Wallace Meditations of a Buddhist Skeptic

A Manifesto for the Mind Sciences and Contemplative Practice
Erscheinungsjahr 2011
ISBN: 978-0-231-53032-3
Verlag: Columbia University Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 304 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm

A radical approach to studying the mind.

Renowned Buddhist philosopher B. Alan Wallace reasserts the power of shamatha and vipashyana, traditional Buddhist meditations, to clarify the mind's role in the natural world. Raising profound questions about human nature, free will, and experience versus dogma, Wallace challenges the claim that consciousness is nothing more than an emergent property of the brain with little relation to universal events. Rather, he maintains that the observer is essential to measuring quantum systems and that mental phenomena (however conceived) influence brain function and behavior.

Wallace embarks on a two-part mission: to restore human nature and to transcend it. He begins by explaining the value of skepticism in Buddhism and science and the difficulty of merging their experiential methods of inquiry. Yet Wallace also proves that Buddhist views on human nature and the possibility of free will liberate us from the metaphysical constraints of scientific materialism. He then explores the radical empiricism inspired by William James and applies it to Indian Buddhist philosophy's four schools and the Great Perfection school of Tibetan Buddhism.

Since Buddhism begins with the assertion that ignorance lies at the root of all suffering and that the path to freedom is reached through knowledge, Buddhist practice can be viewed as a progression from agnosticism (not knowing) to gnosticism (knowing), acquired through the maintenance of exceptional mental health, mindfulness, and introspection. Wallace discusses these topics in detail, identifying similarities and differences between scientific and Buddhist understanding, and he concludes with an explanation of shamatha and vipashyana and their potential for realizing the full nature, origins, and potential of consciousness.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Wallace, B. Alan

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Vergleichende Religionswissenschaft
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Buddhismus
• Medizin | Veterinärmedizin Medizin | Public Health | Pharmazie | Zahnmedizin Klinische und Innere Medizin Neurologie, Klinische Neurowissenschaft
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Neurowissenschaften, Kognitionswissenschaft

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Prologue: Skepticism in Buddhism and Science

Part I: Restoring Our Human Nature
1. Toward a Revolution in the Mind Sciences
2. Buddhism and Science: Confrontation and Collaboration
3. Buddhism and the Mind Sciences
4. A Three-Dimensional Science of Mind
5. Restoring Meaning to the Universe
6. What Makes Us Human? Scientific and Buddhist Views
7. Achieving Free Will

Part II: Transcending Our Human Nature
8. Buddhist Radical Empiricism
9. From Agnosticism to Gnosticism
10. A Buddhist Model of Optimal Mental Health
11. Mindfulness in the Mind Sciences and in Buddhism
12. Shamatha and Vipashyana in the Indian Buddhist Tradition
13. Shamatha and Vipashyana in the Dzogchen Tradition
Epilogue: The Many Worlds of Buddhism and Science
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index

Leseproben

Read the epilogue to Meditations of a Buddhist Skeptic: A Manifesto for the Mind Sciences and Contemplative Practice:

Über Autor(innen)

B. Alan Wallace spent fourteen years as a Buddhist monk, ordained by H. H. the Dalai Lama. He then earned his undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, in physics and the philosophy of science at Amherst College, and his doctorate in religious studies from Stanford University. His Columbia University Press books are Mind in the Balance: Meditation in Science, Buddhism, and Christianity; Hidden Dimensions: The Unification of Physics and Consciousness; Contemplative Science: Where Buddhism and Neuroscience Converge; and Buddhism and Science: Breaking New Ground. A prolific writer and translator of numerous Tibetan Buddhist texts, he is the founder and president of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies (http://www.sbinstitute.com).