Renowned Buddhist philosopher B. Alan Wallace reasserts the power of shamatha and vipashyana, traditional Buddhist meditations, to clarify the mind's role in the natural world. Raising profound questions about human nature, free will, and experience versus dogma, Wallace challenges the claim that consciousness is no more than an emergent property of the brain with little relation to universal events. Rather, he maintains that the observer is essential to measuring quantum systems and that mental phenomena (however conceived) influence brain function and behavior.
Wallace embarks on a two-part mission: to restore and then transcend human nature. Part I explains the value of skepticism in Buddhism and science and the difficulty of merging their experiential methods of inquiry. Yet Wallace emphasizes that Buddhist views on human nature and the possibility of free will free us from the metaphysical constraints of scientific materialism. He then explores the radical empiricism inspired by William James and applies it to the four schools of Indian Buddhist philosophy and the Great Perfection school of Buddhism. Since Buddhism begins with the assertion that ignorance lies at the root of all suffering and the path to freedom is reached through knowledge, Buddhist practice can be viewed as a progression from agnosticism (not knowing) to gnosticism (knowing), acquired through exceptional mental health, mindfulness, and introspection. Wallace discusses these topics in detail, identifying similarities and differences between scientific and Buddhist understanding, and concludes with an explanation of shamatha and vipashyana and their potential for fathoming the nature, origins, and potentials of consciousness.
Meditations of a Buddhist Skeptic: A Manifesto for the Mind Sciences and Contemplative Practice, B. Alan Wallace, Columbia University Press, Paperback, 304 pages, $18.95
B. Alan Wallace spent fourteen years as a Buddhist monk, ordained by H.
H. the Dalai Lama. He then earned his undergraduate degree, summa cum
laude, in physics and the philosophy of science at Amherst College, and
his doctorate in religious studies from Stanford University. His
Columbia University Press books are Mind in the Balance: Meditation in Science, Buddhism, and Christianity; Hidden Dimensions: The Unification of Physics and Consciousness; Contemplative Science: Where Buddhism and Neuroscience Converge; and Buddhism and Science: Breaking New Ground.
A prolific writer and translator of numerous Tibetan Buddhist texts, he
is the founder and president of the Santa Barbara Institute for
Consciousness Studies (http://www.sbinstitute.com).
Part I: Restoring Our Human Nature
1. Toward a Revolution in the Mind Sciences
2. Buddhism and Science: Confrontation and Collaboration
3. Buddhism and the Mind Sciences
4. A Three-Dimensional Science of Mind
5. Restoring Meaning to the Universe
6. What Makes Us Human? Scientific and Buddhist Views
7. Achieving Free Will
Part II: Transcending Our Human Nature
8. Buddhist Radical Empiricism
9. From Agnosticism to Gnosticism
10. A Buddhist Model of Optimal Mental Health
11. Mindfulness in the Mind Sciences and in Buddhism
12. Shamatha and Vipashyana in the Indian Buddhist Tradition
13. Shamatha and Vipashyana in the Dzogchen Tradition
Epilogue: The Many Worlds of Buddhism and Science
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
|
