Consciousness At The Crossroads: Conversations With The Dalai Lama On Brain Science And Buddhism
How about getting a plain-English rendition of the latest in brain research and psychology from the leading lights in the field? Or a succinct explanation of the Buddhist view of consciousness from the Dalai Lama himself? No need to choose. When the second Mind and Life conference convened in 1989, East and West became collaborators in understanding consciousness. Antonio Damasio, neurologist and author ofThe Feeling of What Happens, Larry Squire, psychiatrist and author ofMemory: from Mind to Molecules, and Lewis Judd, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, sat down with other scholars and scientists for face-to-face talks with the Dalai Lama. Although late in coming, the result is this tidy volume of eager exchange and cross-cultural bridge building. Each specialist first summarizes the latest in research and then accepts questions from and poses questions to the Dalai Lama, acting representative of Buddhism's extraordinarily sophisticated views on consciousness, dreams, memory, meditation, and that stickiest of points, rebirth. The inevitable collision of scientific materialism and Buddhist emptiness isn't avoided, but neither is it fatal, serving instead as motivation for further conversations. Step up to the roundtable and set your mind spinning.--Brian Bruya