Fit Mind: 4 Steps to Lasting Bliss—Neuroscience and Meditation for Daily Life

Research - Endnotes

1 4,000 words per minute of self-chatter: Rodney J. Korba, “The Rate of Inner Speech,” Perceptual and Motor Skills71, no. 3 (1990): 1043–1052, https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1990.71.3.1043.

2 20% of our metabolic energy: Donald D. Clarke and Louis Sokoloff, “Circulation and Energy Metabolism of the Brain,” in Basic Neurochemistry: Molecular, Cellular and Medical Aspects, 6th ed., ed. George J. Siegel et al. (Philadelphia: Lippincott-Raven, 1999), 637–669.

3 According to research at Harvard: Matthew A. Killingsworth and Daniel T. Gilbert, “A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind,” Science 330, no. 6006 (2010): 932, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1192439.

4 These adepts have shown: Daniel Goleman and Richard J. Davidson, Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body (New York: Avery, 2017), 230.

5 Forbes list mogul: Some details in this book, including jobs, names, and locations, have been changed for privacy.

6 Meditation is an umbrella term: Karin Matko and Peter Sedlmeier, “What Is Meditation? Proposing an Empirically Derived Classification System,” Frontiers in Psychology 10 (2019): article 2276, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02276.

7 Enhanced attention and self-control: Rita Sleimen-Malkoun, Louise Devillers-Réolon, and Jean-Jacques Temprado, “A Single Session of Mindfulness Meditation May Acutely Enhance Cognitive Performance Regardless of Meditation Experience,” PLOS ONE 18, no. 3 (2023): e0282188, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0282188.

8 More efficient brain function: Benjamin Schöne, Thomas Gruber, Sebastian Graetz, Martin Bernhof, and Peter Malinowski, “Mindful Breath Awareness Meditation Facilitates Efficiency Gains in Brain Networks: A Steady-State Visually Evoked Potentials Study,” Scientific Reports 8 (2018): article 13687, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-32046-5.

8 More efficient brain function: Amishi P. Jha, Elizabeth A. Stanley, Anastasia Kiyonaga, Ling Wong, and Lois Gelfand, “Examining the Protective Effects of Mindfulness Training on Working Memory Capacity and Affective Experience,” Emotion 10, no. 1 (2010): 54–64, https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018438.

9 Better creative problem-solving: Xiaoqian Ding, Yi-Yuan Tang, Chen Cao, Yu-Qin Deng, Yuan Wang, Xiangjuan Xin, and Michael I. Posner, “Short-Term Meditation Modulates Brain Activity of Insight Evoked with Solution Cue,” Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 10, no. 1 (2015): 43–49, https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsu032.

10 Improved working memory: Julia C. Basso, Alexandra McHale, Victoria Ende, Douglas J. Oberlin, and Wendy A. Suzuki, “Brief, Daily Meditation Enhances Attention, Memory, Mood, and Emotional Regulation in Non-Experienced Meditators,” Behavioural Brain Research 356 (2019): 208–220, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2018.08.023.

10 Improved working memory: Fadel Zeidan, Susan K. Johnson, Bruce J. Diamond, Zhanna David, and Paula Goolkasian, “Mindfulness Meditation Improves Cognition: Evidence of Brief Mental Training,” Consciousness and Cognition 19, no. 2 (2010): 597–605, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2010.03.014.

11 all desires are fulfilled: The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, in The Upanishads, trans. Eknath Easwaran, 2nd ed. (Tomales, CA: Nilgiri Press, 2007), 40.

12 Though it may sound too good to be true: A researcher friend at Harvard calls this “very positive psychology.”

13 Here are the four key steps: Bhante Vimalaramsi taught six Rs: Recognize, Release, Relax, Re-Smile, Return, Repeat. I have combined Release-Relax and Return-Repeat into a single step each. Relish is a substitute for Re-Smile.

14 they make meditation fun: Mark Edsel Johnson, Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation: Samatha-Vipassanā Meditation Based on the Sutta Piṭaka (Independently published, 2019), 90–91.

15 meditation is dose-dependent: Micah Cearns and Scott R. Clark, “The Effects of Dose, Practice Habits, and Objects of Focus on Digital Meditation Effectiveness and Adherence: Longitudinal Study of 280,000 Digital Meditation Sessions Across 103 Countries,” Journal of Medical Internet Research 25 (2023): e43358, https://doi.org/10.2196/43358.

16 It is possible to have ease: “Andrew (Drew) Litchy,” TWIM Network, accessed May 15, 2026, https://twim.network/andrew-drew-litchy/.

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Chapter 1

1 Dr. Carl Rogers once described: Carl R. Rogers, On Becoming a Person: A Therapist’s View of Psychotherapy(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1961), 87–88.

2 A person in this advanced state: Daniel Goleman, The Meditative Mind: The Varieties of Meditative Experience (New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1988), 81. The state is called turiyatita: stabilized samadhi in the Tantric yoga tradition.

3 forking the next bite of experience: Credit to Bhikkhu Anālayo for inspiring this idea in a lecture. I recall him saying, “reach out for the next moment, to take the next spoon of experience before we have really swallowed the present one.”

4 Patanjali compiled a systematic manual: Patañjali, The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, trans. Edwin F. Bryant (New York: North Point Press, 2009). Scholars generally date the text somewhere between 200 BCE and 400 CE.

5 Neuroscientists at Princeton theorize: Ian C. Fiebelkorn and Sabine Kastner, “A Rhythmic Theory of Attention,” Trends in Cognitive Sciences 23, no. 2 (2019): 87–101, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2018.11.009.

6 Since the brain takes 0.2 seconds: Tamas Madl, Bernard J. Baars, and Stan Franklin, “The Timing of the Cognitive Cycle,” PLOS ONE 6, no. 4 (2011): e14803, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0014803.

7 The original goal of Yoga: Patañjali, The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, 1.2, trans. Edwin F. Bryant (New York: North Point Press, 2009). Sanskrit: yogaś citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ.

8 a more detailed play-by-play: Electroencephalography (EEG) is still a valuable tool, with higher temporal resolution than fMRI. Both indirectly measure neural activity.

9 a unifying theory for brain function: Philip R. Corlett, Aprajita Mohanty, and Angus W. MacDonald III, “What We Think About When We Think About Predictive Processing,” Journal of Abnormal Psychology 129, no. 6 (2020): 529–533, https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000632. Here, I am also referring to the related free energy principle (FEP) and active inference. This book will consider all of these part of PP, for simplicity’s sake. “While PP primarily deals with perception, the FEP extends to both perception and action under the concept of active inference. This suggests that organisms not only update their internal models to better match sensory inputs (perception) but also act on the environment to make sensory inputs better match predictions (action)”: Karl Friston, “The Free-Energy Principle: A Unified Brain Theory?,” Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11, no. 2 (2010): 127–138, https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2787.

10 With roots back to 4th century: Philip R. Corlett, Aprajita Mohanty, and Angus W. MacDonald III, “What We Think About When We Think About Predictive Processing,” Journal of Abnormal Psychology 129, no. 6 (2020): 529–533, https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000632.

11 PP is supported by a growing: Kevin S. Walsh, David P. McGovern, Andy Clark, and Redmond G. O’Connell, “Evaluating the Neurophysiological Evidence for Predictive Processing as a Model of Perception,” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1464, no. 1 (2020): 242–268, https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.14321.

12 Influenced many fields including: Léo Pio-Lopez, Franz Kuchling, Angela Tung, Giovanni Pezzulo, and Michael Levin, “Active Inference, Morphogenesis, and Computational Psychiatry,” Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience 16 (2022): article 988977, https://doi.org/10.3389/fncom.2022.988977.

13 Critics of PP argue that: Kevin S. Walsh, David P. McGovern, Andy Clark, and Redmond G. O’Connell, “Evaluating the Neurophysiological Evidence for Predictive Processing as a Model of Perception,” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1464, no. 1 (2020): 242–268, https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.14321.

14 About 0.0035% of the entire: National Nuclear Security Administration, “Visible Light: Reading the Rainbow for NNSA’s Missions,” U.S. Department of Energy, June 16, 2025, https://www.energy.gov/nnsa/articles/visible-light-reading-rainbow-nnsas-missions.

15 Lisa Feldman Barrett: Lisa Feldman Barrett, “7 (and a Half) Myths About Your Brain,” BBC Science Focus Magazine, May 28, 2021, https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/7-and-a-half-myths-about-your-brain.

16 This model interprets sensory inputs: While minimizing unexpected events and efficiently processing information. To be clear, the brain doesn’t work like a computer, though this analogy can be useful.

17 Babies form at least a million: Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, “Changes That Occur to the Aging Brain: What Happens When We Get Older,” June 10, 2021, https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/news/changes-occur-aging-brain-what-happens-when-we-get-older.

18 The cerebral cortex hits peak: Junichi Sakai, “Core Concept: How Synaptic Pruning Shapes Neural Wiring During Development and, Possibly, in Disease,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117, no. 28 (2020): 16096–16099, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2010281117.

18 The cerebral cortex hits peak: Adam Rowden, “Synaptic Pruning: Definition, Process, and Potential Uses,” medically reviewed by Susan W. Lee, Medical News Today, July 26, 2023, https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/synaptic-pruning.

19 One diabolical study: Timothy D. Wilson, David A. Reinhard, Erin C. Westgate, Daniel T. Gilbert, Nicole Ellerbeck, Cheryl Hahn, Casey L. Brown, and Adi Shaked, “Just Think: The Challenges of the Disengaged Mind,” Science 345, no. 6192 (2014): 75–77, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1250830.

20 others may encounter difficulties: As I understand it, meditation retreats that use deep concentration techniques can potentially incur mental harm. The meditation method I’ll describe later is a relatively safe entry point for retreat practice, but practitioners should proceed with caution if choosing to embark on a silent retreat or similar intensive practice period.

21 Those with past trauma: Jared R. Lindahl, Nathan E. Fisher, David J. Cooper, Rochelle K. Rosen, and Willoughby B. Britton, “The Varieties of Contemplative Experience: A Mixed-Methods Study of Meditation-Related Challenges in Western Buddhists,” PLOS ONE 12, no. 5 (2017): e0176239, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0176239.

22 life a bumpy ride: Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening (Boulder, CO: Sounds True, 2013), 289.

23 Our spider-loving ancestors: Unfortunately, the model’s pre-downloaded software doesn’t protect us from texting while driving.

24 internal model updates with new sensory inputs: Lisa Feldman Barrett and W. Kyle Simmons, “Interoceptive Predictions in the Brain,” Nature Reviews Neuroscience 16, no. 7 (2015): 419–429, https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3950. Lisa Feldman Barrett, Karen S. Quigley, and Paul Hamilton, “An Active Inference Theory of Allostasis and Interoception in Depression,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 371, no. 1708 (2016): article 20160011, https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2016.0011.

25 Prediction error: There are also positive prediction errors, like a surprisingly tasty frozen dinner.

26 prediction inside the model: Early Buddhist texts have a melodious word for this: papañca. It’s when we go from “Let me think about that…” to being cast as the unwitting character in a mindless daydream.

27 five common large errors: Though translated as “hindrances,” the literal meaning of the Pali word nīvaraṇa is closer to “veil.” They shroud our mind’s blissful radiance. Typical translations of these five are sensual desire, ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, and doubt. As we’ll see later, whenever meta-awareness is offline, one of them has taken hold of our minds. For an online debate about how to translate nīvaraṇa, see “Are We Invoking the Right Metaphor for Hindrances?,” SuttaCentral Discourse, accessed May 15, 2026, https://discourse.suttacentral.net/t/are-we-invoking-the-right-metaphor-for-hindrances/3120.

28 natural GPS signals: Credit to Doug Kraft for this analogy of hindrances as faulty “GPS signals.” I recommend his book Befriending the Mind.

29 there was a debate: Story embellished from OH on Nonduality.com and Joseph Goldstein’s One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism.

30 It went something like this: Joseph Goldstein, One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism (New York: HarperOne, 2002).

31 controlled hallucination: “Anil Seth: Reality Is a Controlled Hallucination,” CCCB Lab, November 22, 2022, https://lab.cccb.org/en/anil-seth-reality-is-a-controlled-hallucination/.

32 the orange is like the phone icon: Donald D. Hoffman, The Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes (New York: W. W. Norton, 2019), 69.

33 While there’s a connection between: This aligns with theories about the brain’s evolution, with higher-order predictive models generally built upon more basic ones. Charlotte Caucheteux, Alexandre Gramfort, and Jean-Rémi King write that “the long-range predictions of frontoparietal cortices are more contextualized and of higher level than the short-term predictions of low-level brain regions.” Charlotte Caucheteux, Alexandre Gramfort, and Jean-Rémi King, “Evidence of a Predictive Coding Hierarchy in the Human Brain Listening to Speech,” Nature Human Behaviour 7 (2023): 430–441, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01516-2.

34 Abstract processing is distributed throughout: This diagram illustrates hierarchical processing but isn’t designed to be anatomically accurate. There are six layers housed in the cerebral cortex. To oversimplify, neurons deeper in the cortex typically send predictions to the outer neurons, which send back sensory inputs and prediction errors.

35 sensory inputs: The brain categorizes sensory inputs, labeling them with positive or negative sensations, which also depend on the concept we attach to them. So sensory inputs, positive or negative sensations, and concepts are interdependent.

36 perceive a pen: Look around you for a moment. Can you detect how the brain isn’t just seeing objects, but rather interactions? For example, we might see a door handle and already process it as a tool for opening, modeling out how we’d grab it with a hand. This can help you Recognize PP in action.

37 One weakness: For an in-depth early Buddhist perspective, see Bhikkhu Ñāṇananda, Concept and Reality in Early Buddhist Thought: An Essay on Papañca and Papañca-Saññā-Saṅkhā (Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society, 1971).

38 As the great Yoga master Patanjali stated: Patañjali, The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, 1.9, trans. Edwin F. Bryant (New York: North Point Press, 2009).

39 my experience not yet solidified: John C. Lilly, Center of the Cyclone: An Autobiography of Inner Space (New York: Julian Press, 1972), 127.

40 In the beginner’s mind: Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice, ed. Trudy Dixon (New York: Weatherhill, 1970), 21.

41 another rainy day: Helen Schucman, A Course in Miracles: Combined Volume, 3rd ed. (Mill Valley, CA: Foundation for Inner Peace, 2007), Workbook for Students, lesson 243, 415.

42 virtual town square: I believe I may have heard this analogy on Sam Harris’s Making Sense podcast some years ago.

43 Pretend you’re on an alien planet: Inspired by Helen Schucman, A Course in Miracles: Combined Volume, 3rd ed. (Mill Valley, CA: Foundation for Inner Peace, 2007), Workbook for Students, 3–4.

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Chapter 2

1 deeply embedded traits: Daniel Goleman and Richard J. Davidson, Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body (New York: Avery, 2017), 6.

2 It goads us into behaviors that: Mark Miller, Julian Kiverstein, and Erik Rietveld, “The Predictive Dynamics of Happiness and Well-Being,” Emotion Review 14, no. 1 (2022): 15–30, https://doi.org/10.1177/17540739211063851.

3 sensations act as a kind of “bodily barometer”: Mark Miller, Julian Kiverstein, and Erik Rietveld, “Embodying Addiction: A Predictive Processing Account,” Brain and Cognition 138 (2020): article 105495, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2019.105495.

4 Therefore, sensations act as: Hannah Biddell, Mark Solms, Heleen Slagter, and Ruben Laukkonen, “Arousal Coherence, Uncertainty, and Well-Being: An Active Inference Account,” Neuroscience of Consciousness 2024, no. 1 (2024): niae011, https://doi.org/10.1093/nc/niae011.

5 human brain’s evolution couldn’t keep up with technology: On the flip side, we receive negative sensations from a critical comment on social media, which registers as a danger of tribal expulsion.

6 If the post receives more clout: Mark Miller, Julian Kiverstein, and Erik Rietveld, “The Predictive Dynamics of Happiness and Well-Being,” Emotion Review 14, no. 1 (2022): 15–30, https://doi.org/10.1177/17540739211063851.

7 Here’s the trap: Mark Miller, Julian Kiverstein, and Erik Rietveld, “The Predictive Dynamics of Happiness and Well-Being,” Emotion Review 14, no. 1 (2022): 15–30, https://doi.org/10.1177/17540739211063851. The neo-Christian text A Course in Miracles puts it bluntly: “It is impossible to seek for pleasure through the body and not find pain.” Helen Schucman, A Course in Miracles: Combined Volume, 3rd ed. (Mill Valley, CA: Foundation for Inner Peace, 2007), Workbook for Students, lesson 243, 415.

8 Perennial joy: Katha Upanishad 1.2.2, in The Upanishads, trans. Eknath Easwaran, 2nd ed. (Tomales, CA: Nilgiri Press, 2007).

9 Dr. Jud’s team found: Judson A. Brewer et al., “Mindfulness Training for Smoking Cessation: Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial,” Drug and Alcohol Dependence 119, nos. 1–2 (2011): 72–80, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2011.05.027.

10 maladaptive eating behaviors: Véronique A. Taylor, Isabelle Moseley, Shufang Sun, Ryan Smith, Alexandra Roy, Vera U. Ludwig, and Judson A. Brewer, “Awareness Drives Changes in Reward Value Which Predict Eating Behavior Change: Probing Reinforcement Learning Using Experience Sampling from Mobile Mindfulness Training for Maladaptive Eating,” Journal of Behavioral Addictions 10, no. 3 (2021): 482–497, https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.2021.00020.

11 the brain will stop craving: H. Ni, H. Wang, X. Ma, S. Li, C. Liu, X. Song, et al., “Efficacy and Neural Mechanisms of Mindfulness Meditation Among Adults With Internet Gaming Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial,” JAMA Network Open 7, no. 6 (2024): e2416684, https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.16684.

12 lucid dreaming: Benjamin Baird, Anna Castelnovo, Olivia Gosseries, and Giulio Tononi, “Frequent Lucid Dreaming Associated with Increased Functional Connectivity Between Frontopolar Cortex and Temporoparietal Association Areas,” Scientific Reports 8 (2018): article 17798, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-36190-w.

13 waking brain updates the internal model: That’s because the brain remodels itself during sleep, too. This could explain why increased dream time may have catapulted the evolution of the human brain around two million years ago. J. Allan Hobson, “REM Sleep and Dreaming: Towards a Theory of Protoconsciousness,” Nature Reviews Neuroscience 10, no. 11 (2009): 803–813, https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2716. A similar process is proposed to occur for fetuses, which spend most of their time dreaming. In theory, the baby is “downloading” genetic models of what to expect when it emerges from the womb. For an overview of predictive processing, see “Predictive Processing,” ScienceDirect Topics, accessed May 16, 2026, https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/predictive-processing.

14 We have free rein: Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad and Gauḍapāda’s Kārikā, in The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad with Gauḍapāda’s Kārikā and Śaṅkara’s Commentary, trans. Swami Nikhilananda (Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama, 1949). The text compares waking and dream states; the later explanatory comments about predictive processing and dreams are the author’s interpretation.

15 paralyzed during dreams: Patricia L. Brooks and John H. Peever, “Identification of the Transmitter and Receptor Mechanisms Responsible for REM Sleep Paralysis,” Journal of Neuroscience 32, no. 29 (2012): 9785–9795, https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0482-12.2012. The phrase “quietly and safely insane” is attributed to William Dement in Newsweek in 1959.

16 an exception: our eyes: Benjamin Baird, Sergio A. Mota-Rolim, and Martin Dresler, “The Cognitive Neuroscience of Lucid Dreaming,” Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 100 (2019): 305–323, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.03.008.

17 a lucid dreamer successfully signaled: Stephen LaBerge, Lynn E. Nagel, William C. Dement, and Vincent P. Zarcone Jr., “Lucid Dreaming Verified by Volitional Communication During REM Sleep,” Perceptual and Motor Skills 52, no. 3 (1981): 727–732, https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1981.52.3.727. Later replicated at Stanford University by Dr. Stephen LaBerge in 1978.

18 This was the question repeatedly: Matthew A. Killingsworth and Daniel T. Gilbert, “A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind,” Science 330, no. 6006 (2010): 932, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1192439.

19 key to reducing mind-wandering: John D. Dunne, Evan Thompson, and Jonathan W. Schooler, “Mindful Meta-Awareness: Sustained and Non-Propositional,” Current Opinion in Psychology 28 (2019): 307–311, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.07.003.

20 computational case study: Lars Sandved-Smith, Casper Hesp, Jérémie Mattout, Karl Friston, Antoine Lutz, and Maxwell J. D. Ramstead, “Towards a Computational Phenomenology of Mental Action: Modelling Meta-Awareness and Attentional Control with Deep Parametric Active Inference,” Neuroscience of Consciousness 2021, no. 1 (2021): niab018, https://doi.org/10.1093/nc/niab018.

21 AI aimed at our brains: Nicholas Thompson, “When Tech Knows You Better Than You Know Yourself,” WIRED, October 4, 2018, https://www.wired.com/story/artificial-intelligence-yuval-noah-harari-tristan-harris/.

22 Research shows it increases: Emily Hargus, Catherine Crane, Thorsten Barnhofer, and J. Mark G. Williams, “Effects of Mindfulness on Meta-Awareness and Specificity of Describing Prodromal Symptoms in Suicidal Depression,” Emotion10, no. 1 (2010): 34–42, https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016825.

23 The spy of mindfulness: John D. Dunne, Evan Thompson, and Jonathan W. Schooler, “Mindful Meta-Awareness: Sustained and Non-Propositional,” Current Opinion in Psychology 28 (2019): 307–311, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.07.003.

24 Full awareness (sampajañña): John D. Dunne, Evan Thompson, and Jonathan W. Schooler, “Mindful Meta-Awareness: Sustained and Non-Propositional,” Current Opinion in Psychology 28 (2019): 307–311, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.07.003.

25 know that you’re searching: These are the instructions in the famous discourse on “The Foundations of Mindfulness” given by Gotama, the historical Buddha. Sutta 10 in The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha.

26 become curious about what your mind is up to: With this curious mindset, your mind will Recognize more often. Meta-awareness can feel subtly blissful, like you’re watching your mind from an armchair, instead of battling in life’s movie.

27 Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca: Seneca, Epistles 28.2, quoted in Ward Farnsworth, The Practicing Stoic: A Philosophical User’s Manual (Boston: David R. Godine, 2018), 97.

28 About 6,200 thoughts per day: Julie Tseng and Jordan Poppenk, “Brain Meta-State Transitions Demarcate Thoughts Across Task Contexts Exposing the Mental Noise of Trait Neuroticism,” Nature Communications 11 (2020): article 3480, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17255-9.

29 People with aphantasia run less vivid: Alexei J. Dawes, Rebecca Keogh, Thomas Andrillon, and Joel Pearson, “A Cognitive Profile of Multi-Sensory Imagery, Memory and Dreaming in Aphantasia,” Scientific Reports 10 (2020): article 10022, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-65705-7.

30 According to a recent finding in mice: “The findings suggest that the brain’s default state is negative and that neurotensin input is needed to switch it to something more positive. ‘We need something to put our brain into a state to say, “Oh, this is a rewarding environment. I should enable my system to learn about rewards,”’ Tye says. ‘If I don’t have it on, I’m going to assume [the situation] is bad.’” Ingrid Wickelgren, “Newfound Brain Switch Labels Experiences as Good or Bad,” Scientific American, August 12, 2022, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/newfound-brain-switch-labels-experiences-as-good-or-bad/.

31 The brain is negative by default and requires a cue: Neurotensin is a chemical messenger that helps signal positive or negative feelings in the brain. Hao Li et al., “Neurotensin Orchestrates Valence Assignment in the Amygdala,” Nature608 (2022): 586–592, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04964-y.

32 the model will predict comebacks: Similar to how our attention locked onto the spider’s negative error signal, only on a more abstract level. In this case, attention locks onto negative signals from painful memories or other obtrusive thoughts.

33 a wandering mind is an unhappy mind: Matthew A. Killingsworth and Daniel T. Gilbert, “A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind,” Science 330, no. 6006 (2010): 932, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1192439.

34 fMRI brain scans show: Jonathan W. Schooler et al., “Meta-Awareness, Perceptual Decoupling and the Wandering Mind,” Trends in Cognitive Sciences 15, no. 7 (2011): 319–326, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2011.05.006.

35 Researchers also found that thinking with: Matthew A. Killingsworth and Daniel T. Gilbert, “A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind,” Science 330, no. 6006 (2010): 932, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1192439.

36 Boabom instructor wrote: “Meditation,” Boston Boabom, accessed May 16, 2026, https://bostonboabom.com/meditation/.

37 The Shipibo are an Indigenous matriarchal society: Roger Walsh, The World of Shamanism: New Views of an Ancient Tradition (Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2007), 17.

38 2,000 to 3,000 different plants: Sabine Rittner, “Sound-Trance-Healing: The Sound and Pattern Medicine of the Shipibo in the Amazon Lowlands of Peru,” Music Therapy Today 8, no. 2 (2007): 196–235, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237458044_Sound_-_Trance_-_Healing_-_The_sound_and_pattern_medicine_of_the_Shipibo_in_the_Amazon_lowlands_of_Peru.

39 oldest mental fitness tools: Though they view their techniques in a spiritual context. “Mental fitness” is my own broad term that includes such practices.

40 Dr. Matt Rossano theorizes: Matt J. Rossano, “Did Meditating Make Us Human?,” Cambridge Archaeological Journal 17, no. 1 (2007): 47–58, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774307000054.

41 Marvel’s superheroes: We can live vicariously through heroes in virtual worlds fighting the “bad guys.” In such narratives, meaning is rich and obvious. Yet when we are transported back into mundane life, it can appear meaningless by contrast. In truth, the same themes play out in each of our lives. Good versus evil is an inherent narrative because it underlies all intentions. I believe that’s why we become fascinated with these stories, but few choose to embark on the real-life hero’s journey.

42 Many ancient wisdom traditions: What these movies share in common is what Joseph Campbell called the “hero’s journey.”

43 Albert Einstein cautioned: Albert Einstein, interview by George Sylvester Viereck, “What Life Means to Einstein,” The Saturday Evening Post, October 26, 1929, reprinted in George Sylvester Viereck, Glimpses of the Great (New York: Macaulay, 1930), 447.

44 Story-Making Machine: I believe I heard this concept from Dr. Yuval Noah Harari on a podcast.

45 Robert Fulghum advises: Robert Fulghum, Words I Wish I Wrote: A Collection of Writing That Inspired My Ideas(New York: HarperCollins, 1997).

46 increased activity in neural networks: Jonas T. Kaplan, Sarah I. Gimbel, and Sam Harris, “Neural Correlates of Maintaining One’s Political Beliefs in the Face of Counterevidence,” Scientific Reports 6 (2016): article 39589, https://doi.org/10.1038/srep39589.

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Chapter 3

1 Footnote: Bhante: Those interested can find a traditional description of the path in the Sāmaññaphala Sutta (DN 2), for example. The Kosambiya Sutta (MN 48) describes the six subjective qualities of the first stage of awakening.

2 facial muscles can elicit new emotions: Sven Söderkvist, Kajsa Ohlén, and Ulf Dimberg, “How the Experience of Emotion Is Modulated by Facial Feedback,” Journal of Nonverbal Behavior 42, no. 1 (2018): 129–151, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-017-0264-1.

3 meta-analysis of 138 studies: Nicholas A. Coles et al., “A Multi-Lab Test of the Facial Feedback Hypothesis by the Many Smiles Collaboration,” Nature Human Behaviour 6 (2022): 1731–1742, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01458-9.

4 Botox face lift: Nicholas A. Coles, Jeff T. Larsen, and Heather C. Lench, “A Meta-Analysis of the Facial Feedback Literature: Effects of Facial Feedback on Emotional Experience Are Small and Variable,” Psychological Bulletin 145, no. 6 (2019): 610–651, https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000194.

4 Botox face lift: Michael B. Lewis and Patrick J. Bowler, “Botulinum Toxin Cosmetic Therapy Correlates with a More Positive Mood,” Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology 8, no. 1 (2009): 24–26, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1473-2165.2009.00419.x.

4 Botox face lift: Michael B. Lewis, “The Interactions Between Botulinum-Toxin-Based Facial Treatments and Embodied Emotions,” Scientific Reports 8 (2018): article 14720, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-33119-1.

5 Footnote: Smiling was also shown to buffer stress: “Smiles Affect Response to Stress,” NIH Research Matters, National Institutes of Health, August 6, 2012, https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/smiles-affect-response-stress.

6 Footnote: And even make us more attractive: John O’Doherty, James Winston, Hugo Critchley, David Perrett, D. Michael Burt, and Raymond J. Dolan, “Beauty in a Smile: The Role of Medial Orbitofrontal Cortex in Facial Attractiveness,” Neuropsychologia 41, no. 2 (2003): 147–155, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0028-3932(02)00145-8.

7 Bhante once put it: Bhante Vimalaramsi, Moving Dhamma, vol. 1, 46.

8 I don’t care if you’re sitting: Bhante Vimalaramsi, Moving Dhamma, vol. 1, 10.

9 Don’t believe what I say: Vimalaramsi, Moving Dhamma, 98.

10 It’s great to be peaceful and calm: Vimalaramsi, Moving Dhamma, 10.

11 your firsthand experience: Here’s an experiment you can run: Where are your thoughts? [Pause to answer.] You might reply: “They’re in my head.” It’s a bit of a trick question because thoughts are subjective. They appear in your field of meta-awareness. Although they may appear to be located in that area of your experience (mind), from an objective viewpoint (brain), we can’t pinpoint a thought’s location. Just think: if the brain were located in your hand, thoughts might still feel like they were in your head because that’s where the eyes look out. Or, to go the other direction, if your thoughts are “in” the head, then so is the rest of your body, just a homunculus somewhere in the brain, including your head itself.

12 known as the Buddha: The Buddha certainly existed as a historical figure, though we probably can’t be certain what he said word for word. A coherent body of his teachings is laid out in the Pali Canon. See Bhikkhu Anālayo, Early Buddhist Oral Tradition: Textual Formation and Transmission (Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2022).

13 dependent origination (DO): Also known as “dependent arising” or “co-dependent arising.”

14 famously declared: The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Majjhima Nikāya, trans. Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi (Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2015), MN 28.38, 284.

15 causal process unfolds: Including rebirth, a key teaching of Gotama Buddha.

16 one version: The standard twelve-link version is: ignorance (avijjā) → volitional formations (saṅkhāra) → consciousness (viññāṇa) → name and form (nāma-rūpa) → six sense bases (saḷāyatana) → contact (phassa) → feeling (vedanā) → craving (taṇhā) → clinging (upādāna) → becoming (bhava) → birth (jāti) → old age and death (jarā-maraṇa).

17 one mentally proliferates: The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Majjhima Nikāya, trans. Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi (Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2015), MN 18, 203–205.

18 each mental state is shaped: The “mind” or thinking is considered a sixth sense in Buddhist psychology.

19 Footnote: we can use DO as a guide: Bhante pointed out that while the work of psychotherapy may involve changing our thoughts and beliefs, the task here was to see through them. It’s like rearranging the furniture in the room versus exiting the room to another floor entirely.

20 Why isn’t the question: Bhante Vimalaramsi, Moving Dhamma, vol. 1, 43.

21 Gotama’s framework: Please note that this is a broad comparison between ideas from very different fields, contexts, and traditions.

22 As Gotama succinctly remarked: The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Majjhima Nikāya, trans. Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi (Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2015), MN 79, 655.

23 Our eyes are intimately linked to attention: Roy Amit, Dekel Abeles, Izhar Bar-Gad, and Shlomit Yuval-Greenberg, “Temporal Dynamics of Saccades Explained by a Self-Paced Process,” Scientific Reports 7 (2017): article 886, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-00881-7.

24 soda straw: Credit to Dr. Andrew Huberman for the term “soda straw” used to describe focused attention, which I recall hearing on his podcast.

25 you can Release it at will: Bhante Vimalaramsi: “Sharpen your awareness to see when something happens and the feeling that arises because of that contact, and relax right then. If you relax that craving right then, then you don’t have clinging, you don’t have your habitual tendency.” Bhante Vimalaramsi, Moving Dhamma, vol. 1, 42.

26 soft, wide gaze during meditation: Tibetan Buddhist training also incorporates “sky gazing” (namkha arté) to develop a more spacious awareness.

27 Footnote: Yoda’s character is possibly: Sam Littlefair, “Was Yoda Based on This Buddhist Master?,” Lion’s Roar, May 4, 2015, https://www.lionsroar.com/was-yoda-based-on-this-buddhist-master/.

28 Footnote: Since the brain anticipates: Sarah-J. Blakemore, Daniel M. Wolpert, and Chris D. Frith, “Central Cancellation of Self-Produced Tickle Sensation,” Nature Neuroscience 1 (1998): 635–640, https://doi.org/10.1038/2870.

29 Reactions confirm the model’s predictions: We act both to confirm our internal model’s predictions and to gain new sensory inputs, testing our predictions. The inputs from that reaction refine our internal model.

30 0.35 seconds before: Benjamin Libet, Curtis A. Gleason, Elwood W. Wright, and Dennis K. Pearl, “Time of Conscious Intention to Act in Relation to Onset of Cerebral Activity (Readiness-Potential),” in Neurophysiology of Consciousness: Selected Papers and New Essays, ed. Benjamin Libet (Boston: Birkhäuser, 1993), 249–268.

31 machines could predict: Chun Siong Soon, Marcel Brass, Hans-Jochen Heinze, and John-Dylan Haynes, “Unconscious Determinants of Free Decisions in the Human Brain,” Nature Neuroscience 11, no. 5 (2008): 543–545, https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2112.

32 200 milliseconds before: Matthias Schultze-Kraft, Daniel Birman, Marco Rusconi, Carsten Allefeld, Göran Görgen, Sven Dähne, Benjamin Blankertz, and John-Dylan Haynes, “The Point of No Return in Vetoing Self-Initiated Movements,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113, no. 4 (2016): 1080–1085, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1513569112.

33 free won’t: I learned the term “free won’t” from meditation teacher Doug Kraft.

34 cells that fire out of sync, lose their link: This phrase is a popular simplification of Donald Hebb’s theory of synaptic plasticity.

35 decrease emotional reactivity: Tammi R. A. Kral, Brendan S. Schuyler, Jeanette A. Mumford, Melissa A. Rosenkranz, Antoine Lutz, and Richard J. Davidson, “Impact of Short- and Long-Term Mindfulness Meditation Training on Amygdala Reactivity to Emotional Stimuli,” NeuroImage 181 (2018): 301–313, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.07.013.

36 doesn’t necessarily decrease impulsivity: Cole Korponay, Daniela Dentico, Tammi R. A. Kral, Martina Ly, Ayla Kruis, Kaley Davis, Robin Goldman, Antoine Lutz, and Richard J. Davidson, “The Effect of Mindfulness Meditation on Impulsivity and Its Neurobiological Correlates in Healthy Adults,” Scientific Reports 9 (2019): article 11963, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-47662-y.

37 compared meditation to lifting weights: Bhante Vimalaramsi: “You had an active meditation, that means you had to roll your sleeves up and you had to do some real work. But it was good meditation, just like lifting weights. You do that, you repeat it over and over again, eventually you start getting pretty strong.” Bhante Vimalaramsi, Moving Dhamma, vol. 1, 30.

38 a very high degree of mental fitness: Traditionally, the qualities of a stream enterer include: 1) unshakable faith in the Buddha, 2) unshakable faith in the Dhamma, 3) unshakable faith in the Sangha, and 4) noble virtue.

39 original Pali texts: Bhikkhu Sujato and Bhikkhu Brahmali, The Authenticity of the Early Buddhist Texts (Oxford: Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, 2015), https://ocbs.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/authenticity.pdf.

40 first century BCE: Bhikkhu Anālayo, Early Buddhist Oral Tradition: Textual Formation and Transmission(Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2022).

41 something new in the instructions: 13:10–14:30, FitMind interview with Bhante Vimalaramsi.

42 Mental and physical tension: As we Release tense states and traits, our muscles become more relaxed, and vice versa.

43 In PP terms: “The craving you experience is, we suggest, your body telling you that there is relevant source of error that you were expecting to soon reduce. This situation is felt in the body of the agent as an unpleasant feeling of error on the rise, or tension.” Mark Miller, Julian Kiverstein, and Erik Rietveld, “Embodying Addiction: A Predictive Processing Account,” Brain and Cognition 138 (2020): article 105495, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2019.105495.

44 Brain cells called “alpha motor neurons”: Rick A. Adams, Stewart Shipp, and Karl J. Friston, “Predictions Not Commands: Active Inference in the Motor System,” Brain Structure and Function 218, no. 3 (2013): 611–643, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-012-0475-5. See this article for more details.

45 muscles tense up: “We are proposing to think of these negative feelings as informing the agent that some relevant source of error was expected to have been reduced by now but is not. The unexpected rise in error at the train’s tardiness is felt in the body as an unpleasant tension. That tension may provoke the agent to check the transit authority for delays or find an alternative (more reliable) means of transport such as a taxi in order to reduce the felt tension, to catch back up to their previous slope of error reduction.” Mark Miller, Julian Kiverstein, and Erik Rietveld, “The Predictive Dynamics of Happiness and Well-Being,” Emotion Review 14, no. 1 (2022): 15–30, https://doi.org/10.1177/17540739211063851.

46 tension often shows up: Mark Miller, Julian Kiverstein, and Erik Rietveld, “The Predictive Dynamics of Happiness and Well-Being,” Emotion Review 14, no. 1 (2022): 15–30, https://doi.org/10.1177/17540739211063851.

47 reduce depressive symptoms: Tigran Makunts, Marc Axel Wollmer, and Ruben Abagyan, “Postmarketing Safety Surveillance Data Reveals Antidepressant Effects of Botulinum Toxin Across Various Indications and Injection Sites,” Scientific Reports 10 (2020): article 12851, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-69773-7.

48 sat for seven hours: Bhante encouraged us to sit in chairs rather than on the floor, since he deemed comfort and stillness for lengthy meditations more important than ideal posture.

49 Yixue was buzzing: Yixue Zhao, “How I Sit for 8 Hours in Meditation,” Medium, February 28, 2021, https://yixue-zhao.medium.com/how-i-sit-for-8-hours-in-meditation-3906645aa80c.

50 Yixue wrote: Personal correspondence.

51 preliminary research on Bhante’s method: Andrew Litchy, Heather Wild, Steven Chamberlin, and Agatha Colbert, “Potential Behavioral and Physiological Outcome Measures for Assessing the Effects of Samatha-Vipassanā Meditation,” 2010, unpublished manuscript. The reviewers did not recommend publishing this study due to a marker indicating increased emotional sensitivity. They did not want to publish a perceived negative result about mindfulness.

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Chapter 4

1 study on over 2,300 participants: Raymond Wu, Amanda M. Ferguson, and Michael Inzlicht, “Do Humans Prefer Cognitive Effort Over Doing Nothing?,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 152, no. 4 (2023): 1069–1079, https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001320.

2 Footnote: In PP terms, instant gratification: “Local success in error reduction is not sufficient for overall well-being. To see why not consider how a teenager might achieve this kind of improvement in their skills by spending their days playing computer games. The computer game could provide them with just enough of a challenge to ensure that they are continually making progress in reducing prediction errors.” Mark Miller, Julian Kiverstein, and Erik Rietveld, “The Predictive Dynamics of Happiness and Well-Being,” Emotion Review 14, no. 1 (2022): 15–30, https://doi.org/10.1177/17540739211063851.

3 Roughly 20 to 50 percent: This depends on the condition and treatment. For antidepressant drugs, it’s about 20–50 percent. Antonio J. Pardo-Cabello et al., “Placebo: A Brief Updated Review,” Medicina Clínica 159, no. 5 (2022): 236–240, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.medcli.2022.01.023. Brett D. M. Jones et al., “Magnitude of the Placebo Response Across Treatment Modalities Used for Treatment-Resistant Depression in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis,” JAMA Network Open 4, no. 9 (2021): e2125531, https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.25531. On the other hand, a 2010 Cochrane review concludes, “We did not find that placebo interventions have important clinical effects in general.” Asbjørn Hróbjartsson and Peter C. Gøtzsche, “Placebo Interventions for All Clinical Conditions,” Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, no. 1 (2010): CD003974, https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD003974.pub3.

4 over 50 percent of the pain relief: Lauren Y. Atlas, Jepma Marieke, and Tor D. Wager, “The Neural Bases of Placebo Effects in Pain,” Science Translational Medicine 6, no. 250 (2014): 250ra111, https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.3006175.

5 we discount placebos: The gold standard in scientific research is “double-blind” studies that conceal the placebo doses from both researchers and patients. Even if the researchers know which drug is real, it can impact the results if they unwittingly tip off the patients through subconscious cues.

6 told them it was a placebo: Claudia Carvalho, Joaquim Machado Caetano, Lídia Cunha, Paula Rebouta, Ted J. Kaptchuk, and Irving Kirsch, “Open-Label Placebo Treatment in Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial,” Pain 157, no. 12 (2016): 2766–2772, https://doi.org/10.1097/j.pain.0000000000000700. Patti Neighmond, “Is It Still a Placebo When It Works, and You Know It’s a Placebo?,” NPR, October 27, 2016, https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/10/27/499475288/is-it-still-a-placebo-when-it-works-and-you-know-its-a-placebo.

7 honest placebo: So-called “open-label placebos” tend to be effective for self-reported outcomes, but not objective outcomes. Lukas Spille, Johannes C. Fendel, Patrik D. Seuling, Anja S. Göritz, and Stefan Schmidt, “Open-Label Placebos: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Experimental Studies with Non-clinical Samples,” Scientific Reports 13 (2023): article 3640, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-30362-z. Christian Büchel, Falk Eippert, Christian Finsterbusch, Katharina Bingel, Markus Rose, and Ulrike Bingel, “Placebo Analgesia: A Predictive Coding Perspective,” Neuron 81, no. 6 (2014): 1223–1239, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2014.02.042. See these articles for more details.

8 PP can explain the placebo effect: Karin Meissner, “Symptom Perception, Placebo Effects, and the Bayesian Brain,” Pain 160, no. 1 (2019): 1–4, https://doi.org/10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001407.

9 Bhante once observed: Bhante Vimalaramsi, Moving Dhamma, vol. 1, 70.

10 Marcus Aurelius quipped: Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 12.13, trans. Gregory Hays (New York: Modern Library, 2002).

11 Heraclitus wrote: Heraclitus, fragment B18, in The Art and Thought of Heraclitus: An Edition of the Fragments with Translation and Commentary, trans. Charles H. Kahn (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), 105.

12 Everyone is trying to avoid discomfort: Everything anyone has ever done, no matter how twisted or confused, is an attempt to be happy. Recognizing this can naturally lead to compassion for all.

13 shoulding all over yourself: Albert Ellis Institute, “Milestone Misery? Stop Shoulding on Yourself,” October 24, 2013, https://albertellis.org/2013/10/milestone-misery-stop-shoulding/.

14 Stoic philosopher Epictetus: Epictetus, The Handbook, sec. 8, in The Handbook (The Encheiridion), trans. Nicholas P. White (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1983), 13.

15 journaled little notes: A collection later compiled into the book Meditations.

16 pain is not due to the thing itself: Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8.47, trans. Gregory Hays (New York: Modern Library, 2002), 98.

17 relaxation device called a “biocircuit”: While biocircuits may not work for the reasons claimed, a small double-blind study did find significant improvements in biomarkers of relaxation compared to a “dummy” biocircuit. John Isaacs, “A Double Blind Study of the ‘Biocircuit,’ a Putative Subtle-Energy Relaxation Device,” Subtle Energies 2, no. 2 (1991): 1–25, https://journals.sfu.ca/seemj/index.php/seemj/article/view/116.

18 proven link between meta-awareness: Adam W. Hanley, Rod C. Martin, Stephen Aichele, Crystal L. Anderson, Jon-Kar Zubieta, and Eric L. Garland, “Self-Interest May Not Be Entirely in the Interest of the Self: Association Between Selflessness, Dispositional Mindfulness and Psychological Well-Being,” Personality and Individual Differences 117 (2017): 166–171, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.05.045.

19 identify with the body: These are the five aggregates (khandha), typically translated as form (rūpa), feeling (vedanā), perception (saññā), volitional formations (saṅkhāra), and consciousness (viññāṇa).

20 minimal self: Alexander A. Fingelkurts, Andrew A. Fingelkurts, and Carlos F. H. Neves, “Selfhood Triumvirate: From Phenomenology to Brain Activity and Back Again,” NeuroImage 219 (2020): article 116923, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116923.

21 internal model includes: Sebastian Kahl and Stefan Kopp, “A Predictive Processing Model of Perception and Action for Self-Other Distinction,” Frontiers in Psychology 9 (2018): article 2421, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02421. See this article for more details.

22 narrative self enables it: George Deane, Mark Miller, and Sam Wilkinson, “Losing Ourselves: Active Inference, Depersonalization, and Meditation,” Frontiers in Psychology 11 (2020): article 539726, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.539726.

23 have a sense of humor: Bhante Vimalaramsi, Moving Dhamma, vol. 2, 143.

24 Laughter relaxes our muscles, stimulates: Mayo Clinic Staff, “Stress Relief from Laughter? It’s No Joke,” Mayo Clinic, accessed May 16, 2026, https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress-relief/art-20044456.

25 the internal model is free: I have a theory that when we laugh, as when we cry, we are literally “shaking up” the models that are physically stored throughout the body.

26 meditation loosens our sense of self: Though causality remains to be proven.

27 Neuroimaging studies show: Fabio Giommi et al., “The (In)flexible Self: Psychopathology, Mindfulness, and Neuroscience,” International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology 23, no. 4 (2023): article 100381, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijchp.2023.100381.

28 Meditation appears to reduce: Ibid.

29 enhances more flexible: Fabio Giommi et al., “The (In)flexible Self: Psychopathology, Mindfulness, and Neuroscience,” International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology 23, no. 4 (2023): article 100381, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijchp.2023.100381.

30 exhibit less connectivity in brain regions: Aviva Berkovich-Ohana et al., “Alterations in Task-Induced Activity and Resting-State Fluctuations in Visual and DMN Areas Revealed in Long-Term Meditators,” NeuroImage 135 (2016): 125–134, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.04.024.

31 take our “selves” too seriously: “While there is still the experience of frustration and joy, there is no longer the sense of being an essential subject to appropriate these states as ‘me’ and ‘mine.’ This insight leads to an eventual dissolving of our misguided idea that we are a single and enduring thing, to be replaced by an acknowledgment that we are a dynamic, self-organizing process. Far from reducing control, and in direct contrast to depersonalization, this development of one’s metacognitive abilities here allows one to contextualize and control precision estimations in new and powerful ways.” George Deane, Mark Miller, and Sam Wilkinson, “Losing Ourselves: Active Inference, Depersonalization, and Meditation,” Frontiers in Psychology 11 (2020): article 539726, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.539726.

32 one of two main techniques: And occasionally mindfulness of breathing if students had trouble with metta.

33 the most powerful meditation: Bhante Vimalaramsi, Guide to Forgiveness Meditation: An Effective Method to Dissolve Blocks to Loving-Kindness and Living in the Present (Annapolis, MO: Dhamma Sukha Meditation Center, 2015), 15.

34 mental blocks that pop up: Vimalaramsi, Guide to Forgiveness Meditation, 15. Quotation edited. End of the quotation says “past life experiences.”

35 Dr. Fred Luskin explained: Fred Luskin, “The Science of Forgiveness,” FitMind Podcast, YouTube video, 7:06, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFYVnyX8wc8.

36 release yourself from a prison: Ibid., 8:07.

37 forgiveness is linked: Katelyn N. G. Long, Everett L. Worthington Jr., Tyler J. VanderWeele, and Ying Chen, “Forgiveness of Others and Subsequent Health and Well-Being in Mid-Life: A Longitudinal Study on Female Nurses,” BMC Psychology 8 (2020): article 104, https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-020-00470-w.

38 improves blood pressure: Loren Toussaint, Everett L. Worthington Jr., and David R. Williams, “Forgiveness and Physical Health: A Meta-Analytic Review,” Psychology & Health 30, no. 10 (2015): 1145–1169, https://doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2015.1052976.

39 increased cell volume: Hye Jin Kim, Jinhee Seo, Minah Bang, and Sang-Hyuk Lee, “Self-Forgiveness Is Associated with Increased Volumes of Fusiform Gyrus in Healthy Individuals,” Scientific Reports 13 (2023): article 5505, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-32731-0.

40 Indigenous Hawaiians developed ho’oponopono: Matthew B. James, “Ho‘oponopono: Assessing the Effects of a Traditional Hawaiian Forgiveness Technique on Unforgiveness” (PhD diss., Walden University, 2008), 36, https://www.proquest.com/openview/78816540bb79f1a34930681f344d4c76/1.

41 you forgive the transgressor: Matthew B. James, “Ho‘oponopono: Assessing the Effects of a Traditional Hawaiian Forgiveness Technique on Unforgiveness” (PhD diss., Walden University, 2008), https://www.proquest.com/openview/78816540bb79f1a34930681f344d4c76/1.

42 the help of forgiveness: Personal correspondence: “Between the correction in approach to meditation (stop concentrating, relax, uplift the mind) and forgiveness meditation, the dam broke.”

43 got down on his knees: Personal correspondence: “I’ve come to recognize that concentration practices tend to make people grumpy, irritable, easily triggered, not just me. I think learning to drop the concentration practice may have been a big part in resolving the miserable irritability.”

44 prediction over-generalizes: We may seem to meet the same people, date the same guys, work for the same boss, etc. They are fitting old roles cast in our models. Old models placed on top of new people don’t allow them to be new.

45 model replays the same: Recall the earlier footnote: “What is more striking, from our perspective, is that the present is, fundamentally, the remembered present: the past becomes the present, corrected by the immediate future.” Lisa Feldman Barrett, Karen S. Quigley, and Paul Hamilton, “An Active Inference Theory of Allostasis and Interoception in Depression,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 371, no. 1708 (2016): article 20160011, https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2016.0011.

46 author Annie Dillard: Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (New York: Harper’s Magazine Press, 1974), 89.

47 Positively reinterpreting negative memories: Similar to Remembrance, from the Witoto tradition, Indigenous tribes in southern Colombia and northern Peru.

48 enhances positive emotions: Megan E. Speer and Mauricio R. Delgado, “Finding Positive Meaning in Memories of Negative Events Adaptively Updates Memory,” Nature Communications 12 (2021): article 6601, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26906-4.

49 reflected in structural changes: Ibid.

50 Meditation suspends higher-order concepts: Though some meditation methods intentionally employ concepts, thoughts, and narratives for personal transformation. See Winson F. Z. Yang, Terje Sparby, Malcolm Wright, Eunmi Kim, and Matthew D. Sacchet, “Volitional Mental Absorption in Meditation: Toward a Scientific Understanding of Advanced Concentrative Absorption Meditation and the Case of Jhāna,” Heliyon 10, no. 10 (2024): e31223, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e31223.

51 marked decrease in high-level brain connectivity: Ruben E. Laukkonen, Matthew D. Sacchet, Henk Barendregt, Kathryn J. Devaney, Avijit Chowdhury, and Heleen A. Slagter, “Cessations of Consciousness in Meditation: Advancing a Scientific Understanding of Nirodha Samāpatti,” Progress in Brain Research 280 (2023): 61–87, https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.pbr.2022.12.007.

52 temporary meditative states: Ruben E. Laukkonen and Heleen A. Slagter, “From Many to (N)One: Meditation and the Plasticity of the Predictive Mind,” Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 128 (2021): 199–217, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.06.021.

53 psychedelics may relax higher-order narratives: Robin L. Carhart-Harris and Karl J. Friston, “REBUS and the Anarchic Brain: Toward a Unified Model of the Brain Action of Psychedelics,” Pharmacological Reviews 71, no. 3 (2019): 316–344, https://doi.org/10.1124/pr.118.017160.

54 Release the narratives: For a related discussion, see Scott Alexander, “Mental Mountains,” Slate Star Codex, November 26, 2019, https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/11/26/mental-mountains/.

55 Bhante practiced forgiveness: Bhante Vimalaramsi, Guide to Forgiveness Meditation: An Effective Method to Dissolve Blocks to Loving-Kindness and Living in the Present (Annapolis, MO: Dhamma Sukha Meditation Center, 2015), 29.

56 perceive the world forgiveness offers: Helen Schucman, A Course in Miracles: Combined Volume, 3rd ed. (Mill Valley, CA: Foundation for Inner Peace, 2007), Workbook for Students, 442.

57 meditation master Lester Levenson: Lester Levenson, Keys to the Ultimate Freedom: Thoughts and Talks on Personal Transformation, 5th ed. (Phoenix: Sedona Institute, 1993).

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Chapter 5

1 over 100,000 times stronger: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/advanced-meditation-alters-consciousness-and-our-basic-sense-of-self/

2 scientists raised flags: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29016274/

3 entering now a third wave: The original quote says “phase” instead of “wave,” but the word change was suggested in personal communication with Dr. Sacchet. https://meditation.mgh.harvard.edu/files/Sacchet_24_WorldPsychiatry.pdf

4 One topic of research: Technically there are no hindrances during jhana and the presence of the “jhana factors.” Sacchet and Sparby 2024 propose an inclusive definition of jhana based on a survey of the academic literature: “The jhānas are sequentially ordered states of (a) intentional, effortlessly stable concentration and aware absorption in which (b) negative mind states are reduced or completely absent, while (c) factors including bliss, peace, and formless aspects are developed and refined, and (d) the mind is inclined towards mental rejuvenation, psychological and philosophical insight, and meditative endpoints.” https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12671-024-02367-w#Tab2

5 Dr. Sacchet’s more robust study: For a review see: https://www.cell.com/heliyon/fulltext/S2405-8440(24)07254-2

6 27 data-collection periods: https://academic.oup.com/cercor/article-abstract/34/1/bhad408/7369445?redirectedFrom=fulltext

7 brain activity and first-person reports: “New Research Reveals an Advanced Form of Meditation Impacts the Brain and is Linked to Aspects of Well-Being”https://www.massgeneral.org/news/press-release/mri-shows-advanced-meditation-impacts-the-brain and https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/advanced-meditation-alters-consciousness-and-our-basic-sense-of-self/

8 last for a period of time: Moving Dhamma Volume 2, p. 147

9 Jhana is a controversial term: Though Sacchet and Sparby have made clear distinctions from an academic standpoint. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12671-024-02367-w

10 take weeks or even months: Some practitioners report harmful side-effects from single-pointed concentration. Bhante cautioned against this type of absorption jhana. It may temporarily suppress unfit states (hindrances).

11 “the gradual conquest”: Yoga Sutras 3.11

12 attention stabilizes on a single object: I am not an expert on this tradition.

13 Similar states are mentioned: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12671-024-02367-w

14 "it is called an ecstasy": Goleman, Meditative Mind, p. 58; quoting Butler, 1966: p. 50

15 individual personality dissolves: Easwaran, Upanishads, p. 40

16 already tasted jhana: See also: What You Might Not Know About Jhāna & Samādhi by Bhikkhu Kumāra

17 “if for just the time of a finger snap”: “Bhikkhus, if for just the time of a finger snap a bhikkhu generates desire for the abandoning of arisen bad unwholesome qualities; makes an effort, arouses energy, applies his mind, and strives, he is called a bhikkhu who is not devoid of jhāna, who acts upon the teaching of the Teacher, who responds to his advice, and who does not eat the country’s almsfood in vain. How much more, then, those who cultivate it!” The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha, 2012, Wisdom Publications, translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi, p. 125

18 similar HRV peak: Andrew Litchy, BA, Shalini Mukherjee, PhD, Agatha Colbert, MD. “Exploration of Heart Rath Variability Changes Associated with Samatha Vipassana Loving Kindness Meditation.” [unpublished]

19 Recognize and Release: For Bhante’s instructions on mindfulness of breathing meditation, please see: https://www.dhammasukha.org/beginner-breathing-meditation. However, he recommended metta as an object of meditation for nearly all students.

20 "as gaunt as the crazy rafters": Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, Wisdom Publications, Bodhi and Ñānamoli, Sutta 36, p. 339

21 another path to enlightenment: Ibid., 340.

22 sensual pleasures and unwholesome states: The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Majjhima Nikāya, trans. Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi (Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2015), MN 36, 340.

23 primes a fit state of mind: Megan E. Speer and Mauricio R. Delgado, “Reminiscing About Positive Memories Buffers Acute Stress Responses,” Nature Human Behaviour 1 (2017): article 0093, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-017-0093.

24 brain seems to say: Dr. Dennison posits no prediction errors in jhāna. Paul Dennison, Jhāna Consciousness: Buddhist Meditation in the Age of Neuroscience (Cambridge: Shambhala, 2022), 223.

25 Indeed, a neuroimaging analysis of jhāna: Dennison, Jhāna Consciousness, 46. See also Winson F. Z. Yang, Terje Sparby, Malcolm Wright, Eunmi Kim, and Matthew D. Sacchet, “Volitional Mental Absorption in Meditation: Toward a Scientific Understanding of Advanced Concentrative Absorption Meditation and the Case of Jhāna,” Heliyon 10, no. 10 (2024): e31223, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e31223.

26 a level of understanding: Bhante Vimalaramsi, Moving Dhamma, vol. 2, 148.

27 prediction-making process: B. Alan Wallace, “A Science of Consciousness: Buddhism (1), the Modern West (0),” in The View from Within: First-Person Approaches to the Study of Consciousness, ed. Francisco J. Varela and Jonathan Shear (Thorverton, UK: Imprint Academic, 1999), 176.

28 thoughts appear as dreams: “This may be particularly relevant to psychology, specifically clinical psychology and psychiatry as [jhāna] may facilitate the dissolution of previously held beliefs and mental models.” Yang et al., “Volitional Mental Absorption in Meditation,” e31223.

29 aspects of experience aren’t permanent: In the Buddhist tradition, these are known as the “three marks” of all phenomena: impermanence (anicca), suffering (dukkha), and non-self (anattā).

30 ever-changing states of mind: Arnaud Poublan-Couzardot, “Neurocomputational Mechanisms of Meditative Practice: Investigating an Intensive Mindfulness Meditation Retreat Within a Predictive Processing Bayesian Framework” (PhD diss., Université de Lyon, 2022), https://theses.hal.science/tel-04213136. See this article for more details.

31 Traditional “jhāna factors”: The jhāna factors for the first jhāna are typically translated as “applied thought, sustained thought, rapture, happiness, and one-pointedness.” Bhante preferred “collectedness” instead of “one-pointedness.”

32 Not wanting something: Seneca, Epistles 119.1–2, quoted in Ward Farnsworth, The Practicing Stoic: A Philosophical User’s Manual (Boston: David R. Godine, 2018), 171.

33 Thus, jhāna co-opts the brain’s: Judson A. Brewer, “Why Is It So Hard to Pay Attention, or Is It? Mindfulness, the Factors of Awakening and Reward-Based Learning,” Mindfulness 4, no. 1 (2013): 75–80, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-012-0164-8.

34 novel method of self-stimulating: Michael R. Hagerty, John Isaacs, Leigh Brasington, Leigh Shupe, Eberhard E. Fetz, and Steven C. Cramer, “Case Study of Ecstatic Meditation: fMRI and EEG Evidence of Self-Stimulating a Reward System,” Neural Plasticity 2013 (2013): article 653572, https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/653572. Note: Bhante’s jhāna doesn’t involve such “tight” focusing of attention, but there is probably a similar positive feedback loop occurring.

35 even more to Relish: As mental athletes, we retrain our minds to Recognize that unfit states are painful. And their Release is juicy. It’s a new kind of reward-based learning: unfit states = tension; fit states = bliss. In the first step, we Recognized the relentless but futile pursuit of positive and negative signals. Meta-awareness informs the brain, “This isn’t fun. I never win the game of sensory whack-a-mole.” The game is its own punishment. And our reward comes from the bliss of Releasing, as if stepping back from the game.

36 Footnote: Hagerty et al., “Case Study of Ecstatic Meditation,” article 653572.

37 observing your own mind: “Without the thought, ‘I am in the theater,’ non-propositional meta-awareness presents off-object aspects of the experience, such as one’s affective reactions and seated position, and it thus continuously frames the experience as occurring in a theater.” John D. Dunne, Evan Thompson, and Jonathan W. Schooler, “Mindful Meta-Awareness: Sustained and Non-Propositional,” Current Opinion in Psychology 28 (2019): 307–311, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.07.003.

38 shifting from unfit to fit states: See Sayadaw U Tejaniya, Awareness Alone Is Not Enough (Yangon: Shwe Oo Min Dhamma Sukha Yeiktha, 2008).

39 fit state freely allows: Avoid focusing on only internal or external sensory inputs or controlling your experience in any way.

40 By tuning into these qualities: For more tips, see Doug Kraft’s wonderful book Meditator’s Field Guide.

41 Fit states feel connected: “Positive states are natural, simple, easy, obvious, and continuous.” Oscar Ichazo, quoted in John C. Lilly, Center of the Cyclone: An Autobiography of Inner Space (New York: Julian Press, 1972), 235.

42 a wider range of possible thoughts: Barbara L. Fredrickson and Christine Branigan, “Positive Emotions Broaden the Scope of Attention and Thought-Action Repertoires,” Cognition and Emotion 19, no. 3 (2005): 313–332, https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930441000238.

43 Unfit states have the opposite: Ibid.

44 You can be in jhāna at any time: Bhante Vimalaramsi, Moving Dhamma, vol. 1, 106.

45 Meta-awareness goes offline because: Martin Ulrich, Johannes Keller, Klaus Hoenig, Christiane Waller, and Georg Grön, “Neural Correlates of Experimentally Induced Flow Experiences,” NeuroImage 86 (2014): 194–202, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.08.019.

46 meta-awareness was shown to disrupt flow: Kennon M. Sheldon, Mike Prentice, and Marc Halusic, “The Experiential Incompatibility of Mindfulness and Flow Absorption,” Social Psychological and Personality Science 6, no. 3 (2015): 276–283, https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550614555028.

47 An ideal in the Sufi tradition: Daniel Goleman, The Meditative Mind: The Varieties of Meditative Experience (New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1988), 65.

48 Flow states engage the brain’s noradrenergic system: Dimitri van der Linden, Mattie Tops, and Arnold B. Bakker, “The Neuroscience of the Flow State: Involvement of the Locus Coeruleus Norepinephrine System,” Frontiers in Psychology 12 (2021): article 645498, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.645498.

49 jhāna markedly increased parasympathetic: Paul Dennison, Jhāna Consciousness: Buddhist Meditation in the Age of Neuroscience (Cambridge: Shambhala, 2022), 84.

50 Nirvana “the highest bliss”: Dhammapada 203.

51 Footnote: Eminent scholar-monk Bhikkhu describes nirvana: Bhikkhu Anālayo, The Signless and the Deathless: On the Realization of Nirvana (Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2023), 1.

52 an all-the-time practice: Bhante Vimalaramsi, Moving Dhamma, vol. 1, 46.

53 advanced meditators usually don’t want attention: Daniel Goleman and Richard J. Davidson, Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body (New York: Avery, 2017), 211.

54 encouraged to participate: Goleman and Davidson, Altered Traits, 210.

55 unifying theory of advanced meditation: Ruben E. Laukkonen and Heleen A. Slagter, “From Many to (N)One: Meditation and the Plasticity of the Predictive Mind,” Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 128 (2021): 199–217, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.06.021.

56 become less self-related: Ibid.

57 One seminal study supporting such: Elena Antonova, Paul Chadwick, and Veena Kumari, “More Meditation, Less Habituation? The Effect of Mindfulness Practice on the Acoustic Startle Reflex,” PLOS ONE 10, no. 5 (2015): e0123512, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0123512.

58 rest the awareness occurring now: John D. Dunne, “Buddhist Styles of Mindfulness: A Heuristic Approach,” in Handbook of Mindfulness and Self-Regulation, ed. Brian D. Ostafin, Michael D. Robinson, and Brian P. Meier (New York: Springer, 2015), 251–270.

59 Footnote: Though a small study, the results: Akira Kasamatsu and Tomio Hirai, “An Electroencephalographic Study on the Zen Meditation (Zazen),” Folia Psychiatrica et Neurologica Japonica 20, no. 4 (1966): 315–336, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1819.1966.tb02646.x. As counterevidence, another study failed to replicate these earlier findings: Donald E. Becker and David Shapiro Jr., “Physiological Responses to Clicks During Zen, Yoga, and TM Meditation,” Psychophysiology 18, no. 6 (1981): 694–699, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8986.1981.tb01846.x.

60 13,000 participants: Zahra Fountas, Yunus Ayaz, Nicolas Roseboom, Martin G. B. Drew, Anil K. Seth, and Warrick Roseboom, “A Predictive Processing Model of Episodic Memory and Time Perception,” Neural Computation 34, no. 7 (2022): 1501–1544, https://doi.org/10.1162/neco_a_01514..

61 Footnote: However our memory of time: A study on mindfulness meditation found that time seemed to subjectively pass quicker during meditation. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6799951/) However, the participants judged the duration of time afterwards. So time may seem to pass slower while meditating, while looking back the session it seems to have passed quicker, possibly because less high-level event information was stored during that period.

62 Fit states extend your: I believe I heard meditation teacher Shinzen Young mention something similar a while ago about focused attention increasing your perceived lifespan.

63 deep meditative states like jhana: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053810017303069

64 "reduced duration of the neural response": https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2518618/

65 Relish a quiet mind: “Put simply, the state of meditation decreases counterfactual processing (as we propose), but the enduring result or trait of meditation may permit a more flexible and rich counterfactual processing in daily life.” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014976342100261X

66 Zen master Hui Hai instructs: Hui Hai, The Zen Teaching of Instantaneous Awakening, trans. John Blofeld (London: Buddhist Society, 1962), 93.

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Chapter 6

1 Ishan taught him how to meditate: Moments like these explain why Los Angeles Lakers basketball star Ron Artest officially changed his name to “Metta World Peace” back in 2011. After a career marked by controversy and violence, Artest was determined to embody mettā in his life.

2 systematic review on mettā training: However, the individual studies were generally weak and some effect sizes were small. They included compassion training. Nicole Perkins, Taranjit Sehmbi, and Patrick Smith, “Effects of Kindness- and Compassion-Based Meditation on Wellbeing, Prosociality, and Cognitive Functioning in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review,” Mindfulness 13 (2022): 2103–2127, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-022-01925-4. For counterevidence, see Marco Schlosser, Natalie Jones, Demian Whittington, Lorenzo Vergani, and Peter Sedlmeier, “Unpleasant Meditation-Related Experiences in Regular Meditators: Prevalence, Predictors, and Conceptual Considerations,” Scientific Reports 9 (2019): article 9132, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-45426-4.

3 activates a unique neural signature: Mario Beauregard, Jérôme Courtemanche, Vincent Paquette, and Évelyne Landry St-Pierre, “The Neural Basis of Unconditional Love,” Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging 172, no. 2 (2009): 93–98, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pscychresns.2008.11.003.

4 mettā engages a distinct network: Ibid.

5 21 beginners practicing: Andrew Litchy, Shalini Mukherjee, and Agatha Colbert, “Exploration of Heart Rate Variability Changes Associated with Samatha Vipassanā Loving Kindness Meditation,” unpublished manuscript. They were attempting to replicate the findings of an earlier study that reported a resonance peak in deep meditation: S. Phongsuphap, Y. Pongsupap, P. Chandanamattha, and C. Lursinsap, “Changes in Heart Rate Variability During Concentration Meditation,” International Journal of Cardiology 130, no. 3 (2008): 481–484, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcard.2007.06.103.

6 catapult us all the way up: The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Saṃyutta Nikāya, trans. Bhikkhu Bodhi (Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2000), SN 46.54, 1609.

7 quickest way into jhāna: Gotama taught that having a mind full of mettā “for just the time of a finger snap” means we’re not devoid of jhāna. All unfit states are gone in that moment, and there’s stable meta-awareness. The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Aṅguttara Nikāya, trans. Bhikkhu Bodhi (Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2012), AN 1.55, 98.

8 whittling away the most harmful traits: As the 27th Tibetan mind training, or lojong, slogan instructs: “Work with the greatest defilements first.” Chögyam Trungpa, Training the Mind and Cultivating Loving-Kindness (Boston: Shambhala, 1993).

9 A study at Yale found that: Yoona Kang, Jeremy R. Gray, and John F. Dovidio, “The Nondiscriminating Heart: Lovingkindness Meditation Training Decreases Implicit Intergroup Bias,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General143, no. 3 (2014): 1306–1313, https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034150.

10 Based on dozens of studies: Yuan Zheng et al., “Effects of Loving-Kindness and Compassion Meditation on Anxiety: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis,” Mindfulness 14 (2023): 1021–1037, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-023-02121-8. Xianglong Zeng et al., “The Effects of Loving-Kindness and Compassion Meditation on Life Satisfaction: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis,” Current Psychology 42 (2023): 26723–26735, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03866-6.

11 seven minutes of mettā: Cendri A. Hutcherson, Emma M. Seppala, and James J. Gross, “Loving-Kindness Meditation Increases Social Connectedness,” Emotion 8, no. 5 (2008): 720–724, https://doi.org/10.1037/a0013237.

12 zero-sum rat race: “There are well-established correlations between increased well-being over a lifetime and a focus on nonzero-sum goals and activities such as altruism, the development of virtue, social activism, or a commitment to family and friends… A zero-sum approach to life tends to reduce or restrict one of our richest sources for reducing meaningful prediction errors: other people. In contrast, nonzero-sum activities encourage cooperation and collaboration, and therefore are conducive to metastable attunement.” Mark Miller, Julian Kiverstein, and Erik Rietveld, “The Predictive Dynamics of Happiness and Well-Being,” Emotion Review 14, no. 1 (2022): 15–30, https://doi.org/10.1177/17540739211063851.

13 acting selfishly makes no sense: Viewed one way, everyone is part of our internal model, mirrors of our own mind-made perceptions.

14 His team found that self-related brain: K. A. Garrison, D. Scheinost, R. T. Constable, and J. A. Brewer, “BOLD Signal and Functional Connectivity Associated with Loving Kindness Meditation,” Brain and Behavior 4, no. 3 (2014): 337–347, https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.219.

15 neuromodulators tweak the parameters: Takuya Isomura, “Active Inference Leads to Bayesian Neurophysiology,” Neuroscience Research 175 (2022): 38–45, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neures.2021.12.003. See this article for more details.

16 predictive “playlist”: Credit to Dr. Andrew Huberman, as I recall hearing the “playlists” analogy for neuromodulators on his podcast.

17 Oxytocin is probably linked to mettā: Katja Hoehne, Pascal Vrtička, Veronika Engert, and Tania Singer, “Plasma Oxytocin Is Modulated by Mental Training, but Does Not Mediate Its Stress-Buffering Effect,” Psychoneuroendocrinology 141 (2022): article 105734, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2022.105734. Jennifer S. Mascaro, Alana Darcher, Lobsang T. Negi, and Charles L. Raison, “The Neural Mediators of Kindness-Based Meditation: A Theoretical Model,” Frontiers in Psychology 6 (2015): article 109, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00109.

18 Twelve weeks of mettā were shown: Khoa D. Le Nguyen, Jue Lin, Sara B. Algoe, Mary M. Brantley, Sumi L. Kim, Jeffrey Brantley, Sharon Salzberg, and Barbara L. Fredrickson, “Loving-Kindness Meditation Slows Biological Aging in Novices: Evidence from a 12-Week Randomized Controlled Trial,” Psychoneuroendocrinology 108 (2019): 20–27, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.05.020.

19 mettā meditation can significantly enhance: Barbara L. Fredrickson, Michael A. Cohn, Kimberly A. Coffey, Jolynn Pek, and Sandra M. Finkel, “Open Hearts Build Lives: Positive Emotions, Induced Through Loving-Kindness Meditation, Build Consequential Personal Resources,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 95, no. 5 (2008): 1045–1062, https://doi.org/10.1037/a0013262.

20 The researchers suggested that positive emotions: Ibid.

21 The same study concluded: Ibid.

22 Dipa Ma’s concentration had gone: Amy Schmidt, Dipa Ma: The Life and Legacy of a Buddhist Master (Katonah, NY: BlueBridge, 2005), 31.

23 She maintained meta-awareness all day: Schmidt, Dipa Ma, 62.

24 She emerged from the jhāna: Schmidt, Dipa Ma, 101.

25 strong attention marked with a sense of ease: Schmidt, Dipa Ma, 60.

26 a battery of psychological exams: Brown, D. P., & Engler, J. (1980). The stages of mindfulness meditation: A validation study. The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 12(2), 143. https://atpweb.org/jtparchive/trps-12-80-02-143.pdf

27 the Rorschach does offer: “The nature of perception is the explicit concern of the Rorschach test and of the texts describing religious experience. The Rorschach test explicitly deconstructs, in order to analyze, understand, and interpret the process of perception.” https://brill.com/display/book/9789004494725/B9789004494725_s004.xml

28 "self-created reality": Dr. Charles Ducey quoted on p. 187 of https://atpweb.org/jtparchive/trps-12-80-02-143.pdf (However one chooses to interpret about the subject’s beliefs/interpretations...)

29 without diverging from the sensory inputs: “Integrating all ten cards into a single associative theme is an extremely rare finding. Note that the master achieves this without any significant departure from reality testing and without ignoring the realistic features of the inkblot…”⁠ Brown, D. P., & Engler, J. (1980). The stages of mindfulness meditation: A validation study. The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 12(2), 169.

30 hero’s journey toward mental liberation: The hero’s journey is common among most wisdom traditions. See Joseph Campbell’s work.

31 using the session to instruct Engler: “The decision to use the testing situation as an occasion to teach stands in direct contrast to the guardedness and constrictedness of a paranoid record.” Brown, D. P., & Engler, J. (1980). The stages of mindfulness meditation: A validation study. The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 12(2), 186.

32 Rorschach results similar to hers: Ibid, p. 186, referring to this study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14175634/

33 reported traits of other advanced meditators: Ibid., P. 187

34 “Where’s the juice?”: Schmidt, Dipa Ma, 95.

35 Jack Kornfield reflects: https://jackkornfield.com/natural-joy/

36 It didn’t matter who came in: At the same time, Dipa Ma was regarded by her neighbors as someone you didn’t mess with. She knew how to set healthy boundaries and dissolve conflicts with metta, too. Part of the challenge is to care more for others, but care less what they think of us.

37 Meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg recalls: Schmidt, Dipa Ma, 46.

38 One student wrote: Schmidt, Dipa Ma, 99.

39 13^th-century Sufi poet Rumi: Helen Schucman, A Course in Miracles: Combined Volume, 3rd ed. (Mill Valley, CA: Foundation for Inner Peace, 2007), Text, chap. 16, sec. IV, para. 6. Often misattributed to Rumi; the passage is from A Course in Miracles.

40 Jesus’ advice in Corinthians 16:14: 1 Cor. 16:14 (NIV).

41 how we do the same: How we relate to and think about others is intertwined with how we relate to and think about ourselves.

42 Engler and his colleague conclude: Daniel P. Brown and Jack Engler, “The Stages of Mindfulness Meditation: A Validation Study,” Journal of Transpersonal Psychology 12, no. 2 (1980): 189, https://atpweb.org/jtparchive/trps-12-80-02-143.pdf.

43 As training for bringing mettā: Susaree Prakhinkit, Siriluck Suppapitiporn, Hirofumi Tanaka, and Daroonwan Suksom, “Effects of Buddhism Walking Meditation on Depression, Functional Fitness, and Endothelium-Dependent Vasodilation in Depressed Elderly,” Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 20, no. 5 (2014): 411–416, https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2013.0205. Traditional benefits include physical fitness, energy, health, digestion, and stability of mind. See AN 5.29.

44 with a mind imbued with loving-kindness: The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Aṅguttara Nikāya, trans. Bhikkhu Bodhi (Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2012), AN 3.63, 275.

45 Just seven total hours: Yoona Kang, Jeremy R. Gray, and John F. Dovidio, “The Nondiscriminating Heart: Lovingkindness Meditation Training Decreases Implicit Intergroup Bias,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General143, no. 3 (2014): 1306–1313, https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034150.

46 60 percent of chimp personality traits: “Chimpanzees Have Five Universal Personality Dimensions,” ScienceDaily, June 3, 2013, https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130603135521.htm.

47 humans are naturally altruistic: Felix Warneken and Michael Tomasello, “The Roots of Human Altruism,” British Journal of Psychology 100, no. 3 (2009): 455–471, https://doi.org/10.1348/000712608X379061. See also E. W. Clay and F. B. M. de Waal, “Development of Socio-Emotional Competence in Bonobos,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110, no. 45 (2013): 18121–18126, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1316449110.

48 In a study at the University of Zurich: Caveats: The sample consisted only of female participants, so it is unclear whether the findings can be generalized to males. Olga M. Klimecki, Susanne Leiberg, Matthieu Ricard, and Tania Singer, “Differential Pattern of Functional Brain Plasticity After Compassion and Empathy Training,” Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 9, no. 6 (2014): 873–879, https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nst060.

49 While we can’t fully know: In reference to Thomas Nagel’s famous thought experiment, which I heard about through Sam Harris.

50 a pioneering study at UW-Madison: Antoine Lutz, Lawrence L. Greischar, Nancy B. Rawlings, Matthieu Ricard, and Richard J. Davidson, “Long-Term Meditators Self-Induce High-Amplitude Gamma Synchrony During Mental Practice,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101, no. 46 (2004): 16369–16373, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0407401101.

51 If anyone had an impressive brain: “Study of Meditation and Brain Waves in Buddhist Monks Confounds Wisconsin Researchers,” BrainTap, accessed May 16, 2026, https://braintap.com/study-of-meditation-and-brain-waves-in-buddhist-monks-confounds-wisconsin-researchers/.

52 When he began meditating: Daniel Goleman and Richard J. Davidson, Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body (New York: Avery, 2017), 216–220.

53 In the PP framework: André M. Bastos, Mikael Lundqvist, Alina S. Waite, Nancy Kopell, and Earl K. Miller, “Layer and Rhythm Specificity for Predictive Routing,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117, no. 49 (2020): 31459–31469, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2014868117.

54 25 times higher-than-average gamma waves: Goleman and Davidson, Altered Traits, 233.

55 seven hours of training: Helen Y. Weng, Andrew S. Fox, Alexander J. Shackman, Diane E. Stodola, Jessica Z. K. Caldwell, Matthew C. Olson, Gregory M. Rogers, and Richard J. Davidson, “Compassion Training Alters Altruism and Neural Responses to Suffering,” Psychological Science 24, no. 7 (2013): 1171–1180, https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612469537.

56 increased altruism and altered brain connectivity: Ibid.

57 build up their compassion ‘muscle’: “Brain Can Be Trained in Compassion, Study Shows,” UW–Madison News, May 22, 2013, https://news.wisc.edu/brain-can-be-trained-in-compassion-study-shows/.

58 Mental fitness is a lifestyle: Nicole Perkins, Taranjit Sehmbi, and Patrick Smith, “Effects of Kindness- and Compassion-Based Meditation on Wellbeing, Prosociality, and Cognitive Functioning in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review,” Mindfulness 13 (2022): 2103–2127, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-022-01925-4. Also, the effects of mettā and compassion meditation depend on the quality of the training, according to this study: Xianglong Zeng, Yuan Zheng, Xiaodan Gu, Rong Wang, and Tian P. S. Oei, “Meditation Quality Matters: Effects of Loving-Kindness and Compassion Meditations on Subjective Well-Being Are Associated with Meditation Quality,” Journal of Happiness Studies 24 (2023): 211–229, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-022-00582-7.

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Chapter 7

1 Intention shapes experiences: Dhammapada 1, trans. Bhikkhu Sujato, SuttaCentral, accessed May 16, 2026, https://suttacentral.net/dhp1-20/en/sujato.

2 Meta-awareness enables us: UCLA Health, “Training the Brain to Reconsider Troubling Thoughts Can Ease Mental Health Challenges,” May 9, 2023, https://www.uclahealth.org/news/article/training-brain-reconsider-troubling-thoughts-can-ease-mental.

3 long-term mental athletes show changes: Roberto Guidotti, Cosimo Del Gratta, Mauro Gianni Perrucci, Gian Luca Romani, and Antonino Raffone, “Neuroplasticity Within and Between Functional Brain Networks in Mental Training Based on Long-Term Meditation,” Brain Sciences 11, no. 8 (2021): 1086, https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11081086.

4 monk training center on a mountain in Thailand: The location of this monastery has been changed to protect the privacy of the community.

5 out there in the sun: In this tradition, monks could wear only a lower robe within the monastery when working in the heat. We covered both shoulders with an upper robe when leaving the compound.

6 what matters is that we Remain meta-aware: Bhante’s definition of mindfulness was “remembering to observe how your attention moves from one thing [state] to another.”

7 It’s about perpetually enjoying: Credit to Bhante Ānanda for his emphasis on enjoying the practice.

8 upward spiral dynamic: Bethany E. Kok et al., “How Positive Emotions Build Physical Health: Perceived Positive Social Connections Account for the Upward Spiral Between Positive Emotions and Vagal Tone,” Psychological Science 24, no. 7 (2013): 1123–1132, https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612470827.

9 they recruited professional actors: Elise Perreau-Linck et al., “In Vivo Measurements of Brain Trapping of 11C-Labelled α-Methyl-L-Tryptophan During Acute Changes in Mood States,” Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience 32, no. 6 (2007): 430–434, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2077345/.

10 fit states may generate serotonin: “The study by Perreau-Linck and colleagues is the first to report that self-induced changes in mood can influence serotonin synthesis. This raises the possibility that the interaction between serotonin synthesis and mood may be two-way, with serotonin influencing mood and mood influencing serotonin.” Simon N. Young, “How to Increase Serotonin in the Human Brain Without Drugs,” Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience 32, no. 6 (2007): 394–399, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2077351/.

11 One of Dipa Ma’s American students: Jack Kornfield.

12 concentration, loving-kindness, and peace: Amy Schmidt, Dipa Ma: The Life and Legacy of a Buddhist Master (Katonah, NY: BlueBridge, 2005), 132–133.

13 Dzogchen master Togden Amtrin: “The Path of Joy and Ease,” Pristine Awareness: Foundation for Buddhist Practice, accessed May 16, 2026, https://www.pristine-awareness.org/path-of-joy-and-ease.php.

14 One likely embellished account: Plutarch, “The Life of Alexander,” sec. 64, in Plutarch’s Lives, vol. 7, trans. Bernadotte Perrin, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1919), https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Alexander*/9.html.

15 If he is most powerful: Plutarch, “The Life of Alexander,” sec. 64.8, in Plutarch’s Lives, vol. 7, trans. Bernadotte Perrin, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1919), https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Alexander*/9.html.

16 The king’s offer was rejected: Though another of the naked wise men, Kalanos, did accept Alexander’s offer to accompany him as a teacher. Unfortunately, he contracted an intestinal illness in Persia and elected for self-immolation, according to Plutarch’s account. Plutarch, “The Life of Alexander,” sec. 65, in Plutarch’s Lives, vol. 7, trans. Bernadotte Perrin, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1919), https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Alexander*/9.html.

17 According to one source: Vinay Lal, “Alexander and the Gymnosophists,” UCLA Social Sciences, accessed May 16, 2026, https://southasia.ucla.edu/history-politics/ancient-india/alexander-and-the-gymnosophists/.

18 perfectly tranquil mind: In the ancient Indian Brahmanical tradition, equanimity is the culmination of four sublime states, or brahmavihāras, literally “divine homes” in Sanskrit: mettā, compassion, delight, then equanimity. Delight (muditā) is often translated as “sympathetic joy.” The sublime states are discussed in the early Buddhist texts, as well. Nearly all fit, or positive, states are aspects of these four. Though the English words may sound mundane, these are increasingly sublime, regal states. They aren’t linear, but accumulative, and in some ways equanimity includes the prior three. For a neuroscience review of the brahmavihāras, see Robert J. Goodman, Ronit Shaltout, and Leah Savery, “Compassion Training from an Early Buddhist Perspective,” in The Neuroscience of Empathy, Compassion, and Self-Compassion, ed. Larry Stevens and C. Chad Woodruff (London: Academic Press, 2018), https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B978012809837000009X.

19 the greatest pleasure a human can achieve: Epicurus, “Letter to Menoeceus,” in The Epicurus Reader: Selected Writings and Testimonia, trans. and ed. Brad Inwood and L. P. Gerson (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1994), 29–30.

20 Bhante would explain that this shift: Bhante Vimalaramsi, Moving Dhamma, vol. 1, 141.

21 equanimity as a state of lucid awareness: Richard Bett, Pyrrho, His Antecedents, and His Legacy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 14–15, 60–63.

22 equanimity is self-reinforcing: As we explored, the “present moment” already happened milliseconds ago. Like a live broadcast that’s slightly delayed, we’re living a simulation of past sensory inputs. There’s no point in resisting or grasping at volatile holograms of the recent past.

23 Equanimity allows us to enjoy the wait: This is what psychologist Abraham Maslow called a “plateau experience,” an enduring sense of joy and perceived richness in ordinary circumstances, in contrast to shorter, more intense “peak experiences.”

24 In the words of Jesus: Though Jesus was referring to God’s word, not equanimity, I use the quote here metaphorically. Matt. 4:4 (NRSVUE).

25 Though less dazzling than the fireworks: Gaëlle Desbordes, Tim Gard, Elizabeth A. Hoge, Britta K. Hölzel, Catherine Kerr, Sara W. Lazar, Andrew Olendzki, and David R. Vago, “Moving Beyond Mindfulness: Defining Equanimity as an Outcome Measure in Meditation and Contemplative Research,” Mindfulness 6 (2015): 356–372, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-013-0269-8.

26 skin’s maximum threshold: See also Daniel Goleman and Richard J. Davidson, Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body (New York: Avery, 2017), 89.

27 Twenty-eight brave volunteers: Average of 27,000 hours of practice.

28 neuroscientists at UW-Madison scanned: Antoine Lutz, Julie Brefczynski-Lewis, Tom Johnstone, and Richard J. Davidson, “Regulation of the Neural Circuitry of Emotion by Compassion Meditation: Effects of Meditative Expertise,” PLOS ONE 3, no. 3 (2008): e1897, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0001897.

29 Advanced meditators demonstrated: This is a simplified version of a graph from the study.

30 Their neural responses showed: “Despite these group differences, additional voxel-wise analysis showed that experts did have anticipatory neural activity in several overlapping brain regions (data not presented here) suggesting that OP modulated as opposed to suppressed neural processes that increased prior to pain delivery.” Antoine Lutz, Melissa A. McFarlin, David M. Perlman, David R. Salomons, and Richard J. Davidson, “Altered Anterior Insula Activation During Anticipation and Experience of Painful Stimuli in Expert Meditators,” NeuroImage 64 (2013): 538–546, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.09.030.

31 they reported the same intensity of pain: Caveat: The advanced meditators may have been biased to report a higher pain tolerance because they were labeled as advanced.

32 Pain was still pain: “Recently developing bodies of clinical theory on acceptance and mindfulness suggest that a state or disposition that instead cultivates a quality of openness and experiential acceptance, that does not strive to ignore, reject or avoid pain through cognitive control should be more adaptive.” Antoine Lutz, Melissa A. McFarlin, David M. Perlman, David R. Salomons, and Richard J. Davidson, “Altered Anterior Insula Activation During Anticipation and Experience of Painful Stimuli in Expert Meditators,” NeuroImage 64 (2013): 538–546, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.09.030.

33 This uncoupling of pain: Arnaud Poublan-Couzardot, “Neurocomputational Mechanisms of Meditative Practice: Investigating an Intensive Mindfulness Meditation Retreat Within a Predictive Processing Bayesian Framework” (PhD diss., Université de Lyon, 2022), https://theses.hal.science/tel-04213136. See this article for more details.

34 Take exercise, for example: This example is inspired by a statement Sam Harris made on his podcast.

35 one arrow of pain: “Sallatha Sutta: The Arrow,” trans. Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Access to Insight, accessed May 16, 2026, https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn36/sn36.006.than.html.

36 Gotama referred to himself as a surgeon: Itivuttaka 100, trans. Bhikkhu Sujato, SuttaCentral, accessed May 16, 2026, https://suttacentral.net/iti100/en/sujato.

37 He feels one feeling: The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Saṃyutta Nikāya, trans. Bhikkhu Bodhi (Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2000), SN 36.6, 1264–1265.

38 Footnote: The early Buddhist texts recount: Thanks to Brian Toomey for his insights on this part of the book.

39 Welcome any negative sensations: In theory, meta-awareness both decouples raw pain from unfit states and also widens the model’s range of acceptable sensory inputs. With mindfulness training, “the range of expected states of the world becomes broad, which renders any sensation that deviates from the prior’s mean (expectation) less meaningful and decreases the impulse to respond to incoming sensations.” Zina-Mary Manjaly and Sandra Iglesias, “A Computational Theory of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy from the ‘Bayesian Brain’ Perspective,” Frontiers in Psychiatry 11 (2020): article 404, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00404.

40 experienced Zen practitioners demonstrated: Joshua A. Grant, Jérôme Courtemanche, and Pierre Rainville, “A Non-Elaborative Mental Stance and Decoupling of Executive and Pain-Related Cortices Predicts Low Pain Sensitivity in Zen Meditators,” Pain 152, no. 1 (2011): 150–156, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.p

41 57 percent reduction in pain: Fadel Zeidan, Katherine T. Martucci, Robert A. Kraft, Nakia S. Gordon, James G. McHaffie, and Robert C. Coghill, “Brain Mechanisms Supporting the Modulation of Pain by Mindfulness Meditation,” Journal of Neuroscience 31, no. 14 (2011): 5540–5548, https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5791-10.2011.

42 Pain is inevitable: Haruki Murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir, trans. Philip Gabriel (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008), 3. Note: Murakami presents this as a runner’s mantra he learned, but he did not coin it.

43 Welcome the pain: I got this general idea from Kate Freeman’s story about Lester Levenson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbIKmluENOM.

44 Nearly as quickly, those sound waves: Along with facial expressions and other cues, which also play a large role in communication.

45 A truly wise person uses few words: Prov. 17:27–28 (NLT).

46 Feeling the urge to interject: As Marcus Aurelius remarked, “You always own the option of having no opinion. There is never any need to get worked up or to trouble your mind about things you can't control.” Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.52, trans. Gregory Hays (New York: Modern Library, 2002).

47 A verse in the New Testament says: Matt. 15:11 (NLT).

48 Gossip and disputes incite unfit states: AN 10.69. Gotama advises suitable topics that lead to supreme mental fitness, or awakening: fewness of wishes, contentment, seclusion, non-entanglement, arousing energy, virtue, jhāna, wisdom, mental liberation, and penetrative insights.

49 unperceivable by the latest AI chatbots: If an AI were programmed to perceive sensory inputs, positive and negative sensations, and so forth, it would likely not experience these or other mental states in the same way a human does, even if it were conscious.

50 Jianzhi Sengcan, the Third Chinese Chan Patriarch, wrote: Jianzhi Sengcan, Trust in Mind: The Rebellion of Chinese Zen, trans. Mu Soeng (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2004), 74. See also https://www.age-of-the-sage.org/buddhism/third_patriarch_zen.html.

51 The unborn, the unmade, the unconditioned: Udāna 8.3, trans. Ānandajoti Bhikkhu, SuttaCentral, accessed May 16, 2026, https://suttacentral.net/ud8.3/en/anandajoti.

52 basically no traces of unfit states: Saṃyutta Nikāya 43.14–43, trans. Bhikkhu Sujato, SuttaCentral, accessed May 16, 2026, https://suttacentral.net/sn43.14-43/en/sujato. See also Udāna 8.1, trans. Ānandajoti Bhikkhu, SuttaCentral, accessed May 16, 2026, https://suttacentral.net/ud8.1/en/anandajoti; and SN 38.1A.

53 the secure, the wonderful: Saṃyutta Nikāya 43.14–43, trans. Bhikkhu Sujato, SuttaCentral, accessed May 16, 2026, https://suttacentral.net/sn43.14-43/en/sujato.

54 the greatest bliss: The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Majjhima Nikāya, trans. Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi (Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2015), MN 75, 613.

55 Nearly every wisdom tradition aims: A mental athlete’s aim isn’t to achieve fancy states, but rather to eliminate unfit states and traits. Different wisdom traditions have different stated goals, and in Buddhist meditation the aim would ultimately be nirvana and full awakening, or arahantship.

56 Several such peak states: Frontiers Psychology citation needs verification from the exact article title. Poppy L. A. Schoenberg, Andrea Ruf, John Churchill, Daniel P. Brown, and Judson A. Brewer, “Mapping Complex Mind States: EEG Neural Substrates of Meditative Unified Compassionate Awareness,” Consciousness and Cognition 57 (2018): 41–53, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2017.11.003. Ruben E. Laukkonen, Matthew D. Sacchet, Henk Barendregt, Kathryn J. Devaney, Avijit Chowdhury, and Heleen A. Slagter, “Cessations of Consciousness in Meditation: Advancing a Scientific Understanding of Nirodha Samāpatti,” Progress in Brain Research 280 (2023): 61–87, https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.pbr.2022.12.007. Eric R. Huels et al., “Neural Correlates of the Shamanic State of Consciousness,” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 15 (2021): article 610466, https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2021.610466.

57 50 percent increase in activity: Jake H. Davis and David R. Vago, “Can Enlightenment Be Traced to Specific Neural Correlates, Cognition, or Behavior? No, and (a Qualified) Yes,” Frontiers in Psychology 4 (2013): article 870, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00870.

58 wise words can orient us there: The proverbial Zen Buddhist “finger pointing at the moon.” If we’re caught up in the words, we may “mistake the finger for the moon.”

59 fittest states will leave us in silent awe: Gotama tells how this person uses words without getting snared by them: “A mendicant whose mind is freed like this doesn’t side with anyone or dispute with anyone. They use the language of the world to communicate without getting stuck on it.” Majjhima Nikāya 74, trans. Bhikkhu Sujato, SuttaCentral, accessed May 16, 2026, https://suttacentral.net/mn74/en/sujato.

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Chapter 8

1 attention-training skills from ancient systems: Dr. Engler explains why Western students were observed to make slower progress in general: “Third, in being transplanted to the West, meditation has been lifted out of its larger context of a culture permeated by Buddhist perspectives and values where it is also part of a total system of training (bhāvanā) and a way of life. When this therapeutic context is eliminated, meditation is practiced as an isolated technique with disregard for many other important behavioral, motivational, intrapsychic and interpersonal factors…” Jack Engler, “Therapeutic Aims in Psychotherapy and Meditation: Developmental Stages in the Representation of Self,” Journal of Transpersonal Psychology 16, no. 1 (1984): 35, https://www.atpweb.org/jtparchive/trps-16-84-01-025.pdf.

2 Since the model evolved in tight-knit tribes: At least, according to evolutionary biology.

3 Classical Yoga’s Five External Disciplines: The five External Disciplines of Yoga are: not harming, truthfulness, not stealing, impeccable conduct or celibacy, and simplicity/non-grasping.

4 the Buddhist Five Precepts: The Five Precepts of Buddhism are: refraining from killing creatures, stealing, sexual misconduct, false or harmful speech, and intoxicants.

5 Confucius’ Five Constant Virtues: Confucius wrote, “Rare are those who understand virtue.” Confucius, The Analects, 15.4, trans. D. C. Lau (London: Penguin Books, 1979).

6 The Naskapi Indigenous people: To gain a childlike beginner’s mind, it helps to return to childlike innocence, with wisdom.

7 Research on virtue links it: Blaine J. Fowers, Jason S. Carroll, Frank D. Fincham, and Bradford Cokelet, “The Emerging Science of Virtue,” Perspectives on Psychological Science 16, no. 1 (2021): 118–147, https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691620924473. See this article for more details.

8 Once this is recognized: Roger Walsh, The World of Shamanism: New Views of an Ancient Tradition (Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2007), 29. Along similar lines, Dr. Daniel Goleman writes of Hindu Bhakti, or selfless service: “As in all paths, virtue, in the beginning an act of will, becomes a by-product of the practice itself.” Daniel Goleman, The Meditative Mind: The Varieties of Meditative Experience (New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1988), 43.

9 dishonesty is linked with “craving circuitry”: Nobuhito Abe and Joshua D. Greene, “Response to Anticipated Reward in the Nucleus Accumbens Predicts Behavior in an Independent Test of Honesty,” Journal of Neuroscience 34, no. 32 (2014): 10564–10572, https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0217-14.2014.

10 unethical actions distort memory accuracy: Xinyi Julia Xu, Dean Mobbs, and Haiyan Wu, “Unethical Amnesia Brain: Memory and Metacognitive Distortion Induced by Dishonesty,” bioRxiv, March 6, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.03.03.583239.

11 Marcus Aurelius put it this way: Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 9.4, trans. Gregory Hays (New York: Modern Library, 2002), 100.

12 Indeed, generous acts activate: Soyoung Q. Park, Thorsten Kahnt, Azade Dogan, Sabrina Strang, Ernst Fehr, and Philippe N. Tobler, “A Neural Link Between Generosity and Happiness,” Nature Communications 8 (2017): article 15964, https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15964.

13 giving makes buyers happier: Garam Kim, Ingrid Adams, Malik Diaw, Mira Celly, Leif D. Nelson, and Minah H. Jung, “Prosocial Spending Encourages Happiness: A Replication of the Only Experiment Reported in Dunn, Aknin, and Norton (2008),” PLOS ONE 17, no. 9 (2022): e0272434, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272434.

14 chemical precursor to serotonin: Laura Steenbergen, Roberta Sellaro, and Lorenza S. Colzato, “Tryptophan Promotes Charitable Donating,” Frontiers in Psychology 5 (2014): article 1451, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01451.

15 Long before neuroimaging: Epictetus, Discourses, 1.4.3, in Discourses, Fragments, Handbook, trans. Robin Hard (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 9.

16 Gotama taught that recalling: For another example, see AN 11.12.

17 Thinking “I have done good in the past”: Dhammapada 18, trans. Peter Feldmeier, SuttaCentral, accessed May 16, 2026, https://suttacentral.net/dhp1-20/en/feldmeier.

18 As the Dhammapada states: Dhammapada 122, trans. Bhikkhu Sujato, SuttaCentral, accessed May 16, 2026, https://suttacentral.net/dhp116-128/en/sujato.

19 If meditation is a workout: “If the meditator uses whatever occurs in life as the path, the body itself becomes a retreat hut.” Jigme Lingpa, “The Innermost Essence,” in Chögyam Trungpa, Mudra: Early Songs and Poems (Boston: Shambhala, 1972).

20 A change of plans: Daily obstacles are heavier weight training for fit traits, like resilience. Marcus Aurelius writes, “Whatever anyone does or says, I must be emerald and keep my colour.” Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 7.15, trans. George Long.

21 The classic Chinese text Tao Te Ching says: Tao Te Ching, verse 27.

22 You become more efficient: Bhante Vimalaramsi, Moving Dhamma, vol. 1, xx. Note: this is not a placeholder page number; the quote comes from the introduction.

23 an endless laundry list: When I was twelve years old, my mentor, a Pakistani squash coach named Mo, penciled into my journal: “Do you clean the dishes to clean the dishes, or to have clean dishes?” It was a cryptic instruction, not a question. I had no idea what he meant. Later, I found out he was paraphrasing Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. Two decades later, I’m still learning how to wash the dishes.

24 As St. Abba Dorotheus: St. Abba Dorotheus, quoted in Daniel Goleman, The Meditative Mind: The Varieties of Meditative Experience (New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1988), 54.

25 Initially, I had planned to disrobe: I also felt at home in a community that values mental fitness.

26 Should I just hand them a pamphlet: This line was largely crafted by ChatGPT.

27 in the forest, Bangkok: Again, the location has been changed for privacy reasons.

28 Dr. William James once remarked: William James, The Principles of Psychology, vol. 1 (New York: Henry Holt, 1890).

29 Footnote: In Classical Yoga, sense withdrawal: More specifically, pratyāhāra refers to the withdrawal of the senses, as in meditative practices like Yoga Nidra, where there is minimal engagement with external sensory inputs. However, it is also interpreted more broadly in everyday life as a turning away from distractions.

30 dumpster-diving for pleasure: Thanissaro Bhikkhu, “Indulge in the Pleasure of Jhāna,” YouTube video, 5:00, Dhamma Talks by Thanissaro Bhikkhu, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi-DUwT_WmU.

31 One student of Dipa Ma recalls: Amy Schmidt, Dipa Ma: The Life and Legacy of a Buddhist Master (Katonah, NY: BlueBridge, 2005), 62.

32 traumatized by beauty: Mark Nepo, “We Become the Places We Love,” Meditative Story, accessed May 16, 2026, https://meditativestory.com/we-become-the-places-we-love/.

33 Mental athletes must learn to find balance: “This is because an agent that is able to remain at the edge of order and disorder will combine flexibility with robustness. Think of the boxer finding an optimal distance from the boxing bag where she is ready for all the relevant affordances the bag offers.” Mark Miller, Julian Kiverstein, and Erik Rietveld, “The Predictive Dynamics of Happiness and Well-Being,” Emotion Review 14, no. 1 (2022): 15–30, https://doi.org/10.1177/17540739211063851.

34 What’s needed is a fit trait called agility: According to Perplexity AI, physical agility involves the “ability to change the body’s position quickly and requires the integration of isolated movement skills using a combination of balance, coordination, speed, reflexes, strength, and endurance.”

35 So ideally, we want the mental flexibility: In the PP framework, there’s a proposed link between too much flexibility and schizophrenia, and too much strength and autism. Note that those with autism tend to get annoyed by small details, or sensory inputs, like a wrinkly shirt, while those with schizophrenia may suffer hallucinations, or narratives, that don’t match reality. These conditions are complex, and this is a broad theory that requires further exploration. Miller, Kiverstein, and Rietveld, “The Predictive Dynamics of Happiness and Well-Being.”

36 Agility is about knowing: In the PP framework, optimal precision-weighting involves higher precision, or greater sensitivity to new information, in new and unstable environments.

37 an agile model makes steady predictions: “A system that is sensitive to how it deploys precision, and so is able to juggle multiple cares and concerns in an optimal way, will also be a system that is best able to meet and resolve unexpected uncertainty.” Miller, Kiverstein, and Rietveld, “The Predictive Dynamics of Happiness and Well-Being.”

38 Agility helps us decide: A group of Australian psychologists published a paper on PP theorizing that our ability to manage multiple prediction errors is key for well-being. Miller, Kiverstein, and Rietveld, “The Predictive Dynamics of Happiness and Well-Being.”

39 Then, we Relish whatever fit state: Meta-awareness also gauges how well our GPS is navigating, so the brain can swiftly revise the predictive programs that repeatedly take us off course. Hannah Biddell, Mark Solms, Heleen Slagter, and Ruben Laukkonen, “Arousal Coherence, Uncertainty, and Well-Being: An Active Inference Account,” Neuroscience of Consciousness 2024, no. 1 (2024): niae011, https://doi.org/10.1093/nc/niae011. See this article for more details.

40 enhanced structural connectivity: Eileen Luders, Kristi Clark, Katherine L. Narr, and Arthur W. Toga, “Enhanced Brain Connectivity in Long-Term Meditation Practitioners,” NeuroImage 57, no. 4 (2011): 1308–1316, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.05.075.

41 15-minute daily focused attention: Ewa R. Gizewski, Sarah L. Kuhn, Lea Kaufmann, and Elke R. Gizewski, “Short-Term Meditation Training Influences Brain Energy Metabolism: A Pilot Study on Phosphorus Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy,” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 15 (2021): article 623157, https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2021.623157.

42 Relish and Remain in balance: As with other fit traits, agility is self-correcting: tension or bliss?

43 She was learning too fast: My mom came up with the phrase, “What have you done for your mind today?”

44 50-year-old mental athletes: Sara W. Lazar, Catherine E. Kerr, Rachel H. Wasserman, Jeremy R. Gray, Douglas N. Greve, Michael T. Treadway, Metta McGarvey, Brian T. Quinn, Jeffery A. Dusek, Herbert Benson, Scott L. Rauch, Christopher I. Moore, and Bruce Fischl, “Meditation Experience Is Associated with Increased Cortical Thickness,” NeuroReport 16, no. 17 (2005): 1893–1897, https://doi.org/10.1097/01.wnr.0000186598.66243.19.

45 advanced meditators exhibit increased: Heleen A. Slagter, Antoine Lutz, Lawrence L. Greischar, Andrew D. Francis, Sander Nieuwenhuis, James M. Davis, and Richard J. Davidson, “Mental Training Affects Distribution of Limited Brain Resources,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104, no. 43 (2007): 17152–17156, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0606552104.

46 Are your unfit traits loosening: Also, do you have fewer harmful automatic reactions?

47 metrics on a heart-rate tracker: “Happy are those who find wisdom… Get wisdom, get insight; do not forget.” Prov. 3:13; 4:5 (NRSVUE).

48 may resemble the U.S. stock market: Credit to Dr. Tucker Peck for this analogy.

49 experience of Nirvana: Bhikkhu Anālayo, The Signless and the Deathless: On the Realization of Nirvana (Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2023), 112.

50 one mind at a time: “Not only is the practice easy and accessible, it leads directly and rapidly to happiness and contentment, the cessation of fear and conditions related to stress, the gaining of balance and equanimity. Due to its easy adaptability into everyday life situations, it also has a visible impact on social relations and an uplifting effect on the lives of other people with whom the meditator has contact.” Mark Edsel Johnson, Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation: Samatha-Vipassanā Meditation Based on the Sutta Piṭaka (Independently published, 2019), 106.

51 heavily meditated: I got this idea from meditation teacher Scott Jordan’s T-shirt.

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Afterward: The Mind Revolution

1 mental health statistics: Many companies manufacture new wants, then sell the solutions to satisfy those wants. Conveniences and foods maximized for pleasure with crafty advertising that makes us want them even more.

2 40 million living with anxiety disorders: Mental Health America, “Quick Facts and Statistics About Mental Health,” accessed May 16, 2026, https://mhanational.org/resources/quick-facts-and-statistics-about-mental-health/.

3 10 percent of high school students: J. Michael Underwood et al., “Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors Among High School Students: Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2021,” MMWR Supplements 72, no. 1 (2023): 45–54, https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/su/su7201a6.htm.

4 these practices are timeless: They ground us in a source of expertise against which to compare modern claims, methods, and theories.

5 not a new ideology: Nor a replacement for traditional explanations.

6 It would be a mistake: “There is a perennial problem in scientific studies of religion. This is the tendency for speculation to outrace data, for elaborate theories to be founded on little evidence, and for medical materialization to rise from the dead to explain religion away yet again in terms of the most recently discovered neural process.” Roger Walsh, The World of Shamanism: New Views of an Ancient Tradition (Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2007), 264.

7 which are both reliable and practical: For more about the validity of the suttas, see Bhikkhu Sujato and Bhikkhu Brahmali, The Authenticity of the Early Buddhist Texts (Oxford: Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, 2015); and Bhikkhu Anālayo, Early Buddhist Oral Tradition: Textual Formation and Transmission (Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2022). Based on observation, anecdotes, and reasoning, I have come to believe even Gotama’s statements that haven’t been proven by science. For example, the continuity of consciousness, or rebirth, is a key part of Gotama’s teaching.

8 Come and see for yourself: Ehipassiko in Pali.

9 Footnote: The original TWIM instructions can: “TWIM Lovingkindness Instructions,” Dhamma Sukha Meditation Center, accessed May 16, 2026, https://www.dhammasukha.org/_files/ugd/d704f3_0efac85d504e4c90aed3bfdb022bf3d1.pdf.

10 sensations deflate on their own: Credit for this analogy to “Wind,” a pseudonymous Chinese meditator who wrote about his deep transformation using Lester Levenson’s original Sedona Method. For more information, see the Reddit thread titled “Original Sedona Method from Lester Levenson” under r/nonduality.

11 Footnote: The original forgiveness instructions can: “Short Forgiveness Instructions,” Dhamma Sukha Meditation Center, accessed May 16, 2026, https://www.dhammasukha.org/_files/ugd/d704f3_2bfc6647e6854daba38af4a50800c3cb.pdf.