system, it initially tries and constructs the human body epistemology suitable for yoga practice, and explores the influence of yoga practice on the human body.
Yoga Sutra observes and expounds the world from the perspective of dualism, and "self" and "spirit and self" are its core concepts.
"Self-nature" refers to the only source and sum of all material and spiritual phenomena, and "God-self" is the subject of "self-nature" and the pure consciousness contained in it.
God and I are considered as the foundation of the existence of the world, and all changes in the phenomenal world (self-nature) exist for God and me. Being able to recognize "God and I" is the proof of achieving the goal of yoga practice.
The confusion between God and self is caused by people's "ignorance", and yoga practice is also a hand segment to eliminate ignorance and make self disappear.
Yoga Sutra not only religiousizes yoga, but also retains the basic belief of "freedom and nature" and regards it as an integral part of yoga practice.
In addition to the necessary supplement to the relationship between "self" and "God and I", the belief of "freedom of heaven" catered to the social environment at that time to a certain extent.
"Eight Branches" are the eight steps that yoga requires to follow, namely, holding precepts, abstinence, sitting, pranayama, controlling emotions, holding, meditation and samadhi. The eight branches are both independent steps and a comprehensive whole. Yoga practice should follow the principle of step by step, and at the same time, all steps must be integrated to achieve the goal of liberation.
The contents of the eight branches can be divided into two parts: the outer branch (the first five branches) focuses on the cultivation of daily behavior norms and physical activities, and the inner branch (the last three branches) focuses on the cultivation of consciousness activities.
Yoga Sutra advocates the double progress of body and consciousness, and the cultivation of body is the premise and foundation of consciousness cultivation.
The contents of the precepts are: no violence, no treachery, no stealing, no deviance, no slavery.
The content of exhortation: purity, satisfaction, abstinence, study and respect for freedom.
Discipline and admonition belong to the other five branches, and they are all codes of conduct that guide people to follow before formally practicing yoga-discipline points out behaviors that should not occur, while admonition points out behaviors that should be practiced diligently.
In the system of Yoga Sutra, keeping precepts and admonishing are a unified whole. The content of keeping precepts teaches people to correctly participate in external personnel relations, while exhortation tends to cultivate internal mental state. Being able to completely adhere to the contents of the two, practitioners can go deep into the later stage in a calm, clear, firm and enthusiastic state until they are finally freed.
The "sitting method" in Yoga Sutra refers to: using correct breathing methods, controlling consciousness and putting the body in a calm, stable and comfortable posture. Sitting method is the starting point of physical cultivation, and it is also the bedding for the mind to enter the system. The three elements of sitting: relaxation, balance and patience.
"pranayama" means the extension and control of breathing. In the system of Eight Yoga, the goal of practicing pranayama is to help people gather more life energy by mastering breathing better. Three elements of pranayama: exhalation, inhalation and control.
"Sensory control" refers to sensory recovery-to restore the perception of the external environment. According to the theory in Yoga Sutra, the function of the senses is to contact with external things and react with the help of the "heart". Through the practice of sensory control, we can recover our senses from the corresponding realm, and then focus on an internal goal, so as to complete the control of our senses and maintain a focused meditation state.
Sitting, pranayama and feeling * * * form an interrelated whole, and the cultivation of the three at the same time has no order and cannot be carried out separately. Although both belong to the category of body cultivation, they have different functions: sitting cultivation can improve the body's ability and make qi run more smoothly in the body; Adjusting the breath will make the body accumulate more life "qi" and make reserves for subsequent practice; Sensory control can separate people's consciousness from the attention to the material level and concentrate on the spirit. Only with the cooperation of the three branches of * * * can practitioners smoothly enter the practice of inner consciousness.
The definition of "persistence" in Yoga Sutra is "concentration of consciousness", that is, focusing on a certain goal without wavering. The essence of "mind" is changeable and unstable, and persistent practice is to control the transformation of mind, thus laying the foundation for the next stage of meditation practice.
Meditation is the further concentration of consciousness, when consciousness becomes a more stable state of concentration. Meditation can be regarded as the continuation and deepening of "holding", which is further maintained after reaching the concentration of mind and leading to the level of "self"-"Brahma".
Persistence and Zen are both cultivation processes aimed at consciousness. The difference is that grasping is to focus consciousness on something at first and restrain its fluctuation. At this time, the goal of consciousness is limited to the appearance of things. Meditation is a deeper insight into the nature of things on the basis of stable consciousness.
From persistence to meditation, it is the transformation of the mind's cognition of things, that is, from the cognition of appearances to the insight of essence, thus laying the foundation for the ultimate liberation.
Samadhi, also known as Samadhi, has two meanings in Yoga Sutra: liberation and one of the eight branches.
Although the Yoga Sutra defines the purpose of yoga as the stillness of consciousness from the beginning, the real purpose of yoga is to achieve ultimate liberation through this stillness of consciousness.
Samadhi is the last branch of the eight branches of yoga and the sublimation of meditation. Samadhi is achieved by the yogi deepening the meditation state to the focus of consciousness and completely focusing on the self-consciousness of the meditation object.
The most obvious sign of completing this process is that the subject of meditation (the yogi) and the object of concentrated consciousness (the object) are constantly approaching, and finally merge into one, forming and staying in this state of no self for a long time. This is the ultimate liberation from the successful completion of yoga.
The eight branches of yoga are an organic whole, and its eight branches constitute a gradual practice system from the inside out. They complement each other and each has its own value and significance. Therefore, the practice of eight yoga is completely completed.