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Indian PhilosophyOS

intermediate · 12 steps

Understanding the mind

How Indian traditions map the mind and train it, from the Gita's practice and dispassion to Sankhya's model, Patanjali's Yoga, Hatha Yoga's breath and body, and Buddhist meditation. It shows both shared techniques and different views of what lies beyond the mind.
Editorial overview
12 steps
  1. 1Gita verse · Bhagavad Gita 6.34The mind is like the windArjuna voices the universal complaint: the mind is restless and stubborn.
  2. 2Gita verse · Bhagavad Gita 6.35Practice and dispassionKrishna's answer names the two supports that Patanjali also uses.
  3. 3Gita verse · Bhagavad Gita 6.19A lamp in a windless placeThe image of a steady, meditative mind.
  4. 4Tradition · SankhyaSankhya's mapMind, intellect and ego belong to nature, not to consciousness.
  5. 5Concept · Buddhi — intellectBuddhi, manas, ahankaraThe inner instrument in its parts.
  6. 6Interactive · 25 Tattvas ExplorerThe 25 principlesSee where the mind sits among Sankhya's evolutes.
  7. 7Text · Yoga Sutras of PatanjaliYoga SutrasYoga as stilling the fluctuations of the mind-field.
  8. 8Concept · Chitta — mind-fieldChitta and its vrittisFive kinds of mental fluctuation and how they are quietened.
  9. 9Concept · SamadhiSamadhiThe stages of absorption described by Patanjali.
  10. 10Text · Hatha Yoga PradipikaHatha Yoga PradipikaBody, breath and energy as means of steadying the mind.
  11. 11Concept · PranayamaPranayamaBreath regulation and its relation to mental steadiness.
  12. 12Tradition · Buddhist philosophyBuddhist approachesMindfulness and insight that see mental events as impermanent and not-self.