{"id":1399,"date":"2008-09-06T15:09:00","date_gmt":"2008-09-06T15:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/09\/the-science-of-zen-meditation\/"},"modified":"2011-11-01T15:12:20","modified_gmt":"2011-11-01T19:12:20","slug":"the-science-of-zen-meditation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/09\/the-science-of-zen-meditation.html","title":{"rendered":"The Science of Zen Meditation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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While I have to admit to having only the most passing interest in the scientific investigation of meditation, even my own beloved Zen meditation, that doesn\u2019t mean I don\u2019t think it important.\n
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And some good news for those with such a turn of mind, there is a fast growing literature.\n
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Neuroscientist\u00a0James Austin<\/a>\u00a0has done yeoman\u2019s work surveying that literature in his two books Zen and the Brain<\/span> and Zen-Brain Reflections<\/span>. Anyone interested in the subject will find a wealth of information in these studies.<\/div>\n
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And now one of my favorite bloggers, Danny Fisher<\/a> points out what looks to be the latest of relevant scientific papers, Thinking about Not-Thinking: Neural Correlates of Conceptual Processing during Zen Meditation.<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n

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I bet Jim has already catalogued it for his next volume\u2026<\/div>\n
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While I have to admit to having only the most passing interest in the scientific investigation of meditation, even my own beloved Zen meditation, that doesn\u2019t mean I don\u2019t think it important. And some good news for those with such a turn of mind, there is a fast growing literature. Neuroscientist\u00a0James Austin\u00a0has done yeoman\u2019s work […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Science of Zen Meditation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While I have to admit to having only the most passing interest in the scientific investigation of meditation, even my own beloved Zen meditation, that\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/09\/the-science-of-zen-meditation.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Science of Zen Meditation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While I have to admit to having only the most passing interest in the scientific investigation of meditation, even my own beloved Zen meditation, that\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/09\/the-science-of-zen-meditation.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Monkey Mind\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/james.ford.1029\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-09-06T15:09:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-11-01T19:12:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_niPwTW3rBbU\/SMLZerKImrI\/AAAAAAAABNs\/yA2QNJjJ7U8\/s320\/wired+brain.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Ford\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Ford\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/09\/the-science-of-zen-meditation.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/09\/the-science-of-zen-meditation.html\",\"name\":\"The Science of Zen Meditation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-09-06T15:09:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-11-01T19:12:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb\"},\"description\":\"While I have to admit to having only the most passing interest in the scientific investigation of meditation, even my own beloved Zen meditation, that\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/09\/the-science-of-zen-meditation.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/09\/the-science-of-zen-meditation.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/09\/the-science-of-zen-meditation.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Science of Zen Meditation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/\",\"name\":\"Monkey Mind\",\"description\":\"Easily distracted...\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb\",\"name\":\"James Ford\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa18971b225a3bb79f0c4c381a5fae20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa18971b225a3bb79f0c4c381a5fae20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James Ford\"},\"description\":\"James Ishmael Ford is a writer and spiritual director. 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