Seeking the Neural Correlates of Awakening

Abstract

Contemplative scholarship has recently reoriented attention towards the neuroscientific study of the soteriological ambition of Buddhist practice, 'awakening'. This article evaluates the project of seeking neural correlates for awakening. Key definitional and operational issues are identified demonstrating that: the nature of awakening is highly contested both within and across Buddhist traditions; the meaning of awakening is both context- and concept-dependent; and awakening may be non-conceptual and ineffable. It is demonstrated that operationalized secular conceptions of awakening, divorced from soteriological and cultural factors, have little relationship to traditional Buddhist construct(s) of awakening. This article identifies methodological issues for secular conceptions of awakening concerning introspection and neuroimaging yet demonstrates also the value of recent advancements in empirical first-person phenomenology for attenuating introspective bias. Overall, it is contended that significant problems arise when decontextualizing awakening and placing it within a scientific naturalistic framework. Careful attention to the definitional, operational, and methodological neuroscientific obstacles identified herein is required in the responsible approach to the investigation of awakening states.

The Role of Mindfulness and Embodiment in Group-Based Trauma Treatment

“…However, as Courtois and Ford (2013) note, not only are such practices derided but, more broadly, so too are the relational components of interpersonal therapeutic modalities, including the psychodynamic, client-centred, mentalisation-based therapeutic principles (p. viii). Just as there is a growing recognition of the importance of traditional bottom-up embodiment practices, the emerging science of interpersonal neurobiology and affective neuroscience is leading to a recognition of the importance of right brain to right brain connections in facilitating therapeutic change (Schore, 2020;Tempone-Wiltshire, 2024;Tempone-Wiltshire & Dowie, 2023b). The role of relationship is explored in greater depth below.…”