Contemplative Science

by Wallace, B. Alan

• ISBN13: 9780231138352
• ISBN10: 0231138350
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-04-01
• Publisher: Columbia Univ Pr

Summary

Science has long treated religion as a set of personal beliefs that havelittle to do with a rational understanding of the mind and the universe. However, B.Alan Wallace, a respected Buddhist scholar, proposes that the contemplativemethodologies of Buddhism and of Western science are capable of being integratedinto a single discipline: contemplative science.The science ofconsciousness introduces first-person methods of investigating the mind throughBuddhist contemplative techniques, such as samatha, anorganized, detailed system of training the attention. Just as scientists makeobservations and conduct experiments with the aid of technology, contemplatives havelong tested their own theories with the help of highly developed meditative skillsof observation and experimentation. Contemplative science allows for a deeperknowledge of mental phenomena, including a wide range of states of consciousness,and its emphasis on strict mental discipline counteracts the effects of conative(intention and desire), attentional, cognitive, and affectiveimbalances.Just as behaviorism, psychology, and neurosciencehave all shed light on the cognitive processes that enable us to survive andflourish, contemplative science offers a groundbreaking perspective for expandingour capacity to realize genuine well-being. It also forges a link between thematerial world and the realm of the subconscious that transcends the traditionalscience-based understanding of the self.

Author Biography

B. Alan Wallace spent fourteen years as a Buddhist monk, ordained by H. H. the Dalai Lama. He then earned his undergraduate degree in physics and the philosophy of science at Amherst College and his doctorate in religious studies from Stanford University. His Columbia University Press books are Hidden Dimensions: The Unification of Physics and Consciousness; Mind in the Balance: Meditation in Science, Buddhism, and Christianity; and Buddhism and Science: Breaking New Ground (editor). He is the founder and president of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies (http://www.sbinstitute.com).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Principles of Contemplative Science	p. 1
Where Science and Religion Collide	p. 28
The Study of Consciousness, East and West	p. 50
Spiritual Awakening and Objective Knowledge	p. 65
Buddhist Nontheism, Polytheism, and Monotheism	p. 94
Worlds of Intersubjectivity	p. 109
Śamatha: The Contemplative Refinement of Attention	p. 135
Beyond Idolatry: The Renaissance of a Spirit of Empiricism	p. 149
Notes	p. 171
Bibliography	p. 189
Index	p. 197
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