Method of Eightfold Path in Yoga Philosophy and TheravĀda Buddhism

There are many misconceptions and misinformation aboutyoga and early Buddhism floating around. Many people mistakenlythink for example that yoga is all about the body, while Buddhistmeditation is all about the mind. Forgetting the common Indic roots ofboth traditions, people easily associate Yoga with India but when theythink of Buddhism, they tend to think of it as an East Asian tradition.Even though the Buddha pre-dated Patañjali by some 500 years or more, yoga teachers tend to attribute a greater antiquity to Patañjali's YogaSūtras than is warranted, while ignoring the important historicalinfluence of Buddhism upon Indian philosophy and soteriology.If we really want to accurately understand what yogic andBuddhist practices are about then it is important that we do away withthese and other misconnections to look anew at how Yoga andBuddhism might be related historically and practically. It must beremembered that both Yoga and Buddhism changed and evolved overtime including - directly or indirectly - in interaction with each other. Ifwe want to compare these systems, we have to first of all start at thebeginning, i.e. we have to start with the comparison of early Yoga withearly Buddhism. In this thesis, we will analyze the similarities anddifferences between Patañjali's Aṣṭāṅga (Eight-Limb) Yoga and theBuddha's Noble Eightfold Path. We would ask: Did these paths emergeindependently or did one influence the other? What are the similaritiesand differences in the practices and goals of early Buddhism andAṣṭāṅga Yoga? Can one help to illuminate the other?