Zen-Brain reflections
Subtitle: reviewing recent developments in meditation and states of consciousness
By: James H. Austin.
Publisher: MIT Press
Published: 2006
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 586
Subjects: Meditation -- Zen Buddhism -- Psysiological aspects.; Meditation -- Zen Buddhism -- Psychology.; Consciousness -- Religious aspects -- Zen Buddhism.; Zen Buddhism.
Description: "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."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.