The Giant Tomato That Crushed My House

In a recent article for <a href="https://psyche.co/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Psyche</a>, science journalist Shayla Love shares a fascinating preliminary exploration of a particular type of meditative experience — or lack thereof — in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theravada" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Theravada Buddhism</a> called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhyana_in_Buddhism#Nirodha-sam%C4%81patti" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">nirodha-samāpatti</a>, from a neuroscientific and psychological perspective. Nirodha-samāpatti, a meditative experience in which a person is believed to cease all mental function and sensation, is a highly advanced state described in Theravada Buddhism, with interesting parallels in other Buddhist lineages. According to Love, <a href="https://rubenlaukkonen.com/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Ruben Laukkonen</a> and other researchers from Australia’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Cross_University" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Southern Cross University</a>, and the meditation teacher <a href="https://delsonarmstrong.info/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Delson Armstrong</a> (the test subject of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0079612322001984?via%3Dihub=" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Laukkonen et al.’s neuroimaging study</a>), nirodha-samāpatti functions as a type of personal reset for a meditator. While one may not be conscious in this state, when they return from it, they find themselves freed of a preexisting entrapment of some kind. <a href="https://medium.com/interfaith-now/the-giant-tomato-that-crushed-my-house-b7f6f671650">Read More</a>