Buddhism and Yoga: Where the Paths Cross

Phillip Moffitt, Anna Douglas, Stephen Cope and Sarah Powers

We asked a panel of people who practice both yoga and Buddhism how the two can work together.


In the forests of Vedic India, pupils gathered around teachers who instructed them in the path of liberation called yoga, meaning “union.” One such student, in the 6th century bce, was a young mendicant who came to be known as the Buddha. Three centuries after that, the teachings of yoga were compiled by Patanjali as the Yoga Sutras, and another two millennia later, the teachings of both Buddha and Patanjali have found a new home in the West. We asked a panel of people who practice both yoga and Buddhism how the two can work together.

Shambhala Sun: What would you say to one of the millions of Americans doing yoga who is interested in also practicing Buddhism? Why would you recommend it?

Phillip Moffitt: First of all, I want to be very careful in distinguishing between yoga as a complete spiritual path and hatha yoga, which refers to the practice of the yoga postures, or asanas. I have followed both Patanjali’s path and the Buddhist path. I’ve tried to live the eight parts of both, as best I have been able.

For me, the number one thing that Buddhist practice offers is mindfulness, which broadens your ability to manifest your values in your life. Mindfulness is a critical element in actually living your dharma, whether you follow Patanjali's path or the Buddha’s. It makes such a difference in our daily lives.

Second, a strength of the buddhadharma is that it’s so beautifully complete and integrated. That’s useful to the questioning Western mind, which seeks answers to lots of different questions. The buddhadharma is very complete and you can find answers in a kind of straightforward way.

Sarah Powers: Yoga draws the attention into the body as a prerequisite to sitting still, so the body isn't lethargic or over-restless. The tools of yoga asana are very skillful in creating that inner environment, that potential for inner investigation. The tools of Buddhist meditation bring a calm, abiding presence. So instead of just jumping up after yoga class and running through the day’s errands, you have the tools to explore more subtle regions of the mind and the nature of one's being.

In both yoga and Buddhism, there is a beautiful exploration of the koshas, the layers of the subtle body. But when we discuss mind, the Buddhist system is more descriptive. So it’s not just that we cling, which is in the Yoga Sutras, but we cling in many different ways. And we learn how to isolate the various aspects and subtleties of the mind and its hindrances. There is a wider map of the psychological realm in the Buddhist tradition.

Stephen Cope: I find both paths very similar, but I do find that the buddhadharma has a beautiful immediacy that Patanjali doesn't. It’s the integration, the completeness that Phillip referred to—the Buddha, the dharma and the sangha. I don't know many yogis who go to bed with a copy of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. It is difficult, it is sparse, and it is bare. In fact, the teachings are really quite similar to the basic pillars of buddhadharma—karma, kleshas, seeing reality clearly, ending suffering. All that is in the yoga tradition. But still there is something that I find in the buddhadharma—and the way it’s taught in this country is part of it—that makes it an easier doorway in for students.

Anna Douglas: I would say to a person who is interested in yoga and meditation that yoga is very good for awakening energies. We get a little more awake in our lives and begin to see possibilities and potentials that perhaps weren't recognized before. What the Buddhist tradition does is speak very directly to suffering. How could people not hear it? People are suffering. Maybe they go to yoga for five years and they do feel better, but that doesn't take care of all the suffering in their lives.

Sarah Powers: No, it doesn't pull out the roots.

Anna Douglas: For instance, I have observed a tendency in the yoga world to look at the body as an object. To look at the performance aspect of yoga, rather than revealing the hidden emptiness of the body. This solidification of the self-image just adds to the burden of having to “be somebody.” So to me, coming to meditation means that people are ready to free themselves further. They are ready to look at suffering in all aspects of their lives, including the suffering of looking at themselves as objects.

Stephen Cope: Part of the brilliance of the Buddha was that he eschewed metaphysical concerns. He was more interested in how practically to attenuate the kleshas (conflicting emotions) in order to unravel the roots of suffering. I think that among the millions of people who are doing yoga in this country, many have not yet discovered that the foundation of yoga practice is also the attenuation of the kleshas. It is unraveling greed, hatred and delusion. That view is completely present in the classical path of yoga, but we in the American yoga world are just beginning to get down to those roots—the concern with kleshas and suffering—and see how the postures help to deconstruct all that.