Endnotes for Ch. 1, 2-A, & Appendix

Evergreen Forest from on High, or Close-up?
            

Endnotes

Notes: Endnotes for Chapter 1, Chapter 2-A, and the Appendix are below. (Other chapters still are forthcoming.)

You may use your device's "Find" function to search for the specific sutra you want.

For details about sources, see Sources.

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CHAPTER 1 ENDNOTES

Chapter 1 Introduction: Simone Weil. Love in the Void, p. 41. (See “Bibliography” for more.)  

Simone Weil was a twentieth-century French Roman Catholic mystic and political activist who championed the poor as part of her interpretation of the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. She spent many years living with, and as, an impoverished worker, dying early from poor health.

Sutra 1.1:

(a) Vyasa, “The Yoga Sutras with the Commentary of Vyasa,” Sutra 1.33. Translated by David Geer in his book The Essence of the Yoga Sutras.

Vyasa, means, simply, “Arranger,” “Compiler,” or “Editor.” Who he was is not well known. Historians date the Yoga Sutras authored by Patanjali as having been written sometime, at the extreme, between 400 BCE and 400 CE. However, the first written text we have of the Yoga Sutras is in Vyasa’s copying of the Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, and Vyasa’s corresponding commentary about each one, c. 400 CE. Some scholars argue that Vyasa and Patanjali were the same person. Others disagree. (See “Appendix A: Who Was Patanjali.”)

(b) Thomas Merton, A Thomas Merton Reader, p. 331.

A fuller version of Merton’s quotation is: “There are, in Christian tradition, a theology of light and a theology of darkness. On these two lines travel two mystical trends. There are the great theologians of light: Origen, Saint Augustine, Saint Bernard, Saint Thomas Aquinas. And there are the great theologians of darkness: Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Pseudo-Dionysius, Saint John of the Cross. The two lines travel side by side. Modern theologians of genius have found no difficulty in uniting the two, in synthesizing Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint John of the Cross. Some of the greatest mystics–Ruysbroeck, Saint Theresa of Avila, and Saint John of the Cross himself–describe both aspects of contemplation, ‘light’ and ‘darkness.’

“There are pages in the works of Saint Gregory of Nyssa [theology of light]–as there are also in those of Saint John of the Cross [theology of darkness]–which might easily fit into a context of Zen Buddhism o[r] Patanjali’s Yoga” (pp. 331-2).

Thomas Merton, 1915-1968, was a Roman Catholic Cistercian monk, and popular author who converted to Catholicism at a young age. He has become one of the most trusted and respected modern Western mystics. Among his most successful were The Seven Storey Mountain and New Seeds of Contemplation, the latter a revision of his original Seeds of Contemplation. In his later years, he was drawn to dialogue between Western and Eastern mystics and contemplatives.

(c) Jerome Engel in Buddha’s Brain by Hanson and Mendius, third page of introductory review quotations. Buddha’s Brain is a comprehensive guide to meditating using scientific explanations for why meditation works. The book gathers 187 resources, most of them scientific papers, to explain the advantages of Buddhist, Eastern spiritual, and related thinking and feeling.

(d) Buddha, c. fifth-fourth century BCE, was the founder of Buddhism in India. His name was Siddhartha Gautama and, as a prince, his family was rich and he lived a life of wealth and privilege. Unhappy, he became a wandering monk living in poverty and practiced extreme ascetic methods of finding truth such as near-starvation and extreme exercise. Then one day he sat under a tree until he experienced nirvana. From that point on, he taught a “Middle Path” for liberating oneself. He did not see himself as the founder of a new religion, but rather as simply another in a long line of Hindu teachers. (In this regard he is similar to Jesus of Nazareth, who did not see himself as the founder of Christianity but rather as someone in a long line of Jewish teachers and prophets.) However, Buddha’s teachings spread far and wide in Asia, with Buddhism becoming one of the world’s most popular religions.

Sutra 1.2:

(a) Jordan Poppenk and Julie Tseng, Nature Communications.

(b) The Vedas, c. 1500 BCE or earlier, are Hinduism’s oldest orally transmitted scripture, in whole or, perhaps more likely, in various parts that gradually became knitted together under one group name. There are three main Vedas, the Rig, Yajur, and Sama. A fourth, the Atharva, is composed of later Upanishads (see below).  The Vedas are India’s oldest written scriptures, having been first recorded as early as 1200 BCE and existing in oral tradition at least five hundred years earlier, perhaps much longer ago. The Sanskrit language of the Vedas is similar to the ancient Middle Eastern Avestan/Zoroastrian language; the two languages are believed to have a common origin several thousand years ago. The Rig Veda, a series of sacred chanted hymns, is considered the oldest, and is one of the most ancient texts in any Indo-European language.  

The Upanishads also traditionally are considered authoritative Hindu scriptures. They were written later than most or all of the Vedas. The Upanishads are the body of work that established the Hindu spiritual system and philosophy of Vedanta, a continuation of the Vedic teachings. The earliest–considered the main–Upanishads come from an ancient oral tradition like the Vedas and were transcribed into writing starting as early as 800 BCE and into or just past 100 BCE. Additional minor Upanishads continued to be written as late as the 15^th century CE, and some scholars argue they continue now.

(c) Taittirīya Upanishad, c. 6^th cent. BCE, part of the earlier Yajurveda, pp. 381-502.

Sutra 1.3:

(a) Vyāsa. “The Yoga Sutras with the Commentary of Vyāsa.” Translated by David Geer in his book The Essence of the Yoga Sutras, p. 93. For a description of Vyasa, see Endnote 1.1.

(b) Richard Rohr, immortal diamond, pp. vii-xiv, 12 (from the Christian Bible’s New Testament, The Gospel of Matthew 13.44-46), 15, and 56.

Note: In this “Endnotes” section, the word “Bible” hereafter refers to the Christian Bible, and its books are given by shortened name and passage number (e.g., Matthew 13.44, or Chapter 13, verse 44). (Other “Bibles” are called by their proper names: e.g., the Torah, the Qur’an, the Rig Veda, etc.)

Richard Rohr, 1943-present, a Roman Catholic Franciscan, mystic, and popular author, is one of the progenitors of the Centering Prayer Movement in the U.S. It advocates a type of meditation, along with a mystical interpretation of Jesus of Nazareth and of the Christian Bible.

The Christian Bible is composed of the Old Testament and the New Testament. The traditional Old Testament is composed of the main Jewish scriptures called the Torah (which are the first five books of the Christian Bible) and the Prophets; and it includes several other books not in the Jewish scriptures. The traditional New Testament is composed of the four Gospels about the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, along with the Acts of the Apostles, the Letters of Paul and others, and the Book of Revelation. Some versions of the Bible also now include additional historical Christian “Wisdom Tradition” texts such as the CE (Common Era) New Testament “Gospel of Thomas” and “Thunder: Perfect Mind,” along with assorted BCE (Before Common Era) Old Testament Apocrypha.

Judaism’s Torah, the Prophets, and the Midrash (Commentaries) are the scriptures of Judaism. Christians use much of the Torah and the Prophets in their Old Testament, and believe their own, added New Testament is a more recent revelation from God.

Islam’s Qur’an (Quran, Koran) is considered by Muslims to be the most recent scripture of revelation from God. However, Muslims also believe that the Jewish and Christian scriptures were the best scriptures of received revelation before the Qur’an.

The Abrahamic religions are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, so called because they all recognize Abraham as the founder of their Western belief in a single God. All three of these religions also have in common the early stories of the Abrahamic people: Noah, Abraham, Jacob Israel, Moses, and others. The three Abrahamic religions, together, often are compared and contrasted to the group of Far Eastern religions that are interrelated in many ways or times: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Taoism, and others.

Sutra 1.4: Rick Hanson with Richard Mendius, Buddha’s Brain, pp. 208-212. See Endnote 1 for more detail about this source. For a description of Buddha, see Endnote 1.1.

Sutra 1.5: The Dalai Lama and the Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The Book of Joy, p. 93.

Tibet’s Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Gyalwa Rinpoche (Tenzin Gyatso), 1935-present, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and Tibet’s spiritual leader, is famous for his speeches throughout the world and his writings on cultivating joy, mindfulness, and peace. He fled his native Tibet in 1959 during a nationalist uprising against China and now lives in India.

Reverend Desmond Tutu, 1939-2021, was the (Christian Protestant) Anglican Archbishop of South Africa, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, author, and important activist in his country’s anti-apartheid political movement.

Sutra 1.9: Georg Feuerstein, The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali.

Georg Feuerstein, 1947-2012, was a yoga practitioner, scholar, and mystic. He was born in Germany and, after postgraduate research, moved to the U.S. and Canada. He wrote over thirty books on the mystical and philosophical meanings of tantra, yoga, and related subjects, including a well-respected translation of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.

Sutra 1.10: “Stages of Sleep,” Neuroscience.

Sutra 1.11: Mark Epstein. “Therapy and Meditation,” Psychology Today, from his book Going to Pieces without Falling Apart.

Sutra 1.12: Carolyn Hax, Washington Post.

Sutra 1.16:

(a) Thomas Keating, The Human Condition, pp. 13 and 17.

Thomas Keating, 1923-2018, was a Roman Catholic monk and mystic in the Cistercian Order. A prolific author and speaker, he is best known as one of the founders of the Centering Prayer movement in the U.S. Centering Prayer is a contemplative, inner-spiritual practice.

(b) Christianity’s New Testament, Matthew 13.31-32, Mark 4.30-32, and Luke 13.18-19. Note: The phrase “Kingdom of Heaven” also can be translated as “Realm of the Spirit,” according to Robert Bly. (See Sutra 1.24 and its Endnote.)

(c) Alan Watts, The Way of Zen, pp. 100-101.

Alan Watts, 1915-1973, was a philosopher, British Episcopal priest, mystic, and author. In the twentieth century, he was one of the most respected Western interpreters of Chinese and Japanese religious ideas, especially of Zen Buddhism and Taoism. He authored some twenty books on the philosophy and psychology of religion and was especially popular, along with Timothy Leary, Aldous Huxley, and Baba Ram Dass [see Endnote 1.32] in the 1960s-early ‘70s psychedelic countercultural revolution.

(c) Lin-chi (Linji Yixuan), c. 9^th cent., founded the highly influential Linji School of Zen. It, along with his writings, have figured prominently in both Chinese and Japanese Buddhism. The Lin-chi Lu is a collection of sermons, sayings, and acts attributed to him.

Sutra 1.20: Thich Nhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation, pp. 11, 60, and 14.

Nhat Hanh, 1926-2022, was a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, mystic, and 1960s founder of the School of Youth for Social Service in South Vietnam. He was a proponent of “engaged Buddhism” and was praised by such diverse sources as the New Age Journal and Martin Luther King, Jr. (Sources: Find him in “Sources” at “Nhat Hanh, Thich.”)

Sutra 1.22: Matthew 7.7, NIV.

Sutra 1.23:

(a) Georg Feuerstein, The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali. For a description of Feuerstein, see Endnote 1.9.

(b) “Sanskrit: Base Form Dictionary” and “Sanskrit: Master Glossary” of the Rig Veda by the University of Texas at Austin Linguistics Research Center.

(c) EEGs (electroencephalograms) are brainwave readings, usually made by attaching EEG monitors to your scalp. However, they can work at a distance.

For example, Changhong Research Labs and Freer Logic demonstrated a car headrest at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that is “able to read brain activity while being six to eight inches away, without any contact.” Company president Peter Freer said, “It has an attention algorithm within it, so it will calibrate to your brain and you will be able to control the graphics on the screen.” (See Burgess, Wired; and Kreetzer, Auto Futures.)

(d) ECGs (electrocardiograms) are heart monitors. Heart pulses can be measured much further away than brainwaves: “the magnetic field produced by the heart...can be detected up to 3 feet away from the body...using...magnetometers,” says the HeartMath Institute. The pulses from the heart can allow two individuals, apart from each other, to make a rough reading of each other’s emotional states. Using ECG (electrocardiogram) and EEG monitors, researchers discovered “a significant degree of signal transfer occurs through skin conduction, but it also is radiated between individuals.”

In addition, HeartMath researchers discovered that in some instances, when two subjects were within a few inches of each other (not touching), one person’s EEG brain waves also could read the other person’s ECG heart waves. Lastly, researchers also discovered that “a type of heart-rhythm synchronization can occur in interactions between people and their pets.”  (See “Energetic Communication.”)

(e) Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man, pp. 182-183, 239, and 251-253.

Teilhard de Chardin, 1881-1955, was a French Jesuit priest, prominent paleontologist, and respected 20^th-century author, philosopher, theologian, and mystic who used scientific and evolutionary theory to explain new psychic and mystical outlooks regarding Earth.

Sutra 1.24:

(a) Rig Veda 10.90 as translated by R.T.H. Griffith. For a description of the Vedas and Upanishads, see Endnote 1.2.

(b) Rick Hanson with Richard Mendius, Buddha’s Brain, p. 68. See Endnote 1.1(c) and (d).

(c) John O’Gara, “Sin.” Quora.

(d) Robert Bly, “Preface,” Kabir–Ecstatic Poems (xvi). In his “Preface,” Kabir interpreter Robert Bly tells us, “Kabir says a simple error of translation like this can destroy a religion” (xvi).

Robert Bly, 1924-2021, was a well-known American winner of a National Book Award in poetry, lecturer, and author of the nonfiction bestseller Iron John. Bly often used poetry and prose to describe spiritual states. In addition, as in his Kabir–Ecstatic Poems, he published interpretations for English-speaking audiences of important non-English poetry.

Kabir Das, 1398-1518, was a widely influential Indian saint, mystic, and poet who helped establish the modern bhakti or love-devotion movement in India. He was raised as a Muslim, but became a Hindu Sikh who believed his mystical poetry was for everyone. Both Hindus and Muslims consider him a saint.

(e) Bible, Acts 22:16, NRSV (New Revised Standard Version). Bible: For a description of the Judeo-Christian Bible, see Endnote 1.3.

(f) This is one of several definitions by Merriam-Webster at “Sin.”

Sutra 1.25:
(a) A longer version of this quotation from Rabbi Green is as follows:

God is a verb. The Hebrew name for God, which...is transcribed in English as YHWH...is an impossible compilation of the verb "to be." Haya is past and hove is the present and Yihiye is the future. If you take past, present, and future all together and put them in a firm form that does not exist, you get YHWH, the name of God. It really should be translated not G-o-d but "Is was will be." "It was will be" all at once. You cannot say that, of course, so we substitute for it.... It is too holy to be spoken by mere mortals like us.

When Moses goes down into Egypt, God reveals the name to him and then [Moses] says, "If the people ask me what do you call "What you say"? and God says, "I am that I am" or "I shall be what I shall be," which means "I am really a verb. Here is my name. But if you think that name is a noun, which is to say, if you can put me in a little box and say, ‘I have God,’ I will be what I will be. I will go conjugate myself and become a verb again. I will fly away and be a verb again. I will be a verb, which is to say, I am the one you cannot catch; I am the ultimately inaccessible one" (pp. 42-3).

(b) The word “Elohim” had many meanings in the ancient Middle East, including “God,” “angels,” and “the gods” (this last usage especially among the Canaanites, whose lands the Israelites conquered). Medieval scholar Maimonides, perhaps the most famous rabbinical scholar in Israel’s history, mentions all of these and adds the word even applied to judges and rulers.”

Most current scholars agree that the primary meaning in the Torah/Old Testament was a singular “God.” However, the word itself conveys both masculine and feminine genders, as well as both singular and plural numbers. If one assumes these meanings fit with the original mystical meaning of God, then–like “YHWH”–the word means several impossibly lumped-together meanings. In mystical language, all of them can be assumed as part of God’s contradictory singular nature.

A good general source of information about “Elohim” is an excellent article about it in Wikipedia (as of 2021). To read Maimonides’ thoughts on the subject, see his Guide for the Perplexed beginning with Chapter Two.

(c) Richard Rohr, immortal diamond, p. 130.

Sutra 1.26: Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, Hymns to the Mystic Fire, p. vii. Worth noting, as well, is that for modern readers, the Vedas and Upanishads are even more difficult to read because of the cultural references that are very different from our modern times: for example, what did “ray cows” and “Lord of Fire” mean to Hindu people four to five thousand years ago? The Vedic hymns are beautiful, especially when chanted, but their original meanings have become elusive to most people. And non-mystic translations from a merely literary or philosophical perspective usually fail to understand the underlying mystical experiences embedded in the names, places, and wording.

Sri Aurobindo, 1872-1950, was a prominent Indian mystic, author, teacher, editor, poet, and Hindu nationalist. He interpreted ancient Indian texts using their esoteric meanings, and he founded the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry. He was noted as a philosopher and theologian for explaining personal and social growth spiritually using historical cycles and the evolutionary scientific theories of his centuries, much as did Teilhard de Chardin in the West (see “Teilhard” in Endnote 1.23).

Sutra 1.27:

(a) Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood, How To Know God: The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, p. 39. Prabhavananda and Isherwood’s translation of and commentaries on the Yoga Sutras have been perhaps the most popular introduction in America to the Sutras. Their book was first published in 1953.

Swami Prabhavananda, 1893-1996, was an Indian mystic, philosopher and noted follower of one of India’s greatest saints, Ramakrishna (1886-1936). Prabhavananda moved to the U.S. in 1923, where he remained until his death, founding the influential Vedanta Society in 1930.

Christopher Isherwood, 1904-1986, was a British-American novelist, playwright, and nonfiction author who also wrote, co-wrote, and edited works on Hinduism. He was a monk at the Vedanta Society under Swami Prabhavananda and a close friend of British-American author Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), author of fiction such as Brave New World and Island, and nonfiction such as The Perennial Philosophy and The Doors of Perception.    

(b) Neil Douglas-Klotz, Prayers of the Cosmos, p. 61.

Sutra 1.29: William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, p. 424.

Sutra 1.30: Bhikkhu Bodhi, The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya, pp. 1564-5 and 1611-13.

Sutra 1.32:

(a) Alan Watts, “2.3.8 The World as Just So Part 1.” In “Eastern and Western Zen, Searchable, Transcript.” For a description of Watts, see Endnote 1.16.

(b)  Kabir Das, Kabir–Ecstatic Poems, p. 40. For a description of Kabir, see Endnote 1.24.

(c) Tat tvam asi is repeated often in the Chandogya Upanishad written c. 600 BCE. For a description of the Upanishads, see Endnote 1.2.

(d) Martin Buber, I and Thou.

Martin Buber, 1878-1965, was an Austrian-Israeli theologian and existentialist philosopher. The key idea for which he is best known is the difference between the I-Thou and the I-It relationship in humans, and between humans and God as a state of Being.

(e) Baba Ram Dass. Be Here Now. In “Sources,” look under “Ram Dass.”

Baba Ram Dass, 1931-2019, was born as Richard Alpert. He was a Harvard psychologist who, along with colleague and professor Timothy Leary, conducted experiments on psychedelics and spirituality involving students at Harvard University and Harvard Divinity School in the 1960s. Though their activities were legal at the time, Harvard dismissed them. Alpert moved to India where he studied Hindu spirituality and received his new name. A frequent speaker and conductor of seminars after his return to America, his most famous written work is Be Here Now, which helped interest grow in the U.S. in Hinduism.

Sutra 1.33:

(a) Thich Nhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfulness, p. 37. For a description of Nhat Hanh, see Endnote 1.20.

(b) The Dalai Lama and the Archbishop Desmond Tutu, The Book of Joy, p. 59. For a description of the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu, see Endnote 1.5.

(c) Vyasa. “The Yoga Sutras with the Commentary of Vyasa,” 1.33. For a description of Vyasa, see Endnote 1.1.

(d) "Karaniya Metta Sutta: The Buddha's Words on Loving-Kindness," (Sn 1.8), translated from the Pali and written c. 400 BCE-150 CE from oral tradition. For a description of Buddha, see Endnote 1.1.

(e) Bible: John 4.8 and 16; Matt. 7.12, which is quoted from Judaism and Christianity’s Lev. 19.18. For a description of the Judeo-Christian Bible, see Endnote 1.3.

(f) Robert Bly. “Tasting Heaven.” The Value of Sparrows. For a description of Bly, see Endnote 1.24.

Sutra 1.34:

Thomas Keating, The Human Condition, p. 36. For a description of Keating, see Endnote 1.16.

Sutra 1.35: Vyasa. “The Yoga Sutras with the Commentary of Vyasa,” 1.35. For a description of Vyasa, see Endnote 1.1.

Sutra 1.36: Rick Hanson with Richard Mendius, Buddha’s Brain, pp. 185-6. See Endnote 1.1(c) and (d).

Sutra 1.37: Joel Morwood. “The Mystical Interpretations of Dreams.”

Sutra 1.39:

(a) Swami Vivekananda, “Patanjali’s Yoga Aphorisms,” Raja Yoga.

(b) Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation, pp. 214-16. (For a description of Merton, see Endnote 1.1.)

Sutra 1.40: Georg Feuerstein, The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali. For a description of Feuerstein, see Endnote 1.9.

Sutra 1.43: More studies followed, and researchers found the continuing results consistent with the first study. In addition, those who reported mystical experiences also scored much higher, in psychological testing, on more quickly developing greater “openness”–the kind of change that may take most people years to attain. Another study found that the same psychedelic was more than twice as effective in getting people to stop smoking than normal drug or cognitive behavioral therapy. Additional work suggests psychedelic trips may help create faster than normal improvements with other addictions and also mood disorders such as depression.

Sarah Scoles, “What happens when psychedelics make you see God,” Popular Science.

William Richards, Sacred Knowledge: Psychedelics and Religious Experiences.  

Sutra 1.44:

(a) Diane Hennacy Powell, M.D., The ESP Enigma: The Scientific Case for Psychic Phenomena.

(b) Steve Taylor, Ph.D., “Do Psychic Phenomena Exist? Why my mind is open to telepathy and pre-cognition,” Psychology Today.

Sutra 1.46:

(a) “God’s thoughts”: Esther Salaman, "A Talk with Einstein." The Listener, 1955, 54:370-371.

(b) Einstein’s historic formula: Tony Rothman. “Was Einstein the First to Invent E = mc²?” Scientific American.

(c) Einstein said his wife, Mileva, “solves all my mathematical problems.” SentaTroemel-Ploetz, “Mileva Einstein-Marić: The woman who did Einstein's mathematics.”

(d) “YHWH” or “Yahweh” is first used in Exodus 6.2-3 in the Hebrew Torah and Christian Old Testament, along with “I Am Presence.” Yahweh previously revealed himself to Moses in Exodus 3:13–15 as “I Am” or, at greater length, “I Am That I Am” or “I Am Who I Am.” For different translations, search online for “bible multiple translations.” For descriptions of the Jewish and Christian Bibles, see Endnote 1.3.

(e) For a list and description of Buddhism’s “Middle Path” (also called the “Eightfold Noble Path”), search online for “buddha middle path” or “buddha eightfold.” For a description of Buddha, see Endnote 1.1.

Sutra 1.47: Thich Nhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfulness, p. 13. For a description of Nhat Hanh, see Endnote 1.33.

Sutra 1.48: Meister Eckhart, born 1260, died c. 1328, Sermons, p. 24.

Sutra 1.50:

(a) Alan Watts, The Way of Zen, p. 50. For a description of Watts, see Endnote 1.16.

(b) Kabir Das, Kabir–Ecstatic Poems, p. 3. For a description of Kabir, see Endnote 1.24.

Sutra 1.51:

(c)   Bible, Matthew 18.1-5, New International Version (NIV). An even more mystical version of this passage dances before us if we apply Robert Bly’s comment (see Endnote 1.16) that “kingdom of heaven” can just as easily be translated “realm of the spirit”:

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the realm of the spirit?”

He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the realm of the spirit. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the realm of the spirit. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.”

Bible: See Endnote 1.3(b).

(b) Alan Watts, The Way of Zen, p. 67.

Watts: See Endnote 1.16.

(c) Gospel of Thomas, Saying (Logion) 3, The Luminous Gospels, p. 9. The Gospel of Thomas, discovered in 1945 near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, is not in the traditional Christian New Testament. However, it likely was one of the first writings shared among early Christians. It lists 105 sayings by Jesus of Nazareth. Some scholars believe it may have been a primary source for the Christian New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
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CHAPTER 2-A ENDNOTES (12 July 2022)

Note: For full bibliographies of the authors and texts, see “Sources.”
              
Chapter 2-A Introduction:

(a) Satchidananda in his introduction to the Sutras, Chapter 2, and in his commentary on Sutra 2.2.

Swami Satchidananda, 1914-2002, was an Indian-American mystic, author, and founder of the American version of the Integral Yoga movement, which brings all basic forms of yoga together into a group of practices based on Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras and other ancient Indian yoga and meditation methods.

(b) Iyengar in his introduction to the Sutras, Chapter 2.

B.K.S. Iyengar, 1918-2014, was a well-known Hindu mystic, American yoga teacher, and founder of a worldwide school of yoga exercise and asanas (postures), "Iyengar Yoga.” His 1966 Light on Yoga, considered by some as the bible of the modern yoga exercise movement, has sold over three million copies.

(c) Keith Lowenstein, M.D., Kriya Yoga for Self-Discovery, pp. 28-29.

Sutra 2.1:

(a) Commentaries by Feuerstein, Iyengar, and Stiles in their translations of this sutra. For longer bibliography entries, see Section 1 in “Sources (Works Cited).” (See also a description of Feuerstein in Endnote 1.9, and of Iyengar in the Endnote immediately above.

(b) Vyasa’s commentary on this sutra as translated in David Geer’s The Essence of the Yoga Sutras. For a description of Vyasa, see Endnote 1.1.

(c) Linda Johnson, Lost Masters, Chapters 3 and 5.

(d) Riane Eisler, The Chalice & the Blade.

Sutra 2.2: Vyasa in this sutra in Geer.

Sutra 2.3:

(a) Iyengar in his translation, Sutra 2.10. For a description of Iyengar, see the Endnote for “Chapter 2-A Introduction.”

(b) Vyasa in this sutra in Geer.

(c) Thich Nhat Hanh, Being Peace, p. 215. For a description of Nhat Hanh: See Endnote 1.33.

Sutra 2.4:

(a) Vyasa in this sutra in Geer.

(b) Hariharananda as quoted in Iyengar’s Sutra 2.12.

Sutra 2.5:

(a) Revelation 3.17, A New New Testament edited with commentary by Hal Taussig.

(b) Augustine of Hippo, Confessions, 8:7.17.

(c) Keith Lowenstein, M.D. pp. 65, 67, 202.

Sutra 2.6: Anthony the Great in (see) The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, p. 2.

Sutra 2.7: I Corinthians 7.9, A New New Testament edited with commentary by Hal Taussig.

Sutra 2.9:

(a) Plato, “Book III,” The Republic.

(c) “Yeshayahu–Isaiah–Chapter 11,” 11.2. The Complete Jewish Bible with Rashi Commentary.

(d) Galatians 5.22, A New New Testament.

Sutra 2.10: Vyasa in this sutra in Geer.

Sutra 2.11: Vyasa in this sutra in Geer.

Sutra 2.12: Dr. Gina Cerminara, Many Mansions. Wikipedia also has an excellent, lengthy introduction to “Reincarnation” at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reincarnation.

Sutra 2.13:

(a) Vyasa in this sutra in Geer.

(b) American reincarnation theory: See Endnote 2.12.

Sutra 2.15:

(a) Vyasa in this sutra in Geer.

(b) An excellent scholarly article on “Gehenna” by Lloyd R. Bailey is at www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.2307/3210000?journalCode=biblarch.

(c)  Satchidananda in his translation of this sutra.

Sutra 2.16: Howard Thurman, final two-fifths of “Life Goes On,” Meditations of the Heart, pp. 110-11.

Sutra 2.17: “Poemen” in (see) The Sayings of the Desert Fathers.

Sutra 2.19:

(a) According to ancient Hinduism, your brain is a sensory organ just as are your eyes and ears. The basic levels of formed essences and pure essences mentioned here in Sutra 2.19 were identified and described by meditators over a period of hundreds, possibly thousands of years before and during the first (oral) versions of the Hindu scriptures. 

(b) Iyengar in his translation of this sutra. (For a description of Iyengar, see the Endnote for “Chapter 2-A Introduction.”)

(c) In the West the philosophical theory of idealism, especially as described by the Greek philosopher Plato, exhibits an idea similar to Patanjali’s, and Hinduism’s, “differentiated” essences in forms or shapes. This is the Platonic theory of “forms.” Plato describes them as essences that are shapes and ideas, like little bundles of structures invisible except to our subtle intuition. They exist, he says, eternally in a realm purer and more original than our objective reality. They help form physical energy and matter to make it what it is.

For example, an absolutely perfect square or circle does not exist in reality. However, says Plato, the idea-essence of it helps create shapes that are almost perfect circles or squares in nature and in our minds as we try to build them. Or, for instance, Plato suggests that you know intuitively what a dog is: a creature that exhibits “dog-ness”–a collection of traits that define a dog as separate from any other animal. A chair has “chair-ness.” A human has “humanness.”

Each such form, says Plato, continues eternally. And he argues that if you can learn to become a person of virtue who sees the inner life clearly, you also can see the world of forms.  In this, he is in agreement with Patanjali regarding “divided, barely attached” essences.

More on Plato’s forms: See Mary Varney Rorty, “Lecture 5.1: Plato’s Theory of Forms.” http://web.stanford.edu/~mvr2j/ucsccourse/Lecture5.1.pdf.

Wikipedia also has a good introductory article on Plato’s forms at its “Theory of forms.”

(d) Modern Western scientific theory also makes claims that are similar to what the ancient Hindu rishis saw in meditation. Two concepts from physics about matter even smaller than atoms sound similar to the gunas.

Regarding the first of the two, “guna” means “thread” or “string,” especially one that vibrates like a bowstring or can be used to shoot an arrow. Physicists have developed “string theory”: the argument that all reality may be, at its deepest pre-matter level, vibrating strings of energy.

Second, most scientists now argue that inside the atom’s components of protons and neutrons are even smaller units they call “quarks.” Quarks are infinitesimal bits of matter that also sound, by definition, something like the gunas. On the one hand, the gunas have three major “shadings” or “tendencies” –light/brightness/upness (sattva), strength/force/outness (rajas), and stability/inertia/sameness (tamas). On the other hand, by comparison, quarks come in what physicists call six “flavors” that might also be called tendencies or inclinations. Their six names are “up,” “down,” “charm,” “strange,” “top,” and “bottom.” The flavors work through a “strong force” to join together as protons and neutrons. And protons and neutrons (along with electrons) form atoms–the building blocks of all matter.

Even quarks may not be the end of scientific discoveries. Dr. Michael McCann says, “We know there must be new particles out there to discover because our current understanding of the Universe falls short in so many ways—we do not know what 95% of the Universe is made of, or why there is such a large imbalance between matter and anti-matter, nor do we understand the patterns in the properties of the particles that we do know about.”
–See Imperial College London’s “New Result from Large Hadron Collider” on the web.

Sutra 2.20:

(a) René Descartes, Discourse on the Method, www.gutenberg.org/files/59/59-h/59-h.htm.

(b) Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation, pp. 8-9. (For a description of Merton, see Endnote 1.1.)

(c) Swami Āraṇya Hariharānanda, Yoga Philosophy of Patanjali with Bhasvati, in his commentary on this sutra.

Sutra 2.21:

(a) “At-” and “-ma,” The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

(b) Four Vedas, https://archive.org/details/FourVedasEng.

(c) M. Monier-Williams, “Prakriti,” A Sanskrit-English Dictionary, p. 654.

Sutra 2.22:

You are me, and I am you.

Isn’t it obvious that we “inter-are”?

You cultivate the flower in yourself,

so that I will be beautiful.

I transform the garbage in myself,

so that you will not have to suffer.

I support you;

you support me.

I am in this world to offer you peace;

you are in this world to bring me joy.

–Thich Nhat Hanh, “Interrelationship,” Call me by My True Names  – The Collected Poems of Thich Nhat Hanh, also on the web.

Sutra 2.23: Letter to the Ephesians 4.15-16, Christian New Testament. See Open English Bible,  https://openenglishbible.org/.

Sutra 2.24:

(a) Teilhard de Chardin, The Divine Milieu, pp. 79 and 125. (For a description of Teilhard, see

Endnote 1.23.)

(b) Gospel of Matthew 14.25-30, Christian New Testament, Open English Bible,  https://openenglishbible.org.

Sutra 2.25: Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation, pp. 111 and 211. A longer version of his thoughts on this subject says,

The contemplative [meditator] enters into God in order to be created.... [A]s communion deepens,...it becomes more and more intensive and at the same time reaches out to affect everything else we think and do.... The function of faith is...to integrate the unknown and the known together in a living whole.... it embraces all the realms of life....

          True contemplation is the work of a love that transcends all satisfaction and all experience to rest in the night of pure and naked faith.... And the effect...is often a deep peace that overflows into the lower faculties...and thus constitutes an ‘experience.’” [However, if] “we attach too much importance to these accidentals we will run the risk of losing what is essential.... And since I cannot directly produce that feeling in myself whenever I want to,...the one important reality [is] union with...God... (pp. 111, 135-137, and 211-12).

(For a description of Merton, see Endnote 1.1.)

Sutra 2.26:

(a) Culadasa (John Yates, PhD), The Mind Illuminated, pp. 19 and 21.

(b) Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, The Synthesis of Yoga, p. 372.

Sutra 2.27:

Note: Trying to understand this sutra’s sevenfold methods is of particular interest to two groups of people: those who are advanced meditators, and scholars. Other meditators also might be helped, depending on what the sevenfold methods are. Thus the following endnote is a lengthy discussion of various possibilities regarding what the seven may be.

(a) Feuerstein in his translation of this sutra. For a description of Feuerstein, see Endnote 1.9.

(b) “The Seven Factors of Enlightenment”: Bhikkhu Bodhi, The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya, p. 1567.

(c) Ancient Scriptural Sets of Seven: The oldest written Hindu scripture, the Rig Veda, is difficult to translate unless you are triply blessed with being an expert in Sanskrit, a specialist in Hindu ancient scriptures, and an experienced mystic. Unfortunately, only a few of the Rig’s sets of seven appear to be common knowledge or practice in Patanjali’s time, as Feuerstein suggests they should be. In addition, Western English translations of the Rig make of it a strange tangle of mythic tales of gods and events, rather than the descriptions of mystical states it is meant to be.

However, for those interested in trying to make sense of these Vedic bibles, the Rig, the longest Veda, offers some clues among its many thousands of lines of chants. Within the Rig are almost two hundred references to sacred sets of seven. For example, Sukta (Hymn) 1.164 alone describes seven sons of a deity, seven horses, a chariot’s seven wheels, seven spiritual sisters, and seven sacred cows (1-3); the seven cosmic threads of nature (5); seven meters of Vedic stanzas (24 et al.); and seven holy seeds (36).

A number of stanzas in the Rig further describe the seven meters or poetic forms of ancient chanting–discussing them so thoroughly that some students of the Rig say that the meters relate to all two hundred of its sets of seven. The author of the famous ancient grammar work Mahābhāṣya, also named Patanjali, spoke at length about these meters as being conduits to God. If the grammar author and the author of the Yoga Sutras were the same person, as Hindu tradition states, then this theory of the meters being the set of “seven” in Sutra 2.27 is worth considering.

Of these many sets of seven, though, nothing is systematized in clear, plain language. The early Hindu scriptures purposely were written to be unclear to those without mystical experience. And histories of Patanjali’s times do not record a specific, common Hindu set of seven practices used in meditation. (For a description of the Vedas, see Endnote 1.2.)

(d) The Seven Chakras or Energy Centers: One intriguing possibility for Patanjali’s set of seven is the Kundalini yoga system of seven chakras (also spelled cakras). In medieval India well after Patanjali’s time–and especially in modern Hindu and Western Kundalini yoga–the chakras were organized into a physical and psychological system of seven centers aligned on or near the spine. They include the crown of the head, the forehead’s “third eye,” the throat center, the heart center, two other centers high and low in the gut area (the exact location depending on the century, text, and teacher), and the base of the trunk.

The original sources for this system, say those who developed it, are the ancient Hindu scriptures. No such system is clear within the earliest scriptures, the Vedas. Later versions of one of the Vedas and of a work called the “Yoga Upanishads” do contain the chakra system, but these likely were added after Patanjali’s time. Even so, many likely symbols of the chakras exist in more ancient Vedic texts.

For example, chakra means “wheel,” and the ancient scriptures often refer to symbolic wheels that could be chakra energy centers. The oldest Hindu scripture, the Rig Veda, says, “High on the forehead of the Bull one chariot wheel ye ever keep, [t]he other round the sky revolves” (30.19). This suggests that in a meditator’s spiritual power or force (“the Bull”), there is a forehead energy center and one above the crown of the head. Another verse states that “God with far-seeing eyes, is mounted on the lower seven-wheeled...car [chariot],” which implies that the human body and soul are the “chariot” with seven wheels or energy centers (164.12).

A later Veda, the Atharva (composed of early Upanishads), adds, “Time, the steed, runs with seven reins (rays), thousand-eyed, ageless, rich in seed. The seers [i.e., Vedic mystic sages], thinking holy thoughts, mount him.... With seven wheels does this Time ride, seven naves [central areas of holy places] has he...” (39.53.2).

From these and other wheel-related references–along with ample inner experience–even an English reader can begin to find trails of chakra meanings. For example, in the Rig, the chariot/human’s “golden seat,” “reins of gold,” “golden shaft,” and “axle of gold” fit comfortably with the inner Hindu chakra system (5.27-29). (See “Appendix F” for more about the meditation experience of the color gold.) The Rig adds, “The rich new car hath been equipped at morning; four yokes it hath, three whips, seven reins to guide it” (18.1). Traditional Kundalini yoga often describes the bottom four chakras as the physical ones (perhaps here the “yokes”), and the top three centers as the mental ones (the “whips”). Many more possibilities exist.

Regarding these “yokes” and “whips,” early Greek theology in Christianity describes a similar division. Thomas Merton says the Greek theologians used the words anima and psyche to describe the two. Anima was the label for the “animal” part of each person–“the realm of instinct and of emotion, the realm of automatism....” The words psyche and nous denoted humans’ mental thoughts. And according to Merton, beyond or around anima and psyche–infusing them–were the pneuma or spiritus (breath/spirit), the highest “superconscious” force in which “both the others are joined and transcend themselves” (pp. 138-140). Likewise, in Kundalini yoga, spirit/breath is an animating force for the energies of the seven chakras.

In any case, it is possible that in Patanjali’s time, an orally-shared understanding of seven chakras may have existed. If so, he might be referring to them as the “sevenfold” in this sutra.

–See Four Vedas and Merton’s New Seeds. (For a description of the Vedas and Upanishads, see Endnote 1.2. For a description of Merton, see Endnote 1.1.)

(e) Vyasa’s sevenfold interpretation: Vyasa offers an ascetic interpretation of Patanjali’s “highest resting place of intuitive knowing” in 2.27. Many translators quote his list:

Vyasa’s List of “Seven Accomplishments”

1.     (What is) to be avoided is known....

2.     The causes of (what is) to be avoided are diminished [to] nothing....

3.     Release is directly experienced by nirodha-samadhi [cessation-liberation].

4.     The means of release is known....

This is thus the fourfold material liberation (that occurs) from insight.

However, liberation of citta [mind-stuff] is threefold (as follows):

5.     Buddhi [intuitive discernment] (has) performed (its duties).

6.     The gunas [nature]...are inclined to dissolution.... There is no further appearance of these dissolved (gunas)....

7.     [P]urusa [atman] is beyond association with the gunas, the light of its own form alone, pure, (and) absolute.

–See Geer, The Essence of the Yoga Sutras with the Commentary of Vyasa, pp. 133-4. (For a description of Vyasa, see Endnote 1.1.)

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APPENDIX ENDNOTES            

Note: For full bibliographies of the authors and texts, see “Sources.”
              
Appendix A:

See the American Press Institute’s definition of “journalism” at www.americanpressinstitute.org/journalism-essentials/what-is-journalism.
 

Appendix C: How to Breathe

“Using a Mantra”:

Eddie Weitzberg and John O.N. Lundberg, “Humming Greatly Increases Nasal Nitric Oxide,” American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

“The Science of Breathing”:

(a) James Nestor, Chapters 1-7, Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art. Nestor describes a multitude of scientific studies that demonstrate just how many physical illnesses can be treated by improving patients’ breathing patterns. His work, and that of the dozens of scientific studies he describes, highlight ancient and modern yoga’s emphasis on the importance of breathing well.

(b) Thich Nhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation, pp. 14-16. For a description of Nhat Hanh, see Endnote 1.33.

“Patanjali’s Breathing”

B.K.S. Iyengar. Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Iyengar’s primary book on breath control is Light on Pranayama. For a description of Iyengar, see the Endnote for “Chapter 2-A Introduction.”
 

Appendix D: What Is “Nirvana”?

“Is Nirvana Always One Type of Experience?”:

(a) Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation, p. 227. (For a description of Merton, see Endnote 1.1.)

(b) No one is sure of the origin of this Gaelic blessing, but it has been adapted by both Christians and nature spiritualists in several forms available online. In 1978, well-known composer John Rutter developed a hymn from it, as have others.

“Nirvana as a Buddhist Concept”:

(a) “Nirvana,” Rigpa Shedra Wiki, www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Nirvana.

Patrul Ringpoche was a nineteenth-century wandering Tibetan Buddhist mystic and teacher. For his Commentaries on The Ornament of Clear Realization (Abhisamayālaṃkāra), see “Patrule Ringpoche” in “Sources.”

(b) The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha–A New Translation of the Majjhima Nikaya, Translated by Bhikkhu Nanamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi, pp. 42-43. (This book won the 1995 “Outstanding Academic Book Award” by Choice magazine, and the “Excellence in Buddhist Publishing for Dharma Discourse” Tricycle Prize.)

Buddha: See Endnote 1.1(d).

(c) What are Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism? According to most Buddhist scholars and historians, they are the two great branches of Buddhism. (A third, lesser known, is called Vajrayana.)

Mahayana, means “great vehicle.” This Buddhist tradition emphasizes finding liberation within society, and continuing to serve society after finding it. Chinese and Japanese Zen Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, and others often are Mahayana.

Theravada means “elders’ vehicle.” It usually is considered the oldest Buddhist tradition. Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), Myanmar (formerly Burma), Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos often follow this more monastic, individualistic way.

Vajrayana is, according to some scholars, a third division of Buddhism. The word means “diamond vehicle.” The “diamond” represents a part–or the whole–of the individual’s spiritual body, or a point on which to concentrate within the body’s seven main or spiritual Kundalini yoga chakra energy centers.

(d) The Theravada Buddhist Majjhima Nikaya (Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha) is one of the earliest written authoritative scriptures in Buddhism.

Appendix E: How to Meditate after Dharma Megha

See “Sources” for specific references.
 

Appendix F: What Is Ultimate Dharma Megha?

See “Sources” for specific references.

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Most recent revision: 12 July 2022