Mind in the Balance

B. Alan Wallace spent fourteen years as a Buddhist monk, ordained by H. H. the Dalai Lama. His Columbia University Press books are Meditations of a Buddhist Skeptic: A Manifesto for the Mind Sciences and Contemplative Practice; Hidden Dimensions: The Unification of Physics and Consciousness; Contemplative Science: Where Buddhism and Neuroscience Converge; and Buddhism and Science: Breaking New Ground (editor). A prolific writer who has translated numerous Tibetan Buddhist texts, he is also the founder and president of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies (http://www.sbinstitute.com).

Preface Part I: Meditation: Where It Started and How It Got Here 1. Who Am I? 2. The Origins of Contemplation 3. The Scientific Externalization of Meditation 4. Scientific Studies of Meditation Part II: Meditation in Theory and Practice 5. Practice: Attending to the Breath of Life 6. Theory: Coming to Our Senses 7. Practice: The Union of Stillness and Motion 8. Theory: Knowing and Healing the Mind 9. Practice: Behold the Light of Consciousness 10. Theory: Exploring the Nature of Consciousness 11. Practice: Probing the Nature of the Observer 12. Theory: The Ground State of Consciousness 13. Practice: Oscillating Awareness 14. Theory: Consciousness Without Beginning or End 15. Practice: Resting in the Stillness of Awareness 16. Theory: Worlds of Skepticism 17. Practice: The Emptiness of Mind 18. Theory: The Participatory Worlds of Buddhism 19. Practice: The Emptiness of Matter 20. Theory: The Participatory Worlds of Philosophy and Science 21. Practice: Resting in Timeless Consciousness 22. Theory: The Luminous Space of Pristine Awareness 23. Practice: Meditation in Action 24. The Universe as a Whole 25. What Shall We Become? Notes Bibliography Index