Compassion and meditation

Hi! Welcome to my new blog. My main focus here will be the issue of meditation and the benefits that it offers both mentally and physically. For example, a recent study looked at what impact meditation has on interpersonal harmony and compassion. In this study, a team of researchers from Northeastern University and Harvard University examined the effects meditation would have on compassion and virtuous behavior, and the results were fascinating. The study invited participants to complete eight-week trainings in two types of meditation. After the sessions, they were put to the test. Sitting in a staged waiting room with three chairs were two actors. With one empty chair left, the participant sat down and waited to be called. Another actor using crutches and appearing to be in great physical pain, would then enter the room. As she did, the actors in the chair would ignore her by fiddling with their phones or opening a book. The question that the team wanted to answer was whether the subjects who took part in the meditation classes would be more likely to come to the aid of the person in pain, even in the face of everyone else ignoring her. Among the non-meditating participants, only about 15% of people acted to help. But among the participants who were in the meditation sessions the researchers were able to boost that up to 50%. This result was true for both meditation groups thereby showing the effect to be consistent across different forms of meditation. These results appear to prove what the Buddhists have long believed - that meditation is supposed to lead you to experience more compassion and love for all sentient beings.