Now And Zen Author To Discuss How Brain Works In Various States Of Consciousness

James Austin sits motionless on a padded stool. The room is silent except for the occasional gurgling of stomachs.

Facing a blank wall, he and 20 other members of the Mindfulness Community of the Palouse meditate in the dimly lit room. No fidgeting, no shut-eye.

“Twenty minutes a day is a very good, time-honored prescription for relieving stress and for rolling with what comes along,” Austin says later.

Molecules, membranes and mysticism are intimately connected inside the Moscow man’s brain.

The 73-year-old Zen practitioner, a noted neurologist and author, will explain why during a lecture series at Washington State University. The six lectures are free and open to the public.

Professor emeritus of neurology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Austin retired to rural Latah County with his wife, Judy, in 1992.

In his new book, “Zen and the Brain,” published by MIT Press, he fuses his personal quest for the Zen discipline with the latest neuroscience research to demonstrate how the brain works in various states of consciousness.

It’s a weighty subject, but Austin sums it up simply: Things are what they really are, not what they seem. The truest moment is now.

“Our mind is a turmoil of thoughts coming in a rushing stream, and many of those thoughts have to do with trivia, future scenarios or vague feelings, none of which are clearly in touch with the present moment,” he says.

“So the world that we see and perceive comes into us through this veil of emotions, thoughts, worries, plans and ideas. As a result we do not see clearly what is right in front of us and we often misinterpret what is really there.”

Though he’s published numerous articles and research papers in the fields of neurochemistry, neuropharmacy and clinical neurology, Austin’s belief that Zen and the brain are interrelated stretches the conventional academic boundaries of “hard science.”

But that was one of the topic’s attractions, said Michael Neville, chairman of the WSU Philosophy Department, which is co-sponsoring the lecture.

“It seemed like a good meeting point for the humanities and the sciences,” Neville said. “Philosophy talks about the intersections of these kinds of things.”

According to Austin, researchers avoid studying the link between intuition, enlightenment and the brain largely because these states are unpredictable and brain-imaging methods aren’t refined enough.

“Most neurologists don’t yet understand what the Zen inquiry is,” Austin says. “They haven’t yet pursued the whole process of intuition in the same way they have pursued the origin of thought and speech and vision and hearing.”

The Zen approach to living predates modern brain research. It began in China in the 6th Century as a merging of Indian Buddhism with Taoism and Confucianism. Meditation was emphasized over scripture as the shortest way to reaching the enlightened mind, which Buddha believed to be inherent in everyone.

Although the first Zen teachers came to America around 1905, it attracted more intense interest after World War II.

During the war, Austin was exposed to Eastern religion as a pre-med student at Brown University, where a Ramakrishna group was active on campus.

Years later, after finishing Harvard Medical School, he was stationed in Japan during the Korean War. Impressed by the ancient culture, the young U.S. Army medic began visiting Buddhist temples.

But it wasn’t until a 1974 sabbatical to study brain research at Kyoto University School of Medicine in Japan that Austin began practicing Zen. It began as an accident, after a friend gave him Eugene Herrigel’s “Zen and the Art of Archery,” as a going-away gift

Austin says he learned Zen has much more to do with intuition than with thought or philosophy. He’s teaching a two-credit course on the topic at the University of Idaho next fall.

The deeper intuition a person has, Austin says, the more clear and simple life’s complexities become.

“Zen training is based on the simple reality that really exists right under our noses,” he says. “… Like the natural world of earth and sky that we were born into before civilization took over and filled up every moment with its demands, trivia, anxieties and information overload.”

Relieving oneself of those pressures is where meditation comes in, Austin says.

While Zen’s largest impact is helping people live a healthier, higher quality life, it’s also a recognized booster of athletic performance, Austin says.

But spiritual enlightenment doesn’t come easy. According to legend, Zen master Bodhidharma sat for nine years facing a wall at a monastery in China.

As with any discipline, practice is essential.

“If you are going to learn how to swim, you can read all the books you want about swimming,” Austin says. “But sooner or later you are going to have to get in the water and just do it.”

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MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: LECTURE SERIES The “Zen and the Brain,” lecture series at WSU is free and open to the public. The first three lectures are geared toward a general audience, while the final three cover more technical aspects of brain functions. The lectures begin today at 4:10 p.m. in Room 216 of Todd Hall. Sessions on Wednesday and Friday are at the same time and place. The final three start at 4:10 p.m. on Wednesdays: March 25, April 1 and April 8, all in Wegner Hall, Room G-50.