Judson Brewer at Yale is doing research on post Path yogis to try and determine differences between the pre-Path and post-Path brain. Path refers to the Theravada Buddhist map of the 4 Paths one must attain for enlightenment and specifically indicates a moment of "cessation" (one definition of nirvana) that occurs at the end of the meditative cycle known as the Progress of Insight. Commonly yogis acquire the ability to access certain jhanas (pleasant concentration states) after attaining Paths, with 4th Path being a common definition of enlightenment, although 4th Path is not quite the end.
Owen Becker relates the story in Meditating In A Big, Magnetic Tube Part I from the Hamilton Project Blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment