In the Buddhist world we even in, in a way you can say you're always dying. You're already dying. So just thinking about it in those terms: what's the cultural impact of thinking about life as death, actually—as a process that maybe never ends?
for - adjacency - thinking of life as death - we are always dying - Deep Humanity - living is dying - from Youtube - Between Life and Death: Understanding Tukdam - John D. Dunne
I'll talk about some cases in a moment— there's very sudden decomposition when the "tukdam" ends. You can have people who have been in tukdam for 27 days and then on the— as one of the cases that we're gonna be publishing on soon— and on the 28th day there's like very dramatic decomposition. Just boom! It seems to happen.
for - Buddhism - Tibetan - Thukdam - can end suddenly and dramatically - from Youtube - Between Life and Death: Understanding Tukdam - John D. Dunne
And this is one of the big problems right now— [pointing at the slide] tukdam regularly occurs in non-experts, right? You find, you know, people who are not great trained tantric practitioners who know all the commentaries and, you know, who aren't even monks or nuns— who are just ordinary lay people—and they go into "tukdam."
for - Buddhism - Tibetan - Tukdam - ordinary people with no training also go into Tukdam - from Youtube - Between Life and Death: Understanding Tukdam - John D. Dunne
I've encountered several people in the Kagyu and Nyingma traditions who say, "Oh, we, you know 'tukdam,' yeah, people go in 'tukdam,' "but it's like, you know, not that big a deal. It's, we don't care that much." Part of the reason they don't care that much is that the idea that you need to go into this completely, kind of, a state where there's no phenomenal content— that's just a pure clear light mind— actually is something that many of the contemporary practitioners and teachers in those lineages don't agree with.
for - Buddhism - Tibetan - Kagyu and Nyingma schools don't make a big deal out of Tukdam - nondual awareness can emerge with other techniques - key insight - Buddhism - Tibetan - Clear light meditation at time of death - Tukdam - a physiological technique - from Youtube - Between Life and Death: Understanding Tukdam - John D. Dunne
it's said that you can get there by doing like philosophical analysis, but this is using basically physiological techniques to get to the same place phenomenologically. So that's what "tukdam" is theoretically
for - key insight - Buddhism - Tibetan - Clear light meditation at time of death - Tukdam - a physiological technique to get to the same place as philosophical analysis - recognizing nondual, ultimate nature of reality - from Youtube - Between Life and Death: Understanding Tukdam - John D. Dunne
So the concept here is that you're actually no longer even capable of thinking, you're no longer capable of seeing, you're no longer capable of hearing, and so on. All that's left is just this kind of sheer consciousness itself, which doesn't even have a subject-object structure. So for the Gelugpas that lack of subject-object structure is not really relevant. For the other traditions it's extremely relevant, because it's said that if you're going to understand the nature of the mind, the fundamental distortion in the mind is precisely that subject-object structure. So you have to cultivate a non-dual awareness,
for - key insight - Buddhism - TIbetan - Clear light meditation - Tukdam at time of death - no longer capable of thinking, seeing, hearing, etc - all that's left is naked consciousness without even subject-object from Youtube - Between Life and Death: Understanding Tukdam - John D. Dunne
in the Perfection Stage— what's called the Perfection Stage— one is going to actually begin to bring the winds into the central channel. And when one is able to do so and bring them into the heart cakra.
for - Buddhism - Tibetan - meditation - Perfection stage - bring the winds into the central channel to the heart chakra - from Youtube - Between Life and Death: Understanding Tukdam - John D. Dunne
he made this three-dimensional, so this is the maṇḍala.
for - Buddhism - Tibetan - Mandala - is a 2 dimensional representation that the practitioner must imagine as a 3 dimensional object - This is the generation stage practice - from Youtube - Between Life and Death: Understanding Tukdam - John D. Dunne
And how one is gonna do that, one is gonna become not you. You're gonna become somebody else—specifically, you're gonna become a fully enlightened tantric deity, right? And you, with a sense of what's called dignity or pride, right, the, the... "lha’i nga rgyal," the "pride of being the deity."
for - Buddhism - TIbetan - Clear light meditation - purpose of - deity visualization - become the deity to practice giving up your ordinary thoughts and feelings - from Youtube - Between Life and Death: Understanding Tukdam - John D. Dunne
Unexcelled Yoga Tantra
for - definition - unexcelled yoga tantra - the ultimate practice of simulating clear light meditation while still alive, in the Gelupa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism - from Youtube - Between Life and Death: Understanding Tukdam - John D. Dunne
So what's the first thing to do? It's to stop being ordinary. So they say, "tha mal gyi rtog shes spang ba," "abandon ordinary thoughts and ordinary attitudes," ordinary experience.
for - Buddhism - TIbetan - clear light meditation - practice - how to practice simulation of Tukdam while still alive? - Stop ordinary thoughts and feelings - from Youtube - Between Life and Death: Understanding Tukdam - John D. Dunne
these winds, right— these energies—are already flowing, of course, and they flow in very deep patterns that basically constitute one's own ordinary identity. And so quite literally one's own ordinary identity is, is the patterning of these winds.
for - key insight - one's ordinary identity IS the pattern of the flow of the winds - this makes practice of Tukdam very difficult - from Youtube - Between Life and Death: Understanding Tukdam - John D. Dunne - a tendency towards lust, aversion, etc is accompanied by a flow of wind. - to practice this during life, we have to get out of the deep patterns we identify with in life
There are different forms of energy, five primary forms and five secondary forms of energy, and they flow in channels in the body. And at the time of death, there, there's a certain kind of configuration of those energies that occur and you can actually, you can, in a sense, force those energies— maybe that's not the right term, but some people would agree with that metaphor— you can force those energies to enter into that configuration through various forms of yogic practices.
for - Buddhism - Tibetan - clear light meditation practice - 5 primary and 5 secondary flows of energy in channels in the body - meditators practice a desired flow configuration at time of death - from Youtube - Between Life and Death: Understanding Tukdam - John D. Dunne
The simulation, however, requires a high degree of control over the winds— "rlung" in Tibetan or "vāyuḥ" in Sanskrit, not "prāṇa," but "vāyuḥ" in Sanskrit—that are involved in the death process.
for - Buddhism - Tibetan - clear light meditation at time of death - can practice while alive a simulated version meditation - requires mastery of the internal "winds" - from Youtube - Between Life and Death: Understanding Tukdam - John D. Dunne
To rehearse that moment, essentially what one does, is you induce a simulated version of this clear light mind.
for - Buddhism - Tibetan - clear light meditation at time of death - can practice while alive a simulated version meditation - from Youtube - Between Life and Death: Understanding Tukdam - John D. Dunne
We wanna get down in a sense to the foundational state of mind, a most fundamental form of mind, and that occurs at death.
for - meditation - clear light meditation at time of death - Tukdam - why? The most fundamental state of mind occurs at the time of our death - from Youtube - Between Life and Death: Understanding Tukdam - John D. Dunne
if we're gonna really understand the ultimate nature of reality, it means to understand the ultimate nature of the mind
for - Buddhism - relationship between - ultimate nature of reality - ultimate nature of mind - from Youtube - Between Life and Death: Understanding Tukdam - John D. Dunne
Gelugpa tradition eventually rejects, really, almost everything about Yogācāra. But tantra itself really emerges out of that perspective, which is essentially that the only thing we have access to is our own experience.
for\ - Buddhism - relationship - Gelupa and Yogacara - from Youtube - Between Life and Death: Understanding Tukdam - John D. Dunne
The only way you can become a buddha is to see the nature of ultimate reality with the motivation of relieving the suffering of sentient beings. And in order to do that, you have to cultivate this wisdom.
for - Buddhism - Tantric logic - Become a buddha - to experience the ultimate nature of reality - to relieve suffering of others - cultivate wisdom - experience ultimate nature of mind - from Youtube - Between Life and Death: Understanding Tukdam - John D. Dunne
avidyā in Sanskrit or "ma rig pa" in Tibetan,
for - definition - avidya (Sanskrit) or Ma Ri Pa (Tibetan) - Fundamental misunderstanding (both intellectual and affective) about the (ultimate) nature of reality itself - from Youtube - Between Life and Death: Understanding Tukdam - John D. Dunne
from the standpoint of Mahāyāna theory that a buddha is special because a buddha can teach in this incredibly effective way.
for - Mahayana Buddhism - Lay description - Helping others to help themselves - Youtube - Between Life and Death: Understanding Tukdam - John D. Dunne
What does this word "thugs dam" mean?
- definition - Tukdam - John Dunne
- is a word with multiple meanings (polysemy)
- first - honorific term for samaya - Sanskrit for Tantric vows
- second - commitment / promise
- third - chosen deity
- fourth - practicing any of the above
- specifically, it could mean accomplishing the goals of Tantric practice, especially at the time of death
for - Tibetan Buddhism - Tukdam - John Dunne - Youtube - Between Life and Death: Understanding Tukdam - John D. Dunne
for - Youtube - documentary movie trailer - Tukdam - Between Worlds - Deep Humanity - death - clear light meditation - Tukdam - from - Youtube - Tukdam talk - An Overview Of CHM’s Work On “Well-Being And Tukdam” - Prof. Richard J. Davidson - https://hyp.is/Cv-qVL38Ee-9WiNDbGvK8w/www.youtube.com/watch?v=JObdEbHqqFA
we can see more specific changes in the brain through training the Mind than through any drug that you can take more specific changes uh when you take a medication like an an SSRI an anti-depressant or an anti psychotic it's like blasting the brain uh in in its entire uh and so it's a very general effect we can see a much more specific effect with mind training
for - wellbeing - mental illness - drug treatment vs brain changes from mindfulness practices - adjacency - Youtube - Tukdam talk - An Overview Of CHM’s Work On “Well-Being And Tukdam” - Prof. Richard J. Davidson
I actually think that there are physiological mechanisms of hibernation that may be relevant to understanding some of the changes in tukon
for - adjacency - Tukdam and animal hibernation - Youtube - Tukdam talk - An Overview Of CHM’s Work On “Well-Being And Tukdam” - Prof. Richard J. Davidson
for - Youtube - Tukdam talk - An Overview Of Center for Healthy Minds at University of Wisconsin-Madison (CHM)’s Work On “Well-Being And Tukdam” - Prof. Richard J. Davidson - wellbeing - clear light meditation, meditation at time of death - Tukdam
summary - Professor Davidson speaks on the subject of Tukdam, the Tibetan practice of meditation at the time of death practiced by Tantric practitioners - He contextualizes it in the framework that all sentient beings are sacred, and have the capacity for unfolding the intrinsic sacred that each of us is born with - Davidson's team explores the impact of meditation and mindfulness practices on human health and wellbeing and have formulated a wellbeing framework with four pillalrs - Deep Humanity - impacts of meditation - meditation at time of death
to - Youtube - documentary movie trailer - Tukdam: Between Worlds - https://hyp.is/FJg9XL4PEe-M9OfpvdsFQQ/www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDBEl9bSGMQ
he earliest we've been able to get to a case of tukdam is 26 hours after a practitioner has died so we've missed the first full day and there is some reason to believe that that first 24-hour period is is going to be very very important
for - trivia - measuring tukdam after death - 24 hour period immediately following death is important but to date, no data captured - Youtube - Tukdam talk - An Overview Of CHM’s Work On “Well-Being And Tukdam” - Prof. Richard J. Davidson
the body of a practitioner in tukdam does not decompose uh in the same way that a body of a normal person who is not in tukdam does and so uh we've had cases up to 38 days uh inam where the body remains quite preserved uh fresh uh without any smell uh and um with the skin still very pliable and no um Rigamortis
for - clear light meditation - Tukdam at time of death - results so far - studied 20 cases - in all cases body doesn't decompose like a normal person's body does at death - Youtube - Tukdam talk - An Overview Of CHM’s Work On “Well-Being And Tukdam” - Prof. Richard J. Davidson
his Holiness um uh his Holiness uh made the request that we investigate tokam and I believe that one of uh his interests his Holiness his interest in studying took down is because this represents a real challenge to Western science because uh uh the suggestion in the traditional Tibetan texts is that there is a subtle quality of awareness that is still present even after the conventional Western definition of death after the heart has stopped beating after the breathing has stopped there they're said to be uh this subtle quality of awareness uh this clear light stage that is still present
for - meditation - Tukdam clear light meditation at time of death - research motivation from HH Dalai Lama - Youtube - Tukdam talk - An Overview Of CHM’s Work On “Well-Being And Tukdam” - Prof. Richard J. Davidson
Summary - His Holiness Dalai Lama requested the research so that science could validate what Tibetan practitioners have known for a long time, that there is still an awareness present in the advanced meditator even after death has occurred - this is the Tukdam "clear light" meditation practice.
in our work on well-being we have formulated a framework for understanding the key pillars or the key components of well-being
for - mindfulness meditation research - 4 pillars of wellbeing - Youtube - Tukdam talk - An Overview Of CHM’s Work On “Well-Being And Tukdam” - Prof. Richard J. Davidson
summary - four pillars of wellbeing - 1 awareness - 2 connection - 3 insight (of the nature of self) - 4 purpose (intention)
the fourth pillar of well-being we call purpose
for - fourth of four pillars of wellbeing - purpose - finding it in our everyday life here and now - Youtube - Tukdam talk - An Overview Of CHM’s Work On “Well-Being And Tukdam” - Prof. Richard J. Davidson - comparison - intention vs attention
comment - Davidson does not provide much rich commentary on purpose, although it is quite an important idea to consider. - Intention is synonymous with purpose - The reason we consider the word intention instead is that we can compare to attention - intention - purpose or focus direction of future work (fourth pillar) - attention - focus awareness (first pillar) - Both of these acts are acts of constraining from the infinite field of our reality to a very narrow one - intention - among the infinite things I CAN do, I choose to do THIS specific one - attention - among all the infinite things I can sense, I choose to sense THIS specific one
research shows that it's not so much about changing the narrative that is important but it is changing our relationship to this narrative so that we can see the narrative for what it is which is really a constellation of thoughts
for - illusion of self narrative / construction - third pillar - insight - key insight on insight! - not about CHANGING NARRATIVES - but about PENETRATING THE NARRATIVE to understand its essence - - Youtube - Tukdam talk - An Overview Of CHM’s Work On “Well-Being And Tukdam” - Prof. Richard J. Davidson
the third pillar we call Insight
for - third of four pillars of wellbeing - insight - a curiosity driven knowledge of the self - Youtube - Tukdam talk - An Overview Of CHM’s Work On “Well-Being And Tukdam” - Prof. Richard J. Davidson
comment - this insight is specifically about the nature of self as a narrative construction imposed upon a constellation of changing thoughts and emotions - when we gain the insight that the solid-appearing self is constructed on emptiness, research shows that this insight sets the stage for wellbeing to emerge
his Holiness reminds us that the seeds of compassion are often in the relationship between a child and his mother excuse me that a mother provides for the child provides kindness and uh care for the child and represents this early seed of compassion
for - adjacency - compassion / kindness - early model - HH Dalai Lama - Deep Humanity - mOTHER - Youtube - Tukdam talk - An Overview Of CHM’s Work On “Well-Being And Tukdam” - Prof. Richard J. Davidson
we think of kindness and compassion in a way that's very similar to the way scci other scientists think about language
for - comparison / key insight - compassion is like language (and also like genetics) - every infant has the biological capacity for these - Youtube - Tukdam talk - An Overview Of CHM’s Work On “Well-Being And Tukdam” - Prof. Richard J. Davidson
comparison / key insight - compassion is like language (and also like genetics) - compassion, like language and genetics is intrinsic to our human nature. Every newborn comes into the world with the biological capacity for kindness/compassion, language and for genetic expression. However, - how we actually turn out as adults depends on what variables exist in our environment - If we have a compassionate mOTHER, our Most significant OTHER, she will teach us compassion - just like a child raised in a community of other language speakers in the environment will enable the child to cultivate the language capacity and - without a community of language speakers, a feral infant will grow up not understanding language at all - a healthy environment triggers beneficial epigenetic processes - Again, the chinese saying is salient: (hu)man on earth, good at birth. The same nature, varies on nurture
to - feral children - Youtube - https://hyp.is/go?url=http%3A%2F%2Fdocdrop.org%2Fvideo%2FTKaS1RdAfrg%2F&group=world - Chinese saying: (hu)man on earth, good at birth. The same nature, varies on nurture - https://hyp.is/TWOEYrlUEe-Mxx_LHYIpMg/medium.com/postgrowth/rediscovering-harmony-how-chinese-philosophy-offers-pathways-to-a-regenerative-future-07a097b237a0
it confirms something found in the Buddhist tradition uh which is this notion of innate basic goodness that all human beings are born with Buddha nature we all have the seeds of kindness within us and scientific research strongly confirms that this is true
for - everyone is sacred - everyone has Buddha Nature - different ways of saying - Youtube - Tukdam talk - An Overview Of CHM’s Work On “Well-Being And Tukdam” - Prof. Richard J. Davidson - poverty mentality - Chinese saying: (hu)man on earth, good at birth. The same nature, varies on nurture
everyone is sacred - different ways of saying it - We are all born with Buddha nature - We are all born with innate goodness - Chinese saying: (hu)man on earth, good at birth. The same nature, varies on nurture - Not seeing this, we fall into poverty mentality, and all the associated forms of suffering it brings
to - Chinese saying: (hu)man on earth, good at birth. The same nature, varies on nurture - https://hyp.is/TWOEYrlUEe-Mxx_LHYIpMg/medium.com/postgrowth/rediscovering-harmony-how-chinese-philosophy-offers-pathways-to-a-regenerative-future-07a097b237a0
in a recent study with a very large group of six-month-old infants 100% of infants show this preference so it's not just a small statistically significant difference it's huge virtually every infant shows this
for - innate connection - innate care for others - study of infants with puppets show 100% preference for compassionate play over selfish play - Youtube - Tukdam talk - An Overview Of CHM’s Work On “Well-Being And Tukdam” - Prof. Richard J. Davidson
the second pillar of well-being we call connection
for - second of four pillars of wellbeing - connection - capacity to socially engage with others - Youtube - Tukdam talk - An Overview Of CHM’s Work On “Well-Being And Tukdam” - Prof. Richard J. Davidson
very famous scientific experiment that was published about 10 years ago now that is um really a critical experiment in this area
for - mindfulness and happiness - research conclusion - wandering mind is an unhappy mind - Youtube - Tukdam talk - An Overview Of CHM’s Work On “Well-Being And Tukdam” - Prof. Richard J. Davidson
the first pillar we call awareness
for - first of four pillars of wellbeing - awareness - capacity to regulate our attention - Youtube - Tukdam talk - An Overview Of CHM’s Work On “Well-Being And Tukdam” - Prof. Richard J. Davidson
two great drivers of plasticity or the two great mechanisms of plasticity
for - two drivers of plasticity - neuroplasticity and epigenetics - Youtube - Tukdam talk - An Overview Of CHM’s Work On “Well-Being And Tukdam” - Prof. Richard J. Davidson
all of us are born with a sequence of base pairs that constitute our DNA and for the most part that will not change over the course of your lifetime but what will change is the extent to which any Gene is turned on or turned off
for - explanation - epigenetics and health / wellbeing - Youtube - Tukdam talk - An Overview Of CHM’s Work On “Well-Being And Tukdam” - Prof. Richard J. Davidson
explanation - epigenetics and health - Richard J. Davidson gives a simple and clear explanation of the connection between epigenetics and health / wellbeing - We are born with DNA that won't change much over the course of a lifetime - However, many of those genes are not active but can be rapidly activated by environmental cues such as emotions, chemical signals, etc
what we have found quite remarkably is that when a person trains their mind their well-being improves and their brain changes uh and not just the brain but many other things in their mind and body also change
for - meditation - training the mind - scientific measurable effects on wellbeing - brain and body functions - Youtube - Tukdam talk - An Overview Of CHM’s Work On “Well-Being And Tukdam” - Prof. Richard J. Davidson
he reason why we're so interested in well-being is because we believe that well-being is best regarded as a skill
for - wellbeing - is best regarded as a skill - Youtube - Tukdam talk - An Overview Of CHM’s Work On “Well-Being And Tukdam” - Prof. Richard J. Davidson
for - from - Youtube - Tukdam talk - An Overview Of CHM’s Work On “Well-Being And Tukdam” - Prof. Richard J. Davidson - https://hyp.is/FAIHjL4LEe-3CLe2MabNuw/www.youtube.com/watch?v=JObdEbHqqFA