The Case of yogaksema/yogakkhema in Vedic and Suttapitaka Sources. In Response to Norman

Norman in 1969 emphasised a linguistic difference between the Vedic compound yogaksema- interpreted as a dvandva (exertion and rest) and the widely distributed Early Buddhist compound yogakkhema-, analysed as a tatpurusa rest from exertion. On the basis of our analysis of the relevant Pali sources and of the more ancient Vedic occurrencessome of which are quite far from the earliest denotation of the two cyclic phases (yoga- and ksema-) of the assumed semi-nomadic Indo-Aryan lifewe have undertaken a classification of the several meanings of this compound, in order to distinguish their different facets and to enable us to easily bring about the comparison proposed by Norman in 1969 and in 1993 [1991]. Unlike Norman, we eventually postulated a common reading of this compound as a tatpurusa originally denoting an almost material target of welfare, from which both the Brhma?ic and the Buddhist usages, whose meaning is predominantly immaterial (ritual or wisdom-oriented), might have developed.