Last Updated on January 14, 2025 by pg@petergamma.org
The Dalai Lama the 14 th asked Richard R. Davidson to study the effect of meditation on the body and the brain with the latest scientific methods.
One result was the PNAS paper from 2004:
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0407401101
And for instance the following YouTube video about the brain waves of Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche:
Daniel Goleman s explanations on YouTube:
And the book „Altered Traits“
And a result was also “How meditation changes our brain, with Mingyur Rinpoche”
And Aren t Mingyur Rinpoche s instruction not near to a comedy of Swiss Comedian Emil Steinberger?
Peter Gamma from www.petergamma.org
became interested in this project around 2004 through a video of Matthieu Ricard:
But where do we stand 20 years later? Was this project not already controversial at the beginning? Are there other scientists than this group interested in this meditation research project? Do for instance psychiatrists use brain scanners for therapeutic applications? In some cases they use it for diagnosis. But did this project have any practical applications, for instance how psychotherapists and psychiatrists treat their patients in Switzerland? Peter Gamma from www.petegamma.org does not know of such changes in Switzerland.
The only change in his life was the Meditation Research Institute Switzerland (MRIS):
This Research institute in Switzerland has no grant for research. Is building will be demolished, soon. So don t take this project too serious.
So what is the result of all of this? Did Richard R. Davidson make a fool of the Dalai Lama the 14 ?
What do you think when you see YouTube videos like this?
Did Richard R. Davidson saw this coming aleady in 2004? Is an issue of this project it s funding? A funding which seems to be private funding? And the goal of participators seems to make money out if it as soon as possible?
With the result that everything is sold from:
TGAM modules for 20 USD
To “Altered Traits” for 30 USD
which discusses the effect of a daily practice of 20 min. on the body and the brain. But what is the effect of 20 min. doing something different than meditation on the brain? Is the brain not altered as well if we do something different than meditation for 20 min a day?
Peter Gamma from www.petergamma.org has not read „Altered Traits“ yet. He will study it, but most probably will not read it trough completely. Was not Mingyur Rinpoche s review about this book enough everybody should now about it?
For Peter Gamma from www.petergamma.org, his interest shifted away from science toward spiritual teachers such as Milarepa.
Their knowledge has been transmitted over thousands of years, and was still helpful for Peter. And as far as science is concerned, he will get his information in university libraries as this one in the future:
https://infozentrum.ethz.ch/en
And not in the web and on YouTube or in popular scientific books anymore. Since who wants to reject again and again things which previously have been rejected by scientific journals of a high level?