In this episode I host part 6 of an ongoing conversation between Shinzen Young, meditation teacher and neuroscience research consultant, Chelsey Fasano, a Columbia University neuroscience student, and Dr Jay Sanguinetti, Assistant Director for the Center for Consciousness Studies and Research Professor at the University of New Mexico.

In this episode we take a deep dive into the dopaminergic reward system, including current thinking on its function and role, and its interaction with meditation practice and Buddhist notions of craving and suffering. We also discuss what to do after enlightenment, and speculate about the Fibonacci sequence as a universal constant.

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Video version: https://www.guruviking.com/ep103-dopamine-meditation-fibonacci-feat-shinzen-young-chelsey-fasano-dr-jay-sanguinetti/

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

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Topics Include:

00:00 - Intro

00:44 - International attention and Sir Roger Penrose

02:38 - What is the reward system and how does it function?

06:45 - The punishment system

09:50 - Social media and the basal ganglia

11:09 - Meditation’s effects on the basal ganglia

14:50 - SART and the work of Dr David Vago

19:37 - Meditation and resting tonic dopamine levels

22:24 - Knytl & Opitz on meditation and negative reinforcement

25:14 - What is resting tonic dopamine?

27:04 - Leigh Brasington and Haggerty’s jhana study

30:19 - Is the Haggerty study fatally flawed?

32:21 - More to pleasure than dopamine

33:05 - The different jhana systems of Buddhism

35:36- Jay suggests a jhana study at his lab

37:26 - Integration of ecstatic experience across traditions

43:13 - Integrating the the top-down Self with the basal ganglia

45:47 - After enlightenment, what to do?

49:10 - Shinzen on measuring the endorphin rush

53:14 - Endorphins, Dopamine, and craving

55:48 - Hard and soft jhana, wet and dry vipassana

01:01:02 - Jay on in-brain competition and behaviour change

01:04:51 - Outcomes from Shinzen’s life of practice

01:07:54 - The Fibonacci sequence as the universal constant

01:21:01 - Craving, conflict, and suffering

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Previous episodes in this series:

- https://www.guruviking.com/ep72-shinzen-young-and-chelsey-fasano-tantra-neuroscience-and-true-enlightenment/

- https://www.guruviking.com/ep76-shinzen-young-chelsey-fasano-2-the-science-of-enlightenment/

- https://www.guruviking.com/ep81-shinzen-young-chelsey-fasano-3-orgasm-epilepsy-mystical-experience/

- https://www.guruviking.com/ep86-bliss-enlightenment-fristonian-physics-feat-chelsey-fasano-shinzen-young-dr-jay-sanguinetti/

- https://www.guruviking.com/ep94-the-enlightenment-button-feat-shinzen-young-chelsey-fasano-dr-jay-sanguinetti/

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To find out more about Shinzen, visit:

- https://www.guruviking.com/ep37-shinzen-young-pandemic-edition-guru-viking-podcast/

- www.shinzen.org

To find out more about Chelsey, visit:

- www.chelseyfasano.com

To find our more about Dr Sanguinetti, visit:

- https://www.guruviking.com/ep102-dr-jay-sanguinetti-cults-science-the-dalai-lama/

- https://www.jaysanguinetti.com/

For more interviews, videos, and more visit:

- www.guruviking.com

Music ‘Deva Dasi’ by Steve James