The Abhidhamma, a classical Buddhist doctrine, offers a profound understanding of cognitive processing and sensory perception, concepts formulated over 2700 years ago and recently reflected in modern neuroscience. It presents a sophisticated cognitive model in which consciousness (citta), mental factors (cetasika), and materiality (rūpa) co-arise and function in a causally interdependent...
The philosophy of consciousness without an object represents a profound inquiry into the nature of consciousness when divorced from its typical objects of thought, perception, or attention. This paper examines the theoretical underpinnings, implications, and philosophical challengesof a consciousness that does not necessarily tether itself to an object. Drawing from classical and contemporary...
The Tukdam Project directed by affective neuroscientist Richard Davidson at the University of Wisconsin-Madison since 2013 has investigated Buddhist practitioners in India entering a Tibetan Buddhist post-death meditative state called tukdam (Tib., thugs dam), where the body demonstrates attenuated decomposition and presents an altered postmortem chronology process. Through a collaboration of...
This paper proposes a transpersonal ecology framework aimed at reestablishing the connection between humans and nature, addressing ecological crises through an expansion of consciousness. Pairing the consciousness theories of Stanislav Grof with the ecological disconnection critique of Steve Taylor, this hypothetical simulated paper presents and discusses the proposed concepts of how meditation...
The term consciousness has been discussed in ancient as well as modern philosophy. Even though the modern sciences are trying to enrich the details about consciousness from the eye of easy problem of consciousness. Here one ancient Indian philosophical text discussing about consciousness is Yoga Sūtra. Generally Yoga Sūtra is considered to be the best philosophy to learn about the Aṣṭāṅga Yogic...
In this age of increasing stress, fragmentation, and productivity demands, “life optimization” has grown in popularity across disciplines. On the other hand, contemporary approaches tend to prioritize external success metrics above the deeper, more comprehensive well-being that results from internal harmony. As a comprehensive guide to living one’s best life, Patanjali Yog Darshan provides a...
With its diverse array of age-old wisdom traditions, Indian philosophy maintains a strong and lasting influence in the modern world. This essay explores the various ways that the basic ideas of Indian philosophical systems—, which include metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and spiritual practices—resonate with and provide insightful analysis of urgent contemporary issues. We investigate the...
To explore the effect of a 6-week online program of yogic breathing, meditation, and gentle postures for parents of infants hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). From Oct 2021 to Oct 2023, we conducted a two-center pilot study of yoga for NICU parents. We assigned consented parents of NICU inpatients to receive yoga classes (YG) and/or usual care for parent support (UC)...
However, Yoga is widely regarded as a very old mind body practice with the potential to lead to mental health and wellbeing. In this study, the supplement of Yoga to pharmacotherapy in the management of mental health disorders was investigated. Although no pharmacological interventions still remain the bedrock of treatment for disease such as depression, anxiety or stress related, Yoga has a...
This paper addresses our difficulty in grasping how something like consciousness could emerge from the processes of our brain, aiming to explain the intuitions that underlie this struggle. I start with an investigation of materialism, revealing that its supporters often have deep-seated dualist intuitions implicitin some of the language they use. I then question whether we can warrant the claim...