Meditation

This book’s six essays pertain to the “piercing of the clouds,” or the experience of heavenly mysteries, which characterizes lectio divina practiced well. Moreover, these peer-reviewed essays give special attention to the practice of lectio divina during preparation for ministry, especially the ministry of Catholic priests. That being said, any current or prospective Bible-reader may profit from this book; most of its content applies to Catholic seminarians and literate Christians alike.
    Here follow brief descriptions of each chapter. Laurence Kriegshauser, OSB, begins the book with a chapter on the Western monastic tradition of lectio divina and seminary formation, including an historical survey of lectio divina, a description of its characteristics, and reflections on its practice in seminaries. Michael Magee reflects upon the implications of exegetical method for lectio divina, with a comparison and critique of three commentaries’ treatments of John 6. Konrad Schaefer, OSB, advocates for fostering growth and formation through lectio divina, beginning his chapter with a description of its theological underpinnings and then taking up some practical considerations for students. Marcin Kowalski focuses on meditatio of lectio divina following upon exegesis-informed lectio, with an examination of Romans 7:7–25 as a test case. Daniel Keating examines oratio and contemplatio (and actio) of lectio divina, giving attention to theologians from twelfth-century Carthusian Prior Guigo II to Pope Benedict XVI. Anthony Giambrone, OP, contributes the final essay, on searching the Scriptures and the mystery of preaching. For him, exquisitio (intellectual engagement) leads to supplicatio (prayerful supplication), which culminates in praedicatio (preaching).

La méditation et ses « pouvoirs » font aujourd’hui l’objet d’un véritable phénomène de mode en Europe et aux Etats-Unis. Ce nouveau livre du Dr Jean Sixou tente de faire la part du vrai et du faux. Il présente dans un premier temps le phénomène de la méditation dans une perspective historique au travers d’évènements, de personnages et d’anecdotes qui restent encore assez peu connus aujourd’hui.
Il aborde les recherches neuroscientifiques et médicales modernes qui ont permis de démontrer l’efficacité de la méditation. Il
détaille aussi ses effets physiques, psychologiques, thérapeutiques ou dans le domaine du développement personnel. Il développe son coté obscur qui est celui de ses dérives économiques et sectaires.
Il présente et décrit les principaux exercices pratiques à la base du mindfulness qui est aujourd’hui la forme la plus pratiquée de méditation dans les pays occidentaux.
Ce livre s’adresse à tout public averti, pratiquant ou non, qui voudrait s’informer sur la réalité profonde de ces techniques multi-millénaires au delà des clichés et des idées fausses de plus en plus répandus dans notre société.

During the observation of an ambiguous figure our perception alternates between mutually exclusive interpretations, although the stimulus itself remains unchanged. The rate of these endogenous reversals has been discussed as reflecting basic aspects of endogenous brain dynamics. Recent evidence indicates that extensive meditation practice evokes long-term functional and anatomic changes in the brain, also affecting the endogenous brain dynamics. As one of several consequences the rate of perceptual reversals during ambiguous figure perception decreases. In the present study we compared EEG-correlates of endogenous reversals of ambiguous figures between meditators and non-meditating controls in order to better understand timing and brain locations of this altered endogenous brain dynamics. A well-established EEG paradigm was used to measure the neural processes underlying endogenous perceptual reversals of ambiguous figures with high temporal precision. We compared reversal-related ERPs between experienced meditators and non-meditating controls. For both groups we found highly similar chains of reversal-related ERPs, starting early in visual areas, therewith replicating previous findings from the literature. Meditators, however, showed an additional frontal ERP signature already 160 ms after stimulus onset (Frontal Negativity). We interpret the additional, meditation-specific ERP results as evidence that extensive meditation practice provides control of frontal brain areas over early sensory processing steps. This may allow meditators to overcome phylogeneti-cally evolved perceptual and attentional processing automatisms.

La letteratura buddhista del canone pali presenta un’estesa tassonomia di esercizi di meditazione. Lo scopo di questi esercizi è di raggiungere alti livelli di concentrazione e da lì forme di conoscenza intuitiva atte a dissipare l’illusione e a liberare la mente dalle contaminazioni mentali. Questo processo, descritto anche all’interno delle narrazioni tradizionali della vita del Buddha, verrà esaminato attraverso le sue principali fasi e componenti: prerequisiti, facoltà accessorie variamente interrelate, esercizi specifici per la focalizzazione dell’attenzione su un oggetto, rimedi agli impedimenti alla concentrazione, stadi profondi di assorbimento e relative acquisizioni, modelli progressivi di acquietamento della mente, contromisure all’identificazione egoica della mente con i livelli di concentrazione raggiunti, maturazione dei fattori contemplativi e cognitivi, rottura degli schemi del saṃsāra e conseguente liberazione.
Si analizzeranno alcuni testi e passi dedicati alla concentrazione meditativa, tratti dal Suttapiṭaka e da lavori esegetici, dal punto di vista delle sfumature lessicali, dei riferimenti incrociati, della coerenza dei contenuti, e dell’impatto di queste classificazioni sulla filosofia del buddhismo antico tout court, con particolare attenzione all’ontologia e all’epistemologia.

Mindfulness-Meditation is just one of todays’ many researched meditation techniques. Current clinical studies conclude that meditation is not only beneficial for health and wellbeing but also for brains of all ages. Mindfulness-Meditation has been found to reshape the brain’s gray matter and white matter thickness, concentration and density. The brain’s fibers and connectivity change through the use of meditation and may be a helpful technique to mitigate the deterioration associated with an aging brain and cognitive defects found in children who experience neglect. Mindfulness-Meditation changes brain structure and function, while changing the perception of anxiety, depression, increasing task effectiveness, attention, concentration and clinical diseases such as; PTSD, ADHD and personality disorders. Mindfulness-Meditation may prove to be a vital part of stress management, benefiting brains of any age.

“Stuart has elected not to describe the nature of Goenka’s practice and the detailed (and easily accessible) theory that underpins it. … [T]he biographer describes Goenka as ‘dedicated to serving as a powerful channel for his teacher’s [U Ba Khin’s] vijjādhātu, . . . the psychic force of the wisdom of vipaśyanā [insight meditation] made available to Goenka and his students by the grace of U Ba Khin and his enlightened nonhuman guides.’”

Abraham Abulafia (1240–1290) is considered to be one of the most significant Jewish mystics and is one of the few who taught a comprehensive system of meditative practices designed to induce ecstatic religious experiences. At the heart of Abulafia’s meditation techniques lies the coordination of breath and body while pronouncing the Hebrew letters of the Name of God. Specifically, Abulafia instructs the practitioner to empty and stop the breath, paralleling a technical breathing practice in Yogic Pranayama called “Kumbhaka”. The Islamic polymath Al-Biruni’s (973–1048) Arabic translation of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras is proposed as one possible transmission vector for this Yoga technique across radically different cultures and geographies into Abulafia’s method, which then profoundly influenced major Jewish personalities down to our day.

"The findings of a preliminary exploration on phosphenes and other subjective inner light appearances as found in three medieval Chinese sources are presented:
Text (A): Commentary on the Inner Canon of the Yellow Court, dating to the early 8th century CE: Its commentarial notes on visual phenomena, probably during a hypnagogic state, are specified and related to ancient physiological knowledge.
Text (B): Secret Advice by the Wise Lord of the Scripture on Great Peace, Tang dynasty: Describes the procedure of «enlightening by maintaining unity», a meditative technique in which coloured phosphenes are an integral part of the experience.
Text (C): Mister Chen's Instructions on the Inner Cinnabar, after 1078, Northern Song dynasty: A systematic elaboration of the hypnagogic state during a specific meditative technique. Phosphenes and hypnagogic hallucinations are taken as signs for the successful achievement of the first stage in a series of nine transformations."

Designed a poster for the twelve links (nidāna): Dependent Origination (paṭiccasamuppāda). This was a desideratum as I am running a Monday Q&A session on every nidāna. Vibhaṅga Sutta (SN 12.2) and Sammādiṭṭhi Sutta, (MN 09) are my references.

Original Post: https://patisota.blogspot.com/2021/06/twelve-links-dependent-origination.html

Rita D. Sherma (Routledge London, Copyright): This volume marks the first wide-ranging and multi-vocal academic survey of the major types and categories of Hindu contemplative praxis from a breadth of scholarly viewpoints that reflect both (a) the variegation in types of contemplative practices within the Hindu traditions and (b) the use of Hindu internal hermeneutical perspectives for expanding the concept of contemplation beyond definitions that-though incrementally enriched by content from Buddhism-are still normatively constrained by Christian understandings of the concept. Part of the reason that the field remains fairly unrepresentative of the breadth of religious lives across cultures lies in the dearth of academic works, from scholars of diverse religions, on the subject of contemplative studies. Contemplative Studies, as a discipline, 1 can be approached via several avenues: (a) a rigorous focus on religious practices of contemplation, their history, and function within the context of one or more spiritual traditions; (b) the secular and interdisciplinary field of the study and pedagogical application of contem-plative practice and experience which may include methods extracted from religions or developed in engagement with other areas of inquiry; (c) neuroscientific approaches that analyze the effects of contemplation, and (d) its study and therapeutic applications in the health sciences. Finally, there are programs, which call for a transdisciplinary research methodology, 2

This essay examines how nikāya traditions and early Mahāyānists understood the bodhisattva path. It makes the point that these traditions shared the understanding that it is only possible to enter the path in the presence of a living Buddha and that it is thus impossible for any person now living to do so. It argues that while Buddhists following nikāya traditions found a few ways to work around this problem, the authors of early Mahāyāna sūtras established a coherent bodhisattva tradition by using a bold approach to attribute bodhisattva status to their followers.

Because it is very helpful for the journal that published this paper to get "clicks", please click the following link: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/716425.

In this chapter, I focus on phenomenological reduction and reflective meditation in the Advaita Vedānta system. Many Advaita Vedānta traditions and texts guide meditation, but here I discuss only one 14th-century text, the Dṛgdṛśyaviveka: An Inquiry into the Nature of the 'Seer' and the 'Seen' (Vidyāraṇya 1931), hereafter "DDV", primarily because it gives a clear summary of the traditional approach within Advaita Vedānta and facilitates the intended dialogue. The objective is not to explore the scope of phenomenology, nor to address meditative techniques and philosophical arguments in Advaita Vedānta, but to develop a conversation between phenomenology and Advaita Vedānta. Phenomenological reduction was introduced by Husserl and later discussed by Fink, to liberate one from dogmatic convictions, to discover the essence as it is. This is a method of returning to 'the thing as such', free from conceptual parameters. For Husserl, scientific inquiry demands an investigator bracket all the imposed factors to be isolated from the pure world or 'things themselves' (1998). This process is one of going back to the world free of contamination by assumptions and methods, whether scientific or psychological. Significant to this are the moments of epoché or abstention, and of the reduction proper, a process that brings the inquiry back to consciousness. Husserl sought here to overcome the chasm between consciousness (subject) and world (object), without requiring this to be mediated by categories, as with Kantian epistemology. The process culminates in exposing the state where no distinction remains between consciousness and object, noesis and noema. This erasure of the gap led some to equate systems like Advaita and Yoga with phenomenology. Our openness to comparing the systems stems from the conviction that even when philosophies differ, their scientific methods can overlap, and sometimes, a comparative approach makes exploring the nuances easier. Though systems remain separate, dialogue among them is promising for future philosophy. Just as there are objections to phenomenological methods being unable to serve as a bridge and remaining Cartesian, similar objections can be made to Advaita taking arguments too far, to solipsism and subjective illusionism. The scope of this paper, again, is to explore the philosophy of meditation as championed by Husserl and Śaṅkara (8th-century ce India), relying on a secondary text, DDV, to synthesize the system of Śaṅkara, who may be considered the Classical Indian period equivalent of Greek

The primary concern of Mind Cure is the broad, diffuse Mindfulness movement that includes Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) developed by the microbiologist Jon Kabat-Zinn and “all the therapeutic derivatives of MBSR, collectively called MBIs [Mindfulness-Based Interventions]” (p. 8). In this timely study Wakoh Shannon Hickey aims to challenge many contemporary psychologists, physicians, and scientists’ presentation of the Mindfulness movement as secular. Drawing on her specialization in American religion, she associates the movement with the American Mind Cure or mind-body healing tradition “to tell a story that begins two centuries earlier, about people who set the stage on which Kabat-Zinn became a star” (p. 3).

This article is an overview of a study conducted at the Nova University Biofeedback Lab, resulting not only in a new approach to stress reduction, but also an innovative method to "exercise" our right brain hemispheres promoting its rightful and equal dominance with the left. Doing so results in an increase in creativity, mindfulness, and a higher degree of empathy towards others and the earth. In short, increased right-brain holistic thinking would improve our world-view to be more inclusive of both our bio-sphere and our human-sphere, and reconnect us with our essential creative and loving spiritual selves.

Uma pergunta fundamental que grande parte dos estudantes deve se fazer é: qual o ingrediente fundamental para o sucesso acadêmico ou profissional? Um estudo realizado na Nova Zelândia acompanhou detalhadamente um grupo de 1000 crianças desde o nascimento até a idade de 32 anos,
buscando uma resposta para ao questionamento anterior. O texto abaixo é uma tradução livre do trecho do artigo que menciona algumas conclusões dos autores: A capacidade de autoconsciência prevê não apenas notas melhores, como também um bom ajuste emocional, melhores habilidades interpessoais, sensação de segurança e adaptabilidade.
Então, a próxima pergunta que deveria ser feita é: como desenvolver a autoconsciência? Durante milênios, têm sido desenvolvidas técnicas relacionadas originalmente com o Yoga e posteriormente com o Budismo para desenvolver a mente. De modo geral estas técnicas tem sido chamadas no ocidente de meditação e tem sido popularizadas na mídia como atenção plena (mindfulness). Originalmente desenvolvido com objetivos de libertação espiritual, atualmente o Yoga tem sido aplicado a diversas áreas da vida humana, dentre elas: saúde física, saúde mental e aumento do desempenho pessoal. Ao contrário do que a mídia apresenta, o Yoga não se restringe a alongamentos e
contorcionismos. Pelo contrário, o principal conjunto de técnicas empregados pelo Yoga, conhecidos como
Raja Yoga, são estritamente mentais e visam, dentre outras coisas, desenvolver ao máximo a capacidade de concentração e foco do praticante. Vários pesquisadores na área de educação tem desenvolvido trabalhos aplicando técnicas de meditação e verificando o impacto que a prática de tais técnicas causa na vida das pessoas. Alguns estudos também demonstram que algumas técnicas de meditação
podem auxiliar o desenvolvimento da empatia nos professores. Professores com maiores habilidades de
empatia interagem melhor com seus alunos e podem auxiliá-los com mais qualidade.

Biofeedback refers to providing any information on the state of human body back to the subject. The information feedback is realized naturally by self-recognition, by another person or instrument. The mediated feedback is necessary in cases when the parameters are hard to detect or undetectable by the subject. Research and clinical results show clearly the ability of human body to be trained to change typically will-independent parameters by will, such as cardiovascular activity, brain activity and others. Hence biofeedback is also a psycho-physiologic practice in body self-control based on the body-state knowledge. By such technique, it possible to learn to do the same brain action as if during Zen and Yoga meditation. To do so, operant conditioning is used to obtain the demanded results, for example deep vigilant relaxation manifested on occipital EEG by ALPHA amplitude rise. Such results are obtained very quickly related to typical Zen practice. Moreover, a trained person is able to set himself to deep vigilant relaxation by his will or automatically. Biofeedback in many forms is a part of today’s standard therapy practice.
Key words: biofeedback, operant conditioning, classical conditioning, EEG, meditation, Zen, Yoga, psychophysiology, biofeedback therapy

Biofeedback je obecně jakékoli zpětnovazebné zprostředkování nějaké informace o stavu těla sebepozorováním, pozorujícím člověkem (terapeutem), či přístrojem. Zprostředkování je nutné v případě, kdy člověk projevy svého těla vnímá nedokonale, nebo je nevnímá vůbec. Výzkumy prokázaly, že lze své tělo pomocí zpětné vazby úspěšně trénovat tak, aby člověk svou vůlí mohl měnit své tělesné funkce obvykle vůlí nekontrolované, jako jsou tepová frekvence, aktivita mozku, tonus svalstva, zpomalení látkové výměny a jiné. Biofeedback je tedy také psychofyziologická nácviková technika ovládání vlastního těla díky zvnějšku zprostředkovaným informacím o jeho aktuálním stavu. Prokázána je také schopnost naučit se navodit stejné mozkové pochody, jako při zenových a jógových cvičeních, nebo autogenním tréninku. Při takovém nácviku se používá operantního podmiňování tak, aby bylo dosaženo požadovaných výsledků, například hluboké bdělé relaxace manifestované zvýšením amplitudy ALFA rytmu na EEG. Po nácviku, neúměrně kratším, než doba zenové praxe se stejnými výsledky, si již dotyčný dovede stav hluboké relaxace navodit svou vůlí či automaticky. Biofeedback je dnes součástí řady standardních terapeutických technik.
Klíčová slova: EEG biofeedback, neurofeedback, operantní podmiňování, klasické podmiňování, EEG, meditace, Zen, Jóga, psychofyziologie, biofeedback terapie

The cognitive mental functions give humans a particular advantage in terms of creative solution development. Humans are constantly engaging in a process of internal dialogue across a variety of subject areas. Mental distress may be at least partly remedied by verbalizing, understanding, and perhaps modifying the internal dialogue. In persons suffering from chronic dependency as well as anxiety and depression the described technique may be useful.

Over the last few years, several studies investigated possible effects of mindfulness meditation on the perception of time. However, these effects have been investigated only by means of prospective duration judgments in the millisecond-to-second range before and after meditation. There are no studies probing for time perception of the meditation session itself. Thus, we investigated the effects of yogic mindfulness meditation (Shavasana) on retrospective judgments of elapsed duration and the subjective experience of the passage of time during a meditation session. In comparison to a control condition, in which the same subjects listened to relaxing music, retrospective duration judgments were shorter but more accurate in the meditation condition. The subjective passage of time was significantly faster in the yogic meditation session and positively correlated with the level of experienced relaxation. Generally, the yogic meditation led to higher levels of experienced relaxation. These results are discussed with regard to an embodied theory of time perception focusing on bodily awareness and with regard to the contextual change model.

This study aimed to extend our theoretical understanding of how mindfulness-based interventions exert their positive influence on measures of occupational health. Employing a randomized waitlist control study design, we sought to (a) assess an Internet-based instructor-led mindfulness intervention for its effect on key factors associated with "recovery from work," specifically, work-related rumination, fatigue, and sleep quality; (b) assess different facets of mindfulness (acting with awareness, describing, nonjudging, and nonreacting) as mechanisms of change; and (c) assess whether the effect of the intervention was maintained over time by following up our participants after 3 and 6 months. Participants who completed the mindfulness intervention (n = 60) reported significantly lower levels of work-related rumination and fatigue, and significantly higher levels of sleep quality, when compared with waitlist control participants (n = 58). Effects of the intervention were mai...

The proposal to understand an external application of mindfulness to refer to being objective rather than subjective is not well supported by the relevant sources and fails to be directly applicable to actual meditation practice. The most commonly accepted understanding in Buddhist sources and contemporary research, which considers external mindfulness to refer to being aware of other persons, remains the most meaningful and applicable explanation. Adopting this understanding can open the door to new avenues in mindfulness research, proceeding from the widely recognized internal dimensions of mindfulness, concerned with what happens within a practitioner, to giving more explicit room to the potential of the same mental quality in understanding and relating to others.

Stress is a common condition, a response to a physical threat, psychological distress and mental tension that generates a host of chemical and hormonal reactions in body. In essence, the body prepares to fight or flee, pumping more blood to the heart and muscles and shutting down all nonessential functions. When the stress reaction is prolonged, however, the normal physical functions either been exaggerated/shut down. Yoga, physical postures and breathing exercises improve muscle strength, flexibility, blood circulation and oxygen uptake as well as hormonal function. Yoga, it is much more effective in treating and preventing stress, improving quality of life in physical, emotional, intellectual, social and spiritual aspects.

Allopathic medicine not necessarily cure all the patients of all the diseases. The left out patients or let out diseases may have some underlying problem which was not caught by these allopathic medicines. So to bridge this gap, there is a need to know and explore the hidden underlying problem and hidden potential to solve it on scientific basis. Proper mind management can lead to endorphins release which intern strengthen immune system.  Nowadays there is an urgent need to encourage researches in this area on mind management and yoga practice as it will be not be just a need but a necessity for everyone to save one self and this world. So yoga and meditation should be included in day to day life style to deal with complexity of modern days. And it is also necessity to include this spiritual science with modern medicine to compliment modern medicine. So everyone should practice yoga not only for the sake of self development and self spiritual enrichment but also for world harmony and preservation of society.

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