Meditation is Science

Written by Duck-Joo Lee, Professor of Aerospace Engineering, KAIST
Edited by Jung-Ah Lee

The Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle brought in California Institute of Technology professor Christof Koch as the Chief Scientific Officer in order to start a massive project to research the human brain. Professor Koch met Buddhist monks in Tibet, which is south of India. They spend many years away from daily life in order to meditate on the origin of mankind. While meditating, these monks’ brains showed high-frequency brainwaves that are markedly different from those of ordinary people. It is now the age when mind, consciousness, and wisdom can be proven by science.

The Deepest Gorges in the Brain Create Memories
A person’s brain is made of approximately 100 billion neurons and one neuron is connected to another by approximately 7000 synapses in between. Neurons build many kinds of networks, which change (brain plasticity) according to what we experience and learn due to the external environment. Brain plasticity allows the brain to be re-programmed, thus we can learn new things and grow.

At this point, neural pathways develop in the neuron networks. Especially if one repeatedly thinks the same thought or does the same behavior for a long time, it forms a gorge-like chemical or electric pattern. Once such a pattern forms, one will think or behave in that way without any more need for repetition or external trigger. Like this, countless thoughts and frames of mind become stored into a person’s brain.

Sadly, this subconsciously leads me to become stressed or attached and creates errored perception or judgments. This is because once a neural pathway is formed, one follows that pathway to create judgments or discernments. Such perceptions are then stored into one’s mind and become memories.

What we remember is not the external phenomenon exactly as they have occurred, but rather how such experiences have been adjusted in order to fit the neural pathways of each person’s neural pathways. And what has been stored like this can unexpectedly be triggered, regardless of one’s intentions, due to external stimuli (Bruce Hood, The Self Illusion).

Mind Cleansing Meditation that Increases Alpha Waves and Reduces Stress
Meditation is reflecting on one’s self. When you look back on your self, all the memories you have accumulated while living your life plays back like a movie. At this point, subtracting memories and thoughts while reflecting on your self is Mind cleansing meditation. When you do mind cleansing meditation, you can think about yourself more and more objectively and see your frames of thought and errors in perception.

This meditation is a method that enables you to deeply reflect on your self. As you practice this meditation, in the process of reflecting on your self objectively, you will realize that what you are aware of is not the present, but the past. You will see that the past self distorts the present, that this is attachment and judgment and fixed preconception and notion. Then you can throw away such useless minds, eventually able to find the true self and all the answers about fundamental human life questions. 

UCSD Cognitive Science Professor Jaime Pineda’s research team had 9 volunteers practice mind cleansing meditation for 100-150 hours during several weeks. Afterward, he had them meditate for several weeks for a total of 300-350 hours. Then he used 32 EEG channels to compare the brain before and after. After meditation, there was a remarkably increased amount of approximately 10Hz brain waves—alpha brain waves, which appear when the brain is in a stable state. As meditation time increased, alpha waves increased greatly in the right occipital lobe.

The research team also measured how stress levels changed as the study volunteers meditated. Results showed that when they first started meditating, their levels of stress on the Cohen stress scale was higher than 13 people who did not meditate. However, after practicing mind cleansing meditation, their stress levels were noticeably lower.

Recently in Korea, more emphasis is being placed on character education in addition to knowledge. Meditation was implemented in a middle school’s free-semester program and KAIST also offered a course on character education through meditation. This means that meditation is no longer something for only special people to do. It has now become a time when anyone can meditate in their daily lives and understand their minds’ origins.