Long ago I read (probably ~1970 in Analog, a science-fiction magazine which also published semi-scientific essays and articles and commentary) a claim: that "Hindu meditation" involves detaching one's mind from stimuli in the surrounding world, but that in contrast "Buddhist meditation" keeps the connection with the world but lets go of events immediately after they are perceived. Thus, supposedly, a Hindu adept hooked to an EEG would show no change if a sudden loud noise occurred, whereas a similarly-mindful Buddhist's brain waves would react and then immediately return to the calm resting state.

True? Myth? Gross oversimplification? Or irrelevant to meditative practice? I have no idea! But the general theme of Hinduism v. Buddhism reminds me of something else I read long ago: the 1967 fantasy/sf novel Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny. It begins:

His followers called him Mahasamatman and said he was a god. He preferred to drop the Maha- and the -atman, however, and called himself Sam. He never claimed to be a god, but then he never claimed not to be a god.

... and goes on to tell an at-times humorous story of a power struggle on a world in which technology mixes with Eastern religious imagery ...

(cf. EngineeringEnlightenment (9 Oct 1999), EatTheOrange (28 Nov 2004), ...)

TopicPersonalHistory - TopicThinking - 2008-01-01

(correlates: VarietiesOfNotCaring, MoreMetaforestry, LessMore, ...)