Peace of mind

Harvard Yoga Scientists Find Proof of Meditation Benefit

By Makiko Kitamura - Nov 22, 2013

Scientists are getting close to proving what yogis have held to be true for centuries -- yoga and meditation can ward off stress and disease.

While hundreds of studies have been conducted on the mental health benefits of yoga and meditation, they have tended to rely on blunt tools like participant questionnaires, as well as heart rate and blood pressure monitoring. Only recently have neuro-imaging and genomics technology used in Denninger’s latest studies allowed scientists to measure physiological changes in greater detail.John Denninger, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School, is leading a five-year study on how the ancient practices affect genes and brain activity in the chronically stressed. His latest work follows a study he and others published earlier this year showing how so-called mind-body techniques can switch on and off some genes linked to stress and immune function.

Lokadhamma sutta (AN8:5)

Gain and loss, disrepute and fame,
blame and praise, pleasure and pain:
these conditions that people meet
are impermanent, transient, and subject to change.

A wise and mindful person knows them
and sees that they are subject to change.
Desirable conditions don’t excite his mind
nor is he repelled by undesirable conditions.

Report of Buddhist Climate Statement Presented at COP21 Paris

Venerable Rathana Thera hands over the Buddhist Climate Statement to French President Hollande at COP21. "This is not a question of one nation or two nations. This is a question of humanity. Our world is our home,” the Dalai Lama said. “There’s no other planet where we may move or shift." Toward the end of 2015, a dedicated volunteer group worked diligently behind the scenes worldwide to facilitate a global Buddhist contribution to COP21. This involved many calls across time zones, negotiations, with numerous discussions back and forth. The resulting declaration has not been widely noted or commented on in Buddhist circles, but nevertheless, it was a significant contribution and achievement, given how difficult it can be to bring Buddhist groups together across traditions and continents. The groups and individuals who collaborated together on this are listed below. Great credit goes to Ciara Shannon of Our Voices, who coordinated the process. Read a report from Buddhist Door.

4 questions

Breathing In vs. Spacing Out

JAN. 14, 2014 nytimes

Two and a half millenniums ago, a prince named Siddhartha Gautama
traveled to Bodh Gaya, India, and began to meditate beneath a tree. 
Forty-nine days of continuous meditation later, tradition tells us, he 
became  the Buddha — the enlightened one.

More recently, a psychologist named Amishi Jha traveled to Hawaii to train
United States Marines to use the same technique for shorter sessions to
achieve a much different purpose: mental resilience in a war zone.

“We found that getting as little as 12 minutes of meditation practice a day
helped the Marines to keep their attention and working memory — that is,
the added ability to pay attention over time — stable,” said Jha, director
of the University of Miami’s Contemplative Neuroscience, Mindfulness
Research and Practice Initiative. “If they practiced less than 12 minutes
or not at all, they degraded in their functioning.”

In the Buddha's teachings

Walk this way!

These are the five benefits for one who practices walking meditation. Which five?

[1] He can endure traveling by foot;
[2] He can endure exertion;
[3] He has little disease;
[4] Whatever he has eaten & drunk, chewed & savored, becomes well-digested;
[5] The concentration he wins while doing walking meditation lasts for a long time.
These are the five rewards for one who practices walking meditation.
~ Cankama sutta (AN 5:29)

Four Brahmavihāras

“The Middle Path in Daily Life"

Question : How can I apply the middle path in daily life? How do we know that we have strayed from the middle path? For example, some people take unfair advantage of us or have crossed the limit of acceptable behavior. How should I respond so that I am keeping to the middle path?

Tan Ajahn: In order to maintain the middle path, you have to learn to develop the four brahmavihāras, the four states of the Brahma, which are mettā, karunā, muditā, upekkhā. These are the four qualities to apply in your daily lives.

Landmark decision by Chinese Buddhists to ban killing wildlife

December 23, 2014

	Photo: Scientific American

The China Buddhist Associationhas issued a declaration calling all Buddhist followers to “Protect Life with Compassion and Mercy-Release Appropriately”.

The declaration stated: 

“The Buddha’s nature is in all living things. The lives of animals are just as precious as those of humans. Malicious killing will bring bad karma. Buddhism teaches that ‘all living things in the Six Realms of Samsara are my father and mother”, therefore all Buddhist followers should love and protect all lives with gratefulness and compassion -- ‘if you see people killing an animal, you should try to save the animal and shelter it from suffering’.