by ben felden bluegum sangha wednesday 26
TRANSCRIPT
Questions re. Buddhism & Science
How does one determine the validity of Buddhist practices and understandings?
By faith, intuition or logic. With reference to a lineage of gurus or to scientific authorityPerhaps a mixture or all of this?
Questions re. Science & Meditation
What are the physiological and psychological effects?Do they endure long after a retreat?Are particular kinds of practices better suited for particular types of people?
TopicsA Simplistic Model (NOMA)Overlapping Magisteria of Mind (OMM!)
Where people sit in relation to OMM model
Effects of MeditationBuddhism & Psychology Buddhist Pseudoscience
Thought Leaders (Gyatso, Wallace, Wilber)
Non‐Overlapping Magisteria (NOMA)Rock of Ages: Science & religion in the fullness of life
Magesteria
Science
Religion
Stephen Jay Gould
Science & Mind
PhysicsAstronomy
Mind/ Personal LevelCosmic Level
CognitivePsychology
BiologyMedicineLife Science
Physiological Level
Psychiatry/ PsychologyBio-Chemistry
Mathematics/Physics
‘Hard’ Science ‘Soft’ ScienceScience’s Broadening
Religion & Mind
Mind/ Personal LevelCosmic Level Physiological Level
Psychiatry/ PsychologyBio-Chemistry
Mathematics/Physics
Christian CosmologyBuddhist Abhidharmacosmology
Christian CreationistsReincarnationVirgin Mary
Buddhist Psychology
MeditationPrayer
Religion’s Retreat
Psychiatry/ Psychology
Buddhism / Meditative Experience
Bio-ChemistryMathematics/Physics
OMM ModelBen Felden (2007) ☺
Science Philosophymeaning and moral valuefacts and
theories
Micro-&Macro- Scopic Consciousness
3rd person / math-based
1st person / language-based
1 2 3 4
Psychiatry/ Psychology BuddhismBio-ChemistryMathematics/
Physics
Where People Sit
Materialistic Philosophic
Physicists
Geologists
Traditional Scientists
Modern Tibetan
Buddhists
Buddhist Psychologists, Zen & Insight
Traditional Tibetans & Thai Monks
Mathematicians
Psychology BuddhismBio-ChemistryMathematics/Physics
Mathematicians & Physicists
A. EinsteinD. BohmE. Schroedinger
I. NewtownS. J. Gould
B. RussellA. Whitehead
Mathematicians Physicists
Materialistic Philosophic
Psychiatry/ Psychology
BuddhismBio-ChemistryMathematics/Physics
Psychiatrists & Psychologists
M. LinehanS. Blackmore
Insight & Zen
J. KornfieldJ. Kabat-ZinnM. Epstein
L. J. CozolinoE. Gordon
Psychiatry/ Psychology
BuddhismBio-ChemistryMathematics/Physics
Buddhists
A. WallaceT. Gaytzo
S. Goenka
Tibetan Buddhists
What Tradition?Culture / Tradition Scientist
/ MD Psychologist Agnostic Stance
Religious Stance
Japan ‐ Zen James AustinMarsha Linehan Susan Blackmore
US/UK – Insight Jon Kabat‐Zinn *
Jack KornfieldJohn TeasdaleSylvia BoorsteinMark Epstein
S. Bachelor *Chris Titmus
Tibet ‐ Tibetan Allan Wallace ^ Tenzin Gyatzo Sogyal Rinpoche
India – Hindu/Vedic Deepak Chopra ^ MahrishiGoenka
* Also Zen^ Also some ‘religious’ ideas
Insightful Thoughts ?! ☺
“great pity if Vipassana meditation became another kind of psychotherapy”“great pity if such mindfulness practice had the same fate as yoga which in the West has often been reduced to a system of healthy physical exercises”
Christopher Titmus
Using science to extract useful buddhist practices
for non‐traditional settings... or money‐
making cults?
Psychology Buddhism
Noble Eightfold PathWisdom (panna)
1. Right view – clinical psychology
Ethical Conduct (sila)2. Right Action – Precept 5 ‐ psychopharmacology
Mental Discipline (samadhi)7 & 8. Right mindfulness & Right concentration ‐ cognitive science
Buddhism & PsychologyProblem
Buddhist: sufferingPsychology: distress, disability
EtiologyBuddhist: craving/ignorancePsychology: genetics, childhood development, socialisation
Goal Buddhist: enlightenmentPsychology: normal or higher functioning
TreatmentBuddhist: noble eightfold pathPsychology: counseling, therapy, medication
Positive Psychology
Psychiatry/ Psychology ‘Buddhism’
Bio-ChemistryMathematics/
Physics Philosophic
Pleasant Life Good Life Meaningful Life
ImmersionAbsorption
Flow
MeaningPurpose
Transcendence
Positive feelings & emotions
Healthy living
‘Pros’ for Science ‐> Buddhism
Therapeutic and side‐effects of meditation identified.Most effective practices determinedMyths debunked from religious BuddhismScience broadened to cover subjective topics
‘Cons’ for Science ‐> Buddhism
May not be feasibleMay not be desirable (narrowing of Buddhism)?
May promote intellectual discussion rather than a way of lifeMay not develop transpersonal aspects (beyond ego)May disregard ethical considerationsMay not develop wisdom at expense of compassion
Hard to do by oneself..
“So, in this book, the subject – neurologist – and investigator are one and the same person. It is rare today to find this kind of a clinical autobiography”
James H. Austin, Zen and The Brain
Is Psychology Scientific?
Most definitions of psychology consider it a scienceTests theories with evidenceDegree of objectivity (many studies are unbiased)Prediction, understanding, control
HoweverRelatively young scienceThere have been no scientific revolutions
Transcendental Meditation ResearchOver 600 scientific studies More than 200 independent research institutionsThe National Institutes of Health has contributed more than $21 million to verify the benefits of the TM
TM SkepticsWithin scientific literature, meditation is a poorly defined and heterogonous collection of methods.Of more than 3200 articles on meditation in peer‐reviewed literature, less than 100 (about 3%) were randomised controlled trials (RCTs)“The Transcendental Meditation program is a money‐making cult. Its claims to scientific validation are highly misleading.”
Positive Psychological EffectsReductions in:Stress Pain Anxiety Depression Mood and self‐esteem problems Insomnia
Possible Side EffectsImpaired reality testingDepersonalisation & defenselessnessRelaxation‐induced anxietyWorsen pre‐existing conditions
Or possibly just none of the positive effects intended
Past Lives & Rebirth?
Some say that rebirth takes place immediately, others that it takes 49 days. When a person dies they are reborn and that this process of death and rebirth will continue until Nirvana is attained.
Is this compatible with Darwin’s theory of evolution and the principle of "heritability”?
Mainstream Buddhism
2
Bodhisattvas?
Being who is dedicated to assisting all sentient beings in achieving complete Buddhahood, at the expense of delaying nirvana themselves.Could science determine whether a being is a genuine Bodhisattva?
Tibetan Buddhism
Kalapas?
Smaller than atomsEight basic constituents:
Solid, liquid, calorific, oscillatory, color, smell, taste, and nutriment.The first four are primary qualitiesThe other four are secondary properties that derive from the primaries.
Is this compatible with modern physics?
S.N. Goenka
Abhidharma, Goenka Vispassana
1
Siddhis?
One of the many supernatural powers possessed by siddhas as a result of their practice.Included among the siddhis are the power of flight, invisibility, the power of attraction and the power to realize one’s every desire.Is this compatible with scientific research?
Indian & Tibetan Buddhism
3
TM‐Sidhi program
The TM‐Sidhi program™ is a meditation technique that was introduced by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the mid 1970s, following the earlier introduction of the Transcendental Meditation technique.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Bhagavad Gita
3
Maharishi Effect?
According to Transcendental Meditation® organisation scientists: "collective meditation causes changes in a fundamental, unified physical field, and...those changes radiate into society and affect all aspects of society for the better" “the Maharishi effect” has been repeatedly discredited by skeptics
Transcendental Meditation
1 3
Yogic Flying?
The Transcendental Meditation® organization claims this is the first of three stages of levitation called "the perfection of leaping like a frog".Is this compatible with Newtown’s law of gravity? ☺
Transcendental Meditation
1
Leading Tibetan buddhism into a global stage and
opening up ancient practices to scientific investigation
Out with pseudoscience!“Just as I never found the Abhidharma cosmology convincing, I have never really been persuaded by the Abhidharma acount of human evolution as progressive ‘degreneration’.Kalapas: “it is evident that the early Buddhist atomic theories and their conception of the smallest indivisible particles of matter are at best crude models”.
Mind & Life InstituteThe Mind and Life dialogues between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Western scientists were brought to life through a collaboration in 1983.1st conference was 1987 & 14th conference was April 2007.Vision: To establish mutually respectful working collaboration and research partnerships between modern science and Buddhism
At the forefront of scientific research into meditation and a
key to bringing together wisdom of east and west
The Shamatha Project
Started in February 2007Multi‐million dollar, multi‐disciplinary projectMatched, randomized wait‐list control groupWill take around 2 years to analyse the terabytes of data
Science <‐> Experience
Psychological Condition
Meditative Experience
PhysiologyBrainwaves
Emotions will be assessed with self-report measures, performance on emotion-regulation tasks, and unobtrusively video-recorded facial expressions. Attitudes and social reasoning tendencies will be explored with tests of community problem solving.
Immune system Hormones
Brain activity will be examined using 96-channel surface EEG, and changes in ANS activity will be assessed.
Meditation 10 hours a day for 3 months
Meaning
Statisticians/neuroscientists psychologists
JournalsParticipants report focus on bigger life issues and greater harmonyInterviews
practitionersphysiologists
Integral Theory
1967 he enrolled as a pre‐med student and experienced a disillusionment with science.While practiced Buddhist meditation methods, Wilber does not self‐identify as a Buddhist.25 books over the past thirty years.