Reddit mentions of Zen and the Brain: Toward an Understanding of Meditation and Consciousness

Those drugs don't enhance. They alter. There is good book that talks about that scientifically. It's actually about effects zen meditation, but has extensive amount of information about drugs.

Zen and the Brain; Winner of the Scientific and Medical Network Book Prize for 1998

http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=3236

http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Brain-Understanding-Meditation-Consciousness/dp/0262011646

http://books.google.fi/books?id=8ywrjDa0vZ8C&dq=zen+brain&pg=PP1&ots=ZU46W_mu3w&sig=IHrbshvbtR0RoFX0L6YVroANRoE&hl=fi&prev=http://www.google.fi/search?q=Zen+Brain%0A&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=com.ubuntu:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title&cad=one-book-with-thumbnail#PPR11,M1

I really like Coolcrowe's explanation.

Personally I found The Myth a good starting point for approaching some of my existential problems, but it is a very slim book. The ideas raised there are dealt with in more detail and in a more practical or immediate way through Buddhism. In particular, formlessness, suffering, and peace are all central, and have been extensively studied and practiced for about two and a half thousand years...

Well worth a look at http://www.reddit.com/r/buddhism

I began my study with Stephen Batchelor's "Buddhism without Beliefs" which is an accessible and secular introduction,
http://www.amazon.com/Buddhism-Without-Beliefs-Contemporary-Awakening/dp/1573226564

As a scientist and agnostic/atheist/"pastafarian" (Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster :-) I found Buddhism useful as a down to earth, non-religious tool for philosophical and existential inquiry.
If you want a hardcore scientific examination of how it may work, the sky's the limit with Dr. James Austin's "Zen and the Brain", written by a neuroscientist and zen meditator. Be warned though, it's a massive volume (~800 pages) which includes heaps of really dry stuff on neurotransmitters and the anatomy of the brain,
http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Brain-Understanding-Meditation-Consciousness/dp/0262011646

I love studying, but you may find that cognitive understanding only takes you so far (an insight which it sounds like you've already come to by yourself) - and sometimes just causes more problems. I'd definitely recommend joining a meditation group to explore in a more immediate way what goes on inside your experience. My local Buddhist centre offers fantastic meditation drop-in classes. You may be able to find a local group on their website,
http://www.fwbo.org/contacts/addresses.html

I also recommend a couple of podcasts,
http://www.audiodharma.org/
http://www.dhammatalks.org.uk/

Have a great journey!

If he has any understanding of psychophysiology, neurochemistry and neuroanatomy he'd likely find Zen and the Brain highly useful. If he's interested in clinical publications, this piece from Davidson would be a good start. For pure instruction Jack Kornfield's guide for beginning meditation is excellent.

Thank you for the reply. I think I understand where you are coming from, but there is something I don't understand. Why is it that science excludes the possibility of looking at the world as a beautiful and sacred thing? I think science necessarily leads us to that conclusion.

I think your interpretation of quantum mechanics is pretty flawed. The facts of quantum mechanics can makes us wonder at the craziness of reality, but it is an unreasonable step to go from quantum mechanics to saying, well, we're not really made up of 'things.' We are made up of things. I don't think that's what QM actually says at all.

>If it were all just a conglomerate of small particles, it would not have the life that it has. It can't really be explained or understood with concepts.

It is statements like this that I feel have no good reasons behind them. We've made incredible progress in understanding the world based on the premise that everything is a conglomerate of small particles, including our studies of consciousness. What does looking into the eyes of an infant do to falsify that idea?

The fundamental fallacy here is the same fallacy we see from creationists and other psuedosciences. It is the idea that since we don't understand the science behind something yet it is impossible for science to understand. There isn't a good reason to believe that.

I was unaware of the book 'Buddha on the brain' but I am a fan of other books that have looked at the convergence of neuroscience and buddhism. Specifically, Zen and the Brain has been a very interesting read, and so far, has been excellent.

One of the big problems we run into is when we have physicists talking about neuroscience. Unless they've done a lot of work outside their field, they're not going to have a good idea about the current state of that field. Someone like Ramachandran, on the other hand, who is a neuroscientist, has dome some truly amazing work in the field, and as should be listened to when it comes to talking about consciousness.

The thing that we're discovering is something that's very non-intuitive, which is that mind/brain duality is false. The mind is the brain, and is an emergent phenomenon from the connections that compose the brain. To me, that is an incredibly beautiful and sacred thing.

I guess the difference between us is what led us to the conclusion that life is beautiful and sacred. For me, it was science. For you, it appears to be the practice of buddhism and the teachings of people like Tolle.

Was reading through the med faq and some archived med topics and saw this book mentioned, which has just gone on my "to read" list. Although it was published in 1998, so is dated somewhat, but still a good general overview.

http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Brain-Understanding-Meditation-Consciousness/dp/0262011646

I am in the middle of reading Zen and the Brain.

http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Brain-Understanding-Meditation-Consciousness/dp/0262011646

While the spiritual aspects of his experience with Zen as a religion can get a little preachy at times, the referenced work and suppositions Austin makes may be relevant to your search.

I myself meditate, though not for any spiritual fulfillment. I would be the last person to qualify any of my experiences as "evidence" in support of a physiological phenomenon, however I have felt certain aspects of the principle of oneness, and the onset of each stage as you delve deeper and deeper into yourself. From this deeper and deeper state of relaxation and focus I certainly derive a great deal of satisfaction and brief encounters with what some may describe as euphoria.

Since I posted this this morning, I've gotten 'Zen and the Brain' http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Brain-Understanding-Meditation-Consciousness/dp/0262011646 It covers a lot of research, but I haven't read enough to summarize yet. Publication date is 1998 so it might be stale relative to some of the recent stuff.