Can meditation be harmful?

Upvote:0

Buddhist meditation is about contemplating on Dhamma which in short can be put into the Four Noble Truths.

When you are learning and practicing the noble dhamma, you are cultivating qualities such as mettā (kindness), karuṇā (compassion), muditā (sympathetic-joy) and upekkhā (equanimity). Just think practically if these are the qualities you cultivate, can they bring anything negative?

Furthermore, when one learns that this nature of Suffering (birth, aging, sickness, death, etc.) and learns that the origin of this suffering is because of the three-fold craving, and also by destroying that very same craving the mass of suffering can be removed; he or she develops this Noble Eight Fold Path which is the path leading to the cessation of that suffering.

With the development of the Noble Eight Fold Path, having removed unskilled bodily, verbal and mental actions, and contemplating on the origin and cessation phenomena, one starts to understand the dependent origination. With that you start to understand the root cause of what is arising now, and what happens if we act with lack of wise attention and lack of mindfulness. Simultaneously an unshakable Faith arises in you about the Buddha, Dhamma and the Noble Sangha (as a result of seeing the true dhamma within you). Now with that Faith and the mind fixed on Nibbana, that will become your most important protection.

When you practice dhamma this way, you don't get carried away even with highest levels of concentration or the results of such concentrations. You understand if you seek delight in them you are seeking delight in suffering.

So if you are meditating in accordance with the Noble Dhamma, only positive things can come out of that, with most positive and incomparable result being Nibbana.

With Metta

Upvote:2

Each person is born with a survival instinct, which manifests as "ego". For many or most people, this ego instinct cannot be abandoned. Luckily, nature protects most people but not allowing their mind to end the ego. This is why Buddhist internet forums, for example, have many egotists that claim or imagine meditative attainments, such as "jhana". These minds or people simply cannot get rid of ego. But for some people, meditation can cause the ego to become fragile, causing psychosis. Its only a select few that can peacefully abandon ego. These are the Noble Ones.

Upvote:2

Coming from a clinical perspective, i would advice against meditation in cases of moderate to severe illness like depression for instance. I am aware that a practicing buddhist may have a different perspective.

I also find the false memory argument hard to understand, as a mindful look on memories would be a very healthy way of looking at any form of recollection. If i understand correctly the mindfulness study cited only examined meditation experiences during one fifteen minutes session, and it seems like a very superficial base to draw these conclusion from.

Upvote:3

What Buddha recommended was the right concentration (Samma Samadhi) a part of Noble Eightfold Path. Wrong concentration (Mitya Samadhi) may be harmful.

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