As a part of an ongoing project of modern scientific research on Buddhist meditation, which represents an aspect of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's vision and activity, a group of Russian scientists, headed by Prof. Medvedev (full member of the Institute for Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences) and Prof. Kaplan (head of the Laboratory of Neurophysiology and Neurocomputer Interfaces at Moscow State University), conducted a study of the effects of meditation, which was organized by Palpung Munishasan Dharma Chakra Sangh in collaboration with the research team for "thukdam" meditation.
Over eight days from April 29 to May 6, 2022, they examined 16 tulkus, lamas, khenpos, and monastics by conducting interviews about their meditative experiences, as well as investigations of each practitioner's meditative states and signs of warmth with methods such as thermography, electroencephalogram (EEG) and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Before and after each stage of the study, the project coordinator Telo Tulku Rinpoche and the research team held a meeting with Guru Vajradhara His Holiness Chamgon Kenting Tai Situpa to discuss a general summary of that stage and present results of the previous stage.
