We conclude our uber-geeky conversation with neuropsychologist and dharma teacher Rick Hanson this week, exploring what might be happening in the run-up to the transforming moment of nirvana. In the Theravada tradition of Buddhism the moment or nirvana (or nibbana as it’s called in that tradition), and even the period leading up to it, is spiritually transformative. Using one common map of the experiences leading up to nirvana–the 8 jhanas–Rick explains what he thinks might be happening in the brain as it approaches the “event horizon” of nibbana.

He also uses the metaphor of eddies in a stream to explain the way that experience arises on a moment-by-moment basis, through the firing of neural coalitions in the brain. He also explores the parallels between the eddies of experience and self in our subjective experience with the material world.

This is part 3 of a three-part series. Listen to part 1, A Crash Course in Applied Neurodharma and part 2, Self is a Network Phenomenon.

Episode Links:

Wise Brain ( http://www.wisebrain.org )

Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom ( http://bit.ly/J4gPr )

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