BG 063: Unwavering Samadhi: Meditative Achievement and Its Impact in the World

BG 063: Unwavering Samadhi: Meditative Achievement and Its Impact in the World

by B. Alan Wallace

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Episode Description:

We continue our discussion with Buddhist teacher and author, B. Alan Wallace, on the impact of the recently completed Shamatha Project. Dr. Wallace shares the astounding levels of concentration that were achieved during the 3-month retreats he led and tells us more about the achievement of shamatha. Find out how deep the students on this retreat went, and why nearly %20 of them decided to continue on with intensive retreat practice after it was over!

Dr. Wallace also discusses the potential impact that a study of this magnitude could have on the scientific community as well as the culture-at-large. Questions that the study aimed to answer included, “Is it possible to train attention?” & “Does meditation have an effect on ethics?”. While the answers may be obvious to meditators, having them scientifically validated could have a major impact on the fields of education, mental health, and psychology.

This is part 2 of a two-part series. Listen to Part 1: Reverberations from The Shamatha Project.

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One Response to “BG 063: Unwavering Samadhi: Meditative Achievement and Its Impact in the World”

  1. martin kovan Reply January 23, 2011 at 11:00 pm

    One major omission in this otherwise excellent (2-part) interview, that impacts heavily on a lot of its other conclusions: what was the cultural and meditative background of the 70 meditators who completed the retreat? (And by extension, why were the other ‘more than half of those who applied’ rejected? Why, and on what basis?)

    There must likely also have been some +/-nuance in the results re. extended periods of meditation, ie. the classical acedia of intensive meditation, among other consistently reported contemplative phenomena. (And if this were, for eg., absent, when it is often otherwise the case, eg. in Tibetan ‘lung’, that wld require some more nuanced discussion and justification.)

    Any feedback appreciated, thanks.