Yoga, Buddhism and Lao Tzu Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Yoga, Buddhism and Lao Tzu - Essay Example The raja yoga concerns itself mainly with the wellbeing of one’s mind, known as rsih through cultivation of the same mind whose wellbeing is the main concern. It uses a number of successive steps that include meditation and contemplation to deal with the fluctuations of the mind and how to master the fluctuations. For this reason, the relationship between the body and the mind must be put at ease in order to gain acceptance between the two. As a result, due to the required balance between the body and the mind, one must be in overall god health and psychological condition in prior to pursuance of inward yoga aspects for the mind to be at ease with the body. Therefore, raja yoga serves to control all ways of thought and mental modification in order to further one’s acceptance of reality and achieve liberation. The second form of yoga is the karma yoga, which is taken to mean the yoga of doing owing to its origins in Sanskrit. Karma refers to action while yoga is taken to mean union thus literally meaning the path of union through action and is, therefore, the process of achieving perfection through action. With this in mind, karma yoga is a form of yoga in which one is expected to align his or her actions, thoughts and will towards perfection (Wathen). This is done through action according to one’s sense of duty and without bias towards selfish desires or inclinations towards like and dislike. The third form of yoga according to Bhagavad Gita is the jinana yoga or the path of knowledge, where one is required to achieve knowledge of the absolute (Wathen). It also views the above named knowledge as a condition of devotion. The jinana yoga is aimed at attaining high levels of enlightenment in knowledge, in relation to reality, which is similar to the Karma and raja yoga. The fourth form of yoga is the bhakti yoga or the path of devotion that signifies active involvement by the devotee in divine worship, which relates to the jinana yoga of knowledge in that it calls for attainment of a union with the absolute, which is also characteristic of the karma yoga. The final is the hatha yoga, which is the preparatory stage of physical purification that the body practices for higher meditation; and is related to the other four yoga forms following the higher meditation and attainment of higher enlightenment achieved altogether after their practice. Of all the forms, none can be consi dered the best as they all work to the wellbeing of the individual in question. However, the karma yoga may have an upper hand over the rest following the relationship that it has with one’s way of thought and actions. This is because; it guides one’s actions through peace of mind and creation of harmony between the body and mind. The Noble Truths Buddhism has five aggregates, form, sensation, perception, mental formation and consciousness, which work together to come up with a mental being. Form refers to the physical factors of a being such as the body and all material objects while sensation refers to feelings in three kinds-unpleasant, pleasant and indifferent. The other three forms are perception, which is the formulation of a concept or idea on an object by an individual; while mental formation defines conditional responses to objects with which an individual has experiences. On the other hand, consciousness describes the