[HN Gopher] EEG Study of Buddhist Jhana Meditation (2019)
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       EEG Study of Buddhist Jhana Meditation (2019)
        
       Author : Curiositry
       Score  : 80 points
       Date   : 2025-02-17 23:43 UTC (23 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.frontiersin.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.frontiersin.org)
        
       | nprateem wrote:
       | I can recommend 2 books for those who want to try to learn, but
       | tbh i think a retreat is still required to reach them:
       | 
       | 1. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Right-Concentration-Practical-
       | Guide...
       | 
       | 2. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mindfulness-Bliss-Beyond-
       | Meditators...
       | 
       | Leigh Brasington reports that people he's spoken to who have
       | studied kundalini yoga say the strong piti of the first jhana is
       | the same as awakening the kundalini, so there's a bit of an "all
       | roads lead to Rome" about these practices, which is encouraging.
       | 
       | Both authors are on dharmaseed. Worth checking them out. They're
       | both great teachers.
        
         | MonkeyIsNull wrote:
         | Leigh is fantastic, I would also recommend Shaila Catherine's
         | book `The Jhanas: A Practical Guide to Deep Meditative States`
        
           | nprateem wrote:
           | Yes a good book, but I found Ajahn Brahm more accessible on
           | the 'deep' jhana side.
        
         | nico wrote:
         | Excellent
         | 
         | There are some great conversations and resources on
         | r/streamentry on Reddit as well
         | 
         | Also this is a good video interview about the neuroscience of
         | jhanas:
         | https://www.youtube.com/live/G6UBx95TJbQ?si=32XvUfFwp2lVRYnm
        
         | abeppu wrote:
         | But as Leigh Brasington spends a lot of time discussing,
         | sources and teachers differ in their definitions of the jhanas.
         | IIRC Brasington distinguishes between jhanas as described in
         | the suttas (especially early suttas) and jhanas as described in
         | the later commentaries like the Visuddhimagga, and he also
         | gives a lot of attention to defining/translating the jhana
         | factor terms in a somewhat idiosyncratic way. In this
         | particular context, linking jhanas to specific EEG patterns, I
         | think it's not entirely clear whether following another method
         | would lead you to the same states visited by these Samatha
         | Trust practitioners.
         | 
         | I further think that Brasington and Ajahn Brahm differ
         | meaningfully, in that Ajahn Brahm in his "preliminary" steps
         | actually sets a pretty high bar.
        
           | nprateem wrote:
           | Yeah exactly, Leigh goes for what's been termed jhana-lite
           | while Ajahn Brahm basically says if you don't see a nimita
           | it's not legit. Maybe he's right, maybe he's just keeping it
           | more elitist, or just swayed by the fact he's living a
           | monastic lifestyle unlike Brasington (except on retreat), so
           | accesses deeper states. But Leigh is no slouch and says he's
           | been to all jhanas countless times (but also says he's not
           | awake so...). That's the distinction he makes from those two
           | parts of the canon, and argues that jhana lite is what the
           | Buddha taught.
           | 
           | For me, either of them would be an improvement over my normal
           | waking state, so I'm not too concerned. But yeah, it's good
           | to be aware of both perspectives, that's why i suggested
           | them.
        
       | zozbot234 wrote:
       | (2019)
        
         | dang wrote:
         | Added above. Thanks!
        
       | morninglight wrote:
       | Yes, this is the mindful state even you can attain.
       | 
       | https://youtu.be/JlBDWXDGDzg
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_hypnotism
        
       | abeppu wrote:
       | The author of this study Paul Dennison also wrote a book Jhana
       | Consciousness which discusses both this work as well as giving a
       | more religious background on the jhanas, as well as the Samatha
       | Trust organization that teaches the form of meditation
       | specifically used by the participants in this study.
        
       | swayvil wrote:
       | Hey I've done some samatha meditation.
       | 
       | In samatha you do a thing with your attention.
       | 
       | Your attention is basically your root sense. The sense behind
       | your seeing, thinking, hearing, smelling etc.
       | 
       | Your attention is usually all boggled and agitated, so it doesn't
       | see so good.
       | 
       | In samatha you de-agitate your attention. Make it calm. When it's
       | calm you see better. Much better. Stuff that was invisible
       | becomes visible.
       | 
       | Samatha is a refined form of concentration. All of the people
       | here are pretty familiar with concentration and what it's good
       | for. So in samatha you just take it further.
        
         | vosper wrote:
         | Sounds useful - do you still practice samatha meditation? If
         | not then what made you stop?
        
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