Tracing the Path of Yoga

Stuart Ray Sarbacker

Description

Clear, accessible, and meticulously annotated, Tracing the Path of Yoga offers a comprehensive survey of the history and philosophy of yoga that will be invaluable to both specialists and to nonspecialists seeking a deeper understanding of this fascinating subject. Stuart Ray Sarbacker argues that yoga can be understood first and foremost as a discipline of mind and body that is represented in its narrative and philosophical literature as resulting in both numinous and cessative accomplishments that correspond, respectively, to the attainment of this-worldly power and otherworldly liberation. Sarbacker demonstrates how the yogic quest for perfection as such is situated within the concrete realities of human life, intersecting with issues of politics, economics, class, gender, and sexuality, as well as reflecting larger Indic religious and philosophical ideals.
Acknowledgments
Pronunciation Guide for Sanskrit Terms

Introduction: The History and Philosophy of Yoga

1. Defining Yoga

2. The Prehistory of Yoga: The Indus Civilization and the Vedic Tradition

3. Brāhmaṇical Asceticism and Śramaṇa Traditions

4. The Classical Hindu Model of Yoga: Pātañjala Yoga and Aṣṭāṅgayoga

5. Hindu Epic, Purāṇic, and Scholastic Representations of Yoga

6. Classical Śramaṇa Traditions of Yoga

7. The Medieval Transformation of Yoga: Bhakti, Tantra, and Haṭhayoga

8. Modern Yoga Traditions

Conclusion: Tracing the Path of Yoga

Notes
Works Cited
Index

Sujets

• Hinduism
• History of religions
• Buddhism

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438481234
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Tracing the Path of Yoga
Tracing the Path of Yoga
The History and Philosophy of Indian Mind-Body Discipline
STUART RAY SARBACKER
Cover: Vajrasattva Buddha (anonymous devotional art; author’s collection)
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2021 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Name: Sarbacker, Stuart Ray, author.
Title: Tracing the path of yoga : the history and philosophy of Indian mind-body discipline / Stuart Ray Sarbacker, author.
Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, [2021] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: ISBN 9781438481210 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438481234 (ebook)
Further information is available at the Library of Congress.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To My Parents, John and Margaret Sarbacker
pitrośca pūjana ṃ k ṛ tvā prakrānti ṃ ca karoti ya ḥ /
tasya vai p ṛ thivījanya ṃ phala ṃ bhavati niścitam //
And one who, having revered the parents, performs circumambulation [of them];
That one, indeed, obtains merit equal to that arising from [circumambulating] the earth.
— Śiva Purā ṇ a 2.4.19.39
Contents
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
P RONUNCIATION G UIDE FOR S ANSKRIT T ERMS
I NTRODUCTION
The History and Philosophy of Yoga
C HAPTER 1
Defining Yoga
C HAPTER 2
The Prehistory of Yoga: The Indus Civilization and the Vedic Tradition
C HAPTER 3
Brāhma ṇ ical Asceticism and Śrama ṇ a Traditions
C HAPTER 4
The Classical Hindu Model of Yoga: Pātañjala Yoga and A ṣ ṭ ā ṅ gayoga
C HAPTER 5
Hindu Epic, Purā ṇ ic, and Scholastic Representations of Yoga
C HAPTER 6
Classical Śrama ṇ a Traditions of Yoga
C HAPTER 7
The Medieval Transformation of Yoga: Bhakti , Tantra , and Ha ṭ hayoga
C HAPTER 8
Modern Yoga Traditions
C ONCLUSION
Tracing the Path of Yoga
N OTES
W ORKS C ITED
I NDEX
Acknowledgments
The work that follows was inspired by a number of scholars of Indian philosophy and religion whose work has deeply informed my research on the history and philosophy of yoga traditions. Perhaps foremost among them is Mircea Eliade, whose work Yoga: Immortality and Freedom (1954) continues to produce insight into yoga traditions for me after numerous readings, to the point that I wonder if I will ever fully get to the bottom of it. Another important figure in the field of yoga studies whose work has provided a context for the development of my own has been Georg Feuerstein, whose books, including Yoga: The Technology of Ecstasy (1989) and The Yoga Tradition (1998), have been some of the most well-known, scholarly informed popular narratives of yoga’s history. I was touched when Georg wrote an appreciative review of my first book, Samādhi: The Numinous and Cessative in Indo-Tibetan Yoga (2005), encouraging me to pursue my research further. Another major source of inspiration and influence has been the work of David Gordon White, whose monographs, such as The Alchemical Body (1996), Kiss of the Yogini (2003), and Sinister Yogis (2009), and edited volumes, such as Tantra in Practice (2000) and Yoga in Practice (2012), have brought a critical eye and historical consciousness to the academic study of yoga traditions. White’s determined attention on the pursuit of spiritual accomplishment or perfection ( siddhi ) in yoga as a counterpart to the larger emphasis in the field on liberation ( mok ṣ a ) was a key catalyst for my thinking on the topic, and I am grateful for his formative influence on my work. Geoffrey Samuel’s work on the history of yoga and tantra has deeply informed my understanding of the social and political contexts that frame the practice of yoga, a topic he investigates at length in his book The Origins of Yoga and Tantra: Indic Religions to the Thirteenth Century (2008). I have similarly benefitted from my engagement with Ronald Davidson’s Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement (2005) with respect to the social and political context of Buddhist tantra. Gavin Flood’s coherent model of the larger Hindu tradition in his An Introduction to Hinduism (1996) was also formative in my conceptualization of the larger historical context of yoga, and he offered valuable advice and encouragement to me at an early stage of the project. David Gitomer, similarly, provided critical perspective and support to me with respect to research and teaching on yoga during the formative early phase of the project, and his influence pervades the text in many ways. The work of a range of scholars of yoga philosophy, including Johannes Bronkhorst, Chris Chapple, Knut Jacobsen, Gerald Larson, Philipp Maas, Andrew Nicholson, LLoyd Pflueger, T. S. Rukmani, and Ian Whicher, had a significant impact on the way I conceived of this project, and their collective influence is apparent throughout the text. I have drawn extensively in this project upon the groundbreaking work being done under the aegis of the Ha ṭ ha Yoga Project at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, including that of Jim Mallinson, Jason Birch, Mark Singleton, and their many talented colleagues and students. With respect to scholarship on yoga and Hindu tantra, I have also significantly benefitted from the publications of, and conversations with, Somadeva Vasudeva and Gudrun Bühnemann, the latter of which was my original Sanskrit teacher. Likewise, the pioneering publications of Norman Sjoman, Joseph Alter, and Elliott Goldberg on modern yoga have informed and inspired my research in numerous ways. Last, I am grateful for the support and advice I have received over the years from my many teachers, including Sriram Agashe, John Dunne, Indira Junghare, David Knipe, and Robert Tapp, among others.
A number of scholars provided helpful feedback on the manuscript, including the two anonymous reviewers for SUNY Press who helped provide a roadmap for revision that improved the work as a whole in significant ways. Colleagues who provided helpful feedback and comments on the manuscript included George Bond, Jason Birch, Chris Chapple, Anya Foxen, Elliott Goldberg, Patrick McCartney, Andrew Nicholson, and Mark Singleton. A special note of thanks to Seth Powell and Adam Miller, who provided extensive comments on the style and substance of the manuscript as it neared completion, helping me bring closure and coherence to the work. Tracy Pintchman similarly helped me with technical issues related to the final stages of the preparation of the manuscript, in addition to providing input and advice on my research. I am deeply grateful to all of those who have provided assistance along the way, and I take full responsibility for all errors and omissions in the work as a product of my own lack of understanding and/or misunderstanding ( avidyā ).
I received critical support for the project in its various stages from my home institution, Oregon State University. This included two fellowship periods at the Center for the Humanities at Oregon State, which were overseen by David Robinson and Chris Nichols, respectively. I particularly appreciated Chris Nichols’s enthusiastic support and encouragement during the final stages of writing and revision of the manuscript. The Oregon State University College of Liberal Arts, led by Dean Larry Rodgers, along with the Center for the Humanities, provided funding for my research at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram in Chennai, and the School of History, Philosophy, and Religion and the Horning Foundation helped support my research at various locations in Rishikesh. In Chennai, the faculty of the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram, especially Jayaraman Mahadevan, T. Swaminathan, V. Srinivasan, and Nrithya Jagganathan were gracious and informative hosts, as were Swami Veda Bharati and his staff at the Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama in Rishikesh. I received release time from the University Research Office at Oregon State as well. I am particularly grateful for the support I received from the Hundere Chair in Religion and Culture at Oregon State, Courtney Campbell, who provided both material and logistical resources for my research and writing at several critical phases in the development of this project. I want to thank Courtney and all of my excellent colleagues in the School of History, Philosophy, and Religion, including our former director, Ben Mutschler, and current director, Nicole von Germeten, for helping create an outstanding academic environment for the pursuit of substantive and transformative research and teaching.
I want to express my gratitude for the work of Nancy Ellegate, the former South Asia editor at SUNY, with whom I had originally developed the project, and to Chris Ahn and James Peltz, who took up the project upon Nancy’s untimely passing. I also want to express my appreciation for the work of my production editor, Diane Ganeles, my copyeditor, John Wentworth, and my marketing manager, Michael Campochiaro. I am also very grateful for the work of Rachel Nishan at Twin Oaks Indexing, who diligently and patiently built the index for the book.
I want to thank Jacob Darwin Hamblin and Richard Miller for their friendship and intellectual and moral