Dear friends,
I am writing to thank all of you for your comments and viewing of the BLOG, and also to ask for your kind patience as we work diligently, practicing mindful breathing as best we can, to surmount certain technical difficulties needed to bring you the interviews on movie format. The movies exceed local bandwidth considerably so we are working diligently to get these to you. Please stay tuned and exercise the patience of a parent of small children!
With metta,
Robert
Today after a talk by Adele Diamond of the University of British Columbia on the development of executive control of mental processes in young people and its relation to their academic achievement and well-being, HH Dalai Lama talked some about his own views of education. In particular, he expressed the view that modern education systems do not give enough attention to “educating the heart” in terms of what he called “universal ethics” and “inner qualities” like respect for others, compassion, and altruism. He remarked that he is very much looking forward to our ML XIX meeting in Washington DC in October 2009 entitled “Educating World Citizens” in order to discuss practical ideas about how to transform education in the direction of a more balanced approach.
He said he hopes that the experts in the meeting come with concrete solutions. If you would like to learn more about the meeting and its participations, please visit mindandlife.org.
Today we woke again with some thunder. Sorry about the video technical difficulties. We are having some trouble uploading large files with slow connections. To be expected here in the rooftop of the world. This morning Adele Diamond spoke about the developmental cognitive neurosciences and how best to develop executive control (which i can speak about a little later) in children using curriculum that are focused on role playing, creativity, and simple storytelling. There was fruitful dialogue with His Holiness in discussing the benefits of the play and monastic educational training in debate and memorization techniques. It was all agreed that such training would be of benefit to executive control.
more laters
Before the meeting began on Monday, MLI board members met with His Holiness. Roshi Joan shares her thoughts:
Hi all,
Sorry about the delay in posting. Yesterday, there were amazing thunderstorms that rocked Dharamsala and eliminated power and we have been having very spotty internet access. You can see some of my previous posts at my personal blog: HERE
It was a great honor and privilege to be in the presence of His Holiness and participate in this conference for my birthday. Our days are quite busy from 7 am through 5:30 pm full of rich presentations and fruitful dialogue.
I should back up a little and tell you a little about the context of Dharamsala. Here, around 6000 feet, we are in the upper part of Dharamsala, Macleod Ganj.
map of upper Dharamsala
A number of guests and invited speakers are staying at Pema Thang, a modest guest house with very friendly and knowledgeable staff.
Pema Thang is in the upper part of Macleod Ganj while the Chonor house (where the other invited speakers and guests are staying) is down a steep dirt path about 500 vertical feet and a 200 yards away. Most informal meetings, working lunches, and R & R take place in these two places..
Here is What Alan Wallace had to say about the conference and his thoughts on day 1:
Inside Day 2 of the conference
The players in the Wheel of Mind
Here is Alan Wallace reflecting on differences between perceptual and conceptual states of mind:
This was one of the major points of discussion for Day 2. When one develops the mind through contemplative practice, there is a decrease in states of laxity and hyperexcitability, but a sharpening and refinement of attention such that the conceptual mind, the mind that is continuously grasping is eliminated and clarity within a perceptual state of awareness remains. What exactly is meant by “perceptual” was a major point of discussion.
My name is David Vago. I am the Senior Research Coordinator for the Mind and Life Institute and a research fellow in the department of Psychiatry at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Harvard University Medical School. I am interested in resilience and vulnerability across the neuropsychiatric spectrum.
In this brief interview, Dave and I ask Roshi Joan Halifax about her experience of the first day of the Mind and Life conference in which David Meyer, Ph.D from the University of Michigan talked about “meditation as multitasking” and Alan Wallace talked about the contribution of Buddhist contemplative investigation to our modern understanding of the mind. Roshi also talks about the inclusion of female monastics in the Mind and Life meeting for the first time and the importance of this evolution.
View the video on youtube.
Each morning in the temple compound, the sound of cymbals and low bellowing horns is heard as we walk to the meeting with HH Dalai Lama and the scientists.
You can also go to the youtube page.
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