Main description:

In The Buddha Was a Psychologist: A Rational Approach to Buddhist Teachings, Arnold Kozak argues for a secular and psychological interpretation of the Buddha's wisdom, with a particular focus on his mind model and use of metaphor. Kozak closely examines the Buddha's hagiography, analyzing Buddhist dharma through the contexts of neuroscience, cognitive linguistics, and evolutionary psychology.

Contents:

Part I: Reclaiming the Buddha from Buddhism

Chapter 1: The Legend of the Buddha: History, Myth, and Hagiography

Chapter 2: The Hermeneutical Buddha: What He Taught, What He Thought (Maybe)

Part II: The Buddha's Pedagogical Project: The Ennobling Praxes (aka Four Noble Truths)

Chapter 3: The First Ennobling Praxis: What is the Problem?

Chapter 4: The Second Ennobling Praxis: Getting to the Root of the Problem

Chapter 5: The Third Ennobling Praxis: Can the Problem Be Resolved?

Chapter 6: The Fourth Ennobling Praxis: Resolving the Problem

Part III: Mind on Fire: The Buddha's Psychological Map

Chapter 7: Form: Brain Architecture and the Neuroplastic Forest of Self

Chapter 8: Perception: Categorization

Chapter 9: Feeling: Pain and Pleasure Drive Evolution's Primary Agendas (And Give Rise to a Sense of the One Having Pleasure and Pain)

Chapter 10: Mental Fabrication and the Modular Self

Chapter 11: Consciousness: Apparently Ubiquitous, Certainly Overestimated