Ruda 1 Cory Ruda What is the Relationship Between Buddhist Meditation and Christian Prayer to the Human Body

and Mind?

For centuries mankind has turned towards spirituality as a way of guidance and healing. Depending on the region of your birth, prayer and/or meditation would have been staples of your religion of belief set as a way to center yourself and reach a goal of some type, whether it be a place of truth and peace, or a joining with a Divine being of some sort. The proof of this has always been through first-hand experience and the word of those respected figures teaching the art and rituals. With the advanced techniques and understandings of modern science, however, prayer and meditation could now be tested, their benefits (or detriments) measurable. After researching the topics of prayer and meditation, the two will be compared and contrasted in what their goals of their users are as well as how the two compare in the physical and mental health fields. To examine prayer, one must first ask what it is. Prayer can be understood in many ways due to the many different incarnations it has ranging through every religion, and from there person to person. There is no completely unified way of praying (although every religion using prayer has its own version[s] of it,) including even who or what to pray to. What will be examined below, however, is the basic understanding of prayer through the eyes of Christian Catholicism. In Catholicism, prayer is a way of connecting with beings that are closer to God than us with the hopes that the words we speak to them can be then brought before God, namely Saints.

Ruda 2 Anselm believed that prayer served for only one purpose and, after compounding all the minor benefits, can be taken only as the tool through which man, who is infinitely unworthy and marred by sin, could be conjoined with God, who is infinitely perfect and pure (Sweeney 1). It is the only way this could be accomplished, and to do so is to find the true purpose of any Christian's existence. However, Catholicism breaks down prayer into 5 major types: adoration, expiation, love, petition, and thanksgiving (Stanley 826-827). Each prayer type, as the different names for each may suggest, hold their own purpose with the final wish of unity with God in mind. Adoration is prayer to show our awe for God, His grace and perfection, and all that He has done and given us as well as to show our complete need and dependance on Him. Expiation is prayer to unravel before Him our sins, and to beg for His forgiveness. Prayers of Love are meant to express our utter love for Him, and Petition is to come before Him asking for specific needs. Finally, Prayers of Thanksgiving are meant to thank Him for all that He has given us throughout the day and our lives (Stanley 826-827). God, as Saint Anselm of Canterbury explains, is too great and perfect to be spoken to directly (Sweeney 3). This, however, presents a problem. To Anselm, since God is indeed infinite and man so finite, the two can not, in this existence, really be brought together. He is too far perfect to be attainable for man, just as are his Saints. Prayer, therefor, goes quite unheard, and is then an act of simply expressing our emotion. Anselm creates a term to describe prayer: purepersuasion (Sweeney 2-3). To Anselm, prayer then takes on a role of self-examination, in which time man should look over his past and his lifestyles. In this time he should examine the sins he had and are committing, apologizing to those divine beings for how filthy and unclean he is (Sweeney 3). It

Ruda 3 is meant to humble the one praying by exposing him to the sins he has committed, and thus, to the blasphemy he has committed against God (Sweeney 3). Through this, and the repentance he will go through afterward, Anselm explains that those divine beings above will take pity on him and forgive him. Then the human may become closer to being united with the Lord (Sweeney 4). Buddhist meditation, while being a dominantly eastern practice, shares at its spiritual core a very similar goal. Buddhism centers around two ideas: Atman, and Anatman (Brannigan 135). Atman is, in Buddhism, the only true substance that exists. It is all things, and even when it is split into what we perceive as different objects (including you and I) it is still only Atman and exists as one things. Anatman, thus, is the term used to described the Buddhist belief that there is no self, and that we are all just Atman (Brannigan 135-136). Compounding from this is the Buddhist understanding of all things as being both the cause and the effect, the creator and the created. In Buddhism, there is no divine creator (as the Christian God can be understood) but instead an original oneness, Atman, manifesting itself in and from itself (Brannigan 137). Under this understanding, everything around us, everything we know (including out own existences) is nothing more than an illusion. To deal with this, Buddhists included in a very important part of their practices the art of meditation. Meditation is the way to remove ourselves from the delusion of life (Buddhist). Through years of practice, meditation can become the sole way through which a man can see past all the lies that life spins into a man and allow him to understand the concept of Tat Tvam Asi, an ancient Buddhist concept meaning, That I am, so that he will see Anatman and come closer to, if not completely reach, the whole understanding of Atman. To do so is to to become aware of Tathata, or the oneness, the causation everything has

Ruda 4 for and from itself (Brannigan 136-137). When practicing meditation, it is often suggested that a quiet, relaxing place be found, though this is of no way required. In fact, once learning and becoming experienced in the basic art, it is suggested that meditation should and can be done anywhere, regardless of the surroundings (Buddhist.). When freeing yourself from the tricks of life, what should it matter what the people around you are doing? Meditation does center around around very specific physical actions for extended periods of time. While it is completely and wholly requiring relaxation, it needs you to settle in to certain position, such as standing, sitting, or lying down. Depending on the teacher, you may be required to focus on a specific word or phrase, or perhaps your own breathing. Mindful meditation is a very important meditative type to Buddhism. The subject taking part in the meditation is required to focus on a specific action or occurrence, such as the flow of his or her breath entering and exiting the body. This is to be coupled with the mind to not react to what is going on around you, but simply to experience it with as little emotion or questioning as possible (NCCAM). This pushes the subject closer and closer to the realization of Tat Tvam Asi (Brannigan 137). Like Buddhism meditation, Catholic prayer is ritualized, but not to the degree that meditation is. Many Catholic prayers require repetition of certain phrases or passages. Either this or they should be kept to a certain subject with one goal in mind, which refers back to the 5 types of Catholic prayer as prescribed above (Stanley 826-827). Some prayers require certain items to be manipulated, such as a rosary. However, most prayers do not require long term station in prescribed postures as meditation would have you do. Buddhist meditation and prayer do share a similar mental focus, which is what is most important about the two. Meditation would have you

Ruda 5 focus in detail on the actions of the person and his inner connections, while prayer would have you completely focus on the abstract, spiritual connection between you and the Divine Creator, God. While this would perhaps seem an extreme difference between the two, it really is commonality which, physically, cause the two to be incredibly similar to each other. Having this certain focus and relaxation lead to the scientifically testable benefits of prayer and meditation. In 1988, a study by Randolph Byrd was conducted on the benefits of prayer for someone who had just suffered heart attacks. Half of the patients in the study were prayed for by a group of Christians, while the other half were not. The results of the test showed that the patients who were prayed for needed fewer antibiotics, had a lower chance of heart failure and relapse, and had a lower chance of catching pneumonia. It was concluded that prayer was beneficial to the patients (Cohen 41). Another study was done on the effect of prayer and having those who pray for the subject who is an alcoholic. Contrary to those in the heart attack patients, results unanimously showed that those who would have friends and family to pray for them had a much higher chance of failing, continuing to drink, than those who had no one praying for them. Thus, it was concluded that prayer had an adverse effect on those subjects who were addicted to alcohol (Cohen 41.) While these studies may be interesting to conduct, they are not in any way scientifically sound experiments. There are so many confounding factors that can be at play here, such as: how can you regulate who is being prayed for when much of the population of the world prays for sick and recovering people daily? How can you know who is really praying and who is faking it, in both action and intent? Who is God listening to, and responding to? And a whole deal of other questions that can not be proven with certainty (Cohen 41-42). Therefor, prayer and meditation

Ruda 6 will only be compared by the effects bestowed onto the subject while they themselves are in the action of praying or meditating. The main physical response of prayer and meditation is the relaxation it provides. To explain, the idea of heart rate variability must be explained. Heart rate variability (or HRV) is the small amount of communication between the brain, heart, and nervous system which exists between heart beats (Stanley 827). This exists only so that the body can adjust the needs required of the body to maintain balance between it's functions. It is through this function that the body maintains its immune system, and commands / regulates the output of specific functions which would fight against long-term effects such as diseases. It is, in essence, the human bodies innate healing and repair functions (Stanley 828). Through heart rate variability, an observer may come to understand and learn how prayer and meditation could assist the body and provide real health benefits to mankind. In a non-formal experiment done by Ruth Stanley, a published author cited in the Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science, heart rate variability was measured in five female volunteers during the actions taken in the 5 prayers of Catholicism: adoration, expiation, love, petition, and thanksgiving (Stanley 828). The prayers were not formalized or scripted in any way, and the women were allowed to choose their own positions and settings for the tests to be run. All that was asked was that the subjects would stay within the type of prayers they were assigned during each part of the test as well as their cooperation in trying to reduce purposeful movement to a minimum as to not disturb the results. During each part of the test, the women's heart rate variability was measured using proper devices cited in Stanley's report as well as their appearance and observable behavior (Stanley 828-829). Her results showed that each of the

Ruda 7 prayer types showed positive results, including a great lowering of heart rate variability, 0.1Hz being the perfect ideal worsening as it increases (Stanley 828-829). Prayers of love showed the most effective results. This could be due to the tendency it has towards being the most passionate of the prayer types. Similar results have been found by numerous institutions from tests involving meditation (NCCAM). What the results showed is that, through prayer, the body is naturally granted relaxation and an increase in its completely natural ability to heal. Really, though, it is not just through prayer that this is achieved. The same results have been gathered in many other types of relaxation and alternative medication, such as acupuncture and, not surprisingly, meditation. It seems to be that what is most needed is relaxation from a busy, stressful life. If one could manage to strip his or her mind away from the increasing stresses of every day life (like what is required for successful meditation and prayer) then they can reach that point of comfort in body and mind and increase their natural healing capabilities. This, however, is not to discount that other, perhaps supernatural benefits may be in play with prayer and meditation. In is wholly possible that reaching unity with God and understanding the ideas of Atman and Anatman with prayer and meditation respectively can and will improve your life vastly as the teachings explain. However, that is yet to be measurable by science, and thus will be discounted for now. What can be said concerning the importance of spirituality, be it through religion or otherwise, is hugely beneficial and important to maintaining a healthy human lifestyle in that is A) provides the subject with a hopeful goal, and B) gives them, through its teachings and practices, a way to settle down, relax, and bring that HRV towards 0.1Hz.

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Ruda 9 Works Cited United States. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Bethesda, MA.: NCCAM Publications, 2010. Web. 10 May 2011. "Buddhist Religion." Buddhist Temples. Buddhist Temples, 2009. Web. 09 May 2011. Brannigan, Michael C. The Pulse of Wisdom. 2nd ed. Belmont, CA: WadsworthCengage Learning, (2000). 135-137. Print. Stanley, Ruth. "Types of Prayer, Heart Rate Variability, and Innate Healing." Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 44.4 (2009): 825-846. Philosopher's Index. EBSCO. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. Cohen, Cynthia B, Sondra E Wheeler, and David A (& others) Scott. "Prayer as Therapy: A Challenge to Both Religious Belief and Professional Ethics." Hastings Center Report 30.3 (2000): 40-47. Philosopher's Index. EBSCO. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. Sweeney, Eileen. "The Rhetoric of Prayer and Argument in Anselm." Philosophy and Rhetoric 38.4 (2005): 355-378. Philosopher's Index. EBSCO. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.