Meditation and Compassion

The monks of Tibet are well known for both their enduring compassion and their religious practice of daily meditation, leading several researchers to become interested in the relationship between these two traits. A study was conducted and has subsequently been published in the March 26 issue of the Public Library of Science One. The research shows the clear beneficial effects of a meditation practice and its effects on an individual’s ability for empathy. 

During the course of the study, two groups of individuals were examined: 16 Tibetan Monks with over 10,000 hours of meditation practice and 16 control subjects that were new to meditation and trained in its practice during the study.   The study utilized a functional MRI (fMRI) to scientifically visualize the effects of the meditative practice on the functioning of the brain. Each test subject was examined with the fMRI while they were both meditating and not meditating to observe an area of the brain previously associated with empathy. 

In order to examine the empathy of the individual, test subjects were exposed to various audio stimuli to gauge their emotional response. Test sounds included sounds such as woman in distress, background noises from a restaurant, and a baby crying. The study observed that the brains of the monks reacted more strongly than the control subjects when hearing sounds of others suffering.

The brain imaging study also showed clear change to the structure of the brain in the areas of empathy in the monks. This observation, as well as the observed empathy reactions, led the researcher to conclude that empathy can be developed in individuals much like other skills, causing visible alterations of the brain. Positive qualities, such as empathy, can be learned and developed by all individuals, and having a daily meditation practice may be the key.