[INDOLOGY] yamas and niyamas

Thu Nov 24 17:41:41 UTC 2016

Dear Patrick, Bradley and others,

the question of the origin of the Yamas and Niyamas is indeed a
fascinating one, and I would also be very much interested to hear more
from somebody more knowledgeable about the scriptural evidence of the
five great vows of the Jainas. What I have managed to find so far is
the fourth chapter of the Daśavaikālika Sūtra (Dasaveāliya Sutta(?)),
in whose sūtras 11-15 we get five great vows, corresponding to the
yamas in order, but not yet using the familiar terms: 1) prāṇātipātād
viramaṇam (=ahiṃsā), 2) mṛṣāvādād viramaṇam (=satya), 3) adattadānād
viramaṇam (=asteya), 4) maithunād viramaṇam (=brahmacarya) and 5)
parigrahād viramaṇam (=aparigraha). I am taking these terms from the
sanskrit chāya of K.C. Lalwani (1973) who in his foreword dates it to
"around B.C. 429". In the Praśnavyākaraṇasūtra (I have access to it
via the 1962 Shri Akhil Bharat S. S. Jain Shastroddhara Samiti edition
from Rajkot, the following passage a quote from the sanskrit chāya on
p. 552.) we have "prathamaṃ bhavaty ahiṃsā, dvitīyaṃ satyavacanam iti
prajñaptam | dattānujñātasaṃvaraś ca, brahmacaryā(ed. has
'a')parigrahatvaṃ ca || 2 ||" So here we almost arrive at the terms
used by Patañjali in Yogasūtra 2.30.

Best,

Peter

On Thu, Nov 24, 2016 at 8:43 AM, Clough, Bradley
<Bradley.Clough at mso.umt.edu> wrote:
> Dear Patrick,
>
> The 5 yamas are identical to Jainism’s 5 mahavratas. I assume the mahavratas predate the list of yamas in the PYS. I’m sure someone more expert than I in Jainism could tell you what date they first appear in Jain scriptures.
>
> Best Wishes,
> Brad
>
>
> Dr. Bradley S. Clough
> Liberal Studies/Asian Religions
> LA 101
> The University of Montana
> 32 Campus Drive
> Missoula, MT 59812
>
> bradley.clough at mso.umt.edu<mailto:bradley.clough at mso.umt.edu>
> Phone: 406-243-2837
> Fax: 406-243-4076
>
> On Nov 23, 2016, at 9:49 PM, patrick mccartney <psdmccartney at gmail.com<mailto:psdmccartney at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> Dear Friends,
>
> A recent respondent of mine asserted that 'service' and 'compassion' were 2 of the 10 yamas and niyamas. I guess ahiṃsā could be indirectly translated as 'compassion' for others by being 'non-violent', however, 'service' as in 'seva' does not find any mention in the PYS list, which is what my respondent was referring to.
>
> While the ideas of 'service' and 'compassion' show a lack of critical understanding of the normative, institutionalised convention, I find it fascinating how these canonised ideas evolve in a meme-like way, unregulated in the minds of yoga practitioners (my respondent is a professional yoga teacher). As many practitioners of modern yoga assume this list has 'stood the test of time' and is as an a priori concept, this has made me think about the historicity and development of the yamas and niyamas as singular ideas, and as a conjoined pair.
>
> Might it be correct to say that they were first standardised in the PYS as 10? Were there any other lists that had a greater or lesser number prior to the PYS?  (I'm thinking in a similar way to the development of the ṣadcakratantra, and how there were other texts that discussed alternate numbers/locations, etc)
>
> Might someone be able to  lead me to a better understanding of the development of the yamas and niyamas? I looked through the search option of the list but couldn't really find any discussion that pertained specifically to my request. Although the discussions on whether some texts place a concept in the yama as opposed to the niyama category are quite interesting.
>
>
> Thank you.
>
>
> All the best,
>
> Patrick McCartney, PhD
> Fellow
> School of Culture, History & Language
> College of the Asia-Pacific
> The Australian National University
> Canberra, Australia, 0200
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