Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s10.t7.25

v1.c7.s10.t7.25

There are close links between the theories of the Yoga school and those of the Samkhya school. The Samkhya school adopts the ways of practice of the Yoga school, while the Yoga school accepts the Samkhya’s basic theoretical “take” on worldly things. The *Yoga-sutra* holds that for a yogi to get truly delivered, a truthful understanding of the “Seer” and the “Seen” must be gained. The “Seer” is similar to “purusha” (“spirit”) in Samkhya, with the “Seen” equivalent to “prakriti” (“nature”), which is also known as “matter” in the *Yoga-sutra*. The Yoga school maintained that reincarnation results from the combination of “prakriti”and “purusha”. The *Yoga-sūtra* (2, 17) states that, “The cause of what is to be warded off is the absorption of the Seer in the Seen”, meaning that to end the cycle of reincarnation and get delivered, efforts must be made to separate the two, making them independent of each other. And to achieve this “separateness”, one must attain Seedless *Samāpatti* or *Dharma-megha*. In other words, practices must be conducted in accordance with relevant mandates imposed by the Yoga school.