The Mind & Life Institute (MLI) began as a bold experiment among His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Adam Engle and Francisco Varela. His Holiness provided the contemplative wisdom and inspiration that not only drew Adam and Francisco together, but continues to draw people to MLI. Adam provided the entrepreneurial perseverance and ingenuity, while Francisco led the scientific and philosophical vision until his passing in 2001 when that role was accepted by Richard Davidson. The founding trio was joined early on by Barry Hershey and the Hershey Family Foundation, who provided the financial support for our work.
To the best of our knowledge, MLI is the only organization that has been endowed from its inception with these four solid pillars: contemplative wisdom, scientific vision, entrepreneurial capacity and financial stability. We believe that the balance and solidity of this platform is an essential key to the success of the Mind & Life Institute.
The MLI story began in 1983, simultaneously in California and Austria. In that year Adam attended a meeting in California where he learned that the Dalai Lama was keenly interested in modern science and wanted to meet with scientists to dialogue about the nature of reality. Adam instantly became intrigued with the idea and, being an entrepreneur, formulated the intention to organize such a meeting for His Holiness if, indeed, he truly wanted one. Michael Sautman, a long time student of the Dalai Lama joined Adam in this effort. In that same year, Francisco met the Dalai Lama at a symposium in Alpbach, Austria, where they began a conversation on neuroscience and consciousness.
In October 1984, after a year of trying to make contact with the Dalai Lama’s office, Adam chanced to meet His Holiness’ youngest brother, Tendzin Choegyal, (Ngari Rinpoche) while attending a teaching by the Dalai Lama in Los Angeles. Adam approached Tendzin Choegyal, offering to organize a meeting on science for His Holiness. Later that afternoon, Adam and Michael met with Tendzin Choegyal to discuss and formalize the offer. The message was subsequently passed on to His Holiness who agreed to the meeting. Adam and Michael were then introduced to Tempa Tsering, His Holiness’ secretary, who authorized them to go forward with organizing such a meeting.
Not being scientists, but having read The Tao of Physics, Adam and Michael thought it logical to organize a physics meeting for the Dalai Lama. They sought out and began a conversation with Fritoff Capra, author of The Tao of Physics, about how to best structure such a meeting, when in February 1985, Adam received a phone call from Francisco from Paris. Francisco introduced himself and said that he heard Adam was beginning to organize a science meeting for the Dalai Lama and asked Adam what he was planning. Adam described his actions to date and Francisco encouraged Adam to shift the focus of the meeting from physics to biology and cognitive science.” Adam and Francisco had a number of conversations before being invited by Joan Halifax to get together at the Ojai Foundation in October 1985 where they formally agreed to work together to fashion a meeting for the Dalai Lama.
It took another two years and three trips to Dharamsala before the first Mind and Life dialogue was held in the Dalai Lama’s small audience room in Dharamsala in October 1987. The meeting was structured as a weeklong conversation between Buddhism and the Cognitive Sciences and included the Dalai Lama, six scientists, two interpreters and a few observers. After the meeting, Adam asked His Holiness if he would like to do it again. His Holiness said “yes”, and the Mind and Life dialogue series was born.
Development of MLI Vision
From the beginning, Francisco had a very clear vision of the opportunity. Science had become the dominant paradigm for investigating the nature of reality in modern society and in developing a knowledge base for improving human lives and the planet. It uses the scientific method, technology, and third person “objective” observation and analysis as its instruments of investigation. Buddhism, while a path of liberation, is not based on theology; for 2,500 years it has investigated reality and developed a knowledge base for improving the lives of beings and the planet. It uses the human mind, refined by meditation, as its instrument of investigation and analysis.
Here, we had two powerful systems of investigation and analysis—modern science and Buddhism (and the world’s other living contemplative traditions)—with no practical avenue to come into dialogue, share findings, or collaborate. Moreover, Francisco was convinced that modern science was unwisely limiting itself to its third person investigation and analysis, and that science would benefit greatly by incorporating first and second person observation and analysis into its methodologies where appropriate. The Mind and Life dialogues were established to pioneer collaboration between scientists and contemplatives, the world’s most experienced experts of introspection and mental training, with the conviction that such collaboration could potentially be very beneficial to both modern science and to humanity in general.
From 1987 to 1998 the Mind & Life Institute held seven dialogues with the Dalai Lama. Five of the dialogues were hosted by His Holiness in Dharamsala, using the five-day format of the original conference. The other two dialogues used a two-day format and were private meetings—one in California in 1989; the other in Innsbruck in 1998, hosted by Anton Zeilinger and including a tour of his lab. Topics, scientific coordinator, participant selection and other programming decisions for these meetings were determined by Francisco and Adam in collaboration with a small advisory board chosen from participants of previous meetings. Adam handled all the logistical organization and Barry Hershey provided the financial support for the meeting costs.
At the 1990 meeting on “Healing Emotions,” Francisco Varela, Cliff Saron and Alan Wallace began talking about launching a research project to study EEG patterns in long-term meditators. They assembled a small research team comprised of Francisco, Cliff Saron, Alan Wallace, Richie Davidson and Gregg Simpson. The study was supported by a grant from the Fetzer Institute.
In October 1998, at a meeting in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the MLI Advisory Board reflected collectively on what had been accomplished over the previous decade during periodic Mind and Life dialogues with the Dalai Lama and with the resulting publications, asking whether MLI was maximizing its opportunity to make the most significant contribution for the benefit of humanity. The Board decided that in order to make a lasting contribution to humanity, MLI should complement the Mind and Life (ML) dialogues and publications with a program of multi-disciplinary, collaborative research among modern scientists; contemplatives, and scholars in the social sciences and humanities, engaging in a rigorous scientific study of the mind incorporating data obtained from 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person investigation; with the results of these studies This observation was supported by the results of the scientific research studies published in respected peer review journals. Both Francisco and Richie agreed to begin pilot studies in their labs. We also agreed to begin selecting topics for future ML dialogues that could stimulate collaborative research efforts.
ML VIII on “Destructive Emotions” in April 2000, was the first ML dialogue chosen for its collaborative research possibilities. Prior to that meeting, Adam had met with the Dalai Lama to review the new strategy to catalyze collaborative research, a direction that His Holiness whole-heartedly approved. During the ensuing dialogue, His Holiness observed that Buddhism and other contemplative traditions had developed a number of practices that seemed to help cultivate valuable skills such as attention, emotional balance, kindness, compassion and confidence. Moreover, people who cultivated their minds in this way also seemed to decrease their mental and physical suffering. His Holiness then asked those in the room if they would investigate these contemplative practices in their laboratories to determine if they, in fact, were beneficial — using their notions of benefit — and, if they found them to be beneficial, to find ways to teach them in a purely secular environment so that more people could benefit.
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