The reviewed book: The MIT Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1999, 844 pp.

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　　 There have been many years in anticipation of the appearance of a scholarly work to be penned by a practitioner of Zen Buddhist meditation who is also a neurophysiologist with experience in in-depth probing into mysticism and science. For the questioning reader who is looking for an explanation of how neuroreceptors act upon the meditation experience and how Zen practice affects psychological, emotional and physiological experiences, Austin quickly refers to data which record actual experiences of meditators. (Synthesis of chap. 19, pp. 78) Experiences of visual and auditory aberrations, hallucinations and unusual somatic experiences can result from intensive meditation for long periods during one session, and during weeks and months of practice; however, these often occur in healthy individuals and are not regarded as signs of psychic disorder by insight

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meditation practitioners. Conversely, instances are cited where meditation retreat candidates experience episodes of anxiety, depression, suicide ideation and schizophrenic reactions. (pp. 375) How Zen, or zazen, influences brain functions may be seen as the theme of Dr. Austin's new text by brain specialists, physiologists and practitioners of meditation practice in the Zen Buddhist tradition. He notes that 1998 was the 100 yr. Anniversary of 1st trip by Zen masters to U.S.

　　 Almost in a fervent manner to take the reader passed merely a notion of elusive Zen, Austin in many chapters gives some detailed reasons for Zen meditation practice and answers the question vividly. But what is Zen? As if to say, as does Christmas Humphries, lets quit beating around the bush.

　　 At first glance the Zen reader may be taken back and have to pour over some of the numerous scientific/technical passages explaining brain functions, (pp. 603; pp. 605-606) However, this reviewer feels there is value in re-reading the un-complicated trainings of neural-brain/mind connections. For example, the well-stated explanations of the neurological reflections on kensho. (pp. 602-605)

　　 In the author's brief Preface he disclosed the underlying thesis of this voluminous treatise; it is not written to attract the expert neuroscientist nor Zen master, but to "summarize the often-murky topic of Zen in older to make clear how vital are its relationships with the brain." (pp. XIX)

　　 Where attempts are made by the reader to relate the nature of Zen and associate that with brain functions, the text can be a quick reference by subject of concern. For example, in the explanations of human learning and unlearning, we are reminded that life's events condition us. Our human limbic and brainstem circuitry "learned to make us dodge fear, blush with shame, ego-swell with pride and clutch with desire" (pp. 333) Austin asks, "are these conditionings which Zen would have us shed? The answer is "Yes", to this and to a devotion to permanence to this life and things in it. The author proposes that Zen will diminish the "I" (the grasping ego), but it doesn't break the spirit and leave one with the deceptive remains of a neutral, lifeless unresponsive product. Instead, it will stir up old misdirected energies and... "jar them into kensho, from which they will be rechanneled." He goes on to re-phrase the startling hypothesis that conditioning establishes behavior patterns -- how else could Zen bring about lasting changes in the brain?

　　 Regarding Zen meditation practice with a purpose to develop mindfulness, Austin offers no apologies for uses of the term "mind" and leaves the reader to provide his/her own definition without fault: brain functions -- mental activities -- no criticism, no need for distinctions (the Zen approach). This reviewer's orientation about Zen and its psychological/physiological effects have always been that nothing is absolute, everything is relative; time is relative. It is proposed in this text that zazen removes relative, comparative thinking but does not detract from healthy, argumentative logic. As far as what happens to time, we humans exist in the immediate now; there is no concern with past or future. If you suppose some phrase on a page of writing totally absorbs your attention, for example, other distractions -- other words -- fell away, an absence of time during absorption. This absence is represented as "Now is!" (pp. 563-564)

　　 In discourses on "mindfulness" in this well developed text the author relates how it can register bare perception -- observation with detachment. Later the brain seems emptied of all but the first, raw sensory data. "Insight meditation", that practice of Vipassana and the Theravada traditions, is not looked at as a different skill, but it is stated that Zen diverts its approaches from comprehensive labeling of events practiced in some Theravada forms of insight mediation. For discrete mindful attentiveness, Zen mediation, as practiced, is laced with moments of unity, oneness -- for there is no argument for the separateness of the two techniques.