Investigating Siddhis

[AYPforum]

1213 From: Mark Dahlby <bluephurba@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue Jul 5, 2005 11:56am
Subject: Re: Digest Number 122  bluephurba
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    Randy wrote:

> If that is the extent of his investigation of this
> "phenonenon" then there was no real approach to
> investigating it at all. He merely observed and
> reported an anecdotal observation. Based on what is
> written below, he didn't do any scientific
> investigation. No wonder he (Benson) had his own
> reservations initially about sharing his research.
> He didn't do any.

Hi Randy,

There was more to it that that.

I'm in a hurry but here are a few references I pulled
out of Google:

Benson, H., J. Lehman, et al. (1982). "Body
Temperature Changes during the practice of g Tummo
yoga." Nature 295: 234-236.

Benson, H., M. S. Malhotra, et al. (1990). "Three Case
Reports of the Metabolic and Electroencephalographic
Changes During Advanced Buddhist Meditation
Techniques." Behavioral Medicine 16(2): 290-295.

Not sure if you can find back issues of either on the
net.

Interesting URLs. I'm running so can't read to take
out redundant articles, sorry:

http://www.zhangzhung.net/blog/archives/2004/07/scientific_stud.html

http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/04.18/09-tummo.html

This one gives references to many studies:

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:8xqsfyrpj00J:www.iayt.org/site/publications/psychophysiology.
pdf+benson+tummo+research+published&hl=en&lr=lang_en%20target=nw

As soon as something is accepted in science - like the
ability to regulate biological function through
bio-feedback - it's no longer thought of as a siddhi,
no? It becomes simply another capactity we all have,
which can be developed. Which is what siddhis really
are.

Best,

Mark

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 1214 From: Randy Callaway <randycallaway@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue Jul 5, 2005 1:12pm
Subject: Re: Digest Number 122  randycallaway
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    Thanks Mark. I 've ordered his book, so I hope to get more information from that, but I read a preview of the first four or five pages and it is written more along the lines of a self help book, rather than from a scientific standpoint. Hopefully, there will be more in the meat of the book.

As a general question/response for the group at large, there has been some discussion why people who have the "ability" don't demonstrate it and prove it scientificaly and/or win the $1,000,000.
The answer being they are on a "higher plane" and aren't intersete
in the money or proving it. It seems to me regardless of their interest, proving it and allowing it to be studied would benefit all
mankind, and someone stepping forward to win the money could then donate it to a worthwhile charity. Therefore I wonder on what higher
plane this enlightenment is occuring? I still have an open mind and myself have experienced things that I attribute to biofeedback, which might mean it's all semantics, but that would also take the mystery and mysticism out of it, which I think many are enamored with. Thoughts?

Mark Dahlby <bluephurba@yahoo.com> wrote:
Randy wrote:

> If that is the extent of his investigation of this
> "phenonenon" then there was no real approach to
> investigating it at all. He merely observed and
> reported an anecdotal observation. Based on what is
> written below, he didn't do any scientific
> investigation. No wonder he (Benson) had his own
> reservations initially about sharing his research.
> He didn't do any.

Hi Randy,

There was more to it that that.

I'm in a hurry but here are a few references I pulled
out of Google:

Benson, H., J. Lehman, et al. (1982). "Body
Temperature Changes during the practice of g Tummo
yoga." Nature 295: 234-236.

Benson, H., M. S. Malhotra, et al. (1990). "Three Case
Reports of the Metabolic and Electroencephalographic
Changes During Advanced Buddhist Meditation
Techniques." Behavioral Medicine 16(2): 290-295.

Not sure if you can find back issues of either on the
net.

Interesting URLs. I'm running so can't read to take
out redundant articles, sorry:

http://www.zhangzhung.net/blog/archives/2004/07/scientific_stud.html

http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/04.18/09-tummo.html

This one gives references to many studies:

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:8xqsfyrpj00J:www.iayt.org/site/publications/psychophysiology.
pdf+benson+tummo+research+published&hl=en&lr=lang_en%20target=nw

As soon as something is accepted in science - like the
ability to regulate biological function through
bio-feedback - it's no longer thought of as a siddhi,
no? It becomes simply another capactity we all have,
which can be developed. Which is what siddhis really
are.

Best,

Mark
 
 
 

[Etherfish]

i believe the answer to that is that siddhis are a biproduct of the enlightenment process, not just an everyday tool for mankind. A person who receives siddhis is at the point where they realize that the most important thing they can contribute to mankind is to facilitate the enlightenment of other people.
Scientific study and knowledge don't do much in that direction. You can imagine what scientists would want to do to you to study siddhis. They would want to take up an unlimited amount of your personal time (a million dollars worth) and run an unlimited number of studies, questions, blood tests, ekg's, probing your entire family history, etc.
They would want to find out what causes it, based on what we know in science. Since the answer is not to be found there, they would never be satisfied that they had done enough tests. Then there's the tabloids, the believers following you around, the haters because you don't belong to their religion who want to disprove it. etc. It wouldn't be worth any amount of money to ruin your peaceful life like that.