During Buddhist meditations that involve one-pointed concentration, analytical meditation on bodhicitta and emptiness, and tantric visualizations, auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) in 115 Buddhist monks show decreased mismatch negativity amplitudes, decreased N1 and P2 amplitudes to deviant stimuli, and decreased P3a amplitudes to novel stimuli compared to a control state of relaxed wakefulness. These outcomes suggest that such meditations are accompanied by a reduction in the physiological processes responsible for maintaining attention on the outside world and recognizing changes in sensory stimuli.
Analytical meditation and monastic debate, contemplative practices central to Tibetan Buddhist monastic training at Sera Jey Monastic University, have been largely unexplored in Western science. Based on discussions with teachers and senior students and preliminary experiments, the authors outline a theory of the psychological mechanisms underlying this highly physical form of debate. They propose that successful debating requires reasoning, critical thinking, attentional focus, working memory, emotion regulation, confidence in reasoning, and social connectedness. The cumulative hours of debate practice over 20+ years of monastic training likely cultivate these skills. Scientific research is needed to test these hypotheses and determine debate's role in psychological wellbeing and educational achievement.