Jhana Consciousness: Buddhist Meditation in the Age of Neuroscience

(Paperback)

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An interdisciplinary deep dive into Buddhist jhana meditation and how it can transform our understanding of self and consciousness States of profound meditative concentration, the jhanas are central to the earliest Buddhist teachings. For centuries in Southeast Asia, oral yogavacara (yoga practitioner) lineages kept traditional jhana practices alive, but in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, reforms in Theravada Buddhism downplayed the importance of jhana in favor of vipassana (insight) meditation. Some began to consider the jhanas to be strictly the domain of monastics, unattainable in the context of modern lay life. In recent years, however, there has been a resurgence of interest in the jhanas, and as researcher Paul Dennison shows, the esoteric and sometimes "magical" pre-reform practices of Southeast Asia hold powerful potential for modern lay practitioners living in a more scientifically minded world. Drawing on traditional Buddhist doctrine, teachings from lesser-known meditation texts such as the Yogavacara's Manual, and findings from the first in-depth, peer-reviewed neuroscience study of jhana meditation, Dennison unpacks this ancient practice in all its nuance while posing novel questions about perception, subjectivity, and the nature of enlightenment.

Reviews

The ancient traditions of Thai jhna practice (born kammahn) have been thought lost or forgotten. Dennisons remarkable book shows how they are still being practiced and thriveoften outside Asia. Drawing on personal recollection, meditative experience, and his neurological research, long-time meditation teacher and psychotherapist Paul Dennison tells us his inside story: of the early years of samatha-vipassan meditative practice in the UK and of friendships with Trungpa, Ato Rinpoche, and Anandabodhi (Namgyal Rinpoche). Primarily, however, he explores the practice of deep jhna and formless meditation, with teachings he has received from Nai Boonman (Poonyathiro). The sophistication and depth of these early techniques, and of Boonmans teachings, are made clear through dramatically effective EEGsDennison links his peer-reviewed research in this area with personal experiences of meditation. An unusual and important book that places the often-mysterious samatha texts of Theravda in their natural, living context.Sarah Shaw, author of The Art of Listening

This book is a remarkable deconstruction of sentience from the dual perspectives of Buddhism and contemporary neuroscience. The authorfluent in both fields describes the first scientific study of jhna meditation and establishes a compelling consilience between the Buddhist model of dependent origination and current formulations of self-organization in the active inference framework of neuroscience. Given that Buddhist meditation practices have been conserved for over 2,500 years, the Buddhist model can probably claim precedence.Dennison offers many intriguing and foundational insights into the mind, brain, and the illusory nature of selfhood. Perhaps, the most remarkable is that certain brain statesusually associated with sleeping, dreaming, and indeed epilepsycan be invoked at will by skilled practitioners, confirming the human ability to withdraw oneself from the exteroceptive sensorium and control the brains attentional processes. This is the holy grail of many psychotherapiesa holy grail that we now know exists, thanks to Dennison's brilliant synthesis. Beyond the profound therapeutic implications of this thesis, there are some fundamental observations about selfhood. Perhaps my favorite is that it might be argued that both Buddhist and active inference models support the view that the cognitive conclusion that I am and I do is both impermanent and has no ultimate reality. I am sure this is absolutely correct.Karl Friston, professor of neuroscience, University College London

Paul Dennisons book is a compelling reflection on the practice and significance of Buddhist jhna, uniquely informed by his own practice of meditation over nearly sixty years as well as by his ground-breaking EEG study of meditators practicing a form of mindfulness of breathing introduced to the UK from Thailand in the 1960s. Dennison suggests that this form of practice preserves important elements of older traditions of Buddhist meditation practiced across Southeast Asia prior to the monastic reforms that promoted new forms of insight meditation divorced from jhna. He argues that these older practices embody an ancient understanding of jhna as a disengagement from our habitual sensory consciousness that is deeply affecting and initiates a transformation in our understanding of who we are. This is a significant contribution to modern discussions of meditation and consciousness. Rupert Gethin, professor of Buddhist studies, University of Bristol

Paul Dennison has practiced and taught meditation for over 50 years, pursuing the deep states (jhnas) that are the core of samadhi, itself the core of the Buddhist path to awakening. In this groundbreaking exposition of the jhnas and their brain-state correlates, Paul fuses science and praxis. As a practitioner, he describes the jhnas from the inside out; as a scientist, he explains withdrawal from sensory consciousness from the outside in. As a meditation teacher, he is a lucid guide to the qualities of the jhnas. This book is an opening to a new understanding of an ancient tradition. Chris Gilchrist, trustee of The Samatha Trust

Dennisons work would be of enormous value were it only for the light it shines on the growth of the samatha tradition in the UK, with its distinctive and intricate understanding of jhna consciousness. He presents a lucid analysis of the conscious states experienced by meditators in this tradition, which includes insights that profoundly enrich the contemporary discourse on the nature of consciousness. But the books original contribution is enhanced by Dennisons incorporation of EEG researchgiving rise to his neurodhamma perspective, which significantly furthers the dialogue between science and spirituality that is of such importance in our day.B. Les Lancaster, founding director of the Alef Trust and emeritus professor of transpersonal psychology, Liverpool John Moores University

This is a remarkable book. Its depth of engagement, drawn on a lifetimes meditation experience in breathing mindfulness within the Theravda tradition, as well as long exploration of some of the more esoteric practices almost lost in the reforms of the last century, is illuminated by contemporary neuroscience and psychoanalysis. There is no more compelling introduction to the richness of Theravda meditation and its contemporary relevance.Professor Ja Elsner, Oxford University

Author Bio

A student and practitioner of Buddhism since the early 1960s, PAUL DENNISON, PhD, is a founding member and former chairman of the Samatha Trust, an organization dedicated to the preservation and teaching of Buddhist samatha meditation. He has been a research physicist, a goldsmith and gem dealer, a monk in rural Thailand, and, for the past two and a half decades, a psychotherapist and psychoanalyst. He is also currently an independent researcher on the neuroscience of meditation and consciousness.