this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2023
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Has anyone used the book The Mind Illuminated by Culadasa? (self.meditation)
submitted 1 year ago by YellowtoOrange to c/meditation
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I find this an excellent book by the late ex-neuroscientist and meditation adept, that illustrates how the mind works and distils the core of Buddhist meditation into easy to follow steps - the medtiation practice, as always, is the challenge to progress.

I have some The Mind Illuminated guided meditation audio files created by a meditation teacher if anyone is interested.

Has anyone used the book?

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[–] wit 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I have that book. I have read until stage 3 or so. I am honestly not very keen on it..

I was expecting something else. Somewhere in the book (front or back, i can't remember), it says that it is a "science based" or makes reference to "brain science" or something. As far as I have seen, there is no science in that book. If there is, it is very little and very old. The book will certainly not appeal to those coming from a scientific background. Not for its science at least.

Having said that, it is a good meditation guide and it should be refered as such. A guide. No need to pull the "science" theme.

I would love to have access to your audio files.. Can you share?

[–] Blunon 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I have read the whole book and have meditated accordingly for a year or so. I agree that it's not that science based. But I still found it super cool that it is a very analytical or 'scientific' approach in that it is very algorithmic and clear what you do when. There are some parts that are a bit unclear, but all in all I really enjoyed the "if you are there, do that" kind of approach.

Do you have any other book recommendations that are more science based?

[–] wit 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No, I do not, and honestly, I don't think there is such a book just yet..

I remember looking at some of the studies a few years ago and I was left very unhappy with the state of the field. Low quality studies overall. That is not to say that meditation is not useful.. We should not wait for science to validate our feelings. Meditation brings happiness and clarity and tranquility to many people. That is enough to me. Just don't write a book and claim it's science based when it is not.

[–] Blunon 4 points 1 year ago

Well put. i guess you're right. I know that Shinzen Young is trying to do some of that kind of research. But in general the only thing I've heard of are studies in the direction of mindfulness. And afaik there's a bunch of studies showing positive benefits to that. And in a way most meditation techniques, while not focusing on mindfulness, do require it to work. At least in one way or another. But you're right. For me at least I know it is a good thing and that's enough for me.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

B. Alan Wallace has some interesting talks that incorporate more modern neuroscience, if I remember ill link one of his talks that I liked a lot.

[–] YellowtoOrange 1 points 1 year ago

Ah, that's interesting! I'm in the medical field and thought it gave a theory of mind that rang true and was well explained, though I guess that you're right, it doesn't quote research papers/MRI studies etc Though if you listen to Sam Harris (another neuroscientist) explaining meditation, his explanations are similar, and a "purely science based" person would be perplexed by many of his statesments, which are very much in line with Zen and Buddhist thought. IMHO Science is not advanced enough to elucidate this, let alone consciousness.

Here are the guided meditations:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/sfupl3273fsjp59jvko0z/h?dl=0&rlkey=af8ixnxpqfkuko1nmjdg7tpdk

[–] acunasdaddy 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have the book and have read most of it. It’s the best meditation guide I’ve ever read.

That said the end of Culadassas life and the struggles he went through jaded me a bit. IT showed me that someone can be the “best” At mediation and still kinda a crappy person. Stated another way - mediation doesn’t make you a good person and even someone who’s “enlightened” can do really bad stuff and hurt others.