Selfless Insight – Zen and the Meditative Transformations of Consciousness - Hardcover

Austin, James H

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0262012596 ISBN 13: 9780262012591

Publisher: MIT Press, 2009

Synopsis

When neurology researcher James Austin began Zen training, he found that his medicaleducation was inadequate. During the past three decades, he has been at the cutting edge of both Zenand neuroscience, constantly discovering new examples of how these two large fields each illuminatethe other. Now, in Selfless Insight, Austin arrives at a fresh synthesis, one that invokes thelatest brain research to explain the basis for meditative states and clarifies what Zen awakeningimplies 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 increasinglyselfless and intuitive. Meditators are gradually learning how to replace over-emotionality withcalm, clear objective comprehension. In this new book, Austin discusses how meditation trains ourattention, reprogramming it toward subtle forms of awareness that are more openly mindful. Heexplains how our maladaptive notions of self are rooted in interactive brain functions. And hedescribes how, after the extraordinary, deep states of kensho-satori strike off the roots of theself, a flash of transforming insight-wisdom leads toward ways of living more harmoniously andselflessly. Selfless Insight is the capstone to Austin's journey both as a creative neuroscientistand as a Zen practitioner. His quest has spanned an era of unprecedented progress in brain researchand has helped define the exciting new field of contemplative neuroscience.

About this title

About the Author

James H. Austin, clinical neurologist, researcher, and Zen practitioner, is Professor Emeritus of Neurology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and Clinical Professor of Neurology at the University of Missouri (Columbia) School of Medicine. He is the author of Zen and the Brain, Chase, Chance, and Creativity, and Zen-Brain Reflections, all published by the MIT Press.

Edition details

• Publisher: MIT Press
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262012596
• ISBN 13: 9780262012591
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352