Last Updated on August 30, 2023 by pg@petergamma.org
By meditating daily for 20 min, or by meditating for 13 years as a full-time training in a cave? We have Richard Davidson who says “learning to be happy is no different than learning the violin”, and only 20 of daily practice is enough for changes which can be objectively measured in a brain scanner. But what does that mean? Does that not simply mean, practicing mediation causes changes in the brain, and we can measure and have an effect starting from 20 min. of daily practice?
But are 20 min of daily practice enough to heal a person who suffers from a mental illness? Spiritual teachers as for instance Yogi Bhajan, the Dalai Lama the 14. and Thích Nhất Hạnh teach completely different numbers. We mentioned those before in our journal.
We have the historical reports of Dilgho Kihenzhe Rhinpoche who was meditating for 13 years in a cave, until he wanted to do this for the rest of his life. We dare to call this an enlightenment experience. Unfortunately, Dilgho Kihenzhe Rhinpoche was not allowed to do this for the rest of his life. He eventually would have founded a school of meditators who would have followed him and teach it to the world.
Also other great masters of yoga and meditation started early in their childhood meditating or practicing yoga, and did this as their full-time training. From Thích Nhất Hạnh we can learn that children become enlightened faster than adults. So it is important to start to mediate early in our childhood to be successful in our practice. Several of these well-known spiritual teachers indicated that they meditate daily for 4 – 5 hours a day. This is much more than the 20 min. which Richard Davidson does.
Ajahn Amaro says in the Buddhist tradition you are not completely sane until you are fully enlightened. Are not only spiritual masters fully enlightened, who become then eventually teachers? And as we said before, to put all of these phenomena on a scientific basis, do we not need 17 or 18 Dilgho Kihenzhe Rhinpoches who meditate for around 13 years in a cave who are tracked with brain scanners, or even better as a lifetime journey, do find out what really happens in the brains of these meditatitors?
But if we would know this, would this not be a Nobel prize topic, since it would be knowledge which could be helpful for people who suffer from a mental illness which no medical doctor can cure.