Yoga in Practice

by David Gordon White (Editor)

Overview

Primary texts in yoga, from ancient times to today

Yoga is a body of practice that spans two millennia and transcends the boundaries of any single religion, geographic region, or teaching lineage. In fact, over the centuries there have been many "yogas"—yogas of battlefield warriors, of itinerant minstrels and beggars, of religious reformers, and of course, the yogas of mind and body so popular today. Yoga in Practice is an anthology of primary texts drawn from the diverse yoga traditions of India, greater Asia, and the West. This one-of-a-kind sourcebook features elegant translations of Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, and even Islamic yogic writings, many of them being made available in English for the very first time. Collected here are ancient, colonial, and modern texts reflecting a broad range of genres, from an early medical treatise in Sanskrit to Upanishadic verses on sacred sounds; from a Tibetan catechetical dialogue to funerary and devotional songs still sung in India today; and from a 1930s instructional guide by the grandfather of contemporary yoga to the private papers of a pioneer of tantric yoga in America.

Emphasizing the lived experiences to be found in the many worlds of yoga, Yoga in Practice includes David Gordon White's informative general introduction as well as concise introductions to each reading by the book's contributors.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781400839933
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	10/31/2011
Series:	Princeton Readings in Religions , #34
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	416
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

David Gordon White is the J. F. Rowny Professor of Comparative Religion at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His books include Sinister Yogis and Tantra in Practice (Princeton).

Table of Contents

Contents by Tradition vii
Contents by Country ix
Contributors xi
Introduction by David Gordon White 1
Note for Instructors by David Gordon White 24
Foundational Yoga Texts 29
Chapter 1. The Path to Liberation through Yogic Mindfulness in Early Apyurveda by Dominik Wujastyk 31
Chapter 2. A Prescription for Yoga and Power in the Mahabharata by James L. Fitzgerald 43
Chapter 3. Yoga Practices in the Bhagavadgita by Angelika Malinar 58
Chapter 4. Ptañjala Yoga in Practice by Gerald James Larson 73
Chapter 5. Yoga in the Yoga Upanisads: Disciplines of the Mystical OM Sound by Jeffrey Clark Ruff 97
Chapter 6. The Sevenfold Yoga of the Yogavasistha by Christopher Key Chapple 117
Chapter 7. A Fourteenth-Century Persian Account of Breath Control and Meditation by Carl W. Ernst 133
Yoga in Jain, Buddhist, and Hindu Tantric Traditions 141
Chapter 8. A Digambara Jain Description of the Yogic Path to Deliverance by Paul Dundas 143
Chapter 9. Saraha’s Queen Dohas by Roger R. Jackson 162
Chapter 10. The Questions and Answers of Vajrasattva by Jacob P. Dalton 185
Chapter 11. The Six-Phased Yoga of the Abbreviated Wheel of Time Tantra (Laghuklacakratantra) according to Vajrapni by Vesna A. Wallace 204
Chapter 12. Eroticism and Cosmic Transformation as Yoga: The Atmatattva of the Vaisnava Sahajiyas of Bengal by Glen Alexander Hayes 223
Chapter 13. The Transport of the Hamsas: A Sakta Rasalila as Rajayoga in Eighteenth-Century Benares by Somadeva Vasudeva 242
Yoga of the Nath Yogis 255
Chapter 14. The Original Goraksasataka by James Mallinson 257
Chapter 15. Nath Yogis, Akbar, and the "Balnath Tilla" by William R. Pinch 273
Chapter 16. Yogic Language in Village Performance: Hymns of the Householder Naths by Ann Grodzins Gold and Daniel Gold 289
Yoga in the Colonial and Post-Colonial Periods 307
Chapter 17. The Yoga System of the Josman's by Sthaneshwar Timalsina 309
Chapter 18. Songs to the Highest God (Isvara) of Samkhya-Yoga by Knut A. Jacobsen 325
Chapter 19. Yoga Makaranda of T. Krishnamacharya by Mark Singleton, M.Narasimhan, and M. A. Jayashree 337
Chapter 20. Theos Bernard and the Early Days of Tantric Yoga in America by Paul G. Hackett 353
Chapter 21. Universalist and Missionary Jainism: Jain Yoga of the Terapanthi Tradition by Olle Qvarnstrom and Jason Birch 365
Glossary of Foreign Terms 383
Index 389

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This volume fills a vacuum in yoga studies. An indispensable resource for teachers and students, it is also of immeasurable value to every thinking yoga practitioner. Through an astute selection of key texts, White effectively demonstrates that yoga is a collection of vibrant, disparate, and distinctive traditions, and he also highlights continuities that unite ideas and practices of yoga through two thousand years of history."—Suzanne Newcombe, Inform, based at the London School of Economics and Political Science

"Yoga in Practice deals with a topic of great academic significance and broad popular appeal, and the contributors are solid scholars who know their material inside out. Yoga is a global phenomenon, and this collection provides clarification of key points and careful contextualization of the history of ideas that has produced yoga. There are really no other books comparable in range, presentation, or quality."—Joseph S. Alter, University of Pittsburgh

"This anthology makes available a wide variety of translations of primary sources on yoga, especially texts focused on practice, and places each in the broader context of the Indian traditions of yoga. The volume breaks new ground by including little-known texts and offering new perspectives on more familiar ones. Many of these texts are unavailable in translation elsewhere."—David Carpenter, Saint Joseph's University

Editorial Reviews

"In this volume, which is designed to serve as a course on the historical development of the practice of yoga, editor White brings together many leading scholars to present and analyze twenty significant primary texts drawn from Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism (and a text from Islam). . . . Featuring a useful glossary, this work would be excellent as a course text or for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students undertaking research on yoga. It would also benefit practitioners who want to deepen their understanding."

Choice

"For upper level undergraduates, graduate students, and intellectual practitioners desiring to engage the true variety of yoga, this dense and disparate collection is indispensable."—-Lloyd W. Pflueger, Religious Studies Review

From the Publisher

For upper level undergraduates, graduate students, and intellectual practitioners desiring to engage the true variety of yoga, this dense and disparate collection is indispensable.

Religious Studies Review - Lloyd W. Pflueger