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Buddha and Mind

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Re: Buddha and Mind

#31

Post by raz32dust »

cwkoss wrote: post #24

"In meditative states, the monks had remarkable control over their body temperature and oxygen intake. They could use their body heat to dry wet towels placed around them, where most people would shiver uncontrollably. They could raise the temperature of their fingers and toes by as much as 17 degrees. Some could even spend a night on a rocky ledge at an elevation of 15,000 feet in the Himalayas, where temperatures f…

I was also curious about this. Looks like it is slightly exaggerated [1]

It is 17 degrees Fahrenheit, and the study mentions 8.3 degrees Celsius. A linked follow up study in 2013 was able to reproduce temperature increases between 1 and 6 degrees Celsius [2] Also, the results suggest that "...the peripheral temperature increases are primarily the result of increased peripheral blood flow due to peripheral muscular action (and proximity of the femoral artery) rather than a result of psychological (caused by meditation) or physiological (caused by breathing or isometric techniques) states." It looks like it is caused by blood vessels opening up (vasodilation) as a response to certain kinds of breathing exercises. If true, it is just an indirect result of the practice, not some form of body control that extends to other use cases.

[1] https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/harvard-study-confirms-tib... [2] https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...

Re: Buddha and Mind

#32

Post by ramchip »

pasquinelli wrote: post #9
tokenpreneur wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Worry not, for secular meditation does not get that far. Otherwise we'd have seen a psychosis pandemic vis-à-vis Calm.com's 40 million app installs.

what's app installs got to do with meditation? i guess that's your point though.

It's a meditation app

Re: Buddha and Mind

#33

Post by pmoriarty »

Falandafa2021 wrote: post #8

Meditation is about quieting ones mind to ultimate stillness. This is where the ego disolves which is not exactly in alignment with the culturally dominant materialism that we find surrounding us (i.e. the quest for money power and status) all things that rely on an inflated ego. Using meditation to improve in moving up in society is like using wood logs to put out a fire.

"Meditation is about quieting ones mind to ultimate stillness."

There are probably hundreds of different techniques of meditation, in many different traditions, and with different aims.

For some, like in many types of Christian meditation, the purpose can be to deepen one's relationship with God. Quieting the mind or stillness might be part of a way to get there, but not the ultimate aim.

Even in Buddhism, there are, say, so-called loving-kindess-meditation which is less about quieting the mind than about increasing compassion and goodwill towards oneself and others.

In Buddhism there are also forms of meditation that seek simple nonjudgmental awareness, and others (like "just sitting") don't have any aim at all.

In various tantric forms of meditation the goal might be to liberate sexual energy.

Vajrayana Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sufism have many of their own forms of meditations with various aims.

Re: Buddha and Mind

#34

Post by berniemadoff69 »

nothing zen about animated sticky headers that make the page jump around when you scroll down. a giant "Information on NEH and COVID-19:" banner that takes up 1/4 of the screen and won't go away. why is this acceptable?

Re: Buddha and Mind

#35

Post by Falandafa2021 »

thewarrior wrote: post #18
PraetorianGourd wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn’t distill an entire region of the globe down to wanting money, power and status. Nor would I say that wanting those things, especially money, requires an inflated ego. The stereotype of the noble destitute is overplayed. Wanting to be able to provide for my family and have financial security can be noble as well. It’s how one accomplishes those things that can be unethical. Perhaps mindfulness helps someone…

You’re being a little unfair to the commenter here. The western interpretation of meditation is that the rat race can stress you out so meditate once in a while so you can keep running. Hence the name mindfulness based stress reduction. This can help a lot of people but this was not what the Buddha was about. Buddhism goes far deeper and it’s understandable why they want to sell a more sanitized version. I can’t imag…

Thank you for explaining much better than myself friend :)

As a practitioner of a Buddhist practice (see my username), meditation is about developing and mastering concentration the mind. The Buddha taught Meditation with out precepts (or living a moral life properly aligned with the universe) was in vain. This is this the reason the Buddha stressed precepts on how one should live as ultimately a mind focused on the material world and self interest will never have the stillness of one living a life of virtue for others which is why many people find meditation so awesome until they try to still there minds and blame the practice for this inability like in this article.

The problem I see is the framing of meditation into the portrait of modern society.

Re: Buddha and Mind

#36

Post by [deleted] »

pmoriarty wrote: post #33
Falandafa2021 wrote: post #8

Meditation is about quieting ones mind to ultimate stillness. This is where the ego disolves which is not exactly in alignment with the culturally dominant materialism that we find surrounding us (i.e. the quest for money power and status) all things that rely on an inflated ego. Using meditation to improve in moving up in society is like using wood logs to put out a fire.

"Meditation is about quieting ones mind to ultimate stillness." There are probably hundreds of different techniques of meditation, in many different traditions, and with different aims. For some, like in many types of Christian meditation, the purpose can be to deepen one's relationship with God. Quieting the mind or stillness might be part of a way to get there, but not the ultimate aim. Even in Buddhism, there are,…

[deleted]

Re: Buddha and Mind

#37

Post by Falandafa2021 »

pmoriarty wrote: post #33
Falandafa2021 wrote: post #8

Meditation is about quieting ones mind to ultimate stillness. This is where the ego disolves which is not exactly in alignment with the culturally dominant materialism that we find surrounding us (i.e. the quest for money power and status) all things that rely on an inflated ego. Using meditation to improve in moving up in society is like using wood logs to put out a fire.

"Meditation is about quieting ones mind to ultimate stillness." There are probably hundreds of different techniques of meditation, in many different traditions, and with different aims. For some, like in many types of Christian meditation, the purpose can be to deepen one's relationship with God. Quieting the mind or stillness might be part of a way to get there, but not the ultimate aim. Even in Buddhism, there are,…

> For some, like in many types of Christian meditation, the purpose can be to deepen one's relationship with God. Quieting the mind or stillness might be part of a way to get there, but not the ultimate aim.

A true Buddhist would argue that divinity is within a truly quiet mind.

See my username for one such practice

Re: Buddha and Mind

#38

Post by meristohm »

cwkoss wrote: post #24

"In meditative states, the monks had remarkable control over their body temperature and oxygen intake. They could use their body heat to dry wet towels placed around them, where most people would shiver uncontrollably. They could raise the temperature of their fingers and toes by as much as 17 degrees. Some could even spend a night on a rocky ledge at an elevation of 15,000 feet in the Himalayas, where temperatures f…

I breathe deeply and quickly through my nose with my whole torso (rather than just my belly, a mistake I carried along since teen years) to warm myself. I don’t have near the purported abilities some do, but what I can do so far I find useful. It can also help me go to sleep, as maintaining such breathing takes all my mental bandwidth, at the expense of rumination.

I recommend reading Breath, by James Nestor.

I also recommend only taking cold showers, because they feel great afterwards and because they save water and heat energy. “Breathing up” beforehand helps me bite the bullet if I’m feeling reticent.

Re: Buddha and Mind

#39

Post by pasquinelli »

ramchip wrote: post #32
pasquinelli wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what's app installs got to do with meditation? i guess that's your point though.

It's a meditation app

yeah, i got that, but installing an app isn't meditating, even if it's a meditation app. a measurment of app installs doesn't give you information on people's meditation practice.

Re: Buddha and Mind

#40

Post by tokenpreneur »

pasquinelli wrote: post #39
ramchip wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a meditation app

yeah, i got that, but installing an app isn't meditating, even if it's a meditation app. a measurment of app installs doesn't give you information on people's meditation practice.

You do not need information on their meditation practice to support the idea that secular meditation is on the rise and proof of that rise is at the very least evident in a secular meditation app getting such a large amount of installs.
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