Living Zen Remindfully

Author : James H. Austin
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262035081
Total Pages : 326 pages
Book Rating : 4.88/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Living Zen Remindfully written by James H. Austin and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2016-11-04 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Conclusion -- 2 In Zen, What Does It Mean "To BeEnlightened"? -- 3 Developing Traits of Character on the Way to Altruism -- Cultural Estimates of Character, East and West -- What Can Zen Buddhism Offer Today? -- Native Capacities -- Altruism -- Recent Interviews with Contemporary Buddhist Teachers in the West -- Part II Implications of a Self-Other Continuum -- 4 The Self: A Primer -- The Semantics of Self -- Where Is the Self? -- Recent Studies of Our Normal Autobiographical Self: A Progress Report

Author : James H. Austin
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262352486
Total Pages : 905 pages
Book Rating : 4.82/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Zen and the Brain: The James H. Austin Omnibus Edition (Meditating Selflessly, Zen-Brain Horizons, and Living Zen Remindfully) written by James H. Austin and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2018-08-02 with total page 905 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Three books on Zen and the brain by the celebrated Zen practitioner-neurologist James Austin. This compilation in digital form of three books by the celebrated Zen practitioner-neurologist James Austin offers concrete advice about various methods of meditation, provides timeless wisdom of Zen masters, integrates classical Buddhist literature with modern brain research, and explores mindfulness (and remindfulness) training. In these books, Austin clarifies the benefits of meditative training, guiding readers toward that open awareness awaiting them on the cushion and in the natural world. He discusses different types of meditation, meditation and problem-solving, and the meaning of enlightenment; addresses egocentrism (self-centeredness) and allocentrism (other-centeredness) and the blending of focal and global attention; and considers the illuminating confluence of Zen, clinical neurology, and neuroscience. He describes an everyday life of “living Zen” while drawing on the poetry of Basho, the seventeenth-century haiku master, and illuminates the world of authentic Zen training—the commitment to a process of regular, ongoing daily life practice that trains and enables us to unlearn unfruitful habits, develop more wholesome ones, and lead a more genuinely creative life.

Author : James H. Austin
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 9780262260350
Total Pages : 876 pages
Book Rating : 4.52/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Zen and the Brain written by James H. Austin and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1999-06-04 with total page 876 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A neuroscientist and Zen practitioner interweaves the latest research on the brain with his personal narrative of Zen. Aldous Huxley called humankind's basic trend toward spiritual growth the "perennial philosophy." In the view of James Austin, the trend implies a "perennial psychophysiology"—because awakening, or enlightenment, occurs only when the human brain undergoes substantial changes. What are the peak experiences of enlightenment? How could these states profoundly enhance, and yet simplify, the workings of the brain? Zen and the Brain presents the latest evidence. In this book Zen Buddhism becomes the opening wedge for an extraordinarily wide-ranging exploration of consciousness. In order to understand which brain mechanisms produce Zen states, one needs some understanding of the anatomy, physiology, and chemistry of the brain. Austin, both a neurologist and a Zen practitioner, interweaves the most recent brain research with the personal narrative of his Zen experiences. The science is both inclusive and rigorous; the Zen sections are clear and evocative. Along the way, Austin examines such topics as similar states in other disciplines and religions, sleep and dreams, mental illness, consciousness-altering drugs, and the social consequences of the advanced stage of ongoing enlightenment.

Author : James H. Austin
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 026229771X
Total Pages : 279 pages
Book Rating : 4.14/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Meditating Selflessly written by James H. Austin and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2011-10-07 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A guide to Zen meditative practice informed by the latest findings in brain research. This is not the usual kind of self-help book. Indeed, its major premise heeds a Zen master's advice to be less self-centered. Yes, it is "one more book of words about Zen," as the author concedes, yet this book explains meditative practices from the perspective of a "neural Zen." The latest findings in brain research inform its suggestions. In Meditating Selflessly, James Austin—Zen practitioner, neurologist, and author of three acclaimed books on Zen and neuroscience—guides readers toward that open awareness already awaiting them on the cushion and in the natural world. Austin offers concrete advice—often in a simplified question-and-answer format—about different ways to meditate. He clarifies both the concentrative and receptive styles of meditation. Drawing widely from the exciting new field of contemplative neuroscience, Austin helps resolve an ancient paradox: why both insight wisdom and selflessness arise simultaneously during enlightened states of consciousness.

Author : James H. Austin
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262260360
Total Pages : 371 pages
Book Rating : 4.67/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Selfless Insight written by James H. Austin and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2011-09-30 with total page 371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Attention, self-consciousness, insight, wisdom, emotional maturity: how Zen teachings can illuminate the way our brains function and vice-versa. When neurology researcher James Austin began Zen training, he found that his medical education was inadequate. During the past three decades, he has been at the cutting edge of both Zen and neuroscience, constantly discovering new examples of how these two large fields each illuminate the other. Now, in Selfless Insight, Austin arrives at a fresh synthesis, one that invokes the latest brain research to explain the basis for meditative states and clarifies what Zen awakening implies for our understanding of consciousness. Austin, author of the widely read Zen and the Brain, reminds us why Zen meditation is not only mindfully attentive but evolves to become increasingly selfless and intuitive. Meditators are gradually learning how to replace over-emotionality with calm, clear objective comprehension. In this new book, Austin discusses how meditation trains our attention, reprogramming it toward subtle forms of awareness that are more openly mindful. He explains how our maladaptive notions of self are rooted in interactive brain functions. And he describes how, after the extraordinary, deep states of kensho-satori strike off the roots of the self, a flash of transforming insight-wisdom leads toward ways of living more harmoniously and selflessly. Selfless Insight is the capstone to Austin's journey both as a creative neuroscientist and as a Zen practitioner. His quest has spanned an era of unprecedented progress in brain research and has helped define the exciting new field of contemplative neuroscience.

Author : James H. Austin
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262321165
Total Pages : 301 pages
Book Rating : 4.67/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Zen-Brain Horizons written by James H. Austin and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2014-08-22 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A neurologist and Zen practitioner clarifies the benefits of meditative training, drawing on classical Buddhist literature and modern brain research. In Zen-Brain Horizons, James Austin draws on his decades of experience as a neurologist and Zen practitioner to clarify the benefits of meditative training. Austin integrates classical Buddhist literature with modern brain research, exploring the horizons of a living, neural Zen. When viewed in the light of today, the timeless wisdom of some Zen masters seems almost to have anticipated recent research in the neurosciences. The keen attentiveness and awareness that we cultivate during meditative practices becomes the leading edge of our subsequent mental processing. Austin explains how our covert, involuntary functions can make crucial contributions to the subtle ways we learn, intuit, and engage in creative activities. He demonstrates why living Zen means much more than sitting quietly indoors on a cushion, and provides simplified advice that helps guide readers to the most important points.

Author : James H. Austin
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 9780262250108
Total Pages : 278 pages
Book Rating : 4.01/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Chase, Chance, and Creativity written by James H. Austin and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2003-08-15 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A personal story of the ways in which persistence, chance, and creativity interact in biomedical research. This first book by the author of Zen and the Brain examines the role of chance in the creative process. James Austin tells a personal story of the ways in which persistence, chance, and creativity interact in biomedical research; the conclusions he reaches shed light on the creative process in any field. Austin shows how, in his own investigations, unpredictable events shaped the outcome of his research and brought about novel results. He then goes beyond this story of serendipity to propose a new classification of the varieties of chance, drawing on his own research and examples from the history of science—including the famous accidents that led Fleming to the discovery of penicillin. Finally, he explores the nature of the creative process, considering not only the environmental and neurophysiological correlates of creativity but also the role of intuition in both scientific discoveries and spiritual quests. This updated MIT Press paperback edition includes a new introduction and recent material on medical research, creativity, and spirituality.

Author : James H. Austin
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262260379
Total Pages : 615 pages
Book Rating : 4.74/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Zen-Brain Reflections written by James H. Austin and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2010-09-24 with total page 615 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A sequel to the popular Zen and the Brain further explores pivotal points of intersection in Zen Buddhism, neuroscience, and consciousness, arriving at a new synthesis of information from both neuroscience research and Zen studies. This sequel to the widely read Zen and the Brain continues James Austin's explorations into the key interrelationships between Zen Buddhism and brain research. In Zen-Brain Reflections, Austin, a clinical neurologist, researcher, and Zen practitioner, examines the evolving psychological processes and brain changes associated with the path of long-range meditative training. Austin draws not only on the latest neuroscience research and new neuroimaging studies but also on Zen literature and his personal experience with alternate states of consciousness. Zen-Brain Reflections takes up where the earlier book left off. It addresses such questions as: how do placebos and acupuncture change the brain? Can neuroimaging studies localize the sites where our notions of self arise? How can the latest brain imaging methods monitor meditators more effectively? How do long years of meditative training plus brief enlightened states produce pivotal transformations in the physiology of the brain? In many chapters testable hypotheses suggest ways to correlate normal brain functions and meditative training with the phenomena of extraordinary states of consciousness. After briefly introducing the topic of Zen and describing recent research into meditation, Austin reviews the latest studies on the amygdala, frontotemporal interactions, and paralimbic extensions of the limbic system. He then explores different states of consciousness, both the early superficial absorptions and the later, major "peak experiences." This discussion begins with the states called kensho and satori and includes a fresh analysis of their several different expressions of "oneness." He points beyond the still more advanced states toward that rare ongoing stage of enlightenment that is manifest as "sage wisdom." Finally, with reference to a delayed "moonlight" phase of kensho, Austin envisions novel links between migraines and metaphors, moonlight and mysticism. The Zen perspective on the self and consciousness is an ancient one. Readers will discover how relevant Zen is to the neurosciences, and how each field can illuminate the other.

Author : Douglas Robinson
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 150132604X
Total Pages : 203 pages
Book Rating : 4.42/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Exorcising Translation written by Douglas Robinson and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2016-12-15 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A major new work in translation studies and comparative literature, looking at the tensions and relations between western and eastern culture and literature, by a pioneering scholar in the field"--

Author : Brian Bruya
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262013843
Total Pages : 459 pages
Book Rating : 4.40/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Effortless Attention written by Brian Bruya and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2010-04-09 with total page 459 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The phenomena of effortless attention and action and the challenges they pose to current cognitive models of attention and action.