Customer Reviews

Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom

5 star:		(121)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

We have often been told that by altering our thoughts, deeds and words, we can create a happier, more fulfilled life. This book, at the intersection between psychology, neuroscience, and Buddhism, offers effective methods to show us how to live such a life by being fully present in the moment.

Hanson and Mendius, a neuropsychologist and a neurologist and both practicing Buddhists, show us just how the brain programs us to experience the world a certain way by combining information from the external world with information held in neural pathways within the brain. These pathways operate in the background of our awareness, influencing our conscious mental activity. Unless we consciously interrupt this process, we are destined to develop deeper neural networks and even stronger programming.

The argument that the brain has the ability to simulate the world is not new. What is interesting is how Hanson and Mendius link Buddhist teachings on the causes of suffering (painful situations cannot be avoided but our emotional responses to them can) to the deep programming in our brains caused by ancestral survival strategies. They suggest that this hardwiring helped us survive constant life-threatening situations but is based on erroneous beliefs that we are separate, that it is possible to stabilize an ever changing world, that we can avoid situations that create pain and pursue only those that give us pleasure. None of these beliefs are true or can be attained. Their inherent contradictions cause us to live with an underlying feeling of anxiety taking us away from our true ground of being and causing much physical and psychological ill-health.

The main part of the book is a practical guide and is packed with useful exercises and guided meditations to help us develop a more loving, happier, and wiser state of being. The methods Hanson and Mendius suggest are informed by their experiences as therapists and management consultants, and are rooted in Buddhist teachings on mindfulness, virtue, and wisdom. I particularly liked the way they use neuroscience to underpin the tools they offer, only choosing "methods that have a plausible scientific explanation for how they light up neural networks of contentment, kindness and peace." Now I know why taking five deep inhalations and exhalations calms me.

Many of their methods show how to activate desired brain states by consciously changing the association between an event and its painful or pleasurable feelings. This can take a long time. Understanding the neuroscience behind the process can help us be compassionate with ourselves when "swimming against ancient currents within our nervous system."

This book is very informative, with helpful summaries at the end of each chapter. The authors' writing, even when explaining the intricacies of neuroscience, is infused with humor and fun to read. This is a good working manual to help us to become who we already are, and an important contribution to the growing body of knowledge on the relationship between mind, brain, and consciousness. Highly Recommended.

Review by Marta Freundlich

"If I know one thing for sure, it's that you can do small things inside your mind that will lead to big changes in your brain and your experience of living. I've seen this happen again and again with people I've known as a psychologist and meditation teacher . . ."
- Rick Hanson


Buddha's Brain will not only explain 'why' you should take in the good but 'how' you can achieve a more positive outlook with some basic awareness skills. The authors, Neuropsychologist, Rick Hanson and neurologist, Richard Mendius are the Click and Clack (Car Talk) of the brain. These two brainiacs/meditation teachers will show you how to create positive feelings that have many emotional and health benefits such as a stronger immune system and a cardiovascular system that is less reactive to stress. You'll learn how to create a positive cycle of good feelings that you can then spread to others. Enough with all the negativity out there! Haven't we all had enough?

As a Type-A New Yorker, one of my favorite exercises in the book is 'Hush the Verbal Centers.' Here you use the power of prefrontal intention to politely (or impolitely) suggest that the verbal activity (voices in your head) shut the hell up. Tell them if they are quiet and well-behaved you will invite them to come yammer away later on after the job interview/tax return/golf putt/midterm exam. For us control freaks this is especially wonderful because now we can control our brains, as well as everything else. Who knew life could be so swell!?!

Last, Hanson's wife, acupuncturist Jan Hanson writes an appendix on nutritional neurochemistry recommending nutrients, supplements and dietary basics to support brain function. "I've repeatedly seen that small, thoughtful, sensible changes in what you put in your mouth each day can gradually produce significant benefits," writes Hanson.

The authors have simplified the latest neuroscientific research and presented it in a wise and compassionate style that comforts and educates at the same time. Read this book and then pass it on to the cranky person in your life!
For more about Buddha's Brain or articles, talks and other educational resources, [...]

This is a very good book in many ways, but it has one drawback that I think is very serious. Basically, the authors do not explain that the exercises they describe may lead to pain and frustration instead of increased well-being. They do point out, briefly, that if doing one of the exercises is uncomfortable, the reader should "feel free" to stop. This is not, however, nearly enough.

Let me explain.

The aim of the book is to guide people to increase the frequency and power of positive emotions in their lives--emotions like equanimity, compassion, gratitude and joy. (And, of course, to decrease the power of negative emotions like fear and hate.) There are a number of ways to do this, but the technique which the authors describe in the most detail is guided imagery. In guided imagery one imagines a situation that will trigger the desired emotion. Each time one creates these emotions, one strengthens their pathways in the brain/mind and thus makes oneself a happier/better person.

The problem is that when some people do this imagery they are unable to generate the intended feelings. Instead they feel disappointment and frustration at being unable to do what comes so easily (it seems) to other people. If the person has a history of failure at trying to improve her mood, and if the person has been told all her life to cheer up, look at the bright side, etc., than this can be quite painful, and, ultimately, psychologically harmful.

To see if these methods will work for you, try calling up some happy memory and see if it makes you feel happy. If it does, buy this book. There's a lot of good stuff here. If it doesn't, I recommend trying "The Mindful Way Through Depression". It has much of the same material but it is directed at people who have experienced long-term mental pain--not just depressives, but also people suffering from anxiety, chronic pain, and so forth. It is a tremendously good, useful, insightful book. (No, I have no connection with the book or its authors. I just think it's a great book.)

This is one of the most amazing, life changing books I've ever read, and I've read a LOT in my 51 years. It's the only book I've ever taken the time to review on Amazon and I'd give it 100 stars if I could. Bringing together wisdom from the fields of psychology, neurology, and contemplative practice, they teach how we can create greater happiness, joy, & love in our lives. This is all based on recent western scientific research and thousands-of-years old wisdom, and not fluff created in the imagination of a new age entrepreneur. The authors describe how thousands of generations of social and environmental evolutionary pressures have wired our brains & bodies to work they way they do, and how we can use our mind to change our brain so that we handle stress better, and experience greater peace and joy. The implications of doing the work suggested by this book has the potential to profoundly improve the quality of one's life, and all those one contacts, and to change the course of the evolution of our species. As Rick says (in an interview), we have the brain of a cave-man with nuclear weapon capabilities. We need to learn how to be more loving, aware, compassionate, and self disciplined in how we treat the earth if we are to flourish as a species, and this book gives some practical tools on how to do this. I've been sharing some of these ideas in the classes I teach and many of my students have bought the book also. The authors also have a website with many great, free, down-loadable articles that elaborate on the ideas.

The best parts of this book are the ones that help explain how various areas of the brain connect with each other, so that you can begin to see yourself as an integrated system of counterbalancing pieces that have evolved together over millions of years.

The worst parts, unfortunately the biggest parts, are the sections that pepper the reader with short lists of suggestions for how to get "you" (at least the brain regions that are under your partial conscious control) to reinforce the beneficial connections and counteract or mitigate the dsyfunctional ones, especially those that were once needed for physical survival but are now mostly just causes of mental suffering.

If A doesn't work or seem particularly appealing, then try B or C or D or... The more I read, the more numbing it began to seem. Each suggestion is no more than a brief paragraph or two, then on to the next. After a while, the bland repetitiveness of it all blends into one big blob of well-intentioned self-help pablum.

The whole idea behind all of this is to reshape your brain one tiny little drop at a time, and accumulate thousands of these drops until your synaptic responses are gradually shifted into more positive patterns, like water eroding a rock. The problem with this is the discipline required to keep moving always in the same steady direction. So many directions are presented, some more valuable than others, and all treated equally, so the notion of applying the necessary discipline to any single one over an extended period of time gets lost. Inevitably, boredom or dissatisfaction is bound to set in, and you'll give up or cycle through yet another technique.

In the end, it all comes down to a supermarket approach to spiritual training, shopping though aisles of quick fixes that won't do much good unless you incorporate them into a regular meditation practice, under the guidance of a good teacher who will help you find your "big mind" and keep you from losing your way along the path. The path isn't all that hard to see, and this book does make it easier to see as a physical process that can be influenced, but the hard part is walking the path every day.

"Buddha'a Brain" is a highly practical, no-nonsense manual to your brain that teaches you to drive your brain using the gearbox of your mind. This very well researched book trains you to fire up your brain, to cool it down, and even to expand your "consciousness workspace." The neuro-anatomical commentary that accompanies the Sunyuata doctrine of "no fixed self" is masterful! "Buddha's Brain" is a laconic, pragmatic cousin to James Austin's "Zen and the Brain." Bound to be a classic!

Pavel Somov, Ph.D.
author of "Eating the Moment," "Present Perfect: a Mindfulness Approach to Overcoming Perfectionism and the Need to Control," & "The Lotus Effect"

I am a Soto Zen Buddhist living the corporate life. Having studied
physiology and now working as a coach and organisational change
consultant I found this book perfectly meets me where my western mind
is and succinctly points a guiding finger to help me understand
my Self. Many times I come back from meditation retreats and struggle
to make sense of and integrate my mindfulness practice within the
context of my ordinary life. This book helps A LOT!

The chapter on the self is worth the cover price alone. This chapter
beautifully brings together neuroscience, psychology and Buddhism into
a clear description on how we cause ourselves to suffer.

Highly recommended.

"Buddha's Brain" is a book that is similar to the works of Dr. B. Allan Wallace, in that it attempts to conflate ancient contemplative practice with hard science, in this case: Neurophysiology. The authors successfully demonstrate that the older parts of our brain (the brain stem and mid brain) are evolutionary holdovers that served the purpose of increasing the chances of survival (and therefore the ability to procreate) yet, in this time and place we no longer have to be subservient to them. That is; we do not have to spend our lives chasing carrots (and being disappointed when we don't recover any) or avoiding sticks (and being disappointed when we get clocked in the head by one.) The crux of the argument is that we have newer, more evolved portions of the brain PFC, ACC etc., that can serve as bridges to other states of being and/or consciousness which will allow for a more unified, empathetic and compassionate life for all.

The most profound portion of this volume, for me anyway, was the prospect that there really is no physiological "hard wiring" of a distinct self. That is: the self which we refer to as "I" may just be another creation of the mind, a montage of distinct "nows" that the mind stitches together in a relatively seamless pattern with "self" or "I" at the center, which doesn't have a physiologic counter part. "Buddha's Brain" is a new, refreshing piece that discusses arcane wisdom in contemporary parlance. 4 and ½ stars from me, with a 4 on the board.

I started using this book in my life coaching work and personal meditation practice before even finishing it! Authors Rick Hanson and Richard Mendius have published a gem: This is a highly readable guide to actually using scientific knowledge about the brain in meditation and daily life. Buddha's Brain is written for ease of learning and retention. It's chapter synopses, guided meditations, and pithy, memorable language make it a joy to read and easy to apply.

I would have been happy with this book based on the chapters on The Evolution of Suffering, Mindfulness, Concentration, and Self alone. In the Foundations of Mindfulness chapter, the authors introduce the notion of neurological diversity, providing pragmatic examples of how each of us can adjust meditation practice to our own situations and attentional tendencies. The chapter on concentration,like the rest of of this book, strikes an elegant balance between touching on neurological factors (in this case the role of hormones and gamma waves) with very useful techniques for training the mind. The chapter on Self is beautifully written, weaving together neurology, social factors, and practical tips for relaxing into just being -- and being happier.

Buddha's Brain is a wise, accessible, and fascinating practitioner's companion. It is a resource I'll return to again and again, and is an excellent complement to two other books on my meditation and neurology bookshelf, Train Your Mind Change Your Brain and Being a Brain-Wise Therapist: A Practical Guide to Interpersonal Neurobiology (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology).

Highly recommended!

I was interviewing Rick on the radio (Mind Matters; KKNW 1150 AM) and I read Buddha's Brain for the interview. I read a lot of books and enjoy many of them, but this was outstanding, especially if you have an interest in understanding the scientific perspective on the mechanics of spiritual growth. Rick writes clearly of the challenges anyone faces who is interested in developing self-awareness and greater love, compassion, and happiness. To this discussion, he artfully weaves the latest findings in neuropsychology with traditional spiritual practices, showing that West and East are indeed meeting in meaningful ground important to all of us. It's a fascinating read and I highly recommend it. This book assures you that you not only can grow spiritually; you can actually change the way your brain functions.