red truths of the Buddhists, namely
suffering, origin of suffering, the removal of suffering, and of the
path to the removal of suffering [Footnote ref 1]. Again, the metaphysics
of the sa@msara (rebirth) cycle in connection with sorrow, origination,
decease, rebirth, etc. is described with a remarkable degree of
similarity with the cycle of causes as described in early Buddhism.
Avidya is placed at the head of the group; yet this avidya should
not be confused with the Vedanta avidya of S'a@nkara, as it is an
avidya of the Buddhist type; it is not a cosmic power of illusion
nor anything like a mysterious original sin, but it is within the
range of earthly tangible reality. Yoga avidya is the ignorance
of the four sacred truths, as we have in the sutra
"_anityas'ucidu@hkhanatmasu nityas'ucidu@hkhatmakhyatiravidya_" (II. 5).

The ground of our existing is our will to live (_abhinives'a_).
"This is our besetting sin that we will to be, that we will to be
ourselves, that we fondly will our being to blend with other kinds
of existence and extend. The negation of the will to be, cuts
off being for us at least [Footnote ref 2]." This is true as much of
Buddhism as of the Yoga abhinives'a, which is a term coined and used in
the Yoga for the first time to suit the Buddhist idea, and which has
never been accepted, so far as I know, in any other Hindu
literature in this sense. My sole aim in pointing out these things
in this section is to show that the _Yoga sutras_ proper (first three
chapters) were composed at a time when the later forms of
Buddhism had not developed, and when the quarrels between
the Hindus and the Buddhists and Jains had not reached such

____________________________________________________________________

[Footnote 1: _Yoga sutra,_ II. 15, 16. 17. _Yathacikitsas'astra@m
caturvyuha@m rogo rogahetuh arogya@m bhais'ajyamiti evamidamapi
s'astram caturvyuhameva; tadyatha sa@msara@h, sa@msarahetu@h mok@sa@h
mok@sopaya@h; duhkhabahula@h sa@msaro heya@h, pradhanapuru@sayo@h
sa@myogo heyahetu@h, sa@myogasyatyantiki niv@rttirhana@m hanopaya@h
samyagdar`sanam, Vyasabha@sya_, II. 15]

[Footnote 2: Oldenberg's _Buddhism_ [Footnote ref 1].]

238

a stage that they would not like to borrow from one another.
As this can only be held true of earlier Buddhism I am disposed
to think that the date of the first three chapters of the _Yoga
sutras_ must be placed about the second century B.C. Since there
is no evidence whi