Conceptual Five-membered Lists in the Tradition of Yoga Philosophy

Abstract

The article treats the identification of a fundamental methodological feature peculiar to the classical Indian philosophy and Indian theoretical thinking in general. The example of the tradition of yoga philosophy (yoga-darshana) is used. These are lists of terms, always more than two-membered, that together cover a certain thematical area. The material of the article consists of five five-membered lists. First, three methodological guidelines of the researcher of the yoga tradition are considered, which are thought to be prerequisites of any remarcable success. It is stated that they are mostly ignored. Further, a statement is made based on Nyāya classical author (Paksilalasvāmin) that these lists represent a key feature in the organization of the Indian systematic text. The factor preventing the elaboration and application of such lists in the European tradition of thinking is briefly considered. It comes out to be the distinction between concepts and judgments and an obvious limitation of judgments by the dichotomy of affirmative and negative. Indian thought, on the contrary, elaborated a theory of “mind contents” (jñāna) without any distinction of concepts and judgements. The common field of the two methodological techniques, viz. the concept definition and conceptual enumeration is exemplified. On its basis, five conceptual lists of the yoga tradition are interpreted with the identification of their uniform formal structure: modes of intentionality (citta); events of intentionality (cittavrtti); “afflictions” (kleśa) i.e. unavoidable impediments to the goals of yoga; factors of meditation (dhyāna) and indispensable behavioral self-limitations of a yogin (yama). It is argued that such lists are just an example of the application of a common Indian methodological technique.