[Buddha-l] neuroscience: neural plasticity

[Joy Vriens]

Steve,

>> Well that is the point, I have studied compassion and learned to   
>> visualise my mother (poor thing, if only she knew what I did to   
>> her) undergoing all sorts of hardships, walking barefoot in the   
>> snow and other Dickensian visions, going to the hell realms because   
>> of things she did for my sake etc. Then we were supposed to   
>> meditate on that to develop compassion. Some people would have   
>> tears running donw their cheeks. The end result was supposed to be   
>> a strong resolution to achieve awakening for the sake of all   
>> beings. So I don't know what the monk with the 100 sensors on his   
>> head did to end up feeling great joy, but he or me must have been   
>> doing something wrong. 

>You were performing compassion with reference points. The study we   
>are talking of was with people meditating "on" non-referential   
>compassion--non-dual compassion. These are remarkably different   
>styles of practice. 

If it is "non-referential" and "non-dual", any emotion, anything could have done the trick. It basically is a meditation, and even that would be a wrong term, on "non-duality". It rather is contemplation, passive non-referential meditation. 
 
>The effect is one can become, for all intents and purposes,   
>relatively free of afflictive emotions and radiate this possibility   
>for others. 

The effect is that one feels good and this somehow is communicative. Can we agree on that?

Joy