According Patanjali, “Yoga is freedom from mental disturbances.” (The yoga sutras of Patanjali 1.2) Yoga is defined as union of the self with the super-self. When in union, the self is one with the universal consciousness. Hence, Yoga is a process by which a practitioner purifies the self physically, mentally and spiritually until such union is attained. In such a state of union, the consciousness is no longer fragmented, but is pure, devoid of subject and object. It is devoid of differentiation and the oneness is experienced as pure bliss.

In Zen, this state of freedom from mental disturbances is known as “the original look before father and mother were born.” Other descriptions include original nature, ultimate reality, suchness, essence of reality, emptiness, and Sarvajnata. The Zen Buddhist eliminates his mental attachments, detaches the self until the “I”, the meditator, and the object of meditation disappear. The most common methods of meditation are anapanasati, vipassana, and Zen, all of which pay particular attention to the control of breathing in their practice.

In the Heart Sutra, the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara in deep prajna meditation saw that his five skandhaswere all empty and so he was freed from all suffering. This state of emptiness pervades the whole universe and is the universal consciousness, the origin of all life forms and phenomena, the Creator, or God. Avalokitesvara was thus liberated from Samsara and became super-ordinary, i.e. a saint. Such realization and union with the universal consciousness has led Saint Avalokitesvara into Moksha.

In Christianity, this universal consciousness or being is called God and the hope of all Christians is to return to Heaven to be with God through the sacrifice and deliverance of Jesus Christ the Savior. When God created Adam and Eve, He breathed into his mouth and gave him life. This is the source of life and in Yoga it is known as prana. The life span of a human being is determined by the number of breaths he has in his life time. Therefore in yoga, the yogi trains his prana and harnesses the spiritual energy he can get from each prana, which technique is known as pranayama, the fourth limb of ashtanga yoga.

In Taoism, the origin of all life forms and phenomena is nothingness. From nothingness came Taichi or One, from Taichi came Yin and Yang, the female and male principles, from Yin and Yang came the four cardinal divisions of the Blue Dragon Qinglong in the east, the White Tiger Baihu in the west, the Red Phoenix Zhuque in the south, and the Grand Turtle Yuanwu in the north, and finally from the four divisions came the eight divinatory trigrams of the Book of Changes, and thus the whole universe was formed. The Taoist practitioner practices Taichi or Qigong in order to harness his Chi or breath. He knows that as the Chi pervades the whole universe it also runs in his nadis. He has to run it through each and every energy nodes in his body. This Chi or breath in Yoga is known as prana, the source and sustenance of life. Because the number of breaths a human being has is determined, whether in Qigong, Taichi, or Yoga, the practitioner never wastes each breath.

From the above, I can safely conclude that Yoga is Zen without its Koans and Huatous, and Zen is Yoga without its asanas, pranayamas and dhautis because both share the same goal and should share the same practical methods. In China, Japan and Korea where Zen is practiced, the methods of training have been reshaped by culture such that each country has its own forms. The original need for purification of the body through Yoga is neglected and their methods tend to be metaphysical. Over time, the historical methods of Yoga have been lost and only doctrinal Yogacara remains. The Yogacara doctrines have become too difficult for modern Buddhists to understand much less to practice. Therefore, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Zen or Ch’an Buddhists must now look to India, and find a guru who can illumine them on the practical methods of Yoga, and that Great Guru, the last real Great Guru of our time, is Swami Rajarshi Muni. Read more on Swami Rajarshi Muni at http://newhuayen.com/page30.html.

In 629 defying imperial proscription by Emperor Tai-Chung 唐太宗 of the T'ang Dynasty, the famous Chinese Buddhist monk Hsuan Tsang 玄奘 secretly set out on foot on his epochal journey to the land of the Buddha from Chang'an 長安 (then capital of China) to learn Yoga and brought back to China many Yoga and other scriptures.

1381 years thereafter in 2010, once again an accomplished Chinese Buddhist monk, Master Sea Cloud 海雲繼夢法師 of the Da Huayen Monastery 大華嚴寺 (Great Floral Garland Monastery) Taiwan, came to India to learn Yoga from Sri Swami Rajarshi Muni 惹查西牟尼, Founder of the Lakulish International Fellowship's Enlightenment Mission 拉克魯希神國際覺明傳道會(LIFE Mission 生命傳道會). Like Master Hsuan Tsang the first Chinese Buddhist Yogi, he is the second Chinese Buddhist Yogi in Chinese history to humbly learn from an Indian Guru. People like Master Hsuan Tsang and Master Sea Cloud only come once in a millennium. In this age, these people are few and far between. Why Yoga?

Photo of Master Sea Cloud with Sri Swami Satyanand of LIFE Mission 

Sakya M. Longyen (aka Akira Tomiyama)
Huayen on Indra’s Net
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