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Quantum Mind Meditation and Brain Science Quantum Mind Meditation and Brain Science PAUL DENNISON Published under the auspices of Rama IX Temple, Bangkok, July 2013, to mark the 2600-year anniversary of the Buddha’s enlightenment Quantum Mind Meditation and Brain Science Quantum Mind: Meditation and Brain Science © Paul Dennison Published 2013 under the auspices of Wat Phra Rama 9 Paendin Dhamma Foundation 999/9 Soi 19 Rama IX Road, Bang Kabi, Huai Khwang, Bangkok Thailand 10320 Tel: 0-2719-7676 Fax: 0-2719-7675 E-mail: [email protected] Printed and bound in Thailand by Sangsilp Press Ltd Part. 116/38-47 Rangnam Road, Thanon Phaya Thai, Ratchathewi, Bangkok Thailand 10400 Tel: 0-2642-4633-4 Fax:: 0-2245-9785 E-mail: [email protected] The front cover illustration is a combined view of the Antennae Galaxies, taken in 2011 by the ALMA Radio Telescope Array and the Hubble Space Telescope. Superposed is an EEG recording of the brain wave activity of a Samatha meditator recorded in 2010. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO). Visible light image: the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1137a/ (Reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution License) Contents Beginnings … Fast forward … Buddhist meditation comes West Samatha and Vipassanā meditation Jhāna An EEG study of Samatha meditation Quantum mind To be continued … Links and references Beginnings … Considering the precision and detail of Buddhist meditation traditions handed down, person to person, to this day, it is easy to not fully appreciate the very long time period involved, or the great achievement of Buddhist Sanghas worldwide in preserving the teachings. It is over two-and-a-half millennia ago that a remarkable man set out on a search to understand the origin and causes of suffering, and a way out of the endless cycle of repetitive suffering humanity experiences. This culminated in his enlightenment as a Buddha, the 2600th anniversary of which falls this year. While variously described as a religion, a way of life, or a philosophy – all of these in different degrees for different people – the practice of Buddhist meditation allows unique insights into the processes of the mind and consciousness. These insights to date have been described in the language of Buddhism rather than the language of modern science. They are found in precise detail in the key meditation texts such as the Visuddhimagga1, the Vimuttimagga2, and the Patisambhidamagga3, as well as the larger body of Buddhist Psychology found in the Abhidhamma. The detail and precision, as well as a highly creative use of simile as examples, rivals anything produced in modern day psychology. How differently, many have wondered, might the Buddha have formulated his experiences and teachings if he had been born 2600 years later, in our age? We might think our age is the Age of Science, but science is timeless. “Science”, as a word, is derived from the Latin “scientia” = knowledge, with links to other roots, “to separate” or to cut or distinguish. It implies “discrimination” as much as “knowledge”, and it is interesting that the important Buddhist text, the Patisambhidamagga, is normally translated as the Path of Discrimination. Science is timeless in the same way that the instinctive human urge to understand, to overcome ignorance, and the implicit suffering in ignorance, is also timeless. Fast Forward … July 2010 Below is an historic picture – the first EEG recording of the electrical brain activity of an experienced Samatha meditator demonstrating the deliberate arousing of pīti, a highly energised state familiar in Samatha traditions. It shows intriguing similarity to EEG recordings of some epileptic seizures, but in this case the meditator arouses the state and then calms it down at will, and with no discomfort. I will return to this in more detail in the EEG section, where more results will be described from a pilot study of Samatha meditators started in 2010. I only make the obvious comment here that, if an experienced Samatha meditator is able to control his or her brain’s electrical activity to this degree, what lessons might be transferred to help epilepsy sufferers better manage their symptoms? In contrast to this dramatic example of willed energisation in Samatha meditation, the same pilot study also highlights the relatively easy development by Samatha meditators of slow- wave electrical brain activity more normally seen on the thresholds of sleep, or in deep sleep, as opposed to the meditational state where the meditator is actually in a highly “awake” state. In general, the study is showing the central role of attention in this form of focused meditation, and how through conscious willed acts of attention, or absence of attention, the brain’s functioning can be powerfully affected. Buddhist Meditation Comes West In the 1960s there was an explosion of interest, worldwide, in Buddhist meditation. Thailand and Sri Lanka established temples in the West; some Tibetan meditation teachers who had been forced into exile sought refuge in the West; experiments with the hallucinogenic drugs LSD and mescalin in the United States stimulated an interest in altered states of mind; C.J. Jung, the former pupil of Freud, developed an interest in Eastern symbolism and mandalas; and of course the Beatles were drawn to transcendental meditation. Cambridge, UK, and its University Buddhist Society was fortunate at that time to have input from several different meditation traditions. Thailand had recently established its first temple in the UK in East Sheen, London, and its then Abbott, Phra Maha Vichitr, started a Vipassanā meditation class in Cambridge. Around the same time, Nai Boonman, a former Buddhist monk from Thailand, came to England taking a job at the Thai Embassy in London, and was asked to teach a second meditation class in Cambridge, this time in the Samatha tradition based on Ānāpānasati. A third strand to Buddhist interest in Cambridge was a strong influence from a few highly experienced Tibetan meditation teachers: Trungpa Rinpoche and Akong Rinpoche established a Centre in Scotland now well-known as Samye Ling, while Chime Rinpoche started a Centre at Saffron Walden near Cambridge, taking a day job at the British Library, London. A few years later, Ato Rinpoche settled in Cambridge, where he remains a stable background influence to the present day. Since then, many Buddhist meditation groups have developed in the UK, carrying forward the South East Asian Vipassanā and Samatha traditions, Japanese Zen, and Tibetan meditation, in particular. Scientific studies of meditation Up until relatively recently, scientific studies have focused on the relaxing effects of meditation, reductions in anxiety levels and stress, and generally increased well-being. Many of these studies have been of Vipassanā meditators, or meditation techniques geared to develop mindfulness and open awareness. Studies of more focused forms of meditation, particularly Samatha meditation or forms of meditation that develop the Jhānas – focused states of mind sometimes referred to as trance states, or as “the absorptions” – are very few. Exceptions are an early study of Zen meditators in 1966, a number of studies of experienced Tibetan meditators since the early 2000s, a study of monks following Achaan Cha’s tradition in Italy in 2010, and the study of Samatha meditators described in this booklet. There is no doubt that Buddhist meditation is effective in reducing stress, and that it enhances well-being. In fact, since 2009, basic techniques of mindfulness derived from Buddhist meditation have been recognised as an approved treatment for recurrent depression in the British National Health Service, approved by the UK’s National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE). These techniques are usually taught in group workshops, to increase the general level of mindfulness of bodily sensations, thoughts and feelings. The rationale is that a higher level of overall mindfulness helps people become more aware of possible triggers or the beginnings of depression, and develop more resilience towards it. And it works. Samatha and Vipassanā Meditation All the central schools of Buddhism, whether found in South East Asia, Tibet, China or Japan, have core meditation practices in common. These date back to the earliest days of Buddhism, before the distinctions between “Theravāda” or “Mahāyāna” came into being. Meditation practices are typically described under the headings of Samatha meditation or Vipassanā meditation, where Samatha is usually translated as Calm or Tranquility meditation, and Vipassanā as Insight meditation. In the 1960s, confusion was sown when the Burmese Vipassanā school of Mahasi Sayadaw taught that only a limited level of concentration – access concentration, rather than fully developed jhāna – was necessary for the full development of insight and, ultimately, enlightenment. As a result, Samatha and Vipassanā for a while came to be mistakenly regarded as separate traditions. In fact they are closely interrelated and interdependent. In the core meditation practice of Ānāpānasati, mindfulness of breathing, found in all the main Buddhist traditions, Samatha is developed progressively in stages well beyond access concentration, to the four rūpa (form) jhānas, and to the four arūpa (formless) jhānas, while Insight develops in a completely natural way alongside. In the West, generally, Samatha meditation is only relatively recently becoming better understood. Even in some Buddhist countries, a degree of wariness is often apparent around the “magical” side of Buddhist practice associated with the Jhānas, which can lead to these practices being played down, or even restricted in being taught. In Thailand, for example, the national promotion of the Burmese Vipassanā school from the 1960s onwards, led to the dissolution of many previously Samatha- oriented meditation centres. However, Samatha meditation of course has survived, as it has since the time of the Buddha, as the central heart of Buddhist meditation. The main form of Samatha meditation taught by the Buddha was Ānāpānasati, or mindfulness of breathing.
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