Search Results (8)

Hakuin Ekaku 白隠慧鶴, the reviver of the Japanese Rinzai school 臨濟宗, introduced Chinese Daoist cosmology and views on the body through the narrative persona of the immortal Hakuyūshi 白幽子 in works such as Yasen Kanna 夜船閑話 (Chats on a Night Boat). He elaborated on specific techniques of Daoist internal alchemy (nèidān 內丹), such as focusing the mind on the dāntián 丹田 (elixir field) and regulating the breath to enter a state of tranquility, as methods to address “Zen sickness” and nurture both body and mind. This approach to self-cultivation exerted a profound influence in Japan. From the late Meiji into the Taishō period (early 20th century), practitioners such as Futaki Kenzo 二木謙三, Fujita Reisai 藤田靈齋, and Okada Torajirō 岡田虎二郎 developed their own health methods based on their respective understandings, forming practices such as the “abdominal breathing method” 腹式呼吸法 and the “method of harmonizing breath and mind” 息心調和法. These contributions promoted the popularization of quiet sitting within Japanese society. Related books were subsequently translated and introduced to China, inspiring modern scholars such as Jiang Weiqiao 蔣維喬 to reinterpret Chinese traditional self-cultivation methods in a new language, leading to the publication of health-preserving works like The Yinshizi’s Method of Quiet Sitting 因是子靜坐法. At the same time, the Chinese self-cultivation community engaged in reflection on and correction of potential drawbacks in the practice of sitting meditation. By tracing this cross-religious and cross-regional process of cultural transmission and transformation, this paper reveals the enduring vitality of Daoist practices during East Asia’s modernization, as well as their universal significance beyond the confines of any single religious tradition. Full article

Background: The accuracy and consistency of complete-arch digital impressions are fundamental for long-term success of implant-supported rehabilitations. Recently, artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted tools, such as SmartX (Medit Link v3.4.2, MEDIT Corp., Seoul, South of Korea), have been introduced to enhance scan body recognition and data alignment during intraoral scanning. Objective: This in vitro study aimed to evaluate the impact of SmartX on impression accuracy, consistency, operator confidence, and technique sensitivity in complete-arch implant workflows. Methods: Seventy-two digital impressions were recorded on edentulous mandibular models with four dummy implants, using six experimental subgroups based on scan body design (double- or single-wing), scanning technique (occlusal or combined straight/zigzag), and presence/absence of SmartX tool. Each group was scanned by both an expert and a novice operator (n = 6 scans per subgroup). Root mean square (RMS) deviation and scanning time were assessed. Data were tested for normality (Shapiro–Wilk). Parametric tests (t-test, repeated measures ANOVA with Greenhouse–Geisser correction) or non-parametric equivalents (Mann–Whitney U, Friedman) were applied as appropriate. Post hoc comparisons used Tukey HSD or Dunn–Bonferroni tests (α = 0.05). Results: SmartX significantly improved consistency and operator confidence, especially among novices, although it did not yield statistically significant differences in scan accuracy (p > 0.05). The tool mitigated early scanning errors and reduced dependence on operator technique. SmartX also enabled successful library alignment with minimal data; however, scanning time was generally longer with its use, particularly for beginners. Conclusions: While SmartX did not directly enhance trueness, it substantially improved scan reliability and user experience in complete-arch workflows. Its ability to minimize technique sensitivity and improve reproducibility makes it a valuable aid in both training and clinical settings. Further clinical validation is warranted to support its integration into routine practice. Full article

Background and Objectives: Dental caries is a preventable, reversible disease in its early stages. This study evaluated the intra-rater agreement of International Caries Assessment and Detection System (ICDAS) scores with Medit i500^® and Omnicam^® scanners versus traditional clinical examinations and the inter-rater agreement using the Omnicam^® among senior dentists and dental students and between these two groups. Materials and Methods: A total of 24 patients aged between 21 and 34 years, randomly selected from dental students and interns, underwent four examinations (three intraoral scans and one clinical examination), and the corresponding ICDAS scores were recorded by a randomly selected rater out of the 31 available examiners. The examination team consisted of dental students, dentists with less than 3 years, and dentists with more than 5 years of clinical experience. The following inter- and intra-rater agreement tests for the ordinal data were chosen: Fleiss’ kappa coefficient, Cohen’s weighted kappa, and inter-class correlations. Results: For all examination techniques, there was statistically significant agreement for the experienced raters (p < 0.05). The highest positive interclass correlation was obtained for inter-rater agreement tests of 288 observations recorded by senior dentists: ICC = 0.969 (95% CI 0.949–0.981). Conclusions: Intra-rater reliability was excellent for Omnicam compared to clinical exams conducted by senior dentists but moderate for Medit i500. Although inter-rater agreement using Omnicam was poor between students and between senior dentists and students, it was excellent among senior dentists. Full article

With the most recent developments in wearable technology, the possibility of continually monitoring stress using various physiological factors has attracted much attention. By reducing the detrimental effects of chronic stress, early diagnosis of stress can enhance healthcare. Machine Learning (ML) models are trained for healthcare systems to track health status using adequate user data. Insufficient data is accessible, however, due to privacy concerns, making it challenging to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) models in the medical industry. This research aims to preserve the privacy of patient data while classifying wearable-based electrodermal activities. We propose a Federated Learning (FL) based approach using a Deep Neural Network (DNN) model. For experimentation, we use the Wearable Stress and Affect Detection (WESAD) dataset, which includes five data states: transient, baseline, stress, amusement, and meditation. We transform this raw dataset into a suitable form for the proposed methodology using the Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique (SMOTE) and min-max normalization pre-processing methods. In the FL-based technique, the DNN algorithm is trained on the dataset individually after receiving model updates from two clients. To decrease the over-fitting effect, every client analyses the results three times. Accuracies, Precision, Recall, F1-scores, and Area Under the Receiver Operating Curve (AUROC) values are evaluated for each client. The experimental result shows the effectiveness of the federated learning-based technique on a DNN, reaching 86.82% accuracy while also providing privacy to the patient’s data. Using the FL-based DNN model over a WESAD dataset improves the detection accuracy compared to the previous studies while also providing the privacy of patient data. Full article

Following insights by Pierre Hadot, I suggest that although explicit discussions of practices of breath control and other psychosomatic techniques of contemplative attention management are conspicuously absent in early Greek thought, there are some signs that analogous practices did exist, perhaps as early as Socrates. The combined evidence of Aristophanes and Plato suggests that Socrates may have engaged in a practice that has key features in common with meditative practices and experiences as attested in Zen Buddhism. This technique consists in two stages: an initial practice of top-down, voluntary, egocentric focused meditation resulting in a state of “absorption” or abstraction from all sensory input, followed by the practice of a more bottom-up, open, other-centered (allocentric) form of meditation, intended to provide a more global or universal perspective, in which the practitioner situates herself as a part of the cosmos. This paper includes discussion of “withdrawal” into oneself as a contemplative practice in Plato, Marcus Aurelius, Evagrius Ponticus, and Gregory Palamas. Full article

During the era of the Republic of China, a number of Buddhists rediscovered early meditation techniques. These practices were mainly revived from canonical scriptures, following a modern text-based approach to Buddhism. Within this framework, specific attention was devoted to the ‘visualization of the impure’ (bujing guan 不淨觀, Sk. aśubhabhāvanā), particularly in the form of the visualization of one’s own body transforming into a putrefying corpse and skeleton. Masters with various backgrounds (Modernist Buddhists, Yogācāra scholars, Tiantai 天台 and tantric masters) wrote articles and guides on this practice, which had the advantage of being common to both Hīnayāna/Śrāvakayāna and Mahāyāna. This study considers a selection of modern texts on bujing guan in an attempt to uncover why the meditation on impurity was favored and how it was revived. Full article

In this paper, I investigate the phenomenology of awakening in Chinese Zen Buddhism. In this tradition, to awaken is to ‘see your true nature’. In particular, the two aspects of awakening are: (1) seeing that the nature of one’s self or mind is empty or void and (2) an erasing of the usual (though merely apparent) boundary between subject and object. In the early Zen tradition, there are many references to awakening as chopping off your head, not having eyes, nose and tongue, and seeing your ‘Original Face’. These references bear a remarkable resemblance to an approach to awakening developed by Douglas Harding. I will guide the reader through a series of Harding’s first-person experiments which investigate the gap where you cannot see your own head. I will endeavour to show that these methods, although radically different from traditional meditation techniques, result in an experience with striking similarities to Zen accounts of awakening, in particular, as experiencing oneself as empty or void and yet totally united with the given world. The repeatability and apparent reliability of these first-person methods opens up a class of awakening experience to empirical investigation and has the potential to provide new insights into nondual traditions. Full article

Background and Objectives: Stress can overload adaptive mechanisms, leading to epigenetic effects harmful to health. Research on the reversal of these effects is in its infancy. Early results suggest some meditation techniques have health benefits that grow with repeated practice. This study focused on possible transcriptomic effects of 38 years of twice-daily Transcendental Meditation^® (TM^®) practice. Materials and Methods: First, using Illumina^® BeadChip microarray technology, differences in global gene expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were sought between healthy practitioners and tightly matched controls (n = 12, age 65). Second, these microarray results were verified on a subset of genes using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and were validated using qPCR in larger TM and control groups (n = 45, age 63). Bioinformatics investigation employed Ingenuity^® Pathway Analysis (IPA^®), DAVID, Genomatix, and R packages. Results: The 200 genes and loci found to meet strict criteria for differential expression in the microarray experiment showed contrasting patterns of expression that distinguished the two groups. Differential expression relating to immune function and energy efficiency were most apparent. In the TM group, relative to the control, all 49 genes associated with inflammation were downregulated, while genes associated with antiviral and antibody components of the defense response were upregulated. The largest expression differences were shown by six genes related to erythrocyte function that appeared to reflect a condition of lower energy efficiency in the control group. Results supporting these gene expression differences were obtained with qPCR-measured expression both in the well-matched microarray groups and in the larger, less well-matched groups. Conclusions: These findings are consistent with predictions based on results from earlier randomized trials of meditation and may provide evidence for stress-related molecular mechanisms underlying reductions in anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), cardiovascular disease (CVD), and other chronic disorders and diseases. Full article