What Yoga Teaches

Here is what I picked up from Oki-sensei’s lectures ‘What is yoga?’ (1978.7.28 & 1978.9.29).

Meaning of the word ‘yoga’ 

The word ‘yoga’ means ‘to unite’ or ‘to yoke’ and refers to uniting the Plus Force and Minus Force. Nature works as plus and minus forces perpetually change, move towards balance and reach stability. This is the law of nature, which is what enables us to live. In order to be saved from suffering (such as illness, distress, unhappiness, calamities, pollution, wars etc.), we have no choice but to follow the law of nature. This means that we are to understand and practise what the natural body for human beings is, what the natural mind-heart* for human beings is and what the natural lifestyle for human beings is, which together make up the human natural state.

The human natural state is as follows: 

>  Natural Body for human beings: The hara power is enhanced. The hara power is the ability to enhance and strengthen the innate healing ability which we are inherently given.

>  Natural Mind-Heart for human beings: The busshō (Buddha Nature), the divine nature of human mind-heart, is enhanced. It is the ability to thank everything, interpret everything as joyful and divine, and make friends with everything. Only human beings are inherently given this ability to develop to such a state.

>  Natural Lifestyle for human beings: We cannot live alone. Human life is social life, where we live in each other’s cooperation, as well as tied down to each other. We have the ability to enhance our adaptability so that we may still feel free in a limited life. Co-existence and co-happiness are integral to the natural lifestyle for human beings.

Yoga is a system of ‘philosophy and practical methods’ which concretely teaches how our body, mind-heart and lifestyle are to be, in order to live in the human natural state as described above.

One thought on “What Yoga Teaches

  1. Note for ‘mind-heart’. In ‘Masahiro Oki Last lectures’ page 7, Mizue Tamaki, the translator, put a footnote “Mind is not the right word, in Japanese language: ‘kokoro’. Kokoro can perhaps be translated as mind-heart, although this is still not the exact meaning“. Whether mind or mind-heart, Oki-sensei is talking about desires, emotions and intellect.

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