Im currently reading an interesting book suggested by Nigel Wellings, called The Origins of Yoga and Tantra. Im about 1/2 way through, and the first 1/3 is very scholarly (Im not). Perhaps he should have titled it The Origins of Yoga, Tantra and Buddhism because he extensively discusses Buddhism, Jainism and Brahmanism which developed around the same time in the same part of India and had a substantial amount of cross-fertilization of each other. One thing I find interesting is his research into the fact that Mahayana Buddhism, which I always thought was a much later development in Buddhist history, actually has roots in India virtually as old as Theravadan practice. Also, that Mahayana growth largely paralleled the growth of urbanization of the Indus Valley and other parts of the ancient world. It depended largely on lay practitioners in a similar way that it does today.
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 12:04:11 +0000
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