lunes, 28 de septiembre de 2015

Australasian Association of Buddhist Studies (AABS)
Dear list members,

Our next seminar will be at 6:00-7:30pm on Wednesday October 7 in the Common Room (N480) of the John Woolley Building, University of Sydney.

We hope you can attend.

Kind regards,
AABS Executive


Relaxation vs. arousal: A comparison of the neurophysiological responses between Theravada and Vajrayana meditative practices

Based on evidence of parasympathetic activation, early research defined meditation as a relaxation response. Later research categorized meditation either involving focused or distributed attentional systems. Neither of these hypotheses received strong empirical support, and most of the studies investigated Theravada style meditative practices only. We collected Electrocardiographic (EKG) and Electroencephalographic (EEG) responses using a participant pool of experienced Theravada practitioners from Thailand (Yannawa Temple, Bangkok) and Nepal (the International Buddhist Meditation Center, New Baneshwor) and Vajrayana practitioners from Nepal (Shechen monastery, Kathmandu). Both focused (Shamatha) and distributed (Vipassana) attention meditations of the Theravada tradition produced enhanced parasympathetic activation, indicative of a relaxation response.  Both focused (Deity) and distributed (Rigpa) meditations of the Vajrayana tradition produced sympathetic activation, indicative of the state of arousal (the state of being awake and responsive to stimuli). Consistent with Tibetan tests, which describe Shamatha and Vipassana techniques as calming and relaxing the mind, and Vajrayana techniques as requiring wakefulness, we show that Theravada and Vajrayana meditations are based on different neurophysiological mechanisms.

Maria Kozhevnikov received her PhD from Technion (Israel) jointly with UC Santa Barbara. Since 2001, she has held faculty positions at Rutgers and George Mason Universities. Her current primary appointment is as an Association Professor of Psychology at the National University of Singapore. Maria’s research focuses on examining neural and cognitive mechanisms underlying individual differences in visual imagery. She explores attentional and visualization processes during different meditative practices and is particularly interested in neurocognitive processes underlying Vajrayana meditative practices and how they are different from other meditative traditions (e.g., Theravada), for which she devoted more than 10 years of travelling and conducting field studies in Nepal, India and Tibet.


Buddhist reliquary stupa

Gold leaf covered schist reliquary in the form of a stupa.  Kusana period, North Western India. National Museum, Karachi, Pakistan. Copyright: Huntington, John C. and Susan L.Huntington Archive