Cognitive Phenomenology in the Study of Tibetan Meditation: Phenomenological Descriptions Versus Meditation Styles

Measuring a Journey without Goal: Meditation, Spirituality, and Physiology

“…Buttle makes the point that meditations involving the simultaneous coordination of visual (imagery) and verbal (mantra/chanting) practices are likely to involve working memory systems and notes that Buddhist texts often refer to mindfulness in the context of memory (e.g., remembering to return to the object of focus when the mind has wandered), whereas the secular practice of mindfulness has focused on attention [ 8 ]. Even the type of imagery used in a meditation can yield differences, with deity meditation (visualizing ones body/mind as that of a deity), but not mandala meditation (mentally imagining the environment), nor rig-pa meditation (awareness without an object of focus), yielding improved performance on visual and spatial working memory tests [ 58 ]. Such findings support the view that instead of adhering to strict categories, such as FA and OM, meditation should be viewed on a spectrum, which allows for consideration of techniques that are self-transcending in the sense that they aim to change their own activity and experience [ 58 – 60 ].…”

“…Even the type of imagery used in a meditation can yield differences, with deity meditation (visualizing ones body/mind as that of a deity), but not mandala meditation (mentally imagining the environment), nor rig-pa meditation (awareness without an object of focus), yielding improved performance on visual and spatial working memory tests [ 58 ]. Such findings support the view that instead of adhering to strict categories, such as FA and OM, meditation should be viewed on a spectrum, which allows for consideration of techniques that are self-transcending in the sense that they aim to change their own activity and experience [ 58 – 60 ].…”

“…Moreover, as these practices involve a high degree of self-reflection on the part of the meditator, it would be beneficial to compare behavioral and physiological measures with first person accounts (see Buttle for an example of a self-reflective account [ 71 ]). Some work in cognitive- and neurophenomenology has already begun [ 58 , 72 – 74 ]. This approach actively involves “…the participant in generating and describing specific and stable experiential or phenomenal categories” and can “…provide a way for experimenters to better control and identify the subjective aspects of attention and emotion regulatory processes” [ 11 ].…”

“…This approach actively involves “…the participant in generating and describing specific and stable experiential or phenomenal categories” and can “…provide a way for experimenters to better control and identify the subjective aspects of attention and emotion regulatory processes” [ 11 ]. For example, Louchakova-Schwartz was able to contrast two types of Vajrayana meditation, where one (rigpa) is empty of cognitive contents, but not cognition, while the other (deity meditation) involved the visualization of complex and meaningful images [ 58 ].…”

The Minimal Phenomenal Experience questionnaire (MPE-92M): Towards a phenomenological profile of “pure awareness” experiences in meditators

“…Scientific research in the past century has occasionally taken an interest in states of "pure awareness," but mostly from a descriptive angle and using qualitative methods ( [1,2]; for a review see [3]). Quantitative, including psychometric, approaches have been lacking, particularly with regard to the phenomenology of such experiences [3][4][5][6].…”