Two Views of Mind

Two Views of Mind: Abhidharma and Brain Science offers a clear overview of perception, thought, and awareness in Tibetan Buddhist psychology and in Western neuroscience. DeCharms lays out the Buddhist theory of perception side-by-side with the scientific view of Western neuroscience on the brain activity of human cognition. He discovers insights from each system that suggest exciting new approaches to perennial problems that the other has not been able to resolve. Directed to non-specialists, he focuses on the differences between the two traditions in methodology, assumptions, and purpose.

Christopher DeCharms is a cognitive neuroscientist at the Keck Center for Integrative Neuroscience at the University of California, San Francisco. His work focuses on how perceptions, thoughts, and subjective experiences can arise from the biological machinations of the brain. This question centers on what it is to be aware, both at the level of experience and at the level of the underlying neural processes. He has also investigated the understanding of mind arising from the traditions of Tibetan medicine and Tibetan phychology by working and studing with a number of Tibetan physicians and lamas.