Research - Endnotes
Introduction
1 4,000 words per minute of self-chatter: Korba, Rodney J. "The rate of inner speech." Perceptual and motor skills 71, no. 3 (1990): 1043-1052.
2 20% of our metabolic energy: Kety SS (1957) The general metabolism of the brain in vivo.; Sokoloff L (1960) The metabolism of the central nervous system in vivo.; Rolfe DFS, Brown GC (1997) Cellular energy utilization and molecular origin of standard metabolic rate in mammals.; Clarke PhD, Donald Dudley, and Louis Sokoloff. "Circulation and energy metabolism in the brain/Donald D. Clarke and Louis Sokoloff." (1999).
3 According to research at Harvard: Killingsworth, Matthew A., and Daniel T. Gilbert. "A wandering mind is an unhappy mind." Science 330, no. 6006 (2010): 932-932.
4 "These adepts have shown...": Altered Traits, by Daniel Goleman and Richard Davidson, p. 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: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10016675/
8 More efficient brain functionL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-32046-5 and https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3277272/
9 Better creative problem-solving: Ding, X. et al. (2014) Short-term meditation modulates brain activity of insight evoked with solution cue. Soc. Cogn. Affect. Neurosci. 10, 43–49)
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://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30153464/
and
Zeidan, Fadel, 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://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20363650/
11 “all desires are fulfilled”: Easwaran, Upanishads, p. 40, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
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 6Rs: Recognize, Release, Relax, Re-Smile, Return, Repeat. I’ve combined Release-Relax and Return-Repeat into a single step each. Relish is a substitute for Re-Smile.
14 they make meditation fun: Bhante’s method is nicknamed TWIM. “TWIM is very accessible to the average person, an important factor if meditation is to become part of mainstream society (part of a ‘culture of awakening’) rather than the practice and domain of a very few… TWIM does so in a way as to make the learning of the technique easy, and the practice is straightforward, while the experience and understanding gained through practice is very deep and far-reaching. In making the meditation accessible to the average person, TWIM does not compromise the rigorous methods put forth by the Buddha.” Pp. 90-91 Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation by Mark Edsel Johnson, Ph.D.
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://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10548318/
16 It is possible to have ease: https://twim.network/andrew-drew-litchy/
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…": Source: Meditative Mind by Daniel Goleman, p. 81. The state is called turiyatita: stabilized samadhi in the Tantric yoga tradition.
3 forking the next bite of experience: Credits to Bhikkhu Analayo 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: The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Scholars date it somewhere between 200 BCE and 400 CE.
5 Neuroscientists at Princeton theorize: https://www.cell.com/trends/cognitive-sciences/abstract/S1364-6613(18)30281-X
6 Footnote: Since the brain takes 0.2 seconds: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3081809/
7 The original goal of Yoga: Sanskrit: yogas chitta vritti nirodha
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: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7509909/ 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: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7509909/
11 PP is supported by a growing: https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nyas.14321
12 Influenced many fields including… https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fncom.2022.988977/full
13 Footnote: Critics of PP argue that: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7187369/
14 About 0.0035% of the entire: https://www.energy.gov/nnsa/articles/visible-light-eye-opening-research-nnsa#:~:text=The%20entire%20rainbow%20of%20radiation,is%20known%20as%20visible%20light.
15 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 Footnote: Babies form at least a million: Read: https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/news/changes-occur-aging-brain-what-happens-when-we-get-older
18 Footnote: The cerebral cortex hits peak: Read: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7368197/;
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/synaptic-pruning
19 One diabolical study: Wilson, Timothy D., 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.
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 of choosing to embark on a silent retreat or similar intensive practice periods.
21 Those with past trauma: Lindahl, Jared R., 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 one12, no. 5 (2017): e0176239.
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 Barett-Feldman et al. explains how “ The brain, via its trio of core networks, proactively anticipates demand across multiple body systems (e.g. need for glucose, oxygen, salt, etc.), evaluates the priorities (in terms of immediate and longer term needs, costs and likely pay-offs), and thereby implements allostasis. “
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 nivarana is closer to “veil.” They shroud our mind’s blissful radiance. Typical translation of these five: sensual desire, ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, 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 nivarana, see: https://discourse.suttacentral.net/t/are-we-invoking-the-right-metaphor-for-hindrances/3120
28 natural GPS signals: Credits 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: For a more complete and accurate description of this encounter, see: One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism by Joseph Goldstein.
31 “controlled hallucination”: A term attributed to British neuroscientist Anil Seth. https://lab.cccb.org/en/anil-seth-reality-is-a-controlled-hallucination/
32 the orange is like the phone icon: This analogy was inspired by Dr. Donald Hoffman, who uses a similar one in explaining his Interface Theory of Perception, as discussed in The Case Against Reality (p. 69).
33 Footnote: 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. “ the long-range predictions of frontoparietal cortices are more contextualized and of higher level than the short-term predictions of low-level brain regions.” (source)
34 Footnote: 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 (+/-) sensations, which also depend on the concept we attach to it. So sensory inputs, (+/-) 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 inter-actions? 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: Concept and Reality by Bhikkhu Nananananda
38 As the great Yoga master Patanjali stated: Yoga Sutras: Verse 1.9
39 my experience not yet solidified: “I expect my expectations are the expectations of others, not mine.” - Dr. John C. Lilly, Center of the Cyclone, p. 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”: Neo-Christian text A Course in Miracles, “I will not think I understand the whole from bits of my perceptions, which are all that I see. Today I recognize that this is so. And so I am relieved of judgments that I cannot make.” p. 415
42 virtual town square: I believe I may have heard this analogy on Sam Harris’ Making Sense podcast some years ago.
43 Pretend you’re on an alien planet: Inspired by A Course in Miracles, Workbook for Students, pp. 3-4
Chapter 2
1 deeply embedded traits: “An altered trait—a new characteristic that arises from a meditation practice—endures apart from meditation itself. Altered traits shape how we behave in our daily lives, not just during or immediately after we meditate.” Altered Traits, p. 6
2 It goads us into behaviors that: “Momentary subjective happiness signals that our generative model is improving in its predictions.” https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/17540739211063851#body-ref-fn4
3 (+/-) sensations act as a kind of “bodily barometer”: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278262619304063
4 Therefore, (+/-) sensations act as: “For example, the feeling of momentary subjective happiness is thought to signal that the model is improving in its predictions (i.e. that prediction errors are reducing across time).” https://academic.oup.com/nc/article/2024/1/niae011/7631817?login=false
5 human brain’s evolution couldn’t keep up with technology: On the flip side, we receive (-) sensations from a critical comment on social media, which registers as a danger of tribal expulsion.
6 If the post receives more clout: “This feels good because we have done better than expected at improving our predictive grip on the environment, something our very health depends upon.” https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/17540739211063851#body-ref-fn4
7 Here’s the trap: “The positive or negative felt character of affect is identified with the agents doing better or worse than expected at error reduction. Thus, negative valence is modeled as reducing error at a rate that is worse than expected, and positive valence as reducing error at a rate that is better than expected.” https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/17540739211063851
The neo-Christian text A Course in Miracles (ACIM) puts it bluntly: “It is impossible to seek for pleasure through the body and not find pain.” (A Course in Miracles, p. 415)
8 Perennial joy: Katha Upanishad, Part 1, 2.2 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9317542/
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://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3191261/
10 maladaptive eating behaviors: “Awareness drives changes in reward value which predict eating behavior”, Taylor et al., 2021
12 lucid dreaming: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-36190-w
11 the brain will stop craving: A randomized clinical trial on internet gaming addiction found that self-reported cravings, as well as the brain’s craving circuitry, diminish within a month of twice-weekly meditation training. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2820099
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. (source) 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. (source)
14 We have free rein: The Mandukya Upanishad, a Hindu wisdom text composed sometime 800-500 BCE, states: “The nature of objects is the same in the waking state and dream.” PP doesn’t go that far. Dreams don’t make use of sensory inputs to keep them realistic. They are predictions run wild without input from the outside world. The brain is mostly disconnected from the outer senses during sleep, but sometimes the sound of an alarm clock or other external senses can get incorporated into the dream world.
15 paralyzed during dreams: Thankfully, an area of the brainstem called the pons paralyzes our muscles so we don’t act out our dreams. Hence, we are “quietly and safely insane,” unless we happen to be sleepwalkers.
16 an exception: our eyes: Hence the name rapid-eye movement (REM) for this stage of sleep, which makes up about a third of our sleep.
17 a lucid dreamer successfully signaled: Later replicated at Stanford University by Dr. Stephen Laberge in 1978.
18 This was the question repeatedly: Killingsworth, Matthew A., and Daniel T. Gilbert. "A wandering mind is an unhappy mind." Science 330, no. 6006 (2010): 932-932.
19 key to reducing mind-wandering: “…meta-awareness involves the ‘ability to take explicit note of the current contents of consciousness.’” My description of meta-awareness agrees with this paper by Duane, Thompson, and Schooler, in particular, as “non-propositional” meta-awareness is used in Tibetan Mahamudra training: https://centerhealthyminds.org/assets/files-publications/Dunne-Mindful-meta-awareness-Sustained-and.pdf.
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://academic.oup.com/nc/article/2021/1/niab018/6358635
23 “The spy of mindfulness”: https://centerhealthyminds.org/assets/files-publications/Dunne-Mindful-meta-awareness-Sustained-and.pdf
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,” Emotion 10, no. 1 (2010): 34–42,
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/
24 Full awareness (sampajañña): https://centerhealthyminds.org/assets/files-publications/Dunne-Mindful-meta-awareness-Sustained-and.pdf
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 philospher 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: Tseng, Julie, and Jordan Poppenk. "Brain meta-state transitions demarcate thoughts across task contexts exposing the mental noise of trait neuroticism." Nature communications11, no. 1 (2020): 1-12.
29 Footnote: People with aphantasia run less vivid: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0010027722001809
30 Footnote: According 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.” Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/newfound-brain-switch-labels-experiences-as-good-or-bad/
31 Footnote: The brain is negative by default and requires a cue: Neurotensin - chemical messenger that helps signal positive or negative feelings in the brain (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04964-y)
32 the model will predict comebacks: Similar to how our attention locked onto the spider’s (-) error signal, only on a more abstract level. In this case, attention locks onto (-) signals from painful memories or other obtrusive thoughts.
33 a wandering mind is an unhappy mind: https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.1192439
34 fMRIbrain scans show: Meta-awareness, perceptual decoupling and the wandering mind (Schooler et al., 2011)
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: https://bostonboabom.com/meditation/
37 The Shipibo are an Indigenous matriarchal society: “Not only is [shamanism] the oldest profession but also one of the Mose wide-spread, found today in areas as scattered as Siberia and South America.” - World of Shamanism, Roger Walsh, p. 17
38 2,000 to 3,000 different plants: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237458044_Sound_-_Trance_-_Healing_-_The_sound_and_pattern_medicine_of_the_Shipibo_in_the_Amazon_lowlands_of_Peru, p. 2
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: https://typeset.io/pdf/did-meditating-make-us-human-4mlhrhqqfq.pdf)
41 Marvel's superheroes: We 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: Kaplan et al. 2016 study in Nature: “Neural correlates of maintaining one’s political beliefs in the face of counterevidence” https://www.nature.com/articles/srep39589
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 1st stage of awakening.
2 facial muscles can elicit new emotions: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5816132/
3 meta-analysis of 138 studies: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-022-01458-9
4 Botox face lift: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30973236/
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1473-2165.2009.00419.x
Also, the opposite surgery, affecting laughter lines, was linked to increased depression scores: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6170457/
5 Footnote: Smiling was also shown to buffer stress: https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/smiles-affect-response-stress
6 Footnote: And even make us more attractive: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12459213/
7 Bhante once put it: Moving Dhamma Volume I, Bhante Vimalaramsi, p. 46
8 “I don’t care if you’re sitting...": Moving Dhamma Volume I, p. 10
9 “Don’t believe what I say...": Ibid, p. 98
10 “It’s great to be peaceful and calm...": Moving Dhamma Volume I, p. 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 humunculus 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 are laid out in the Pali Cannon. See: Analayo, Early Buddhist Oral Tradition
13 dependent origination (DO): Also known as “co-dependent arising”
14 famously declared: The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, Translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi. Wisdom Publications, 2015. Sutta 28 verse 38, page 284
15 causal process unfolds: Including re-birth, a key teaching of Gotama Buddha
16 one version: The standard 12-link version is: Ignorance (avijjā) ® Volitional Formations (sankhāra) ® Consciousness (viññāna) ® Name and Form (nāma-rūpa) ® Six Sense Bases (salāyatana) ® Contact (phassa) ® Feeling (vedanā) ® Craving (tanhā) ® Clinging (upādāna) ® Becoming (bhava) ®Birth (jāti) ® Old Age and Death (jarā-marana)
17 one mentally proliferates: Majjhimma Nikaya, Sutta 18, The Honeyball, Translated by B. Bodhi, Wisdom Publications, pp. 203-205
18 each mental state is shaped: The ‘mind’/thinking considered a 6th 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 vs. exiting the room to another floor entirely.
20 "Why isn’t the question": Moving Dhamma Volume I, p. 43
23 Our eyes are intimately linked to attention: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-00881-7
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: Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, Wisdom Publications, Bodhi and Ñānamoli, p. 655, Sutta 79
24 soda straw: Credits to Dr. Andrew Huberman for this term “soda straw” used to describe focused attention, which I recall hearing on his podcast.
25 you can Release it at will: Bhante: “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.” Moving Dhamma Volume I, p. 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: https://www.lionsroar.com/was-yoda-based-on-this-buddhist-master/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
28 Foonote: Since the brain anticipates: https://www.nature.com/articles/nn1198_635
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: Libet, B., Gleason, C. A., Wright, E. W., & Pearl, D. K. (1993). Time of conscious intention to act in relation to onset of cerebral activity (readiness-potential). In Neurophysiology of consciousness (pp. 249-268). Birkhäuser, Boston, MA.
31 machines could predict: Soon, C. S., Brass, M., Heinze, H. J., & Haynes, J. D. (2008). Unconscious determinants of free decisions in the human brain. Nature neuroscience, 11(5), 543-545.
32 200 milliseconds before: Schultze-Kraft, M., Birman, D., Rusconi, M., Allefeld, C., Görgen, K., Dähne, S., ... & Haynes, J. D. (2016). The point of no return in vetoing self-initiated movements. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(4), 1080-1085.
33 "free won't": I learned the term “free won’t” from meditation teacher Doug Kraft.
36 doesn’t necessarily decrease impulsivity: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-47662-y
34 “cells that fire out of sync, lose their link.”: This phase is a popular simplification of Donal Hebb’s theory of synaptic plasticity.
35 decrease emotional reactivity: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6671286/
37 compared meditation to lifting weights: Bhante: “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.” Moving Dhamma Volume 1, p. 30
38 a very high degree of mental fitness: Traditionally, the qualities of a stream enterer include: 1) unshakeable faith in the Buddha, 2) unshakeable faith in the Dhamma, 3) unshakeable faith in the Sangha, and 4) noble virtue.
39 original Pali texts: See: https://ocbs.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/authenticity.pdf
40 first century BCE: See: Analayo, Early Buddhist Oral Tradition
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.” (source)
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://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3637647/ 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.” https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/17540739211063851#body-ref-fn4
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://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2825576/
47 reduce depressive symptoms: Maital Neta, Catherine J. Norris, and Paul J. Whalen, “Corrugator Muscle Responses Are Associated With Individual Differences in Positivity-Negativity Bias,” Emotion 9, no. 5 (2009): 640–648, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-69773-7
49 Yixue was buzzing: https://yixue-zhao.medium.com/how-i-sit-for-8-hours-in-meditation-3906645aa80c
48 sat for seven hours: Bhante encouraged us to sit in chairs rather than the floor, since he deemed comfort and stillness for lengthy meditations as more important than ideal posture.
50 Yixue wrote: Personal correspondence
51 preliminary research on Bhante’s method: Andrew Litchy, BA, Heather Wild, PhD, Steven Chamberlin, BS, Agatha Colbert, MD. “Potential behavioral and physiological outcome measures for assessing the effects of Samatha-Vipassana meditation.” 2010. [unpublished] 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.
Chapter 4
1 study on over 2,300 participants: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2023-16592-001; https://www.bps.org.uk/research-digest/wed-rather-do-something-requires-mental-effort-do-nothing-all
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.” https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/17540739211063851#body-ref-fn4
3 Roughly 20 to 50 percent: This depends on the condition and treatment. For antidepressant drugs, it’s about 20-50%.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9361274/
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2784479
On the other hand, a 2010 Cochrane review concludes: “We did not find that placebo interventions have important clinical effects in general.”https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD003974.pub3/full
4 over 50 percent of the pain relief: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.3006175
5 we discount placebos: The gold standard in scientific research are “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: https://journals.lww.com/pain/fulltext/2016/12000/open_label_placebo_treatment_in_chronic_low_back.17.aspx
and
8 PP can explain the placebo effect: https://journals.lww.com/pain/fulltext/2019/01000/Symptom_perception,_placebo_effects,_and_the.1.aspx
7 “honest placebo”: So called “open-label placebos” tend to be effective for self-reported outcomes, but not objective outcomes. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-30362-z
https://www.cell.com/neuron/pdf/S0896-6273(14)00192-5.pdf See these articles for more details.
9 Bhante once observed: Moving Dhamma Volume I, p. 70
10 Marcus Aurelius quipped: Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, trans. Gregory Hays (New York: Modern Library, 2002), 12.13.
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. https://journals.sfu.ca/seemj/index.php/seemj/article/view/116
18 proven link between meta-awareness: Self-interest may not be entirely in the interest of self
20 “minimal self”: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053810020303093?via%3Dihub
19 identify with the body: These are the five aggregates (khandha), typically translated as from (rūpa), feeling (vedanā), perception (sañña), volitional formations (sankhāra), and consciousness (viññāna).
21 internal model includes: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02421/full See this article for more details.
22 narrative self enables it: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.539726/full
23 have a sense of humor: Moving Dhamma 2, p. 143
24 Laughter relaxes our muscles, stimulates: 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: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1697260023000170
29 enhances more flexible: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1697260023000170
28 Meditation appears to reduce: Ibid.
30 exhibit less connectivity in brain regions: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27109713/
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.” https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.539726/full
32 one of two main techniques: And occasionally mindfulness of breathing if students had trouble with metta.
33 "the most powerful meditation": Guide to Forgiveness Meditation: An Effective Method to Dissolve Blocks to Loving-Kindness and Living in the Present, by Bhante Vimalaramsi, p. 15
34 "mental blocks that pop up": Ibid. p. 15. Quotation edited. End of the quotation says “past life experiences”
35 Dr. Fred Luskin explained: The Science of Forgiveness - Fred Luskin PhD FitMind Podcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFYVnyX8wc8 7:06
36 "release yourself from a prison": Ibid. 8:07
37 forgiveness is linked: Long, K.N.G., Worthington, E.L., VanderWeele, T.J. et al. Forgiveness of others and subsequent health and well-being in mid-life: a longitudinal study on female nurses. BMC Psychol 8, 104 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-020-00470-w
38 improves blood pressure: Toussaint, L., Worthington, E. L. Jr., & Williams, D. R. (2015). Forgiveness and physical health: A meta-analytic review. Psychology & Health, 30(10), 1145–1169.
39 increased cell volume: Kim, H. J., Seo, J., Bang, M., & Lee, S. H. (2023). Self-forgiveness is associated with increased volumes of fusiform gyrus in healthy individuals. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 5505. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-32731-0
41 Indigenous Hawaiians developed ho’oponopono: James, M. B. (2008). Ho'oponopono: Assessing the effects of a traditional Hawaiian forgiveness technique on unforgiveness. Walden University. https://www.proquest.com/openview/78816540bb79f1a34930681f344d4c76/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750 p. 36
42 you forgive the transgressor: James, M. B. (2008). Ho'oponopono: Assessing the effects of a traditional Hawaiian forgiveness technique on unforgiveness. Walden University. https://www.proquest.com/openview/78816540bb79f1a34930681f344d4c76/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750
43 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.”
44 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.”
45 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.
46 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.” Feldman-Barrett et al. 2016 “An active inference theory of allostasis and interception in depression”
47 author Annie Dillard: Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (New York: Harper’s Magazine Press, 1974), 89.
48 pPositively reinterpreting negative memories: Similar to Rememberance, from the Witoto tradition, Indigenous tribes in southern Colombia and norther Peru.
49 enhances positive emotions: “Finding positive meaning in memories of negative events adaptively updates memory” https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-26906-4
50 reflected in structural changes: Ibid
51 Meditation suspends higher-order concepts: Though some meditation methods intentionally employ concepts, thoughts, and narratives for personal transformation. See, for example: https://www.cell.com/heliyon/fulltext/S2405-8440(24)07254-2
52 marked decrease in high-level brain connectivity: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0079612322001984
53 temporary meditative states: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014976342100261X
54 psychedelics may relax higher-order narratives: https://pharmrev.aspetjournals.org/article/S0031-6997(24)01296-1/fulltext
55 Release the narratives: For a related discussion, see: “Mental Mountains” https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/11/26/mental-mountains/
56 Bhante practiced forgiveness:Guide to Forgiveness Meditation, p. 29
57 perceive the world forgiveness offers: A Course in Miracles (Combined Volume), Workbook for Students, p. 442
58 meditation master Lester Levenson: Lester Levenson, Keys to the Ultimate Freedom: Thoughts and Talks on Personal Transformation, 5th ed. (Phoenix: Sedona Institute, 1993).
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
23 primes a fit state of mind: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6719713/
21 "another path to enlightenment": Ibid, p. 340
22 "sensual pleasures and unwholesome states": Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, Wisdom Publications, Bodhi and Ñānamoli, Sutta 36, p. 340
24 brain seems to say: Dr. Dennison posits no prediction errors in jhana (Jhana Consciousness, p. 223)
25 Indeed, a neuroimaging analysis of jhana: (Jhana Consciousness, p. 46); See also: https://www.cell.com/heliyon/fulltext/S2405-8440(24)07254-2
26 "a level of understanding": Moving Dhamma Volume 2, p. 148
27 prediction-making process: “Drawing from the experience of earlier Indian contemplatives, the Buddha refined techniques for stabilizing and refining the attention and used them in new ways, much as Galileo improved and utilized the telescope for observing the heavens.” (Scholar and Tibetan Buddhist expert: B.A. Wallace, p. 176 in View from Within)
28 thoughts appear as dreams: “This may be particularly relevant to psychology, specifically clinical psychology and psychiatry as [jhana] may facilitate the dissolution of previously held beliefs and mental models” https://www.cell.com/heliyon/fulltext/S2405-8440(24)07254-2
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 (anatta).
30 ever-changing states of mind: https://theses.hal.science/tel-04213136v1/document See this article for more details about meditation and predictive processing.
31 Traditional "jhana factors": The jhana factors for the first jhana 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, jhana co-opts the brain’s: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3827730/.
34 novel method of self-stimulating: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1155/2013/653572 Note: Bhante’s jhana 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 (+/-) 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: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1155/2013/653572
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.” https://centerhealthyminds.org/assets/files-publications/Dunne-Mindful-meta-awareness-Sustained-and.pdf
38 shifting from unfit to fit states: See: Awareness Alone Is Not Enough by Sayadaw U Tejaniya
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, as quoted by Dr. John C. Lilly in Center of the Cyclone, p. 235
42 a wider range of possible thoughts: Compared to neutral states. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3156609/
43 Unfit states have the opposite: Ibid.
44 You can be in jhana at any time: Moving Dhamma Volume I, p. 106
45 Meta-awareness goes offline because: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811913008732
46 meta-awarenesswas shown to disrupt flow: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1948550614555028
47 An ideal in the Sufi tradition: Goleman, Meditative Mind, p. 65
48 Flow states engagethe brain’s noradrenergic system: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.645498/full#B32
49 jhana markedly increased parasympathetic: Jhana Consciousness, by Paul Dennison, p. 84
50 Nirvana "the highest bliss": Dhammapada verse 203
51 Footnote: Eminent scholar-monk Bhikkhu describes nirvana: The Signless and the Deathless, p. 1
52 "an all-the-time practice": Moving Dhamma Volume I (p. 46)
53 advanced meditators usually don’t want attention: Davidson and Goleman note, “While their mastery at this inner expertise seems akin to world-class rankings in sports, in this ‘sport,’ the better you get the less you care about your ranking–let alone social status, riches, or fame.” Altered Traits p. 211
54 encouraged to participate: Altered Traits, p. 210
55 unifying theory of advanced meditation: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014976342100261X
56 becomeless self-related: Ibid.
57 One seminal study supporting such: Antonova E, Chadwick P, Kumari V. More meditation, less habituation? The effect of mindfulness practice on the acoustic startle reflex. PLoS One. 2015 May 6;10(5):e0123512. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0123512. Erratum in: PLoS One. 2015 Jul 13;10(7):e0133099. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0133099. PMID: 25946014; PMCID: PMC4422735.
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: Kasamatsu A, Hirai T. An electroencephalographic study on the zen meditation (Zazen). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1440-1819.1966.tb02646.x As counter evidence, another study failed to replicate these earlier findings: (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1469-8986.1981.tb01846.x.
60 13,000 participants: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35671462/
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.
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 metta in his life.
2 systematic review on metta training: However, the individual studies were generally weak and some effect sizes were small. They included compassion training. "Effects of Kindness- and Compassion-Based Meditation on Wellbeing, Prosociality, and Cognitive Functioning in Children and Adolescents: a Systematic Review" (Mindfulness, 2023) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12671-022-01925-4#:~:text=We%20found%20encouraging%20results%20for,all%20outcome%20measures%20reaching%20significance. For counter evidence, see: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-20299-z.
3 activates a unique neural signature: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0925492708001881
4 metta engages a distinct network: Ibid.
5 21 beginners practicing: Andrew Litchy, BA, Shalini Mukherjee, PhD, Agatha Colbert, MD. “Exploration of Heart Rath Variability Changes Associated with Samatha Vipassana Loving Kindness Meditation.” [unpublished] They were attempting to replicate the findings of an earlier study that reported a resonance peak in deep meditation: Phongsuphap S, Pongsupap Y, Chandanamattha P, Lursinsap C. Changes in heart rate variability during concentration meditation. Int J Cardiol 2008. PMID: 17764770 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijcard.2007.06.103
6 catapult us all the way up:The Connected Discourses of the Buddha, Wisdom Publications, year 2000, translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi, Sutta 46.54, p. 1609
7 quickest way into jhana: Gotama taught that having a mind full of metta “for just the time of a finger snap” means we’re not devoid of jhana. All unfit states are gone in that moment, and there’s stable meta-awareness. The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha, Bodhi, Anguttara Nikaya Sutta 1.55, p. 98
8 whittling away the most harmful traits: As the 27th Tibetan mind training (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: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23957283/
10 Based on dozens of studies: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12671-023-02121-8
and https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12144-022-03866-6
11 seven minutes of metta: Cendri A. Hutcherson, Emma M. Seppala, and James J. Gross, “Loving-Kindness Meditation Increases Social Connectedness,” Emotion 8, no. 5 (2008): 720–724, https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2008-13989-015
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.” https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/17540739211063851#body-ref-fn4
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: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/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”: Credits to Dr. Andrew Huberman, as I recall hearing the “playlists” analogy for neuromodulators on his podcast.
17 Oxytocin is probably linked to metta: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306453022000750 and https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00109/full
18 Twelve weeks of metta were shown: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306453019300010
19 metta meditation can significantly enhance: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3156028/
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 jhana: 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 13th-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 of ourselves.
42 Engler and his colleague conclude: Brown, D. P., & Engler, J. (1980). The stages of mindfulness meditation: A validation study. The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 12(2), 189. https://atpweb.org/jtparchive/trps-12-80-02-143.pdf
43 As training for bringing metta: 2014 study found that 12 weeks of walking meditation improved depressive symptoms and cortisol levels in older adults compared to normal walking exercise. “Effects of Buddhism Walking Meditation on Depression, Functional Fitness, and Endothelium-Dependent Vasodilation in Depressed Elderly” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24372522/ Traditional Benefits: physical fitness; energy; health; digestion; stability of mind (AN 5.29)
44 "with a mind imbued with loving-kindness": The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha, Translated by B. Bodhi, Wisdom Publications, year 2012, Sutta 3.63, p. 275
45 Just seven total hours: http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/05/20/0956797612469537.abstract
46 60 percent of chimp personality traits: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130603135521.htm
and
47 humans are naturally altruistic: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(15)00595-3.pdf
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajp.22168
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. Klimecki, O. M., Leiberg, S., Ricard, M., & Singer, T. (2014). Differential pattern of functional brain plasticity after compassion and empathy training. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 9(6), 873-879. https://academic.oup.com/scan/article/9/6/873/1669505
49 While we can’t fully know: In reference to Thomas Nagel’s famous thought experiment, which I heard about through Sam Harris.
51 If anyone had an impressive brain: https://braintap.com/study-of-meditation-and-brain-waves-in-buddhist-monks-confounds-wisconsin-researchers/
50 a pioneering study at UW-Madison: Lutz, 2004, self-induced gamma: (Lutz, A, Greischar, LL, Rawlings, NB, Ricard, M, Davidson, R. Long- term meditators self induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2004;101:16369–73. https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.0407401101)
53 In the PP framework: https://www.technologynetworks.com/neuroscience/news/the-brain-rhythms-behind-prediction-and-surprise-343252
52 When he began meditating: Altered Traits, pp. 216-220
55 seven hours of training: http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/05/20/0956797612469537.abstract
54 25 times higher-than-average gamma waves: Altered Traits p. 233
57 build up their compassion ‘muscle’: https://news.wisc.edu/brain-can-be-trained-in-compassion-study-shows/
56 increased altruism and altered brain connectivity: Ibid.
Both metta and compassion training are linked to several well-being measures, including less inflammation, anxiety, depression, stress, and negativity, and increased cognitive functioning.
58 Mental fitness is a lifestyle: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12671-022-01925-4
Also, the effects of metta and compassion meditation depend on the quality of the training, according to this study: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10902-022-00582-7
Chapter 7
1 "Intention shapes experiences": https://suttacentral.net/dhp1-20/en/sujato?lang=en&layout=plain&reference=none¬es=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin
2 Meta-awareness enables us: UCLA School of Medicine research psychiatrist Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz dubbed this “self-directed neuroplasticity.” It’s when the internal model remodels itself. 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: Credits to Bhante Ānanda for his emphasis on enjoying the practice.
9 they recruited professional actors: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2077345/
8 "upward spiral dynamic": https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23649562/
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 2-way, with serotonin influencing mood and mood influencing serotonin.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2077351/
11 One of Dipa Ma’s American students: Jack Kornfield
12 "concentration loving-kindness, and peace": Schmidt, Dipa Ma, 132-133.
13 Dzogchen master Togden Amtrin: https://www.pristine-awareness.org/path-of-joy-and-ease.php
14 One likely embellished account: By historian Plutarch’s (c. 46-120 CE) account: 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. https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Alexander*/10.html
15 "If he is most powerful": https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Alexander*/9.html 64.9
17 According to one source: 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 (brahmaviharas, literally “divine homes” in Sanskrit): metta, compassion, delight, then equanimity. Delight (mudita) is often translated as “sympathetic joy.” The sublime states are discussed in the early Buddhist texts, as well. Nearly all fit (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 2018 neuroscience review of the brahmaviharas, please see: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/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: p. 141 Moving Dhamma Volume I
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 Altered Traits p. 89
27 Twenty-eight brave volunteers: Average of 27,000 hours of practice.
28 neuroscientists at UW-Madison scanned: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3787201/
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.” p. 12, Lutz et al. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3787201/
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.” Lutz et al., Altered anterior insult activation during anticipation and experience of painful stimuli in expert meditators, p. 2, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3787201/
33 This uncoupling of pain: https://theses.hal.science/tel-04213136v1/document 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: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn36/sn36.006.than.html
36 Gotama referred to himself as a surgeon: https://suttacentral.net/iti100/en/sujato?
37 He feels one feeling: The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Samyutta Nikāya, Wisdom Publications, 2000, B. Bodhi, pp. 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 (-) 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 et al., “A Non-Elaborative Mental Stance and Decoupling of Executive and Pain-Related Cortices Predicts Low Pain Sensitivity in Zen Meditators.” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304395910006147
41 57 percent reduction in pain: Zeidan et al., 2011. https://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/14/5540.short
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": Proverbs 17:27-28 New Living Translation
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, trans. Gregory Hays (New York: Modern Library, 2002), 6.52.
47 A verse in the New Testament says: Matthew 15:11 New Living Translation
48 Gossip and disputes incite unfit states: AN 10.69 Gotama advises suitable topics that lead to supreme mental fitness (awakening): fewness of wishes, contentment, seclusion, non-entanglement, arousing energy, virtue, jhana, wisdom, mental liberation, and penetrative insights.
49 unperceivableby the latest AI chatbots: If an AI were programmed to perceive sensory inputs, (+/-) 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. https://www.age-of-the-sage.org/buddhism/third_patriarch_zen.html
51 The unborn, the unmade, the unconditioned: https://suttacentral.net/ud8.3/en/anandajoti?lang=en&reference=none&highlight=false
52 basically no traces of unfit states: https://suttacentral.net/sn43.14-43/en/sujato?lang=en&layout=plain&reference=none¬es=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin
See also: https://suttacentral.net/ud8.1/en/anandajoti?lang=en&reference=none&highlight=false and Samyutta Nikāya 38.1A
53 the secure, the wonderful: https://suttacentral.net/sn43.14-43/en/sujato?lang=en&layout=plain&reference=none¬es=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin
54 the greatest bliss: MN 75, p. 613 Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha
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 (Arahantship).
56 Several such peak states: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00870/full
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053810017303069
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37714573/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8012721/
57 50 percent increase in activity: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00870/full
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.” https://suttacentral.net/mn74/en/sujato?lang=en&layout=plain&reference=none¬es=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin
Chapter 8
1 attention-training skills from ancient systems: Dr. Engler explaining 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 (bhavana) 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…” https://www.atpweb.org/jtparchive/trps-16-84-01-025.pdf, p. 35
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); 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 child-like beginner’s mind, it helps to return to child-like 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, p. 29 Along similar lines, Dr. Daniel Goleman writes of Hindu Bhakti (selfless service): “As in all paths, virtue—in the beginning an act of will—becomes a by-product of the practice itself.” Meditative Mind, p. 43
9 dishonesty is linked with “craving circuitry”: https://www.jneurosci.org/content/34/32/10564.short
10 unethical actions distort memory accuracy: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.03.583239v1.full
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: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms15964
13 giving makes buyers happier: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0272434
14 chemical precursor to serotonin: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01451/full
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 Anguttara Nikāya 11.12.
17 Thinking 'I have done good in the past': Dhammapada 18, trans. Peter Feldmeier, SuttaCentral, accessed May 6, 2026, https://suttacentral.net/dhp1-20/en/feldmeier
18 As the Dhammapada states: Dhammapada 122, trans. Bhikkhu Sujato, SuttaCentral, accessed May 6, 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.” - 18th Century Dzogchen master Jigme Lingpa. - 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: “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": Moving Dhamma Volume I, Bhante Vimalaramsi, p. XX [note: this is not a placeholder page number, but the quote came in the introduction]
23 an endless laundry list: When I was 12 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: Kadloubousy and Palmer, 1969, p. 161 in Goleman, Meditative Mind, p. 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: The Principles of Psychology, Vol. 1
29 Footnote: In Classical Yoga, sense withdrawal: More specifically, pratyahara 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: Talk by Ajahn Geoff on his YouTube Channel “Dhamma Talks by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.” Indulge in the Pleasure of Jhana – Time in video: 5:00 minutes mark exactly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi-DUwT_WmU
31 One student of Dipa Ma recalls: Schmidt, Dipa Ma, 62.
32 "traumatized by beauty": 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” https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/17540739211063851#body-ref-fn4
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 (sensory inputs), like a wrinkly shirt, while those with schizophrenia may suffer hallucinations (narratives) that don’t match reality. These conditions are complex, and this is a broad theory that requires further exploration. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/17540739211063851#body-ref-fn4
36 Agility is about knowing: In the PP framework, optimal precision-weighting involves higher precision (i.e., 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.”
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/17540739211063851#body-ref-fn4
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. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/17540739211063851#body-ref-fn4
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. https://academic.oup.com/nc/article/2024/1/niae011/7631817?login=false See this article for more details.
40 enhanced structural connectivity: Luders et al, “Enhanced brain connectivity in long-term meditation practitioners” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21664467/
41 15-minute daily focused attention: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7821578/
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: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1361002/
45 advanced meditators exhibit increased: https://www.pnas.org/doi/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: Credits to Dr. Tucker Peck for this analogy.
49 experience of Nirvana: Analayo, Signless and the Deathless, p. 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 iinto 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.” Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation, Mark Edsel Johnson, Ph.D., p. 106
51 heavily meditated: I got this idea from meditation teacher Scott Jordan’s t-shirt.
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: {$NOTE_LABEL} https://mhanational.org/mentalhealthfacts
4 these practices are timeless: They ground us in a source of expertise against which to compare modern claims, methods, and theories.
3 10 percent of high school students: {$NOTE_LABEL} https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/su/su7201a6.htm
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, p. 264
7 which are both reliable and practical: For more about the validity of the Suttas, see: The Authenticity of the Early Buddhist Texts by Bhikkhu Sujato and Bhikkhu Brahmali, as well as Early Buddhist Oral Tradition, by Bhikkhu Anālayo. 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 (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: https://www.dhammasukha.org/_files/ugd/d704f3_0efac85d504e4c90aed3bfdb022bf3d1.pdf
10 sensations deflate on their own: Credits 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: https://www.dhammasukha.org/_files/ugd/d704f3_2bfc6647e6854daba38af4a50800c3cb.pdf