where's the link?

Hi eBuddha, very interesting topic.

I personally would be surprised if there wasn't a neurological correlate to any mind-state. However subtle.

There is a guy here in Eugene who is working on these things. He is a Zen teacher, and also have a strong interest in science.

His Big Idea (now in funding stage) is to develop a comprehensive and simple to use biofeedback system. A kind of cyber monastery where people around the world is hooked up to a central system via cell phones and internet, and receive feedback on where they are currently at in terms of states, and recommended fine-tuning of whatever practice they are involved in. The biological changes are picked up by sensors at various points of the body, maybe through a baseball cap, the backside of a wrist watch, and so on.

His idea is that this framework can help people from a variety of backgrounds, from people in high-stress situations (medics in the field) to yogic practitioners and meditators.

It can also be used to study and gain more information about exactly what you mentioned: characteristic patterns for various states.

Maybe the central computer picks up something interesting and sends out a text message to your cell phone asking you what is happening, and you send a text message back saying "nirvakalpa samadhi"!

Thanks for scouting out interesting posts.

Per

That would be very cool! The reasons are:

a. Instaneous and real-time feedback.
b. Database to then collect all the information, and make available for other analytic tools.

One day - and maybe sooner than we think.