Buddha’s Brain (Rick Hanson)
Hodgepodge Buddhist Pabulum
[My 1-star Amazon review of “Buddha’s Brain” The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Widom” by Rick Hanson.]
In the Introduction to this book, the authors write, “This book is about how to teach your brain to create more happiness, love and wisdom.” Unbeknownst to the authors, happiness, love, and wisdom stem from the Heart, not from the brain, which is simply the organ through which the Heart, Consciousnees Itself, function as mind. I’ve been studying, practicing, and teaching Buddhism for forty years and I’ve never encountered a Buddhist text that identifies the brain as the center of human happiness, love and wisdom—because it’s not. The Buddha himself equated the attainment of Nirvana with the Heart release, not with any brains transformation.
The authors briefly mention Spirit in the book, but instead of properly identifying it as the Bliss Body (Sambhogakaya), which flows into and out of the Heart-center, they improperly apotheosize the brain as the conduit to spiritual fulfillment.
The authors display their lack of depth when they write: “A reasonable working hypothesis is that the mind is what the brain does.” Anyone with any insight into esoteric spirituality knows this is hogwash. The seed tendencies (samskaras) of one’s thoughts are stored in one’s soul (located two digits to the right of the center of one’s chest relative to the body). Hindus call this causal-body Heart-center “Hridayam” (distinct from the anahata heart chakra), and in Buddhism this Heart-Mind center is referred to as the Tathagatagarbha. ” The samskaras, or karmic seed tendencies, concantenate in the soul, and “sprout”as vasanas (impulses and desires) that “crysallize” in the brain as thoughts-forms.
Anyone interested in learning more about the Heart-center relative to the brain and enlightenment should check out my (two-star) Amazon review of “The Lankavatra Sutra,” by Red Pine and the book “Sri Ramana Gita,” by Ramana Maharshi.
The authors mention Ramana Maharshi, India’s foremost twentieth-century guru, but they have not grokked him. Not only do they fail to mention the Heart-mind-brain relationship that Maharshi explicates, but they also do not understand his Self-enquiry (enquiring “Who am I?”) The authors write, “At some point, we all ask the same question” Who am I? And no one really knows the answer.” This is nonsense. As Maharshi and the Hindus make clear, one true identity, the Self (or Buddha-nature) is Sat-Chit-Ananada (Being-Consciousness-Bliss).
The authors identify “taking refuge in the ground of being” as “an essential practice in the path of awakening,” but they don’t explain what this means. And if they knew what it means (little chance of that!), they would have to identify Being as Consciousness-Energy that intersects the meditator in the Heart-center, where the mind is undone, or transcended at its root, by Consciousness-Energy (or Heart-Shakti).
This depthless, disintegral New-Agey type book (aimed at the clueless masses in order to generate maximal revenue) is filled with almost endless remedial strategies and basic meditation exercises. In other words, it’s hodgepodge Buddhism for Dummies augmented with superfluous pseudo-scientific pontifications about the brain’s function relative to enlightenment. The authors even recommend nutritional supplements to improve the brain’s function; and as a student of health and nutrition, I strongly disagree with their “super-nutrition” approach, which is unnatural and toxifying.
I include a recommended Spiritual Reading List in the books I write—and I’m always looking to add new books—but it will be a cold day in Hell before I add “Buddha’s Brain” to my List.
[My 1-star Amazon review of “Buddha’s Brain” The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Widom” by Rick Hanson.]
In the Introduction to this book, the authors write, “This book is about how to teach your brain to create more happiness, love and wisdom.” Unbeknownst to the authors, happiness, love, and wisdom stem from the Heart, not from the brain, which is simply the organ through which the Heart, Consciousnees Itself, function as mind. I’ve been studying, practicing, and teaching Buddhism for forty years and I’ve never encountered a Buddhist text that identifies the brain as the center of human happiness, love and wisdom—because it’s not. The Buddha himself equated the attainment of Nirvana with the Heart release, not with any brains transformation.
The authors briefly mention Spirit in the book, but instead of properly identifying it as the Bliss Body (Sambhogakaya), which flows into and out of the Heart-center, they improperly apotheosize the brain as the conduit to spiritual fulfillment.
The authors display their lack of depth when they write: “A reasonable working hypothesis is that the mind is what the brain does.” Anyone with any insight into esoteric spirituality knows this is hogwash. The seed tendencies (samskaras) of one’s thoughts are stored in one’s soul (located two digits to the right of the center of one’s chest relative to the body). Hindus call this causal-body Heart-center “Hridayam” (distinct from the anahata heart chakra), and in Buddhism this Heart-Mind center is referred to as the Tathagatagarbha. ” The samskaras, or karmic seed tendencies, concantenate in the soul, and “sprout”as vasanas (impulses and desires) that “crysallize” in the brain as thoughts-forms.
Anyone interested in learning more about the Heart-center relative to the brain and enlightenment should check out my (two-star) Amazon review of “The Lankavatra Sutra,” by Red Pine and the book “Sri Ramana Gita,” by Ramana Maharshi.
The authors mention Ramana Maharshi, India’s foremost twentieth-century guru, but they have not grokked him. Not only do they fail to mention the Heart-mind-brain relationship that Maharshi explicates, but they also do not understand his Self-enquiry (enquiring “Who am I?”) The authors write, “At some point, we all ask the same question” Who am I? And no one really knows the answer.” This is nonsense. As Maharshi and the Hindus make clear, one true identity, the Self (or Buddha-nature) is Sat-Chit-Ananada (Being-Consciousness-Bliss).
The authors identify “taking refuge in the ground of being” as “an essential practice in the path of awakening,” but they don’t explain what this means. And if they knew what it means (little chance of that!), they would have to identify Being as Consciousness-Energy that intersects the meditator in the Heart-center, where the mind is undone, or transcended at its root, by Consciousness-Energy (or Heart-Shakti).
This depthless, disintegral New-Agey type book (aimed at the clueless masses in order to generate maximal revenue) is filled with almost endless remedial strategies and basic meditation exercises. In other words, it’s hodgepodge Buddhism for Dummies augmented with superfluous pseudo-scientific pontifications about the brain’s function relative to enlightenment. The authors even recommend nutritional supplements to improve the brain’s function; and as a student of health and nutrition, I strongly disagree with their “super-nutrition” approach, which is unnatural and toxifying.
I include a recommended Spiritual Reading List in the books I write—and I’m always looking to add new books—but it will be a cold day in Hell before I add “Buddha’s Brain” to my List.
