³⁷A famous counterexample to my optimism happened during the Buddha’s life, when several of his disciples committed suicide after intensively engaging in a particular exercise: reducing carnal desires by contemplating the loathsomeness of the human body (Samyutta Nikaya 54.9). The Buddha realized his mistake and changed his teaching accordingly. That was a case of using loathing as a meditation technique to reduce reward expectations and desires, which is extremely rare in current Western meditation practice.