Darwin Meets the Buddha

Did you hear? Charles Darwin has invited Siddhartha Gautama to hike the Appalachian Trail through the Great Smoky Mountains. What stories will they share? What advice might they offer for living in modern times? What might they say about solving global environmental crises? Some hints: they begin with the nature of human dissatisfaction. And how humans form social hierarchies with rulers. The nature of memory. And even desire for meat. They also talk about birdwatchers, matchmakers, sex, tyrants, lobsters, peacocks, Stalin, the French Revolution, and, yes, even giant ground sloths. Enlightenment, too. So, pick up your backpack, and join the adventure.CONTENTSIntroductionThe Men and Their Theories1. Craving for Resources: Desire, Dissatisfaction, and Suffering2. Living an Illusion: Mind as Cocoon3. The Primate Prison: The Origin of Self4. Selective Memory: Maintaining the Illusion5. The Urge to Impress: Priests, Kings, and Dominance Hierarchies6. Killing Minds and Killing Fields: Interference, Competition, and Aggression7. Insatiable Consumption: When Big Brains Meet Big Animals8. Getting Along: An Ecological View of Compassion9. A Brief History of Life: Co-operation and Community10. Meditation in Action: Seeing Through the Simulation11. Enlightened Society: The Evolutionary ImperativeAcknowledgmentsAppendix: How to Start NowFurther ReadingFigure CreditsIndex