Goal

Enlightenment is one of the most central and enduring tenants of Buddhism, profoundly shaping Buddhist philosophy and pedagogical practices for over 2500 years. Despite its historical importance and explicit claims about the nature of self and suffering, enlightenment currently occupies only a small corner of modern scholarly inquiry. Critically, it has yet to meaningfully interface with two of humanity's most recent and consequential innovations: science and technology. A serious attempt to bridge this divide is now possible and holds enormous promise. Specifically, we are poised to leverage cutting-edge cognitive neuroscience methods to rigorously examine one of the most extraordinary yet testable claims in religion. Doing so could potentially harness its transformative wisdom to enable human flourishing.
Despite the promise, enlightenment remains a controversial topic within science. In addition to possible stigma, there is inherent intellectual and economic risk associated with investigating a phenomenon that is not readily amenable to measurement. To overcome these challenges, generous support from a respected institution is critical to foster the potential for bold discovery. Our proposed solution is for the Templeton Foundation to create a centralized funding mechanism, uniting contemplative neuroscientists, Buddhist scholars, and advanced practitioners to enable the first systematic scientific investigation of enlightenment.

Opportunity

There is rapid growth in applying the tools of neuroscience to study meditation, psychedelics, and other topics closely related to enlightenment. These fields have theories and established methods that could be used as cornerstones for investigating enlightenment, but yet their enormous synergistic potential has not been fully harnessed. Outside of science, people have been trying to cultivate enlightenment for millennia, and much of this knowledge resides with contemplatives and Buddhist scholars. Now is the time to bring these parties together. Centralized support for intensive collaboration could launch an unprecedented integration of science and religion towards fostering individual and collective wellbeing.

Roadblocks

Enlightenment is an elusive term that can carry many meanings. A first potential roadblock will be the challenge of deriving a consensus conceptual and empirical domain from which to launch a systematic investigation. Likewise, enlightenment and states associated with it are largely subjective, and therefore difficult to create and measure. A second potential roadblock is the challenge of developing objectivity and establishing reproducibility; without these, scientific testing and falsification cannot occur. Finally, it is unclear how to channel a neuroscience of enlightenment towards the development of human flourishing. A third potential roadblock will be translating scientific findings into practical applications.

Breakthroughs Needed

These roadblocks can be overcome if scientists and contemplative scholars work together. Toward that end, the Foundation can support the development and implementation of a long-term interdisciplinary research program.
Overcoming the first roadblock necessitates a consensus model of enlightenment that is measurable. It will rely on contemplative scholars and advanced practitioners to outline the core processes and associated phenomenology of enlightenment, including training techniques and expected stages of progress. We can then develop an operationalizable model of enlightenment and devise custom methods and experiments to test it.
In conducting this work, the second roadblock can be overcome by innovatively combining best practice 1st person approaches (e.g., psychometrics) with cutting-edge 3rd person methods (e.g., neuroimaging). Further, technical advances in non-invasive neurostimulation (e.g., tDCS, real-time neurofeedback) can be leveraged to examine linkages between specific neurobiological functions and subjective features of enlightenment. We can assess for validity by comparing findings across converging research strategies.
To overcome the third challenge, there is promise in integrating basic science with emerging neuroscience technology. This integration could accelerate the training of mindfulness, compassion, and other virtuous skills that promote flourishing. Achieving this goal will require forging partnerships with stakeholders from medicine and industry.

Key Indicators of Success

Year 3. Can we assemble the right people to conduct this work? The project needs commitment from at least 3 neuroscience labs and 3 contemplatives with the requisite expertise (see below for suggested collaborators). If fewer, then interest and expertise are insufficient.
Year 5. Have we made meaningful progress in measuring enlightenment? We can test this empirically (e.g., show that different measures of enlightenment relate to each other and across people/conditions in theoretically predictable ways).
Year 10. Can the training towards enlightenment be neurobiologically mapped? Studies should be able to reliably link brain changes with subjective indicators of enlightenment stages.

Additional Information

Contemplative neuroscience has developed a sufficiently strong scientific foundation to make a serious attempt at investigating enlightenment. Innovative use of cognitive neuroscience and psychophysiological methods have significantly advanced knowledge of the neurobiological effects and mechanisms of Buddhist meditation techniques[1]. Although fundamental to the field, this progress represents only the very beginning. Further progress will require full utilization of the technological and computing potential of this digital globalized age. Rapid advancement in machine learning, real-time neurofeedback, and noninvasive neurostimulation have the potential to enable accurate prediction and systematic modulation of subjective states using neural data. Consequently, the thrust of our proposal is to capitalize on the natural synergy between advancement of these methods and empirical investigation of the experiential states associated with enlightenment.
Success of this project will largely depend on the strength and effectiveness of interdisciplinary collaboration. The initial step will be to form teams of scientists, contemplative scholars, and technologists with the requisite expertise. Together, the groups will create a neuroscientific framework to study enlightenment, with early emphasis on construct building followed by research planning and methods development. A key early prerogative will be to establish consensus around the basic structure of the likely multi-faceted enlightenment construct[2]; therefore it will be important to specify its constituent facets (e.g., state, trait, meditative practices, distinct training trajectories).
Once a theoretical model of enlightenment has been developed, the next step will be to determine the specific research strategies and methods to test it. Here, we can build off existing innovations within the contemplative neuroscience literature. Although there are many possible approaches, some relevant and promising possibilities include neural decoding [3], real-time fMRI neurofeedback[4], and EEG/MEG neurophenomenological paradigms[5]. A central goal will be to leverage/refine these approaches so that we can translate multimodal assessment of intraindividual variation into evidence and validation of intersubjective regularities across putative facets of enlightenment. It will be important to assess validity by benchmarking measures of enlightenment with measures of other more established constructs within the nomological network (e.g., attention, self-referential processing, emotion regulation). Furthermore, it may be fruitful to cross validate neural metrics of enlightenment states with the neural profiles of other reportedly similar experiential states occasioned via non-meditative means (e.g., psychedelics, anesthesia).
Assuming sufficient progress in elucidating the neural signatures of enlightenment, we can then leverage the knowledge gained to conduct bold experimental studies using state-of-the-art neuromodulation approaches. For example, we can use fMRI-guided rTMS or tDCS to test whether it is possible to induce or enhance core subjective features of specific meditative states. This would set the foundation for long-term translational/applied efforts aimed at enhancing meditation training and democratizing access to tools that facilitate enlightenment.

Leading figures who could join in this effort:
Richard Davidson, PhD. University of Wisconsin. Contemplative neuroscientist.
Jake Davis, PhD. New York University. Buddhist scholar & advanced practitioner.
Judson Brewer, PhD. Brown University. Contemplative neuroscientist.
Tania Singer, PhD. Max Planck, Berlin Germany Contemplative neuroscientist.
Shinzen Young. Meditation teacher & advanced practitioner.

References
1. 10.1016/bs.pbr.2018.10.020
2. 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00870
3. 10.3389/fnhum.2020.00336
4. 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.05.030
5. 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01680