Yoga: India's Philosophy of Meditation. Edited by Gerald James Larson and Ram Shankar Bhattacharya. Volume 12 of Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophy Series Editor Karl Potter. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 2008. Pp. 784.
關鍵詞
Yoga=瑜珈
摘要
Yoga: India's Philosophy of Meditation is the most recent volume in the highly acclaimed Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophy series, under general editor Karl Potter. This work might be appropriately considered the long-awaited sequel to Larson and Bhattacharya's earlier volume (number 4 in the series), Sāṃkhya: A Dualist Tradition in Indian Philosophy, and it may well be among the greatest in importance on the topic in the past fifty years, especially as it represents the culmination of the trajectory of Larson's engagement with the material over the course of his prolific career. Ram Shankar Bhattacharya passed away in 1996 while the work was still in progress, leaving Larson to complete the volume on his own. Larson's admiration for Bhattacharya as an industrious researcher and as a generous teacher shines through clearly in the text. Bhattacharya's numerous contributions to the book and the broad presentation of his range of work within it are conscientiously represented by Larson and will undoubtedly solidify Bhattacharya's legacy in the study of Pātañjala yoga for generations of scholars to come. This book represents the fruition of decades of work for Larson and is a testament to the depth and breadth of his knowledge of the field, especially with respect to the relationship between Sāṃkhya and Yoga as philosophical schools. Though this volume is a resource clearly of greatest use for scholars of South Asian religion and philosophy, Larson also intends it to have broader relevance to contemporary philosophical conversations, especially with respect to philosophy of mind (pp. 72–74). It is divided into two principle parts, the first being an introduction to yoga that includes sections on the history and literature of yoga, the philosophy of Pātañjala Yoga, the Ha?ha Yoga traditions, and Contemporary Yoga traditions. The second part consists of summaries of key works on yoga in the...
