Dr. James Austin at MIT Tonight

ZEN AND THE BRAIN
Speaker: Dr. James Austin, MD
Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 7:00pm
Venue: MIT Building 3, 3-270
(Open to the General Public)

Dr. James Austin has spent most of his years as an academic  neurologist, first at the University of Oregon Medical School and  later at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. He is currently Clinical Professor of Neurology at the University of   Missouri-Columbia's Health Sciences Center. Included in Dr. Austin's   cultural background was his first sabbatical spent in New Delhi, India; and the second spent in Kyoto, Japan, where he began Zen meditation training with an English-speaking Zen master, Kobori-Roshi, in 1974. He maintains a keen interest in the experimental  designs and findings of investigators who study meditation, insight,  and related states of consciousness. His early research background  includes publications in the areas of clinical neurology,  neuropathology, neurochemistry, and neuropharmacology.

Dr. Austin is the author or co-author of more than 140 professional  publications, including three MIT Press publications: Zen and the  Brain: Toward an Understanding of Meditation and Consciousness  (1998); Chase, Chance, and Creativity: The Lucky Art of Novelty  (2003); and Zen-Brain Reflections: Reviewing Recent Development in  Meditation and States of Consciousness (2006).

This special event is organized by MIT Prajnopaya.

For more information can be found here.