Today I stumbled upon James Austin’s Selfless Insight: Zen and the Meditative Transformations of Consciousness.[1] Having read two of his previous books linking Zen and neurology, both of which I enjoyed no end, I was delighted. But his brief Introduction delighted me even more. Among other things, he points out that Zen “can be traced back to the ancient yoga practices.”[2] Indeed. I would have been delighted still more had he mentioned that yoga could be traced back to the prehistoric shamanic practices. Alas, not every book one stumbles upon can have it all! At any rate, I look forward to reading Austin’s book over the next month or two.

Footnotes

1. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2009.

2. Op. cit., p. xiv.