Zen and the brain : toward an understanding of meditation and consciousness / James H. Austin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Austin, James H., 1925- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Consciousness--Religious aspects--Zen Buddhism.

Consciousness.

Meditation--Buddhism.

Meditation.

Zen Buddhism--Psychology.

Zen Buddhism.

Consciousness--Religious aspects.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxiv, 844 pages) : illustrations

Other Title:

MIT Press CogNet.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [1998]

System Details:

text file

Summary:

This book uses Zen Buddhism as the opening wedge for an extraordinarily wide-ranging exploration of consciousness. In order to understand the brain mechanisms that produce Zen states, one needs some understanding of the anatomy, physiology, and chemistry of the brain. Austin, a neuroscientist and Zen practitioner, interweaves his teachings of the brain with his teachings/personal narrative of Zen. The science, which contains the latest relevant developments in brain research, is both inclusive and rigorous; the Zen sections are clear and evocative. Along the way, Austin covers such topics as similar states in other disciplines and religions, sleep and dreams, madness, consciousness-altering drugs, and the social consequences of advanced stages of enlightenment.

Contents:

Chapters Containing Testable Hypotheses xvi

Part I Starting to Point toward Zen

1 Is There Any Common Ground between Zen and the Brain? 3

2 A Brief Outline of Zen History 7

3 But What Is Zen? 11

4 Mysticism, Zen, Religion, and Neuroscience 14

5 Western Perspectives on Mystical Experiences 19

6 Is Mysticism a Kind of Schizophrenia in Disguise? 30

7 The Semantics of Self 34

8 Constructing Our Self 37

9 Some ABCs of the I-Me-Mine 43

10 The Zen Mirror: Beyond Narcissism and Depersonalization 47

11 Where Does Zen Think It's Coming From? 51

Part II Meditating

12 What Is Meditation? 57

13 Ryoko-in, Kyoto, 1974 59

14 Zazen at Ryoko-in 64

15 Attention 69

16 The Attentive Art of Meditation 72

17 Restraint and Renunciation 73

18 Zen Meditative Techniques and Skills 75

19 Physiological Changes during Meditation 78

20 Brain Waves and Their Limitations 83

21 The EEG in Meditation 88

22 Breathing In; Breathing Out 93

23 The Effects of Sensorimotor Deprivation 100

24 Monks and Clicks: Habituation 104

25 The Koan and Sanzen: Kyoto, 1974 107

26 A Quest for Non-Answers: Mondo and Koan 110

27 The Roshi 119

28 The Mindful, Introspective Path toward Insight 125

29 Inkblots, Blind Spots, and High Spots 129

30 Sesshin and Teisho at Ryoko-in, 1974 137

31 Sesshin 138

32 The Meditative Approach to the Dissolution of the Self 141

Part III Neurologizing

33 Brain in Overview: The Large of It 149

34 Brain in Overview: The Small of It 152

35 Brain in Overview: Coordinated Networks Synthesizing Higher Functions 155

36 The Orienting Reflex and Activation 157

37 Arousal Pathways in the Reticular Formation and Beyond 159

38 Acetylcholine Systems 164

39 The Septum and Pleasure 169

40 The Attachments of the Cingulate Gyrus 172

41 The Amygdala and Fear 175

42 Remembrances and the Hippocampus 180

43 Visceral Drives and the Hypothalamus 189

44 Biogenic Amines: Three Systems 197

45 GABA and Inhibition 208

46 Peptides 210

47 The Brain's Own Opioids 213

48 Ripples in the Next Cell: Second and Third Messengers 223

49 The Aplysia Withdraws 225

50 Matters of Taste 228

51 The Mouse in Victory and Defeat 230

52 The Central Gray: Offense, Defense, and Loss of Pain 232

53 The Third Route: Stress Responses within the Brain 235

54 The Large Visual Brain 240

55 Where Is It? The Parietal Lobe Pathway 244

56 What Is It? The Temporal Lobe Pathway 247

57 What Should I Do About It? The Frontal Lobes 253

58 Ripples in Larger Systems: Laying Down and Retrieving Memories 259

59 The Thalamus 263

60 The Reticular Nucleus 267

61 The Pulvinar 271

62 Higher Mechanisms of Attention 274

63 Looking, and Seeing Preattentively 278

64 Laboratory Correlates of Awareness, Attention, Novelty, and Surprise 281

65 Biological Theories: What Causes Mystical Experiences? How Does Meditation Act? 287

66 Problems with Words: "Mind" 293

67 Ordinary Forms of Conscious Awareness 295

68 Variations on the Theme of Consciousness 298

69 Alternate States of Consciousness: Avenues of Entry 305

70 The Architecture of Sleep 311

71 Desynchronized Sleep 316

72 Other Perspectives in Dreams 322

73 Lucid Dreaming 324

74 Conditioning: Learning and Unlearning 327

75 Other Ways to Change Behavior 334

76 The Awakening from Hibernation 337

77 Tidal Rhythms and Biological Clocks 338

78 The Roots of Our Emotions 347

79 The Spread of Positive Feeling States 350

80 Pain and the Relief of Pain 352

81 Suffering and the Relief of Suffering 355

82 Bridging the Two Hemispheres 358

83 The Pregnant Meditative Pause 367

Part V Quickening

84 Side Effects of Meditation: Makyo 373

85 The Light 376

86 Bright Lights and Blank Vision 377

87 Faces in the Fire: Illusions and Hallucinations 379

88 Stimulating Human Brains 386

89 The Ins and Outs of Imagery 388

90 The Tachistoscope 390

91 The Descent of Charles Darwin: Computer Parallels 392

92 Bytes of Memory 395

93 Where Is the Phantom Limb? 397

94 The Feel of Two Hands 399

95 The Attentive Cat 402

96 Emotionalized Awareness without Sensate Loss 404

97 Seizures, Religious Experience, and Patterns of Behavior 405

98 The Fleeting "Truths" of Nitrous Oxide 407

99 The Roots of Laughter 413

100 How Do Psychedelic and Certain Other Drugs Affect the Brain? 418

101 Levels and Sequences of Psychedelic Experiences after LSD 426

102 The Miracle of Marsh Chapel 436

103 How Do Psychedelic Drugs Affect Amine Receptors? 440

104 Near-Death Experiences; Far-Death Attitudes 443

105 Triggers 452

106 The Surge 457

107 First Zen-Brain Mondo 461

Part VI Turning In: The Absorptions

108 Vacuum Plenum: Kyoto, December 1974 469

109 The Leaf: Coda 472

110 The Semantics of Samadhi 473

111 The Vacuum Plenum of Absorption: An Agenda of Events to Be Explained 478

112 The Plunge: Blankness, Then Blackness 480

113 The Hallucinated Leaf 482

114 Space 487

115 The Ascent of Charles Lindbergh: Ambient Vision 492

116 The Ambient Vision of Meditative Absorption 495

117 The Sound of Silence 499

118 The Loss of the Self in Clear, Held Awareness 503

119 The Warm Affective Tone 506

120 Motor and Other Residues of Internal Absorption 508

121 The When and Where of Time 510

122 Gateway to Paradox 513

123 Second Zen-Brain Mondo 516

Part VII Turning Out: The Awakenings

124 Dimensions of Meaning 521

125 Authentic Meanings within Wide-Open Boundaries 525

126 Word Problems: "Oneness" and "Unity" 530

127 How Often Does Enlightenment Occur? 535

128 A Taste of Kensho: London, 1982 536

129 What Is My Original Face? 540

130 Major Characteristics of Insight-Wisdom in Kensho 542

131 Prajna: Insight-Wisdom 545

132 Suchness 549

133 Direct Perception of the Eternally Perfect World 554

134 The Construction of Time 557

135 The Dissolution of Time 561

136 The Death of Fear 567

137 Emptiness 570

138 Objective Vision: The Lunar View 573

139 Are There Levels and Sequences of "Nonattainment"? 579

140 Preludes with Potential: Dark Nights and Depressions 584

141 Operational Differences between Absorption and Insight-Wisdom 589

142 Reflections on Kensho, Personal and Neurological 593

143 Selective Mechanisms Underlying Kensho 613

144 Third Zen-Brain Mondo 622

Part VIII Being and Beyond: To the Stage of Ongoing Enlightenment

145 The State of Ultimate Pure Being 627

146 The Power of Silence 633

147 Beyond Sudden States of Enlightenment 636

148 The Exceptional Stage of Ongoing Enlightened Traits 637

149 Simplicity and Stability 641

150 An Ethical Base of Zen? 645

151 Compassion, the Native Virtue 648

152 Etching In and Out 653

153 Aging in the Brain 660

154 The Celebration of Nature 664

155 Expressing Zen in Action 668

156 The Other Side of Zen 677

157 Still-Evolving Brains in Still-Evolving Societies 683

158 Commentary on the Trait Change of Ongoing Enlightenment 691

In Closing 695

Appendix A Introduction to the Heart Sutra 698

Appendix B Selections from Affirmation of Faith in Mind 700.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [712]-713 and index.

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Austin, James H., 1925- Zen and the brain.

ISBN:

9780262267465

0262267462

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.