Today, the best-known text on yoga is the Yoga Sūtra of Patañjali, which was composed between around 375 CE and 425 CE. It was written in Sanskrit and has been translated more often than any other Sanskrit text. A considerable Buddhist influence on the text may be discerned; there are concepts and terms borrowed directly from Buddhism, some in Buddhist Sanskrit. The sūtras are traditionally read or recited alongside the earliest of the commentaries on the Yoga Sūtra, the commentary (bhāṣya) by Vyāsa. However, ‘Vyāsa’ means ‘editor’ or ‘compiler’ and we don’t really know who Vyāsa was. The combined sūtras and the commentary by Vyāsa are known as the Patañjalayogaśāstra. Recent work on this text by scholars indicates that both the sūtras and the earliest commentary by Vyāsa were written by Patañjali himself, though not all scholars agree with this idea. (Continue reading)