Vincent Schroder
Twenty-five hundred years ago, the Lord Buddha declared attachment to be the cause of suffering. Fifty years ago, British psychiatrist John Bowlby came to the opposite conclusion. A lack of attachment, he observed, caused extreme suffering and sometimes even death in babies who were separated from their mothers. Educated seekers are warmly invited to participate in this scholarly meditation on these ‘two attachments’. Representing spirit and science these offer the basis of a neurobiology of spiritual awakening. This bridging becomes ever more vivid in the interpersonal biology underlying the biography of Siddhartha: the baby, boy and man who becomes the Buddha. To unpack this, we revisit Siddhartha’s most impactful, personal attachment relationships—most notably his extended relationship with his stepmother, Prajapati. In addition to their attachment, multiple, layering of evidence enhances a modern lens on the human mind that gives birth to the Dharma, and what is sometimes called nonattachment. Vital fuel for this journey comes from evolutionary psychology, affective neuroscience, polyvagal theory and depth psychology. Insights into sufferingandhealingincreasewithcompellingstoriesfromtheauthor’sclinicalpractice. A nuanced, integral paradigm builds. This offers welcome relief from the reductionisms some call neuromania. In Buddha's Mom, love molecules and related findings provide scaffolding for a model of the psyche's substrate and ultimately for the full scope of human sentience. A deepening appreciation of the feminine principle turns out to be key. This enables, for example, the unique gifts of Socrates, Rumi, Milarepa, Dogen, Hongzhi and Jesus to shine anew. The coherence and elegance of this science-spirit paradigm melts away some of the mixed messages and paradoxes characteristic of Buddhism. This aspiring science of sentience achieves a pristine clarity in the mirror of Vajrayana and Tantric Buddhism. These spiritual wellsprings demonstrate both that and how the immediacy and vastness of sacred human being is somatic. Liberation from attachment, the evidence shows, comes through attachment. Ultimately, Buddha’s Mom reaches from the deep past forward to the next generation. The impulse of life—living, sacred desire—is one in the same with compassion for fellow travelers, human and otherwise. Such is the bodhisattva spark. At the core, ‘they are me’. We-spaces are portals to more of the same, more inter-being, 'wego', and co-arising meaning. No end of sentience is locatable yet the essence of this inherited miracle, realization of our human lineage, can be mapped. May Buddha’s Mom add grit and immediacy for readers intrigued by Buddhism’s call to fully awaken now, in this lifetime.
