Yoga, Mind, and the Psychosomatics

Abstract

The mind has central importance in Yoga, more so in Buddhism which in general begins with the mind. The central philosophy of Yoga is the fact that the mind is the key to changing the nature of our experiences. The mind is the single most important factor in the practice of Yoga. Depending upon how one uses it, the mind can be one’s greatest enemy or greatest ally. The Yogic philosophies by and large constitute the various theories about the human mind in both structural and functional senses. Yoga is essentially the study of the mind through the instrumentality of one’s mind itself. Thus, the deep connections between Yoga and the mind cannot be overemphasized. We use the mind as the interpreting interface between the objects of perception and ourselves in order to experience those objects. Quite rightly, Buddhism focuses on the mind as the key to change the way we experience things and the way we relate to other people. In Buddha’s scheme out of five aggregates that constitute the human experience, four are mental factors. Similarly, put of the 37 factors of enlightenment, the majority are mental factors (Santina 1997, p. 321). These illustrate the centrality of the mind in Buddhism. Buddha put it very clearly that the mind is the source of all our experiences; all things are created by the mind. The mind is the source of all virtues, and to obtain these virtues and qualities, one must discipline the mind. In recognition of the deep connections between Yoga and the mind arose a particular school of Buddhism, the Mind Only school [Sans. Vijnanavada; doctrines of knowledge), otherwise known as the Yogacara school [English the school that affirms union of one’s achara/conduct with the practice of Yoga]. In the fourth century CE, this school arose as an independent and identifiable philosophical tradition in the northwest India (modern day Pakistan). Initially popularized by two famous Mahayana Buddhists, Asanga and his younger brother, Vasubandhu, this school is said to be the latest and final form of Buddhism as a religion and is based on an original central fact of Buddhism that the mind is the creator of all things (Bhattacharya and Tucci 1932).

….that whatever we experience – the whole (perception) of reality – depends on the conditions of our minds…. mind is the root of all sufferings, mind is root of all virtues.... The most important practice, therefore, is to discipline the mind…. (Buddha, sixth century BC, ancient India)