Zen-Brain Reflections.

Intro -- Chapters Containing Testable Hypotheses -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- By Way of Introduction -- Part I Starting to Point toward Zen -- 1 Is There Some Common Ground between Zen Experience and the Brain? -- 2 A Brief Outline of Zen History -- 3 Western Perspectives on Mystical Experiences -- 4 An Outline of the Path of Zen -- 5 The Semantics of Self -- 6 Developing Our Conscious Levels of Self -- 7 Some ABCs of the I-Me-Mine -- 8 Constructing Our Self, Inside and Outwardly -- 9 Two Interpreters: One Articulate, the Other Silent -- 10 Dissolving the Psychic Self and Its Veils of Interpretation -- 11 Further Commentary on the Several Meanings of Zen- Brain ''Reflections'' -- 12 First Mondo -- Part II Meditating -- 13 The Attentive Art of Meditation -- 14 Just This -- 15 Meditative Attention: Accessing Deeper Avenues of Seeing and Hearing -- 16 Interpreting Synchronized Brain Waves -- 17 Some Gamma EEG and Heart Rate Changes during Meditation -- 18 EEG and Heart Rate Changes in Zen Meditation -- 19 Delayed Physiological Responses to Meditation -- 20 Breathing In -- Breathing Out -- 21 A Quest for ''No'' Answers: Koan, Huatou, Jakugo, Mondo -- 22 The Roshi -- Part III Neurologizing -- 23 Landmarks. Brain in Overview -- 24 Messenger Molecules: Some New Data -- 25 The Septal Region and the Nucleus Accumbens -- 26 The Wide Variety of Cingulate Gyrus Functions -- 27 The Amygdala as a Gateway to Our Fears -- 28 Expanded Roles for the Insula -- 29 Remembrances and the Hippocampus -- 30 The Well-Concealed Hypothalamus -- 31 GABA Inhibits -- Glutamate Excites -- 32 Stress Responses within the Brain -- 33 Laid-Back Nurturing Promotes Laid-Back Limbic System Receptors -- 34 Peptides in Social Affiliative Behaviors: Oxytocin and Vasopressin -- 35 Our Brain's Own Opioids.

36 Opioids, Acupuncture, and the Placebo Response -- 37 Metabolic Cascades That Transform the Next Nerve Cell's Firing Responses -- 38 Neurotrophins and Change -- 39 The Pineal and Melatonin -- 40 Cortical Anatomy by the Numbers -- 41 Where Is It? A Prelude to My Action. The Parietal Lobe -- 42 What Is It? The Temporal Lobe Pathway -- 43 What Should I Do about It? The Frontal Lobes -- 44 The Thalamus -- 45 The Pulvinar -- 46 The Reticular Nucleus and Its Extrareticular Allies -- 47 Higher Mechanisms of Attention -- 48 Ever-Present Awareness -- 49 Neuroimaging, EEG Tomography, Event-Related Potentials, and Caveats -- 50 Self/Other Frames of Reference -- Laboratory Correlates? -- 51 Moving Away from The Self -- Embodied Teachings -- 52 Neuroimaging Data from Different Studies of Self-Referent Functions -- 53 Imaging a Meditating Brain: A Commentary -- 54 Words and Metaphors in Religious Traditions -- 55 Multiple Meanings of ''Taste'' -- 56 Witnessing Awareness during Sleep (Continued) -- 57 Tilting the Emotional Set Point? -- 58 The Roots of Our Emotions -- 59 Attributing Different Emotions to Various Brain Regions -- 60 Conditioning: Learning and Unlearning -- 61 Addictions -- 62 Being in Love -- 63 The Male Animal: Libido and Ex-Libido -- 64 Cracks in the Bowl: The Broken Seal -- 65 Empathies, Mirror Neurons, and Prolonged Affirmative Attitudes -- 66 Through What Steps Does Ordinary Insight Transform Consciousness? -- 67 Second Mondo -- Part V Quickening -- 68 The Remarkable Properties of Nitric Oxide -- 69 The Nitrous Oxide Connection -- 70 Self-Abuse by Drugs -- 71 How Do Certain Drugs ''Alter'' Consciousness? -- 72 Triggers -- 73 The Extraordinary Scope of Migraine: ''The Hildegard Syndrome'' -- Part VI The Absorptions -- 74 The Varieties of Absorption -- 75 Space -- Part VII Insightful Awakenings.

76 Af.rming One Reality: A Commentary on the Sandokai -- 77 Varieties of ''Oneness'' and ''Unity.'' Category I: A and B -- 78 Varieties of ''Oneness'' and ''Unity.'' Provisional Categories II and III -- 79 Varieties of ''Oneness'' And ''Unity.'' Provisional Category IV -- 80 Prajna: Insight-Wisdom -- 81 Words for the Inexpressible -- 82 Suchness and the Noumenon: An Allocentric Perspective -- 83 The Construction of Time -- 84 Disorders and Dissolutions of Time -- 85 Emptiness -- 86 Third Mondo -- Part VIII Openings into Being -- and Beyond to the Stage of Ongoing Enlightened Traits -- 87 Problem Words: ''Pure Consciousness'' -- ''Being'' -- ''Cosmic'' -- 88 Are There Levels and Sequences of ''Nonattainment?'' -- 89 Cultivating Compassion, a Native Virtue -- 90 On ''Moral Cognition'' -- 91 Some Aspects of Maturity That Are Nurtured during Long-Range Meditative Training -- Part IX Pointing at Moonlight: Allusions and Illusions -- 92 Pointing toward a Late Lunar Phase of Objective Vision -- 93 A Contemporary ''Taste of Kensho'': Its Profile of Early and Late Phenomena -- 94 How Our Brain Normally Perceives Light and Colors -- 95 Significance of the Late ''Moonlight'' Phase within the Whole Profile of Kensho -- 96 Significance of the Illusions at the Close of the Moonlight Phase -- 97 Some Cultural and Neural Origins of Moon Metaphors and Visual Symbols -- 98 The Hernandez Connection: A Darkened Sky and Moonglow -- 99 Other Ancient Fingers Pointing toward the Moon -- 100 People Differ in Their Response to Illusions: Psychological Considerations -- 101 People Differ in Their Susceptibility to Illusions -- 102 Fourth Mondo -- In Closing -- Appendix A Other Links between the Moon and Enlightenment in the Old Zen Literature -- Appendix B On Wilderness Poetry during the Tang and Sung Periods -- Appendix C Daio Kokushi ''On Zen'' -- Glossary.

References and Notes -- Source Notes -- Index.

A sequel to the popular Zen and the Brain further explores pivotal points of intersection in Zen Buddhism, neuroscience, and consciousness, arriving at a new synthesis of information from both neuroscience research and Zen studies.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.