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Meditation and Unconscious: A Buddhist Monk and a Neuroscientist (2022)

22 points by arunc 9mo ago

N_Lens 9mo ago
As a practitioner of meditation and a student of Buddhism, this article offers a limited perspective. In my humble opinion there are many many different modes of consciousness that do not benefit from the simple 'antidotes' described in this article. But then again I've read Matthieu Ricard's book and find his writing to be less than compelling, very subjective and generalizing ideas that have easy to find exceptions. Not to take away from the absolute wealth of knowledge in Buddhism.
- rramadass 9mo ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46656543 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46656543
- deleted 9mo ago
  [deleted]
- MeteorMarc 9mo ago
  But this excerpt is a play between two characters. Ricard looks for the most effective perspective to communicate his knowledge, so it is not fair to accuse him of a limited perspective.
- jonway 9mo ago
  I find this so worthwhile though: "Sometimes you are just sitting there, thinking of nothing in particular, and suddenly the thought of someone or a particular event or situation pops up in the mind, seemingly out of nowhere. From there, a whole chain of thoughts begins to unfold, and if you are not mindful, you can easily get lost in it." Man, if only 18-year-old-me could have realized this!!
rramadass 9mo ago
The classic book on this subject is Zen and the Brain: Toward an Understanding of Meditation and Consciousness by James H. Austin - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_and_the_Brain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_and_the_Brain and https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262511094/zen-and-the-brain/ https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262511094/zen-and-the-brain/ and http://www.zenandthebrain.com/ http://www.zenandthebrain.com/ Be warned though; it is a huge, dense and detailed book since the author is both a neuroscientist/neurologist and a zen meditation practitioner himself.
- anthk 9mo ago
  Look up the articles and videos from Alex Gómez Marín too. A few of these are in Spanish, but technical Spanish will almost perfectly map into technical English with any good online translator. I'd say the wording, constructs and Romance based words in papers are 100% the same and they will translate perfectly fine.
anthk 9mo ago
That reminds me on Lee Si Chen, a great Electrical Engineer (IEEE level) but a fringe science supporter. Yes, a bit like Will Beaty and in its infamous web from the 90's, but he put all of these theories under a section "just in case some cracknut it's right". Back to Si Chen, here you have: - Paper about finger reading https://ijhc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/SCLee-2-2.pdf https://ijhc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/SCLee-2-2.pdf - Video explanation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ9g1CM5m8Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ9g1CM5m8Q

22 points by arunc 9mo ago

As a practitioner of meditation and a student of Buddhism, this article offers a limited perspective. In my humble opinion there are many many different modes of consciousness that do not benefit from the simple 'antidotes' described in this article. But then again I've read Matthieu Ricard's book and find his writing to be less than compelling, very subjective and generalizing ideas that have easy to find exceptions. Not to take away from the absolute wealth of knowledge in Buddhism.

rramadass 9mo ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46656543 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46656543
deleted 9mo ago
[deleted]
MeteorMarc 9mo ago
But this excerpt is a play between two characters. Ricard looks for the most effective perspective to communicate his knowledge, so it is not fair to accuse him of a limited perspective.
jonway 9mo ago
I find this so worthwhile though: "Sometimes you are just sitting there, thinking of nothing in particular, and suddenly the thought of someone or a particular event or situation pops up in the mind, seemingly out of nowhere. From there, a whole chain of thoughts begins to unfold, and if you are not mindful, you can easily get lost in it." Man, if only 18-year-old-me could have realized this!!

rramadass 9mo ago

The classic book on this subject is Zen and the Brain: Toward an Understanding of Meditation and Consciousness by James H. Austin - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_and_the_Brain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_and_the_Brain and https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262511094/zen-and-the-brain/ https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262511094/zen-and-the-brain/ and http://www.zenandthebrain.com/ http://www.zenandthebrain.com/ Be warned though; it is a huge, dense and detailed book since the author is both a neuroscientist/neurologist and a zen meditation practitioner himself.

anthk 9mo ago
Look up the articles and videos from Alex Gómez Marín too. A few of these are in Spanish, but technical Spanish will almost perfectly map into technical English with any good online translator. I'd say the wording, constructs and Romance based words in papers are 100% the same and they will translate perfectly fine.

anthk 9mo ago

That reminds me on Lee Si Chen, a great Electrical Engineer (IEEE level) but a fringe science supporter. Yes, a bit like Will Beaty and in its infamous web from the 90's, but he put all of these theories under a section "just in case some cracknut it's right". Back to Si Chen, here you have: - Paper about finger reading https://ijhc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/SCLee-2-2.pdf https://ijhc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/SCLee-2-2.pdf - Video explanation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ9g1CM5m8Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ9g1CM5m8Q