Realizing Awakened Consciousness : Interviews with Buddhist Teachers and a New Perspective on the Mind / Richard Boyle.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Boyle, Richard, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Enlightenment (Buddhism).

Buddhists--Interviews.

Buddhists.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (369 pages)

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Columbia University Press, [2015]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

If, as Buddhism claims, the potential for awakening exists in all human beings, we should be able to map the phenomenon with the same science we apply to other forms of consciousness. A student of cognitive social science and a Zen practitioner for more than forty years, Richard P. Boyle brings his sophisticated perspective to bear on the development of a theoretical model for both ordinary and awakened consciousness.Boyle conducts probing interviews with eleven prominent Western Buddhist teachers (Shinzen Young, John Tarrant, Ken McLeod, Ajahn Amaro, Martine Batchelor, Shaila Catherine, Gil Fronsdal, Stephen Batchelor, Pat Enkyo O'Hara, Bernie Glassman, and Joseph Goldstein) and one scientist (James Austin) who have experienced awakening. From the paths they traveled to enlightenment and their descriptions of the experience, he derives three fundamental properties of awakened consciousness. He then constructs an overarching model that explains how Buddhist practices help free the mind from attachments to reality and the self and make possible the three properties of awakening. Specifically, these teachers describe how they worked to control attention and quiet the mind, detach from ideas and habits, and open themselves to compassion. Boyle's account incorporates current theories of consciousness, sociological insights, and research in neuroscience to advance the study of awakened consciousness and help an even greater number of people to realize it.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Interview with Shinzen Young

2. Interview with John Tarrant

3. Interview with Ken McLeod

4. Interview with Ajahn Amaro

5. Interview with Martine Batchelor

6. Interview with Shaila Catherine

7. Interview with Gil Fronsdal

8. Interview with Stephen Batchelor

9. Interview with Pat Enkyo O'Hara

10. Interview with Bernie Glassman

11. Interview with Joseph Goldstein

12. Developing Capacities Necessary for Awakening

13. Properties of Awakening Experiences

14. Evolution of Ordinary and Awakened Consciousness

15. The Awakened Baby?

16. The Human Condition and How We Got Into It

17. Modeling Consciousness, Awakened and Ordinary

APPENDIX. Interview with James Austin, Neuroscientist

Notes

Glossary of Buddhist Terms

References

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

Other Format:

Boyle, Richard P. Realizing Awakened Consciousness : Interviews with Buddhist Teachers and a New Perspective on the Mind.

ISBN:

9780231539234

0231539231

OCLC:

908305393