IRB 2 #4: Revered Wisdom - Buddhism

This section was about mediation and how the “separation of the body and mind” are truly a large part of Buddhism as a whole. It not only discusses what it is, but it also explains how it is used differently and similarly all throughout Hindu religions. It also touches upon how it came to be and how it altered religions completely and totally. However, the most interesting part was when they listed the steps to full meditation; the end that gets you to the final stage of reincarnation – which I will list in the analysis.
There were an immense amount of stylistic choices in this section that made this part stand out the most from the rest. Since meditation may be a “far-fetched” topic for some people, they used rhetoric to plan it out in a step-by-step fashion so a large audience could understand their discourse. They used: definition, enthymeme, and as previously stated, lists. Definition was used all throughout this part to single out certain words that the audience may not know. For example, they defined the many parts of mediation like “yama…niyama…asanam” as “restraint…observance…posture” (277) to help clarify confusion.  Also, they definition it to emphasize words that the audience knows, but may not know the different meanings and how they connect to the “lesson” of mediation. For example, they defined yoga (a very commonly known word) in two different ways to show how it is used differently. It was explained as “effort” and then as “the suppression of the activities of the mind…[so] the spectator abides in his own form” (275) to show the contrast and connection of how with effort, you can achieve this abidance.
They also included enthymeme within the section as well to connect the chain of thoughts into a coherent flow of ideas. The first enthymeme was about the mind and the soul combination:
Ma: The mind and the soul are combined as one organ
Mi: Since they are combined, the mind controls the soul and allows it to feel emotion.
C: Therefore, meditation – or the freeing of the soul from the mind – allows the mind/soul to cease feelings and be released.
There was also another enthymeme on the meaning of yoga and what it does:
Ma: “The ultimate object [of yoga] is to dissociate the soul from its material envelopes…”
Mi: in two ways “to mortify the body and suppress…appetite … [and] discursive thought…[and] to keep the body in perfect health”
C: Which “are conductive to [untroubled] long life”
In simpler terms, the object of yoga is to rid of material things, and since material things like bad appetite, thought and health are not good for you, then you must rid of them through yoga to live a long, healthy life.
Not only did they use clever, hidden enthymemes to convince yet aid you in your path with Buddhism, but they also used lists as well. One list that I found quite interest and immensely helpful was the one that explained the sectored steps of meditation:
Physical Preparation

1.)    Yama (restraint)

2.)    Niyama (observance)

3.)    Asanam (posture)

4.)    Pranayama (regulation of breath)

5.)    Pratyahara (withdrawing of senses)

Intellectual Preparation

6.)    Dharana (fixing the mind on single object)

7.)    Dhyana (continuous intellectual state from said concentration)

8.) Samadhi (further dhyana – where mind becomes so ID w. thing that consciousness ceases)

Conscious/Unconscious stages of Samadhi

9.) Dharma-megha (conscious – isolation of soul/distinction from its matter is released = karma is no more)

10.) Unconscious Samadhi (falls into trance = emancipation; permanent by death)