Buddhists Really Are Happy, According to Brain Scans

Reuters | 5/22/03

[theoverseer]

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, which indicates positive emotions and good mood. This happens at times even when they are not meditating.

"We can now hypothesize with some confidence that those apparently happy, calm Buddhist souls one regularly comes across in places such as Dharamsala, India, really are happy," said Prof. Owen Flanagan of Duke University, in a report in New Scientist magazine.

Dharamsala is the home base of exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama.

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 at 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.

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

[theoverseer]

Buddhist Bump!

[Pahuanui]

Sounds just about right to me.

[Travis McGee]

My kid's hamster is extremely happy in his little cage running round and round on his wheel, going nowhere, not a thought in his empty little blissed-out hamster brain.

I am sure this could be confirmed in a lab with electrodes.

[week 71]

But "Blessed are those who mourn" this is truth.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

mental masturbation.

[b4its2late]

Did Algore request this study?

[Our man in washington]

So by extension, countries with large Buddhist populations should be happy serene places. Here are the five countries in the world that have the highest percentage of Buddhists, according to Buddhanet:

Thailand
Cambodia
Myanmar
Bhutan
Sri Lanka

It's not an inspiring list. Cambodia, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka seem to be in a perpetual state of war. Not sure what's happening in Thailand and Bhutan at the moment.

I've known some Buddhists who really did seem like very happy relaxed people. I've known other Buddhists who looked like they became Buddhist in order to feel special and enlightened. The second group contained a lot of narcisistic snobs who would be unhappy in any world they didn't rule.

But I suppose it's not the fault of the religion if people join for the wrong reasons. Buddhism has given many gifts to the world.

[Alouette]

countries with large Buddhist populations should be happy serene places.

Only if they do not also have large Muslim populations.

[JohnnyZ]

Rest in the palm of the Buddha bump.

[OPS4]

Well Frankenstien was on the right track,
as long as the meter says they are happy,
Belive it?

Sound like Scientology has moved into Tibet!

Ops4 God Bless America!

[OPS4]

E-Meters are moving in so Muslims might not want to
hang out there, after-all lie detectors maybe next.

Ops4 God Bless America!

[ClearCase_guy]

Buddhism has given many gifts to the world.

Please help me out here. I can't think of any. I chalk that up to the Buddhist belief that this world is not real and not worth fussing about.

But perhaps you have a list of great gifts given to us by Buddhist. Please share.

[RightWhale]

meditation and mindfulness can tame the amygdala

And now, students, it is time to click your amygdala forwards! All together . . . click!

[OPS4]

Buddhist statues for the garden or buddah brand chinese foods. Oh and lest we forget the Buddahist chant.

Ops4 God Bless America!

[KarlInOhio]

I chalk that up to the Buddhist belief that this world is not real and not worth fussing about.

Did Buddhists give us The Matrix? :-)

[Cagey]

Buddhism has given many gifts to the world.

[P-Marlowe]

Your tax dollars at work.

[Psycho_Bunny]

A)  This article sounds goofy.

B)  It's a "Chicken or the Egg" situation:  does Buddhism encourage the type of calming described, or are  certain types of naturally calm persons drawn to the Buddhist faith?

I would suspect it's more the latter than the former.

Where this study took place is also vitally important to the authenticity of the findings.  If the study was done in the states, you can dismiss the findings as inherently skewed;  Buddhism is a minority religion and, in the long term, is only going to draw the most serious practitioners.  It's sort of like doing a study on Arab Christians in Saudi Arabia - that's a muslim country(Yes, that's on purpose, I will not dignify islam with a capital letter) so only a specific type of person is going to have the intestinal fortitude to remain a Christian there.

You might expect Christians in Saudi Arabia to have higher than normal mental focus or intelectual resiliance though that's not necessarily the case in the US where the average Christian would be more...average.

 

[Stone Mountain]

Do you have a link to the origial article? Thanks...