Ep375: Meditation Sickness - Dr Ben Joffe

In this episode I am once again joined by Dr Ben Joffe anthropologist and scholar practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism.

Dr Joffe shares his recent research and publications on the topic of gegs sel, Tibetan writing about how to remedy the various obstacles and illnesses that can arise during meditation.

Dr Joffe draws on Tibetan gegs sel texts to describe three types of meditation problems and five categories of solution and explains the surprising technique that Taranatha emphasises as central to removing spiritual obstacles.

Dr Joffe also argues that although there has been increased interest in the negative effects of meditation, gegs sel literature remains understudied, and we reflect on the possible incompatibility between Tibetan medical and spiritual cures and modern psychological and psychiatric approaches to meditation injury.

…

Also available on Youtube, iTunes, & Spotify – search ‘Guru Viking Podcast’.

…

Topics include:

00:00 - Intro

01:00 - Spiritual obstacles

02:53 - Ben’s research into meditation sickness

07:20 - Tibetan oral instructions for adverse yogic effects