Deities and Buddhism
The relationship between yogis and Buddhism has, for a long time, existed. This relation is attributed to the fact that the traditions followed in both have a common descent in terms of the area they evolved. Additionally, the terms employed in practice and principles in both have some parallelism; hence, most of their teachings appear identical. Both Buddhist and yogis hold on to the belief that suffering is part of being human and escape from it is inevitable and that only through showing compassion to self and others can one be free of the pain experienced while living, additionally, the yogic philosophy believes in a supreme power, a belief that is similar to Buddhist who trust in the existence of deities and in supreme celestial beings though at varied levels of supremacy.
Both Buddhists and Yogis perceive bondage and suffering as inevitable through the course of life and in the existence of supreme beings with the importance attached to the reality varied. Jayaram reiterates, “Bondage and suffering according to the Buddha, desire is the root cause of suffering, and the removal of desire in all its forms results in the cessation of suffering” (V). This shows some similarity to the yogi’s view that when one acts based on the desire for worldly things, one can fall into suffering, and only by performing actions without anticipation of the rewards can one achieve liberation. Hence by meditation and cultivating the habit of letting go, one achieves enlightenment. Additionally, Yogis view God as a supreme soul, who can never be afflicted by any event of nature, those associated with karma or the fruits thereof (Tigunait). Buddhism is an atheistic religion. Despite not recognizing one single creator as a deity, a paradox exists in the sense that it recognizes many gods and not just one as supreme (Buswell). Yogis and Buddhists thus share similarities in their belief system of deities and in terms of spiritual practice with the view of suffering as a human and ways to go round it through meditation, the practice of yoga to achieve enlightenment.
It is evident that both Buddhist and yogis philosophical beliefs are well intertwined in terms of views related to suffering as a human and how compassion to self and the views one holds in mind can free one from such a state of bondage. In addition, whereas both religion belief in the existence in higher power it is evident that the gods of Hinduism, that have a relation with yogis can be worshipped as they are regarded to be very supreme unlike Buddhism that acknowledges the existence of various deities but does not exalt them or deem them to be vital in their belief system.