James H. Austin MD has been a professor of neurology first at the University of Oregon Medical School, then at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Currently he is a clinical professor of neurology at the University of Missouri School of Medicine. He has conducted research and written in areas of clinical neurology, neuropathology, neurochemistry and neuropharmacology.
Dr. Austin is an unusual MD and neurologist in that he has been practicing Zen Buddhism since 1974 and was a student of the late Rinzai roshi Kobori Nanrei Sohaku. This combination of interests has led him to do research and write about the connection between Zen meditation and the actual neural structure and function of various areas of the brain. His first book was a huge tome, called Zen and the Brain: Toward an Understanding of Meditation and Consciousness which won the Scientific and Medical Network Book Prize for 1998. There are two sequels to this book: Zen-Brain Reflection (2006) and Selfless Insight (2009). And then there is his most recent book we are discussing today.
Austin's writing emphasizes the coordination and coexistence of attainment of degrees of spiritual wisdom with increasingly a loss of appreciation of the Self. By Self he means the egocentric and monkey mind producing thought processes that are characteristic of our Western psyche. Otto Meninger on psychotherapy says that we must start working for others, which will then relieve some of our suffering that catering to the self arrouses.
Based on his research with functional MRI scans done on meditating versus non meditating people, Austin proposes that this action of losing the self and becoming non dualistic and attaining various degrees of spiritual wisdom as defined in Eastern religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, etc) probably takes place in the thalamus which gets information from the frontal neocortex. Particularly this activity and emotions seem to arrise more from the reticular cap of the thalamus. This latter area operates particularly with GABA (one of the neuropeptides responsible for tranmissions at nerve cell synapses). When GABA is released at the synapses in this area of the brain, it seems to calm down all the activity. Therefore the thalamus serves as sort of a pacemaker of the brain.
Paul described how Austin talks about two major identified pathways of nerve conduction or streams of consciousness in the brain. One is called the egocentric pathway and runs from the occipital lobe up over the top of the brain to the frontal cortex and then to the thalamus. It is also called the dorsal pathway. The second pathway or stream of consciousness is located deeper in the brain and runs more directly to the thalamus by going under the temporal lobe and then to the frontal neocortex and then to the thalamus. This one is called the ventral pathway or the allocentric pathway. Apparently neuroanatomists and neurophysiologists have known about these two different pathways for some time and some writers assume everyone knows about them much as we know about differences between the right brain and the left brain activities. But indeed most non neurologists do not know about these. Austin works to illuminate the differences between these two patheways.
The egocentric or dorsal pathway is a much more powerful pathway. The ventral or allocentric pathway normally only has 1/3 the traffic that the dorsal egocentric pathway has. The egocentric pathway handles especially left brain functions, while the allopathic or ventral pathway seems more associated with right brain functions. Our society may be moving away from allocentric pathway use becaus of the predominance of words and language in our activites. It may be beneficial to balance these pathways more by paying attention to the allocentric pathway which over time may have become less important.
Indeed the way we meditate and the physical posture and various anatomical positions of body, limbs, and eyes, even, may influence which of these pathways are utilized during meditation. Concentrative meditation such as concentrating on the breath probably uses the egocentric path more. If you cast your eyes downward during meditation it emphasizes the egocentric path. Casting the eyes upward seems to activate the allopathic pathway more. There are some interesting applications of this in daily life. What about the hobby of birdwatching which has become one of the top 5 hobbies around the world? You are looking up more when you are birding. Does this drive the allopathic stream of consciousness which might be more associated with spiritual feelings. What type of meditatoin would drive the allopathic pathway more? Well, in a book entitled Buddha Takes No Prisoners, two types of meditation are colloquially described: There is open pasture meditation in which you figuratively put your (meditation) cow in an open pasture and let it wonder around. In the other type of meditation you want to protect your cow, so you "squeeze" the cow through one certain pathway through concentration. It would seem that the open pasture meditation would be more allopathic and the "squeezing cow" meditation would be more egocentric. It is thought that sitting with light from the left might drive the allopathic pathway more. An interesting aside is that a study of religious artwork showed that the light comes from the left in these paintings in a ration of 6:1.
Austin found another interesting phenomenon. It appears that the traffic on these two pathways oscillates at a rate of 3 times per minute. We all have these two pathways and even if the allopathic pathway is not used as much, there is an oscillation of nerve stimulation there.
One of the experiences described of rigid Rinsai Zen meditation is a sudden awakening or expansion of consciousness called by the Zen Buddhists, kensho. We discussed this phenomenon very briefly. Following is a very nice description from Wikipedia which tells what Austin experienced when he feels he had a kensho experience. Some of this passage is his direct quote.
After eight years of regular Zen meditation, Austin experienced the taste of what Zen practice calls kensho. The chief characteristic of this experience was a loss of the sense of "self" which is so central to human identity, plus a feeling that this is the way all things really are in the world. While he was on a sabbatical in England, he was waiting for a subway train when he suddenly felt a sense of enlightenment unlike anything he had ever experienced. In Austin's words, "It strikes unexpectedly at 9 am on the surface platform of the London subway system. [Due to a mistake] ... I wind up at a station where I have never been before...The view includes the dingy interior of the station, some grimy buildings, a bit of open sky above and beyond. Instantly the entire view acquires three qualities: Absolute Reality, Intrinsic Rightness, Ultimate Perfection."
" With no transition, it is all complete....Yes, there is the paradox of this extraordinary viewing. But there is no viewer. The scene is utterly empty, stripped of every last extension of an I-Me-Mine [his name for ego-self]. Vanished in one split second is the familiar sensation that this person is viewing an ordinary city scene. The new viewing proceeds impersonally, not pausing to register the paradox that there is no human subject "doing" it. Three insights penetrate the experiant, each conveying Total Understanding at depths far beyond simple knowledge: This is the eternal state of affairs. There is nothing more to do. There is nothing whatsoever to fear."
Following is a link to an interview of Dr. Austin conducted at a religious conference in the fall of 2010, at which Dr. Austin gave the annual Schiffman Lecture in Religious Studies. . He is a calm white haired professorial type and very concisely describes his work and areas of interest with his books sitting in front of him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4HmSKyCokg
