Why Buddhism is True The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment

But that's really not what he's known for you know Princeton professor.

He's so funny he's very humorous and I started to work my way into I don't have some like I don't want people think I have some like whiz bang like spiritual practice that's whatever you know but it became very interesting to me and drew this.

There's this really phenomenal quote I took from Robert Wright's Why Buddhism Is True.

And he says, it's a quote from Ken P. Rinpoche. He says, ultimately happiness comes down to choosing between the discomfort of becoming aware of our mental afflictions and the discomfort of becoming ruled by them.

So this is from Robert Wright's Why Buddhism Is True and in it, life is suffering is commonly quoted as coming from the Buddha, but scholars can test that the translation is actually wrong and the final word which is duke, d-u-k-k-h-a isn't translated as suffering, but unsatisfactoriness.

That really helped. That was one of the first books that I read that kind of helped to frame it.

ultimately, happiness comes down to deciding between the discomfort of becoming aware of your mental afflictions or the discomfort of becoming ruled by them.

I really enjoyed Robert Reitz book on why Buddhism is true talking about religion you spent a good part of your career deconstructing religion only for it to then perhaps be replaced with some similar religious thinking around things like identity politics

Robert Wright in Why Buddhism is True, evolutionary psychologist who then pivoted to do mindfulness, a lot of retreats and sort of have a take on Buddhism with an evolutionary lens.

Why Buddhism is True. That's a nice book. Fuck, dude. Blending evolutionary psychology with Buddhism. Awesome.

the first time i ever learned about that was in robert wright's why buddhism is true oh yeah he crushed with that book that was so good fuck i mean evolutionary psychology meets mindfulness for me it's like yeah

Ultimately happiness comes down to choosing between the mental discomfort of becoming aware of your afflictions or the discomfort of becoming ruled by them.

I saw a quote from Robert Wright's Why Buddhism Is True, which says, Humans are designed to be effective, not happy.

On the other hand, that way of deeper thinking, I'm so glad you mentioned Bob Wright because I'm very impressed by him and his work. But he's right. Desire is the problem, right? We all have all these desires and none of us can satisfy all of them.

another really important book at the outset was Robert Wright's book Why Buddhism is true mainly to provide the intellectual scaffolding to sort of quiet the skeptic because he writes in a you know interesting but sort of dry a no facademic enough way to bring a lot of credibility to the topic

You may know Robert Wright from his bestselling book with the audacious title Why Buddhism Is True.

I love that book.

I mean, my first thought was yeah we're being manipulated in a sense by natural selection right the designer of human nature but what you're thinking of is also true which is that for example somebody who wants to increase their follower count on Twitter can find somebody in the other tribe doing something crazy say something about it that enrages people in my tribe and I kind of fall for the bait because that is my first feeling right yeah they're horrible and I retweet it and I increase the follower count of this person who is ultimately being kind of manipulative you know this is one of the big problems of our time is that the way you increase your stature within your tribe I mean this is an eternal truth probably but the way it's playing out on social media is deeply problematic the way you increase your follower count within your own tribe is to demonize the other tribe

The Buddhism book is somewhat obnoxiously titled Why Buddhism is true I mean some people find it obnoxious but it's not dogmatic in the way it sounds I like to think so

We have Robert Wright author of the fantastic book Why Buddhism Is True who has done some pretty fascinating work to challenge his own tribal instincts.

and then also uh why buddhism is true by Robert Wright who has been on the podcast and he wrote an excellent book uh from the perspective of a again very skeptical science journalist expert in evolutionary psychology uh who got deep into buddhism in the same spirit that i've embraced buddhism

There's interesting Robert Wright, social psychologist, he wrote the book Why Buddhism is True and former guest on the show. It's a wonderful book.

folks like Rick Hanson who wrote his brain folks like Robert Wright who wrote why Buddhism is true

there's another book called why Buddhism is true by Robert Wright which is phenomenal but let me let me give that honorable mention

I see Robert Wright's Why Buddhism Is True up there and I like Bob a lot and I really really like that book and that book is ended up having and it'd be interesting to talk with you about this a different and kind of more profound effect on me as it has sat with me I've been thinking about it a lot recently in non Buddhist dimensions

I wanted to recommend that book to a lot of people who do not want to read a book about Buddhism yeah because it's such a good book about the mind and Bob is such a sharp thoughtful science writer

I recommend Buddhism without belief whenever somebody on Twitter says what books should I read to get into Buddhism there are two books I recommend yours and why Buddhism is true by Robert Wright

one is why Buddhism is true by Robert Wright it's he's a science writer and it's a really interesting take from a secular person who isn't you know wearing robes is very much in the world is very much is very skeptical it's a great deep dive into why Buddhism had such an impact on him

He's written a book called Why Buddhism Is True?

Which is part, polemic, part memoir, part explainer where this... He does what I love seeing. We have this incredible mind who came up through the Western system at Princeton and other fancy pants and institutions who got turned on to Buddhism and he really took a deep dive. And what this book does is explain through his lens, particularly of evolutionary psychology why Buddhism is true in his view.

I think this is a very important book and I love, I love seeing somebody of your intellectual horsepower but also sort of background... coming from a scientific secular background, turning your attention to Buddhism slash mysticism slash spirituality.

So just I always start with the same question which is how did you personally get into this meditation thing?

I'm actually trying to deal with it in a Buddhist way which is really hard... I am trying to deal with it in a Buddhist way which is really hard you know some things are easier than some feelings are easier to deal with than others.

and then also why buddhism is true by Robert Wright who has been on the podcast and he wrote an excellent book uh from the perspective of a again very skeptical science journalist expert in evolutionary psychology

There's interesting Robert Wright, social psychologist, he wrote the book Why Buddhism is True and former guest on the show.

It's a wonderful book. It is a wonderful book.

I see Robert Wright's Why Buddhism Is True up there and I like Bob a lot and I really really like that book and that book is ended up having and it'd be interesting to talk with you about this a different and kind of more profound effect on me as it has sat with me I've been thinking about it a lot recently in non Buddhist dimensions.

He's written a book called Why Buddhism Is True?

Which is part, polemic, part memoir, part explainer where this... He does what I love seeing.

And what this book does is explain through his lens, particularly of evolutionary psychology why Buddhism is true in his view.

And it's funny and it's fascinating and it's deep.

I think this is a very important book and I love, I love seeing somebody of your intellectual horsepower but also sort of background. You know coming from a scientific secular background, turning your attention to Buddhism slash mysticism slash spirituality.

Not only that it's true, not only that it's true, but why it's true.

The short answer to that question is that we were created by natural selection.

Buddhism has long had a kind of diagnosis of the human condition, and implied in that is a view of human nature.

It's an accurate description of what human evolution produced. It's an accurate diagnosis of our problem, I think.

The thing it adds is a prescription. It tells you not only what the problem is but what to do about it, and meditation is part of that prescription.