Why Buddhism Is True

The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment

De: Robert Wright

Narrado por: Fred Sanders

From one of America's greatest minds, a journey through psychology, philosophy, and lots of meditation to show how Buddhism holds the key to moral clarity and enduring happiness.

Robert Wright famously explained in The Moral Animal how evolution shaped the human brain. The mind is designed to often delude us, he argued, about ourselves and about the world. And it is designed to make happiness hard to sustain.

But if we know our minds are rigged for anxiety, depression, anger, and greed, what do we do? Wright locates the answer in Buddhism, which figured out thousands of years ago what scientists are discovering only now. Buddhism holds that human suffering is a result of not seeing the world clearly - and proposes that seeing the world more clearly, through meditation, will make us better, happier people.

In Why Buddhism Is True, Wright leads listeners on a journey through psychology, philosophy, and a great many silent retreats to show how and why meditation can serve as the foundation for a spiritual life in a secular age. At once excitingly ambitious and wittily accessible, this is the first book to combine evolutionary psychology with cutting-edge neuroscience to defend the radical claims at the heart of Buddhist philosophy. With bracing honesty and fierce wisdom, it will persuade you not just that Buddhism is true - which is to say, a way out of our delusion - but that it can ultimately save us from ourselves, as individuals and as a species.

©2017 Robert Wright. All rights reserved. (P)2017 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"I have been waiting all my life for a readable, lucid explanation of Buddhism by a tough-minded, skeptical intellect. Here it is. This is a scientific and spiritual voyage unlike any I have taken before." (Martin Seligman, professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and best-selling author of Authentic Happiness)

"This is exactly the book that so many of us are looking for. Writing with his characteristic wit, brilliance, and tenderhearted skepticism, Robert Wright tells us everything we need to know about the science, practice, and power of Buddhism." (Susan Cain, best-selling author of Quiet)

"Robert Wright brings his sharp wit and love of analysis to good purpose, making a compelling case for the nuts and bolts of how meditation actually works. This book will be useful for all of us, from experienced meditators to hardened skeptics who are wondering what all the fuss is about." (Sharon Salzberg, cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society and best-selling author of Real Happiness)

Best book on Buddhism and Mediation ever written

Would you listen to Why Buddhism Is True again? Why?

I have already listened to it 3 times. Even though the explanations are clear and logical, the book is filled with rich information and paradoxes that you can't just listen to it once and get the full meaning. Just an outstanding book! Kudos to Robert Wright!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Why Buddhism Is True?

Understanding essence and how you need to look at it from a more universal view, i.e. as Einstein did for his Theory of Relativity

fantastic book

I loved the way the author drew comparison to science and psychology and the buddhist belief in a way that was very easy to understand and follow. if you jave had a difficult time understanding Buddhism read this book

Great insight, stick to the end!

This book offers great insight as to why we do the things we do and why we feel the way we feel. It also offers you a way on how to be free of these feelings should you feel inclined to do so. I say stick to the end because early on the book the perspective offered sounds to me like a way of numbing yourself into not feeling anything but as you advance through the book the author picks up on this point and explains why this is not the case, so yeah, stick to the end!

Fred Sanders is awesome

Book was eye-opening and Fred Sanders reading made it easy to understand . Off to try meditation

Darwin confirms Buddhism

The main title, Why Buddhism is True, is a bit misleading. The book is mainly about the benefits of meditation. Throughout most of the book, the author threads interesting, up-to-date, and digestible logic as to why everyone should be practicing mindful meditation. As a beginning meditator, Wright’s reasoning was compelling enough to have me hooked from the start.

Through meditation, he says, if we dive deep enough, we can understand the mechanics behind how feelings shape thoughts, behaviors, and perceptions, and how, through practice, we can become aware of “things in our environment that affect those feelings.” Some feelings, he says “are good guiding lights,” while others can “push us around.” He provides scientific backup and practical first-hand examples of how we can successfully manipulate the feelings that may not be benefiting us.

The principle argument for our feelings, he outlines, is the built-in “conditioning” of natural selection. He describes, through meditation, how we can “subvert the programming of natural selection,” to achieve measurable, positive impacts on our lives and of those around us. In effect, he is saying that Darwin confirmed the truth behind Buddhism.

The key, through small daily practices of mindful meditation, is becoming more aware of “what causes what.” Or, in short, causality.

Wright speckles the book with his own experiences, mainly with dry, relatable, self-deprecating humor. I found myself laughing out loud several times throughout the book.

In short, he says the value of meditation is a tool, one that enables us to see the stories we build and how we can more clearly separate illusion from truth. In other words, he says, mindfulness meditation helps us change our perception of the world, even with potentially simple annoyances like crabgrass, the buzzsaw of construction noise, or the impulse to respond to a pricky email.

After listening to his book (twice) it’s hard not to believe him. (It's also one of Freddie Spaghetti's favorites as written in wholewheatspaghetti dot com).

bought a hard copy

the author makes great arguments for skeptical people (bought the hard copy for my skeptical husband). I thought the narration a bit slow, but that was easily adjusted.

Great book for general understanding

Great book from a Western, non religious perspective. It helps to demystify the workings of Self or maybe more accurately not self. I liked the explanation of "Self" being a very dynamic and evolving process of several competing facets of emotion, logic, priorities, etc... learning to watch this process in real time during meditation has merit. The author is perhaps not the best representative of serious Buddhist meditation, but he does not try to present himself in that light. I find this intersection of Evolutionary Psychology and Meditation very interesting.

Might just save the planet, nothing here folks!

The drawing together of science and Buddhism is a fascinating thought.
Seems in almost all other belief systems the opposite is happening for the obvious logical reasons. Both the teachings of science and some aspects of Buddhism are enlightening. Together they might save the planet.

I hope the world reads and internalizes this book

A great blend of anthropology, psychology, storytelling, and even spiritualism. I consider this one of the must-read explorations and introductions into how secular Buddhism reveals truths (but not essences :) that we can all learn from.

loved it

loved it. pan on listening to it again just to get the full impact of it