The History of Buddhist Thought c14.45

c14.45

We have found reason for believing that yoga-practices were an essential part of primitive Buddhism, and the Buddhist tradition repeatedly recognizes such practices in other schools. Yet when the actual documents are examined, difficulties arise. The fullest examination has been made by Senart.³ He finds that the most certain parallelisms are crossed by evident discordances. The resemblances suddenly stop short without any evident cause. Similar nomenclatures are worked up differently. Classifications have the same numeration and similar meanings, and yet singly they do not correspond. Two reasons may be adduced to account for this. We do not know what was the actual form of Yoga teaching in vogue when Buddha first learnt it, nor do we know what actual changes he may have made in it for his own purpose.