[Buddha-l] neuroscience: neural plasticity

[S.A. Feite]

On May 31, 2007, at 1:07 AM, Joy Vriens wrote:

>>> 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.

In order to understand what it's referring to, I think it would be  
helpful to understand what the word for compassion (Tib.: thugs rje)  
in Dzogchen *means* and how it's used and different from the lower  
vehicles in the ninefold division of the Nyingmapa.

>
>> 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?

Perhaps, but how communicative (relatively speaking) could someone in  
extended retreat be, esp. if they were observing silence? I would  
argue that the "spontaneous qualities" of this state can still  
communicated without gross speech. The level of compassion being  
engaged here would be that of rtsal and gdangs, the compassionate  
manifestation of the outer and inner space as a self-perfected  
mandala. See http://rywiki.tsadra.org/index.php/thugs_rje  and
http://rywiki.tsadra.org/index.php/gdangs for detailed definitions.

Steve