Sign in to follow this  
RobB

“Meditation Sickness”

Recommended Posts

Might be interesting to some:

 

“Meditation Sickness” in Medieval Chinese Buddhism and the Contemporary West

 

C. Pierce Salguero 

 

A certain percentage of people report experiencing adverse mental and physical side effects from practicing meditation. Contemporary scientific literature and personal reports from meditators are beginning to document the phenomenon, but centuries-old Buddhist texts also warned about the dangers of “meditation sickness.” Writings from medieval China not only identify the adverse mental and physical symptoms that can arise in the course of meditation practice, but also explain why these occur and how they can be effectively treated. Might these materials contain important therapeutic information that is relevant for meditators today? What would be required to make this historical knowledge accessible for contemporary practitioners and clinicians? And do our disciplinary norms as religious studies scholars even allow us to ask such questions?

 

https://blogs.dickinson.edu/buddhistethics/files/2023/08/Salguero-Finalized-ms-for-publication47.pdf

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Sign in to follow this