Documentary: Monks in the Lab

The information and links below are copy-pasted from an entry by Leaf Dharma on I have found only this streaming video link of the two working. It sheds light on some of the contemporary research going on in a few labs in the US (e.g. Stanford) and Europe comparing the brains and reactions of meditation trainees (H. H. Dalai Lama has asked monks to volunteer for these tests) and the common folk. For those who get a kick out off MRI scans, EEG machines and proving things to each other using the scientific method, rather than focusing on the internal work that needs to be done 😉

Monks in the Laboratory

Chögyal Rinpoche

Monks in the Laboratory 
Monks in the lab is a story of human and scientific adventure. Monks in the lab enables viewers to explore the frontiers of scientific research, personal health and mind and spirit. Why is contemporary science interested in meditation? Why is meditation good for your health? Why are Buddhist monks allowing Western researchers to use technology to probe their brains and bodies?
Buddhists have been studying the human mind and spirit with no technological tools at all for 2500 years. They have developed meditation techniques that increase mindful attention and transform the emotions. But these techniques have been long unknown or ignored in the West.
But today’s scientific researchers have more and more to deal with the nagging and universal questions of the nature of the emotions and the mind. Buddhist experience and knowledge are of increasing interest. Just what are “emotions”? What do we mean by “mind”?
The scientists of the project “Mind and life” who are studying the meditative states are pioneers in their field. They try to understand the mechanisms by which the mind influences the body and explore the extraordinary plasticity of the brain.


Streaming 2


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