The Science of Enlightenment

Shinzen Young is a rarity among meditation teachers. He is educated as a scholar in Buddhist studies and Asian languages. He lived as a Shingon monk in Japan, a branch of the Vajrayana school (a distant relative of Tibetan Buddhism), and has trained extensively in Zen and Theravadan Vipassana. Combine this with his studies of worldwide meditative traditions and you get a teacher with an extraordinary breadth and depth of experience and training, and decades of teaching experience. Shinzen is very articulate at describing meditation and spiritual practice with exceptional clarity. I have read many books by well-known teachers and I have attended several retreats. Yet, there were a few facets that were vague to me, but I didn't even realize it until Shinzen clarified it.For example, "clear knowing" is a fundamental aspect of vipassana meditation. However, I understood what this meant much better after Shinzen explaining it as meaning a finer grained resolution of experience (e.g. the tiny microsensations that make up any larger bodily sensation), as well as discriminating clearly between the components of experience (seeing, hearing, feeling, mental talk, mental image, etc.). Concentration serves as an awareness-extending tool in the same way a microscope allows a biologist to see what was not apparent to the naked eye. Maybe his most famous formulation is Suffering = Pain x Resistance, where "pain" can be any form of distressing experience (sensations, emotion, or thoughts). Equanimity, then is non-resistance to these experiences. So, as we reduce our resistance, the pain may remain the same, but suffering is progressively reduced. These are classic concepts in meditative traditions, but here they are seamlessly integrated and placed in the broader context.Shinzen further describes more subtle aspects of meditation practice and how these progress toward Enlightenment. Enlightenment is not a magical, mythological fiction, but in fact a real phenomenon, a shift in consciousness that happens to regular people who do sufficient and strategic practice, which greatly enhances a person's resilience, joy, wisdom, and compassion, magnifying their quality of life. Here is where the "science" part of the title really comes in. Shinzen is fascinated by the sciences and has a proficient understanding of them. He sees "spiritual" practice and science as two parallel but complementary human developments, where each can inform the other and collaborate. Ultimately the collaboration between these two endeavors may make enlightenment more accessible to a greater number of people, possibly changing the course of humanity for the better.Much of the content of this book was released from his audio CD series, also called The Science of Enlightenment, which radically changed my understanding and practice. This text version is not a mere transcription of that series, however. It is updated with a lot of newer material.

A generous reference of what Shinzen has been teaching for several decades. Thirty minutes into the book I was thinking it was a waste to read this as I have heard it all before the fifteen years I followed him. However, after finishing the book, I see it encompasses all the things he has emphasized in a neat package, including short descriptions of his favorite secular meditation techniques. Also his book balances both the contents across the pages and importance of the different meditation aspects, making me realize that I may have over and under emphasized parts of his teachings. As a sceptic, I have always appreciated to check out Shinzen's scientific and historical claims often originating in Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese or Japanese, which are languages he has known for many decades. Instead of hearing his words I can now get the correct spelling right away and enter into Google! I remember more than a decade ago, spending hours checking his claims about shunya, which was the first word for zero in its original country India. Before the numerical meaning of shunya it had the meaning of empty (within Buddhism), which Shinzen stresses more than other historians. After checking many other things he talks about I have found him both careful and accurate. Knowing how skilled Shinzen is, it has surprised me many times why he doesn't use his skills to make tons of money in many other ways (than to teach meditation). Knowing this has added to my admiration for Shinzen and his message, making me think that he is really happy forwarding the contents within this book, as if his happiness actually is the same as the central pillar of his book, he aims to convey.

I was very disappointed with Shinzen Young's book because I liked his talks and interviews on YouTube. I think he's a great teacher and has a lot to offer for his students. This book isn't actually written by Shinzen Young but by Michael Taft who collected Young's speeches from different places and put them together, mixed them together, edited them. So we don't actually know how much of this is really Young's opinion and how much comes from Taft or is misinterpreted by him. In his videos Young seems like a very pragmatic person but this book is more of a philosophy and speculation.First of all this book is not about science. It quotes no studies. It doesn't describe experiments. It is similar to the New Age crowd kind of science of people who quote Einstein and use difficult words they heard somewhere to impress others but that's not how science looks like. There's lots and lots and lots of interpretation in this book. Many statements are made without being backed up by actual science or any logical argumentation at all. A typical page is filled with a series of amazing statements without mentioning any evidence or references.Another thing I don't like about this book is pushing towards acknowledgement of all religions as having the same source. For example Qi is equated with Holy Spirit which is just so wrong... Another example is implying that Christianity is about getting to englightenment through prayer which is a complete misunderstanding of this religion. He's taking some extreme example like some monastery in Medieval ages that tought meditation and making general statements about the whole religion based on this. I think this logic is flawed. Some religions have been created by aggressive warlords, some are blood-drinking death cults where it's all about getting to paradise after death and some are about life improvement here on Earth, there is a big difference.There have been very bold claims made in this book that have not been proven in any way - like saying that God is just another name for nature, existense of ghosts (spirits), claiming that there is some Source that creates consciousness. These statements may be true, who knows, but I would expect evidence to support it, otherwise he can as well say that elves are true or that moon is made of cheese.Honestly, I would prefer Shinzen stayed in his area of competency and not diverged into topics of science, christianity, islam, physics etc. This is really not necessary. If he stripped the book from this whole philosophy, mysticism, bold claims about nature and focus on his personal experience as an enlightened person and added exercises and techniques on how to get there it would be much more valuable material.If you're interested in ACTUAL SCIENCE about brain, consciuosness and enlightenment please refer to these free resources:- neuroscientist Sam Harris - some of his YouTube presentations;- Gary Weber and his early YouTube presentations plus his blog;- neuroscientist and Buddhist Culadasa - some of his YouTube early talks;- Jefferey Martin research on his website.

If you want to know the what, where, why, how, who, when of enlightenment, Shinzen has it all covered in this great book, along with scientific facts and research data. You can be enlightened, and in this lifetime. Don't be told otherwise...a wonderful gift for any seeker. Thank you, Shinzen - sadhu sadhu sadhu.

A must read for mindfulness practitioner, written by a master who knows the territory intimately.

This author is particularly egotistical, ironic given the subject matter! A boring, uninvolving read.

This book gave me lots of inspiration & tip for my meditation practice. Definitely, recommend this book!

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