"Flatlining" the brain at will (video)

CC Liu, Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; self-proclaimed jhana expert Vern Lovic

What are the intricate workings of the mind, and how are they experienced within?

 

(Gavin Johnson/flickr.com)

Vern Lovic: I'm curious. Has anyone run MRIs (magnetic resonance imagings) of meditators that have reached a flatline mind -- no thought... stopped mind?

WQ: a flatline would seem to indicate that someone is dead. But, yes, it's been done. It is causing a wave in new medical research. There is neurotheology, where people have "GOD on the brain." There is scientific mind reading. There is at least one meditator sufficiently skilled as to directly manipulate his EEG readings. (See below). He is not a monk but can flatten his line at will, a skill of great subtlety and practice. Yet, it would seem, he must be thinking to intend it and be aware that he is getting the results he is after.

Monk's fMRI (Zoran Josipovic video still)

In a laboratory tucked away off a noisy NYC street, a soft-spoken neuroscientist (Zoran Josipovic) has been placing Tibetan monks into a car-sized brain scanner to better understand the ancient practice of Buddhist meditation. Could this unusual research unravel the secrets of leading a harmonious life and also shed light on some of the world's more mysterious diseases? Josipovic, a research scientist and adjunct professor at NYU, says he has been peering into the brains of monks. Brains of meditating monks get MRI scans.

VL: The monks are meditating, so they're doing something. There is another state -- the state of, well, "flatline" for lack of a better word. 

WQ: We tracked him down, Vern, so you could see it for yourself. A functional MRI scan would certainly show activity. "Flatlining" is for graphs with lines, which is characteristic of an EEG (electroencephalograph) machine. It is the remarkable speaker Ken Wilber, who videotaped his own flatlining to demonstrate the amazing level of self control he can exhibit. 

His proficiency is such that he can enter states that would seem to be reserved not only to arhats but wondrous masters. We covered him back in 2009. Look: "Family Guy" Meditation Master Ken Wilber!

Flatline

(IntegralNaked) Ken Wilber stops his brain, flatlines, at will.

This is incredible! (psychcentral.com)

Ken Wilber can stop his brainwaves on demand. Actually -- and in a more serious vein -- this is the famous EEG machine recording where Wilber enters various meditative states, one of which is a type of "thoughtless," "image-less," or "formless" state: 

His brainwaves come to an almost complete stop, as clearly recorded on this portable EEG machine. (This video is discussed in One Taste, April 10 entry).

Wilber was asked to do a short 10-minute commentary on these various meditative states and the corresponding brain-wave patterns that are shown on the EEG machine in the video. He enters four meditative states (nirvikalpa samadhi with closed eyes, open eyes, sahaj ["ever present awareness"], and mantra-savikalpa), each of which has a very distinctive brain-wave pattern.

In his commentary, Wilber emphasizes that the patterns shown on this machine may or may not be typical, but they do emphasize that profound states of consciousness can be evoked at will, and these show immediate correlations in brain-wave patterns.

If nothing else, seeing somebody's brainwaves flatline in about four seconds is a sight not easily forgotten! It also explains why it was once heard that Wilber's girlfriend, upon delivering news that she thought might not be happily received, "Now, um, honey, make your brain waves go to zero..."

More seriously, as Wilber often says, "If you want to know God [Brahman], you've got to get your brain out of the way first. It's just one big stupid filter...."

Enlightenment and Magic (sutra)

Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly based on Ajahn Thanissaro, Abbot of Wat Metta, translation of the Pali Susima Sutra, "About Susima" (SN 12.70)

The future Buddha behind the Himalayas in Ladakh, Buddhist India

 

Meditating and striving in the forest

This sutra or discourse is sometimes cited as "proof" that a meditator can attain full enlightenment without having practiced the meditative absorptions (jhanas), classified as "serenity-meditation" rather than insight-meditation. But a careful reading shows that it does not support this assertion at all.
 
The new enlightened ones (arhats) mentioned here do not deny that they have attained the first four absorptions (the "form" jhanas) that make up the definition of the Noble Eightfold Path factor "right concentration."
 
Instead, they simply say that they have not acquired any psychic powers that stem from developing these meditative states to a higher degree, and they say they do not remain in physical contact with the four higher levels of concentration, the immaterial states or "formless" jhanas.

In this discourse, their definition of "release by wisdom" is no different than that given in AN 9.44. (Compare this with the definitions of "bodily witness" and "released in both ways" given in AN 9.43 and AN 9.45).

Taken in the context of the Buddha's many other teachings on "right concentration" (samma samadhi), there is in fact every reason to believe that the new arhats mentioned in this discourse had developed at least the first absorption before attaining enlightenment.

About Susima 

Siddhartha under tree, Mes Aynak (livescience.com)

 

Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One [Buddha] was staying near Rajagaha in the Bamboo Grove, at the Squirrels' Sanctuary. Now at that time the Blessed One was revered, honored, venerated, given homage. He was a recipient of robes, almsfood, lodgings, and medicinal requisites.

The monastic community composed of both monks and nuns was also revered, honored, venerated, and given homage. They were recipients of the same four requisites. But the wanderers of other dharmas (paths) were not revered, honored, venerated, or given homage, nor were they recipients of robes, almsfood, lodgings, or medicinal requisites.

 

The Buddha was reluctant to perform marvels

Now at that time the wanderer Susima was living in Rajagaha with a large following of wanderers (wandering ascetics). Susima's following of wanderers said to him, "Come now, friend Susima. Go live the high life under Gotama the ascetic [the Buddha]. When you have completely mastered that Dharma, tell it to us. When we have completely mastered it, we will teach it to householders and then we, too, will be revered, honored, venerated, given homage, and we too will become recipients of robes, almsfood, lodgings, and medicinal requisites."

 

He responded to his own following, "As you say, friends!" Then the wanderer Susima went to Ven. Ananda and, on arrival, exchanged courteous greetings with him and sat respectfully to one side. Sitting there, he said to Ven. Ananda, "Friend Ananda, I want to live the high life in this Dharma and Discipline."

 

Then Ven. Ananda took the wanderer Susima to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed, sat respectfully to one side. As he was sitting there he said to the Blessed One, "Venerable sir, this wanderer Susima has said, 'Friend Ananda, I want to live the high life in this Dharma and Discipline.'"

 

"Then in that case, Ananda, give him the going forth [monastic ordination]." So the wanderer Susima gained the going forth in the presence of the Blessed One and gained acceptance (into the Buddhist community of monastics).

 

Enlightened beings in ancient Thai-Laotian style (Trianons/flickr.com)

 

Now at that time a large number of monastics had declared final knowledge (enlightenment) in the presence of the Blessed One: "We know and see that 'birth is ended, the high life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for the sake of this world.'"

 

And Ven. Susima heard of this, so he went to those monastics and, on arrival, exchanged courteous greetings with them and sat respectfully to one side. Sitting there, he asked: "Is it true, as they say, that you have declared final knowledge the presence of the Blessed One: 'We know and see that birth is ended, the high life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for the sake of this world'?" "Yes, friend," they replied.

 

"Then having known thus, having seen thus, do you wield manifold supernormal powers? 

 

"Having been one are you able to become many; having been many are you able to become one? Do you appear and vanish at will? Go unimpeded through walls, ramparts, and mountains as if going through space? Are you able to dive in and out of the earth as if it were water? Can you walk on water without sinking as if it were dry land? Sitting cross legged, are you fly through the air like a bird? With your hands are you able to touch and stroke even the sun and moon, so mighty and powerful? Do you exercise influence of your body even as far as the Brahma worlds?" More