Most recent scientific research has been focusing on mindfulness, compassion and even the social benefits of meditation. While the tools of modern science are by nature reductionist, the findings have had a major impact on the definitions of, to name a few: focused attention, altruism, compassion, and kindness. This has far reaching consequences for training and application, and has implications for the understanding of these concepts so central to Buddhism.
This presentation will explore how modern research and the natural sciences are shaping these concepts, how they instrumentalize such important topics, and how experience risks being reduced to mere baseline ＂well-being＂. This paper will look at the consequences of the findings by the brain sciences, clinical sciences, as well as other investigations on the understanding and implementations of practice, and how neuroscientific research per se is looking at mental states. It will also present the experiences of an active participant in scientific studies of meditation, and how this participation has informed the presenter's understanding of meditation practice.
One of the most critical insights in the scientific exploration of mental states is the emerging shift from an exclusively objective, third-person perspective to the inclusion of the subjective, first-person perspective. This has far-reaching and important consequences in relation to the foundations of scientific methodology. Using the Brahmavihāra of Compassion, it will be argued that any study of mental states, be that scientific or Buddhist, needs to consider the insights that have emerged from most recent research data: be that methodology, context, or limitations and feasibility of objectivity.
近來正念、慈悲心與禪修的社會益處逐漸成為科學研究的對象。雖然這樣的現代科學研究法基本上是「化約的」，但其研究成果對於相關的概念定義有重大的影響，例如：注意力、利他、悲憫與慈愛等。這個研究成果對於上述相關訓練與應用有遠大的效應，同時對了解這些佛教的概念也有重大的意涵。
本文主要探討現代科學如何影響這些概念的內容，如何使實用這些概念，而「經驗」又如何有被化約成簡單的「福祉」。本文審查腦科學、臨床科學與其他相關研究對於上述概念的了解與應用的研究成果，嘗試探討腦神經科學本身如何看待心識狀態。本研究同時也展示在禪修的科學研究中一位禪修者的經驗，以及他的經驗如何讓研究者理解禪修。
本研究在心識科學中最重要的貢獻是從客觀-第三人觀點的研究視角轉移到主觀-第一人稱經驗。這對改變科學方法論的基礎有深遠的影響。運用佛教「梵住」的慈心修習，我們認為無論是科學或佛教的心識研究，應該參考最新的研究成果，包括方法論，研究脈絡，以及所謂「客觀」研究的局限或適用性。
關鍵詞：
禪修研究、同理心、慈悲、第一、第三人稱視角、 Varela、達賴喇嘛、心與生命