Hacker News Reader

Comment by rd108 | Hacker News Reader

The two areas highlighted in the article show prefrontal cortex (front of brain) and PCC (towards the back) shutting down. The prefrontal cortex is associated with executive attention and reasoning, while PCC appears to be differentially dialed up or down in conditions with altered states of consciousness (like people under anesthesia, in a coma, or apparently meditating.) Shameless plug: We're using these neuroscientific insights to design a meditation self-tracking tool at http://brainbot.me now.

View on HN

Of course, the very idea of tracking and working on "improving" via meditation goes against the core idea of zen meditation itself.

But I'm interested in your startup anyway. :)

edit: in fairness, there are many types of meditation beyond zen.

Yes, we have started building a database of many different styles of meditation, but the work is just beginning. There's so much we don't know yet! Thank you for the feedback

Isn't enlightenment the ultimate form of self improvement? Maybe you are practicing a different form of Zen than what I am used to. I don't think tracking itself is anti-Zen, but stressing out about your measurements would be. (also worrying about what is and is not Zen seems anti-Zen).

If you're aiming for enlightenment, you've missed the mark :)

> Of course, the very idea of tracking and working on "improving" via meditation goes against the core idea of zen meditation itself.

The - excuse me - postmodern gobbledygook of some schools are is what has turned me off meditation again and again.

I'd love to follow a rationalist, scientific school of meditation that has mind improvement as a goal.

In that case Daniel Ingram's book Mastering the Core Teachings on the Buddha might be a good place to start.

I think it's also important not to throw away the baby with the bath water; just because the techniques are explained in an archaic language and seemingly inseparable from a traditionalist cultural tradition, doesn't mean they do not produce results. Still probably a good idea to start with something easily approachable so you can start to discern what's effective and what's just cultural cargo culting.

You should add an about page. A meditation self-tracking tool sounds interesting (I've just started sitting zazen), but I'm going to need some details before I hand over my email.

We do need to get a little more info on the teaser page, we've been pretty heads down on the actual app for the RockHealth.org incubator. We just finished last week so I'll throw something together soon. My background is actually neuroscience; before this I was doing neuroimaging of meditation research at the Harvard-MIT-MGH Martinos Center in Boston. The whole project kind of started with this crazy trip to India to find monks to put EEG equipment on in 2009.

Not to dis BrainBot, but the only Zazen tracking tool you need is to sit Zazen every day. I can see how competition and seeing your hours tick over might be encouraging to some degree, and if the site encourages people to sit more then it is worthwhile! But I see enough chest puffing on the 'net as it is with regards to people's meditation, and how amazing they are now because of it or how much they are sitting, and it makes me feel ill. Your practice should be personal, for you (and the big you) and should be a part of your Bodhisattva work, not a device used to enlarge your ego.

What is Bodhisattva work? Is it the idea that by meditating, you're making the world a better place?

"Your practice should be personal, for you (and the big you) and should be a part of your Bodhisattva work, not a device used to enlarge your ego."

Why not? People train at the gym to better themselves (and thus enlarge their ego). Why should meditation be any different?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com