[FairfieldLife] Re: Published research from the Shamatha Project

[richardjwilliamstexas]

Vaj:
 here's what's been published so far on the  
 Shamatha Project.
 
None of these papers are double-blind studies. 
But, all these papers just validate the practice 
of TM.

The fact is, meditation can help reduce stress, 
one of the major contributors to heart attack, 
according to Dr. Wallace.

Shamatha is just another variant on TM practice, 
similar to Tibetan Dzogchen. So, any scientific 
studies would probably tend to support TM 
research, not invalidate it.

I've practice both 'TM' and 'Shamatha', so I can 
say from experience that they are very similar,
and produce similar results for normal health. 

TM and Shamatha are both object based forms of 
deep meditation. This is true of Zen practice 
and most forms of Tibetan Buddhism. 

The historical Buddha practiced and taught a 
meditation that was akin to TM practice, which 
can lead to the the experience of the ground 
of our consciousness.

Wallace details the movements through the 
meditative stages of samatha practice. Initially, 
one begins with an object of focus and ultimately 
ends up with an objectless meditative awareness, 
which connects one to the ground of all 
conscious activity...

Wallace's Contemplative Science:
http://tinyurl.com/6fpvdk3

Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Published research from the Shamatha Project

[Vaj]

On Jul 7, 2011, at 10:52 AM, richardjwilliamstexas wrote:



Vaj:

here's what's been published so far on the
Shamatha Project.


None of these papers are double-blind studies.
But, all these papers just validate the practice
of TM.

The fact is, meditation can help reduce stress,
one of the major contributors to heart attack,
according to Dr. Wallace.

Shamatha is just another variant on TM practice,
similar to Tibetan Dzogchen. So, any scientific
studies would probably tend to support TM
research, not invalidate it.


The more accurate way to state it is that TM is a variety of  
shamatha, just not a very efficient one.


TM bears no similarity to any Dzogchen practice that I am aware of.

[FairfieldLife] Re: Published research from the Shamatha Project

[sparaig]

That's an impressive number of citations, but most don't show up in the pubmed 
database...

Lawson

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradhatu@... wrote:

 Willy One  Lawson, here's what's been published so far on the  
 Shamatha Project.
 
 Publications
 
 
 
 Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
 
 Jacobs, T.L., Epel, E.S., Lin, J., Blackburn, E.H., Wolkowitz, O.M.,  
 Bridwell, D.A., Zanesco., A.P., Aichele, S.R., Sahdra, B.K., MacLean,  
 K.A., King, B.G., Shaver, P.R., Rosenberg, E.L., Ferrer, E., Wallace,  
 B.A.,  Saron, C.D. (Accepted for Publication). Intensive meditation  
 training, immune cell telomerase activity, and psychological  
 mediators. Psychoneuroendocrinology. [Download PDF]
 
 Sahdra, B.K., MacLean, K.A., Ferrer, E., Shaver, P.R., Rosenberg,  
 E.L., Jacobs, T.L., Zanesco, A.P., Aichele, S.R., King, B.G.,  
 Bridwell, D.A., Lavy, S., Mangun, G.R., Wallace, B.A.,  Saron, C.D.  
 (2011). Enhanced response inhibition during intensive meditation  
 training predicts improvements in self-reported adaptive  
 socioemotional functioning. Emotion, 11(2), 299-312. [Download PDF]
 
 MacLean, K.A., Ferrer, E., Aichele, S.R., Bridwell, D.A., Zanesco,  
 A.P., Jacobs, T.L., King, B.G., Rosenberg, E.L., Sahdra, B.K.,  
 Shaver, P.R., Wallace, B.A., Mangun, G.R.,  Saron, C.D. (2010).  
 Intensive meditation training improves perceptual discrimination and  
 sustained attention. Psychological Science, 21(6), 829-839. [Download  
 PDF]
 
 MacLean, K.A., Aichele, S.R., Bridwell, D.A., Mangun, G.R.,  
 Wojciulik, E.,  Saron, C.D. (2009). Interactions between endogenous  
 and exogenous attention during vigilance. Attention, Perception,   
 Psychophysics, 71(5), 1042-1058. [Download PDF]
 
 Shaver, P.R., Lavy, S., Saron, C.D., Mikulincer, M. (2007). Social  
 foundations of the capacity for mindfulness: An attachment  
 perspective. Psychological Inquiry, 18(4), 264-271. [Download PDF]
 
 Published Abstracts
 
 Saggar, M., MacLean, K.A., Aichele, S.R., Jacobs, T.L., Zanesco,  
 A.P., Bridwell, D.A., King, B.G., Sahdra, B.K., Rosenberg, E.L.,  
 Shaver, P.R., Ferrer, E., Wallace, B.A., Mangun, G.R., Miikkulainen,  
 R.,  Saron, C.D. Cortical activation changes associated with  
 intensive meditation training are related to vigilance performance.  
 Poster to be presented at the Society for Cognitive Neuroscience  
 annual meeting, San Francisco, April, 2011.
 
 Sahdra, B.K., MacLean, K.A., Ferrer, E., Shaver, P.R., Rosenberg,  
 E.L., Jacobs, T.L., Zanesco, A.P., King, B.G., Aichele, S.R.,  
 Bridwell, D.A., Mangun, G.R., Lavy, S., Wallace, B.A.,  Saron, C.D.  
 (2010, August). Response Inhibition Enhanced by Meditation Training  
 Predicts Improved Adaptive Functioning. Poster presented at the  
 annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, San Diego, CA.
 
 Saggar, M., Aichele, S.R., Jacobs, T.L., Zanesco, A.P., Bridwell,  
 D.A., MacLean, K.A., King, B.G., Sahdra, B.K., Rosenberg, E.L.,  
 Shaver, P.R., Ferrer, E., Wallace, B.A., Mangun, G.R.,  Saron, C.D.,  
  Miikkulainen, R. (2010, July).  A computational approach to  
 understand the longitudinal changes in cortical activity associated  
 with intensive meditation training. Paper presented at the annual  
 meeting of the Organization for Computational Neuroscience, San  
 Antonio, TX.
 
 King, B.G., Zanesco, A.P., Bridwell, D.A., Jacobs, T.L., Aichele,  
 S.R., MacLean, K.A., Shaver, P.R., Rosenberg, E.L., Sahdra, B.K.,  
 Ferrer, E., Wallace, B.A.,  Saron, C.D. (2010, April). Accentuate  
 the positive:  Longitudinal effects of intensive meditation training  
 on modulation of the emotion potentiated startle reflex. Poster  
 presented at the annual meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience  
 Society, Montreal, Canada.
 
 Saggar, M., Aichele, S.R., Jacobs, T.L., Zanesco, A.P., Bridwell,  
 D.A., MacLean, K.A., King, B.G., Sahdra, B.K., Rosenberg, E.L.,  
 Shaver, P.R., Ferrer, E., Tang, A. C., Wallace, B.A., Mangun, G.R.,  
 Miikkulainen R.,   Saron, C.D. (2010, January). Training attention:  
 longitudinal changes in cortical activity associated with intensive  
 meditation. Paper presented at the SPIE Human Vision and Electronic  
 Imaging Conference Symposium Presentation.
 
 Saggar, M., Aichele, S.R., Jacobs, T.L., Zanesco, A.P., Bridwell,  
 D.A., MacLean, K.A.,  King, B.G., Sahdra, B.K., Rosenberg, E.L.,  
 Shaver, P.R., Ferrer, E., Tang, A.C., Wallace, B.A., Mangun, G.R.,  
 Miikkulainen, R.,  Saron, C.D. (2009, October). Longitudinal changes  
 in brain activity associated with intensive meditation training.  
 Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Society for  
 Neuroscience, Chicago, IL.
 
 MacLean, K.A.,  Aichele, S.R., Bridwell, D.A., Jacobs, T.L., Zanesco,  
 A.P., King, B.G., Saggar, M., Mazaheri, A., Ferrer, E,. Rosenberg,  
 E.L., Sahdra, B.K., Shaver, P.R., Wallace, B.A., Mangun, G.R.,   
 Saron, C.D. (2009, October). Effects of intensive meditation training  
 on sustained attention: changes in visual 

Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Published research from the Shamatha Project

[Vaj]

On Jul 7, 2011, at 2:56 PM, sparaig wrote:

 That's an impressive number of citations, but most don't show up in the 
 pubmed database...
 
 Lawson


It's not clear to how many, if any more, papers are in the pipeline still. The 
project has been extended with an endorsement by HHDL and is now international, 
the International Shamatha Project.

These actually pale in comparison to overall Mindfulness research, which is 
already over 700 studies and growing at a logarithmic rate. 

The summer camp for scientists at the Garrison, north of NYC, which caters esp. 
to new researchers, has consistently sold out. This means the future looks 
quite bright for meditation research.

[FairfieldLife] Re: Published research from the Shamatha Project

[richardjwilliamstexas]

  Shamatha is just another variant on TM practice,
  similar to Tibetan Dzogchen...
 
 TM bears no similarity to any Dzogchen practice that 
 I am aware of.

The key words here are 'samatha' and samadhi; samatha (calm 
abiding) is a subset of the broader family of samadhi or 
meditation practices, according to Alan Wallace, (page 6). 

Buddhist meditation is called object oriented meditation 
- mental objects such as as bija mantras, breathing, a 
certain scriptural passage such as the Hridaya Sutra, 
etc. Buddhist shamatha meditation is cognate with Patanjali's 
sixth limb: dharana.

In Tibetan Buddhism, the samatha instructions are presented 
in the Kagyu tradition by sGampopa. You should recognize 
the TM practice if you had studied under a Tibetan master.

So, I can only conclude that you have neither training in 
TM or in Tibetan Buddhism. Go figure.

From the Mahamudra point of view, we should not desire 
meditative equipoise nor have an aversion to discursive 
thoughts and conflicting emotions but view both of these 
states with equanimity. Again, the significant point is not
whether meditative equipoise is present but whether we are 
able to maintain awareness of our mental states. If 
disturbing thoughts do arise, as they certainly will, we 
should simply recognize these thoughts and emotions as
transient phenomena... - Traleg Kyabgon (pages 149-152).

Work cited:

'The Attention Revolution'
By Alan Wallace
Wisdom Publications, 2006, p.6

'Mind at Ease'
by Traleg Kyabgon
Shambhala, 2004