Their meeting captured headlines; the waiting list for tickets was nearly 2000 names long. If you were unable to attend, this book will take you there. Including both the papers given at the conference, and the animated discussion and debate that followed, The Dalai Lama at MIT reveals scientists and monks reaching across a cultural divide, to share insights, studies, and enduring questions.
Is there any substance to monks' claims that meditation can provide astonishing memories for words and images? Is there any neuroscientific evidence that meditation will help you pay attention, think better, control and even eliminate negative emotions? Are Buddhists right to make compassion a fundamental human emotion, and Western scientists wrong to have neglected it?
The Dalai Lama at MIT shows scientists finding startling support for some Buddhist claims, Buddhists eager to participate in neuroscientific experiments, as well as misunderstandings and laughter. Those in white coats and those in orange robes agree that joining forces could bring new light to the study of human minds.
Dalai Lama at MIT, Harvard University Press, Hardcover, 2003/2006, 288 Pages, $24.95
Tenzin Gyamtso, the 14th Dalai Lama, was born on July 6, 1935 in a small village called Takster in northeastern Tibet. At the age of two, His Holiness was recognized as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalaia Lama. He was enthroned at the age of five and assumed full political power in 1950. In 1959, His Holiness was forced into exile and has striven ever since for a peaceful solution to the the Sino-Tibetan crisis. He continually promotes his compassionate approach to life struggles, whether personal or global, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.
Anne Harrington is Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University and Associate Director of the Harvard University Mind/Brain/Behavior Initiative. Arthur Zajonc is Professor of Physics at Amherst College.
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Contents: The Dalai Lama at MIT |
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Part I |
ORIENTATIONS |
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1. Introduction |
3 |
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Anne Harrington |
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2. Neurophenomenology and Francisco Varela |
19 |
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Evan Thompson |
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Part II |
ATTENTION AND COGNITIVE CONTROL
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3. Understandings of Attention and Cognitive
Control from Cognitive Neuroscience |
27 |
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Jonathan Cohen |
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4. Buddhist Training in Enhanced Attention
Skills |
37 |
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B. Alan Wallace |
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Dialogue: Attention and Cognitive Control |
47 |
Part III |
IMAGERY AND VISUALIZATION |
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5. Buddhist Perspectives on Mental Imagery |
69 |
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Matthieu Ricard |
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6. Introspection and Mechanism in Mental
Imagery |
79 |
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Stephen M. Kosslyn, Daniel Reisberg,
and Marlene Behrmann |
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Dialogue: Imagery and Visualization |
91 |
Part IV |
EMOTION |
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7. An Abhidharmic View of Emotional
Pathologies and Their Remedies |
117 |
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Georges Dreyfus |
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8. Emotions from the Perspective of Western
Biobehavioral Science |
141 |
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Richard J. Davidson |
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Dialogue: Emotion |
151 |
Part V |
INTEGRATION AND FINAL REFLECTIONS |
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Dialogue: Integration and Implications |
179 |
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9. Reflections on "Investigating the Mind,"
One Year Later |
219 |
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Arthur Zajonc |
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About the Mind and Life Institute |
245 |
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R. Adam Engle |
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Contributors |
251 |
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Notes |
261 |
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Index |
275 |
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