Dhamma vicaya: Investigating Nature

Loosely translated as ‘discrimination of states’, ‘investigation of doctrine’, or ‘searching the Truth’, the principle of Dhamma vicaya has drawn comparisons to modern scientific and philosophical thought. Dhamma vicaya is the second of the ‘seven factors of awakening’ which are said to precede the actualisation of mindfulness.  The principle motivates individuals to explore Nature, with special attention devoted to oneself. We become the objects of critical inquiry, just as nature is the subject of critical inquiry for the scientist.

It is not hard to see Buddhism as a combination of both speculative and scientific philosophy. In essence, it asks the questions, ‘What is the nature of the mind? And what is the nature of matter?’ These two questions are addressed in the hard sciences through Physics and Neuroscience. It also asks which, mind or matter, are of greater importance? Do our ideas of nature determine how nature manifests itself to us, or does nature determine our ideas of it? This debate of materialism vs. idealism is deeply rooted in Buddhism as much as it is rooted in Western philosophical thought, and is arguably still a matter of dispute.

The epistemological target of Buddhism is the self. And so, it is not surprising that metaphysically, Buddhism lends itself to more of an idealistic interpretation of the external world. That is, our ideas of nature determine how nature presents itself to us. The mind or consciousness precedes the physical. There is some science which is compatible with this idea. Wave-particle duality, how subatomic particle behavior can resemble both particles and waves simultaneously is still an enigma of science. The double slit experiment (check out Jim Al-khalili’s explanation on youtube) demonstrates that it is the observer who determines whether a particle acts as a wave, or behaves as a localised physical entity. In this case, it is the presence of a conscious being which determines how the material world manifests itself to us. This works well within the confines of an idealistic interpretation of nature.

Electroencephalography: Measuring Meditation

Electroencephalography (EEG) is a method that cognitive scientists, psychologists and physiologists use to detect and measure electrical activity in the brain. Small electrodes are placed along patient’s heads which measure voltage resulting from the firing of neurons in the brain. EEG is used mainly for the diagnosis of cognitive impairments, but it also can offer us an illuminating light into the minds real-time activity. A graph measures fluctuations in electrical activity, giving us a visual representation of our very own ‘brain waves’. EEG has been used to measure changes in brain activity of participants who practice meditation, and the results pointed to something quite interesting, that meditative brain activity is quite distinguished from sleeping and conscious activity.

The electrical measurements taken from a range of study participants who had varied meditative experience showed patterns similar to expert Zen meditators. These patterns were distinguished by large amplitude alpha waves which slowly decreased in frequency. The alpha waves are created through the synchronisation in the oscillation of cells in the brain, and they are at their most abundant during conscious relaxation with closed eyes. Alpha waves diminish when either our eyes are opened or we fall asleep. It is at this purgatorial stage that meditation operates, we haven’t quite entered the pearly gates of nap time, and we haven’t quite left the hustle and bustle of full bodily awareness.

For some, increasing alpha wave activity is an attractive proposition because of its close relationship with relaxed states. Currently, meditation is being explored as a type of ‘biofeedback training’. EEG can inform subjects when alpha wave activity increases, enabling them to make conscious links between thought processes and spikes in alpha waves activity. Psychologists have hopes to employ these techniques to help suffers of phobias, hyperactivity and stutterers bring back a little bit of calmness and relaxation into their lives.

Further Reading: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/167/3926/1751

Physiological Effects of Meditation

While I have professed the psychological effects of meditation in my previous blog posts, I now want to move onto some of the physiological effects that the practice can bring. Intuitively, common sense can already tell us what kind of consequences bringing the body to a contemplative resting state will induce. Meditation is a relaxing process, so symptoms associated with relaxation like the lowering of the heart rate, changes in metabolism, respiration and blood pressure are not surprising.

It is thought that these effects are elicited by the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system. After eating food, or having sex, the parasympathetic nervous system kicks into gear and focuses the body’s attention to things like digestion and rest. When someone begins a meditative routine we basically trick our parasympathetic nervous into action, which is why we see these symptoms like the lowering of the heart rate and heightened activity in the gut. The parasympathetic nervous systems works in contrast to the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for our ‘fight or flight’ response at times of high stress. So meditating can subdue the effects of the sympathetic nervous system. While it is vital to our survival, the sympathetic nervous system releases hormones into our blood stream which help us cope with high-stress situations, not the type you want floating around while you are trying to chill out.