Many traditional schools maintain that sensory, perceptual, and cognitive abilities are enhanced by meditation. Some Eastern schools, including Theravada and Zen Buddhism, Vedanta, and yoga, offer systematic ways to cultivate a clarity, flexibility, efficiency, and broadened range of mental functions similar to the meditation results reviewed in the six sub-sections below. The perceptual and cognitive abilities that seem to have been enhanced during modern experiments correspond with various capacities described in the Hindu-Buddhist traditions as siddhis (exceptional powers), vibhutis (perfections), and riddhis (psychically prosperous states). Smritritwa, for example, is a highly developed form of memory enhancement reported in contemporary studies. Adwani siddhi, the ability to withstand misleading or destructive suggestions from other minds, resembles the good judgment and perception associated with field independence (below). Vijnamaya vidya siddhi, a supernormal agility of mind, includes many of the mental improvements being reviewed here. Other capacities such as these, according to the traditional teachings, could also be included in such comparisons.
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