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. 2021 Jan 28:11:599190.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.599190. eCollection 2020.

No Detectable Electroencephalographic Activity After Clinical Declaration of Death Among Tibetan Buddhist Meditators in Apparent Tukdam, a Putative Postmortem Meditation State

Dylan T Lott  1 , Tenzin Yeshi  2 , N Norchung  2 , Sonam Dolma  2 , Nyima Tsering  2 , Ngawang Jinpa  2 , Tenzin Woser  2 , Kunsang Dorjee  2 , Tenzin Desel  2 , Dan Fitch  1 , Anna J Finley  1 , Robin Goldman  1 , Ana Maria Ortiz Bernal  3 , Rachele Ragazzi  1 , Karthik Aroor  1 , John Koger  1 , Andy Francis  1 , David M Perlman  1 , Joseph Wielgosz  1 , David R W Bachhuber  1 , Tsewang Tamdin  2 , Tsetan Dorji Sadutshang  4 , John D Dunne  1   5 , Antoine Lutz  1   6 , Richard J Davidson  1   7
Affiliations

No Detectable Electroencephalographic Activity After Clinical Declaration of Death Among Tibetan Buddhist Meditators in Apparent Tukdam, a Putative Postmortem Meditation State

Dylan T Lott et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Recent EEG studies on the early postmortem interval that suggest the persistence of electrophysiological coherence and connectivity in the brain of animals and humans reinforce the need for further investigation of the relationship between the brain's activity and the dying process. Neuroscience is now in a position to empirically evaluate the extended process of dying and, more specifically, to investigate the possibility of brain activity following the cessation of cardiac and respiratory function. Under the direction of the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, research was conducted in India on a postmortem meditative state cultivated by some Tibetan Buddhist practitioners in which decomposition is putatively delayed. For all healthy baseline (HB) and postmortem (PM) subjects presented here, we collected resting state electroencephalographic data, mismatch negativity (MMN), and auditory brainstem response (ABR). In this study, we present HB data to demonstrate the feasibility of a sparse electrode EEG configuration to capture well-defined ERP waveforms from living subjects under very challenging field conditions. While living subjects displayed well-defined MMN and ABR responses, no recognizable EEG waveforms were discernable in any of the tukdam cases.

Keywords: EEG; auditory brainstem response; brain death; consciousness; meditation; mismatch negativity; postmortem; tibetan buddhism.

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Conflict of interest statement

RD is the founder and president, and he serves on the board of directors for the non-profit organization, Healthy Minds Innovations, Inc. In addition, RD served on the board of directors for the Mind & Life Institute from 1992 to 2017. The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Comparison of averaged MMN wave forms for all Living Subjects (HB) and Postmortem Subjects (PM).
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Comparison of averaged ABR wave forms for all Living Subjects (HB) and Postmortem Subjects (PM).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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