Discover the newly written preface to the 15th anniversary edition of Buddha’s Brain—a heartfelt look at the book’s origins and its enduring impact.

Rick Hanson
Author / Psychologist
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Biography
Rick Hanson, Ph.D. is a psychologist, Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, and New York Times best-selling author. His seven books have been published in 33 languages, and include Making Great Relationships, Neurodharma, Resilient, Hardwiring Happiness, Just One Thing, Buddha’s Brain, and Mother Nurture – with over a million copies in English alone. He's the founder of the Global Compassion Coalition and the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, as well as the co-host of the Being Well Podcast – which has been downloaded over 15 million times. His free newsletters have over 260,000 subscribers and his online programs have scholarships available for those in need. He’s lectured at NASA, Google, Oxford, and Harvard. An expert on positive neuroplasticity, his work has been featured on CBS, NPR, the BBC, and other major media. He began meditating in 1974 and has taught in meditation centers worldwide. He and his wife live in Northern California and have two adult children. He loves the wilderness and taking a break from emails.
Articles
Tune Into Others
Imagine being aware of the surface behavior of the people around you but oblivious to their inner life while they remain unmoved by your own.
Being Well Podcast: How to Find Your Path in Life with David Epstein
Bestselling author David Epstein joins the Being Well Podcast to explore how to find your path in life, the problem with 10,000 hours, and why generalists triumph in a specialized world.
Talk: Working Productively With Our Hindrances and Personality Patterns
Learn how your unconscious personality patterns shape your thoughts, reactions and relationships — and how to work productively with them.
Water Your Fruit Tree
Nourish the things that nourish you. Try to do one thing each day to. “Pass forward” a gift to the person you will be tomorrow . . . and a year from now.
Being Well Podcast: How to Stop Overthinking: Rumination, OCD, and Breaking the Self-Awareness Trap
Forrest and Dr. Rick Hanson explore how we can stop overthinking and break the self-awareness trap: when knowing ourselves becomes an obstacle to change.
Meditation + Talk: Understanding and Cultivating Self-Worth
Feel like you’re never enough? Learn how to shift from chasing approval to cultivating steady, unconditional self-worth—just as you are.
See the Person Behind the Eyes
Everyone longs to be seen, known, to have our hopes and fears acknowledged. Can you see behind the mask a person wears?
Being Well Podcast: How to Get Your Life Together: The 90/10 Rule
Forrest and Dr. Rick apply the 90/10 rule to psychology and self-help: what are the small handful of things that tend to make the biggest difference for people?
Meditation + Talk: Equanimity – What It Is, Why It’s Good, and How to Develop It
Feeling overwhelmed? Learn how to cultivate equanimity—stay calm, clear, and resilient in tough times with practical tools from Dr. Rick Hanson.
Speak From The Heart
Speaking from an open heart can seem so vulnerable yet be the strongest move of all. Naming the truth has great moral force.
Being Well Podcast: Improving Focus and Fixing Your Attention Span
Dr. Rick and Forrest explore improving focus and fixing our attention spans in a world that is constantly trying to distract us.