Meditation creates a “virtuous cycle” where the ability to calm your mind increases self-awareness and self-awareness makes it easier to calm the mind. But meditation isn’t the only way to access this positive feedback loop. In fact, in ancient societies it was known for centuries that certain activities have a similar effect and can act as an aid to those seeking self refinement. One of those aids is the game of Go, which has long been held to offer those who play it meaningful parallels to understand important Buddhist principles like impermanence and interdependence. For modern people, who tend to be more interested in meditation for the pragmatic rather than the spiritual, the benefits of Go are similar to the benefits of that other strategy game more familiar to westerners—chess. Both games have held similar places in their respective societies. Chess is known as the game of kings, an art …