Indian Sculpture and Painting, Illustrated by Typical Masterpieces, with an Explanation of their Motives and Ideals c7.110

c7.110

The principles of Yoga philosophy were not, of course, part of Buddha’s teaching, but the root-idea of Yoga—that through meditation, or intense concentration of thought, the body as well as the soul could be purified and freed from their grosser attachments—was recognised by all schools of Indian philosophy at a very early period, and it could never have been excluded from the philosophy of art as taught in the Indian monastic schools. After the first century of the Christian era the Yoga doctrines were fully recognised by Buddhists of the Mahâyâna school, and it was not until about that time that images of Buddha began to be worshipped in India.