Zen-Brain Reflections

By Way of Introduction......Page 24
Part I 
Starting to Point toward Zen......Page 30
Is There Some Common Ground between Zen Experience and the Brain?......Page 32
A Brief Outline of Zen History......Page 33
Western Perspectives on Mystical Experiences......Page 35
An Outline of the Path of Zen......Page 36
The Semantics of Self......Page 40
Developing Our Conscious Levels of Self......Page 41
Some ABCs of the I-Me-Mine......Page 42
Constructing Our Self, Inside and Outwardly......Page 44
Two Interpreters: One Articulate, the Other Silent......Page 48
Dissolving the Psychic Self and Its Veils of Interpretation......Page 50
Further Commentary on the Several Meanings of Zen-Brain ‘‘Reflections’’......Page 52
First Mondo......Page 53
Part II 
Meditating......Page 56
The Attentive Art of Meditation......Page 58
Just This......Page 62
Meditative Attention: Accessing Deeper Avenues of Seeing and Hearing......Page 66
Interpreting Synchronized Brain Waves......Page 69
Some Gamma EEG and Heart Rate Changes during Meditation......Page 77
EEG and Heart Rate Changes in Zen Meditation......Page 80
Delayed Physiological Responses to Meditation......Page 83
Breathing In; Breathing Out......Page 87
A Quest for ‘‘No’’ Answers: Koan, Huatou, Jakugo, Mondo......Page 90
The Roshi......Page 93
Part III 
Neurologizing......Page 100
Ever-Present Awareness......Page 213
Neuroimaging, EEG Tomography, Event-Related Potentials, and Caveats......Page 216
Self/Other Frames of Reference; Laboratory Correlates?......Page 222
Moving Away from The Self; Embodied Teachings......Page 230
Neuroimaging Data from Different Studies of Self-Referent Functions......Page 233
Imaging a Meditating Brain: A Commentary......Page 243
Neurotrophins and Change......Page 169
The Pineal and Melatonin......Page 170
Cortical Anatomy by the Numbers......Page 175
Where Is It? A Prelude to My Action. The Parietal Lobe......Page 177
What Is It? The Temporal Lobe Pathway......Page 181
What Should I Do about It? The Frontal Lobes......Page 187
The Thalamus......Page 196
The Pulvinar......Page 204
The Reticular Nucleus and Its Extrareticular Allies......Page 205
Higher Mechanisms of Attention......Page 208
Metabolic Cascades That Transform the Next Nerve Cell’s Firing Responses......Page 166
Opioids, Acupuncture, and the Placebo Response......Page 155
Landmarks. Brain in Overview......Page 102
Messenger Molecules: Some New Data......Page 104
The Septal Region and the Nucleus Accumbens......Page 108
The Wide Variety of Cingulate Gyrus Functions......Page 111
The Amygdala as a Gateway to Our Fears......Page 114
Expanded Roles for the Insula......Page 124
Remembrances and the Hippocampus......Page 128
The Well-Concealed Hypothalamus......Page 137
GABA Inhibits; Glutamate Excites......Page 139
Stress Responses within the Brain......Page 142
Peptides in Social Affiliative Behaviors: Oxytocin and Vasopressin......Page 149
Our Brain’s Own Opioids......Page 152
Part IV Exploring States of Consciousness......Page 256
Words and Metaphors in Religious Traditions......Page 258
Multiple Meanings of ‘‘Taste’’......Page 262
Witnessing Awareness during Sleep (Continued)......Page 266
The Roots of Our Emotions......Page 268
Attributing Different Emotions to Various Brain Regions......Page 272
Conditioning: Learning and Unlearning......Page 277
Addictions......Page 280
Being in Love......Page 284
The Male Animal: Libido and Ex-Libido......Page 289
Cracks in the Bowl: The Broken Seal......Page 294
Empathies, Mirror Neurons, and Prolonged Affirmative Attitudes......Page 296
Through What Steps Does Ordinary Insight TransformConsciousness?......Page 300
Part V 
Quickening......Page 306
The Remarkable Properties of Nitric Oxide......Page 308
The Nitrous Oxide Connection......Page 317
Self-Abuse by Drugs......Page 320
How Do Certain Drugs ‘‘Alter’’ Consciousness?......Page 326
Triggers......Page 332
The Extraordinary Scope of Migraine: ‘‘The Hildegard Syndrome’’......Page 335
Part VI 
The Absorptions......Page 342
The Varieties of Absorption......Page 344
Space......Page 352
Part VII 
Insightful Awakenings......Page 356
Affirming One Reality: A Commentary on the Sandokai......Page 358
Varieties of ‘‘Oneness’’ and ‘‘Unity.’’ Category I: A and B......Page 362
Varieties of ‘‘Oneness’’ And ‘‘Unity.’’ Provisional Category IV......Page 380
Prajna: Insight-Wisdom......Page 386
Words for the Inexpressible......Page 387
The Construction of Time......Page 401
Disorders and Dissolutions of Time......Page 407
Emptiness......Page 412
Third Mondo......Page 415
Part VIII 
Openings into Being; and Beyond to the Stage of Ongoing Enlightened Traits......Page 418
Problem Words: ‘‘Pure Consciousness’’; ‘‘Being’’; ‘‘Cosmic’’......Page 420
Are There Levels and Sequences of ‘‘Nonattainment?’’......Page 423
Cultivating Compassion, a Native Virtue......Page 425
On ‘‘Moral Cognition’’......Page 427
Some Aspects of Maturity That Are Nurtured during Long-Range Meditative Training......Page 429
Part IX Pointing at Moonlight: Allusions and Illusions......Page 432
Pointing toward a Late Lunar Phase of Objective Vision......Page 434
A Contemporary ‘‘Taste of Kensho’’: Its Profile of Early andLate Phenomena......Page 436
How Our Brain Normally Perceives Light and Colors......Page 440
Significance of the Late ‘‘Moonlight’’ Phase within the Whole Profile of Kensho......Page 443
Significance of the Illusions at the Close of the Moonlight Phase......Page 454
Some Cultural and Neural Origins of Moon Metaphors and Visual Symbols......Page 461
The Hernandez Connection: A Darkened Sky and Moonglow......Page 468
Other Ancient Fingers Pointing toward the Moon......Page 469
People Differ in Their Response to Illusions: Psychological Considerations......Page 476
People Differ in Their Susceptibility to Illusions......Page 477
Fourth Mondo......Page 481
Appendix A: Other Links between the Moon and Enlightenment in the Old Zen Literature......Page 488
Appendix B: On Wilderness Poetry during the Tang and Sung Periods......Page 491
Appendix C: Daio Kokushi ‘‘On Zen’’......Page 493
Glossary......Page 494
References and Notes......Page 504
Source Notes......Page 581
Index......Page 582