14th Dalai Lama

=== Interest in science, and Mind and Life Institute ===
[[File:Dalai Lama's Baby Austin car.jpg|thumb|Remains of Dalai Lama's [[Baby Austin]] car. Lhasa, 1993]]
[[File:Remains of Dalai Lama's Dodge car. Lhasa, 1993.jpg|thumb|Remains of Dalai Lama's [[Dodge]] car. Lhasa, 1993]]
The Dalai Lama's lifelong interest in science<ref name=nyt>{{cite news |author1 = Tenzin Gyatso |title = Our Faith in Science |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/12/opinion/12dalai.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1& |work = The New York Times |date = 12 November 2005 |quote = Science has always fascinated me |access-date = 5 February 2017 |archive-date = 31 March 2014 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140331071556/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/12/opinion/12dalai.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1& |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author1 = Melissa Rice |title = Carl Sagan and the Dalai Lama found deep connections in 1991–92 meetings, says Sagan's widow |url = http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2007/10/meeting-two-minds-carl-sagan-and-dalai-lama |publisher = Cormell University, Cornell Chronicle |date = 3 October 2007 |quote = The Dalai Lama, who has had a lifelong interest in science |access-date = 6 May 2015 |archive-date = 16 May 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150516064128/http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2007/10/meeting-two-minds-carl-sagan-and-dalai-lama |url-status = live }}</ref> and technology<ref name=Grnd>{{cite web |author1 = James Kingsland |title = Dalai Lama enlightens and enraptures contemplative scientists in Boston |url = https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/nov/03/dalai-lama-scientists-boston-international-symposium-contemplative-studies |work = The Guardian |location = Boston, USA |date = 3 November 2014 |quote = Asked how his interest in science originally developed he said he'd been fascinated by technology since childhood, recalling a clockwork toy British soldier with a gun that he played with for a few days before taking apart to see how it worked. He described how as a young man visiting China he was excited to be shown around hydroelectric dams and metal smelting works |access-date = 10 December 2016 |archive-date = 5 January 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210105142140/https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/nov/03/dalai-lama-scientists-boston-international-symposium-contemplative-studies |url-status = live }}</ref> dates from his childhood in Lhasa, Tibet, when he was fascinated by mechanical objects like clocks, watches, telescopes, film projectors, clockwork soldiers<ref name="Grnd" /> and motor cars,<ref name=itm>{{cite web |title=The Dalai Lama and Western Science |url = http://www.investigatingthemind.org/hhdl.science.html |publisher=Mind and Life Institute |access-date=6 May 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150219190156/http://investigatingthemind.org/hhdl.science.html |archive-date=19 February 2015 }}</ref> and loved to repair, disassemble and reassemble them.<ref name="nyt" /> Once, observing [[the Moon]] through a [[telescope]] as a child, he realised it was a crater-pocked lump of rock and not a heavenly body emitting its own light as Tibetan [[cosmologists]] had taught him.<ref name="nyt" /> He has also said that had he not been brought up as a monk he would probably have been an [[engineer]].<ref>{{cite web |first = Bobbie L. |last = Kyle |title = 10 Things You Didn't Know About the Dalai Lama |url = https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2008/03/28/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-dalai-lama |publisher = The U.S. News & World Report |date = 28 March 2008 |quote = The Dalai Lama has an interest in machines, which he developed as a young boy. As a teenager he repaired a movie projector by himself, without its guide or any instructions. He has been known to say that he would have become an engineer if he hadn't been a monk |access-date = 22 August 2017 |archive-date = 6 January 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210106024738/https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2008/03/28/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-dalai-lama |url-status = live }}</ref> On his first trip to the west in 1973 he asked to visit [[Cambridge University]]'s [[astrophysics]] department in the UK and he sought out renowned scientists such as [[Sir Karl Popper]], [[David Bohm]] and [[Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker]],<ref name=itm /> who taught him the basics of science.

The Dalai Lama sees important common ground between [[science and Buddhism]] in having the same approach to challenge dogma on the basis of [[empirical evidence]] that comes from [[observation]] and [[analysis]] of [[phenomena]].<ref name=MITTR>{{cite web |author1 = Curt Newton |title = Meditation and the Brain |url = http://www.technologyreview.com/news/402450/meditation-and-the-brain/ |website = technologyreview.com |publisher = MIT Technology Review |date = 1 February 2004 |quote = The Dalai Lama notes that both traditions encourage challenging dogma based on observation and analysis, and a willingness to revise views based on empirical evidence. |access-date = 16 May 2015 |archive-date = 12 April 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150412070955/http://www.technologyreview.com/news/402450/meditation-and-the-brain/ |url-status = live }}</ref>

His growing wish to develop meaningful scientific dialogue to explore the [[Buddhism and science]] interface led to invitations for him to attend relevant conferences on his visits to the west, including the [[Alpbach]] Symposia on Consciousness in 1983 where he met and had discussions with the late Chilean neuroscientist [[Francisco J. Varela]].<ref name=itm /> Also in 1983, the American [[social entrepreneur]] and [[innovator]] [[R. Adam Engle]],<ref>{{cite web |author1 = Vincent Horn |title = The Evolution of the Mind and Life Dialogues |url = http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2009/05/bg-122-the-evolution-of-the-mind-and-life-dialogues/ |publisher = Buddhist Geeks |access-date = 9 May 2015 |ref = BD 122 |format = Podcast Interview, transcription |quote = This week, Adam Engle, the business mastermind behind the Mind and Life Institute, joins us to discuss both the evolution of the project as well as its larger impact |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150504061533/http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2009/05/bg-122-the-evolution-of-the-mind-and-life-dialogues/ |archive-date = 4 May 2015 }}</ref> who had become aware of the Dalai Lama's deep interest in science, was already considering the idea of facilitating for him a serious dialogue with a selection of appropriate scientists.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Begley, Sharon |title = Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain |date = 2007 |publisher = Random House|location=New York |isbn =978-0-345-47989-1 |page = 19|edition=2008 Paperback|chapter=1}}</ref> In 1984 Engle formally offered to the Dalai Lama's office to organise a week-long, formal dialogue for him with a suitable team of scientists, provided that the Dalai Lama would wish to fully participate in such a dialogue. Within 48 hours the Dalai Lama confirmed to Engle that he was "truly interested in participating in something substantial about science" so Engle proceeded with launching the project.<ref name=TYM1 /> [[Francisco Varela]], having heard about Engle's proposal, then called him to tell him of his earlier discussions with the Dalai Lama and to offer his scientific collaboration to the project.<ref name=TYM1>{{cite book|author1=Begley, Sharon |title = Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain |date = 2007 |publisher = Random House|location=New York |isbn =978-0-345-47989-1|pages=20–22|edition=2008 Paperback|chapter=1}}</ref> Engle accepted, and Varela assisted him to assemble his team of six specialist scientists for the first [[Mind and Life Institute|'Mind and Life']] dialogue on the [[cognitive sciences]],<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.mindandlife.org/mission/ |title = Mission |publisher = Mind and Life Institute |access-date = 6 May 2015 |quote = Mind and Life emerged in 1987 from a meeting of three visionaries: Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama – the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people and a global advocate for compassion; Adam Engle, a lawyer and entrepreneur; and Francisco Varela, a neuroscientist |archive-date = 21 August 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200821123151/https://www.mindandlife.org/mission/ |url-status = live }}</ref> which was eventually held with the Dalai Lama at his residence in Dharamsala in 1987.<ref name=itm /><ref name="TYM1" /> This five-day event was so successful that at the end the Dalai Lama told Engle he would very much like to repeat it again in the future.<ref name=BG122>{{cite web |author1 = Vincent Horn |title = The Evolution of the Mind and Life Dialogues |url = http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2009/05/bg-122-the-evolution-of-the-mind-and-life-dialogues/ |publisher = Buddhist Geeks |access-date = 9 May 2015 |ref = BD 122 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150504061533/http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2009/05/bg-122-the-evolution-of-the-mind-and-life-dialogues/ |archive-date = 4 May 2015 }}</ref> Engle then started work on arranging a second dialogue, this time with [[neuroscientists]] in California, and the discussions from the first event were edited and published as Mind and Life's first book, ''"Gentle Bridges: Conversations with the Dalai Lama on the Sciences of Mind".''<ref>{{cite web |title = Gentle Bridges: Conversations with the Dalai Lama on the Sciences of Mind |url = https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/104960.Gentle_Bridges |publisher = Shambala |access-date = 6 May 2015 |quote = a historic meeting that took place between several prominent Western scientists and the Dalai Lama |archive-date = 5 December 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151205213514/https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/104960.Gentle_Bridges |url-status = live }}</ref>

As [[Mind and Life Institute]]'s remit expanded, Engle formalised the organisation as a non-profit foundation after the third dialogue, held in 1990, which initiated the undertaking of [[neurobiological]] research programmes in the United States under scientific conditions.<ref name=BG122 /> Over the following decades, as of 2014 at least 28 dialogues between the Dalai Lama and panels of various world-renowned scientists have followed, held in various countries and covering diverse themes, from the nature of [[consciousness]] to [[cosmology]] and from [[quantum mechanics]] to the [[neuroplasticity]] of the brain.<ref>{{cite web |title = Past Dialogues |url = https://www.mindandlife.org/dialogues-dalai-lama/ |publisher = Mind and Life Institute |access-date = 6 May 2015 |archive-date = 18 May 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150518072135/https://www.mindandlife.org/dialogues-dalai-lama/ |url-status = dead }}</ref> Sponsors and partners in these dialogues have included the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]],<ref>{{cite web |title = The Dalai Lama Centre for Ethics and Transformative Values |url = http://thecenter.mit.edu/about/mission/ |publisher = Massachusetts Institute of Technology |access-date = 7 May 2015 |quote = The Center focuses on the development of interdisciplinary research and programs in varied fields of knowledge, from science and technology to education and international relations |archive-date = 18 May 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150518095704/http://thecenter.mit.edu/about/mission/ |url-status = live }}</ref> [[Johns Hopkins University]],<ref>{{cite web|title=The Science and Clinical Applications of Meditation |url=http://www.investigatingthemind.org/about.sponsors.html |publisher=Mind and Life XIII |date=2005 |quote=Johns Hopkins is one of the world's premier centers for scholarship, research and patient care |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150220020049/http://investigatingthemind.org/about.sponsors.html |archive-date=20 February 2015 }}</ref> the [[Mayo Clinic]],<ref>{{cite web |title = His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Give Special Presentation at Mayo Clinic |url = http://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/his-holiness-the-dalai-lama-to-give-special-presentation-at-mayo-clinic/?_ga=1.228989404.1318053370.1426080660 |publisher = Mayo Clinic |date = 20 April 2012 |access-date = 7 May 2015 |archive-date = 4 March 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304024909/http://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/his-holiness-the-dalai-lama-to-give-special-presentation-at-mayo-clinic/?_ga=1.228989404.1318053370.1426080660 |url-status = live }}</ref> and [[University of Zurich|Zurich University]].<ref>{{cite web |author1 = Tenzin Gyatso |title = Science at the Crossroads |url = http://www.dalailama.com/messages/buddhism/science-at-the-crossroads |publisher = Office of Dalai Lama |location = Washington DC |date = 12 November 2005 |quote = I am also grateful to the numerous eminent scientists with whom I have had the privilege of engaging in conversations through the auspices of the Mind and Life Institute which initiated the Mind and Life conferences that began in 1987 at my residence in Dharamsala, India. These dialogues have continued over the years and in fact the latest Mind and Life dialogue concluded here in Washington just this week. |access-date = 7 May 2015 |archive-date = 29 April 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150429161612/http://www.dalailama.com/messages/buddhism/science-at-the-crossroads |url-status = live }}</ref>

Apart from time spent teaching Buddhism and fulfilling responsibilities to his Tibetan followers, the Dalai Lama has probably spent, and continues to spend, more of his time and resources investigating the interface between [[Buddhism and science]] through the ongoing series of [[Mind and Life Institute|Mind and Life]] dialogues and its spin-offs than on any other single activity.<ref name=Grnd /> As the institute's Cofounder and the Honorary chairman he has personally presided over and participated in all its dialogues, which continue to expand worldwide.<ref>{{cite web |title = Dialogues with the Dalai Lama |url = https://www.mindandlife.org/dialogues-dalai-lama/ |publisher = Mind and Life Institute |access-date = 6 May 2015 |quote = These Dialogues will expand as Mind and Life grows to include Europe, Asia, and beyond |archive-date = 18 May 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150518072135/https://www.mindandlife.org/dialogues-dalai-lama/ |url-status = dead }}</ref>

These activities have given rise to dozens of DVD sets of the dialogues and books he has authored on them such as ''Ethics for the New Millennium'' and ''The Universe in a Single Atom'', as well as scientific papers and university research programmes.<ref name=pdf>{{cite web |title = A 25 Years History of Accomplishment |url = https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gns1ff0ziu9ikx3/AAAH3rqan1jP_RyksNVOYl0Da/MLI%2025%20years%20of%20Accomplishment.pdf?dl=0 |publisher = Mind and Life Institute |access-date = 6 May 2015 |date = 2012 |archive-date = 13 December 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211213185342/https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gns1ff0ziu9ikx3/AAAH3rqan1jP_RyksNVOYl0Da/MLI%2025%20years%20of%20Accomplishment.pdf?dl=0 |url-status = live }}</ref> On the Tibetan and Buddhist side, science subjects have been added to the curriculum for Tibetan monastic educational institutions and scholarship.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Dalai Lama and Western Science |url=http://www.investigatingthemind.org/hhdl.science.html |publisher=Mind and Life Institute |access-date=6 May 2015 |quote=he has led a campaign to introduce basic science education in Tibetan Buddhist monastic colleges and academic centers, and has encouraged Tibetan scholars to engage with science as a way of revitalizing the Tibetan philosophical tradition |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150219190156/http://investigatingthemind.org/hhdl.science.html |archive-date=19 February 2015 }}</ref> On the Western side, university and research programmes initiated by these dialogues and funded with millions of dollars in grants from the Dalai Lama Trust include the Emory-Tibet Partnership,<ref>{{cite web|title=Emory-Tibet Science Initiative receives $1&nbsp;million grant from Dalai Lama Trust |url=https://tibet.emory.edu/news-and-media/news/2014/emory-tibet-science-initiative-receives-1-million-grant-from-dalai-lama-trust/index.html |publisher=Emory University |location=Georgia, USA |date=2014 |quote=For more than 30 years I have been engaged in an ongoing exchange with scientists, exploring what modern scientific knowledge and time-honored science of mind embodied by the Tibetan tradition can bring to each other's understanding of reality |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518083919/https://tibet.emory.edu/news-and-media/news/2014/emory-tibet-science-initiative-receives-1-million-grant-from-dalai-lama-trust/index.html |archive-date=18 May 2015 }}</ref> [[Stanford School of Medicine]]'s Centre for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARES)<ref>{{cite web |title = His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso Founding Patron, CCARE |url = http://ccare.stanford.edu/about/people/patron-committee/#150 |publisher = Stanford University School of Medicine |access-date = 7 May 2015 |location = Palo Alto, California |quote = He has been a strong supporter of the neurosciences for over two decades. His Holiness is a benefactor of CCARE having personally provided the largest sum he has ever given to scientific research |archive-date = 18 May 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150518064949/http://ccare.stanford.edu/about/people/patron-committee/#150 |url-status = live }}</ref> and the Centre for Investigating Healthy Minds,<ref>{{cite web|title=Our History |url=http://www.investigatinghealthyminds.org/ |publisher=University of Wisconsin-Madison |access-date=7 May 2015 |location=Madison, Wisconsin, USA |quote=In 1992, the Dalai Lama personally challenged Dr. Davidson to investigate how well-being could be nurtured through the insights from neuroscience. His Holiness believes that "All humans have an innate desire to overcome suffering and find happiness." This launched a robust series of research studies and new discoveries have emerged about how the mind works and how well-being can be cultivated. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150507230519/http://www.investigatinghealthyminds.org/ |archive-date=7 May 2015 }}</ref> amongst others.

In 2019, Emory University's Center for Contemplative Sciences and Compassion-Based Ethics, in partnership with The Dalai Lama Trust and the Vana Foundation of India, launched an international SEE Learning (Social, Emotional and Ethical Learning) program in New Delhi, India, a school curriculum for all classes from kindergarten to Std XII that builds on psychologist [[Daniel Goleman]]'s work on emotional intelligence in the early 1990s. SEE learning focuses on developing critical thinking, ethical reasoning and compassion and stresses on commonalities rather than on the differences.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.emory.edu/stories/2019/04/upress_see_learning/campus.html|title=Emory University launches global Social, Emotional and Ethical Learning program|date=2 April 2019|website=news.emory.edu|language=en|access-date=12 June 2019|archive-date=8 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608221026/http://news.emory.edu/stories/2019/04/upress_see_learning/campus.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/know/emory-university-and-the-dalai-lama-trusts-see-learning-launch-is-curriculum-for-the-education-of-the-heart-and-mind/article26808514.ece|title=SEE learning and why we need compassionate classrooms|last=Mohan|first=Shriya|website=@businessline|date=12 April 2019 |language=en|access-date=12 June 2019|archive-date=18 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218112830/https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/know/emory-university-and-the-dalai-lama-trusts-see-learning-launch-is-curriculum-for-the-education-of-the-heart-and-mind/article26808514.ece|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://seelearning.emory.edu/|title=Home – SEE Learning|website=seelearning.emory.edu|access-date=12 June 2019|archive-date=30 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191030202827/https://seelearning.emory.edu/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/education/dalai-lama-to-launch-emory-universitys-see-learning-program-in-new-delhi/articleshow/68727865.cms|title=Dalai Lama to launch Emory University's SEE Learning program in New Delhi|last=Khando|first=Tenzin|date=4 April 2019|work=The Economic Times|access-date=12 June 2019|archive-date=27 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190527115723/https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/education/dalai-lama-to-launch-emory-universitys-see-learning-program-in-new-delhi/articleshow/68727865.cms|url-status=live}}</ref>

In particular, the Mind and Life Education Humanities & Social Sciences initiatives have been instrumental in developing the emerging field of Contemplative Science, by researching, for example, the effects of contemplative practice on the human brain, behaviour and biology.<ref name="pdf" />

In his 2005 book ''The Universe in a Single Atom'' and elsewhere, and to mark his commitment to scientific truth and its ultimate ascendancy over religious belief, unusually for a major religious leader the Dalai Lama advises his Buddhist followers: "If scientific analysis were conclusively to demonstrate certain claims in Buddhism to be false, then we must accept the findings of science and abandon those claims."<ref>{{cite book|author=Dalai Lama |title = The Universe in a Single Atom |date = 2005 |publisher = Random House|location=New York |isbn =978-0-375-72845-7 |page = 3|edition=First Large Print}}</ref> He has also cited examples of archaic Buddhist ideas he has abandoned himself on this basis.<ref name="nyt" /><ref>{{cite web |author1 = James Kingsland |title = Dalai Lama enlightens and enraptures contemplative scientists in Boston |url = https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/nov/03/dalai-lama-scientists-boston-international-symposium-contemplative-studies |work = The Guardian |location = Boston, USA |date = 3 November 2014 |quote = He ... had long since abandoned Buddhist ideas about cosmology after reading about the findings of modern astronomers |access-date = 10 December 2016 |archive-date = 5 January 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210105142140/https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/nov/03/dalai-lama-scientists-boston-international-symposium-contemplative-studies |url-status = live }}</ref>

These activities have even had an impact in the Chinese capital. In 2013 an 'academic dialogue' with a Chinese scientist, a Tibetan 'living Buddha' and a professor of Religion took place in Beijing. Entitled "High-end dialogue: ancient Buddhism and modern science" it addressed the same considerations that interest the Dalai Lama, described as 'discussing about the similarities between Buddhism and modern science'.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Lethe Guo |title=High-end dialogue: ancient Buddhism and modern science |url=http://eng.tibet.cn/2010zj/zjhd/201312/t20131219_1960457.html |publisher=China Tibet Online |date=18 December 2013 |quote=crossover between Buddhism and science has become a hot topic in the academic and cultural circles over the recent decades |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151005160313/http://eng.tibet.cn/2010zj/zjhd/201312/t20131219_1960457.html |archive-date=5 October 2015 }}</ref>
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