But the reader may ask, "what does the brain do to suggest that the Zen practitioner is on the right road to higher levels of awareness, that one can develop more mindful intuition, has larger staying power

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for thoughts, can develop stronger memory powers, etc." (pp 130-31) Personalities of meditators who stay with the practice can be described in terms of various brain activity, a relationship the researcher may have been looking for.

　　 In arriving at conclusions concerning objective relationships of the Zen experiences with behavioral and brain analogies, Austin cites scientific relevant EEG and biofeedback studies. (pp 90-91) If one is searching for certain "facts" which support a cosmic consciousness of taming the brain with Zen practice, or justifying time spent in learning Zen mediation, he contends samadhi practice is safer, easier to attain, more supportive of joyousness as a sublime state of being and is safer than drug therapies. An extended account of religious, mystical and spiritual presence for Zen practitioners is here given. But, this is not a sales pitch for seekers to practice Zen. In essence, what is reported is that the "Manchurian Candidate" or conditioned learning-type brainwashing may be advanced by psychedelic drugs, and interposed meditation will restore the Zen sense of brain-emotion oneness. Extinction is a general technical term and Zen is the healthy way back. (pp 329)

　　 One approach Austin takes which probably is the most thought provoking, questioning percept is that supported by his research into brain stimulation. He finds that this phenomenon, as found in recent studies, is of noted importance in Zen. What causes a sense of experiential immediacy is when deep limbic structures are stimulated directly. (pp. 591) The diverse results show "alternate" states of consciousness vary among individuals. The Self totally vanishes in kensho. When meditation adepts look for kensho, but don't realize it, it may be there but masked as a different variety of religious experiences. This supports William James' observations in his Variety of Religious Experiences. Austin explains kensho in relation to effects of sharp limbic system and direct brain stimulations -- spontaneous (or triggered) excitation. "Kensho is a flash of mental illumination." (pp. 591)

　　 To guard against selling kensho as a byproduct of Zen meditation practice, neurological changes do not necessarily call upon kensho to quieten a complex brain chaos. (pp. 611-613) And, in the sense of describing release, liberation from bonds and delusions, there is moksha. Without a drastic change of pace from "samadhi" (total emersion) mediation, the reader is directed to a phase-in of the evolution of samadhi to kensho by describing lucidly from where in the brain kensho arises. (pp. 477; pp. 614)

　　 The reader may conclude that what is experienced through zazen (sitting meditation) has no relationship with brain functions i.e. the brain does not direct one's meditation expression, experience or progress, but... "we will discover that meditation is a vital probe for understanding how the brain works." Memory and visions of the future will come into play in Zen meditation, but that offers more motivation to attempt to follow the effects and affects of Zen -- the "rules", if you will, to "stay here and in the Now." (pp. 588 & 560)

　　 Austin points out that positive spiritual experiences do not always occur. (pp. 375) Meditators confronting emotional problems get wrapped up in meditative state and expect immediate solutions. But, positive spiritual experiences producing some degrees of happiness, clarity and unusual energy must not be confused with awakening. There follows in-depth treatment of just what "positive spiritual experiences" are and a warning that the earnest meditator does not make linear progress; especially, naive beginners who cling to unrealistic expectations, optimistically. (pp. 975)

　　 The author's analogies are potent in aiding the reader to consider natural effects of "pauses" (quiet rests of the body) in our daily chaotic world as beneficial by sitting meditation. Long pauses in our nervous system are followed by burst firings followed by pauses -- an actively used connection becomes stronger if allowed to rest briefly. In one's planning the pauses, as in meditation practice, the blank spaces of "no-mind" moments have "…effaced many of our I-Me-Mine boundaries".

　　 If one is looking for rationalization for practice of mediation in Zen style, and in other forms of meditation, it will not be

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found in the described physiological advantages of zazen practice detailed by this author. He notes that the balance of consequences and challenges in brain functions correspond with a practice of physical discipline. We practitioners of meditation in various styles -- insight, samadhi -- interested in how and when brain functions can be fine-tuned in advanced levels of motor-performance, are closer to closing the gap.