Book Summary-Why Buddhism is True

Validating Buddhists truths using Evolutionary Psychology

1 Paragraph Summary:

Many of the benefits of meditation and other buddhists truths seem to be supported by circumstantial evidence. But, Wright provides ways they are supported by scientific research and draws on his extensive knowledge of evolutionary psychology to validate his and others experience on how Buddhism pushes meditators towards enlightenment. He argues that the core teachings of buddhism including impermanence, non-self, and suffering offer us a path to overcome our natural human biases and create true happiness and well-being

Key Points:

• The pleasures we seek in life evaporate and leave us thirsting more. We feel this constant desire due to natural selection, leading to suffering
• We open a door to a deeper sense of reality through meditation
• Feelings are illusions constructed by the mind and some urges like craving sugar are distorted in modern times
• We should suspect feelings since they are guided by natural selection
• The mind needs something to focus on, meditation trains the mind
• The not-self concept is useful in acknowledging feelings like pain as not belonging to you
• Your contains multiple modules, you can quiet the modules that spawn unneccessary thoughts through acceptance
• Thoughts have emotions attached, and ones with greater emotions hold your attention longer
• Do not fight urges, just examine them and watch as their grip on you loosens
• Top meditators see the world as formless and empty since they stop attaching meaning to objects