Keeping in mind of the Buddhist deep thought by the Zanabazar (1635-1723), who was spiritual head of the Mongolian Buddhism, we try to make some analyses on his works of Buddhist philosophy namely “Prayer for creating peaceful time”, “The meditation on the deep meaning of mantra Maani” and “Soyombo -“Self arising wisdom or letters”. In the above mentioned works, he emphasized that any conflicts...
This paper explores the field of contemplative neuroscience as a means of studying consciousness on both neurological and experiential levels. While our current scientific paradigm favors the view that consciousness is a purely physical phenomenon and should be examined as such, contemplative neuroscience posits that awareness, attention, and emotion are malleable skills that can be refined in...
Alastair Macaulay titles his 2008 New York Times review of the Merce Cunningham Company with the phrase ‘The Body’s War Within: Stillness vs. Motion’. In his portrayal of the Cunningham Company, he suggests that Cunningham in his 66 years was consistently investigating motion in stillness and stillness in motion to uncover inner qualities — serenity, rigour — that do not change even as their...
This essay frames Dickinson as a poet relevant to contemporary ecological thinking and sustainability studies by examining the meditative awareness embedded in her poetic production. In particular, the essay theorizes Dickinson’s “breath poetics,” or the consistent attention she drew to conscious breathing, as a tool to endure suffering that also serves as the metaphorical vitality of her...
The field of contemplative science is rapidly growing and integrating into the basic neurosciences, psychology, clinical sciences, and society-at-large. Yet the majority of current research in the con-templative sciences has been divorced from the soteriological context fromwhich these meditative practices originate and has focused instead on clinical applica-tions with goals of stress...
This study explored whether drinking tea "treated" with good intentions would enhance mood more than drinking ordinary tea, under double-blind, randomized conditions. Each evening, for seven days in a row, volunteers recorded their mood using the Profile of Mood States (POMS) questionnaire. On days three, four, and five of the test, each participant drank 600 mL of oolong tea in the morning and...
Contemporary philosophical and neurocognitive studies of the self have dissociated two distinct types of self-awareness: a "narrative" self-awareness (NS) weaving together episodic memory, future planning and self-evaluation into a coherent self-narrative and identity, and a "minimal" self-awareness (MS) focused on present momentary experience and closely tied to the sense of agency and...
Using a common set of mindfulness exercises, mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) and mindfulness based cognitive therapy (MBCT) have been shown to reduce distress in chronic pain and decrease risk of depression relapse. These standardized mindfulness (ST-Mindfulness) practices predominantly require attending to breath and body sensations. Here, we offer a novel view of ST-Mindfulness's...
Various forms of mental training have been shown to improve performance on cognitively demanding tasks. Individuals trained in meditative practices, for example, show generalized improvements on a variety of tasks assessing attentional performance. A central claim of this training, derived from contemplative traditions, posits that improved attentional performance is accompanied by subjective...
The use of mindfulness-related methods for the treatment of a variety of psychological, somatic and interpersonal problems has increased dramatically in the last decade. Almost all mindfulness-based therapies include the practice of meditation in addition to various cognitive and/or behavioral techniques. The source of inspiration for mindfulness has traditionally been Buddhism, while Islamic...