Table of Contents

Foreword by Jack Kornfield, PhD

PROLOGUE
Who Goes There?

PART ONE
To Study the Self

CHAPTER ONE
A Case of Mistaken Identity

CHAPTER TWO
The Buddha Was a Biologist

PART TWO
The Gift of Mindfulness

CHAPTER THREE
Mindfulness: The Opposable Thumb of Consciousness

CHAPTER FOUR
The First Foundation of Mindfulness: The Body and Breath

CHAPTER FIVE
The Second Foundation of Mindfulness: The First Impression

CHAPTER SIX
The Third Foundation of Mindfulness: States of Mind

CHAPTER SEVEN
The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness: Thinking about Thinking

EPILOGUE
Evolving toward Enlightenment Acknowledgments

References

Index

About the Author

About the Author

Wes “Scoop” Nisker (1942–2023) was an award-winning broadcast journalist and commentator. He was a meditation teacher and led mindfulness retreats internationally. The author of many books, including The Essential Crazy Wisdom, he was founding coeditor of The Inquiring Mind, an international Buddhist journal, and he was also a standup “dharma comic.”

Reviews

“Wes Nisker is one of my all-time favorite teachers. With tremendous warmth and wit, he shows us a path to profound inner peace that is grounded in both science and the liberating insights of the Buddha. Each page of this timeless classic shines with humor, beautiful and clear writing, fascinating research--and the heartfelt invitation to find lasting love and happiness right in the middle of life itself.”
*Rick Hanson, Ph.D., author of Buddha’s Brain*

“A brilliant and inspirational weave of Buddhist teachings and current science. Not only that, it’s a delightful read--fascinating, humorous, and profoundly engaging. Highly recommended!”
*Tara Brach, Ph.D., author of Radical Acceptance*

“This book brings to life an ancient meditative wisdom that has the deepest of relevance to our lives as individuals and as a species. It is a masterful look at who we are and how great our potential is to realize our true nature here and now, before this fleeting moment we call ‘our’ life dissolves back into all life and the opportunity of a lifetime is missed.”
*Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of mindfulness-based stress reduction*

“A milestone in contemporary Buddhism. Nisker grounds the Buddha’s teachings in discoveries made by the neural and evolutionary sciences. I dare you to find a book on science that is so personal or a book on meditation that is so funny and forgiving.”
*Joanna Macy, Ph.D., environmental activist, Buddhist scholar, and author of A Wild Love for the Worl*

“One of the best efforts yet to bring together meditators and scientists. It is an instrument for our greater joy and achievements.”
*Thich Nhat Hanh (1926-2022), Zen master and author of Peace Is Every Step*

“With careful and heartfelt reflections, Wes Nisker, drawing upon Buddhist practices, lays out a path whereby humanity can ride the truths of science into a sublime and joyful freedom. This book is truly a healing and historic achievement.”
*Brian Swimme, Ph.D., professor of evolutionary cosmology at the California Institute of Integral Stu*

“A joy to read--an illuminating and often humorous synthesis of ancient Buddhist understanding and present-day discoveries in biology and cognitive science. Wes Nisker grounds the theory in his own deep experience of meditation, offering a wealth of practical mind-exploring exercises that transform knowledge into wisdom. It is a wonderful book.”
*Joseph Goldstein, cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society and author of One Dharma: The Emerging*

“What delight and illumination are contained in these pages! Science (particularly evolutionary biology) and religion have lacked a common language in which to converse--Wes Nisker’s book manages to articulate a new dialect that not only syncretizes a host of important principles but also is music to the ear.”
*Ajahn Amaro, abbot of Amaravati Buddhist Monastery and author of An Introduction to the Life and Tea*

“Nisker’s prose has always been engaging, but here he writes with greater maturity, without sacrificing the impishness that has characterized his earlier work. In time, people will consider Being Nature as groundbreaking a work as an earlier classic of interdisciplinary synthesis, The Tao of Physics.”
*Yoga Journal*

“…in Being Nature: A Down-to-Earth Guide to the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (Inner Traditions) Wes 'Scoop' Nisker has created a playfully genuine, thoroughgoing program of meditations, drawing from fields of physics, evolutionary biology, and psychology. With tender wit, Nisker provides exercises and scientific extracts to help the reader step outside of conditioned patterns. For the spiritual skeptic, he explains with curiosity and awe how recent research in science-based disciplines is increasingly offering us the same insights the Buddha experienced and taught more than 2,500 years ago. Nisker’s book is a friendly but nevertheless unflinching set of reflections and body-awareness exercises that may help the reader reframe scientific thinking and spiritual awakening as threads of the same fabric.”
*Lion's Roar*

“…in Being Nature: A Down-to-Earth Guide to the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (Inner Traditions) Wes “Scoop” Nisker has created a playfully genuine, thoroughgoing program of meditations, drawing from fields of physics, evolutionary biology, and psychology. With tender wit, Nisker provides exercises and scientific extracts to help the reader step outside of conditioned patterns. For the spiritual skeptic, he explains with curiosity and awe how recent research in science-based disciplines is increasingly offering us the same insights the Buddha experienced and taught more than 2,500 years ago. Nisker’s book is a friendly but nevertheless unflinching set of reflections and body-awareness exercises that may help the reader reframe scientific thinking and spiritual awakening as threads of the same fabric.”
*Lion’s Roar magazine*