What if you could take a pill and become enlightened? Or what if you
could replace your pills with a spiritual practice? Here is an
interesting article entitled, Buddhism: The New Prozac for Scientists:

Peace,

Robert
http://sify.com/news/scienceandmedicine/fullstory.php?id=13253101

Buddhism: The new Prozac for scientists


Tuesday, 16 September , 2003, 16:16

Cambridge (Massachusetts): For Americans seeking to improve their
health, the US surgeon general advises putting aside one hour,
several times a week, for "compassionate" meditation and the
elimination of destructive emotions.
Actually, he doesn't. He prescribes 60 minutes of physical exercise.
But noted molecular biologist Eric Lander, a leader of the Human
Genome Project, believes the change is coming.

"It is certainly not inconceivable that 20 years from now, the US
surgeon general might recommend 60 minutes of mental exercise five
times a week," Lander told a conference of renowned scientists and
Buddhist scholars at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) this weekend.

Such a prediction from a man of Lander's stature at a venue like MIT
is an indication of mainstream science's growing fascination with
Buddhism, and especially with the preliminary but extraordinary
results of state-of-the-art research into the Olympian mental
athleticism of trained Buddhist monks.

Some of the data presented at the conference -- attended by Tibet's
spiritual leader the Dalai Lama -- pointed not only to attention
spans that would make an air-traffic controller weep with envy, but
also meditation techniques that could actually "re-wire" the brain's
neural pathways.

In the age of Prozac, the possible applications could leave mood-
altering pills on the shelf.

Harvard-trained neuroscientist Richard Davidson showed brain-scan
images of a monk who was able to push levels of activity in his left,
prefrontal cortex -- a part of the brain associated with positive
emotions -- "off the chart" by using a technique known as compassion
meditation.

In a different meditative state, the same monk could do what, until
then, had been thought to be impossible and suppress the "startle
reflex" -- the involuntary response to a loud, sudden noise like a
gunshot.

Paul Ekman, one of the world's most eminent experts on the science of
emotion, described the monk's level of control as a "spectacular
accomplishment."

"We've never found anyone who can do that," Ekman said. "We don't
have any idea of the anatomy that would allow him to suppress the
startle reflex."

Another test showed advanced meditators to be capable of startlingly
high speeds of cognition, correctly identifying the moods behind a
series of facial expressions flashed onto a screen for just one-
thirtieth of a second.

They scored far higher than groups previously identified as the best
performers, such as psychiatrists, customs officials and Secret
Service agents.

Alan Wallace, a former monk and president of the Institute for the
Interdisciplinary Study of Consciousness in Santa Barbara, believes
Buddhist practices aimed at improving emotional and cognitive balance
could be powerful tools, and not just in treating depression and
mental illness.

"I see no reason why some of these techniques could not be introduced
into the school system," Wallace said.

"People will do better in education and a myriad of professions
because they are happier, more balanced and more attentive," he
added. "It's a win-win situation. Not having that in the educational
system is a disaster."

One obvious problem raised by several of the scientists at the
conference was that the monks involved in the studies had honed their
mental skills over the best part of a lifetime, putting in tens of
thousands of hours of meditation.

"It's a wonderful achievement, but if it takes 15 years, it's not
going to help most folks," said Daniel Gilbert, a professor of
psychology at Harvard University.

"I would be very surprised if there's a short-cut that could be
developed; a sort of Buddhist pill that one could take and achieve
all the same benefits," Gilbert said.

Another objection comes from those who believe there may be a price
to pay in the Buddhist practise of reducing or eliminating negative
or "afflictive" emotions, in favour of their positive counterparts.

One argument suggests some of the emotions that fall in the negative
camp -- such as anger or fear -- are important for survival and can
have positive consequences.

"Martin Luther King was an angry man and a lot of good things came
from his anger," Gilbert said.

"And evolutionary biologists have a word for animals that don't
experience fear. It's called 'dinner'," he added.