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Current News Articles and Press Coverage of Mind and Life
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Index to Articles
Click on the links below to access each of the articles
Article on Meditation by Thupten Jinpa— February 2006
Sam Harris on the HuffingtonPost.com— February 2006
Scientific American— February 2006
Article in French magazine Nouvelles Clés about Mind and Life XIII
Time Magazine Article— January, 2006
Idaho Mountain Express, Ketchum/Sun Valley Newspaper— January 2006
Shambhala Sun Articles — September, 2005
National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" — July 26, 2005
Shambhala Sun Article — May, 2005
Nature Article — April 28, 2005
Utne Magazine Article — March-April, 2005
Adam Engle Interview on Colorado Public Radio — March 10, 2005
National Geographic Article — March, 2005
Tricycle Magazine Article, Mind and Life Board — Spring, 2005
Tricycle Magazine Article, Jon Kabat-Zinn Book — Spring, 2005
Psychology Today Article — February, 2005
Time Magazine Article — January 17, 2005
London Financial Times Article — Monday, January 14, 2005
Washington Post Article — Monday, January 3, 2005
Science & Theology News Article — December, 2004
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Article — November, 2004
Wall Street Journal Article — November, 2004
Greater Good Article — Fall, 2004
Smithsonian Magazine Article — May, 2004
San Francisco Chronicle Article — May, 2004
Is Meditation a Means of Knowing our Mental World?
Thupten Jinpa
Institute of Tibetan Classics
McGill University
A PDF of an article written by Thupten Jinpa on the interface between science and Buddhist meditation, written
for the "Mind & Reality" conference to be held at Columbia University during February, 2006.
Please click here to view the article PDF.
A Contemplative Science
Sam Harris
The HuffingtonPost.com, February 2, 2006
I recently spent a week with one hundred fellow scientists at a retreat center in rural Massachusetts. The meeting attracted a diverse group: physicists, neuroscientists, psychologists, clinicians, and a philosopher or two; all devoted to the study of the human mind. In many respects it was like any other scientific retreat: we gathered each day in a large hall; we took long walks in the snow; we ate communally.
At this meeting, however, six days passed before anyone uttered a word.
Our silence was not a sign of scientific controversy or of the breakdown of social relations. We were on a silent meditation retreat at the Insight Meditation Society, engaged in a Buddhist practice known as vipassana (the Pali word for 'seeing clearly'). Techniques like vipassana have been practiced by Buddhist contemplatives for millennia, and there is now a growing body of scientific research to suggest that they can promote mental and physical wellbeing. According to the teachings of Buddhism, meditation produces profound insights into the nature of human subjectivity; insights that can have a direct a bearing upon a person's ethical life and level of happiness. The retreat at IMS, which was co-sponsored by the Mind and Life Institute, represents the first time a large group of scientists have sought to personally test such claims.
The initial instruction given on a vipassana retreat could not be more simple: when seated, pay attention to the sensation of breathing; when walking, notice the feeling of moving your feet; and whenever you find that your mind has wandered into thought, simply come back to the mere awareness of sensation. Once meditators have developed an ability to concentrate on the flow of physical sensations in this way, they are encouraged to pay attention to the entire range of their experience. The practice from then on is to be precisely aware, moment by moment, of the full tumult of consciousness and its contents: sights, sounds, sensations, thoughts, intentions, and emotions. Of critical importance for the purposes of science: there are no unjustified beliefs or metaphysics that need be adopted at all.
Many of the scientists found the experience grueling. Some said it was the hardest week of their lives. Indeed, many had not known that they would be consigned to total silence for the first six days of the retreat, and asked not to read, or to write, or to make eye-contact with the other retreatants. One neuroscientist reported that on the second day of the retreat he hit "a wall of grief," in the face of which even the most trivial memories -- of drinking a cup of tea, of shaving his face -- precipitated profound feelings of sadness, simply because they testified to the inexorable passage of time. It is, of course, natural to brood about time when one suddenly has too much of it on hand. Heaven help the meditator who gets a song like "Cats in the Cradle and the Silver Spoon" stuck in his head. He will surely die by his own hand.
Many scientists have been drawn to Buddhism out of a sense that the Western tradition has delivered an impoverished conception of basic, human sanity. In the West, if you speak to yourself out loud all day long, you are considered crazy. But speaking to yourself silently -- thinking incessantly -- is considered perfectly normal. On the Buddhist view, the continuous identification with discursive thought is a kind of madness -- albeit a madness that is very well-subscribed. As some of the retreatants discovered, when thoughts are seen to be mere phenomena arising and passing away in consciousness (along with sights, sounds, sensations, etc.), the feeling that there is a "self" who is the thinker of these thoughts can disappear. This experience of selflessness is interesting for two reasons: it makes perfect sense from a neurological perspective, as there is no privileged position for a self to occupy in the brain. The loss of self can also be deeply liberating. Several labs have begun to study meditators who claim to have ready access to this state. Richard Davidson and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin have detected marked differences in the brains of such adepts as measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and EEG. Research on the functional effects of meditation is still in its infancy, but there seems to be little question that the practice changes the brain.
Needless to say, any truths uncovered about the human mind through meditation cannot be "Buddhist". And if meditation ever becomes widely adopted as a tool of science, it will be quickly stripped of its Buddhist roots. There are, after all, very good reasons we don't talk about "Christian physics" or "Muslim algebra". Physics and algebra are genuine domains of human inquiry, and as such, they transcend the cultural conditions out of which they arose. Today, anyone emphasizing the religious roots of these intellectual disciplines would stand convicted of not understanding them at all. In the same way, if we ever develop a scientific account of the contemplative path, speaking of "Buddhist" meditation will be synonymous with a failure to assimilate the changes that will have occurred in our understanding of the human mind.
The retreat might have been a significant event in the history of ideas. It could mark the beginning of a discourse on ethics and spiritual experience that is as unconstrained by dogma and cultural prejudice as the discourses of physics, biology, and chemistry are. Other retreats for scientists are now being planned. What effect this will have on our collective understanding of the human mind remains to be seen. But we could be witnessing the birth of a contemplative science
Copyright 2006 Sam Harris and the HuffingtonPost.com, LLC
Talking Up Enlightenment:
Neuroscientists hear, and applaud, the Dalai Lama
Christina Reed, Scientific American, February 2006 Issue
January 23rd, 2006
Many years ago a curious boy looked through a telescope and, on seeing the shadows in the craters of the moon, realized he had to make a choice. His religion taught him to respect the moon as a generator of light, but science taught him that the moon reflected the sun's rays. The subtle clarification offered by science ultimately trumped the Buddhist interpretation for Tenzin Gyatso, the current Dalai Lama.
Today when this political and religious leader is faced with conflicting explanations of life's mysteries, the Dalai Lama still favors scientific evidence over classical Buddhist concepts. At a time when Americans are battling state by state for religion-free science education, he urges people to take a path of peace between the perspectives. An estimated 14,000 people attended his lecture on November 12, 2005, at a meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Washington, D.C., with most of them watching from overflow rooms where the talk was broadcast on large screens. Dressed in gold and crimson robes, he suggested a healthy dose of skepticism toward religious pronouncements. Although science can overturn spiritual teachings, people can benefit from scientific understanding without losing faith, he reasoned.
But the Dalai Lama also emphasized that religion can help science, not just hinder it. In particular, he urged neuroscientists not to discount the role of Buddhist traditions on the brain, specifically meditation. "Try to find reality with an open mind," he said, referring both to investigations in science as well as to studies in Buddhist thought. "Without investigation, we can't see reality."
The neuroscientists in the auditorium responded with approval, especially those who have examined the effects of meditation. One was Bruce F. O'Hara of the University of Kentucky, who has found that meditation improves the performance of sleep-deprived individuals about as much as drinking a cup of coffee does. O'Hara applauded the religious leader's support of science, "especially given the issues with evolution and the [fundamentalist] Christian reluctance to accept evolution because it threatens their beliefs." Olivia Carter of Harvard University found it fascinating to hear about the Dalai Lama's personal interest in neuroscience and the importance he places on the scientific method of inquiry. "It should not matter that the observations associated with meditation arise through introspection or contemplation, as long as the observations can be used to generate objective testable predictions," she says. Carter's own work in the field examines meditation's effect on perception.
Sara W. Lazar of Harvard Medical School remarks that not all scientists are equally as open to testing Buddhist meditation practices. "I have encountered mainstream scientists who do not meditate who are very curious and open, and those who are still unwilling to even consider the possibility that meditation might have some positive effects." Lazar has found that meditation may help prevent the rate of cortical thinning with age. Brain scans show that as people get older, the white matter typically degenerates. This material envelops the neurons and helps them work more efficiently. Lazar discovered that older meditators had active cortical regions that were comparable with those of younger non-meditators.
But such a discovery should not have been surprising, according to neuroscientist Michael Merzenich of the University of California, San Francisco. The brain typically responds to repetitive use by thickening the cortex in the relevant area - for example, people who play the piano have more cortex associated with that skill. Moreover, recent studies indicate that "plastic changes driven by mental exercises in many respects parallel those driven by actual exercise," Merzenich says.
Still, he finds the idea of studying the influence of faith on the brain intriguing. Imaging work has shown that an area in the frontal cortex is activated in response to how strongly someone believes an answer to be correct. Merzenich adds that "this activation affirms the brain's decision that one's conclusion is correct, whether it is or not." Such findings reinforce why the Dalai Lama places so much importance on maintaining an open mind.
Christina Reed is a science writer based in Washington, D.C.
Sidebar: Missing Protest
Before the November 2005 meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, hundreds of scientists signed a petition against having the Dalai Lama speak about the neuroscience of meditation in the first of a new lecture series entitled "Dialogues between Neuroscience and Society". The mixing of science and religion was one concern, and politics may have been another - many who opposed it were originally from China. But on the day of the speech, the only visible protest came from a post doctorate Chinese national with residence status in the U.S., who quietly sat holding a scrawled statement saying that the Dalai Lama was not qualified to speak at the meeting.
Next year architect Frank Gehry will give the 2006 "Dialogues" lecture. His participation is not expected to draw such criticism.
En direct de Washington.
LA MEDITATION: UNE MEDECINE D'AVANT-GARDE?
Du 8 au 10 novembre 2005, plusieurs scientifiques de renommée internationale rencontraient le dalaï-lama et d'autres personnalités du monde spirituel pour débattre des bases scientifiques et des applications cliniques de la méditation. Organisées par le Mind and Life Institute, ces trois journées se déroulaient à Washington, juste avant l'ouverture du Congrès annuel de la Society for Neuroscience où le dalaï-lama était invité à prendre la parole.
Synergies
Il n'existe sans doute pas de meilleur exemple d'interdisciplinarité et de complémentarité que celui du Mind and Life Institute. Au départ, deux hommes : Adam Engle, avocat et homme d'affaire américain, et Francisco Varela, neurobiologiste chilien, diplômé de Harvard et directeur de recherche au CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) à Paris. Rien ne les prédestinait à se rencontrer, si ce n'est le fait que, chacun de leur côté, ils s'étaient convertis au bouddhisme et que, tous les deux, ils avaient entendu parler de l'intérêt du dalaï-lama pour la science occidentale. C'est une femme, Joan Halifax, enseignante bouddhiste zen, qui, en 1985, eut la bonne idée de les réunir. Le Mind and Life Institute était né. L'esprit et la vie. Avec un objectif : établir un dialogue entre la science et le bouddhisme. Deux cultures qui, chacune à leur manière, tentent de comprendre la nature de la réalité afin d'améliorer la condition humaine. Un projet ambitieux, donc. Puisque rien n'est plus difficile que réussir un dialogue constructif entre deux cultures. Deux ans plus tard, une première rencontre fut organisée entre le dalaï-lama et des chercheurs, dans les appartements privés du chef spirituel des Tibétains, à Dharamsala. Une dizaine d'autres réunions se déroulèrent en petit comité jusqu'en 2003, lorsque le prestigieux Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), invita Engle à organiser une réunion à Boston, en présence d'un public plus large. Entre temps, Francisco Varela était décédé au mois de mai 2001. Il aurait certainement apprécié de constater à quel point, aujourd'hui, les dialogues du Mind and Life Institute suscitent l'intérêt de la communauté scientifique.
Qui aurait pu imaginer vingt ans plus tôt que, pour leur treizième édition, ces rencontres scientifico-spirituelles seraient parrainées par deux institutions aussi sérieuses que la Johns Hopkins University de Baltimore et la Georgetown University de Washington ? " Notre mission est d'aborder des territoires inexplorés et de comprendre ce qui nous paraît encore incompréhensible. Nous devons rester ouverts à de nouvelles questions pour apporter de nouvelles réponses ", résumait fort bien Edward Miller, le doyen de la faculté de médecine de Johns Hopkins, dans son allocution inaugurale. Cette fois, il s'agissait d'évaluer les bases scientifiques et l'efficacité clinique de la méditation. Des questions que les chercheurs occidentaux se posent depuis longtemps. Mais ce n'est que depuis les récents progrès des neurosciences qu'ils commencent à y apporter des réponses. Une évolution que le parcours de Jon Kabat-Zinn et de Richard Davidson, les responsables du programme scientifique de ces journées, illustre parfaitement.
Une manière de vaincre le stress
Depuis le début des années 1970, le biologiste Jon Kabat-Zinn, s'intéresse aux interactions du corps et de l'esprit. Très vite, il comprend l'intérêt de recourir à des techniques méditatives basées sur la notion de la " pleine conscience " (mindfulness). Apaiser l'esprit pour relâcher le corps. Débarrassée de toute connotation religieuse, exotique ou orientale, la méthode qu'il propose prend alors le nom scientifique mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). " Une manière de rassurer les suspicieux. Un moyen d'intégrer la méditation dans la pratique clinique ", commente Kabat-Zinn. L'approche consiste avant tout à développer une attention, instant après instant, dans le présent. Une pratique méditative " allégée " qu'il enseigne au sein de la Clinique de réduction du stress de l'université du Massachusetts. Son programme d'apprentissage est simple : une séance de deux heures et demi, une fois par semaine, durant huit semaines, plus une heure par jour d'entraînement chez soi. Depuis vingt cinq ans, plus de quinze mille personnes en ont bénéficié pour aider au traitement de troubles aussi divers que des problèmes cardiaques, le sida, des douleurs chroniques, des dysfonctionnements gastro-intestinaux, des migraines, de l'hypertension artérielle, des troubles du sommeil, de l'anxiété ou de la panique. Forte de ses succès, la MBSR est aujourd'hui enseignée aux étudiants dans vingt neuf facultés de médecine à travers les Etats-Unis. " Cela change les rapports que les médecins entretiennent avec leurs patients ", expliquait Jon Kabat-Zinn au dalaï-lama. De plus en plus d'études cliniques démontre l'intérêt de la méthode. L'une d'elle, rapportée au cours des journées du Mind and Life, montre qu'en cas de psoriasis, la photothérapie à base de rayons ultraviolets obtient des résultats nettement supérieurs si elle est associée à la pratique de la MBSR. " Par son action sur le stress, la méditation pourrait jouer un rôle essentielle dans la prévention et la guérison de nombreuses pathologies ", concluait Kabat-Zinn. Une opinion que partageaient Robert Sapolsky, professeur de biologie et de neurologie à Stanford, John Sheridan, professeur d'immunologie à l'Ohio State University, et Esther Sternberg, directrice du programme de recherche neuro-immunologique au National Institutes of Health (équivalent du CNRS français).
Des moines au labo
Ami de Kabat-Zinn depuis longtemps, Richard Davidson a adopté une démarche nettement moins empirique. Et pour cause : professeur de psychologie et de psychiatrie à l'Université du Wisconsin, il est aussi à la tête d'un laboratoire ultramoderne où capteurs électriques et imagerie par résonance magnétique fonctionnelle lui permettent d'enregistrer l'activité du cerveau en temps réel. Ainsi, il a pu montrer que le fait de méditer régulièrement augmentait l'activité de la partie antérieure du cerveau gauche (appelée : cortex préfrontal), laquelle est associée à la gestion des émotions positives et, de là, à une meilleure qualité des défenses immunitaires. Après deux mois, un test de vaccination mettait en évidence une production d'anticorps nettement supérieure chez les sujets ayant pratiqué la méditation de manière régulière par rapport à des personnes n'ayant jamais médité.
Dans une autre étude, à laquelle participait le moine bouddhiste français Matthieu Ricard, Richard Davidson et Antoine Lutz (un autre Français, ancien élève de Francisco Varela) ont montré que, par rapport à l'activité cérébrale de personnes peu habituées à méditer, celle de moines ayant passé plus de dix mille heures en méditation générait beaucoup plus d'ondes gamma. Ondes gamma qui d'après Wolf Singer, directeur de l'Institut Max Planck de Francfort, également présent à Washington, augmentent la cohérence de l'activité cérébrale, permettant ainsi à plusieurs aires du cerveau de synchroniser leur fonctionnement et, donc, d'accroître le niveau de conscience des sujets habitués à méditer. Evidemment, on peut imaginer que ces particularités sont à l'origine de la vocation des moines au lieu d'être une conséquence de leur assiduité à la méditation. Pour répondre à cette hypothèse, Lutz et Davidson ont comparé les " performances " de moines ayant médité durant quarante mille heures à celles de moines n'ayant pratiqué que dix mille heures. Les résultats sont éloquents : plus les moines ont passé du temps à méditer, plus ils manifestent des ondes gamma, et ce indépendamment de leur âge. " Il semble donc qu'un entraînement mental permette d'atteindre un état de conscience plus ouvert et une meilleure clarté de l'esprit ", concluait Wolf Singer.
Par ailleurs, des images obtenues par la résonance magnétique fonctionnelle ont montré, chez les moines aguerris, une nette augmentation de l'activité de leur cortex préfrontal gauche, en relation avec les émotions positives. Et, lorsque des photographies représentant la souffrance leurs étaient montrées, les régions cérébrales responsables du mouvement planifié s'activaient immédiatement. Comme si la pratique méditative les incitait à passer à l'action pour aider ceux qui en ont besoin. " Passer du temps à méditer loin du monde prépare sans doute à une action plus juste et plus altruiste dans le monde ", commentait Matthieu Ricard.
Entraîner le cerveau
Le concept central de ces journées du Mind and Life Institute fut donc celui de la plasticité du cerveau. La découverte est relativement récente : en fonction de leur utilisation, les connexions neuronales disparaissent ou, au contraire, se créent ou se renforcent. Et comme le faisait remarquer Richard Davidson, les résultats obtenus avec la méditation semblent prouver que des signaux purement mentaux suffisent à déclencher le phénomène. Certains changements apparaissent en quelques minutes ou quelques heures. D'autres, plus profonds, prennent davantage de temps. Ainsi, la discipline et la pratique - éléments essentiels de toute démarche spirituelle - n'influencent pas seulement la pensée, elles provoquent de véritables remaniements dans l'agencement des cellules du cerveau et, inévitablement, ceux-ci finissent par rejaillir sur le fonctionnement du corps. La démonstration ne pouvait que réjouir le dalaï-lama, Thomas Keating (moine cistercien américain), Ajahn Amaro (psychologue et moine bouddhiste anglais), Jan Chozen Bays (pédiatre et nonne bouddhiste américaine), Joan Halifax et toutes les autres personnalités du monde spirituel éparpillées au milieu des deux mille cinq cent participants à ces trois journées de dialogues.
Comme le faisait remarquer Jack Kornfield, psychologue, moine bouddhiste et auteur du succulent Après l'extase, la lessive (éditions de la Table Ronde, 2001), lui aussi présent aux côtés du dalaï-lama, il y a des milliers de façons de pratiquer la " pleine conscience ". L'une d'entre elle, la mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) est particulièrement adaptée à notre culture médicale occidentale. Apprendre à observer sans attachement, instant après instant, les sensations du corps et les pensées de l'esprit. Inspirée de la MBSR de Jon Kabat-Zinn, cette méthode rivalise avec les thérapies cognitives et comportementales utilisées pour traiter la dépression et ses récidives. Les résultats présentés par Zindel Segal, professeur de psychiatrie à l'université de Toronto, sont éloquents : comparée à un traitement placebo qui prévient les récidives de dépression dans 19% des cas, la MBCT améliore ce score à 60%, un bénéfice proche des 75% enregistrés avec les thérapies cognitives classiques où les patients apprennent à changer leurs croyances et leur manière de réagir aux évènements de leur existence. Néanmoins, une étude présentée par Helen Mayberg, professeur de psychiatrie et de neurologie à l'Emory University d'Atlanta, semble indiquer que, au niveau du cerveau, le mode d'action de la méditation et de ses dérivés type MBCT diffère de celui des thérapies cognitives classiques. Des images obtenues par scanner à émission de positrons (PETScan) laissent penser que l'état de " pleine conscience " agit directement sur l'équilibre entre les zones cérébrales en relation avec le fonctionnement du corps et celles orientées vers l'élaboration de la pensée. La méditation et la MBCT apparaissent donc comme de véritables médecines du corps et de l'esprit.
Intégration
Ainsi, la méditation, pratique spirituelle millénaire, est en train de devenir un remède pour soigner les maux de nos sociétés modernes. Loin d'être une méthode démodée, elle est peut-être tout simplement en avance sur son temps. " En tibétain, il n'existe pas de mot pour traduire le ''stress'' ", faisait remarquer Esther Sternberg. Or, c'est précisément ce stress qui est à l'origine d'un grand nombre de nos souffrances psychologiques et physiques. Peur, angoisse, tension, douleur, agressivité et violence. " Il y aurait un réel intérêt à apprendre aux gens à réguler leur attention, calmer leurs craintes et développer une attitude neutre par rapport aux évènements de la vie ", constatait John Teasdale, psychologue et chercheur à Cambridge. Car " le but principal des dialogues du Mind and Life Institute c'est d'aider l'humanité en proie à la violence ", rappelait le dalaï-lama. " Une violence nourrie par les médias ", s'inquiétait Jan Chozen Bays en relevant le fait que " nos cerveaux ne sont probablement pas conçus pour ingurgiter tant de souffrance. Jadis, il fallait faire face aux difficultés de sa petite tribu. Aujourd'hui, c'est au malheur du monde entier que la télévision nous oblige de répondre. "
De l'avis des nombreux spécialistes présents à Washington, la compréhension des mécanismes neurologiques de la méditation permettra d'inclure ses principes dans nos attitudes préventives et dans nos stratégies curatives. " Nous avons tous emprunté des chemins différents pour arriver jusqu'ici, constatait Ralph Snyderman, professeur de médecine et ancien président de la Duke University. Cependant, nous souhaitons tous trouver des moyens pour diminuer la souffrance. Et nous savons tous que la technologie n'y suffira pas. " Loin de renier les acquis de la médecine scientifique, il paraît donc opportun de lui adjoindre des méthodes issues de l'expérience séculaire de notre humanité. " Si il est prouvé qu'une retraite méditative peut aider à guérir une dépression, il n'en reste pas moins vrai que, parfois, un médicament anti-dépresseur est nécessaire pour permettre au patient de sortir du gouffre et envisager la possibilité d'entreprendre un programme de méditation ", faisait remarquer Jan Chozen Bays, dont la double culture, scientifique et spirituelle, lui permet de jeter la passerelle indispensable à cette approche médicale " intégrée ".
" Face aux problèmes d'attention et d'agressivité que nous rencontrons dans nos écoles, il faudrait peut-être y introduire l'enseignement de la méditation dès les petites classes ", me disait un fonctionnaire de l'U.S. Department of Education, assis à mes côtés tout au long de ses journées. C'est sans doute ce qu'espère Richard Davidson lorsqu'il déclare qu'" un jour, en plus de leur programme d'''éducation physique'', nos enfants bénéficieront peut-être d'une initiation à l'''éducation mentale et spirituelle''. Qui sait ?
En tout cas, il paraît important de préciser que la spiritualité n'est envisagée ici que dans sa conception la plus pure, débarrassée de ses préjugés religieux. " Il ne s'agit pas d'une affaire de foi et de croyance, précisait le dalaï-lama. Mais plutôt d'une préoccupation éthique et morale. Il est de notre responsabilité d'être humain d'utiliser notre intelligence pour comprendre la nature et le fonctionnement de notre esprit. " Cette précision rassurera peut-être les scientifiques suspicieux qui insistent pour que la science reste indépendante de toute forme d'influence religieuse. Car le débat est passionné. Pour preuve, la pétition signée par des médecins et des chercheurs pour protester contre l'invitation faite au dalaï-lama par la Society for Neuroscience afin qu'il prononce le discours inaugural du Congrès qui se tenait à Washington, quelques jours après les rencontres du Mind and Life Institute. " Si la science prouve que certaines croyances du bouddhisme sont fausses, alors le bouddhisme les changera ", confiait le dalaï-lama à la docte assemblée. Force est de constater que, à ce jour, les conclusions issues de l'expérience millénaire du bouddhisme rejoignent celles qui découlent de la méthode scientifique. Et, les deux approches nourrissant le même désir d'aider l'évolution de l'humanité, il paraît logique de les voir unir leurs efforts. Isaac Newton n'a-t-il pas écrit " les hommes construisent trop de murs, pas assez de ponts " ?
Thierry Janssen
Médecin, chirurgien et psychothérapeute, auteur des livres Le Travail d'une vie (Robert Laffont, 2001), Vivre en paix (Robert Laffont, 2003) et La Solution intérieure. Vers une nouvelle médecine du corps et de l'esprit (Fayard, 2006)
Time Magazine Article — January, 2006
The January 16, 2006 issue of Time features a one-page story on meditation as part of a larger special report on how to sharpen our mind. The meditation article, "How to Get Smarter, One Breath at a Time," says that scientists are finding that meditation not only reduces stress but also reshapes the brain, changing it in ways that appear to increase attention span, sharpen focus and improve memory.
In support of this, Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, a staff writer for Time, cites the recent work of Sara Lazar, a research scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital. Lazar found that the daily practice of mindfulness or insight meditation by Boston-area workers thickened parts of their brain's cerebral cortex, which is responsible for decision making, attention and memory. This thickening is important because as we age, our cortex becomes thinner. Lazar was a participant in the 2004 and 2005 Mind and Life Summer Research Institutes (MLSRI).
Besides Lazar's study, Cullen notes Richard Davidson's studies on meditation and its effect on the brain. Davidson is the director of the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin. Cullen further says that Davidson has collaborated with the Dalai Lama since 1992 in studying the brains of Tibetan monks. Davidson is a Mind and Life Institute board member.
In conclusion, Cullen reports that some corporations, including Deutsch Bank, Google and Hughes Aircraft, have started offering meditation classes. She says that not only does meditation make employees sharper, but employers find that it improves productivity by preventing stress-related illness and absenteeism. Meditation also helps people get along with each other.
Mediate on Meditation Meeting — January, 2006
Newspaper Article by Tony Evans of the Idaho Mountain Express.
Please click here to view article JPG image.
Shambala Sun Articles — September, 2005
The September issue of Shambhala Sun, a Buddhist-inspired magazine, features an in-depth article about the Mind and Life Institute and its revolutionary work to establish a dialogue between Buddhism and science. Barry Boyce, Shambhala Sun's senior editor, writes a colorful and chronological story of the institute's history and the research studies that have resulted since the institute's inception.
In his article, "Two Sciences of the Mind," Boyce recounts in detail how Francisco Varela and Adam Engle joined forces to create the Mind and Life Institute. Boyce also creatively weaves the history of neuroscience into the article by citing research findings from Eleanor Rosch, Richard Davidson, Daniel Goleman, Paul Ekman, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Arthur Zajonc, Eric Lander, and B. Alan Wallace, all Mind and Life affiliates.
Boyce invites the reader to ponder both sides of the Buddhism and science dialogue when he discusses Rosch's feelings about the dialogue. Boyce says Rosch is "skeptical" about the dialogue and believes that "it may be heading in an unhelpful direction." He quotes her as saying, ". . . Often research shows more about the preconceptions of the researchers and audience than it does about the mind. . . What people really need is to find deeper contemplative experience before their competing thought systems lead them into massive conflagration."
Countering Rosch's belief, Boyce quotes Matthieu Ricard as saying, "I don't see that what we are doing affects Buddhism negatively. We are not making Buddhism-lite. I am very disturbed when that happens. Buddhism remains Buddhism. We are simply offering food. To offer someone food that we know how to produce and that they need now, we don't have to turn them into horticultural specialists."
Boyce brings the article full-circle when he closes with a story about the Dalai Lama faxing a letter to Varela encouraging him to prolong his life.
In another article in the magazine, writer David Swick talks to Executive Director Adam Engle about the mission of the Mind and Life Institute to develop a new science of healthy mind. His story, "Mind Matters," is attached to "Studying Mind from the Inside," an excerpt from the Dalai Lama's book, The Universe in a Single Atom.
Swick says, ". . . the Institute is putting more and more of its energy into helping scientists conduct research. . ." He adds, "The organization is now helping create a new field of science focused on one question: how do you create and maintain a healthy mind?"
Swick quotes Engle as saying, "There will be a tendency, I'm sure, within the scientific community, to try to reduce the experience of meditation to a set of neuroscientific principles. . . There will be some level of reductionist pressure. How that will resolve itself I don't know, but it's not a worry great enough to motivate us not to try to improve people's lives by increasing the understanding of how to create and maintain a healthy mind."
To read the complete "Two Sciences of the Mind" article, please click here to download the PDF.
To subscribe online for future articles go to http://www.shambhalasun.com or pick up a copy at your local newsstand or bookstore.
National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" — July 26, 2005
On Tuesday, July 26, 2005, National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" featured a story about the Mind and Life Summer Research Institute (MLSRI).
Click here to listen to the 8 minute radio segment:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4770779
NPR reporter Allison Aubrey's story entitled, "Science Explores Meditation's Effect on the Brain," mentioned the Mind and Life Institute and featured Mind and Life Summer Research Institute participants Adam Engle, Brent Field, Amishi Jha, and Matthieu Ricard.
Although Aubrey never uttered the words "Summer Institute," she referred to the meeting as a conference of "a bunch of brain scientists gathered in an old monastery" and said it was "organized and bankrolled by the Mind and Life Institute." (MLI)
Engle, MLI Chairman and CEO, added, "What we're trying to do is to establish a new subfield of science that will ask and answer the question, 'How do you create and maintain a healthy mind?'"
Aubrey described Engle as a Harvard-trained lawyer, entrepreneur, and Buddhist meditator who is supporting the work of neuroscientists who use sophisticated tools to evaluate the brains of meditators.
Field, an MLSRI Research Fellow and neuroscientist at Princeton University, was one of 200 scientists at the meeting. He offered, "People who've spent a lot of time in their heads have figured out that there are ways of controlling the mind." Field called this "mental technology."
Aubrey elaborated further when she said "mental technology" allows them to use meditation to encourage positive emotions and diminish negative ones.
Field and Aubrey discussed Field's research on what happens in the mind of the most experienced meditators. Field flies Buddhist monks to his Princeton labs and subjects them to tests designed to measure mental clarity. Field has found that monks perform better on the tests in a meditative state, than a non-meditative state.
Aubrey also cited University of Wisconsin findings that meditators have increased activity in the left prefrontal cortex of the brain, the area associated with emotional well-being. She said this was strongest with longtime, adept meditators, but researchers see the same pattern of brain activity with novice meditators.
Jha, an MLSRI Senior Investigator, neuroscientist and attention researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, shared her theory on meditation and attention. After years of hearing people say meditation made them feel better, she wanted to find the mechanism responsible. She wondered if meditation could benefit the "everyday Joe" and does the brain rewire itself to become more attentive? Her findings surprised her.
"There's a developmental or practice-related trajectory of what seems to get better," Jha stated. "Initially it starts out in the ability to focus your attention in a specific way. Practicing more and more. The ability to flexibility allocate attention in a more open way actually improves. I was shocked. . . Mindfulness is not a single end point but a whole path."
During the conference, Jha questioned French-born, Tibetan Buddhist monk Ricard about the Buddhist concept of an open mind, which seemed completely foreign to her scientific thinking.
Ricard answered, "The concept is not weird at all. It can be understood. Lay back, relax, and try to make your mind like vast space. This is a very vivid relaxation but no tension."
Open mind concept aside, Jha advised first-time meditators to practice Mindfulness 101 where they simply focus on the breath.
The segment closed with Engle adding, "Mindfulness is just a tool. We can actually learn to be happier and healthier people."
Aubrey concluded that the Mind and Life Institute is seeding his theory by "staging conferences and supporting more young researchers who want to join the investigation."
Shambhala Sun Article — May, 2005
The May issue of Shambhala Sun, a Buddhist inspired magazine, features Mind and Life Institute vice chairman Jon Kabat-Zinn. With his picture on the cover, the magazine's lead story, "The Man Who Prescribes the Medicine of the Moment," is all about Kabat-Zinn and the benefits of mindfulness-based stress reduction.
The article also includes two excerpts from Kabat-Zinn's book Coming to Our Senses. The excerpts are titled "Wise Attention to Body and Mind" and "The Fundamental Dis-Ease."
Barry Boyce, senior editor of Shambhala Sun, provides a nice profile of Kabat-Zinn in the article. Readers come away knowing more about the man who pioneered mindfulness-based stress reduction more than twenty years ago and wrote Full Catastrophe Living to disseminate the detailed descriptions and instructions on all facets of the program.
For this article, Boyce also interviews a number of Kabat-Zinn's colleagues and program participants at the mindfulness-based stress reduction clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center.
Boyce mentions the Mind and Life Institute twice in the article. The first mention talks about Kabat-Zinn meeting with the Dalai Lama a number of times in the last eighteen years in meetings organized by the Mind and Life Institute. Boyce further notes the Dalai Lama is the keynote speaker at this year's Society for Neuroscience meeting, which will be held in conjunction with the next Mind and Life dialogue in Washington, DC in November 2005.
In his second mention, Boyce says that the Mind and Life Institute held a weeklong retreat at the Garrison Institute in June 2004 for young scientists interested in doing research on the influence of meditative practices on neuroscience, behavioral science and clinical medicine.
Interestingly, the Buddhist-trained Kabat-Zinn points out in the article that he constantly has to Americanize the Buddhist Sanskrit terms to fit our Western way of thinking. For example, the Sanskrit word for pain, suffering or stress is dukkha. Since he didn't feel that dukkha-reduction would capture a large segment of the medical community, he went with the American version of stress reduction to which he knew the population could relate.
Boyce quotes Kabat-Zinn in the article as saying, "The challenge we are faced with in mindfulness-based stress reduction is how to make use of a vocabulary, structure and format that will invite people into the deep practice of meditation in a way that lets the practice be American. That has happened in every country Buddhism has ever gone to. There are many differences between the Buddhist traditions, yet the heart of it is dharma. At this stage, for Buddhism to become Buddhism it may have to stop being Buddhism. Meditation is not a collection of techniques that belongs to any group. It is a way of being. After all, the Buddha was not a Buddhist."
Nature Article — April 28, 2005
The April 28, 2005 issue of Nature includes a one-page story about Anton Zeilinger and his work with quantum physics. Nature's German correspondent, Quirin Schiermeier, wrote the article entitled "The Philosopher of Photons". Nature is a weekly international, interdisciplinary journal of science.
Zeilinger is Director of the Institute for Experimental Physics, Professor of Physics at the University of Vienna in Austria, and a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He was awarded the European Optics Prize in 1996. His recent achievement of quantum teleportation attracted world-wide attention. He is currently researching photonic entanglement and molecular optics to test the most fundamental issues of quantum physics. He is also a Mind and Life meeting participant.
Although the story does not mention the Mind and Life Institute, it does specify that in 1997 the Dalai Lama invited Zeilinger to India to help His Holiness understand the world of quantum physics. Their meeting was Mind and Life VI.
The story further mentions a second meeting between Zeilinger and His Holiness one year later in Zeilinger's lab which was then located in Innsbruck. This smaller meeting, initiated by Zeilinger, was Mind and Life VII.
Schiermeier says quantum physics can sometimes mystify even the brightest physicists, including Einstein who felt spooked by the topic. Zeilinger understands its daunting nature and desires to educate the public. As a journalist, Schiermeier appreciates Zeilinger's ability to translate quantum mathematics into a working philosophy.
Schiermeier reports that Zeilinger likes to discuss the challenges of quantum mechanics -- both technical and philosophical. "I strongly feel that we need to clearly tell the people what we don't understand," he says. "For example, quantum physicists have yet to find a satisfying explanation for the randomness inherent in the quantum world. 'Mysteries of that kind are among the biggest questions of the twenty-first century,' Zeilinger says."
The author notes that when the Dalai Lama visited Zeilinger's lab, he confessed to having difficulties with the philosophical implications of quantum physics, especially the role of chance and causality in nature. Since the idea of determination is central to Buddhism, His Holiness feared the existence of random acts might collide with Buddhist doctrine.
But Zeilinger quickly assured the Dalai Lama that his ground-breaking quantum optical experiments are all explained by known laws of physics, less mysterious, but equally fascinating, Schiermeier writes.
To read the complete Nature story, go to http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v434/n7037/full/4341066a.html
Utne Magazine Article — March-April, 2005
The March-April issue of Utne contains a story about scanning the brains of monks as part of its cover story "The Future of God and the Promise and Perils of Faith."
"Scanning the Monk: Is the religion of tomorrow hidden in our brains?" is the sixth and final story in the God series. The article is taken from the new book Field Notes on the Compassionate Life: A Search for the Soul of Kindness by Marc Ian Barasch,
The April 2005 issue of O Magazine also features an except from Field Notes on the Compassionate Life with a story entitled, "The Cure for Envy."
Barasch is a former editor at Psychology Today, Natural Health, and New Age Journal. He is also an Emmy award-nominated documentary filmmaker. His previous book, Healing Dreams, was hailed by The Washington Post as "lucid, courageous, trailblazing."
Barasch writes, "As evidence grows that what we habitually think and feel actually resculpts our neural tissue, scientists have begun to study others who seem able to literally change their minds-Buddhist monks who chant mantras and do visualization practices to develop what appears to be an indelible sense of compassion. With the day nearly arrived that a handful of angry people could blow up not just a restaurant but a city, we could use effective ways to defuse intolerance."
He sees compassion as the key defusing agent, and he says the Dalai Lama and the Pope concur. He quotes the Dalai Lama as saying, "My only religion is kindness" and the Pope calling for a "civilization of love."
Barasch goes on to ask, "How do we awaken the kindness that, along with aggression, is so clearly a part of our basic nature?"
To answer his question, he cites the recent studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with monk Matthieu Ricard and Ricard's reaction of care and concern, mixed with poignant sadness when shown pictures of pain and suffering.
When Barasch asks Ricard if he thinks some people are predisposed to be kinder, Ricard cites a recent study on baby rats that had been bred to be "super-anxious." When placed with "over-caring" mothers, the baby rats lost their propensity for anxiety and grew up normal.
Barasch quotes Ricard, "Just think what potential we humans must have! Even if 50 percent of our character is genetic, the other 50 percent is plastic. Learning can radically change you."
Barasch further reports Ricard's reaction to his mother when she wanted to go to Bombay to serve the poor. Ricard told her that one year of retreat would bring much greater service to all sentient beings. He compares it to building a hospital to serve many as opposed to helping people on the street one by one.
Barasch mentions the 2003 conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He quotes Richard Davidson, Mind and Life board member, as saying that both he and the Dalai Lama believe "the wiring in our brains is not static, not irrevocably fixed. Our brains are adaptable."
Barasch also quotes Harvard neuroscientist Stephen Kosslyn and Harvard psychology professor Jerome Kagan, both Mind and Life meeting participants.
In conclusion Barasch says, "Beneath the daily headlines with their recurring note of doom, the true state of affairs is almost laughably obvious. We live in a world poised on the brink of self-discovery, knowing the only god we can now afford is a god of love, and if we are to go anywhere, we must all go there together."
Adam Engle Interview on Colorado Public Radio — March 10, 2005
Dan Drayer, executive producer of Colorado Public Radio, interviewed Adam Engle, Mind and Life Institute co-founder and chairman, for the show "Colorado Matters" on Thursday, March 10.
After introducing the Mind and Life Institute as an organization facilitating meetings between the Dalai Lama, monks, and top neurologists and that those meetings have led to lab research showing meditating monks have extraordinary control over brain function, Drayer asked Engle to explain the results of some of the latest studies.
In the 25-minute interview, Engle opened with a discussion of the study in which a meditating monk was subjected to the sound of a gunshot and never flinched. Engle then transitioned to a current study at Princeton University where scientists are using repeating musical notes to see how the brain reacts. Engle also talked about Antoine Lutz's and Richard Davidson's studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison which showed that meditation can foster greater joy and happiness.
When Drayer asked Engle what the implications of all these studies held, Engle said, "That mental practices and mental training can negatively and positively affect our well-being."
Engle further explained, "There's always been an understanding that our emotions just happen to us. But what scientists are starting to learn is that emotions can be trained over time. This is very important in a world of increasing velocity."
Regarding genetics, Engle said, "Even thought there's a propensity toward certain diseases, mental training can delay the onset or reduce the effects." Engle also talked about the history of the Mind and Life Institute. He said the organization moved slowly the first ten years until realizing that science moves itself by rigorous studies published in prestigious peer-review journals. The Mind and Life Institute is currently sponsoring 16 on-going laboratory studies.
He also mentioned that the Institute started a residential program (Summer Research Institute) last year for young scientists interested in this work. From that program the Mind and Life Institute awarded ten research grants to post-docs and research assistants.
Reporting that Davidson's website is experiencing an unprecedented number of monthly hits, Engle said, "The snowball is just beginning to roll." Drayer was fascinated with the aspect of the Dalai Lama's involvement in the Mind and Life Institute. When he asked why, Engle gave three reasons. He said the Dalai Lama is an innately curious individual, he wants Buddhism to remain relevant to humanity and his primary motivation is in helping people.
Engle further said the Dalai Lama has a theory he calls "secular ethics" which means that he wants to help people who aren't involved in spiritual practice to improve their lives.
Ending the interview, Drayer asked Engle where he saw this type of research going. Engle answered, "How do we create and maintain a healthy mind? This is a multigenerational project."
To listen to the full interview online, go to
http://www.cpr.org/co_matters/ and click on the program archives calendar for Thursday, March 10.
National Geographic Article — March, 2005
The March 2005 issue of National Geographic features an in-depth look at the human brain in its cover story "What's in Your Mind."
This 31-page article takes the reader on a journey through the mind that includes the history of neurology, a brain tumor operation, brain imaging and mapping, facial emotion, fear response, autism, perfect pitch, object permanence, neuroplasticity in the blind, hypergraphia, and Buddhist spiritual practice.
The eye-catching cover displays the tranquil face of a Tibetan Buddhist teacher wearing a high-tech electronic hairnet composed of hundreds of small white sensors, each one connected by a thin wire to hidden monitoring equipment. This photograph was taken in the laboratory of ML board member Richard Davidson as part of his ground breaking research.
While the article does not mention the Mind and Life Institute, it features Paul Ekman, Ph.D who started the Cultivating Emotional Balance program, a direct result of the 2000 Mind and Life Institute meetings with the Dalai Lama on Destructive Emotions. CEB is a collaboration between the Mind and Life Institute and UCSF Medical Center. Margaret Kemeny has succeeded Paul as the project's principal investigator.
Writer James Shreeve discusses Ekman's now classic study on the meaning of facial expressions. Readers can participate in a global survey to help scientists learn more about how we communicate with facial expressions by finding the links at www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/0503 to research studies reported in the story.
When explaining the evolution of plasticity, Shreeve quotes another Mind and Life Institute meeting participant for 2001. "Ten years ago most neuroscientists saw the brain as a kind of computer, developing fixed functions early," says Michael Merzenich of the University of California, San Francisco, a pioneer in understanding brain plasticity. "What we now appreciate is that the brain is continually revising itself throughout life."
At the end of the article in the section on spiritual mind, Shreeve mentions Richard Davidson and his colleagues' studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on brain activity in Tibetan monks. Shreeve notes that in the study meditators were happier and had stronger immune systems than those who did not meditate. Davidson is a Mind and Life Institute board member.
Shreeve closes with a quote from the Dalai Lama. "You don't have to become a Buddhist," says the Dalai Lama himself, who is closely following the work of Western cognitive scientists like Davidson. "Everybody has the potential to lead a peaceful, meaningful life."
Tricycle Magazine Article, Mind and Life Board — Spring, 2005
The Spring 2005 issue of Tricycle: The Buddhist Review includes a story that features the Mind and Life Institute board members.Tricycle, founded in 1991, is a non-profit quarterly magazine dedicated to spreading the dharma.
In the first story, "Meeting of the Minds," Tricycle publisher and editor James Shaheen and contributing editor Joan Duncan Oliver interview the Mind and Life board at an institute planning session at Princeton University. In the question-and-answer format, the writers ask for an update on Mind and Life Institute-sponsored collaborative research studies between scientists and Buddhists.
When asked about the results of Mind and Life studies so far, and where the institute plans to take them in the future, Richard Davidson says, "Our initial work indicates that meditation changes brain function. One of our hopes now is that a broader range of scientists will be inspired to examine the potential impact of contemplative practice on different behavior domains. One of our goals is to launch studies that look at the impact of meditation on attention and the brain systems that support it."
Davidson, along with his colleges at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, published their findings on research with Buddhist monks in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the fall of 2004.
B. Alan Wallace offered a second area for future study with his idea to translate Buddhist personality types into personality types defined by modern psychology, and then look at which contemplative practice best suits different individuals.
When asked if Mind and Life studies are changing the scientific community's view of subjectivity, Jon Kabat-Zinn says, "We tend to dismiss subjective experience as if there's no objectivity within subjectivity. But there is actually a tremendous amount of objective self-observing in meditation practice. And the more you cultivate that discipline, the less likely you will be to filter your experience through internal biases."
Daniel Goleman adds, "That's big news for science, which has largely dismissed subjective observation as a reliable source of data. But Buddhists, on the other hand, have recognized its usefulness for centuries."
When asked if Buddhist practice, such as loving kindness meditation, which incorporates the cultivation of positive mind states, differs significantly form Western psychology, Matthieu Ricard says, "Pathologies or negative mind-states, have attracted most of the attention in psychology because they are characterized by such intense suffering. But from a Buddhist perspective, so-called 'normal' is still characterized by pervasive suffering. The emerging field of positive psychology represents a shift in focus to this ongoing 'normal' suffering."
Wallace further points out, "The big innovation of Buddhism is not in recognizing the suffering of a normal life, but in pointing out that mental afflictions are not intrinsic to the human psyche. Recent scientific research has shown that these afflictive tendencies of mind can be measurably lessened through Buddhist practice. But Buddhism is making a much stronger claim: that the mind at its deepest level has the nature of luminosity of innate bliss, and is altogether free of mental affliction. That's a big hypothesis. We can't test it now, but we can head in that direction."
A PDF of this article is available at www.mindandlife.org/tricycle.sp05.pdf
All excerpts and PDF © Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Spring 2005, Vol. XIV No. 3
Tricycle Magazine Article, Jon Kabat-Zinn Book — Spring, 2005
In "Healing Mind, Healing Body," Tricycle Magazine gives a short excerpt from Jon Kabat-Zinn's book, Coming to Our Senses, about a case study on how mindfulness practice can aid medical treatment. The story describes how Kabat-Zinn became involved with a study on the positive aspects of meditation with psoriasis patients at the University of Massachusetts Department of Medicine in the early 1980s.
After meeting with Jeff Bernhard, the chief of dermatology at the university, the two decided to test the effects of meditation on healing psoriasis. They offered standing meditation, breathing meditation, hearing meditation, and watching-the-mind-get-stressed-out meditation to psoriasis patients undergoing phototherapy treatments. They also included a visualization about the skin healing in response to the light as part of the meditation in the later stages of treatment. They used two groups of patients, one that meditated and one that did not.
Kabat-Zinn says, "We found that the meditators healed faster than the non-meditators, . . . almost four times as rapidly."
He notes, "The psoriasis study is an example of what is now being call 'integrative medicine,' because it integrates mind-body interventions such as meditations right into the delivery of more conventional medical treatments."
Kabat-Zinn further notes that the study has numerous implications. The mind can positively influence healing in some circumstances, and participatory medicine is a big money-saver for both the patient and the medical system.
All excerpts © Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Spring 2005, Vol. XIV No. 3
Psychology Today Article — February, 2005
The February issue of Psychology Today is almost entirely devoted to happiness. The lead story, "Happy Hour" written by Psychology Today staff writer Carlin Flora, cites the research of numerous psychologists on happiness.
While not specifically mentioning the Mind and Life Institute, the article draws from Davidson's research and two other Mind and Life Institute meeting participants about their findings on happiness.
Flora writes, Davidson's findings suggest "that if we train ourselves to become more mindful and slow down our sense of passing time, we can learn to monitor our moods and thoughts before they spiral downward. We can, in other words, make ourselves happier." Besides Davidson, the article extensively quotes psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Daniel Gilbert.
Kahneman, who won the Nobel Prize in economics in 2003 for his research on irrationality and decision making, has switched his attention to well-being. Psychology Today editor Kaja Perina writes in her editor's note at the beginning of the magazine that Kahneman is studying one of today's hottest areas of psychology--behavioral decision theory. Perina says, "In 'Happy Hour,' Kahneman explains how memory looms large--and wrong--when it comes to figuring out what makes us happy."
When discussing Kahneman's research, Flora quotes him, "The point is that we shouldn't measure our lives on the quality of our memories alone." Flora explains Kahneman's theory: "He doesn't simply mean we should be more spontaneous--in fact, he points out that since time is our most valuable resource, we should pay careful attention to how we spend it. We need to vigilantly protect our time from the biases of our evaluating self by not relying on memory alone. Otherwise, we risk wasting it in ways that contradict our values and don't bring us happiness."
Flora further writes, "Kahneman acknowledges the power of the well-being 'set point,' but he still thinks that we can influence our own happiness in small ways--by attending to the moment, and by choosing activities that engage rather than numb our minds. If we heed what does give us immediate pleasure, and if we are skeptical of our error-riddled memories and predictions, we can learn to spend our money, time and attention in ways that make us happier."
She also discusses Gilbert's work with Tim Wilson at the University of Virginia on predicting the future to find happiness. Flora writes, Gilbert has found that we are almost always wrong in predicting how we'll feel in the future.
To read the complete article, go to the Psychology Today website at http://cms.psychologytoday.com/articles/2005.html
Time Magazine Article — Monday, January 17, 2005
The Time Magazine story, written by associate editor of Times' science, environment and space section Michael D. Lemonick, discussed the results of numerous studies that center on happiness.
In "The Biology of Joy" published January 17, Lemonick said Richard Davidson's research shows that "happiness isn't just a vague, ineffable feeling; it's a physical state of the brain — one that you can induce deliberately."
The writer also mentioned that Davidson's research shows that "subjects in Davidson's experiments have lower levels of cortisol, a hormone produced by the adrenal gland in response to stress — and cortisol is known to depress immune function."
Although the article didn't mention the Mind and Life Institute, Davidson's work is a direct result of the institute's meeting with scientists and the Dalai Lama.
Lemonick also quoted Dacher Keltner, a psychologist at the University of California-Berkeley and Mind and Life meeting participant, regarding the lack of research on positive emotions, dopamine pathways, and the opioid system: "We're just beginning to apply a lens to all those parts of the nervous system in which the positive emotions are embodied. This is really neat territory."
Lemonick quoted Keltner on the funding of happiness research: "As the findings trickle in showing that positive emotions and happiness make your immune system function better, or help you battle disease, or help you live longer, then you're into fundable territory."
London Financial Times Article — Monday, January 14, 2005
In his article "Uplifting Thoughts" for the London Financial Times, writer Stephen Pincock said Davidson's "work suggests that happiness is a skill than can be learned." The article mentions the Mind and Life Institute and talks about how Davidson's work stems from ongoing meetings since 1987 between scientists and the Dalai Lama.
The article extensively quotes Matthieu Ricard, a Buddhist monk, biochemist, and Mind and Life Institute board member. Many of the quotes came from Ricard's recent talk at London's French Institute, the official French government center on language and culture in London since 1910.
Pincock captured Ricard's thoughts on the Wisconsin study with this quote: "The main point is to rehabilitate the notion of 'mind training'. We consider that attention, altruism and compassion, emotional balance and happiness are skills that can be trained. Meditation is not a mere relaxation method but an in-depth, long-term cultivation of human qualities."
Washington Post Article — Monday, January 3, 2005
The Washington Post ran a story entitled "Meditation Gives Brain a Charge, Study Finds" Monday, January 3, 2005. The story cites Professor Richard Davidson's brain studies using Buddhist monks at the University of Wisconsin. While this article does not mention the Mind and Life Institute by name, the impetus for this research came from our Mind and Life meetings. Dr. Davidson is on the board of MLI, as is co-researcher and collaborator Matthieu Ricard. Antoine Lutz, another researcher in the study, was a student of MLI co-founder Francisco Varela before becoming a post doc at Dr. Davidson's lab in Wisconsin.
In his story, Washington Post staff writer Marc Kaufman said, "Brain research is beginning to produce concrete evidence for something that Buddhist practitioners of meditation have maintained for centuries: Mental discipline and meditative practice can change the workings of the brain and allow people to achieve different levels of awareness."
Davidson, a neuroscientist at the university's new $10 million W. M. Keck Laboratory for Functional Brain Imaging and Behavior, is a Mind and Life Institute board member. He was also the scientific coordinator and meeting moderator for the Mind and Life XII neuroplasticity meeting held in Dharamsala October 18-22, 2004.
Kaufman wrote, "Davidson says . . . the results of the meditation study . . . take the concept of neuroplasticity a step further by showing that mental training through meditation (and presumably other disciplines) can itself change the inner workings and circuitry of the brain."
Davidson's latest results from the meditation study were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in November.
Science & Theology News Article — December, 2004
The December 2004 issue of Science & Theology News features an article entitled "Buddhism & Science for a Healthy Mind," based on our Mind and Life XII neuroplasticity meeting held in Dharamsala, India October 18-22, 2004.
Buddhism & Science for a Healthy Mind Abstract
The 12th annual Mind and Life Institute Conference in India emphasized that Buddhism and science can work together to uncover the secrets of the mind. Geetinder Garewal reports from India on key conference events, including the topics of neuroplasticity and meditation, in December's Science & Theology News.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Article — November, 2004
In 2001, at the Mind and Life IX meeting at Madison, Wisconsin, Richard Davidson, Matthieu Ricard, and Antoine Lutz began a research study imaging the brains of Tibetan Monks while they were meditating.
The first paper reporting the results of that study was just published in the November 16 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The article is titled "Long-Term Meditators Self-Induce High-Amplitude Gamma Synchrony During Mental Practice." Other papers from this study are being prepared as well.
The publication of this paper in one of the world's most prestigious scientific journals is an important milestone for science, and the Mind and Life Institute, and suggests that mental training may induce short-term and long-term changes to the brain
Article abstract:
Practitioners understand "meditation," or mental training, to be a process of familiarization with one's own mental life leading to long-lasting changes in cognition and emotion. Little is known about this process and its impact on the brain. Here we find that long-term Buddhist practitioners self-induce sustained electroencephalographic high-amplitude gamma-band oscillations and phase-synchrony during meditation.
These electroencephalogram patterns differ from those of controls, in particular over lateral frontoparietal electrodes. In addition, the ratio of gamma-band activity (25-42 Hz) to slow oscillatory activity (4-13 Hz) is initially higher in the resting baseline before meditation for the practitioners than the controls over medial frontoparietal electrodes. This difference increases sharply during meditation over most of the scalp electrodes and remains higher than the initial baseline in the post-meditation baseline. These data suggest that mental training involves temporal integrative mechanisms and may induce short-term and long-term neural changes.
The complete article can be read at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/101/46/16369
Wall Street Journal Article — November, 2004
The November 5 issue of the Wall Street Journal featured an article by Sharon Begley titled "Scans of Monks Brains Show Meditation Alters Structure, Functioning" on our October 18-22 Mind and Life XII Neuroplasticity meeting held in Dharamsala, India.
Article abstract:
All of the Dalai Lama's guests peered intently at the brain scan projected onto screens at either end of the room, but what different guests they were. On one side sat five neuroscientists, united in their belief that physical processes in the brain can explain all the wonders of the mind, without appeal to anything spiritual or nonphysical.
Facing them sat dozens of Tibetan Buddhist monks in burgundy-and-saffron robes, convinced that one round-faced young man in their midst is the reincarnation of one of the Dalai Lama's late teachers, that another is the reincarnation of a 12th-century monk, and that the entity we call "mind" is not, as neuroscience says, just a manifestation of the brain.
It was not, in other words, your typical science meeting.
Greater Good Article - Fall, 2004
The Fall 2004 issue of Greater Good contains a story about how teachers can use meditation and stress reduction techniques to develop skills and practices that rein in their anxieties and cultivate positive emotions. Greater Good is a magazine published bi-annually by the Center for the Development of Peace and Well-Being at the University of California, Berkeley. Dacher Keltner, professor of psychology at UCB and a Mind and Life Institute meeting participant, is co-director of the center.
In the story "Caring for the Caregivers," UCB journalism graduate student Sarita Tukaram discusses two programs, both drawing on Eastern philosophy, that help teachers deal with stress in their jobs.
One of those programs, Cultivating Emotional Balance (CEB), is spearheaded by Psychologist Margaret Kemeny and other researchers at University of California, San Francisco. Kemeny is a 2005 Mind and Life Summer Researcy Institute faculty member. CEB tests whether Eastern philosophy and meditation can bolster teachers' capacities for empathy and compassion, plus help them handle the everyday emotional demands of their work.
Although the story doesn't mention the Mind and Life Institute, CEB originated from the 2000 meeting with the Dalai Lama on Destructive Emotions. Tukaram relates the work of Richard Davidson and Jon Kabat-Zinn, both Mind and Life Institute board members, on mindfulness meditation to the foundation of CEB.
The writer reports, "According to Kemeny, the principal investigator, the results showed that a heightened emotional awareness also encouraged a heightened sense of self. After the training, participants showed an increase in affection for others and a decrease in their negative reactions to stress."
A clinical trial of CEB began in January 2005 in San Francisco. As in the pilot study, a seven-part curriculum trains participants in skills such as meditation, recognizing emotions communicated by other people's facial expressions, and strategies to counteract negative emotions.
To read the complete article, go to http://peacecenter.berkeley.edu/greater_current_issue.html.
Smithsonian Magazine Article — May, 2004
Below is a brief excerpt, with the website link for the entire article following. The article covers the September, 2003 "Investigating the Mind" meeting and related press conference.
The (Scientific) Pursuit of Happiness
What does the Dalai Lama have to teach psychologists about joy and contentment?
By Chip Brown
You'd think a scientifically literate and technologically sophisticated society that has established the pursuit of happiness as an unalienable right would know a little more about what the damn thing entails. But scientists long ago ceded the investigation of happiness to ministers, novelists, therapists, travel agents, brewers, ad executives and vice squads. When medical scientists did think about happiness, they tended to view it in the negative, as freedom from depression.
Such is the bias that a recent survey of 30 years of psychology publications counted 46,000 papers on depression-and a piddling 400 on joy. As Martin Seligman, a University of Pennsylvania professor and former president of the American Psychological Association, put it in 1998: "Social science now finds itself in almost total darkness about the qualities that make life most worth living."
This state of affairs undoubtedly has a lot to do with why a panel of psychologists and a crowd of 1,200 gathered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) this past September to hear a 68-year-old Tibetan named Tenzin Gyatso, better known as His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the 14th manifestation of the Buddha of Compassion, Nobel Peace Prize winner and exiled leader of Tibet. As the chief exponent of a 2,500-year-old religion dedicated to the mitigation of suffering, he is sort of the high priest of happiness.
And while he may not know more about the secrets of well-being than his 13 predecessors, he has brought the Buddhist philosophy of joyful compassion to vast audiences in the West. His MIT appearance was followed by a lecture at the Fleet Center in Boston before some 13,000 people and rock-star-size crowds at venues in other American cities. His 1998 book The Art of Happiness (coauthored by psychiatrist Howard C. Cutler) was a New York Times bestseller, assuring readers that the purpose of life is to "seek happiness" and that "the very motion of our life is toward happiness."
The complete article is located at: www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues04/may04/presence.html
San Francisco Chronicle Article — May, 2004
The latest Mind and Life book, "The New Physics and Cosmology", was featured in the Sunday San Francisco Chronicle. A brief excerpt follows below, together with the website URL for accessing the entire piece.
The Science of Tibetan Buddhism: Neuroscientists, Physicists Have Questions, The Dalai Lama Answers
Reviewed by William Kowinski
When Charles Darwin proposed the crowning scientific theory of the 19th century, a wide public understood enough of it to passionately debate evolution and natural selection. But not even physicists today fully understand the similarly significant theories of quantum mechanics, first proposed early in the 20th century. With Western scientific thought apparently at its limits, a group of scientists recently looked for help from a man who, until he was a teenager, believed that the world was flat: Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama.
The resulting dialogue between the Dalai Lama, several other Buddhist scholars and a group of Western physicists and philosophers (including Harvard's Tu Weiming, formerly of UC Berkeley) makes up physicist Arthur Zajonc's graceful and insightful new book, "The New Physics and Cosmology: Dialogues With the Dalai Lama" (Oxford University Press; 246 pages; $29.95).
This five-day conference at the Dalai Lama's compound in Dharamsala, India, in 1997 was not the first or last of these conclaves. Since they began a decade earlier, there have been 11 discussions convened by the organization created to arrange them, the Mind and Life Institute. Seven books have resulted so far, and DVDs of the most recent conference, at MIT in Cambridge, Mass., last fall, are available from www.mindandlife.org.
Several books have emerged from discussions between the Dalai Lama and Western scientists, but the Mind and Life series is itself a kind of story, one of continuing and fascinating cross- cultural collaboration — even a kind of convergence — on subjects suddenly of common importance.
This entire review can be read at:
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/04/11/RVGR15V5J61.DTL
© Copyright 2005 Mind and Life Institute, Boulder, CO, USA. All rights reserved.
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