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Buddhist monk's brain produces highest reported level of gamma waves

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Re: Buddhist monk's brain produces highest reported level of gamma waves

#31

Post by sageikosa »

themgt wrote: post #24

I find it poetically ironic the way Western media/attention on Matthieu Ricard always focuses on him being "the happiest" - a completely inwardly-focused, selfish goal. The exact opposite of the type of worldview buddhism advocates

I do not see an indication that "happiness" was the goal. Happiness is a subjective measure one uses to gauge one's effectiveness in obtaining one's goals. We don't know what he is trying to obtain when having his gamma waves measured, but we can be certain that he believes he is obtaining those goals.

Re: Buddhist monk's brain produces highest reported level of gamma waves

#32

Post by digitalsushi »

wallawe wrote: post #28

Good article, but it leads you to believe that meditation is the key to his happiness. I'm not here to discount the potential benefits of meditation but I think it's important to keep in mind how much effort the monks put into living an altruistic life. Meditation may help bring to the surface subconscious thoughts and feelings, but the responsibility of taking action and improving negative circumstances that are rea…

Meditation that causes an action to not otherwise occur should be counted as action, or certainly not meaningless.

Re: Buddhist monk's brain produces highest reported level of gamma waves

#33

Post by wjy »

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #5
rd108 wrote: post #2

You can actually use these electrical signatures to make meditation a trackable, quantifiable "exercise activity". Just like you log running miles with, say, RunKeeper. Really cool to see more people getting excited about it the science! Disclaimer: cofounder at a startup doing this.

Sorry if others don't like this but can you elaborate either by pointing me at your startup, with more science or both? I'm going to go on a Google spree but I'm curious about your take. This is completely foreign to me, it fails my bs test but to hear not just the words scientific, but quantifiable, piques my interest.

There's a book called Buddha's Brain that documents several studies of people meditating while being scanned by an fMRI machine. It's quite fascinating. Regular meditation alters connections in the brain, similar to how working out a muscle changes the muscle.

I was on the fence on whether claimed effects of meditation were real, and reading this book clinched it for me. It anchored the claims I'd read elsewhere in something I actually believe - fMRI scans of brain activity.

Re: Buddhist monk's brain produces highest reported level of gamma waves

#36

Post by blissofbeing »

themgt wrote: post #24

I find it poetically ironic the way Western media/attention on Matthieu Ricard always focuses on him being "the happiest" - a completely inwardly-focused, selfish goal. The exact opposite of the type of worldview buddhism advocates

Being happy isn't a selfish goal, in fact buddhism looks at this as a non-selfish goal. Buddhism totally advocates for happiness[1], it is only your perception that happiness is selfish that is in error.

[1]http://thinkexist.com/quotation/i_believe_that_the_very_purp... "“I believe that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness." -Dali Lama

Re: Buddhist monk's brain produces highest reported level of gamma waves

#37

Post by danielwozniak »

themgt wrote: post #24

I find it poetically ironic the way Western media/attention on Matthieu Ricard always focuses on him being "the happiest" - a completely inwardly-focused, selfish goal. The exact opposite of the type of worldview buddhism advocates

Its unfortunate that the article does not do much to explain what "happiness" in this context means. These monks are meditating on compassion and the wish to benefit all sentient beings. The gamma waves are a byproduct of this type of meditation. The scientists are making the link between gamma rays and happiness, not the monks.

Re: Buddhist monk's brain produces highest reported level of gamma waves

#38

Post by neanderdog »

themgt wrote: post #24

I find it poetically ironic the way Western media/attention on Matthieu Ricard always focuses on him being "the happiest" - a completely inwardly-focused, selfish goal. The exact opposite of the type of worldview buddhism advocates

Hmm, some recent thoughts of his on selfishness.. http://www.matthieuricard.org/en/index.php/blog/253_ayn_rand...

Re: Buddhist monk's brain produces highest reported level of gamma waves

#39

Post by guylhem »

blissofbeing wrote: post #36
themgt wrote: post #24

I find it poetically ironic the way Western media/attention on Matthieu Ricard always focuses on him being "the happiest" - a completely inwardly-focused, selfish goal. The exact opposite of the type of worldview buddhism advocates

Being happy isn't a selfish goal, in fact buddhism looks at this as a non-selfish goal. Buddhism totally advocates for happiness[1], it is only your perception that happiness is selfish that is in error. [1] http://thinkexist.com/quotation/i_believe_that_the_very_purp... "“I believe that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness." -Dali Lama

The quest of being happy is a selfish quest. Selfishness is a good thing to me.

Helping other (altruism) is also a good thing - since it serves your own selfishness (makes you more happy to see people happy - especially if you made them happy). The only limit is the damage it may cause them (ex: encouraging sloth)

The only bad thing is sacrifice - sacrificing the others or even worse, yourself, is very rarely a good thing - a good rule of thumb is thus to avoid sacrifices.

(words from a libertarian who finds many interesting things in buddhism)

Re: Buddhist monk's brain produces highest reported level of gamma waves

#40

Post by Permit »

sageikosa wrote: post #19
sp332 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He was the happiest man tested, but they haven't tested very many people. "Matthieu Ricard... has been the subject of intensive clinical tests at the University of Wisconsin, as a result of which he is frequently described as the happiest man in the world. It's a somewhat flattering title, he says, given the tiny percentage of the global population who have had their brain patterns monitored by the same state-of-the-…

He's probably quite happy that he gets so much attention and has to do so little except sit around and smile.

Yes, he spent 26 years studying Buddhism so he could get media attention.

What's with this dismissive attitude?

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