Tibetan Buddhist monastic debate: psychological and neuroscientific analysis of a reasoning-based analytical meditation practice

van Vugt, Marieke K.; Moye, Amir; Pollock, Joshua; Johnson, Bryce; Bonn-Miller, Marcel O.; Gyatso, Kalden; Thakchoe, Jampa; Phuntsok, Lobsang; Norbu, Ngawang; Tenzin, Lobsang; Lodroe, Thabkhe; Lobsang, Jampa; Gyaltsen, Jampa; Khechok, Jampa; Gyaltsen, Thupten; Fresco, David M. (2019). Tibetan Buddhist monastic debate: psychological and neuroscientific analysis of a reasoning-based analytical meditation practice. Progress in brain research, 244, pp. 233-253. Elsevier 10.1016/bs.pbr.2018.10.018

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Analytical meditation and monastic debate are contemplative practices engaged in by Tibetan Buddhist monastics that have up to now been largely unexplored in Western contemplative science. The highly physical form of contemplative debating plays an important role in the monastic curriculum. Based on discussions and recorded interviews Tibetan monastic teachers and senior students at Sera Jey Monastic University and preliminary experiments, we outline an initial theory that elucidates the psychological mechanisms underlying this practice. We then make predictions about the potential effects of this form of debating on cognition and emotion. On the basis of initial observations, we propose that successful debating requires skills that include reasoning and critical thinking, attentional focus, working memory, emotion regulation, confidence in your own reasoning skills, and social connectedness. It is therefore likely that the many cumulative hours of debate practice over 20 + years of monastic training helps to cultivate these very skills. Scientific research is needed to examine these hypotheses and determine the role that monastic debate may play in terms of both psychological wellbeing and educational achievement.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Review Article)

Division/Institute:

07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Psychology > Cognitive Psychology, Perception and Methodology

UniBE Contributor:

Moye, Amir Josef

Subjects:

100 Philosophy > 150 Psychology

ISSN:

0079-6123

Publisher:

Elsevier

Language:

English

Submitter:

Amir Josef Moye

Date Deposited:

08 Apr 2021 14:08

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:49

Publisher DOI:

10.1016/bs.pbr.2018.10.018

PubMed ID:

30732839

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Monastic debate, Meditation, Contemplative practice, Emotion regulation

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/154269

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/154269

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