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Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Enlightenment
Écrit par Robert Wright
Raconté par Fred Sanders
Description
From one of America's greatest minds, a journey through psychology, philosophy, and lots of meditation to show how Buddhism holds the key to moral clarity and enduring happiness.
Robert Wright famously explained in The Moral Animal how evolution shaped the human brain. The mind is designed to often delude us, he argued, about ourselves and about the world. And it is designed to make happiness hard to sustain.
But if we know our minds are rigged for anxiety, depression, anger, and greed, what do we do? Wright locates the answer in Buddhism, which figured out thousands of years ago what scientists are only discovering now. Buddhism holds that human suffering is a result of not seeing the world clearly—and proposes that seeing the world more clearly, through meditation, will make us better, happier people.
In Why Buddhism is True, Wright leads readers on a journey through psychology, philosophy, and a great many silent retreats to show how and why meditation can serve as the foundation for a spiritual life in a secular age. At once excitingly ambitious and wittily accessible, this is the first book to combine evolutionary psychology with cutting-edge neuroscience to defend the radical claims at the heart of Buddhist philosophy. With bracing honesty and fierce wisdom, it will persuade you not just that Buddhism is true—which is to say, a way out of our delusion—but that it can ultimately save us from ourselves, as individuals and as a species.
Robert Wright famously explained in The Moral Animal how evolution shaped the human brain. The mind is designed to often delude us, he argued, about ourselves and about the world. And it is designed to make happiness hard to sustain.
But if we know our minds are rigged for anxiety, depression, anger, and greed, what do we do? Wright locates the answer in Buddhism, which figured out thousands of years ago what scientists are only discovering now. Buddhism holds that human suffering is a result of not seeing the world clearly—and proposes that seeing the world more clearly, through meditation, will make us better, happier people.
In Why Buddhism is True, Wright leads readers on a journey through psychology, philosophy, and a great many silent retreats to show how and why meditation can serve as the foundation for a spiritual life in a secular age. At once excitingly ambitious and wittily accessible, this is the first book to combine evolutionary psychology with cutting-edge neuroscience to defend the radical claims at the heart of Buddhist philosophy. With bracing honesty and fierce wisdom, it will persuade you not just that Buddhism is true—which is to say, a way out of our delusion—but that it can ultimately save us from ourselves, as individuals and as a species.
Avis
I enjoyed this, but it came across to me as more personal-anecdotey than science/philosophy.
Like several other reviewers, I found less in this book than is suggested by the title -- but I still found it an interesting and worthwhile book. First off, the "nots". Readers looking for a critical examination of Buddhism, one of the world's great religions, will not find it here. Instead, it examines one type of modern, non-secular Buddhism. Nor will they find a rigorous scientific examination of Buddhism even in that very narrow definition: Wright proposes interesting theories based on natural selections, but doesn't provide much in the way of evidence. So why interesting enough to bother with? Because Wright focuses on meditation as a way of trying to reduce the impact of unproductive patterns of thinking. He traces these patterns to natural selection, in a way which is plausible, if not supported by evidence. As a discussion of why meditation is helpful, I found the book useful. It is also well written and amusing, leaving me interested in reading other works by this author.
Natural selection's goal is the deliverance of each organism's genes to the next generation. This process was outrageously successful over the millennia. It relied on and enhanced the emergence of reactions (thoughts and feelings) that promoted the end goal: my sense that my needs, perceptions, judgments, and dreams are not only the most important but, somehow, the most valid or "true," is rooted in adaptations that enabled my ancestors to pass their genes along. In the modern context, however, what was once adaptive is no longer very helpful at all. It's not helpful in living a happy life (that is a relatively easy argument to make) but it's also not very helpful in passing my genes along! Exploring the intersection between modern psychological science and ancient Buddhist thought, Wright makes the case for mindful meditation. He illuminates some of the key Buddhist concepts in relatively accessible ways and provides a primer to the experience of meditation. His writing is both humble and humorous but he has also done his research. He uses psychological research to support his claims, using a common sense approach. His explanations sometimes skip a logical step. For example, his claim that his observation of his feelings during meditation - his observation of where in his body the feelings reside and what their texture is - his claim that this observation provides empirical evidence for the shape of feelings and his prediction that body scans in the future will confirm his observations seems a bit of a stretch for me. On the other hand, I have worked with many clients over the years and it's true that their descriptions of what feelings feel like are amazingly consistent. So, whatever. Apart from the occasional lapse into sloppy logic, this book is truly excellent. I learned a lot and I want to try mindfulness meditation. I've long had an interest in it but have resisted giving up 20-50 minutes of each day to the endeavor. What would I give up? Reading? Not a chance. My runs? Nope. Sleep? Already too hard to come by.... So I don't know where this will lead but I definitely recommend the book!
Its definitly a book if you whant to find yourself. The information in it helped me so much :)
This book raised some ideas that could potentially change my views towards my actions.
Some really new points of view on Buddhism and meditation for me. Loved it.
easy to follow the layman terms for anyone new to the subject. a hidden little gem
Good book to get a sense of modern Buddhist ideas, science behind it and applications in daily lives
brilliant writing, superb reading and just a complete total package for a very enlightening book.
Delightful. Even though, It´s not a very scientific neither philosophical book; Wright explores some concepts of Buddhism practice in an understandable way. The popularity of "yoga" as a comercial trend, misunderstood the spiritual benefits of real meditation practices which would lead to the true. I don´t think the aim of Wright was to present an extensive compilation of evidence, rather his own personal experiences and opinions about the matter of Buddhism as an accurate approach to life itself. I remembered took a few lecture of him in "Buddhism and Modern Psychology" in Coursera; they were really though. But now, after listened to this audiobook, many concepts seem more familiar and less intricate that they were. I listened to this book in audio format at the right time. I recommend the book to whoever wants a good relaxing time.
Great facilitated online course on Coursera and now a brilliant book to follow. A great overview and insight into a psychologists experience and findings within practicing and researching Buddhism.
Great book. Great insight just the right tone. Great life advice.
Robert Wright is a clear thinker whose opinion carries a lot of weight with me.....this book just enhances my opinion of his work.
if it didn't make me depressed I'd give it 5 stars.
Excellent book, but 4 starts rather than 5 because it can be a bit too long and winding in places so occasionally loses a bit of impact and requires some rewinding to get back into. I'll be buying a paper copy
Excellent cohesion of science and spirituality presented beautifuly.. balanced, interesting, and quite funny.. everything required to breeze right through while learning, laughing, and loving this book!
true, inspiring, humorous and relevant to all of us. I wish animals could read as well.
This has been the best Science/Phylosophy/Buddhist book I have read and the closest to matching Science brain and Buddhist mind.
And no my head did not explode, but then, I meditate therefore I am not.
And no my head did not explode, but then, I meditate therefore I am not.
Got me thinking about all the difficult concepts of Buddhism and a totally relatable and non-Stuffy Way.
This is a wonderful book. It as a great discussion of Buddhism thoughts held by an empathetic author
As a nuance in meditation and concepts of self awareness, this book did achieve it's purpose of giving me a fair idea of how would it be to get there - self awareness and strike the emotional balance by observing the thoughts and feelings over those thoughts mindfully. Beautifully explained in relation to evolutionary psychology in the interests of Darwin's theory.
A wonderfull work, full of informations. If you are interested in the science that can support buddhism, this book is for you.
Accessible and lively tour of the philosophical issues. Stays secular but with enough personal anecdote to keep things interesting.
There was a lot of information to absorb in this book and for people interested in science or evolutionary psychology, there are some fascinating ideas to ponder. However, I had different expectations for this book, based mostly on the title -- Why Buddhism is True. But really this book is about how our minds show us a distorted reality, a necessary feature for survival, and how meditation can unmask the distortion and show us the truth. I really liked the evolutionary biology part of this book. It's so interesting to see how we distort reality and why humans evolved to do this. And although I can see that there is a lot of data these days espousing the benefits of meditation, I don't know I agree that it will solve many of the problems in our world as Wright seems to preach. Also, he discounts some of the religious aspects of Buddhism, so I feel like his title is deceptive. It would be like saying why Judaism is True and then have a book that discusses the validity of one of the ten commandments.The book is accessible and entertaining, but it left me oddly unsettled.
I'm sure for those with an interest, it was a great book (based on the Goodreads ratings). I read about 50 pages and put the book down. I guess I did not have the requisite consciousness or mental bandwidth to reach enlightenment. I zoned out quickly from the book.
My interest in Buddhism dates back a couple of decades before my graduate studies, which included a wide-ranging look at Buddhist imagery in James Joyce. I find much of Robert Wright’s survey in Why Buddhism is True stimulating and endlessly fascinating. Of additional interest is the fact that Wright is also a psychologist.In the “Note to Readers,” he concisely separates several areas of inquiry into five neat packages. He first says, “I’m not talking about the ‘Supernatural’ or more exactly metaphysical parts of Buddhism—reincarnation, for example, but rather the naturalistic parts: ideas that fall squarely within modern psychology and philosophy”; second, “there’s no one Buddhism, but rather various Buddhist traditions, which differ on all kinds of doctrines”; third “I’m not getting into super-fine-grained parts of Buddhist psychology and philosophy;” fourth, “‘true’ is a tricky word;” and fifth and finally, “Asserting the validity of core Buddhist ideas doesn’t necessarily say anything, one way or the other, about spiritual or philosophical traditions” (xi-xii). This two-page note shows this marriage of Buddhism and psychology is precisely the book I have been searching for a long time.I have so many annotations and marginalia it will be difficult to sort out some of the core ideas Wright addresses. Here is a timely example. Robert writes, Technologies of distraction have made attention deficits more common. And there’s something about the modern environment—something technological or cultural, or political or all of the above—that seems conducive to harsh judgment and ready rage. Just look at the tribalism—the discord and even open conflict along religious, ethnic, national, and ideological lines. More and more, it seems groups of people define their identity in terms of sharp opposition to other groups of people” (18). Wright attended a week-long meditation camp to sharpen his core ideas of meditation. He writes, “focusing on your breath isn’t just to focus on your breath. It’s to stabilize your mind, to free it of its normal preoccupations so you can observe things that are happening in a clear, unhurried, less reactive way” (20). By “things that are happening”,” he means feelings inside your mind, such as sadness, anxiety, joy and so forth. Wright talks about feelings extensively. He asks the reader, “Have you ever been visited by the fear that something you said to someone had offended her? And has this person ever been someone you weren’t going to see for a while? And has it been the case that you didn’t know her very well, it would have been awkward to call her or to send an email to make sure you hadn’t offended or to clarify that no offense was meant? That feeling itself […] is perfectly natural” (34). Shortly after reading this chapter, I bumped into an old friend I had not seen for decades. As we talked over coffee, I toyed with the idea of apologizing for an unfortunate remark long ago. I decided to mention the incident, but she had entirely forgotten all about it. She said with a laugh, “We ere kids! It is inconsequential. Forget about it.” The relief I experienced was wonderful. Robert Wright’s Why Buddhism is True is a marriage of Buddhism and Psychology for an amazing journey into mind, memory, and all the associated joys and sorrows we all experience. 5 stars. --Jim, 1/27/18
Wright calls on evolutionary psychology, cognitive science, and a little neuroscience to bolster his argument that “some” of what Buddhists teaches about the human condition may be “true.” The operational words here are “some” and “true.” He doesn’t discuss all of Buddhist beliefs, but focuses instead on meditation and mindfulness and how they can be used to more accurately perceive the world.Wright builds his case on the idea that we humans have little control over our feelings. Wright and Buddhism argue that the idea of a CEO of the mind, we think of as our “self,” is an illusion. Instead he cites the psychological proposal that the mind consists of multiple modules that compete for our attention. This model maintains that the most compelling module determines our feelings and emotions at any given moment.Buddhism also holds that the values we assign to things in our world, both positive and negative, are illusions. Wright argues that these “essences” have been hardwired into our minds by natural selection with the primary aim of increasing opportunities to pass our genes along. While some of these values and the feelings they excite bear directly on our safety and wellbeing, many others are just irrelevant to modern humans and contribute to personal and societal dysfunction (e.g. tribalism, rage, jealousy, depression, greed, materialism, etc.). In effect, natural selection has rigged us to be anxious and delusional creatures disposed to overestimating the pleasure and pain that things may provide.Wright maintains that “there is value in exposing this delusion to the light" and meditation provides the ideal method to distance and disengage from these inappropriate feelings. He writes, “According to Buddhist philosophy, both the problems we call therapeutic and the problems we call spiritual are a product of not seeing things clearly. What’s more, in both cases this failure to see things clearly is in part a product of being misled by feelings. And the first step toward seeing through these feelings is seeing them in the first place—becoming aware of how pervasively and subtly feelings influence our thought and behavior.”Wright provides a personal touch to his arguments by writing, often humorously, about his own failings, anxieties, and faults. His narrative is both engaging and lacking in dogma. His use of the movie, “The Matrix,” to illustrate how humanity is enslaved to delusion is particularly apt and easily identifiable. If the book has a failing, it may come from Wright’s attempt to ascribe too much to mindful meditation. Clearly, mankind will not avoid the global catastrophes that face us by everyone magically deciding to begin meditating.
“We build stories on stories on stories, and the problem with the stories begins at their foundation. Mindfulness meditation is, among other things, a tool for examining our stories carefully, from the ground up, so that we can, if we choose, separate truth from fabrication.”“We don't have to love our enemies, but seeing them clearly is essential.”“...it would be tragic, to say the least, if, after billions of years of arduous effort on the part of organic life, effort that has gotten us to the verge of a global community of minds, we let the natural distortions in these minds blow the whole thing apart.”I grew up with a Christian background. My parents were not practicing but my paternal grandparents were very religious and I was influenced by them and went to Sunday school for many years. As I have matured and my mind has expanded, as I have read industriously and studied the world, I have gotten further and further away from organized religion and may now, be considered, right of agnostic. Although, I won't say that out loud, due to God guilt, that is still ingrained in my soul.The one religion I do admire, more and more all the time, is Buddhism. It makes sense. It fits. I doubt I'll ever become a Buddhist, but there is no problem with following it's tenets, especially meditation.I tried meditating a couple years ago. I barely got started but did recognize the benefits. After reading this book, I may try to get back into it. I really liked this book and it's approach. Wright is a smart guy and completely grounded and gives the reader much to chew on and dwell over. His narrative style is easy and conversational and his has a good sense of humor, which really helps through some of the dry spots.
What would it be like to have an unfiltered, unfettered experience of the world around us, where we are relaxed and calm and not distracted by our usual worries and concerns? Maybe some readers have experienced that – a sunrise or sunset, a full moon, a sky full of stars, a sky full of rain and lightning – or some other moment of encompassing peace. Could we somehow train ourselves to have that kind of experience more often?There's more to it, of course, but that is a big part of what Robert Wright addresses in the surprise NYTimes bestseller, Why Buddhism is True. "{T}he way it seems to work is some feelings actually get accentuated - first and foremost the sensation of beauty."He has taught this subject at Princeton, and admirably maintains his focus. There are many flavors of Buddhism, as with other religions, and many intriguing aspects worthy of discussion. But he's very Western and pragmatic, and that suited me well. "I don't believe in reincarnation or related notions of karma, and I don't bow to the statue of Buddha before entering the meditation hall."He calls himself a "laboratory rat" with ADD, figuring that, "if I could get much in the way of benefits out of meditation, just about anyone could." He does.I loved his application of Darwinian theory: "Buddhism had been studying how the human mind is programmed to react to its environment, how exactly the 'conditioning' works. Now, with Darwin's theory, we understood what had done the programming." Many of our impulses, designed to help us pass on our genes, don't serve us well today. Our feelings and perceptions often end up leaving us misguided, unhappy and dissatisfied."Both our natural view of the world 'out there' and our natural view of the world 'in here' - the world inside our heads - are deeply misleading." He's convincing in explaining why. Through common sense examples, scientific studies, and his own experience, he explains how Buddhist practices successfully address our delusive way of living. He's not shy about bigger issues - e.g. how continuing tribalism is harming us. "I think the salvation of the world can be secured via the cultivation of calm, clear minds and the wisdom they allow." A big claim, but he's not alone in making it. Although he believes modest improvements via Buddhist practice are the practical goal, he also takes on explaining "nirvana", and does a good job of it.I used to recommend more advanced books like Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind to people wanting a place to start on Buddhist principles - and that didn't work very well. From now on, I'm recommending this one. He has done his homework, but made the concepts accessible for those new to all this.
What can I say about this book. Wright does an excellent job applying the ethics of Buddhism to every day life. I myself do not define myself with a particular religion. When others who are of a specific religion question my choices I explain "At best, I would identify as a Buddhist" My choice is to live my life as a good person and helping others. It was confusing and then enlightening to hear Wright explain Buddhism using Science with Darwin etc. I recommend this to anyone looking for aide in anything from focus, calming oneself down, to finding a closer connection to God. There is a lot of information in here that I hope to use in my efforts to creating more calm in my life (we all know I need it). :)