Rethinking 'Classical Yoga' and Buddhism

Karen O’Brien-Kop is Lecturer in Asian Religions and Ethics at the University of Roehampton, UK.

• List of TablesPrefaceAcknowledgementsAbbreviationsIntroduction: Classical Yoga and Buddhism: Debates, Dialogue and Intertextuality1. Moksa, Metaphors, and Materiality: Concepts and Contexts of 'Liberation'2. Seeds of Bondage and Freedom: Eliminating the Afflictions (Klesas) in the Patanjalayogasastra and the Abhidharmakosabhaya3. The 'Other' Yoga sastra: The Yogacarabhumisastra4: Patanjala Yoga and Yogacara: the Cultivation of the Counterstate5. Who Put the Classical in Classical Yoga? The Inadequacy of an Analytic Category6: Conclusion: Rethinking Classical Yoga: A Categorical Paradigm Shift?AppendicesBibliographyIndex

Rethinking ‘Classical Yoga’ and Buddhism offers a new and valuable discussion of the early history of yoga. It brings a careful assessment of metaphor theory into the discussion of early Indian soteriology, and explores the intertwined nature of Indian religious practices that we too easily divide off as “Hindu” and “Buddhist”. A wonderful contribution to our understanding of Indian religion, literature and history.