Dark Retreats and Sensory Deprivation

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Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche discusses sensory deprivation with R. Clay Reid, Professor of Neurobiology at Harvard, comparing its use as means of stimulating the brain (as in Bon and Buddhist ‘dark retreat practice’) with its use as a torture practice. "Dark retreat" (mun mtshams) is apowerfulmeans in which special circumstances—both physical and psychological—are created in order to enhance particular meditation and yogic practices. This form of solitary retreat, which usually takes place in a cabin, cave, etc., may last from a few hoursto several years—even decades. Because of its radical nature, retreat in the darkness is to be engaged only by advanced adepts of the Tantric path. It is a technique known to a number of different schools of Tibetan Buddhism and Bon.