MRI and EEG of Jhana

The cultivation of calm or tranquility and the development of concentration
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Anagarika
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Re: MRI and EEG of Jhana

Post by Anagarika »

Leigh, I will add my note of gratitude and appreciation for your input here on DW. You have helped me greatly take Jhana practice out of its difficult "clamshell packaging," and you have a real gift of teaching with clarity and kindness.

At the time of testing, this subject was to our knowledge the only person in the US who had the requisite training in jhana who was willing to submit to the experimental protocol.

This is what we might call "authenticity!" A true ācariya.
Kalama
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Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2012 2:35 pm

Re: MRI and EEG of Jhana

Post by Kalama »

Hi Leigh,

thanks for your kind response . It was nice to read the warm wellcome you received .
You wrote: 'Yeah, these were far from my "best" jhanic experiences :-) It's a very much a less-than ideal environment, but I was able to gain the jhanic states, tho they were a bit wobbly. But, hey, it's what we could do - and it's better than no data at all.

D: you are right . I think it is quite useful to share theory and practise with scientists since consciousness lost its No-No image of academical interest, even if now the materialists/annihilists are still the majority. Consequently Buddhism seems to be less exotic to many in the West .

L:The other thing to realize is that there are quite a number of different opinions as to exactly what constitutes a jhana. I have a web page that discusses this at http://leighb.com/jhanantp.htm

D: noted as to be read ...
I wonder how far the similes of the 4 Jhanas of the standard texts are commented /interpreted

L:You have to remember that "vitakka and vicara" just mean thinking in the suttas. It's only really in the Abhidhamma where they get new meaning of "initial and sustained thinking/application." From the Pali Text Society's Pali-English Dictionary:
"Looking at the combination vitakka+vicara in earlier and later works one comes to the conclusion that they were once used to denote one & the same thing: just thought, thinking, only in an emphatic way (as they are also semantically synonymous), and that one has to take them as one expression, ... without being able to state their difference. With the advance in the Sangha of intensive study of terminology they became distinguished mutually. Vitakka became the inception of mind, or attending, and was no longer applied, as in the Suttas, to thinking in general."

D: I am not clear about this . Agreed it is thinking in general but there is the aspect of arising thoughts (always those appearing 'very important' to consider .. which one may wellcome by 'Yes! and an immidiate ' bye,bye' ) and those which make a good round of associations either followed by discursive thinking or like day dreaming .....being absent for a while .

How would you describe the Buddha's recalling of sitting under the shadow of the Roseapple-tree , a memory which obviously cleared the way to his enlightenment?

Metta Kalama
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waterchan
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Location: Kamaloka

Re: MRI and EEG of Jhana

Post by waterchan »

Thanks for describing your lab rat experience in detail and responding to my questions, Leigh! Although I still have my doubts and reservations, I greatly respect the fact that you were willing to submit to the scrutiny of a laboratory environment. I think one thing we can agree on is that rigorous scientific studies of jhana meditation are in severe shortage, and I hope we can see more scientific studies of jhana meditators in the future.
quidquid Latine dictum sit altum videtur
(Anything in Latin sounds profound.)
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