THE MIND EXPERIMENT approaches Buddhism unlike any other book, not as a foreign belief system or an academic contribution to the specialty of 'Buddhology' but as an exploration of the enlightenment teachings that answers the spiritual needs of our time — a universal and secular spirituality, without beliefs or dogmas.
It contains many first-time translations directly from the Buddhist canon, linking the enlightenment teachings of Buddhism with the main body of Western wisdom, —from Greek philosophy to Christian mysticism, modern science to American transcendentalism.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
The Unsolved Questions
Mind Training
Spirituality for the New Millennium
CHAPTER ONE: SOME HARD BUT NOBLE TRUTHS
Impermanence and Suffering
There are No Things
I Am Not Any Thing
The Five Skandhas and the Senses
Emptiness – and Science, Philosophy, Mysticism
The End of Suffering
CHAPTER TWO: A REAL MAN
Buddhism and its Founder
The Man
The Training Years
Enlightenment
CHAPTER THREE: LIFE AND THE UNIVERSE
Worldviews
The Buddhist View
The Cosmos
Life in the Triple Universe
The Heavens
APPENDICES
CHAPTER FOUR: KARMA AND REBIRTH
Karma
The Process of Becoming
Death and the Intermediate State
CHAPTER FIVE: MEDITATION
Mindfulness
Meditation
The Ten Methods of Mindfulness
CHAPTER SIX: REALIZATION
Dhyana and Samadhi
The Ten Bonds
The Four Fruits of the Path
The Road to Enlightenment
The Spiritual Tripod
CHAPTER SEVEN: WISDOM AND ENLIGHTENMENT
Transcendental Wisdom
Diamond Sutra
Heart Sutra
Nirvana and Samsara
CHAPTER EIGHT: BUDDHISM AND WESTERN WISDOM
Greek Philosophy
- Anaximander, Socrates and Plato -
Christian Mysticism
- The Beguines -
- Meister Eckhart -
- Jan van Ruusbroec -
American Wisdom
- Benjamin Franklin -
- Jonathan Edwards -
- Ralph Waldo Emerson -
CONCLUSIONS
Buddhist Solutions for Modern Problems
Spiritual Guide for the New Millennium
Abbreviations
AK Abhidharmakosa (L. de La Vallée Poussin)
AN Anguttara Nikāya
C Chinese
DN Digha Nikāya
Dp Dhammapada
Mv Mahāvagga (Vinaya)
MN Majjhima Nikāya
P Pali
S Sanskrit
SN Samyutta Nikāya
T Taisho Edition of the Chinese Buddhist Canon
Ud Udāna
