Early Buddhism and Yoga Sutra: Comparison and Contrast

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Early Buddhism and Yoga Sutra: Comparison and Contrast
This paper compares and contrasts the moral philosophy of Early Buddhism and the Yoga Sutra with respect to their conceptions of the self. The paper looks at whether there are ethical reasons to believe in the existence of selves over and above suffering mental states. In the end, the big difference is that early Buddhism does not believe in an ideal self or in an eternal soul – which means it does not believe in integration.
Early Buddhism is quite distinct from yoga sutra insofar as it, unlike its counterpart, does not appear to believe in the idea that there are universal things in the world: the world is constantly changing and nothing is fixed; at the same time, there is no...

.....To end briefly, the early Buddhist thought holds that nothing lasts forever; Yoga Sutra believes that there is something eternal out there – or at least there is an ideal self we can find. Of the two, Yoga Sutra is the one that really offers an ethical defence (and a formulation) for the existence of superior selves.
Works Cited
Jayaram, V. “Buddhism and the concept of anatta.” Hinduwebsite.com http://www.hinduwebsite.com/buddhism/anatta.asp (accessed March 16, 2010).
Ramakrishnan, Alamelu & C.L. Ramakrishnan. “The yoga sutra of patanjali.” http://acharya.iitm.ac.in/mirrors/vv/scripture/yogasutra/ysint.html (accessed March 16, 2010).
“Yoga Sutras 1.1.-1.4,” SamiJ.com http://www.swamij.com/yoga-sutras-10104.htm (accessed March 16, 2010).