Contemplative Science: Where Buddhism and Neuroscience Converge
Columbia Series in Science and Religion series
Mind in the Balance: Meditation in Science, Buddhism, & Christianity(2008) →
Sign in to keep track of books you’ve read and want to read.
Science has long treated religion as a set of personal beliefs that have little to do with a rational understanding of the mind and the universe. However, B. Alan Wallace, a respected Buddhist scholar, proposes that the contemplative methodologies of Buddhism and of Western science are capable of being integrated into a single discipline: contemplative science.
Read more
The science of consciousness introduces first-person methods of investigating the mind through Buddhist contemplative techniques, such as samatha, an organized, detailed system of training the attention. Just as scientists make observations and conduct experiments with the aid of technology, contemplatives have long tested their own theories with the help of highly developed meditative skills of observation and experimentation. Contemplative science allows for a deeper knowledge of mental phenomena, including a wide range of states of consciousness, and its emphasis on strict mental discipline counteracts the effects of conative (intention and desire), attentional, cognitive, and affective imbalances.
Just as behaviorism, psychology, and neuroscience have all shed light on the cognitive processes that enable us to survive and flourish, contemplative science offers a groundbreaking perspective for expanding our capacity to realize genuine well-being. It also forges a link between the material world and the realm of the subconscious that transcends the traditional science-based understanding of the self.
Liked Contemplative Science: Where Buddhism and Neuroscience Converge? Here’s where I’d start.
These suit anyone who liked Contemplative Science: Where Buddhism and Neuroscience Converge. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.
-
Stepping Out of Self-Deception: The Buddha's Liberating Teaching of No-Self Shares Buddhism, psychology, nonfiction -
Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations with the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism Shares Buddhism, neuroscience, psychology -
Everything Arises, Everything Falls Away: Teachings on Impermanence and the End of Suffering Shares Buddhism, dharma, nonfiction -
Unlimiting Mind: The Radically Experiential Psychology of Buddhism Shares Buddhism, psychology, dharma
