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Peace is real, as seen in brains of Buddhists

Peace is real, as seen in brains of Buddhists

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Publication: The Straits Times
Date: May 24, 2003
URL: http://www.straitstimes.com.sg/topstories/story/0,4386,190771,00.html?

Buddhists really are happy, calm and serene people - at least according to their brain scans.

Using new scanning techniques, neuroscientists have discovered that certain areas of the brain light up constantly in Buddhists, and not just when they are meditating, which indicates positive emotions and good mood.

'We can now hypothesise with some confidence that those apparently happy, calm Buddhist souls one regularly comes across in places such as Dharamsala, India, really are happy,' said Professor Owen Flanagan of Duke University in North Carolina.

The scanning studies by scientists at the University of Wisconsin at Madison showed activity in the left prefrontal lobes of experienced Buddhist practitioners. The area is linked to positive emotions, self-control and temperament.

Other research by Dr Paul Ekman of the University of California San Francisco Medical Center suggests that meditation and mindfulness can tame the amygdala, an area of the brain which is the hub of fear memory.

Dr Ekman discovered that experienced practitioners of the faith who meditate regularly were less likely to be shocked, flustered, surprised or as angry as other people.

Prof Flanagan believes that if the findings of the studies can be confirmed, they could be of major importance.

'The most reasonable hypothesis is that there is something about conscientious Buddhist practice that results in the kind of happiness we all seek,' he said in a report in New Scientist magazine.

-- Reuters
 


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