> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.meditation-research.org.uk/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Meditation on buddha forms improves visual spatial processing
- URL: https://www.meditation-research.org.uk/meditation-on-buddha-forms-improves-visual-spatial-processing/
- Published: 2009-11-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2024-11-21T18:08:37.000Z
- Author: Dr Peter Malinowski
- Tags: Effects & Mechanisms, Meditation, Cognition, #Blog

In Indo-Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism (Engl.: Diamond Way), that was primarily practiced in Tibet and in Himalayan countries such as Bhutan and Nepal, meditating on buddha forms is a common practice. Often confusingly referred to as ‘deities’, these buddha forms are expressions of a well-functioning mind (see [trust-based approaches to meditation](https://www.meditation-research.org.uk/trust-based-approaches-to-meditation/)) and calling such forms to mind as “forms of energy and light” plays an important role in formal meditation practice.

![The Buddha Form Chenrezig (Tibetan) or Loving Eyes](https://storage.ghost.io/c/40/ec/40ec15f4-97a6-4453-9470-370ddad9adaa/content/images/2024/11/chenrezig-thangka-1.jpg)

**The Buddha Form Chenrezig (Tibetan) or Loving Eyes*

In a [recent study carried out by researchers in the US](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02345.x?ref=meditation-research.org.uk), it was shown that meditating on buddha forms as the one I offer here as example, enhances visuospatial processing efficiency. Compared to a group of meditators who engaged in a different form of meditation, called ‘open presence’, which involves a high levels of distributed attention without a particular object of attention, meditators who focused on an internally generated visual image of a buddha form, demonstrated a dramatic performance increase in a computerised mental imagery task they completed prior and directly after a meditation session.

---

### Reference

- Kozhevnikov, M., Louchakova, O., Josipovic, Z. & Motes, M. A. (2009). The enhancement of visuospatial processing efficiency through Buddhist deity meditation. *Psychological Science, 20* (5), 645–653\. [https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02345.x](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02345.x?ref=meditation-research.org.uk) /// [pdf](https://nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/mkozhevnlab/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/Kozhevnikov%5Fetal%5Fmeditation%5F2009.pdf?ref=meditation-research.org.uk)