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
Institute of Artificial Intelligence & Cognitive Engineering, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Department of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Prog Brain Res. 2019;244:233-253. doi: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2018.10.018. Epub 2019 Jan 3.
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.
分析性冥想和寺院辩论是藏传佛教僧人所从事的沉思修行方式，而在西方沉思科学领域，迄今为止它们在很大程度上尚未得到探索。沉思辩论这种高度身体力行的形式在寺院课程中发挥着重要作用。基于与色拉杰寺僧院大学的藏传佛教寺院教师和高年级学生的讨论、记录访谈以及初步实验，我们勾勒出一个初步理论，阐明这种修行背后的心理机制。然后，我们对这种辩论形式对认知和情感的潜在影响做出预测。基于初步观察，我们提出成功的辩论需要包括推理和批判性思维、注意力集中、工作记忆、情绪调节、对自身推理能力的信心以及社会联系等技能。因此，在超过20年的寺院训练中积累的大量辩论练习时间很可能有助于培养这些技能。需要进行科学研究来检验这些假设，并确定寺院辩论在心理健康和教育成就方面可能发挥的作用。
