Buddhas Brain Summary

If you change your brain, you can change your life.

1-Sentence-Summary: Buddhas Brain explains how world-changing
thought leaders like Moses, Mohammed, Jesus, Gandhi and the Buddha
altered their brains with the power of their minds and how you can use
the latest findings of neuroscience to do the same and become a more
positive, resilient, mindful and happy person.
A few months ago my friend Patrik reminded me of this book, by
writing about a concept from it. While Im not necessarily a
mindfulness skeptic (Im convinced it works, Ive experienced it
myself), meditating isnt really my thing. Luckily, this book shares
many ways to become more mindful, not just one.
Here are 3 very practical lessons from the book to help you improve
your life:
1. Stop throwing second darts by not dwelling on your pain.
2. Practice composure to not live in a state of constant desire.
3. Dont identify with so many things to reduce your suffering.
Prepared to tap into Buddhas brain? Lets neuroscience the heck out of
your happiness!

Lesson 1: One dart hurts enough. Dont

make your pain worse by dwelling on it.
Theres a great quote you might have heard, which is often accredited
to Buddha, but whose origin is actually unknown.
Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. ~ Anonymous
It pretty much sums up the idea Hanson describes in the book, which
says that we experience discomfort on two levels.
The first level feels like being struck by a dart. Its a sudden rush
of pain, for example from an accident (stubbing your toe, touching a
hot plate, crashing with your bike), a disappointed expectation, failure
or rejection. This kind of pain is normal, we all have to face it in our
lives, and theres not much we can do about it.
Most of the time, however, we make it worse by throwing a
second dart at ourselves, based on how we physically and mentally
react to the first dart. For example, when you crash with your bike, you
might curse at the person that blocked your view, blame the shitty
tarmac, or not instantly go to the hospital because you have an
important meeting. All of these add suffering to the pain you already
have, but are entirely in your control.
You dont have to do any of these. Instead, you can just accept the

pain, do whats necessary to heal your wounds, and get on with your
life. 99% of the time the second darts are a lot worse than the first
ones, because we keep throwing them long after the first dart has
vanished, for example by obsessing for months over an ended
relationship or worrying about test results.
Life throws enough darts at you as is, so stop throwing more at
yourself, okay?

Lesson 2: Quit the eternal rat race for

more by practicing composure every day.
Have your parents ever told you to keep your composure when you
were a kid? What does that even mean? Most of the time, we use it in a
false context. When people say it, they often expect you to not act out
your feelings.
For example, when you get an email in the middle of class, telling you
youve been accepted into the school you so desperately want to go to,
youll likely want to jump up and dance right then and there. If you do
it, your teacher will probably tell you to keep it together. Same goes
when were on the brink of despair, about to do something crazy.
But composure doesnt mean hiding your feelings. When youre
composed you stay with and experience your feelings just long
enough to let them sink in, without developing a permanent
reaction to them. Doing your victory dance is just fine. When you
instantly start to think about whats next, thats when it gets
problematic.
Composure is a circuit-breaker. It allows you to cut the connection
between I feel good about this and I need more of it or I feel
horrible about this and I must avoid this forever.
You can practice true composure by noticing when you feel particularly
good or bad and then taking a short moment to just stay with the
feeling for 20-30 seconds. This allows you to let it sink in, while at the
same time accepting that its okay as it is, without instantly chasing
the next thing in your head.

Lesson 3: Reduce the suffering in your life

by not identifying with so many things.
What do buddhist monks and death-row prison inmates have in
common? They let go of their sense of self. At both ends of the
spectrum, ultimate enlightenment and inevitable death, letting go
replaces all suffering with peace, fulfillment and acceptance.
But then again, a strong sense of self is important. You have to assert
yourself and your right to be happy. Who you think you are gives you
continuity in life and helps you set yourself apart from other people. So
no, leaving everything behind and living alone in the woods isnt the

solution.
You simply have to tame your sense of self by not identifying
with so many things. Every time you put the word I or my in a
sentence with something, you make its fate your own. Since everything
in the world eventually comes to an end, over-identifying with things
ultimately makes you feel like you face loss a lot and can thus make
you depressed.
For example, if you have a ton of clothes, electronic devices and
material possessions, youll say my laptop, my sweater, my TV
and my remote control helicopter a lot. No matter which of these
breaks next, youll feel the pain of the first dart, so the more you have,
the more darts are likely to come flying your way.
Imagine taking a weekend to unclutter and ending up with 30% less
than you had before. Thats a lot of less Is and mys in your
vocabulary and therefore, will help you moderate your sense of self.
Note: A personal exercise I like to do is when I step out on the street, I
look up to the roof of the highest building I can see, then imagine
seeing myself from up there and slowly zooming out and out and out
until Im in space (like with Google Maps). Always shows me that Im
just a teeny tiny part of this great thing called the universe.

The qualities of Buddha's Brain by Rick Hanson are difficult to

summarize succinctly because the book itself is so variable. Some
chapters are excellently researched and full of useful instructions for
meditative practices, while are others are repetitive, contradictory,
devoid of supporting research and dotted with apparent attempts to
pass off personal speculation as scientific consensus. The chapters are
summarized below, and are followed by a more detailed discussion of
two problems that I see in the book: a tension between traditional
Western and Buddhist values that sometimes spills over into outright
contradiction and sloppy use of research after the initial section.
Buddha's Brain starts off with an introductory chapter that outlines the
format and the purpose of the book, which is to inform the reader
about scientific findings that support the idea that progressing along a
"path of awakening" (9) can help them improve their brain and
"become happier and more effective in daily life" (8). The rest of the
book is divided into four parts: the causes of suffering, happiness, love,
and wisdom.
Part one, concerning the causes of suffering, contains two very well
researched chapters that also include some accessible practical advice
on how to reduce personal suffering (see the exercise on page 46 for

example). Some readers might find that this section contains too much
scientific information, such as naming the relevant parts of the brain
and explaining their functions, but I appreciated it because of the
authority and depth this approach added. Chapter two adroitly and
accessibly explains how humans came to have emotions, focusing on
how we came experience suffering, and warns of the perils of
disappointment that can arise from chasing carrots and avoiding sticks.
Chapter three introduces the interesting idea of first and second darts.
First darts are the (often unavoidable) episodes of emotional suffering
that we experience as a direct result of being caused pain (physical or
psychological) by something in our environment. Second darts are the
ones we throw at ourselves as we consciously respond to first darts,
such as getting angry at the person who accidentally spilt your coffee.
Being angry at someone else is throwing a dart at yourself because
being angry is an unpleasant experience (no matter who or what the
target of the anger is). Hanson explains the concepts of first and
second darts so that he can point out that a lot of our suffering comes
from second darts and that, since we throw those at ourselves, we
could substantially reduce our own suffering if we stopped doing this.
Part two of Buddha's Brain is on the causes of happiness and is where
the general standard begins to slip; the research gets sloppier and the
contradictions more constant as the four chapters progress (more on
these short-coming later). Chapter four espouses the benefits of
'letting in the good' being fully aware of all the good things that
happen to us every day and mentally embracing them so as to
strengthen the neural networks that support happiness. Chapter five
encourages readers to practice going to their mental sanctuary so as
to relax and feel safe. Hanson argues that seeking sanctuary in this
way will reduce our over-reaction to threats, thereby lowering our
stress levels and enabling our positive peaceful emotions (which stress
hormone repress) to flourish. The research is still quite good up to this
point
(particularly
the
discussion
of
the
autonomic
and
parasympathetic nervous systems) and another great practical
exercise appears (on page 89). Chapter six explains the virtues of
feeling mentally strong, including having the strength to see your
intentions through. A passage in chapter six also attempts to argue
why this advice does not contradict the earlier suggestion not to chase
carrots and the recommendations of the subsequent chapter. Chapter
seven explains and endorses the state of equanimity having a calm
and even mind that can acknowledge and engage with passing
thoughts and emotions, while not get attached to them and not being
rocked by them in any way. Chapter seven is certainly a disappointing
end to this section on happiness; it contains hardly any supporting
research and presents a fairly unappealing vision of happiness (at least
to my Western eyes).

The three chapters of part three, on love, are particularly skimpy on

relevant research, they rely instead on the author's and other Buddhist
figures' experiences of meditative practice to inform the theories and
practical suggestions they contain. Chapter eight sagely reminds us to
try and love rather than hate others by counting them as one of 'us',
rather than one of 'them'. Chapter nine stresses the importance of and
offers tips to help achieve being compassionate while still being
assertive about your opinion. Similarly to chapter eight, chapter ten
advises us to try and love others, even if they are being hateful
towards us (one example Hanson uses is of a monk having his limbs
chopped off by bandits but still loving them because to hate them
would just be throwing second darts at himself). More contradictory
ideals become apparent through this section, such as wishing for the
best for people who are assaulting you, rather than wishing for them to
suffer from a cardiac arrest or even just a sudden bout of narcolepsy.
The final part of Buddha's brain is on wisdom and contains three
moderately well researched, but still generally contradictory chapters.
Chapter eleven proclaims the benefits of being able to focus your
attention, but provides practical advice of mixed efficacy to achieve
this; one tip recommends simply telling yourself "May my mind be
steady" (183). Chapter twelve informs readers that concentrating on
feelings of joy and rapture can help focus our attention and still our
mind. Chapter thirteen advises us to relax 'the self', especially
considering that the self is just an illusion. by discussing research into
the neuronal constituents of 'the self' in a very illuminating manner,
this chapter persuasively argues that what we think of as our self is
really just a story pieced together by our brain to make sense of the
great swath of experiences that our brains have remembered. Again,
this chapter is very contradictory, but at least Hanson admits it (217).
And, in further defense of Hanson on this point, it is very hard to
discuss the idea that we have no 'self' using Western language without
being contradictory ('I think that I have no self' does not make sense
on any normal reading because in Western Parlance 'I' refers to the
self).
The first major problem that I have with Buddha's Brain is that many
of the suggestions in it appeal to ego-centric Western ideals, while
many others insist on the wisdom of selfless Buddhist ones. This
conflict arises in contradictory messages between chapters, such as a
comparison of chapters 6 and 13 reveals; Hanson recommends having
the strength to see our intentions through (which requires taking
ourselves seriously), while also encouraging us to give up thinking of
our self. The Western versus Buddhist ideals conflict also arises within
chapters, such as in chapter nine where Hanson advises us to be

compassionate to others while also being assertive. The fact that being
assertive and compassionate at the same time is much more easily
said than done is (unintentionally) highlighted by an example Hanson
gives of how he would achieve this tricky balancing act; Hanson follows
a compassionate understanding sentence with "but" and then his
opinion. Anyone with knowledge of counseling knows that following a
compassionate statement with 'but' and a contradicting statement
undoes all of the good work that the compassionate statement might
have achieved. Another obvious conflict is in chapter ten, where the
notion of karmic rebirth (if we live morally, then we come back as
something better in the next life and vice versa) is used to justify why
we don't have to be angry at or punish those who have wronged us.
Most Western readers will find the idea of karmic rebirth to be a 'nice'
but implausible one and so would think the right thing to do would be
assertive and stand up for yourself against those who maliciously harm
you.
The second major problem I have with this book is the haphazard
way that research is used. The first section of the book, and a few
other subsections, contain lots of relevant research. Unfortunately,
though, most of the book contains claims that are not fully supported
by the reference given or, more commonly, are not supported by
research at all (in some cases this even occurs when relevant research
has been conducted). Of the many authoritatively stated but
unsupported claims, one example is on page 187, where Hanson
claims that you can quieten your mind (the random thoughts that pop
into your head) by using "the power of prefrontal intention". The claim
is not explained, let alone supported by the results of any kind of test.
In the same chapter Hanson presents the speculative theory of another
researcher as if it were an uncontroversial fact that "the brain will
sometimes start to hallucinate imagery just to have new information to
process" (179 my emphasis added). Finally, an example of Hanson
not citing research for his claims despite that research being readily
available can be found in chapter four; Hanson claims that actively
thinking about the good things that happened to you each day can
help you become happier, but doesn't refer to research by positive
psychologist Martin Seligman and his colleagues that provides fairly
rigorous support for this claim. This sloppy application of research
would normally be forgiven in a self-help book, but this particular book
claims to be using the latest in science to inform practical methods for
becoming happier, rather than relying on speculation and persuasive
language.
On the whole, this book adds some credibility to the claim that certain
meditative practices can make us happier and also provides some
useful exercises for addressing specific problems we might have.

However, it is far from perfectly executed; more time on digesting and

presenting relevant research in the later chapters and a chapter
discussing the tension between Western and Buddhist ideals would
have made Buddha's Brain a much more satisfying read.