Evolution uses the biochemistry of our emotions as they effect our thoughts and our bodily sensations to direct us to do what our ancestors did to survive and reproduce.

Evolution uses a spectrum of behaviors in carrying out its genetic imperative to multiply to the maximum.

Our epigenetic programming controls which genes are turned on and off, to what extent and for how long

Our epigenetic programming is inherited from our parents and adjusted throughout our lives by our circumstances and by our emotions, thoughts and actions.

We can now equate our epigenetics with what the Buddha called our karma and we can use his secular, self-help instructions to take control of our epigenetics to have a serene mind and live with compassion and in peace. We pass this on to the future in the epigenetic inheritance we give our children and the influences we have on their lives and the lives of others.

The Buddha's original secular teaching did not define what karma is, only that it is what we pass on to the future. Modern science can give the meaning to The Buddha's karma.

The Buddha's taught a way to achieve serenity by controlling our harmful emotions.

Mindfulness does this by being aware of the onset of the sensations of emotions that precede the harmful words, thought and actions we do without thinking.

Modern science has shown that preprogrmmed words thoughts and actions are triggered automatically from our preconscious before we are aware of what these preprograms have us say, think and do.

The Buddha's way of emotional awareness and control to prevent us from spontaneously saying, thinking and doing things that are harmful and we regret, has been explained and validated by the new scientific research on the preconscious.

These preprogrammed spontaneous A good reaction time can save a life when driving and save a game in sports. Athletes mentally practice their plays to set them firmly in their preconscious programming. But uncontrolled reactions can kill when a gun is involved.

The Buddha's instructions for Mindfulness requires that we:

1) Learn what thoughts and situations evoke the emotions that trigger spontaneous words and actions.

2) Learn to recognize how emotions feel in our body.

3) Be continually aware of the body's physical sensations to be warned of those that are from emotions that will trigger harmful words and actions.

4) Learn how to deflect emotions that will trigger unwanted words and actions. Children are taught to count to ten when they are about to have an emotional outburst

This practice of being aware of emotions, which is commonly called Mindfulness, is gaining in popularity around the world.

Mindfulness involves a lifetime of learning the situations and thoughts that evoke emotions, having an awareness of the sensations that emotions have in the various parts of the body, and knowing how to divert emotions before they can cause harmful words, thoughts and actions.

The wrong words can lose us friends, the wrong actions can get us in jail, and the wrong thoughts can become a self-reinforcing, emotionally escalating, cycle that takes away our power of reason.