Brains of Buddhist monks scanned in meditation study

BBC News

By Matt Danzico

In a laboratory tucked away off a noisy New York City street, a soft-spoken neuroscientist has been placing Tibetan Buddhist monks into a car-sized brain scanner to better understand the ancient practice of meditation.

But could this unusual research not only unravel the secrets of leading a harmonious life but also shed light on some of the world's more mysterious diseases?

Zoran Josipovic, a research scientist and adjunct professor at New York University, says he has been peering into the brains of monks while they meditate in an attempt to understand how their brains reorganise themselves during the exercise.

Since 2008, the researcher has been placing the minds and bodies of prominent Buddhist figures into a five-tonne (5,000kg) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine.

The scanner tracks blood flow within the monks' heads as they meditate inside its clunky walls, which echoes a musical rhythm when the machine is operating.

Dr Josipovic, who also moonlights as a Buddhist monk, says he is hoping to find how some meditators achieve a state of nonduality or oneness with the world, a unifying consciousness between a person and their environment.

One thing that meditation does for those who practise it a lot is that it cultivates attentional skills, Dr Josipovic says, adding that those harnessed skills can help lead to a more tranquil and happier way of being.

Meditation research, particularly in the last 10 years or so, has shown to be very promising because it points to an ability of the brain to change and optimise in a way we didn't know previously was possible.

When one relaxes into a state of oneness, the neural networks in experienced practitioners change as they lower the psychological wall between themselves and their environments, Dr Josipovic says.

And this reorganisation in the brain may lead to what some meditators claim to be a deep harmony between themselves and their surroundings.

Shifting attention

Dr Josipovic's research is part of a larger effort better to understand what scientists have dubbed the default network in the brain.

He says the brain appears to be organised into two networks: the extrinsic network and the intrinsic, or default, network.

The extrinsic portion of the brain becomes active when individuals are focused on external tasks, like playing sports or pouring a cup of coffee.

The default network churns when people reflect on matters that involve themselves and their emotions.

But the networks are rarely fully active at the same time. And like a seesaw, when one rises, the other one dips down.

This neural set-up allows individuals to concentrate more easily on one task at any given time, without being consumed by distractions like daydreaming.

What we're trying to do is basically track the changes in the networks in the brain as the person shifts between these modes of attention, Dr Josipovic says.

Dr Josipovic has found that some Buddhist monks and other experienced meditators have the ability to keep both neural networks active at the same time during meditation - that is to say, they have found a way to lift both sides of the seesaw simultaneously.

And Dr Josipovic believes this ability to churn both the internal and external networks in the brain concurrently may lead the monks to experience a harmonious feeling of oneness with their environment.

Self-reflection

Scientists previously believed the self-reflective, default network in the brain was simply one that was active when a person had no task on which to focus their attention.

But researchers have found in the past decade that this section of the brain swells with activity when the subject thinks about the self.

The default network came to light in 2001 when Dr Marcus Raichle, a neurologist at the Washington University School of Medicine in the US state of Missouri, began scanning the brains of individuals who were not given tasks to perform.

The patients quickly became bored, and Dr Raichle noticed a second network, that had previously gone unnoticed, danced with activity. But the researcher was unclear why this activity was occurring.

Other scientists were quick to suggest that Dr Raichle's subjects could have actually been thinking about themselves.

Soon other neuroscientists, who conducted studies using movies to stimulate the brain, found that when there was a lull of activity in a film, the default network began to flash - signalling that research subjects may have begun to think about themselves out of boredom.

But Dr Raichle says the default network is important for more than just thinking about what one had for dinner last night.

Researchers have wrestled with this idea of how we know we are who we are. The default mode network says something about how that might have come to be, he says.

And Dr Raichle adds that those studying the default network may also help in uncovering the secrets surrounding some psychological disorders, like depression, autism and even Alzheimer's disease.

If you look at Alzheimer's Disease, and you look at whether it attacks a particular part of the brain, what's amazing is that it actually attacks the default mode network, says Dr Raichle, adding that intrinsic network research, like Dr Josipovic's, could assist in explaining why that is.

Cindy Lustig, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Michigan, agrees.

It's a major and understudied network in the brain that seems to be very involved in a lot of neurological disorders, including autism and Alzheimer's, and understanding how that network interacts with the task-oriented [extrinsic] network is important, she says. It is sort of the other piece of the puzzle that's been ignored for too long.

Dr Josipovic has scanned the brains of more than 20 experienced meditators, both monks and nuns who primarily study the Tibetan Buddhist style of meditation, to better understand this mysterious network.

He says his research, which will soon be published, will for the moment continue to concentrate on explaining the neurological implications of oneness and tranquillity - though improving understanding of autism or Alzheimer's along the way would certainly be quite a bonus

When I first heard the Buddhist teachings on loving kindness, compassion and forgiveness, I was incredibly skeptical. Coming from a background of drugs and violence, I saw those heart qualities as undesirable and perhaps unsafe. In the circles I ran in, compassion was seen as equivalent to weakness and would make you vulnerable to harm and abuse. I learned early on that this world was full of pain and seemed to lack much kindness. In reaction to the pain in my life I began to close my heart and to harden myself against all forms of love. So it was with great hesitance that I experimented with Buddhist practices of kindness and compassion. In the beginning I don't think forgiveness was even in my vocabulary. The only reason I opened my self to these meditation practices, often called heart practices, at all was because I had tremendous faith in the practices of mindfulness (paying attention to the present moment), the Buddha and my teachers, who assured me that it was safe to love again.

I heard things like love is your true nature or the heart has a natural tendency toward compassion. Now, I had already been meditating for some time, examining my inner-world through mindfulness, and I didn't see any of the love and compassion of which these teachers spoke. When I looked into my heart and mind I only saw fear, anger, hatred, judgment, more fear and a lot of lustful cravings. When I sat quietly, paying attention to my breath, my attention was repeatedly drawn into fantasies of vengeful destruction or pornographic sex. One moment I was bashing in my step-father's head with a Louisville slugger, the next I was in a threesome with Madonna and Traci Lords. I was pretty sure that was all that was in there. Mindfulness helped me deal with my inner confusion, it allowed to me to ignore my mind at times or not take it so personally at others, but it didn't seem to be magically creating a loving heart out of my inner-critic/terrorist/pervert/tough guy.

In the early days of my meditation practice I was only interested in mindfulness. I was introduced to breath awareness meditations and as a result I experienced the direct benefits of concentration and mindfulness. I immediately found temporary relief from fear of the future and shame about the past. Learning to train my mind to pay close attention to the present moment was difficult, but fruitful. I experienced the immediate, if only momentary, relief from the suffering I created with my mind's tendency to be lost in the future and past. Before I began my meditation practice, when my mind started to worry about what would happen in the future I would get completely sucked into the fears and often become convinced that the worst-case scenario would play out. Mindfulness gave me the tools to let go of those thoughts and to bring my attention into the body's experience of the breath. Mindfulness made sense to me and it wasn't difficult to gain a verified faith in that aspect of Buddhism. For me, mindfulness proved to be the doorway to the rest of the Buddha's dharma, or teachings. I came to believe that it was going to be possible to train my mind, but I still had no hope for my heart.

When I did practice lovingkindness meditations, my mind was so critical and resistant, it seemed to make my mind louder and my heart harder, not softer. But I continued to practice it anyway. Again, I had seen that mindfulness worked, so it gave me some confidence to try the rest of the Buddha's teachings. Besides, what did I have to lose? I was already unhappy. My heart was already hard. And I began to see that some of what was underneath my fears and lusts was a genuine desire to be free from suffering. Mindfulness gave me my first taste of freedom and I wanted more.

So without much hope, I eventually committed to including kindness, compassion and forgiveness meditations to my daily practice. It was a slow and difficult process to learn to love myself and others. Eventually I began to understand what the Buddha and my teachers were talking about; I began to get glimpses of genuine kindness, compassion and moments of forgiveness. But I have to admit that it took years.

Over my years of meditation practice, which has included regular periods of silent intensive retreats, ranging from five days to three months in length, I have gradually come to experience the compassion, forgiveness, mercy, kindness and generosity that the Buddha promised would be found. My heart has softened, my mind has quieted down. These days, I rarely want to bash anyone's head in. When I think of my step-father, I do so with compassion for how much suffering he must have been in to have been such a jerk back then. My mind focuses easily on the task at hand and I often feel warmth and kindness toward all beings. I now know that compassion is a natural quality of my heart that was laying dormant, waiting to be uncovered.

The Buddhist path is a process of discovery, recovery and a gradual uncovering of a loving heart. I see the process of awakening and healing as being like an archeological dig. In the early days, I was just on the surface. Mindfulness was a tremendous relief, and it acted like a metal detector that allowed me to know there were precious treasures beneath the ground. Mindfulness was also the shovel that began the excavation. But as I began to dig, I first found all the layers of sediment that were covering the heart. The heart practices were a further refining of the soil. I was beginning to sift through the rubble hoping to immediately find treasure. My early days of feeling more unsettled during compassion and kindness exercises was because I was simply uncovering all of the skeletons that had been buried over the years of trying to avoid the pains of my childhood and adolescence. I had become quite skilled at covering the insecurity and reactivity. But each meditative effort of forgiveness, kindness or compassion was another shovel full of dirt, each one getting me closer to the forgotten truth of my heart.

Perhaps, at times, the heart practices could be seen as even finer instruments of archeology. Like the brushes that are used to gently sweep away the remaining dust covering the treasure of our own heart.

Meditations are versatile -- sometimes you need a shovel to do heavy lifting, and at other times something gentler, very subtle and refined, just to dust off the heart. But as we know, sometimes uncovering an ancient city can take a lifetime. There is no timetable that we can count on. There is no guarantee that we will reach the forgotten treasure of compassion anytime soon. What is promised is that it is there, waiting, and at times we can hear it calling to us, begging to be uncovered. The path of meditative training, if followed correctly and with persistence, will always lead to the recovery of our lost love and compassion, one scoop at a time.

I can say all of this with confidence, because I have experienced it directly, as you will as well. These days, my life is filled with a general sense of trust and friendliness. My relationship to my parents, my friends and my wife and daughter are sourced from appreciation, love, compassion and forgiveness. But perhaps more important is the attitude of lovingkindness that permeates my attitude toward strangers. I spent my early life at war with the world. The heart practices of the Buddha taught me to surrender, but not to give up the commitment to creating a positive change. What was once a rebellion fueled by hatred is now a revolution fueled by compassion.

Now, I feel that it is only fair to also offer a warning. The path to uncovering our heart's positive qualities is a radical one. It is fraught with the demons of the heart/mind that in Buddhism we call Mara. Mara is the aspect of heart/mind that creates road blocks, gives excuses, procrastinates and urges us to avoid all of the unpleasant mind states that accompany the healing of awakening. Mara is the inner experience of all forms of greed, hatred and delusion. Mara will attack with vengeance at times, for by committing to the heart's liberation we are committing to face Mara directly.

The Buddha spoke of his battle with Mara, and victory over Mara was won with the weapons of Love, Compassion, Equanimity and Appreciation. After the Buddha's initial victory, Mara did not give up. Mara continued to live with the Buddha throughout his whole life. The Buddha was constantly vigilant, always meeting Mara with a loving awareness, always disarming him with the heart's wisest responses.

There is no one who is unable to love, forgive or be compassionate. Ability is our birthright. All that is required is the desire and willingness. Most people would confess the desire to be free from the hatred, anger and fear that they live with, although there are those who have been so badly injured and confused that they have lost all hope. Or have created a belief in hatred as a noble and necessary quality. It seems like this is the case in much of the western religions, when you worship a God that is judgmental, wrathful and vengeful, it makes sense that those same qualities would become acceptable and perhaps even desirable in oneself.

But before I go off on my Atheist Buddhist rant, let me also say I believe that although it seems true love and the willingness to uncover the heart qualities of forgiveness, mercy and compassion is rare, I do not believe that Buddhists are the only ones who are doing it. As a matter of fact, I think that very few Buddhists are actually applying the teachings of the Buddha to their heart/mind. The Buddha spoke of a middle path, a path that leads against the stream, between the two dead-ends. The first dead-end is that of Worldliness, or seeking or happiness from material or sensual experiences. The second dead-end is that of religion, or seeking happiness from devotion and belief in external salvation. I think that most Buddhist's have fallen into the dead-end of religion. Be careful that you do not make the same mistake.

I hope this view does not discourage you, but rather that it inspires you to make sure that you're part of the rare and precious

미국, 뉴욕- 뉴욕대학의 부교수이자 과학연구원인 조란 조서포빅 박사는 20여 명의 티베트 스님들의 뇌를 스캐너로 검사하여, 참선하는 동안 스님들의 뇌가 어떻게 변화하는지에 대해 연구하고 있다. 머릿속 혈류를 추적하여 수행인이 합일 의식(대상과 하나가 됨)에 어떻게 다다를 수 있는지를 알아보기 위함이다. 참선으로 단련된 주의력은 삶을 더욱 청안하고 행복하게 한다고 조서포빅 박사는 말했다.

참선 연구는 특히 지난 10여 년 동안 상당한 성과가 있었고, 뇌의 변화능력과 그동안 몰랐던 최고의 방식으로의 활성화 가능성을 보여주고 있다. 뇌는 운동 등 외적 활동을 할 때 활성화되는 외부 네트워크와 자신과 감정에 대해 반조할 때 활성화되는 내부의 네트워크로 구성되어있다. 조서포빅 박사는 이 두 네트워크를 동시에 활성화할 수 있을 때 대상과의 합일에서 오는 조화로운 느낌을 경험할 수 있다고 믿는다. 두 네트워크가 조화롭게 구성되었을 때 사람들은 몽상과 같은 망상에 휩싸이지 않고 한 가지 일에 쉽게 몰입할 수 있다. 한편 내부 네트워크에 대한 연구는 우리가 누구인가를 아는 의식이 어떻게 존재하게 되었는지를 말해주고, 알츠하이머와 자폐증 등의 신경정신병의 원인해결에도 일조하고 있다. 조서포빅 박사는 이 신비로운 두 네트워크의 작용을 이해하기 위해 수행자들을 스캔했고, 앞으로도 계속 청안함과 합일의식의 신경학적 의미를 설명하는 연구에 집중할 것이라고 말했다