New study suggests existence of meditation-induced near-death experiences

There seem to be two ways of debiologizing your mind  (or maybe three, but we won't go there).   The first method  is to shuffle off your mortal coil, discard your muddy vesture of decay, or - in the words of the bard - kick the bucket. 

The second, and less drastic, is to rid your mind of all its biologically formed delusions by meditation.   The interesting thing is both methods produce similar results.

From Medical Express  
"...Around four percent of adults in Western countries report having a Near Death Experience (NDE) when they are close to dying or in the period between clinical death and resuscitation. Although individual, cultural and religious factors influence the vocabulary people use to describe and interpret their NDEs, consensual scientific opinion suggests that there is little variation in the components of NDEs.  

These typically involve an out-of-body experience, a loss of sense of time and space, communicating with light beings, meeting loved ones and looking back over their lives. NDEs can often be transformational, prompting enhanced levels of intuition, changes in life insight and a greater understanding of the self.  

The study showed that some advanced Buddhist meditation practitioners are able to harness these experiences at will, fostering insight into the psychology of death-related processes as well as the nature of self and reality more generally. Unlike regular NDEs, participants were consciously aware of experiencing the meditation-induced NDE and retained control over its content and duration...

... Participants reported that during the meditation-induced NDE, they visited non-worldly realms, experienced what happens during and after death, and experienced a state of existence known as 'emptiness'. Compared to regular forms of meditation, the meditation-induced NDE led to a five-fold increase in mystical experiences and a four-fold increase in feelings of non-attachment. Findings also demonstrated that the profundity of the meditation-induced NDE increased across the three-year study period, suggesting that the experience can be learned and perfected over time.

Unlike regular NDEs, participants were consciously aware of experiencing the meditation-induced NDE and retained volitional control over its content and duration..."

Read it all here

See also  Buddhist Philosophy