冥想可以让你变成更好的人？你可能想多了

Meditation does not make you a better person according to a new study despite widespread claims that meditation can make you calmer and more compassionate towards other people.

许多人认为冥想会让你变得更淡定、对他人更富有同情心，不过一项最新研究显示，冥想并不能让你变成更好的人。

Researchers have found that despite popular beliefs that meditation can make people more compassionate and less aggressive the evidence for this is limited.

研究人员发现，尽管目前普遍流行的看法是，冥想会让人变得更富有同情心、不再咄咄逼人，不过这种观点尚无有力证据。

The research by scientists at Coventry University in the UK, Massey University in New Zealand, and Radboud University in the Netherlands, reviewed 22 studies involving 1685 people to investigate the effect of various types of meditation.

来自英国考文垂大学、新西兰梅西大学和荷兰的拉德堡德大学的科学家对1685人进行了22项研究，用以调查各类冥想所产生的影响。

Initially research found that meditation did have an overall positive impact, However further analysis revealed it played no significant role in reducing aggression or prejudice or improving how socially-connected someone was.

最初的研究表明，冥想确实有一定的积极作用，然而进一步的分析则显示，它在减少攻击性、偏见或改善人际关系方面并没有起到重要作用。

Dr Miguel Farias, from Coventry University’s Centre for Advances in Behavioural Science, said: “The popularisation of meditation techniques, like mindfulness, despite being taught without religious beliefs, still seem to offer the hope of a better self and a better world to many.

来自考文垂大学行为科学研究中心的Miguel Farias博士说：“冥想技巧的普及，如打坐，虽然没有宗教信仰的教导，但似乎仍然给我们带来一个可以打造更好自我和更好世界的希望。“

“A person may have the expectation of becoming a better person through meditating, and may believe that to be the case - but in fact this has not been proven.”

“一个人或许可以通过冥想希望成为更好的人——但事实上，这还没有得到证实。”

The lack of a positive change in compassion he said was not surprising as in most instances to improve compassion or empathy this would involve spending more time interacting with others.

冥想对改善同情心的作用有限，这并不令人感到意外，因为在大多数情况下，若想改善同情心，就需要花费更多时间与人进行互动。

“If you want to meditate because you want some quiet time and time to relax, I see no issues, but the benefits it can have on a person’s character are limited, if you want to be more compassionate go and volunteer at a charity."

“如果你是因为需要安静一会儿或放松一下而冥想，我认为这没有问题。但冥想在塑造性格方面的作用很有限。如果你想更富有同情心，试试去慈善机构做志愿者吧。”