Paperback : HK$153.00
If you change your brain, you can change your life.
Great teachers like the Buddha, Jesus, Moses, Mohammed, and Gandhi were all born with brains built essentially like anyone else’s—and then they changed their brains in ways that changed the world. Science is now revealing how the flow of thoughts actually sculpts the brain, and more and more, we are learning that it's possible to strengthen positive brain states.
By combining breakthroughs in neuroscience with insights from thousands of years of mindfulness practice, you too can use your mind to shape your brain for greater happiness, love, and wisdom. Buddha's Brain draws on the latest research to show how to stimulate your brain for more fulfilling relationships, a deeper spiritual life, and a greater sense of inner confidence and worth. Using guided meditations and mindfulness exercises, you'll learn how to activate the brain states of calm, joy, and compassion instead of worry, sorrow, and anger. Most importantly, you will foster positive psychological growth that will literally change the way you live in your day-to-day life.
This book presents an unprecedented intersection of psychology, neurology, and contemplative practice, and is filled with practical tools and skills that you can use every day to tap the unused potential of your brain and rewire it over time for greater well-being and peace of mind.
Show moreIf you change your brain, you can change your life.
Great teachers like the Buddha, Jesus, Moses, Mohammed, and Gandhi were all born with brains built essentially like anyone else’s—and then they changed their brains in ways that changed the world. Science is now revealing how the flow of thoughts actually sculpts the brain, and more and more, we are learning that it's possible to strengthen positive brain states.
By combining breakthroughs in neuroscience with insights from thousands of years of mindfulness practice, you too can use your mind to shape your brain for greater happiness, love, and wisdom. Buddha's Brain draws on the latest research to show how to stimulate your brain for more fulfilling relationships, a deeper spiritual life, and a greater sense of inner confidence and worth. Using guided meditations and mindfulness exercises, you'll learn how to activate the brain states of calm, joy, and compassion instead of worry, sorrow, and anger. Most importantly, you will foster positive psychological growth that will literally change the way you live in your day-to-day life.
This book presents an unprecedented intersection of psychology, neurology, and contemplative practice, and is filled with practical tools and skills that you can use every day to tap the unused potential of your brain and rewire it over time for greater well-being and peace of mind.
Show moreBuddha's Brain joins the forces of modern neuroscience with ancient contemplative teachings to show readers how they can work toward greater emotional well-being, healthier relationships, more effective actions, and deepened religious and spiritual understanding.
Rick Hanson, PhD, is a psychologist and meditation teacher.
A summa cum laude graduate of the University of California, Los
Angeles, he cofounded the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and
Contemplative Wisdom and edits the Wise Brain Bulletin. He and his
wife have two children.
Richard Mendius, MD, is a neurologist and cofounder of the
Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom. He
has taught medicine at University of California, Los Angeles, and
Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA. He also teaches weekly
meditation classes at San Quentin State Prison. He and his wife
have three children.
Foreword writer Daniel J. Siegel, MD, is executive director
of the Mindsight Institute and an associate clinical professor of
psychiatry in the School of Medicine at the University of
California, Los Angeles. He is author of The Developing Mind, The
Mindful Brain, and other books, and is founding editor of the
Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology.
Preface writer Jack Kornfield, PhD, is cofounder of the
Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, and a founding teacher of
Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA. He is author of many
books, including A Path with Heart and The Wise Heart.
"A wonderfully comprehensive book. The authors have made it easy to
understand how our minds function and how to make changes so that
we can live happier, fuller lives."
—Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness
"This is simply the best book I have read on why and how we can
shape our brains to be peaceful and happy. This is a book that will
literally change your brain and your life."
—Jennifer Louden, author of The Woman’s Comfort Book and The Life
Organizer
"Buddha’s Brain is a significant contribution to understanding the
interface between science and meditation in the path of
transformation. Illuminating."
—Joseph Goldstein, author of A Heart Full of Peace and One
Dharma
"Buddha’s Brain is compelling, easy to read, and quite educational.
The book skillfully answers the central question of each of our
lives—how to be happy—by presenting the core precepts of Buddhism
integrated with a primer on how our brains function. This book will
be helpful to anyone wanting to understand time-tested ways of
skillful living backed up by up-to-date science."
—Frederic Luskin, PhD, author of Forgive for Good and director of
Stanford Forgiveness Projects
"I wish I had a science teacher like Rick Hanson when I went to
school. Buddha’s Brain is at once fun, fascinating, and profound.
It not only shows us effective ways to develop real happiness in
our lives, but also explains physiologically how and why they work.
As he instructs us to do with positive experiences, take in all the
good information this book offers and savor it."
—James Baraz, author of Awakening Joy and cofounder of Spirit Rock
Meditation Center
"With the mind of a scientist, the perspective of a psychologist,
and the wise heart of a parent and devoted meditator, Rick Hanson
has created a guide for all of us who want to learn about and apply
the scintillating new research that embraces neurology, psychology,
and authentic spiritual inquiry. Up-to-date discoveries combined
with state-of-the-art practices make this book an engaging read.
Buddha’s Brain is at the top of my list!"
—Richard A. Heckler, PhD, assistant professor at John F. Kennedy
University in Pleasant Hill, CA
"An illuminating guide to the emerging confluence of cutting-edge
neuropsychology and ancient Buddhist wisdom filled with practical
suggestions on how to gradually rewire your brain for greater
happiness. Lucid, good-humored, and easily accessible."
—John J. Prendergast, PhD, adjunct associate professor of
psychology at California Institute of Integral Studies and senior
editor of The Sacred Mirror and Listening from the Heart of
Silence
"Buddha’s Brain will show you how mental practices, informed by the
contemplative traditions, can increase your capacity for
experiencing happiness and peace. This book provides a scientific
understanding of these methods, and clear guidance for practices
that cultivate a wise and free heart."
—Tara Brach, PhD author of Radical Acceptance
"This book enables us to understand the whys and hows of our human
operating system so we can make more informed actions that allow us
to live our lives more fully, compassionately, and with greater
well-being and kindness towards others and ourselves. What I find
exciting about Buddha’s Brain is Rick Hanson’s ability to clearly
delineate the root causes of suffering and explain pertinent ways
we can actually change these causes and effect lasting change on
all levels of our mind, body, and interpersonal relationships. His
informative, relaxed, and easy-to-read style of writing made me
want to pick up this book again and again and dive ever more deeply
into the complexities of our human engineering. Buddha’s Brain is
now on my recommendation list for all my students and
teachers-in-training."
—Richard C. Miller, PhD, founding president of Integrative
Restoration Institute "Numerous writings in recent years have
exacerbated the traditional rift between science and religion;
however, there has been a refreshing parallel movement in the
opposite direction. Neuroscientists have become increasingly
interested in using first-person introspective inquiries of the
mind to complement their third-person, Western scientific
investigations of the brain. Buddhist contemplative practices are
particularly amenable to such collaboration, inviting efforts to
find neurobiological explanations for Buddhist philosophy. Stripped
of religious baggage, Buddha’s Brain clearly describes how modern
concepts of evolutionary and cognitive neurobiology support core
Buddhist teachings and practice. This book should have great appeal
for those seeking a secular spiritual path, while also raising many
testable hypotheses for interested neuroscientists."
—Jerome Engel, Jr., MD, PhD, Jonathan Sinay Distinguished Professor
of Neurology, Neurobiology, and Psychiatry and Biobehavioral
Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles "Buddha’s
Brain makes a significant contribution to the current dynamic
dialogue among neuroscience, psychology, and Buddhist disciplines
of mind training. Drawing on the wisdom born of their own
meditation practice and their scientific backgrounds, the authors
point again and again to the possibilities of the deep
transformation of our minds and lives."
—Christina Feldman, author of Compassion and The Buddhist Path to
Simplicity "Recent developments in psychology and the neurosciences
have led to clear and powerful insights about how our brains work
and how these neurological functions shape our experience of the
world. These insights are profoundly congruent with the wisdom that
has been developed over thousands of years in the contemplative
traditions. The authors of Buddha’s Brain have given us a concise
and practical guide to how these two currents of knowledge can be
used to transform our capacity to engage both ourselves and others
with wisdom, compassion, and mindfulness."
—Robert D. Truog, MD, professor at Harvard Medical School,
executive director of the Institute for Professionalism and Ethical
Practice, and senior associate in critical care medicine at
Children’s Hospital, Boston "A clear introduction to some basic
principles of neuroscience and dharma."
—Roger Walsh, MD, PhD, professor at the University of California,
Irvine, and author of Essential Spirituality "Buddha’s Brain
brilliantly reveals the teachings of the Buddha in the light of
modern neuroscience. This is a practical guide to changing your
reality. This is your brain on Dharma!"
—Wes "Scoop" Nisker, author of Essential Crazy Wisdom and editor of
Inquiring Mind
"Solidly grounded in the latest neuroscientific research, and
supported by a deep understanding of contemplative practice, this
book is accessible, compelling, and profound—a crystallization of
practical wisdom!"
—Philip David Zelazo, PhD, Nancy M. and John E. Lindahl Professor
at the Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota
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