Ten Zen Questions - Hardcover

Blackmore, Susan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1851686428 ISBN 13: 9781851686421

Publisher: Oneworld Publications, 2009

Synopsis

Using Zen meditation to unravel the mysteries of consciousness.

The calming and de-stressing benefits of Zen meditation have long been known, but scientists are now considering its huge potential to influence our ability to understand and experience consciousness – though few will say it!

Susan Blackmore is about to change all that: she’s a world expert in brain science who has also been practising Zen meditation for over twenty-five years. In this revolutionary book, she doesn’t push any religious or spiritual agenda but simply presents the methods used in Zen as an aid to help us understand consciousness and identity – concepts which have stumped scientists and philosophers – in an exciting new way. Each chapter takes as its starting point one of Zen’s - and science's - most intriguing questions such as, "Am I conscious now?" and "How does thought arise?"

About this title

About the Author

Susan Blackmore is a psychologist and writer whose research on consciousness, memes, and anomalous experiences has been published in over sixty academic papers, as well as book chapters, reviews, and popular articles. She has a regular blog in the Guardian, and often appears on radio and television. Her book The Meme Machine (1999) has been translated into 12 other languages and more recent books include a textbook, Consciousness: An Introduction (2003), and Conversations on Consciousness (2005).

From the Back Cover

Who are you? When are you? What were you conscious of a moment ago?

This groundbreaking book sees acclaimed psychologist Susan Blackmore combining the latest scientific theories about mind, self, and consciousness, with a lifetime’s practice of Zen.

Alongside her research on consciousness and memes, Susan Blackmore has been practising Zen for over twenty-five years; not as a Buddhist, but as a scientist who longs to understand the mind. Many neuroscientists and philosophers believe that we need first-person approaches as well as third-person scientific research in order to fully comprehend consciousness. In Ten Zen Questions, she brings the two together for the first time.

Seeking to understand whether personal experience can help penetrate the scientific mystery of consciousness, she uses traditional techniques of calming the mind and looking directly into experience as she delves into ten great questions, including "How does thought arise?", "Am I conscious now?", and the Zen koan "There is no time. What is memory?"

Featuring the ten questions, a critical response from her Zen master, and lively illustrations, Ten Zen Questions offers a revolutionary way to try to understand who we are. This is not the kind of book that provides final - or easy - answers, but instead offers an inspiring exploration of how intellectual enquiry and meditation can tackle the questions behind some of today’s greatest scientific mysteries.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oneworld Publications
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1851686428
• ISBN 13: 9781851686421
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 176