Towards an Active Inference Account of Deep Meditative Deconstruction
January 26, 2024 preprint DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/d3gpf (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Topics | Buddhism Meditation |
| Keywords | Inference Phenomenology philosophy Deconstruction building Epistemology Generative grammar Impermanence Interpretation philosophy Artificial intelligence |
| Citations | 5 |
| Key points | Proposes that Buddhist defabrication can be understood as a deconstructive process driving inference to lower hierarchical levels of a generative model through the release of mental tensing, corresponding to reductions in belief precision. |
Abstract
This paper explores the intersection of deep meditative deconstruction, in particular the Buddhist defabrication process and its associated phenomenology, and computational mechanisms under the active inference framework (AIF). We contextualise states such as the jhānas within this process, drawing on both Buddhist theoretical frameworks and contemporary phenomenological understanding. We take a step towards ‘translating’ Buddhist meditation-based phenomenology into computational neurophenomenology. We demonstrate how Buddhist defabrication can be understood as a deconstructive process driving inference ever lower in an agent’s hierarchical generative model by the repeated release of mental tensing associated with clinging and aversion. We cast this release of mental tensing as corresponding to a hierarchical level-specific reduction in belief precision, permitting the interpretation of Buddhist notions such as equanimity and meditative stillness under AIF. We then illustrate the deconstruction process up to its conclusion in a cessation of phenomenal experience, touching on how states traversed during the process may inform areas related to core-knowledge structuring and the generation of experience.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on buddhism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mental balance and well-being: Building bridges between Buddhism and Western psychology. | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Buddhist Modernism and the Rhetoric of Meditative Experience | 1995 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Buddhist and Psychological Perspectives on Emotions and Well-Being | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Too Early to Tell: The Potential Impact and Challenges—Ethical and Otherwise—Inherent in the Mainstreaming of Dharma in an Increasingly Dystopian World | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From self to nonself: The Nonself Theory | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |