“Brain and Mind, Our Potential for Change

Science & Spirituality Conference in Sikkim

Leading exponents of Mind & Life Sciences to deliver keynote addresses


“Brain and Mind, Our Potential for Change: Modern Cognitive Sciences and Eastern Contemplative Traditions”, being organised on behalf of the State Government by the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology will be held from 20 to 23 December 2010 at Gangtok.

GANGTOK, 20 September, 2010: The Government of Sikkim’s initiative to heal social challenges with the introduction of morals and ethics lessons in the school curriculum – a commitment expressed by Chief Minister of Sikkim, Dr. Pawan Chamling, and one which has already received the endorsement of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who will be inaugurating and participating in the 4-day conference being organised to lay the foundations of the initiative – will be receiving deliberations from an impressive galaxy of scholars spanning the academic spectrum from spirituality to psychiatry.

The conference “Brain and Mind, Our Potential for Change: Modern Cognitive Sciences and Eastern Contemplative Traditions”, being organised on behalf of the State Government by the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology will be held from 20 to 23 December 2010 at Gangtok.

A first of its kind effort to synergise “modern cognitive sciences and Eastern contemplative traditions” and adapt them for school curriculums, the agenda for the conference will be sagaciously outlined by keynote addresses by Professor Richard J. Davidson and Professor B. Alan Wallace, the former a leading scientist and Director, Center for Investigating Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin – Madison, USA, and the latter a dynamic lecturer, progressive scholar and one of the most prolific writers and translators of Tibetan Buddhism in the West.

Both have worked extensively with HH the Dalai Lama in cross-cultural interactions between His Holiness and Western scientists on threads reflected in the theme of the Sikkim conference, and are active members of the Mind & Life Institute which has been facilitating such exchanges since 1987.

Prof. Wallace is respected in academic and spiritual circles for his consistent pursuit of innovative ways to integrate Eastern contemplative practices with Western science to advance the study of the mind. A scholar and practitioner of Buddhism since 1970, Prof Wallace has been teaching Buddhist theory and meditation since 1976 and is himself a Tibetan Buddhist monk, ordained by H. H. the Dalai Lama. He holds an undergraduate degree in physics and the philosophy of science from Amherst College and a doctorate in religious studies from Stanford. In 1979, he served as the Dalai Lama’s interpreter during his first teaching tour in the West, during which he lectured in Switzerland and Greece before making his way to the United States for his first visit there.

Prof. Davidson, Vilas Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry, Director, Center for Investigating Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin – Madison, is a PhD from Harvard University in Psychology. His research is focused on cortical and subcortical substrates of emotion and affective disorders, including depression and anxiety. A major focus of his current work is on interactions between prefrontal cortex and the amygdalain the regulation of emotion in both normal subjects and patients with affective and anxiety disorders. For the lay person, Prof. Davidson’s research hopes to help get out the message that based on what we know about the “plasticity” of the brain, we can think of things like happiness and compassion as skills that are no different from learning to play a musical instrument, or training in golf or tennis. Happiness, like any skill, requires practice and time but because we know that the brain is built to change in response to mental training, it is possible to train a mind to be happy.

The keynote addresses by these two noted scholars should go a long way towards addressing the paradox of addiction, depression and suicides which hold Sikkim in a vice grip despite an environment which would otherwise be conducive to higher happiness and satisfaction quotients. It was during deliberations over this vexed problem that the Chief Minister of Sikkim directed that an attempt be made to blend modern understanding of mind & life sciences with traditional Spirituality to fashion a curriculum for schools which would groom the younger generation with less disturbed minds and more positive outlooks. The conference in December was born out of this commitment and the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology tasked with the responsibility of putting it together.

Dr. Chamling also evinced a keen desire that the conference be inaugurated by HH the Dalai Lama, convinced that His Holiness’s keen interest in science, open mind and advanced understanding of theosophical matters would best syncretise Sikkim’s efforts towards making science and Spirituality collaborate to prepare its young better for the vicissitudes and challenges of life. When the idea was broached to HH the Dalai Lama, he was moved by the gesture and upon learning that the State Government of Sikkim was committed to follow up the Conference proceedings by introducing moral ethics in Sikkim’s schools and colleges, agreed not only to inaugurate the Conference, but also participate in it.

Apart from the Keynote Speakers, an array of other spiritual leaders, scholars and scientists have also communicated their confirmations to present papers at the conference during which themes will range from Spirituality, to meditation, to yoga to neuroplasticity to education.
A detailed list of the participants will be released gradually.
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Pema Wangchuk Dorjee
Media Consultant to Namgyal Institute of Tibetology for the “Brain and Mind, Our Potential for Change: Modern Cognitive Sciences and Eastern Contemplative Traditions” Conference.
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