Zen and the Brain: The James H. Austin Omnibus Edition (Meditating Selflessly, Zen-Brain Horizons, and Living Zen Remindfully)

Download or read book Zen and the Brain: The James H. Austin Omnibus Edition (Meditating Selflessly, Zen-Brain Horizons, and Living Zen Remindfully) written by James H. Austin and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2018-08-02 with total page 905 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Three books on Zen and the brain by the celebrated Zen practitioner-neurologist James Austin. This compilation in digital form of three books by the celebrated Zen practitioner-neurologist James Austin offers concrete advice about various methods of meditation, provides timeless wisdom of Zen masters, integrates classical Buddhist literature with modern brain research, and explores mindfulness (and remindfulness) training. In these books, Austin clarifies the benefits of meditative training, guiding readers toward that open awareness awaiting them on the cushion and in the natural world. He discusses different types of meditation, meditation and problem-solving, and the meaning of enlightenment; addresses egocentrism (self-centeredness) and allocentrism (other-centeredness) and the blending of focal and global attention; and considers the illuminating confluence of Zen, clinical neurology, and neuroscience. He describes an everyday life of “living Zen” while drawing on the poetry of Basho, the seventeenth-century haiku master, and illuminates the world of authentic Zen training—the commitment to a process of regular, ongoing daily life practice that trains and enables us to unlearn unfruitful habits, develop more wholesome ones, and lead a more genuinely creative life.